The Theatre of Things Pushes Performance at Milan Design Week

Milan Design Week 2025 unfolded like a grand spectacle of forward-thinking collaborations, conceptual experimentation, and—more than ever—performance. Across myriad immersive installations and choreographed product unveilings, performance wasn’t just an accessory to the object, it was embedded into the DNA of the exhibitions themselves. One showing, in particular, pushed this idea further than most. For “The Theatre of Things,” curators and Milan Design Week veterans Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima, invited seven designers to create, use, and live with their pieces in real time.

An Exhibition as Voyeuristic Invitation at Delvis (Un)limited

Set within collectible design platform Delvis (Un)limited’s street-level gallery in the bustling Brera district, the exhibition offered a voyeuristic invitation: a storefront-turned-stage where a set of international design talents took turns living among their own creations, becoming both the subject and the choreographer of a daily design performance. Each participating designer contributed original works that, when combined, formed a fully conceived domestic environment. Rather than designing in isolation, the participants contributed pieces that would coexist—furniture, lighting, and sculptural objects—coming together to create a shared, livable interior.

Once the space was complete, the exhibition unfolded over the seven days of Milan Design Week, with each designer taking a turn inhabiting the environment for 24 hours. During their residency, they interacted with the works—both their own and those of their peers—using them as part of a day that included such routines and rituals as sleeping, reading, eating, and conversing, offering a real-time demonstration of how collectible design can function as part of everyday living.

Exploring Living with One’s Work and the Implications of Collectible Design 

Each morning began with coffee and public dialogue—an informal interview between the day’s resident designer and a critic, curator, or journalist. These varied conversations, inspired by musings on the radical intimacy of Gianni Pettena’s La Casa all’Elba or Joseph Beuys’ Coyote, explored topics related to the experience of living with one’s own work and the broader implications of collectible design in domestic settings.

This unusual format provided a new context for engaging with design. Rather than treating objects as static pieces to be viewed, the installation presented them as tools for daily life and social interaction. Among the most prominent elements of the installation was a hybrid bed and conversation pit by Belgian design collective Espace Aygo. This centerpiece included a large, adjustable wooden lighting fixture titled Overhead, which could be lowered or raised to shift the function of the space from either a private resting area to a public gathering zone.

Design Studios Objects of Common Interest, destroyers/builders, and Others Contribute

Objects of Common Interest, the New York- and Athens-based studio founded by Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis, contributed a series of sculptural works including The Holy Mountain bar cabinet. Inspired by geological formations, the cabinet featured resin surfaces that emitted a soft glow, and included an integrated sound system, reinforcing the multi-sensory nature of the exhibition.

Linde Freya Tangelder of Brussels- and Antwerp-based design studio destroyers/builders presented her Layer over Layer collection which emphasized material buildup and variable surface treatments. Her use of wood, cast bronze, and glass across a floor lamp, floating cabinet, coffee table, and bench created a layered visual and tactile experience.

Rotterdam-based designer Laurids Gallée contributed a series of resin and wood pieces that explored the interplay between material, light, and structure. His familiar resin works—including the disassemblable ++ Table, the light-bending Tralucid Stool, the refractive T Light, and the deep-blue H Bench—each investigated how geometry and transparency affect the perception of light, creating immersive visual effects that shifted with the viewer’s position. Alongside these, his Orvalho Series in carved cherry wood brought a tactile contrast. Featuring a grid-and-vine motif, pieces like the Orvalho Stool, Mirror, and Shelf introduced organic ornamentation into rigid structures, referencing humanity’s attempts to shape nature.

Rich Aybar Brings the RUBBERWORKS Series, Niki Danai Channia Unveils MMXV Bestiary, and More

Rich Aybar introduced his RUBBERWORKS series, using rubber in unconventional ways to produce sculptural chairs and lighting elements. Pieces like the Slug Chair and Lusca Chandelier explored the material’s potential to convey softness, flexibility, and ambiguity.

Athens- and Amsterdam-based artist Niki Danai Chania contributed ceramic vases from her MMXV Bestiary series, which incorporated references to mythology and personal trauma. Her work addressed issues such as mental health and economic instability through allegorical forms.

Underfoot and suspended upon the gallery walls, a series of handwoven and tufted rugs by Milan-based designer Stefania Ruggiero brought warmth and tactile richness to the domestic setting. Her contributions included the three-part kilim series—Ember, Bonfire, and Astro—which explored the symbolic and social power of fire in an attempt to capture the shifting moods of gathering around a hearth. Ruggiero also presented Dandelion, a hand-tufted rug that used gradients and three-dimensional textures to create an optical illusion of puffed forms emerging from the surface.

“The Theatre of Things” Functions as a Living Archive at Milan Design Week

Throughout the week, the space functioned as a living archive. Visitors were encouraged to witness daily life unfolding in real time, blurring the boundaries between public and private, exhibition and inhabitation. The project also documented each designer’s experience, adding a reflective layer to the installation.

By integrating lived experience into the exhibition, “The Theatre of Things” aimed to break down the barrier between display and use, object and environment. Over the course of the week, the space evolved organically—accumulating personal items, adapting to different routines, and bearing traces of each designer’s presence. The result was a constantly shifting exhibition that made daily life part of the design process itself.