At Salone del Mobile Milano 2026, Milan shimmers with a heightened sensuality. Marble feels warm to the eye, paper carries a ghost of its former life, and objects seem to breathe with quiet intention. Across palazzos, boutiques, and hidden courtyards, designers and maisons compose environments that draw you inward—closer to the grain of wood, the curve of a silhouette, the weight of an idea. There is a softness in the air, a magnetic pull toward tactility and emotion, where every surface invites touch and every project leaves a trace.
Balenciaga
Installation view of BALENCIAGA’s “ARTEAN – EDUARDO CHILLIDA,” photo by Annik Wetter, 2026, courtesy of BALENCIAGA.
Inside its Via Montenapoleone flagship, Balenciaga unveils Artean – Eduardo Chillida, a project shaped by instinct and reverence under Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli. The word Artean hums with layered meaning, evoking a charged space where ideas meet and expand.
Seven works by Eduardo Chillida anchor the installation, each one carrying a profound stillness. A study for Homenaje a Balenciaga (1990) rests with quiet gravity, while iron forms like Proyecto Peine del Viento I (1966) and Lotura XVIII (1991) carve space with elemental force. Suspended works such as Gravitación. Homenaje a Balenciaga (1987) feel almost weightless, their tension held in delicate equilibrium.
Placed among the house’s collections, the sculptures echo the enduring spirit of Cristóbal Balenciaga—a shared devotion to volume, to space, to the poetry of form. The atmosphere feels intimate, almost sacred, as though past and present whisper to one another in a language only they fully understand.
B&B Italia
B&B Italia, “Moor,” Vincent Van Duysen, photo Camille Vivier, courtesy of Vincent Van Duysen and B&B Italia.
For its 60th anniversary, B&B Italia stages a rich, immersive reflection titled “Before & Beyond”, guided by Gianluigi Ricuperati and Maurizio Cilli. Developed with Nova Express and spatially composed by Formafantasma, the project draws from decades of experimentation, distilling them into a vivid sensory experience.
Within the fair, the brand presents an architectural setting where each design radiates its own presence. The Untitled seating system by Vincent Van Duysen reveals a delicate tension between exposed structure and plush ease, its chamfered edges catching light like a warm gesture. Ronan Bouroullec’s Abaco series expresses construction with lyrical precision, while Michael Anastassiades’s Metric chair offers a study in restraint and proportion. Icons return with renewed allure: Richard Sapper’s Nena armchair folds with effortless grace, and Luigi Caccia Dominioni’s Catilina chairs embrace with chromed brilliance and artisanal textiles. Across the presentation, materials feel alive—wood, marble, leather—each surface contributing to an atmosphere that is both grounded and divine.
Jaime Hayon
Salone 2026, Hayon Studio, Photo by Giovanni Riccò, Courtesy of Hayon Studio.
salone 2026, Hayon Studio, Marsotto, Piazza Brera, Courtesy of Hayon Studio.
In the hands of Jaime Hayon, design becomes an act of storytelling—playful, tactile, and deeply human. For Marsotto, Marble Matters introduces High Love, a soaring five-meter sculpture in Carrara marble and granite that rises like a dream made solid in Piazzetta Brera.
With Archeo for Magis, Hayon embraces irregularity and texture, shaping a form that shifts with every glance, as though time itself had brushed against it. His Treboli collection for Arflex radiates warmth, its forms generous and inviting, infused with a distinctly Mediterranean spirit.
Each piece feels animated by a tender joy, where material carries emotion and surfaces seem to hold stories just beneath their skin.
Issey Miyake
Installation view of ISSEY MIYAKE, “The Paper Log: Shell and Core, ” courtesy of ISSEY MIYAKE.
At the ISSEY MIYAKE / MILAN store, The Paper Log: Shell and Core transforms an industrial remnant into something unexpectedly poetic. Conceived by Satoshi Kondo and developed with MIYAKE DESIGN STUDIO alongside Ensamble Studio, the project gives new life to compressed rolls of pleated paper once used in garment production.
The angelic installation moves between fragility and strength. In Shell, paper unfurls into ethereal forms like Cloud and Lake (Chair), each crease preserved, each fold holding a peaceful memory. In Core, stools, benches, and tables explore weight and density through treatments of wax, glue, and binding.
The material retains its past while stepping into a new identity, its pleats transformed into sculptural language weaved at times with ebullient, pastel hues. The effect feels intimate and contemplative, like dancing with a fragment of time reshaped with heart.
10 Corso Como
10 Corso Como, Milano Design Week 2026, Linde Freya Tangelder with Cassina, photo by Eline Willaert, courtesy of 10 Corso Como.
During Design Week, 10 Corso Como shimmers with layered energy, each space offering a different tempo, a different mood. In the Gallery, Moncler introduces a monumental puffy octopus, its inflated limbs stretching across the façade and interior, surrounded by 24 looks from its Summer 2026 collection.
In the Project Room, Fluid Re-Collection by Linde Freya Tangelder for Cassina reveals a world shaped by process, where sculptural furniture and lighting shift between rawness and refinement. Nearby, Visionnaire’s collaboration with NM3 presents pieces like Stealth and Blob, where stone, glass, and upholstery converge into forms that feel both grounded and otherworldly.
Throughout, the space invites a kind of wandering curiosity, where each corner offers a new sensation, a new visual rhythm.
Byredo
Installation view of Byredo’s “In Conversation With,” Jean-Guillaume Mathiaut, Milano, Photo By Alejandro Ramirez Orozco, Courtesy of the artist and Byredo.
In the cloister of Chiostro Cappuccio, Byredo presents In Conversation With, created alongside artist Jean-Guillaume Mathiaut. Here, wood and scent intertwine, forming a deeply atmospheric experience.
Mathiaut works with fallen oak, treating it as a living archive—its surface marked by time, weather, and memory. Guided by four cardinal points, the installation traces a path through space where fragrance drifts softly, wrapping the senses.
Within the 15th-century architecture, the experience feels suspended in time. Light grazes the wood, scent lingers in the air, and every element carries a meaningful intensity. It is an encounter that settles soulfully, leaving behind something felt more than seen.
