NOTES FROM MILAN DESIGN WEEK 2026
There is a particular kind of energy that settles over Milan in April, a hum that starts a few days before the fairs officially open and builds until the whole city feels like a single, sprawling showroom. This year, Susan was right in the middle of it, and what follows are a few of the moments that stayed with her.
Nilufar, to begin
It felt right that the week opened at Nilufar Depot. There is something about the way Nilufar stages a room, the confidence of pairing eras, the willingness to let a single vintage piece hold its own next to something brand new, that always resets our sense of what a space can do. It was, without question, a highlight, and the kind of opening note that made the rest of the week feel promising.
A little disco, courtesy of Sophie Lou Jacobsen
From there, into something lighter: Sophie Lou Jacobsen's disco aperitivo. Her glassware has always had a playfulness to it, color and form that feel handmade and a little irreverent, and that spirit carried straight into the party itself. Lovely, unpretentious, and exactly the kind of event that reminds you Design Week is as much about joy as it is about commerce.
An escape to Franciacorta
Then, a pause. Galerie Magazine invited us out of the city entirely, to Marchesi Antinori's estate in Franciacorta for a wine tasting, and it was, quite simply, dreamy. The hills, the quiet, the scale of a property built around generations of care: it was the opposite of the city's pace, and all the more special for it. Small, intimate, unhurried. Exactly the kind of afternoon that reminds you why a break from the noise can be as valuable as the noise itself.
Back to the city, and straight into Bocci
And then, of course, back into it, because you cannot miss the Bocci party. If Franciacorta was the week's quiet exhale, Bocci was its full-volume finale: the whole industry in one room, and an energy that only a night like that can produce. The best vibes of the week, hands down.
On the week, so far
What struck Susan most this year wasn't any single object or unveiling, though there were plenty worth remembering, but the rhythm of it all. The way a week built around design manages to move between spectacle and intimacy, between a crowded party and a quiet vineyard, without ever losing its thread. That balance, more than any one installation, is what Milan does better than anywhere else.
Monday: the best one yet
If day one set the tone, Monday might have been the best day of the whole week. It started at the AD Breakfast at Palazzo Citterio, followed by When Apricots Blossom, an exhibition on Uzbek craft that was quietly one of the most poetic things Susan saw all week. There is something about seeing craft traditions given this kind of reverent, editorial staging that stops you in your tracks, and this did exactly that.
From there, straight to the preview of Dior x Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance. The lamps were, without question, one of the highlights of the entire week, the kind of piece you find yourself circling back to, unable to stop looking.
A short walk brought the team to Beni Rugs at Casa Milana, and the house itself was a lesson in atmosphere: peaceful, considered, unhurried. The meditation room in particular was a favorite, a rare moment of stillness inside a week that rarely offers one.
Right across the street, the EB team stopped into the Hermès exhibition. The new Hermès blankets were a standout, but so was the exhibition as a whole, and the people behind it, the kind of warmth and expertise that makes a preview feel less like a showcase and more like a conversation.
The day also brought a lovely, unplanned kind of magic: thanks to Anna, our Milan-based team member, Susan was welcomed into an art event celebrating the painter Pino Biggi, wonderful work, and an atmosphere that felt distinctly, generously Milanese.
The night closed at Villa Necchi Campiglio for the T Magazine party, a beautiful setting for what turned out to be some of the week's most interesting conversations and connections.
Salone, and the reason we came
Tuesday took the team outside the center to the main halls of Salone del Mobile, arguably the reason for the whole trip. It is, above all, a research day: walking the halls with an eye toward what might find its way into future EB interiors, and coming away with a long list of new discoveries.
From there, a visit to Appartamento by Artemest, a special detour in an otherwise packed schedule.
A final day: Alcova, Osvaldo Borsani, and Kelly Wearstler x H&M
And then, Alcova. If there is one rule for Design Week, it's this: give it a full day, because it deserves one. This year's edition wound from the former military hospital, home to the main exhibition, out to Villa Pestarini. Sema Topaloğlu's work was a particular highlight.
From Alcova, on to something entirely different: the Henry Timi exhibition, which needs little explanation once you picture it: beautiful white horses, ethereal materials, and an atmosphere that felt more like a dream than a design installation.
The Osvaldo Borsani apartment by Interni Venosta could not be missed. Walking through a home so closely tied to one of Italy's great design minds, reimagined for the present without losing its bones, was its own quiet lesson in why good design endures.
The week closed, fittingly, on a high note: the Kelly Wearstler for H&M party. A joyful, high-energy send-off, and the perfect final beat to a week that had moved through so many registers: spectacle, intimacy, research, rest, and somehow made room for all of them.
Until next year.