WHAT AM I THINKING? Lidewij Edelkoort shares personal insights into what’s going through her mind…
Dancing on the edge of the volcano
Visiting the Salone del Mobile in Milan has always been an unnerving experience. By its sheer size, it makes me wonder how all these look alike sofas will find a home one day. A mild nausea usually takes hold as we imagine the waste of crating, packaging and gift-bagging with printed matter. Yet, whole city blocks would once open their doors to new talent and experimental materials, forming a creative balance with the uniformly industrial. The discovery of the new would win against the same old same old, and turn the week into a wonderful one, with parties, manifold dinners and midnight drinks at Bar Basso. It was and still is a heady experience. At the Design Academy Eindhoven, we made waves, and many graduates found their way into the world of form because of Milan. The need for innovation was palpable and research dominated the week.
Sadly, times have changed and the power of money has contaminated culture, with luxury brands who feel they don’t earn enough needing to be part of the design game as well. Not only do they have their fashion weeks, now they have their design week, which attracts a very visible online presence. Developing design tourism in its wake, these houses make getting in as difficult as possible, with precise timeslots and even sometimes requesting ID. Just imagine that some-non-accredited-body might see their wares! As a result, these brands have even longer wait lines, just as they do at their flagship stores, manipulating people… Success today is measured by lines and likes.
But the presence of luxury brands takes attention away from the diehard professional furniture brands, from incredible young talent expressing themselves, and from exciting venues like Alcova, Dimore and Rossana Orlandi. The press will instead rave about the woven straw flowers at Dior that entirely covered an antique space to launch lamps that spread shadows. Or journalists will revere the minimal art-like presentation at Hermès, where merchandise was hidden or locked into white wooden boxes. They will comment on the alien woven tapestries at Gucci, although rumours insinuated these were designed by AI. They will rejoice about the impeccable textiles seen at Loro Piana (which did make a strong impression), or say how much they enjoyed the beautiful ceramics at the Prada Home store. There, Japanese ceramics designed by an American artist looked super authentic yet cost €9000 for two tiny sake cups and a small flask! For that amount, one can fly to Tokyo in business, stay the weekend, buy an artisanal sake set with five cups, a flask – and have change for a great bottle of sake.
Where is this leading to? The presence of this opulence felt disturbing this year, especially in an age of wars and disproportionate wealth. As if we are all dancing on the edge of the volcano, ready to live life or be destroyed by the experience. Indeed, designers had anticipated this by creating materials like craters or pouring volcanic matter, trends that dominated the avantgarde. As always, creativity is reactive to its times.
Influencers, bloggers and journalists checked out the great modest modernist furniture at H&M, the engaging food market at Ikea and the happy flower explosion at Marimekko, sporting better prices and democratic design. Restoring balance a bit. But most of them missed the small Brera gallery with geometric hand-drawn furniture by the talented Front girls for Moroso, the spiritual handcrafted lamps from Rwandan artisans and Alvaro Catalán de Ocón at Alcova, or the amazing new vision of doors commissioned by the Milanese genius, Rossana Orlandi. They would also neglect the presentation of rock formations sculpted from pleated wastepaper by the ever-creative team behind Issey Miyake…
Did they discover the sculpted wood that gets more opulent each time in the hands of Argentinian designer Cristian Mohaded for ETEL, another hidden gem? Or did they discern the genius of Flos working with Konstantin Grcic? The lighting brand developed the most amazing glass fixtures, like an echo of art déco yet fully contemporary. Glass was seen in abundance this year, of course at the historic house of Venini but also at Nulifar’s Grand Hotel, the most hedonistic installation ever by the insanely creative Nina Yashar. Lastly, a coup de foudre came at Rubelli, the heritage Venetian textile maker that invited Ai Weiwei to weave revolutionary fabrics, resulting in an elegant material form of activism.
Will art start dominating Milan too? And does this mean the next wave will be art that channels the design idiom for its expression? My next trend forecast on design and interiors, which comes out in early June, is called The Art of Living, showing that there’s no longer a difference between what one sees in a gallery or a private home; art and design become extensions of one another and merge with incredible creativity, something to explore.
– Lidewij Edelkoort
May 8th 2026