Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 56 Milan Special 2025 i est living magazine

Stepping into Milan’s Teatro Lirico theatre, there was little indication of what to expect from Staging Modernity—the 60th anniversary exhibition of Cassina’s Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand collection, led by Milan-based research studio FormaFantasma. What began as a display of furniture and model animals unfolded into a performance directed by Fabio Cherstich across multiple stages. This struck the first note of Milan Design Week 2025—a week where immersive exhibitions and experiential design defined the conversation. Design commentators Karen McCartney and David Harrison crystallise this in their 65-page report, covering the most memorable palazzos, private apartments, installations and showrooms. The entire issue brings the people behind these pieces and shows to the fore. To coincide with new collections for Luxence Luxury Living and a decade of collaboration with Marta…

Blending modernist elegance with bold materiality, the latest furniture collection from Baxter pays homage to the free-spirited yet sophisticated sensibility of the American West Coast, reinterpreting mid-century forms through sculptural silhouettes, flowing geometries, and innovative finishes. Key highlights included sculpted tables, detailed leather seating, and chrome-framed lighting, all designed to echo the effortless harmony between interior and exterior found in Californian homes of the era. The collection was underpinned by three distinctive colour palettes—earthy browns and lush greens evocative of the desert, a soft blend of sandy tones and muted purples, and a retroin-spired mix of ochre and soft magenta inspired by coastal sunset and the creative energy of the 1960s. The narrative unfolded simultaneously across Baxter’s Milan experiences including an immersive redesign of the Baxter Cinema. A decade after…

Congratulations on your Clay Scan collection. Can you share how your collaboration with cc-tapis first started and what the early beginnings of the project looked like? Thank you. It actually all started quite casually—cc-tapis reached out to me via Instagram, which was such a nice surprise. I’ve admired their work for a long time, so getting that message felt really exciting. Once we connected and started talking, the process progressed more quickly than I expected. I’m used to a lot of back and forth with design development, but with them, the concept came together quite naturally. The idea for Clay Scan had been sitting with me for a while. I wanted to translate the tactile, imperfect qualities of hand-sculpted clay into something textile-based. So I created physical compositions using clay—pressing,…

What brought about the change from your eponymous studio to LAYER in 2015, and the shift from furniture design to more technology-driven projects? I come from an industrial design background and had some success with furniture and home products early in my career. However, after about five years, it felt a bit one-dimensional. I needed a platform to broaden the practice and pursue more meaningful design outcomes. How does LAYER serve to expand your design language? LAYER draws on my consultancy background but also champions high-quality craftsmanship. That’s why the 101010 exhibition encompasses everything from beautiful timberwork to tech-driven wearables. LAYER isn’t about my taste—it’s about solutions for how we live now and in the future. I love furniture, and you can see traces of that in the work we…

Kasumi and Futae explore the boundary between natural and man-made—what drew you to this idea, and how did it shape the design process? The brief from ALPI was precisely to explore the boundary between the natural and the man-made. If the design became too deliberate, it risked looking like a printed graphic, failing to communicate ALPI’s technical expertise. Conversely, if it mimicked natural wood grain too closely, it would be indistinguishable from conventional veneer. The challenge was to find a design that balanced precisely between these two extremes. ALPI’s unique veneer layering and slicing technique offers a lot of creative freedom. How did you approach working with such an innovative material process? Designing the material itself was a novel yet complex challenge. In the initial stages, we ran numerous digital…

“For us, architecture and furniture are inseparable… it’s always a hybrid process; design lives within architecture, not apart from it.”– Claudio Lazzarini The exhibition, The Secret Soul of Useful Things, echoes the title of your first show with Carl and Claudio. Why does it still feel relevant? Marta Sala: It speaks to the brand’s consistency but also has a poetic quality—an intimacy between objects and those who live with them. The pieces speak two languages: cultivated and distinctly Italian, yet timeless and international. What led you to start Marta Sala Éditions in 2015? Marta Sala: After years at Azucena, a brand co-founded by my uncle, renowned architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni, I felt a strong urge to embrace the contemporary and follow my intuition. How did your collaboration begin? Carl Pickering:…

Karen McCartney and David Harrison As est living’s editorial advisor, Karen McCartney is renowned for her work in the world of interiors and architecture, with an impressive career spanning both print and digital media. David Harrison has worked as a design journalist since 1999, when he relocated from London to Sydney and transitioned from film and television to interior styling and design writing. Partners in both life and work, the design commentators hit the streets of Milan to uncover the best of Design Week 2025, sharing their perspective across 65 pages in this issue. @mccartneyk @designdaily Martin Morrell Martin Morrell is a British-born photographer whose background in architecture informs his refined, cinematic approach to interiors, fashion, and portraiture. He first gained recognition with a commission from The Independent at age…

Congratulations on the Cairn collection—your first collaboration with Van Rossum. What sparked this partnership, and how familiar were you with Van Rossum’s dedication to handcrafting furniture? Karl Fournier: We had already worked with Van Rossum’s artistic director, Thomas Haarmann, who introduced us to the brand. We were immediately convinced by the quality of craftsmanship that emanated from their product, and the discussion then turned to a potential collaboration. Human touch is central to your design approach, aligning with Van Rossum’s 40-year commitment to craftsmanship in their Dutch workshop. Could you expand on your shared design values and how they are reflected in this collection? Olivier Marty: Local craftsmanship is very important to us. It’s often what gets us started on a project, even in architecture: the materials, the culture, the…

Within the design week landscape—where bold gestures and experimental design often dominate—the quiet confidence of Fedrigo, designed in collaboration with celebrated Belgian designer Vincent Van Duysen stood apart. Marking Van Duysen’s first partnership with the iconic Italian brand, the modular seating series draws from his restrained design language while embracing Zanotta’s legacy of innovation and craftsmanship. Rooted in principles of comfort, durability and sustainability, the Fedrigo sofa system is designed to offer a sense of physical and visual wellbeing. Its sculptural form gently cocoons the user with its generous scale and balance of clean, architectural lines. The backrest seamlessly merges into the armrests in a soft gesture of continuity, creating an enveloping embrace. Cushions are structured to provide ergonomic support without interrupting the fluid silhouette, while the wide modules invite…

LOCATION Milan, Italy Stepping into Christian Frascaro and Francesco Cristiano’s Milan home is a study in considered contrasts: soft yet structured, eclectic yet cohesive. Here, diffused vintage lighting glints off a patchwork floor of marble and onyx, creating a mood that hints at old-world glamour, without feeling overt. Frascaro and Cristiano, creative consultants in fashion and design restyling, both approached the home as a personal project, opting not to engage an architect or interior designer. “We’d already created a beautiful first apartment, just on a smaller scale,” Cristiano explains. “This was about proving to ourselves we could do it again—but bigger.” Their new apartment sits within a 1930s building by architect Giuseppe Martinenghi, overlooking Milan’s Stazione Centrale. Frascaro had mapped out the home’s layout before they’d even signed the lease,…

LOCATION Milan, Italy Where is your loft located? The loft is located in Milan, in the northern part of the city’s Affori district, which was once an independent village and is now part of Milan. I like it here because it is very different from everywhere else in Milan. I can easily reach a great park nearby and also travel easily to Lake Como, where I’m originally from, or to the airport. It’s my hidden spot. I live here from time to time, when I’m not staying in my apartment, or Lake Como. It is also a space where I host friends from around the world on weekends when I’m not working. What did you set out to create in the interior spaces? My vision was to create an always-evolving…

1. BD Barcelona unveiled Eclipso, designed by Jaime Hayon—a playful yet refined collection inspired by the quiet drama of a lunar eclipse. Marked by soft forms, rounded edges, and an earthy retro palette, Eclipso reflects Hayon’s signature blend of emotion, artistry, and contemporary comfort. 2. Lambert & Fils captivated audiences at Milan Design Week with Bolda—a striking new lighting collection created in collaboration with Korean designer Kwangho Lee. Merging sculptural form with delicate luminosity, the collection underscores the studio’s poetic approach to design. 3.e15 launched the Alde Club chair by David Thulstrup, part of a new seating collection originally created for Copenhagen’s Michelin-starred restaurant Alouette. With a solid European oak frame, deep upholstery, and a swivelling base, Alde delivers refined comfort with minimalist elegance, suited to both residential and hospitality…

Congratulations on LUMINESCENT DUALITY, presented at Milan Design Week 2025. How did French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician René Descartes’ opening appeal in Meditations Métaphysiques shape your approach to the show? Duality within perception was the overarching theme of the show. Descartes frames the physical and emotional aspects of perception so poetically that I was drawn to the text: “I will now close my eyes, stop my ears, and withdraw all my senses. I will consider these ideas purely within myself.” Why did you choose the space in Milan’s Brera district for LUMINESCENT DUALITY? The space was initially used as an icehouse before the advent of refrigeration, and I had attended many great exhibitions in this space over the years. Via Palermo has always felt like the centre of Brera, since…

LOCATION Milan, Italy As an ambitious heritage intervention project by architect and designer Vincenzo De Cotiis, Palazzo Bonacossa echoes a sophisticated yet understated Milanese design legacy through the preservation of a historical architectural spirit. “The past was not overwritten, but rather refracted through a new lens,” De Cotiis says about the project. Fibreglass archways echo the building’s original forms, repurposed antique mirrors are now glass windows, hand-painted ceilings are invigorated with new textures; the interventions seamlessly permeate every aspect of the home, elevating its historical grandeur in a sleek, contemporary dimension. “Each decision had to mediate between respect for historical integrity and the desire to express a contemporary vision. Innovation was introduced not through contrast, but through resonance, a silent dialogue with the architecture’s past.” “The most complex challenge in…