Cover View of the main stage of “Staging Modernity”, Cassina’s showcase at Milan Design Week 2025
View of the main stage of “Staging Modernity”, Cassina’s showcase at Milan Design Week 2025
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A theatrical turn took centre stage at Milan Design Week 2025, where design met drama across cinema-inspired installations and mood-rich collaborations
At Milan Design Week 2025, a wave of presentations embraced theatricality in all its forms. From compact dioramas to full-scale scenography, the city pulsed with drama—not just in aesthetics, but in narrative intent and emotional weight.
Whether staged in a historic neoclassical theatre, within moody cinematic interiors, in spaces imagined by award-winning filmmakers, or even in fully made-up, literal beds, these installations elevated design into an immersive, performative experience.
In case you missed it: Milan Design Week 2025: French designer Sam Baron on reimagining Dior Maison’s heritage
1. Cassina
Above View from the main stage at “Staging Modernity” during Milan Design Week. (Photo: Omar Sartor)
View from the main stage at “Staging Modernity” during Milan Design Week. (Photo: Omar Sartor)
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Above View from one of the satellite stages at “Staging Modernity”. (Photo: Omar Sartor)
Above A perfomer interacting with furniture and animal statue during “Staging Modernity” at Milan Design Week 2025
View from one of the satellite stages at “Staging Modernity”. (Photo: Omar Sartor)
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Cassina’s cerebral and movingly entertaining Staging Modernity unfolded at the Teatro Lirico Giorgio Gaber, transformed into a stage for a theatrical tribute to modernism. Visitors were first welcomed through a conventional exhibition foyer before emerging, quite unexpectedly, onto the theatre’s main stage.
There, the 60th anniversary reissues of iconic designs by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand became the set pieces in a surreal mise-en-scène.
Performers of “Staging Modernity” used Cassina’s re-issued furniture as stage props. (Photo: Omar Sartor)
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Around them, animal sculptures occupied satellite stages among the audience seats. Contemporary dance, narration, choral chants and sonic layering converged in a hauntingly poetic spectacle—more theatre than presentation, more cinema than show.
At one point, a chorus murmured: “Maybe you don’t even remember,” a line that floated through the space like a memory half-lost. Another song traced the quiet desperation of a fox mother scouring the city for scraps to feed her cubs—a delicate fable of survival on the edges.
2. Villa Heritage
Above The plum-hued library at “Villa Heritage” during Salone del Mobile offered a moody, regal retreat
The plum-hued library at “Villa Heritage” during Salone del Mobile offered a moody, regal retreat
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Above A blue-hued dining room, fit for royals of any era
Above A corner of the plum library was imagined as a modiste’s workshop, complete with dress forms and a sense of storied elegance stitched into the scene
A blue-hued dining room, fit for royals of any era
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We moved from the modernist, ornament-is-crime showcase to the other end of the spectrum—where every baroque whim was indulged at Villa Heritage, one of the marquee centrepiece installations at Salone del Mobile.
Above A green winter garden, anchored by a chandelier of organic, curling forms, embraced a baroque spirit
Above A cream-toned bath, dressed in elegant stone and classical statuary, evoked the quiet grandeur of a bygone era
A green winter garden, anchored by a chandelier of organic, curling forms, embraced a baroque spirit
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Above A red baroque drawing room with gilded detailing radiated drama and decadence
A red baroque drawing room with gilded detailing radiated drama and decadence
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Conceptualised by Pierre-Yves Rochon, the villa reimagined the symmetry of a classic Italian residence, dressing each room in sumptuous jewel tones: a royal blue dining room, provocatively red drawing room, bright green winter garden, sumptuously plum library, and a lavish cream-toned bedroom and bath fit for royalty across any century.
3. Marimekko
Above Fairgoers lounging at Marimekko’s All the Things We Do in Bed installation during Milan Design Week 2025
Above Laila Gohar cutting a bed-sized cake at the Marimekko party during Milan Design Week 2025
Fairgoers lounging at Marimekko’s All the Things We Do in Bed installation during Milan Design Week 2025
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The installation celebrated Marimekko’s launch of a new bedding collection, along with complementary home accessories—like this table lamp
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Entering Marimekko’s installation, created in collaboration with American chef and artist Laila Gohar, felt like stepping into something between a candy-coloured spa and a performance art piece—where guests were fed taffy from counter jars while they filled out forms about their sleeping habits.
Titled All the Things We Do in Bed, the installation turned the Teatro Litta foyer into a landscape of beds one could hang out in (sans shoes, thankfully) dressed in archival patterns reimagined in new colours. It marked the launch of a capsule line of sleepwear and homeware—and culminated with a party at which guests were served delectable slices from a bed-sized cake.
Read more: Marimekko’s design director on crafting joy, Finnish design and the future of prints
4. Roche Bobois
Above The façade of the Roche Bobois showroom was dressed in bold colours during Milan Design Week 2025, celebrating the Cromática collection
The façade of the Roche Bobois showroom was dressed in bold colours during Milan Design Week 2025, celebrating the Cromática collection
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Above Rossy de Palma, actress and long-time muse of Pedro Almodóvar, brought her signature surrealist flair to the collaboration with a capsule of bold, symbolic designs
Above Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodóvar, accompanied by stills from his iconic films, brought his vivid cinematic language into the design world with striking visual impact
Rossy de Palma, actress and long-time muse of Pedro Almodóvar, brought her signature surrealist flair to the collaboration with a capsule of bold, symbolic designs
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Spanish cinema met French design in Roche Bobois’ vibrant Cromática collection with Pedro Almodóvar and his long-time muse Rossy de Palma.
Almodóvar lent his cinematic language to a series of reimagined classics—sofas, rugs, and cabinetry dressed in graphic prints from his iconic films.
Above The Mahjong sofa collection, dressed in Cromática upholstery, became a vibrant canvas for Pedro Almodóvar’s cinematic colour palette
Above A majestic, symmetrical showcase dressed in red anchors the Roche Bobois showroom with theatrical flair
The Mahjong sofa collection, dressed in Cromática upholstery, became a vibrant canvas for Pedro Almodóvar’s cinematic colour palette
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Striking green Bubble sofas line this corridor at the Roche Bobois Milan showroom
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De Palma, actress, fashion muse and surrealist force, added her own capsule collection of accessories: eye-shaped vanities, fan-like lamps, and embroidered cushions brimming with theatrical flair. Together, the two created a world that was exuberant, camp, and unapologetically theatrical.
Don’t miss: Unpacking creative bravery in Singapore with Colin Seah at Roche Bobois
5. Library of Light
Above The installation takes centre stage in the ancient courtyard, casting shifting light across the storied walls of the Pinacoteca di Brera
Above Es Devlin at “Library of Light”, a luminous installation in the Cortile d’Onore at Pinacoteca di Brera
The installation takes centre stage in the ancient courtyard, casting shifting light across the storied walls of the Pinacoteca di Brera
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Above The rotating library is a monumental bookcase containing real books, their spines arranged in a chromatic spectrum—forming a rainbow when viewed during daytime
The rotating library is a monumental bookcase containing real books, their spines arranged in a chromatic spectrum—forming a rainbow when viewed during daytime
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In the Cortile d’Onore at the Pinacoteca di Brera, British “poet of light” Es Devlin unveiled Library of Light—an 18 m-wide revolving cylinder fitted with gently curving, poetically lit bookshelves brimming with over 3,000 books, their spines arranged in a chromatic spectrum. Inspired by Umberto Eco’s phrase “Books are the compass of the mind,” the kinetic structure presents a mesmerising rainbow vista by day and cast lace-like shadows by night.
Evenings brought readings—of Carlo Rovelli, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch and Devlin herself—as visitors stood still or gently rotated with the sculpture, listening and watching from ever-shifting perspectives. A luminous, cerebral sanctuary, Library of Light fused architecture, text, and motion into a meditative theatre of thought.
6. Seletti
Above Seletti’s “Hotel Voyeur” installation at Milan Design Week 2025
Seletti’s “Hotel Voyeur” installation at Milan Design Week 2025
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American artist Tracey Snelling, known for her miniature buildings infused with video and light, brought her voyeuristic lens to Seletti’s Corso Garibaldi flagship. Hotel Voyeur transformed the store into a cinematic streetscape of glowing windows and peep-show vignettes. Displayed across a sculptural lamp and full-scale facade, looping video clips turned passers-by into both subjects and spectators—cheeky, uncanny, and unmistakably Seletti.
7. Loro Piana
Above The sunken living room setting at Loro Piana and Dimorestudio’s showcase evoked a sense of intimacy and quiet theatricality.
The sunken living room setting at Loro Piana and Dimorestudio’s showcase evoked a sense of intimacy and quiet theatricality.
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Above The bedroom scene at Loro Piana and Dimorestudio’s showcase during Milan Design Week exuded hushed opulence
Above The stylish lounge at Loro Piana and Dimorestudio’s showcase during Milan Design Week offered a refined blend of comfort, texture, and cinematic mood
The bedroom scene at Loro Piana and Dimorestudio’s showcase during Milan Design Week exuded hushed opulence
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Loro Piana x Dimoremilano’s La Prima Notte di Quiete at Cortile della Seta was a theatre without actors, where the stage itself—arranged as a linear procession of sumptuously furnished living spaces—took centre stage.
Above The indoor pool setting at Loro Piana and Dimorestudio’s showcase added a surreal, cinematic layer to the installation
The indoor pool setting at Loro Piana and Dimorestudio’s showcase added a surreal, cinematic layer to the installation
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Above The dining room scene at Loro Piana and Dimorestudio’s showcase during Milan Design Week was a study in expressive layering
Above The artistic chaos of the dining room scene at Loro Piana and Dimorestudio’s showcase during Milan Design Week captured a mood of curated disarray
The dining room scene at Loro Piana and Dimorestudio’s showcase during Milan Design Week was a study in expressive layering
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The show began in pitch darkness, guiding the eye through cinematic interiors with subtle lighting and ambient sound. Details—from the patter of rain, whispers of fabric and clinking of crystal, to the impression of a fight and shattered tableware—wove a narrative that, contrary to its title, delivered a decadently Italian drama that transcended language.
8. La Dolce Attesa
Manned by three attendants, one hidden behind the centrepiece, the installation admits two visitors at a time (Photo: Saverio Lombardi Vallauri)
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Oscar-winning filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty (2013), The Young Pope (2016) turned the entrance of Salone del Mobile’s Pavilions 22–24 into a liminal dreamscape about the act of waiting.
Designed with Margherita Palli and scored by Max Casacci using sounds of sea, forest and crystal, the installation La Dolce Attesa conveys the anxieties of medical limbo with poetic scenography, gentle motion, and a hidden heartbeat that pulsed through space.
Like a quiet ride through the subconscious, visitors entered a red-washed room two at a time and sat on slow-moving, 1950s-style chairs that glided them to the other side of the space—a slightly absurd and gently hypnotic experience.
Credits
Photography: Courtesy of Salone del Mobile and respective brands
Jakarta-born, Bandung-raised and Singapore-based, Asih Jenie trained in Visual Communication Design at Bandung Institute of Technology and Architecture at Parahyangan Catholic University. She brings both rigour and heart to design journalism, infused with a distinct Southeast Asian voice.
As a child, she doodled on the edges of her schoolbooks and never outgrew her fascination with all things well-made and well-told. Her 15-year career spans editorial roles and bylines in Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Australia, across spatial design titles such as Dwell Asia, Cubes, Design Anthology, Habitus Living, and Home & Decor.
After a brief stint in public relations, she returned to publishing in 2023 to lead Tatler Homes Singapore, where she continues to tell stories about how we shape the spaces that shape us.
