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British stage designer Es Devlin has long been a go-to collaborator for artists like Beyoncé and U2 — and during a Milan Design Week when theatricality was one of the industry’s main fascinations, her Library of Light installation proved to be just as big a draw as a stadium tour. Commissioned by Salone del Mobile, the set-up introduced a circular 18-metre-wide bookshelf into the Cortile d’Onore courtyard, which links three major cultural institutions: the Pinacoteca di Brera, the Braidense National Library, and the Brera Academy of Fine Arts.

A statue surrounded by a circular bookshelf within a historic courtyard.
Photos by Brian Wong
The Library of Light installation by Es Devlin during Milan Design Week 2025 featuring a rotating bookshelf with a screen displaying excerpts from the books shown.

As the glowing shelves rotated, carousel-like, around an 1811 bronze of Napoleon Bonaparte, they showcased some 3,200 books from Milan...

Es Devlin Launches a Celebrity Book Club During Milan Design Week

Following in the footsteps of Oprah and Reese Witherspoon, the stage designer leveraged her star power to spotlight great literature.

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