“Design is Milano is design.” This phrase was splashed all over Lombardy’s capital last week on colourful street posters that signalled the triumphant return of the global design industry’s main event: Milan Design Week 2022.

Commissioned by the local tourism agency, the posters are the work of Riccardo De Franceschi, the Milan-born creative director of London typeface design studio Dalton Maag. And just as their slogan suggests, there was hardly a corner of the city that wasn’t playing host to some sort of spectacle. Even as the temperature reached the mid-30s, it was the design scene that truly sizzled.

The biggest draw of the week-long design event was the 60th edition of the sprawling furniture expo, Salone Del Mobile, which was held at the Fiera Milano exhibition centre, where major design brands unveiled fresh products that provided insights into hot new colours (oranges, teals, and purples), materials (steel) and silhouettes (all things tubular). Meanwhile, in the EuroCucina section of the fair, there was equal focus on cooking as a science and as an art form, with innovative new approaches to range hoods, steam ovens, and storage solutions sharing space with sculptural new kitchen systems.

Heading into the 60th anniversary edition of Salone del Mobile at the Fiera Milano exhibition centre

One of the buildings on the former military hospital complex that hosted this year’s edition of Alcova

This main Milan Design Week 2022 event was rounded out by hundreds of additional displays installed all across the city as part of the Fuorisalone festival. One highlight saw a former military hospital complex on the west side of the city transformed into the avant-garde design exhibition Alcova, where established design studios like OMA displayed alongside experimental up-and-comers.

In other words, design was truly back in the streets, for all to see — taking over everything from the city’s piazzas to its bars. When we finally made our way to Linate airport to catch our flight home, we even found an Ettore Sottsass bookcase waiting in the departure hall. (Another Carlton room divider was also on display at the Triennale Milano as part of the museum’s triumphant Memphis Again exhibition.) Design is Milano is design.

Click through our gallery below to see a few of the Milan Design Week 2022 standouts that we encountered in between rounds of negroni sbagliatos at Bar Basso. (After all, with temperatures as hot as they were, we needed some refreshment.) And stay tuned for more coverage in print and online!

At one of this year’s prettiest pop-ups, Louis Poulsen reimagined popular café and pastry shop Taveggia as a launch pad for a new pale rose edition of its PH pendant.

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To celebrate the 50th anniversary of its Bambole armchair, B&B Italia collaborated with fashion designer Stella McCartney to debut a special edition covered in her “Fungi Forest” print.

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Cassina’s furnishings featured a very on-trend palette of oranges, teals and purples — three colours that got a lot of play throughout the week.

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Catchy advertisements made it hard to stay out of the loop about one of the week’s buzziest launches. All throughout San Babila, bright orange posters hyped Cassina’s collaboration with the late Virgil Abloh: a pair of modular black building blocks that can be arranged as a side table, bench or even an armchair.

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Foscarini displayed a conceptual project with Andrea Anastasio that reimagined historic ceramics with strips of light.

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Luca Guadagnino, director of Call Me By Your Name and A Bigger Splash, designed these rippling, Hockney-esque wall lamps for FontanaArte.

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Flos encouraged visitors to “See the Stars Again” in the brand’s exhibition out in Largo Isarco, where new launches included designs by the Bouroullecs (left) and Marcel Wanders (right) — not to mention a special 60th anniversary crystal edition of Achille and Pier Castiglioni Arco lamp. Stars indeed.

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On via Manzoni, the courtyard at the centre of Poltrona Frau’s flagship provided the stage for a spectacular mirrored pine cone of a pavilion designed by Greta Rosset. (Inside, Poltrona Frau celebrated its 110th anniversary with an immersive film.)

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INTERNI’s installation filled the University of Milan with installations, exhibitions and temporary architecture that adopted the theme of “Design Re-Generation.” One glowing highlight was Phoenix, a project by Jacopo Foggini and Beton Eisack that joined together recycled polymer and concrete to create a modern interpretation of architectural ruins.

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Scavolini’s booth was a EuroCucina standout, showcasing the brand’s first outdoor kitchen in a setting that mimicked a traditional Italian courtyard — complete with a perfect blue sky.

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Also on display at Scavolini was Luca Nichetto’s Jeometrica, a system that features doors framed with graphic aluminum accents.

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Elica showcased its ceiling hoods and its new LHOV (a three-in-one induction hob, hood and oven) in a lab-themed environment filled with glass beakers.

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Falmec’s Air Wall tucks a hood into a glowing backsplash accompanied by magnetic shelves that can be easily detached or rearranged.

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Daniel Libeskind’s Libeskind022 collection for Febal Casa features three different sizes of cabinets with intriguing fractal shapes.

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Yabu Pushelberg reimagined Dada’s 2004 Tivalì system with a new design that treats the kitchen like a stage — with curtain-like side doors that hide and then dramatically reveal the system’s inner workings.

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The Bouroullecs trained their artistic eye on sofa design with this contribution to Magis.

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At Poliform, this rounded seating system was just one of many marvels by the prolific French designer Jean Marie-Massoud that we encountered throughout the fair.

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Zanotta paid homage to the genius of Superstudio, the radical Italian architecture atelier of the 1960s, with its booth installation.

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Philippe Starck’s experiments with form were on view at Kartell, where he presented this interpretation of the common outdoor chair.

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One of the absolute standouts of the Salone was Mario Cucinella’s “Design With Nature” installation: an undulating stand that presented an exhibition of novel eco materials.

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Roche Bobois’s new showroom in Milan – and its multiple iterations of the iconic Mah Jong sofa system – is a wondrous feast for the eyes.

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Lee Broom created one of the most indelible offsite experiences with his “Divine Inspiration” show, featuring lighting inspired by brutalism and places of worship.

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Moooi made a comeback to Milan (after a nominal presence in September) with its “A Life Extraordinary” show featuring new wallpaper and carpet introductions and a whole new collection devoted to bedding.

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At the Hermès show, the jewel-box-like containers were as mesmerizing as the contents inside, which including lighting, textiles and furniture from a range of artisans and designers.

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At Tortona hotspot Superstudio, Lexus and lighting brand Aqua Creations got together for a brilliant showcase, designed by Germane Barnes.

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Moroso made a splash with a number of bold seating collections. Most evocative of all: the Pebble Rubble system by Swedish studio Front.

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A Canadian in Milan: Jeff Forest of Stacklab poses with his Stackabl light fixtures in the Isola design district.

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At Masterly, the recurring ode to Dutch ingenuity at Palazzo Turati, Cooloo x KULLAR showed off furnishings, like this wavy bench, coated with crushed and recycled materials (like denim, tennis balls and rubber).

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Sé at Rossana Orlandi is always a delight.

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Outside Rosanna Orlandi, Guiltless Plastic showcased finalists for the RO Plastic Prize, awarded to designers rethinking recycling by exploring new ways to work with materials.

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Nine types of onyx slabs formed the entrance to Monumental Wonders, a show at Alcova that showcased designs by OMA and Sabine Marcelis created with stone from Dutch brand SolidNature.

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Designed by Vancouver’s Lukas Peet, ANDlight’s Column pendants hung above Alcova’s Offcut bar.

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The Silo Collection by Lambert & Fils anchored Alcova’s other bar area, Caffè Populaire. Part lighting display, part water feature, the installation made for a calming centrepiece.

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At the Fondazione Prada, artistic duo Elmgreen & Dragset presented “Useless Bodies,” an exploration of our physical presence in a world that is increasingly digital.

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One of the exhibition’s standout spaces was an office filled with rows of drab cubicles. Upon closer inspection, many cubicles featured personal artifacts — everything from family photos to a Jordan Peterson book — that provided small insights into the individuals who might occupy them.

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Cheers to another spectacular Milan Design Week!

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