Milan Design Week 2025

Milan Design Week 2025 was different this year… This was my fifth year attending the event as a non-professional, design enthusiast and for me, it was a major disappointment. Not to say that there weren’t amazing exhibitions, but it has become almost exclusively for the trade. Let me give you the run down on what is different about it, and what you can expect going forward.

The Good

As those in the design world know, Milan Design Week, Salone, is the preeminent design show of the year, worldwide. Nothing compares to the vastness of the experience, offering so many enticing exhibitions that you always leave feeling you missed something big because there is just too much for one person to see. It’s that kind of place.

Milan Design Week has been held for more than 60 consecutive years and therefore holds the title as the biggest, best and most innovative design show drawing the top vendors, manufacturers, artists, designers, creators and innovators to Milan, from around the world, each year.

It is guaranteed your mind is sure to be blown wide open. Whether through a provocative installation at Alcova, or a thought provoking exploration of Dimore Studio’s latest exhibition and collaboration, irregardless if you liked the work or not, it was definitely an experience that got you thinking in a different way than when you entered the building. That, to me, is what a design week should offer. And perhaps it still does, if you are in the trade (or press). But what about the students who want to become designers? What becomes of them? Where do they go to be inspired?

The Bad

Milan Design Week 2024 was also not fun, but for different reasons. There were so many people attending the event last year that you could wait for hours to gain access to an exhibit where you had to absorb an entire villa and it’s contents within 20 minutes, because they forced you to leave almost as soon as you had entered. That doesn’t leave you with a great feeling. And as I mentioned before, there is so much to see that spending 4 hours waiting in line for one exhibition is hardly worthwhile, no matter how great the exhibition might be.

Because of these long lines at Design Week 2024, I understand that changes needed to be made. This year, late March and early April, I began getting email invitations ahead of Milan Design Week to preregister for events and exhibitions, sometimes for any time during a given day, and sometimes for a specific time slot. I only received these invitations because I have attended their exhibitions in years past. If this year was your first Salone, you wouldn’t have even had that!

The exhibition I was most excited about was Artemest’s Appartemento. I did, actually, receive an email invite, but their capacity was reached immediately, and there was no way around this. I thought I would still try in person, but to no avail. Such a disappointment. This was truly the highlight for me of Milan Design Week 2024.

For many exhibitions, even if you preregistered, once at the venue, you were often sidelined if you weren’t a designer with a business license, gaining access to only a small portion of the overall showroom. Essentially, you were required to have a business license to access events that are supposedly open to the general public. I would no longer deem Milan Design Week open to the public, as it felt more trade only, though it isn’t publicised that way. It is moving in the direction of Paris’s Design and Objects which is a trade only event with a few general public events.

This, in addition to the inflated hospitality prices during Milan Design Week, makes it hardly worth attending, in my opinion. Side note, Milan Design Week is very dog friendly, except at Rho Fiera, for obvious reasons.

The thing is, I remember Milan Design Week’s of the past where they were practically begging you to come into their showrooms! And often you could meet the designer in person! (Milan Design Week 2022, hello!) What a change. The unfortunate thing about this new version of Design Week is how much up and coming artists and collaborators miss out! Design should be for everyone. Ultimately, we, the general public, are the consumers and our buying power, en masse, can make or break a brand.

Recommendations for Future Milan Design Week:

So, I hope that the future Milan Design Week’s can find a way to satisfy both the trade and the general public. This is what happens at Rho Fieramilano, the big convention centre and exhibition space also tied to Milan Design Week. Their model is: open to the trade Monday through Friday, open to the general public, Saturday and Sunday. This works. You buy a ticket, and mostly have access to more exhibitors than you have time to see. (Though their app could still use a bit of refinement.)

I think Milan Design Week, within the city limits, should take the same approach. Sell tickets to the trade, and tickets to the general public, allowing each group to have access to the amazing exhibitions, showrooms, artists and displays that has made Milan Design Week what it is today. Without this, it is just another trade fair, to the trade only.

Despite this rather negative experience at Milan Design Week 2025, if you were looking for access to new vendors who haven’t yet developed the fame and following of Artemest, Edra, or Rubelli, I did have some lovely visits with newer up and coming exhibitors, like Neutra, owned by the Busnelli family, who founded B&B Italia, which is one of my favourite brands.

Also, I never tire of a visit to Milan. I know not everyone feels this way, but to me it is truly the heart of creativity. It’s great for people watching because you are rubbing shoulders with the creatives themselves, and who can complain about Italian food. Also, I love even the parts of design week that aren’t notable, like the flower arrangements and the general beauty of the city. There is just something different about the way they do things in Milan.

3 Days of Design (Copenhagen)

You know where I can recommend going to attend a growing event with first class vendors but fortunately still underrated? Copenhagen’s 3 days of design. I attended in June of 2023 and I can verify, it is worth a visit. Copenhagen is a gorgeous city and they have their own design aesthetic that is very elegant and understated, prizing natural materials in an unfussy way that is truly stunning.