The Salone del Mobile.Milano and the Milan Design Week took place from 8 to 13 April 2025. In the review, you can find out which ideas are currently moving the creative minds and which concepts were particularly impressive.

Light has a system – and something to tell. A best-of of the new luminaires from Milan, from the Euroluce Biennale and the exhibitions in the city, with archaic materials and capricious personalities.

Yusuke Kawai has designed the ‘Kawara’ lighting collection made of extruded aluminium for Pedrali. In this interview, he tells us what traditional roof tiles have in common with his collection and why he appreciates the experiment.

The kinetic installation ‘Library of Light’ by Es Devlin is a Salone project with the Pinacoteca di Brera and the publishing house Feltrinelli: a rotating sculpture consisting of illuminated shelves containing over 2,000 books. The scenery is accompanied by the writings of pioneering academics and classical music. The artist and set designer gives us an insight into her work.

The internationally renowned fashion designer Jil Sander has reinterpreted Marcel Breuer's ‘S 64’ cantilever chair for Thonet. ‘Serious’ and “Nordic” are the names of the design lines with which she has given the tubular steel classic from the 1920s a new sensuality. In this interview, she tells us what was important in the process.

In parallel to the manufacturers' presentations, Milan will be hosting a large number of exhibitions and events over the coming week, both at the exhibition centre and in the city. We have created a personal selection for you and hope you enjoy discovering them.

During the Milan Design Week, COR is presenting ‘Kagu’, a chair with a very balanced design. Designed by Jehs+Laub, the Stuttgart-based design studio combines a cleverly constructed wooden frame with an upholstered seat shell whose movable backrest offers a high level of comfort.

Yves Béhar has rethought the washbasin for Laufen with ‘Volta’. In this interview, he tells us how he translated the dynamics of water into sapphire ceramic and why the world's first CO2-free electric tunnel oven influenced his design.

In cooperation with Messe Frankfurt, Stylepark organised a talk with Jens J. Wischmann and Malte Just during the world's leading trade fair for water, heat and air in Frankfurt am Main. The topic: ‘Solutions for a sustainable future: What trends does the ISH offer?’. Watch the video and find out more!

Quo vadis SHK industry? ISH, the world's leading trade fair for HVAC + Water in Frankfurt am Main, provides a broad answer to this question every two years. What is it and what could visitors discover in the halls from 17 to 21 March 2025? Our review.

The Designplus Award by ISH in collaboration with Stylepark honours outstanding developments and forward-looking ideas ranging from smart technology for efficient building control to pioneering products and resource-saving water use. These are the winners 2025.

When Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, supposedly ordered a yacht that runs on hydrogen, the excitement in 2020 was huge. It seemed that the technology had made it out of its niche after failed experiments as a form of propulsion for cars. The topic became virulent again after Russia's attack on Ukraine. What is the state of the debate?

The efficient sorting of used textiles is fundamental to the circular economy – reverse.fashion has developed an automated sorting system that uses artificial intelligence to save time and money. Dr Karsten Pufahl, Member of the Management Board, tells us how it works.

Prof. Ferdinand Ludwig is an architect and holds the Chair of Green Technologies in Landscape Architecture at Technische Universität München (TUM); he is also a partner at OLA Office for Living Architecture. In this interview, he talks to us about the uses of Baubotanik in the city of tomorrow.

The focus of Sofia Souidi's work is clearly on one of the greatest challenges of our time – it is about sustainability. In 2020, she was nominated for the German Sustainability Award for Design. As artist in residence at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, the designer is currently working on her project "Superwood".

The young designer Kateryna Basiuk works on new and sustainable textiles in Lucerne. For her ‘Silent Canvas’ project, she investigated the sound-absorbing structure of insects and transferred it to knitwear. A conversation about virtual textiles, local natural materials and what moth wings have to do with fibres.

With cardboard and tenacity: Berlin designer Pascal Hien founded his own studio last year after ten years at the Fabrica Research Centre, Steelcase and Konstantin Grcic. Hien's first designs for Tecta and Le Klint have just been launched on the market.

Anton Defant has attracted the attention of the design world with his Viennese thesis project entitled "Ballast". And that's not all he has to offer.

He works somewhere between design, sculpture and puppetry, says Simon Schmitz about his work as a luminaire designer. One thing is certain: The Berliner-by-choice is a tinkerer who stages light like a material.

In our series "Spotlight on Women Architects", we regularly present the work of female architects – such as Carme Pinós, who seeks a very individual expression with her buildings and furniture designs.

In our series “Spotlight on Women Architects”, we regularly present the work of female architects – such as that of Odile Decq, who seeks with her work to find an individual and holistic form of architecture.

In our series “Spotlight on Women Architects”, we regularly present the work of female architects – like that of Mariam Issoufou, whose work is drawing attention to African architecture.

In our series “Spotlight on Women Architects”, we regularly present the work of female architects – such as that of Anna Heringer, who is a true believer in clay building. She was recently awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for her commitment.

Aitor Ortiz is dedicated to the built world. His photography deals with architecture in the broadest sense: He is interested in details, structures, materials and angles. You will search in vain for the dissolving long shot in his pictures. In this interview, he tells us why this is the case.

With their project "Off the Grid", designers Eva Benamou and Antonia Gauss have developed a textile dyeing system with a pen plotter that bridges the gap between craft and industry. They explain the concept, which is inspired by traditional silk painting, in an interview.

How can AI applications be energy-efficiently optimised, for example for digitalised processes in the construction industry? Dr Mario Chemnitz explains his current research and points out the role that light fulfils in the process.

Visitors to the Biennale Architettura 2025 can experience the high necessity of climate-adapted urban planning at first hand in the German Pavilion. The International Architecture Exhibition as a whole is intended to serve as a dynamic laboratory that enables disciplines to work together to make cities more resilient, healthier and more liveable.