Architecture meets outdoor living in Tikal, the kitchen collection designed by Nicola De Pellegrini for Talenti. Inspired by the monumental geometry of the ancient Mayan city of Tikal, the design is defined by clean lines, strong verticality, and a distinctly architectural presence. Crafted in Italy from zinc-magnesium alloy, stainless steel, and aluminum, the collection pairs durability with refined aesthetics through concrete-effect porcelain stoneware surfaces.

Updated with new finishes, Tikal evolves into a versatile system that includes the warmth of wood in Tikal Wood and the luminous purity of Tikal White. Modular and highly configurable, it transforms outdoor kitchens into sophisticated spaces for gathering, balancing nature, function, and contemporary design identity.

 AXOR Archivio launch

Screenshot

Launched during Milan Design Week, AXOR Archivio celebrates archival forms and classical details reimagined for today’s interiors. The resulting collection that bridges past and present is quietly expressive, beautifully balanced, and crafted to feel at home in any architectural setting. Drawing from historic typologies and transitional design principles, AXOR Archivio unites soft silhouettes, flowing contours, and refined accents. Available with either distinctive bloom-like cross handles or sculptural lever handles, each product invites the touch and conveys a sense of calm precision.

“We set out to create a new icon for AXOR – an object that’s instantly recognisable and lasting. The collection looks to the past while presenting it through a refined, contemporary lens, achieving a seamless balance between past and future,” said Barber Osgerby, the designer behind the collection. 

With its elevated materiality, meticulous craftsmanship, and impeccably balanced proportions, the collection emanates a quiet yet unmistakably sophisticated luxury that is created for discerning interiors where design culture, architectural intention, and exclusivity come together in effortless harmony. “With AXOR Archivio, we are advancing our commitment to timeless design while expanding the architectural flexibility we offer to interior designers and bathroom planners. The collection’s harmony of form and detail demonstrates how enduring design can feel both familiar and refreshingly new,” Shared Olivier Sogno, VP of AXOR, Hansgrohe SE.

Across wash basin, bath, and shower applications, AXOR Archivio reveals a coherent design language. Cross handles with white inlays reinterpret traditional hot and cold markers with a subtle modernity. Smoothly curved spouts, bell-shaped bases, and thoughtful detailing speak to the craftsmanship behind the collection. Lever handles, with their natural rise and tactile invite, provide an equally refined alternative. Offered in AXOR FinishPlus surfaces, AXOR Archivio empowers designers to create bold contrasts or soft tonal palettes across a wide variety of configurations, including single-hole, three-hole, wall-mounted, and freestanding designs.

The signature three-hole faucet captures the essence of AXOR Archivio through its curved spout and softly shaped cross handles. Single-lever faucets come in a range of heights, while wall-mounted faucets are available in two- and three-hole variations with either handle style as well as in various spout lengths. The collection features a freestanding faucet for the bathtub as a visual standout, along with a wall-mounted bath spout and three-hole faucets for the tub.

AXOR Archivio encompasses concealed and exposed solutions for the shower, overhead and hand-held showers, shower sets and a porter unit, providing designers with comprehensive flexibility.

With its harmonious geometry, tactile principles, and broad adaptability, AXOR Archivio gives interior architects and bathroom planers a coherent design approach that feels timeless, expressive, and enduring across a full spectrum of bathroom ambiances.

A Brutalist Bathhouse by KOHLER

Kohler collaborated with Flamingo Estate at Milan Design Week to present The Bathhouse, a meditative environment exploring the creative tension that emerges from the convergence of opposing elements – nature and craft, geometric and organic, permanence and ephemerality. By bringing these elements into a state of balance, design becomes a pathway toward enduring and transformative personal wellness

Anchoring the installation was a monumental brutalist bathhouse, rising from a bed of untamed wildflowers and serving as a protective shell for quiet reflection. At the heart of the bathhouse, the new cast iron KOHER Reverie bath paired a timeless, understated form with a warm copper exterior, serving as an invitation to experience a deeper connection with nature.

“The Bathhouse is a meditation on ritual, nature, and the quiet power of materials,” said Richard Christiansen, Founder of Flamingo Estate. “We imagined a place where wildflowers, water, and light come together to create a sensory experience that reconnects us to the rhythms of the earth.” Surrounding the bathhouse, four custom, one-of-a-kind pollinator baths offered respite and hydration to pollinator species drawn into the installation by the blossoming flowers. Handmade by skilled artisans in Kohler’s historic foundry, the pieces are cast in iron and then flame‑sprayed with raw copper before the edges are finished to reveal two unique expressions of copper.

“For the Flamingo Estate Bathhouse, we wanted to explore the relationship between architecture and ecology, how design can create moments of care not just for people, but for the natural world around us,” said Michael Seum, VP of Global Design at Kohler Co. “The pollinator baths translate this idea into sculptural form, drawing from Brutalist principles on the exterior while softening into organic, nature informed surfaces within. It’s a reflection of our belief that design should hold space for both human ritual and environmental stewardship.

 Kelly Wearstler x H&M Home 

At Milan Design Week, H&M Home showcased a conceptual installation featuring key pieces from the Kelly Wearstler H&M Home upcoming collection. The display included an exclusive preview of objects from the collaboration, along with bespoke pieces in custom colours and sizes. Materials used for the collection include wood, metal, ceramics, marble, and textiles. This milestone marked a bold evolution for the brand, introducing furniture within a designer collaboration for the first time, complemented by smaller design objects. “This is my Milan Design Week debut, and H&M Home is the perfect partner,” shared Wearstler. “Their global presence and genius for storytelling align perfectly with my vision. Bringing this collection to life in Milan and showing people how the pieces come alive in a real space  –  that’s what excites me.”

“This collection represents many firsts for us. Having a presence at Milan Design Week has long been a dream, and with Kelly, we knew the moment was right,” shared Evelina Kravaev-Söderberg, H&M Home Head of Design & Creative. “H&M Home has a global presence, but with this milestone we want to make an impact on customers and the design industry alike in a new way. When we discovered the venue  –  the Palazzo Acerbi  –  everything fell into place.” Palazzo Acerbi is a near-mythic 17th-century Baroque palace that has long been closed to the public. Soaring columns and opulent frescoes at the venue created a striking juxtaposition with the collection’s bold contemporary aesthetic. 

Built on the collection’s concepts of daily rituals and modular synergy, the installation was produced by the acclaimed Studio Boum. The story of the installation unfolds as an immersive, choreographed journey through the senses. Each room revealed a distinct dimension of this multifaceted experience, elevating every sense into a sacred act that guides visitors toward presence and connection. The collection launches in stores this September. 

The Kelly Wearstler H&M HOME collection will be available from 3 September 2026 in select stores and online at hm.com/home

Chapter 1 by Loro Piana

In an ode to plaid, one of the House’s first finished products, Loro Piana’s showcase adopted a curatorial language that focused on the finished pieces while revealing the raw material from which it originates: fibre and yarn. Central to Loro Piana’s identity, these elements were shown alongside the processes that transform them. Technique took centrestage with embroidery, appliqué, handloom weaving, needle punching, patchwork, and screen printing that each carried its own gestures, rhythms, and connotations. Historic symbols and graphic elements sourced from the House archives reappeared throughout the selection, translated into contemporary compositions.

Gea by Visionnaire

Gea, named after the Greek word for “earth,” is a lighting collection that explores the dialogue between light and matter through a distinctly geological lens. Inspired by stratigraphy, the design translates layered rock formations into luminous compositions of rhythm and depth. Hand-crafted opal glass slabs, arranged in calibrated warm and cool tones, create a dynamic interplay of transparency, texture, and color. A central LED source animates each layer, producing shifting iridescent effects. Developed as a modular system, Gea expands into pendant and wall-mounted variations, offering a cohesive yet expressive family that reflects the brand’s commitment to material storytelling and innovation.

AREA by Foster + Partners x Kettal

Developed in collaboration with Foster + Partners Industrial Design, Area is a modular furniture system designed by Kettal to support a wide range of collaborative environments – from meeting rooms and co-working spaces to libraries and cafés. At its core, a structural aluminium column integrates power, data, and lighting, enabling adaptable configurations for both seated and standing use. Available in multiple diameters, it allows for flexible spatial arrangements tailored to different ways of working. A variety of tabletop shapes and sizes including round, rhomboid, and triangular, combine with a concealed beam structure that simplifies assembly while incorporating continuous cable management and optional power access. Material options range from timber and linoleum to Fenix, terrazzo, and marble, complemented by a series of integrated accessories such as screen dividers, lighting, and discreet connectivity solutions.

Erosion Collection by Zaha Hadid Architects X Neutra

The Erosion Collection investigates materiality, geology and sculptural form within a series of pieces combining ergonomic considerations with sculptural expression. The MINERA Table and BRANCH Console established the foundation of the collection in 2024 through the expressive use of natural stone; with erosion and geological processes inspiring the collection’s fluid forms carved from solid marble that explore the sculptural potential of natural materials. Evolving into a broader dialogue, the collection introduces six new pieces presented at Salone del Mobile 2026 that expand both the material language and spatial perception of the series.

Lutron

Within the refined context of Four Seasons Hotel Milano, Lutron created a controlled environment where light, shading, and architecture could be understood as one integrated system. Lutron demonstrated how its solutions shape the atmosphere, support the circadian rhythm, and enhance visual comfort across a space. These are not isolated features, but part of a coordinated system designed to perform seamlessly throughout the day.

Porro

On the occasion of Milan Design Week, on Wednesday, April 22, the Porro Milano showroom on Via Visconti di Modrone 29 hosted an immersive journey through a performance by the Milanese choreographer and director Isa Traversi, in dialogue with the installation by Piero Lissoni transforming it into an industrial landscape suspended between production and vision.

Salone del Mobile – From Aurea to Drafting Futures

Every year, Salone del Mobile gets bigger and better. This year, Aurea was conceived by Maison Numéro 20, a Parisian studio founded by Oscar Lucien Ono. The project took on the form of an imaginary hotel, divided into a series of rooms. Each room introduced a subtle variation of light, matter and atmosphere. Visitors move around freely, following a logic built on perceptions rather than functions. The spaces open up one after the other, like episodes, allowing an intimate and almost suspended dimension to emerge, in which design does not impose itself, but accompanies.

Kicking of the Drafting Futures series of talks was former identity Design Awards judge, Tosin Oshinowo, Principal Architect at Oshinowo Studio. Curated by Annalisa Rosso, Editorial & Cultural Director, Advisor of the Salone del Mobile, the series of talks brought together international speakers from the fields of architecture, design and research, fostering an open dialogue between diverse practices, contexts and visions. Held in the Drafting Futures Arena by Formafantasma, the programme spanned a range of geographies, disciplines and languages, developing as a space for the production of thought, where different disciplines do not merely coexist but intertwine to challenge established models and open up new perspectives.

A crowd favourite was Salone Raritas. Curated icons, unique objects and outsider pieces dedicated to collectible design, one-off pieces, limited editions and antiques brought in lots of interest. Hosted in the Pavillion 9 and curated by Annalisa Rosso, Editorial & Cultural Director, Advisor to the Salone del Mobile.Milano, with exhibition design by Formafantasma, in collaboration with Cleaf, the project bought together an international selection of galleries, designers and creators to create a space where extraordinary objects find a new context for engaging with the world of design.

The post Highlights of Milan Design Week 2026 appeared first on identity.

“Designers today are not just creating homes – they’re curating experiences,” says Omar Tabbara, Residential Head, Lutron Middle East. “With the Alisse keypad and S-Curve shades, we offer tools that support that vision – seamlessly integrating beauty, function and emotion into each space. We are proud to be part of the creative journeys led by this incredible design community.”

Lutron’s ecosystem, led by its HomeWorks system, allows effortless coordination of lighting, shading and scene-setting across every room and every moment. It creates harmony between architecture and lifestyle, offering unmatched reliability, precision and personalisation. 

As light continues to define the mood and movement of modern homes, Lutron invites the design world to see lighting and shading not just as systems – but as statements of sophistication.

Read more features here.

The post Light as a Design Statement appeared first on identity.