Material Obsessions 5/5: The Aftermath-Emerging Voices & Territories, Milan Design Week 2025
This is our final drop from Milan — the fifth and last instalment of our Material Obsession series. After tracing surfaces, hybrids, emotions, and global patterns, we land here: new voices, new geographies, and the emerging territories reshaping what design can be made of.
From cork labs and marble offcuts to bamboo installations and recycled composite innovations— these six projects offer a considered forecast of where material design is headed. Each reflects region-specific approaches, cross-sector collaboration, and a growing focus on the full life cycle of materials.
→ Explore Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
1. Prada Frames: In Transit – Prada x Formafantasma
Milano Centrale Station, Milan
Curated by design research studio Formafantasma, In Transit transformed Milan's iconic Centrale train station into a dynamic symposium exploring the infrastructures that underpin everyday systems—mobility, global policy, and climate justice. Held aboard the historic Arlecchino train and in the station's Royal Pavilion, the program emphasised dialogue over visual presentation, featuring speakers from disciplines including astrophysics, architecture, and activism. The event aimed to provoke critical awareness and responsibility through thoughtful design discourse.
Tocco’s Take:
In Transit addresses complex societal and ecological themes. By situating discussions within a moving train, the installation metaphorically and physically embodies the concept of progress and transition.
2. Casa Cork – Rockwell Group x Corticeira Amorim
Via Solferino 31, Milan
Rockwell Group teamed up with Portuguese cork leader Corticeira Amorim to create Casa Cork—an architectural deep dive into cork’s circular potential. Inside a Milanese apartment, the duo installed floors, walls, lighting, and even a replica cork tree, all made from reclaimed virgin cork bark. No glues, no fillers—just cork in its raw, responsive, and fully regenerable form. The space felt more like a living material lab than a showroom.
Tocco’s Take:
Cork is having a compositional comeback. By showing cork’s structure, insulation, and aesthetic value all at once, this installation proves it’s more than a bottle stopper.
3. Bamboo Encounters – Gucci x 2050+
Chiostri di San Simpliciano, Milan
Gucci's Bamboo Encounters, curated by Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli of 2050+, transformed the historic Chiostri di San Simpliciano into an immersive exploration of bamboo's potential in contemporary design. The exhibition featured installations by seven international artists and designers, including Nathalie Du Pasquier and Dima Srouji, each offering unique interpretations of bamboo's cultural, ecological, and aesthetic dimensions. From delicate glass-bamboo fusions to dynamic sculptural forms, the showcase redefined perceptions of this versatile material.
Tocco’s Take:
Bamboo Encounters exemplifies how traditional materials like bamboo can lead todays design challenges. By highlighting the materials adaptability and sustainability, the exhibition underscores it's relevance in future design narratives.
4. Desideria – Debonademeo Studio
Enhance, BasicVillage, Isola Design District
At this year’s Enhance exhibition, Debonademeo Studio introduced Desideria: a floor lamp constructed from Vitulano red marble bonded to a custom aggregate of travertine offcuts, crushed glass, and non-toxic resin. Engineered as a vertical composite, the structure explores formal purity while embedding material reuse into every layer. The result is neither ornamental nor purely functional—it’s a study in decontextualising waste from Italy’s stone and glass industries through high-precision craftsmanship.
Tocco’s Take:
Debonademeo represents a new class of Italian designers reprogramming regional surplus into future-facing formats—hyperlocal, materially literate, and ready for global scale.
5. Momentum – MAD Architects
Università degli Studi di Milano (Statale), Milan
At the Università Statale, MAD Architects presented Momentum: a mirrored steel cube set within the historic cloisters as part of Interni's Cross Vision exhibition. Developed in collaboration with Axa Immobiliare and Alts, the installation used material surface and lighting behaviour to create a dynamic relationship with its surroundings — reflective and opaque by day, translucent and illuminated by night.
Tocco’s Take:
Using mirrored steel and light interplay, static turns into active material — a reminder that material doesn’t need to be new to feel new.
6. Chroma Composites — The Mersus Collaboration
Enhance, BasicVillage, Isola Design District
Chroma Composites collaborated with Debonademeo at Enhance, curated by Juan Torres x Design Wanted, to unveil a piece that merges design innovation with cutting-edge recycled composites. Chroma’s process, inspired by principles akin to Japanese kintsugi, transforms industrial waste into unique materials through mineral aggregation and VOC-free resins. Their Mersus collection celebrates conscious craftsmanship: a modern take on terrazzo that bridges natural elements with regenerative narratives.
Tocco’s Take:
Chroma’s philosophy turns waste into a primary creative force, reframing sustainability as both an aesthetic and systemic value in design.
