skip to main content

Biophilic design: highlights from milan design week 2024

in biophilic design

Trade shows and design events are occasions to get inspired and find ideas. From my perspective, I always look for insights that resonate with the notion of nourishing spaces, in a combination of biophilic solutions, durability, and conscious design.

Following are my highlights from Milan Design Week 2024…

layered details

Throughout the installations as well as the city itself, layered details consistently stood out. Temporary elements against historical features of the city, juxtaposed materials, tactile features… Communicating and complementing each other, layered details achieved richness and contrast while maintaining cohesion. Depending on the context, layered details took on different meanings, becoming a celebration of place specificity and local identity, fine craftsmanship, or an intentional focus on materiality.

Inspiring examples included poetic hand-carved wood, intricately sculpted and moulded pieces, flowers adorning the columns of a historical building, curated vignettes, as well as textures managing to be rough and elegant at once.

Shell shaped light fixture with rich texture.
Credit: Shailesh Rajput Studio – Ph: anooi studio
Flowers adorning the columns of a historical building.
Credit: Masterly – Ph: anooi studio
Vignette playing with tactile materials in brown tones.
Credit: Abrahamm Creative Studio – Ph: anooi studio
Hand-carved wood box.
Credit: Zanat – Ph: anooi studio
Vignette with tactile accessories in sand tones.
Credit: Karimoku Case – Ph: anooi studio

light and texture

Light and texture always elevate each other. Particularly charming were those interplays that intended to celebrate intricacy, which added unique dimension and interest to the space, directed conscious attention, and invited active engagement.

Thanks to light, textural qualities got new life, revealing details that become more evident when observed from close: the wrinkles and folds of paper, the porosity of stone, the fading colours in a gradient…

Backlit stone wall.
Credit: I Conci – Ph: anooi studio
Sconces with marble-like texture.
Credit: Shell Homage – Ph: anooi studio
Light fixture with wrinkled paper surface.
Credit: Davide Groppi – Ph: anooi studio

intriguing experiences

The most intriguing experiences came from spaces that seemed to live in a different dimension, spaces that created worlds of wonder and fascination while inspiring a sense of suspended time.

These installations crafted immersive moments by means of layout choices, tactile details, enveloping sounds, light and darkness, meandering pathways… Together, all design elements contributed to a defined atmosphere, ranging from peace and relief to mystery and exploration.

Pathway meandering among glass panes.
Credit: Lasvit – Ph: anooi studio
Glass light fixture against a period stone column.
Credit: Giopato & Coombes – Ph: anooi studio
Meandering trade show booth.
Credit: Atelier Vierkant – Ph: anooi studio