Light, legacy and care: Artemide Dialogues and Danese Milano at Euroluce 2025

Guided by its founding principles of innovation, sustainability and social engagement, 'design-oriented' lighting manufacturer Artemide returns to Milan Design Week 2025 from April 7 - 13, 2025, with an expansive programme of exhibitions, product design debuts, iconic re-editions of unique pieces designed by Gae Aulenti, Ernesto Gismondi, Vico Magistretti and Ettore Sottsass as well as meaningful collaborations with leading designers and architects. Rooted in the values of its founder, Ernesto Gismondi, the Italian brand continues to advance lighting as a tool for architecture, space-making, wellbeing and cultural dialogue.

Artemide Dialogues

Presented at Euroluce 2025 (Salone del Mobile - Rho Fiera Pad. 04, Booth C15-D10) and across Milan this year, Artemide Dialogues, the brand's 2025 collection introduces designs by Stephen Philips (ARUP), BIG, Foster+Partners, Herzog & de Meuron, Michele De Lucchi, Giulia Foscari, Carlo Colombo and others—merging material experimentation with advanced optoelectronics: A pioneering task light constructed from engineered bamboo, ARUP's Internode merges sustainable materiality with advanced engineering. Its spring-free joints and aluminium head ensure smooth, precise articulation. Designed for hybrid living and working spaces, it showcases Artemide's commitment to low-impact, high-performance lighting designs.

Architect Jakob Lange of Bjarke Ingels Group introduces Arctic at the ongoing design festival, a modular, mirrored light inspired by the crystalline structures of ice. Its geometric complexity refracts light to create a dynamic spatial presence. In Dusk, BIG captures the full spectrum of natural light—from dawn to dusk—through overlapping, gradient emissions that mimic the changing sky. This poetic wall-washer enriches indoor environments with immersive, circadian-sensitive illumination.

Inspired by quartz crystals, Auralia by Colombo, an Italian architect, is a collection of table and suspension lights featuring hand-blown glass diffusers in translucent or amber hues. Designed with optical precision and artisanal finesse, these sculptural designs offer a refined ambience and a tactile connection to natural materials. Conceived by Switzerland-based Herzog & de Meuron, Boltons combines a hand-blown glass base with a floating metal disc that reflects and diffuses light. Trois Rois, originally created for Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel, is a velvet-clad portable lamp design presented at the design event that brings softness and sophistication to intimate spaces. 

A disc-shaped lamp emitting soft reflected light, Cleomede by Italian designer and architect Michele De Lucchi pays homage to the mystery of cosmic illumination. The LED source is hidden within the disc, casting a subtle glow that enhances spatial mood without glare. Meanwhile, Criosfera by Foscari, draws from Antarctic ice cores—nature's archive of climate history. Composed of recycled blown glass and LED light layers, it translates scientific data into an emotionally resonant lighting sculpture, calling attention to the urgent need for global sustainability.

With Idyllium, Italian architect, designer and entrepreneur de Bevilacqua—currently president and CEO of Artemide and president of Danese Milano—presents an infinite, looping arc of light. The product features a modular design structure that plays with continuity and openness. Developed in collaboration with Interni for the Cre-Action lighting installation at the Filarete Courtyard in Italy, Tetras by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is a cross-shaped lighting module that can be repeated to form architectural grids of illumination.

Originally designed for Milan's Museo del Novecento based on a concept by Italo Rota and Alessandro Pedretti, Pedretti's Reflexus is now a modular lighting system combining ambient and accent lighting. It reflects and blends into its architectural environment, offering advanced flexibility for museums and public spaces. Crafted with blown and textured glass in a reinterpretation of the balloton technique, Neil Poulton's Alambicco is both decorative and functional. Its layered structure refracts and diffuses light beautifully, creating intimate lighting environments with elegance.

Originally designed for the Chedi Hotel in the UNESCO site of Hegra, Giò Forma's Laya is a portable lantern made of fluted glass and fabric skins. It combines delicacy and utility with an 8-hour battery life, USB-C charging and a timeless design ideal for both indoor and outdoor use. Inspired by seashells, Conus by OBR is a minimal, adaptable outdoor lighting system with 360° rotation. With various mounting options (post, bollard, stake), it provides architectural lighting for pathways and green spaces, balancing subtle form with technical precision.

First created in 1975, Alcinoo (reissue) by Gae Aulenti features a hand-blown glass sphere encased in a structured metal frame. Its theatrical light-play honours Aulenti's love for stage design and architectural drama, as witnessed at the design week. Further, Artemide reintroduces Sintesi, the first lamp designed by its founder, Gismondi. With a minimal Y-frame and adjustable reflector, it’s a timeless example of functional, democratic design.

Special collaborations:

Curated by Stefania Vasques and presented with Emergency, Humanity Lovers narrates the evolution of EMERGENCY through seven conceptual rooms: WAR, UTOPIA, CARE and more. The installation illuminated by Artemide uses light as a metaphor for dignity, resilience and peace. Featuring a sculpture by Luigi Camarilla and contributions from local students, Illuminiamo le terre di Maria, a collaboration with Crisi Come Opportunità transforms the site of entrepreneur Maria Chindamo's disappearance into a space of light, memory and rebirth. Architect Giulia Foscari, founder of UNA/UNLESS, presents Voice of Commons at the Venice Architecture Biennale. Artemide lights up this urgent environmental advocacy project which gives form to climate data and highlights the shared stewardship of Antarctica, the Oceans, the atmosphere and outer space.

Danese 2025 – Objects of Care and Nature

A modular bird feeder and water bath system designed with aesthetics and environmental responsibility in mind: Ori by Foster+Partners' interchangeable feeding tubes adapt to bird species and seasons, while its bold, graphic form doubles as a sculptural garden feature. Sculptural ceramic vessels supported by 3D-printed stilts, Vol by Martí Guixé redefines utility objects as conversational presences, straddling the boundary between nature and artifice, inviting reflection on nourishment and care.

Inspired by the Japanese philosophy of embracing flaws, De Lucchi’s Kintsugi consists of ash and walnut pieces joined by visible screws. The assembly process becomes a meditative act, reviving the dignity of the handmade in the age of automation. A poetic modular sculpture made from recycled engineered marble: Kengo Kuma's Ishi-Gumi encourages intuitive play and spatial engagement, referencing Japanese and Italian construction traditions. It’s a statement of sustainable design and cultural continuity.

"These projects explore light at every scale: as a structural element that complements and completes architecture and as a mobile, adaptable presence within spaces, shaping life and relationships. They are versatile, flexible designs, suited to a wide range of applications and bring high-quality lighting to every setting, both indoors and out," as the brand relays in an official press release.

Keep up with STIR’s coverage of Milan Design Week 2025, where we spotlight the most compelling exhibitions, presentations and installations from top studios, designers and brands. Dive into the highlights of Euroluce 2025 and explore all the design districts—Fuorisalone, 5Vie, Brera, Isola, Durini, and beyond—alongside the faceted programme of Salone del Mobile.Milano this year.