Isola Design Festival 2025 captures the evolving zeitgeist of contemporary design

Returning for its ninth edition, Isola Design Festival, with STIR as its media partner, will open to the public on April 7, 2025, in Milan, Italy, with the theme Design is Human. The design festival, to be held during Milan Design Week 2025, has been organised by the digital and physical design platform Isola. Having evolved into a global platform by embracing fresh perspectives in contemporary design while staying true to its rootedness in human stories, heritage and hands-on creativity, this iteration of the design event pays tribute to Isola's origins with a theme that asserts the role of people in the design process. Exhibits at the design fair this year will explore various sub-themes such as social impact, environmental responsibility, functional design, locally sourced materials and the fusion of digital and artisanal crafts, to shape a new, people-centred design movement.

"Design is Human calls for a deep reflection on the relationship between people and design, to consider how design choices shape our lives, communities and the environment," affirms Gabriele Cavallaro, co-founder and CEO of Isola Design Group. The fair, open from April 7 – 13, 2025, will bring together various international designers, studios, creators and manufacturers within the district. "Designers must approach each project with a sense of responsibility, recognising the broader impact their work has on society and the planet. This means balancing creativity and innovation with a deep commitment to sustainable practices, ensuring that every design solution contributes positively to the environment and future generations," Cavallaro adds.

The upcoming iteration, having evolved over the years, will take place in an expanded venue within Isola. This year's new venue, BasicVillage—a former rubber factory located in the Eastern industrial heart of Isola, near the former Farini railway depot—will serve as the festival's centrepiece, with three carefully curated collective exhibitions highlighting innovative approaches to contemporary design. These include Conscious Objects, Isola Design Gallery and Openspace, all produced by Isola Studio's team led by creative director Elif Resitoglu.

With the participation of nearly 40 studios and designers, Conscious Objects is an exhibition that will engage visitors via disparate senses such as hearing, touching, tasting, playing and directly interacting with the showcases. An excerpt from the official press release quips, "Imagine a chair that works only when sitting together, objects that adapt to the user's needs or a table game with playing cards to taste." With confounding objects on display, the exhibition seeks to merge sustainable, functional and playful designs with digital, robotic and human craftsmanship. To help visitors gain an understanding of the processes behind the making of these showcases, the conceptualisation and making of the objects will be displayed on screens within the exhibition at Isola Design Festival 2025.

The second design exhibition, Isola Design Gallery, in its sixth iteration, is a showcase designed to celebrate unique and handcrafted products, collectible designs that tell a story and customisable pieces that grant an experience. With nearly 100 multicultural participants, the exhibition space will transform into an immersive showcase featuring contemporary interiors as well as speculative living concepts, thus highlighting the wide range of experimentation in interior design.

Lastly, Openspace is a setting curated for bespoke companies, brands and startups across industries such as circular design, material research and manufacturing, with a focus on craft, in-house production and digital hybridisation. The exhibition space will witness the presentation of the latest products and services while also serving as a platform for connection and collaboration between visitors and industry leaders. Further, the space will host a talk and workshop to append insights into novel materials, processes and technologies.

Some other events and showcases at BasicVillage include the introduction of a unique olfactory identity with three exclusive fragrances by Narici, an Italian perfume startup by Alessandro Commisso, and the second edition of ENHANCE, an exhibition curated by Juan Torres for DesignWanted, to exemplify the potential of design as a catalyst for change. The 10 winners of the Isola Design Awards, felicitated in November 2024 in Dubai, will also showcase their work in the 20th-century BasicVillage complex. Very Simple: Kitchen and Alex Proba will present collaborative modular steel kitchen designs. Meanwhile, SuperForma's reclaimable customised bar counter, appended with 3D-printed elements made from recycled PLA and Studio X's DJ booth, customised with handmade and colourful resin sculptural pieces in collaboration with Isola Radio, will exemplify sustainable material experimentation. Further, IAAD., Accademia Italiana and SAE Institute have organised Bravery Bar, an in-depth cultural and educational event designed through a joint project by 21 design schools to showcase inclusive and innovative designs.

Beyond BasicVillage, the Isola neighbourhood will host various other exhibitions, installations, lively events, workshops, live demonstrations and design talks, curated to activate the district and to engage visitors. One of these is Rasa — The Indian Collective, curated by Nidhi Chandak and Varun E S, part of Isola Studio's team based in India. The exhibition, featuring hand-blown glass, marble, textiles, terrazzo made from construction waste, sandstone, woven bamboo and woodwork by more than 15 Indian designers, celebrates India's rich craftsmanship and creative symbolism, reinterpreted through the lens of contemporary design.

Oculta Studio's Blurry Memories comprise the showcase of vessels in flux, indicating that everything—minuscule or monumental—crumbles. Federico Fiermonte's Roman Vases, on the other hand, are reinterpretations of the decorative elements of ancient Roman art in a contemporary style. Jack Brandsma's Fibre Fever! exemplifies material innovation by replacing conventional materials in existing designs with biobased alternatives and Lambert Kamps's Rollo Stars and Fat Furniture are a series of lighting and interior objects inspired by rising obesity in Western consumer society. Arno Hoogland's Deus Ex Machina serves as an ode to MDF via software that allows CNC milling machines to "dance" with the material, creating unpredictable, organic forms through an interactive dialogue between the designer and the machine.

Straddling the domains of the physical and digital, La Vie En Gloss, an installation—within Biblioteca degli Alberi—by Kérastase, is a contemporary greenhouse designed to serve as a backdrop for events, talks, performances and activations via augmented reality. “A digital filter will transform the floral setting into an immersive experience of lights and colours, blending the physical and virtual worlds,” an excerpt from the official release promises. Design Thinking in the Ethereum Age, another exposition, is an exploration of design, self-discovery and blockchain technology within the Ethereum ecosystem. Structured as a guided journey for visitors, each stage reveals new layers of artistic and technological interactions, revealing Ethereum’s potential for designers.

To drive interaction and collaboration, WORTH at ZonaK in Via Spalato 11 will showcase projects dedicated to promoting transnational collaborations between designers, creatives, manufacturing companies (SMEs) and technology companies. Studio Boot’s installation within the district will serve as a space for informal gatherings and for collaborations with companies, governments and designers in the field of applied arts across Europe. Some other showcases include Cross Pollination by students of Pforzheim University, SEKISUI’s Beyond Smart Life & Mobility and the Japanese design project NEW NORMAL.

Further, several studios, workshops and galleries located in the district will host open studios during the design week. Some displays include Andrea Barra's refined collection of materials and colours for a wireless QI charging base; Pietro Algranti’s material experimentation with wood, iron, salvaged copper, tools and handwork; Myriam Kuehne Rauner’s sculptural pieces; Michael Rechberger’s colourful sustainable textiles; and Caterina Maria Amato and Carlotta Nebuloni’s ceramic pieces, among others.

Isola Design Festival 2025 promises a myriad blend of culturally grounded, tactile and immersive showcases along with spaces curated for the presentation of objects and dynamic interactions among exhibitors and attendees for the design week ahead.

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.