Storytelling with experiential design at Kohler’s exhibit by Yabu Pushelberg in Milan

With the return of Salone del Mobile 2024, the Kohler Co. exhibit is set to take centre stage and transport visitors to an immersive brand showcase in Milan that explores form, texture, and light. The exhibit booth is designed by Yabu Pushelberg, an international design studio based in New York and Toronto, that has since its inception evolved into a multi-disciplinary practice focusing on branding and positioning of interiors, lighting, textiles and product designs. In commemoration of the legacy of Kohler Co. and its subsidiary brands Kohler, Kallista, Kast, and Klaf, the design team at Yabu Pushelberg demonstrates an engaging adventure for visitors by combining aspects of art, design and well-being.

The rhythmic nature of flowing water symbolises calmness, adaptability, renewal, and persistence. Several products in the Kohler lineup dictate these aspects through form and function and hence serve as a strong conceptual backing for the entire exhibit at Salone del Mobile 2024. The Kohler display for Salone del Mobile.Milano will be hosted at Rho Fiera Milano as part of the Milan Design Week, the renowned annual celebration of global design and innovation in Milan, from April 16 to 21 this year.

The exhibit booth is segregated into a series of curved spaces for each Kohler Co. subsidiary brand—Kohler, Kallista, Kast, and Klafs. Each unit demonstrates the latest innovations in wellness design and technology, including innovative saunas, luxurious bathtubs, and showers fitted with sleek, futuristic faucets and fixtures. To emphasise personal welfare and to celebrate the company’s craftsmanship and quality, the exhibit further symbolises purity, renewal, and seamless integration of form and functionality, much like the brand’s product showcase.

The lighting design for the booth takes inspiration from the biological cycle of the sun and is modulated along a circadian rhythm. Special lighting techniques project visuals on the curved walls while the adjustment in the colour tone of the light highlights the displays and other design aspects of the booth. “As visitors move through the space, they are enveloped in an immersive experience that celebrates the timeless interplay between light, architecture, and the natural world,” states an official release from Kohler expressing the intentions of the design team at Yabu Pushelberg.

The exhibit is spatially centred around a lounge that dictates aspects of nourishment and rejuvenation while symbolising Kohler’s emphasis on the human experience. Intended as a palette cleanser, the lounge offers a space to contemplate and indulge in a curious journey of self-discovery for the visitors. The immersive experience conceptualised through the exhibit booth resonates with the design principles of both, studio Yabu Pushelberg and Kohler, promising to be a fine collaboration.

Stay tuned to STIR's coverage of Milan Design Week 2024 which showcases the best of exhibitions, studios, designers, installations, brands and events to look out for. Explore EuroCucina and all the design districts—Fuorisalone, 5vie Design Week, Isola Design Week, Brera Design District and Porta Venezia Design District.