“Calling the Future” is the name of the project with which Cleaf, an Italian manufacturer of innovative surfaces and solutions for furniture and interior design, wanted to celebrate 50 years of activity, on the occasion of Milan Design Week 2025. The concept was developed through three projects: an event-installation at Pirelli HangarBicocca with art direction by Calvi Brambilla and Partners, the corporate showroom set-up by Vudafieri-Saverino Partners, and the booth at Salone del Mobile.Milano with Bestetti Associati. At the center of the three projects is the 1970s telephone booth, a symbol of time travel between tradition and innovation.

The event-installation at the Pirelli HangarBicocca

The Pirelli HangarBicocca hosted the striking event-installation by Calvi Brambilla and Partners: among “The Seven Heavenly Palaces,” a permanent work by Anselm Kiefer, a very long, sinuous table unfolded to represent the desire to connect people so that they can build the future together. The long table, as well as the 300 chairs, were specially made to design using some of Cleaf's finishes.

Prominent in the space, in half-light, was the yellow SIP telephone booth from the 1970s, also reproduced on a small scale in a hundred lanterns placed on the table.

Cleaf 50 “Calling the Future” at Pirelli HangarBicocca by Calvi Brambilla and Partners ph. Gianluca Bellomo

The layout of the Ccube showroom

The iconic SIP telephone booths of the 1970s also return in Vudafieri-Saverino Partners' set-up for the Ccube corporate showroom in Lissone, transformed, in the age of the smartphone, into four urban shelters made with Cleaf surfaces.

The entrance lobby, decorated with 1970s graphics, became the plaza that welcomes and leads to the four urban shelters: Outdoor Pavillion, an open and convivial gazebo; Sport therapy, an interactive locker room booth; Smart Office, an ideal space for digital meetings; and Acoustic Oasis, an intimate and quiet space.

Cleaf 50 “Calling the Future” at CCube by Vudafieri Saverino Partners ph. Gianluca Bellomo

The Cleaf booth at the Salone

The last phone booth of the “Calling the Future” project was at the Salone del Mobile.Milano in the center of the Cleaf stand, designed by Bestetti Associati. A symbol of a dialogue between past, present and future, the booth was placed in the heart of a labyrinth and invited people to stop and leave a message for the future through a temporal answering machine.

Two new finishes were presented at the booth: Matrix and Nebula. Matrice is a reinterpretation of the historic Matrix that began as sandblasted larch. The visual effect is of a matte surface embellished with shinier micropores, while to the touch it gives the sensation of an organic substance.

The Nebula finish is a dynamic surface, extremely soft to the touch, characterized by a series of shiny micro-details, contrasting with the opacity of the background.

Nebulosa Finish by Cleaf ph Davide Cerati

The values of tradition toward the future

Luciano Caspani, President and Founder of Cleaf, recalled his entrepreneurial adventure that began 50 years ago in Brianza, an area with a strong identity and a vocation for quality work, for the pursuit of beauty and excellence. An incredible journey, as he called it, undertaken thanks to the support of family and customers who believed in the company's products.

“In a globalized and ever-changing world,” Caspani said, ”the only key to managing uncertainties and overcoming future challenges lies in relationships, synergies with customers, suppliers, architects, and all the people who work with us every day in our offices in Italy and around the world. I thank my children Barbara and Roberto: it is also thanks to them that we have made it to 50 years. They are the present and the future of the company; they are the ones who will continue to tell this exciting and challenging story. They are the ones who carry the values of tradition into the future today.”

In the opening image, the installation at Pirelli HangarBicocca by Calvi Brambilla and Partners, photo by Gianluca Bellomo.