Returning from April 20 to 26, 2026, alongside the Salone del Mobile, Fuorisalone features a rich program of events, exhibitions and installations spread throughout the city that every year makes Milan a reference point for contemporary design.

“Being Project” is precisely the theme of the Fuorisalone 2026 and aims to be, as the subtitle explains, an invitation to rediscover design as a human, dynamic and imperfect process in which people return to the center as interpreters of change. “Being Project” means recognizing that every creative act takes shape in the dialogue between thought and matter, between intuition and responsibility, and also becomes an opportunity to rediscover the depth of making. In a time dominated by speed and continuous production, design becomes again a place of knowledge, slowness and dialogue between hands, materials and cultures.

Fuorisalone Passport: the time-saving digital passport

Among the novelties of the 2026 edition stands out Fuorisalone Passport, a time-saver as defined by Paolo Casati, Co-founder and Creative Director of Studiolabo. It is the new digital platform promoted by Fuorisalone and developed by Studiolabo to simplify access to Design Week events that this year will be active for some of the events of the Brera Design Week.

Through a single registration on the platform, visitors will be able to obtain a personal QR Code to use to access a selection of appointments without having to register each time.

Fuorisalone Award honors the best of Milan Design Week

Also this year there will be the Fuorisalone Award, the prize that celebrates the best content and installations from companies and designers presented during Milan Design Week: 12 projects compete for the public vote, visible in a dedicated section of the Fuorisalone.it platform, while the joint work of the jury and the Fuorisalone.it editorial staff will focus attention on content relevant to the world of design, qualitatively innovative and rich in meaning. The selected projects will compete to win the 3 Special Mentions for the categories: Sustainability & Research, Technology & Innovation, Engagement & Interaction, to which this year, alongside the Special Mention Media Partners,  is added the Special Mention “Being Project”, which rewards the project that most significantly interprets the theme of Fuorisalone 2026.

The glo installation, created by Numero Cromatic, at Palazzo Moscova 

Previews of the Fuorisalone 2026 edition

Fuorisalone confirms itself as an important appointment for professionals, designers, architects and creatives, as well as for schools, universities and institutions. From bio-based materials, collectible design and high craftsmanship, new interpretations of living, emerging designers, hybridizations and dialogues between AI, physical and digital, the proposals of the 2026 edition clearly reflect the transformations of our contemporary world. 

Events will take place in iconic districts such as Brera Design District, Tortona area, Durini Design District, Isola Design Festival, 5Vie, Porta Venezia Design District, and in numerous other locations across the city.

Brera Design Week ©Chiara Venegoni 

Brera Design District presents the 17th edition of the Brera Design Week, one of the most attended events of the Milan design week that transforms the neighborhood into an open space between experimentation and research. The event involves professionals and brands already present in the area: 217 permanent showrooms, including 9 new openings. To these are added, as every year, investors, sponsors and temporary exhibitors, 200 already confirmed, which enrich the program, bringing the total expected to over 300 initiatives.

The image of Brera Design Week 2026 is entrusted to the illustrations by Chiara Ghigliazza

5VIE presents “QoT - Qualia of Things”, where Qualia are the subjective qualities of experience: the “red” perceived by each person, the unique taste of a fruit, the texture of a fabric under the fingers. These are not measurable data, but lived experiences, unique and personal. 

Isola Design Festival, now in its tenth edition, presents “TEN: The Evolving Now”, reinterpreting some of the most significant exhibition formats, introducing new collaborations with Designtech for a series of pavilions and with Materially for a dedicated exhibition. 

The Tortona area returns with a new look and a communication proposal aimed at bringing together and telling the different realities that animate it: Tortona Rocks, Tortona Design Week, BASE and Superstudio Design. 
The latter is the new project by Superstudio for Milan Design Week 2026 that redraws the map of the Fuorisalone with a distributed experience in three concepts and three visions: SuperNova at Superstudio Più, SuperCity at Superstudio Maxi and SuperPlayground in the new Superstudio Village. 

Superstudio Design

Porta Venezia Design District offers a rich panorama of brands, collectives and designers. The 2026 theme, “Design is act”, finds its roots in the thought of Tomás Maldonado, a key figure in twentieth-century design culture, who recognizes in every form and space the result of a dialectical tension between memory and possibility. 

Durini Design District, with the theme “Design Hospitality – Milan Style”, interprets hospitality as a cultural and design value capable of connecting design, the city and people. Distributed events, installations and showroom presentations complete a program that consolidates Durini Design District as a point of reference for professionals, investors and international stakeholders.
 

In the opening photo: "Serotonin - the chemistry of happiness", the immersive installation by Sara Ricciardi for American Express in the evocative loggia of the Pinacoteca di Brera