Milan Design Week 2026: A HAY-HAY Selection

At Milan Design Week, the question is never what to see, but what is worth seeing.

Every year, the city offers an overwhelming number of exhibitions, installations, and brand activations. The scale continues to grow, but what interests us at HAY-HAY is not the volume. It’s the perspective.

This selection reflects the spaces we believe deserve attention, not because they are the loudest, but because they carry a clear idea, a cultural context, or a distinct point of view.

A Focus on Cultural Narratives

At HAY-HAY, we are always drawn to projects that go beyond aesthetics. Design becomes meaningful when it connects to identity, heritage, and lived experience.

This year, that perspective is visible across multiple geographies.

Konel Inc. presents Pulse Pack, a wearable object rooted in Japanese philosophy. It shifts the focus inward, using design as a tool for awareness and calm - a subtle but powerful response to the overstimulation of modern life.

In contrast, When Apricots Blossom offers a deeply cultural narrative. Through textiles, rituals, and immersive storytelling, the exhibition explores Uzbekistan’s heritage and the resilience of the Aral Sea region. It is a reminder that design can carry memory as much as it creates new forms.

Regional Identities, Contemporary Expressions

Another layer we value is how different regions articulate their design language today.

Shared Matter brings forward Swiss design through collaboration showing how ideas evolve across borders, materials, and production contexts.

DOPIR, representing the Bulgarian design scene, focuses on tactility and perception. It invites the visitor to move beyond observation and engage physically with the work, reconnecting design with the body.

Budapest Select - Patterns of Being highlights Hungarian design through a balance of tradition and experimentation. It reflects an ongoing dialogue between cultural heritage and contemporary challenges, positioning design as both reflective and forward-looking.

Crossing Disciplines

Milan Design Week continues to expand beyond traditional boundaries, and collaboration plays a key role in this shift.

In Chasing the Sun, Yinka Ilori transforms space into a vibrant, immersive environment. His work merges art, design, and cultural expression into a unified experience centered around joy and optimism.

Similarly, A Softer World, presented by STEPEVI in collaboration with Swedish artist, Alfhild Külper, explores tactility and emotional space through textile. Built from leftover materials, the installation bridges craft, sustainability, and collective participation.

The collaboration between USM and Kasing Lung adds another dimension. Here, modular furniture meets narrative illustration, creating collectible objects that sit between design, art, and storytelling.

Why These Spaces Matter

What connects these projects is not a shared aesthetic, but a shared intention.

They demonstrate how design can:

• express cultural identity
• preserve and reinterpret heritage
• create dialogue between disciplines
• respond to emotional and societal needs

For us, this is where design becomes relevant.

This selection is not a guide to everything happening in Milan. It is a reflection of what we believe is worth engaging with right now. A mix of cultures, materials, and perspectives - each offering a different way to understand design today.