Milan Design Week 2025 was brimming with bold ideas and playful interiors.
From reimagined lighting fixtures to the resurgence of retro-inspired entertainment rooms, the design world is looking to the future while taking inspiration from the past.
If the trends that emerged are any indication, we will be seeing interiors infused with unexpected forms, vivid colours, and a sense of whimsy that bring art and functionality together.
Here are some of the standout designs that are sure to make their way into homes in the coming months.
Keeping it surreal
Playful design has officially been given the seal of approval, inviting a sense of surrealism and fantasy into our interiors. Seletti set the tone with its cheeky Hotel Voyeur lamp, blurring the line between art and lighting.
Louis Vuitton’s Objets Nomades collection followed suit with a series of joyful home accessories: a leather record player that bloomed like a flower, a retro-futurist pinball machine dreamed up with Pharrell Williams, and a luxury espresso set tucked inside a signature LV trunk.
The effect? High fashion meets high imagination.
Fornasetti, ever the masters of visual illusion, played with perspective and proportion.
Its latest collection took cues from 16th-century palazzos and planetary maps, shrinking opulent forms into miniature objets including lamps, clocks, dishes and candles.
Loewe unveiled Teapots, an exhibition of 25 teapots including vessels by David Chipperfield and Patricia Urquiola.
On show at Milan's Palazzo Citterio, they ranged from animal-shaped vessels to pots with faces.
In the world of childhood fantasy, Circu Magical Furniture made its mark with dreamy hot air balloon beds and imaginative play zones.
Appliances as art
The days of tucking appliances discreetly out of sight are firmly behind us. At Milan, they were shown not just as functional tools, but as collectible pieces of design.
Italian designer Elena Salmistraro led the charge with her bold collaboration for Signature Kitchen Suite. Her reinterpretation of the humble fridge blurred the lines between utility and art object. Think sculptural forms adorned in painterly motifs, with palettes echoing stained glass and surrealist murals. The result? Appliances that command attention rather than blend in.
Chandeliers in the spotlight
At Euroluce, Salone del Mobile’s international lighting showcase, the chandelier took centre stage.
Designers cast aside minimalism in favour of statement pieces that flirt with drama and sculptural flair.
Foscarini’s asymmetric Allumette light by Francesca Lanzavecchia offered a contemporary twist on classic form, while Lladró’s collaboration with British designer Lee Broom unveiled Cascade, a poetic cluster of porcelain lanterns suspended mid-motion.
Beyond the fair itself, lighting continued to steal the show. Boca do Lobo and Koket’s Outburst Chandelier blurred the line between contemporary art and opulent design, all gleaming spikes and theatrical flair.
Over at L’Appartamento, Artemest’s spectacular takeover of Palazzo Donizetti, Los Angeles interior designer Brigette Romanek created a richly layered dining room crowned with Venetian glass Michelle chandeliers by Bottega Veneziana.
If Milan taught us anything this year, it is that the ceiling light is no longer playing it safe.
Voluptuous seating
Get in the mood for a love affair with curves, comfort, and cocooning silhouettes in the form of sofas.
Lara Bohinc’s Anima collection stood out for its soft, organic forms inspired by the human body.
Meanwhile, Roche Bobois’s Bubble sofa was impossible to miss, and not just because of its signature marshmallow-like form.
The beloved design by Sacha Lakic was reimagined in a vivid palette of sky, moss, sun and fiery red by Pedro Almodóvar.
These very shades play starring roles in his latest film, The Room Next Door, featuring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore.
Oversized proportions and low-slung silhouettes dominated showrooms. Bentley Home’s Ashford Modular Sofa, designed by Carlo Colombo, stood proudly on an elegant suspended solid wooden base with upholstered leather cushions, with back cushions embroidered with the iconic Bentley diamond pattern.
Faye Toogood’s Bread and Butter collection for Tacchini features the Butter Sofa: an upholstered, sectional seating system.
“I wanted to create a chair as comforting, and as tactile as soft butter.
Modelling with slippery fingers, the modular Butter Sofa appeared. Everyday life is a thing of beauty. Sometimes you need go no further than the breakfast table to find meaning. Slice a loaf of bread. Look at it from a new perspective,” said Toogood.
Even minimalist brands embraced the plush. At B&B Italia, structured lines were softened with sumptuous upholstery and enveloping forms.
The message was clear, seating should not only elevate a space but welcome you in with open arms.
Seeing stripes
Stripes are stepping out of their classic confines and into bolder territory.
Nowhere was that more evident than at Teatro Litta, with the installation All the Things We Do in Bed by Egyptian-born, New York-based culinary artist and designer Laila Gohar in collaboration with Finnish lifestyle powerhouse Marimekko.
Eighteen individual beds dressed in plush, stripy bedding merged into one giant slumber party, draped in rich colours including a salmon-pink set that perfectly mirrored the theatre’s original ceiling.
Alongside the bedding, Gohar and Marimekko teased a coordinating collection of pyjamas and eyemasks, due to launch in September.
Stripes, checks and wiggles also made a fun appearance thanks to Colours of Arley’s fabrics, spotted at Casa Mina, and The Trattoria by Bitossi Home.
Let them entertain you
The entertainment room is making a decadent comeback, and this time it is dressed in retro glamour.
Loro Piana joined forces with Dimoremilano for the first time to unveil La Prima Notte di Quiete, an immersive installation that transformed the brand’s Cortile della Seta HQ into the set of a fictional 1970s villa.
Swathed in deep red velvet, leopard-print carpet and gleaming brass appliqués, the space channelled the cinematic charm of vintage theatres with a distinctly hedonistic edge.
At L’Appartamento by Artemest, London design studio 1508 reimagined The Entertainment Room as a 19th-century salon with a modern twist.
Evoking the refined interiors of the world’s most exclusive members’ clubs, the space was crafted to spark conversation and creativity; a moody, tactile cocoon that encourages guests to linger long into the evening.
From maximalist nostalgia to quietly luxurious hosting spaces, Milan Design Week proved that entertaining at home is to be taken seriously.
