Fendi's new design prize
- Fendi launched its first Fendi Design Prize at Milan Design Week this year. (wwd.com) - Gustav Craft won the inaugural prize with 'Via,' a furniture collection inspired by Rome. (wwd.com) - The award shows luxury houses expanding into design curation and institutional recognition beyond apparel. (wwd.com)
Fendi has handed its first design prize to Gustav Craft, a Swedish product-design student, during Milan Design Week. (wwd.com) The award was presented on April 19, 2026, at the Fendi Casa boutique in Piazza della Scala in Milan, one day before the main run of Milan Design Week events began on April 20. (wwd.com) (dezeen.com) Craft won with “Via,” a furniture collection that draws on Rome and, according to reports on the project, references the city’s sampietrini cobblestones. The winner also receives €50,000, and the collection is slated to be produced and shown at Design Miami later in 2026. (wwd.com) (istitutomarangoni.com) Fendi said the new annual prize is meant to back emerging design talent, and the company tied the launch to Fendi Casa, its home and interiors business rather than its runway collections. The move places the Roman luxury house inside Milan’s biggest furniture-and-interiors week, where brands compete for attention well beyond fashion. (wwd.com) (fuorisalone.it) That matters in a market where luxury labels increasingly use furniture, exhibitions and design collaborations to extend their brands into homes, hotels and collectible design. Milan Design Week’s 2026 calendar again mixed fashion houses, architecture studios and industrial design brands across the city from April 20 to 26. (wwd.com) (theplan.it) The jury underscored that crossover. Getty Images captions from the April 19 event identified jurors and guests including Giulio Cappellini, Patricia Urquiola, Cristina Celestino and Neri & Hu alongside Fendi Casa chief executive officer Ramon Ros. (gettyimages.com) Craft is a third-year student at Istituto Marangoni Milano Design, which said his project turns Roman references into a contemporary furniture system. The school described the prize as international recognition for an emerging designer still in training. (istitutomarangoni.com) For Fendi, the prize gives the brand a recurring role as selector as well as sponsor: not just selling sofas and accessories through Fendi Casa, but choosing which young designers get money, production and a Milan platform. Gustav Craft’s “Via” is the first test of that model. (wwd.com)
