Trenzar braiding collection at Alcova

A braid is usually a textile move, but Marlot Baus is using it to build furniture at Alcova during Milan Design Week 2026. (designboom.com) The project is called TRENZAR, and it is on view at the Baggio Military Hospital complex, in the Casa delle Suore C4 section of Alcova, from April 20 to 26, 2026. Alcova said its 2026 edition is its eleventh and is split between the Baggio Military Hospital and Villa Pestarini in Milan. (alcova.xyz) (designboom.com) Barcelona-based Marlot Baus developed the collection with Natalia Ortega of Worn Studio. Marlot Baus’s press material says nine artisans from Spain contributed work in wood, iron, ceramic, silver, embroidery, blown glass, and wicker. (marlotbaus.com) The basic idea is simple: instead of treating braiding as surface decoration, the designers use interlacing to organize how a piece holds together. Designboom described the collection as an exploration of braiding as both a construction method and an ordering principle. (designboom.com) That approach fits the setting. Alcova has built its reputation on showing experimental design in reused buildings, and its 2026 venues include a former military hospital complex and Franco Albini’s Villa Pestarini. (alcova.xyz) (designscene.net) Marlot Baus’s own framing is less about nostalgia than labor and touch. In its press text, the studio said the braid is a way to reclaim “gesture, patience, and respect for the material” through objects tied to domestic routines. (marlotbaus.com) The collection also extends Marlot Baus’s recent run at Alcova. A separate 2025 project by the studio centered on handcrafted tables and seating staged around everyday rituals, a thread that carries into TRENZAR’s focus on intimacy and making. (claudialongarte.com) (marlotbaus.com) In Milan this week, that means one of design’s oldest gestures — strands crossing over strands — is being tested in wood, metal, and fiber as furniture structure, not ornament. (designboom.com)