Marni meets the pastry shop
Marni has a collaboration with Milan’s historic Pasticceria Cucchi for Design Week that will put branded plates, milk jugs and sugar sachets into the café during the events (dezeen.com). The tie‑up is an example of fashion labels using local hospitality settings to stage small, tactile brand moments instead of traditional runway shows (dezeen.com).
Marni is turning Milan’s Pasticceria Cucchi into a branded café for Design Week, swapping the runway for plates, milk jugs and sugar sachets. (dezeen.com) The project opens during Milan Design Week, which runs from April 20 to 26, 2026, and continues until July 15 at Cucchi’s Corso Genova address in Milan. Wallpaper and Robb Report Singapore reported the activation as a three-month pop-up inside the historic pastry shop. (wallpaper.com) (robbreport.com.sg) Marni’s objects are built into ordinary café service: branded takeaway cups, sugar packets, plates and tableware used from breakfast through aperitivo. Dezeen and Istituto Marangoni both described the café as a stop for day-long Milanese rituals rather than a one-off showpiece. (dezeen.com) (istitutomarangoni.com) The setup puts a fashion label inside one of Milan’s established social spaces at the exact moment the city fills with Design Week visitors. Milan Design Week 2026 spans the city from April 20 to 26, while Salone del Mobile marks its 64th edition the same week. (dezeen.com) (businessofhome.com) Cucchi gives the collaboration a ready-made backdrop. The pastry shop says it was founded in 1936 by Luigi and Vittorina Cucchi, and VisitMilano describes it as a long-running institution in the Porta Genova area. (pasticceriacucchi.it) (visitmilano.org) The interiors carry their own history too. CAST and other local profiles say the venue began as a “caffè concerto,” and that its furnishings were last renovated in 1954, which helps explain why brands use it as a set without having to build one from scratch. (castuni.com) (mariandinmilan.com) Marni is not installing the space alone. Coverage of the project says Milan-based RedDuo Studio developed the environment, blending Marni’s colors and patterns with Cucchi’s existing rooms. (wallpaper.com) (fashionunited.uk) That formula has become common across Milan’s April calendar: brands use cafés, restaurants and other working venues as event spaces where visitors can sit, drink and handle the product. In the same 2026 guide, Dezeen lists Marimekko’s temporary osteria and Prada’s symposium among the week’s branded citywide formats outside a conventional showroom. (dezeen.com 1) (dezeen.com 2) For Marni, the pitch is local as much as visual: an Italian fashion house staging itself inside a Milan pastry shop that has served the city for nearly 90 years. By the time Design Week opens on April 20, the collaboration will be less a single event than a place to drop into for coffee, lunch or an aperitivo. (dezeen.com) (pasticceriacucchi.it)
