Milan Design Week Highlights

Milan Design Week has opened as a citywide event, with Salone del Mobile running alongside installations, talks and brand activations across Milan from April 20 to 26. (archdaily.com) The fair’s center of gravity is still Fiera Milano in Rho, but this year’s coverage points just as strongly to public courtyards, showrooms and neighborhood venues across the city. Fuorisalone’s official 2026 guide lists Milan Design Week from April 20 to 26, while VisitMilano says the program includes more than 1,850 events. (fuorisalone.it) (visitmilano.org) ArchDaily described the opening as a mix of exhibitions, installations and talks spread between the fairgrounds and the city, and design guides from Dezeen and Designboom both framed 2026 as an immersive, city-scale edition rather than a trade fair confined to one venue. (archdaily.com) (dezeen.com) (designboom.com) Fashion brands are taking a bigger share of that space. Fendi is using the week to present its Baguette 26424 Re-Edition, a 20-design collection tied to Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Fall/Winter 2026-27 debut for the house. (fendi.com) Fendi says the “26424” number is the original model code assigned to the Baguette when the bag was created in 1997, and the brand is offering six Milan exclusives during the event at Palazzo Fendi Milano. Other coverage says the Milan activation opened April 17, ahead of the main design-week run. (fendi.com) (flaunt.com) Ikea is making the crossover just as explicit at Spazio Maiocchi, where its “Food For Thought” exhibition runs April 21 to 26 with free entry. The company says the show pairs interior designers with chefs, and Wallpaper reports that it includes the world premiere of three products from the tenth IKEA PS edition, PS 2026. (ikea.com) (wallpaper.com) Wallpaper says those three preview pieces are an inflatable chair, a bench-rocking-chair hybrid by Marta Krupińska and a three-directional floor lamp, with the full PS 2026 collection due in mid-May. Ikea’s own event page says the exhibition is built around five room-and-menu scenarios created by five interior designers and five chefs. (wallpaper.com) (ikea.com) Representation is also part of the week’s framing. Wallpaper published a list of nine female creatives to watch in Milan and said women remain underrepresented and under-recognized in design and architecture, even as more of their work reaches major events. (wallpaper.com) That mix of furniture, fashion, food and identity is what defines Milan Design Week in 2026: a fair in Rho, a festival across the city, and a calendar where a sofa, a lamp and a handbag can all be launched as design objects in the same week. (archdaily.com) (fendi.com) (ikea.com)