Indian artisans at Alcova
A design residency driven by Indian artisans will present its second cohort at the 2026 Alcova fair during Milan Design Week, emphasizing craft exchange and showing how handwork is central to the week’s global identity. That’s a key counterpoint to high‑tech displays — it signals buyers and curators are still hungry for skilled craft narratives. (admiddleeast.com)
A quiet workshop outside Jaipur is ending up on one of design’s loudest stages: the Shakti Design Residency will show its second cohort at Alcova in Milan from April 20 to 26, 2026, with six new pieces made through collaborations between international designers and Indian artisan ateliers. (alcova.xyz) (shaktidesignresidency.com) (yahoo.com) The residency was founded by interior designer and philanthropist Shalini Misra, who works between New Delhi, London, and New York, and built the program so the finished work would debut inside the global design calendar rather than stay inside private workshops. (yahoo.com) (beamphora.com) That structure is unusually direct: emerging designers are paired with Indian craftspeople and ateliers, then spend time inside the workshops developing objects that can actually be exhibited and sold. (shaktidesignresidency.com) (yahoo.com) One of this year’s works comes from designer Lara Bohinc and the Jaipur studio Glass Forest, while another comes from Marijke De Cock with the stone atelier Frozen Music, where white onyx was cut into thin ribbons for a cabinet. (beamphora.com) (yahoo.com) The second cohort also includes collaborations with Vikram Goyal Studio, Jaipur Rugs, and other specialist makers, so the show is less like a single brand launch and more like a map of Indian making techniques translated into contemporary furniture and objects. (beamphora.com) (shaktidesignresidency.com) Alcova is the right place for that pitch because it has become one of Milan Design Week’s main discovery platforms, and its 2026 edition will spread across the Baggio Military Hospital Complex and Villa Pestarini with 131 exhibitors. (alcova.xyz) (designscene.net) The residency already tested this formula in 2025, when five pieces from its first edition were shown at Alcova, including lighting shaped by Mughal architecture and rugs woven with metal details. (dezeen.com) (architectureupdate.in) This year’s exhibition design is being shaped by Duyi Han, who took part in that first cohort, so the project is now feeding its own alumni back into the Milan presentation instead of treating each year as a one-off. (yahoo.com) (beamphora.com) The bigger shift is that Indian craft is not being framed here as background labor for luxury brands; the workshops, materials, and named artisans are being presented as the engine of the design story itself on one of the world’s busiest buyer-and-curator circuits. (shaktidesignresidency.com) (dezeen.com) (yahoo.com) And that is why a cabinet cut from Jaipur onyx or a piece developed with a rug atelier matters in Milan: during a week crowded with installations, technology demos, and brand spectacles, handwork is still being used as a ticket into the center of the international design conversation. (alcova.xyz) (dezeen.com) (yahoo.com)
