From 7 to 13 April, the festival takes place across a handful of districts, including Brera Design, Isola, Milano Durini, Porta Venezia, 5Vie and Tortona.
This year’s guide also features an interactive map to help you navigate the hundreds of events taking place in the city.
You can still get listed in Dezeen’s digital guide to Milan design week
Get in touch with the Dezeen Events Guide team at eventsguide@dezeen.com to book your listing or to discuss a wider partnership with Dezeen.
Standard listings cost £125 and include the event name, date and location details plus a website link. These listings will also feature up to 50 words of text about the event. Standard listings are included at the discretion of the Dezeen Events Guide team.
Enhanced listings cost £175 and include all of the above plus an image at the top of the listing’s page and a preview image on the Dezeen Events Guide homepage. These listings will also feature up to 100 words of text about the event.
For further display opportunities, including additional boosting in the featured events carousel and social media coverage, contact the Events Guide team at eventsguide@dezeen.com.
About Dezeen Events Guide
Dezeen Events Guide is our guide to the best architecture and design events taking place across the world each year.
The guide is updated weekly and includes virtual events, conferences, trade fairs, major exhibitions and design weeks. For more details on inclusion in the Dezeen Events Guide, including in our guide to Milan design week, email eventsguide@dezeen.com.
Dezeen Showroom: Danish homeware brand Vipp has released a modular kitchen with sleek fronts covered with ridged metal panels.
Named V3, the kitchen is made up of freestanding modules raised up on short cylindrical legs, which are available in kitchen island, wall unit and tall module formats.
V3 is a modular kitchen design with ridged surfaces
Front and side panels are decorated with panels of anodized aluminium that feature vertical ridges, while countertops are made from four-millimetre-thick stainless steel.
The V3 kitchen follows Vipp’s V1 iteration and shares much of its design, but black powder-coated steel was swapped for extruded aluminium, aiming to represent the brand’s experience working with the material.
It is available as a kitchen island as well as wall units
“With Vipp’s legacy of metalwork revolving mainly around steel, the V3 introduces a fresh take with its light, aluminium-first appearance,” said Vipp.
“Inspired by the material’s use in Vipp’s Chimney House and Shelter guesthouses, the elegant aluminium siding and rounded edges offer a unique aesthetic, while the underlying design language and stainless-steel countertop draw clear lines to the brand’s heritage.”
Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen’s huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.
Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.
Chameleonic British creative Henry Holland is a cult fashion designer turned ceramicist. In this interview, he tells Dezeen why he thrives on evolving and why he wears an Apple Watch that he hates.
Hailing from Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester, Holland did not find a linear route into the fashion industry at the start of his meandering career.
Rather, he used the linguistic skills he honed studying journalism at the London College of Communication to create the “fashion groupies” slogan T-shirts that put him on the map in the early 2000s. The clothing featured playful rhyming couplets about the industry’s key players at the time, such as “I’ll tell you who’s boss Kate Moss” and “Get your freak on Giles Deacon”.
Henry Holland runs his eponymous ceramics studio from Hackney, east London
“I think they resonated so much more with people because they could see that it wasn’t this huge conglomerate trying to monetise the fashion industry,” reflected Holland, who at the time was working as a fashion editor at the now-defunct magazine Bliss.
“It was a young kid who had no idea what he was doing,” he considered. “It was just making something for his mates to wear at a party.”
Party T-shirts quickly turned into global fashion brand House of Holland, which the designer founded in 2008 and helmed until it went into administration in 2020. For the last five years, he has immersed himself in ceramics, selling handmade homeware and lighting from his Hackney-based Henry Holland Studio since 2021.
Holland’s current practice is centred on nerikomi – a Japanese pottery technique that involves stacking coloured clay before slicing through its cross-section, revealing a distinctively marbled pattern.
Ceramics are “evolution of Holland’s visual identity”
Among the studio’s signature works is its stripy art deco mug characterised by a chubby, semi-circular handle – the first piece Holland sold via his Instagram account after discovering the nerikomi technique at home during the UK’s first pandemic-induced lockdown.
Earlier this month, the studio released its Galaxy collection of mugs and crockery created from clay offcuts from previous projects, complete with swirly patterns informed by the ancient art of Japanese paper marbling, or suminagashi.
Considering the move from fashion pieces to ceramics, Holland said, “it’s an evolution of my visual identity and sensibility”.
“The common thread between the things I do is something with intense personality,” he continued. “That can be an inanimate object, or a dress, or a piece of clothing.”
The Galaxy collection was released earlier this month
“One of the biggest compliments I ever got for my fashion work was when somebody described the dresses on the runways as looking like me,” said the designer.
“They were like, they just look like you, they have the same personality trait. And I felt that when I saw my ceramic work. The pieces were playful, they were cheeky, they were bold.”
Holland explained that a lifelong openness to creative innovation, rooted in childhood, has informed his patchwork career and instilled in him an appetite to switch up his professional medium.
“When my time with my fashion company ended, I didn’t necessarily see it as a negative,” considered the designer. “I saw it as an opportunity, and I was actually really excited about what it freed up and allowed me to do.”
“For me, the switch from fashion was easier, because I didn’t study it,” continued Holland. “I loved being a designer, it was the most fun I’ve ever had. But it wasn’t as if I woke up as a five-year-old and said ‘I’m going to be a fashion designer’.”
“I’m a very creative person and I’ve got millions and millions of ideas in my brain, and wherever they were going to be executed was still to be decided.”
Pottery is “therapeutic and meditative”
Holland cited pottery’s “cathartic, therapeutic and meditative” qualities as motivations to create ceramics – a growing trend over recent years amongst professionals and amateurs alike. He discovered the medium while considering a move into fashion consultancy.
“It found me at a time in my life when that was exactly what I needed,” he said. “The medium of clay forced me to not even think about my phone for eight hours.”
“Initially I thought that I could use all of my experience in the fashion world to consult and enter that more corporate space. But I immediately discovered that it wasn’t fulfilling enough for me to not be involved in the creative.”
Henry Holland Studio has quickly grown to include other homeware such as bulbous table lamps, decorative mirrors and personalised pet bowls, all finished in the designer’s marbled style.
“My biggest frustration now that we’ve built into a business is the lack of time I have to just make,” he quipped. “I bought an Apple Watch, which I despise, but it’s the only way that I can know I’m getting an email whilst I’m making.”
Holland’s pieces include stripy bulbous lighting
It is not lost on Holland that social media has played a significant role in his success. The designer sold his first T-shirt via a PayPal link on his Myspace account, while his ceramics were launched on Instagram.
“It’s an absolute privilege that you have a direct line of communication to a customer, and you’re no longer going via magazines or publishing houses all the time,” he said. “It’s still really important to focus on those elements, but you’re able to have a two-way conversation when you’re working with social media.”
“And it’s really important to understand that and to listen to what people are telling you and ask for advice, and ask people what they’re liking and not liking, and learn from that.”
Holland, who is part of the judging panel for the 2025 Dezeen Awards, considered the complexities involved in being an emerging designer today. He referenced his degree in journalism as an invaluable transferrable skill that has enforced his understanding of the importance of communication around brand-building.
“I think for a lot of young designers, they struggle when they realise that they are manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, content creators, figureheads and in some cases, celebrities. And they’re just like, what the fuck? How am I supposed to do all of that?,” acknowledged the designer, reeling off more titles – “fundraiser, CFO, accountant”.
“Having to get a grasp on all those different facets is really challenging,” he added.
“I would really encourage younger creatives to trust the process as much as they can, and recognise when an opportunity that presents itself is right for you,” concluded Holland. “Because that’s a skill in itself – recognising and understanding things when they appear.”
The photography is courtesy of Henry Holland Studio.
Dezeen In Depth
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This attractive and challenging puzzle fits in the palm of your hand and is a lovely object for your desk or bookshelf. Comprised of four interlocking stainless steel pieces, it’s a challenge for most to solve and therefore an interesting conversation piece. Available in brushed stainless steel or PVD black coated stainless steel, measures 2.9″ x 2.9″ x 2.5″ and weighs 1.5lbs.
The relentless progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, often leads to a devastating loss of motor control, including the ability to speak. For individuals in the late stages of ALS, communication becomes a profound challenge, isolating them from loved ones and the world around them. However, a glimmer of hope emerges from the realm of brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. Cognixion, a pioneering BCI company, has announced a clinical trial investigating the potential of its Axon-R headset to restore communicative abilities for these patients.
Designer: Cognixion
The Axon-R headset, at the heart of this trial, is designed to translate neural signals into actionable commands. It utilizes electroencephalography (EEG) to detect and interpret brain activity, allowing users to control digital interfaces through thought alone. This technology holds immense promise for individuals who have lost the ability to speak or use traditional assistive devices. The clinical trial, currently underway, focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of the Axon-R in enabling communication for individuals in the advanced stages of ALS. Participants are utilizing the headset to select words and phrases from a digital interface, effectively “typing” with their minds. The goal is to determine if the Axon-R can provide a reliable and efficient means of communication, improving the quality of life for those affected by this debilitating disease.
The Axon-R employs non-invasive EEG sensors, making it a potentially more accessible and comfortable option compared to invasive BCI technologies. The trial also specifically targets the communication challenges faced by late-stage ALS patients, aiming to restore their ability to express themselves. Another advantage is that the headset interfaces with a digital platform that allows users to select pre-programmed phrases or construct sentences, facilitating communication. And if successfully implemented, this technology could dramatically improve the quality of life for ALS patients and their families, providing a vital link to the outside world.
The implications of this trial extend far beyond ALS. If successful, the Axon-R could pave the way for broader applications of BCI technology in assisting individuals with other neurological conditions that impact motor function and communication. While the trial is still in its early stages, the announcement of Cognixion’s research underscores the growing potential of BCI technology to address critical medical needs. The hope is that this innovative approach will offer a new avenue for communication, empowering individuals facing the challenges of late-stage ALS to regain their voice and reconnect with the world around them. This trial is an important step towards a future where technology can bridge the gap created by neurological disorders, fostering greater independence and connection for those who need it most.
The eleven pieces featured in the collection all adopt an unconventional use of materials
Led by architect Lorenzo Lo Schiavo and artist Cléo Döbberthin, Palma is based in São Paulo, where each piece was designed and produced.
According to Domum, the selection “not only exemplifies Palma’s innovative spirit but also challenges conventional design philosophies with a playful twist”.
Materials such as sweet wrappers and coconut fibre are used to create a series of lighting and furniture
The 11 pieces in the collection all use unexpected materials and techniques which, according to Schiavo, is a core principle of their design practice.
“Our work is about developing and recreating techniques that interest us, a kind of reinventing of tradition,” Schiavo told Dezeen.
The Gambito chair features an ebonised featured made from eggshell mosaic
Eggshell mosaic features on several of Palma’s pieces in the collection, including the Mikado light and Gambito chair. White eggs shells were broken into tiny pieces and then painstakingly attached onto the resin surface one by one, creating an ebonised finish.
The Esfera lamps’ dappled metallic finish was constructed from layers of foil sweet wrappers. It was the result of an error in the design process, which Palma then embraced as part of the lamps final design.
“We’re very open to allowing mistakes in our design process so that our techniques can evolve in different ways, it’s a very crafty, make-it-up-as-we-go-along kind of process,” said Döbberthin.
The Esfera lamp’s surface was gilded with foil sweet wrappers
The Estrela floor lamp and Xandrez chair both use coconut fibre.
Commonly used on welcome mats, the material was wound around the lamp’s steel frame up to its fibre glass shade and features in a checkerboard pattern on the Xandrez chair.
The collection was presented by Domum gallery at Collectible fair in Brussels
A lighting piece, named Camelo, features a bronze cast cashew nut used as a dimming light switch.
Domum gallery wished to “celebrate Palma’s exquisite craftsmanship and innovative spirit” by unveiling the collection at Collectible design fair, now in its eighth edition at the the Vanderborght Building in central Brussels.
The lamp Camelo has a bronze-cast cashew nut switch
Collectible 2025 takes place from 13 to 16 March 2025 at the Vanderborght Building in Brussels. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
There is just one week left to save 20 per cent on your entry fees for Dezeen Awards 2025! Enter your projects now from just £100 per category entry.
We’ve frozen our prices this year and deliberately kept them among some of the lowest in the industry to ensure Dezeen Awards is affordable for all designers. Enter by 23:59 London time on 26 March so you don’t miss out on our discounted early entry fees!
To help you before the entry deadline, we’ve put together three quick tips on how to create a winning entry:
1. Great imagery: uploading captivating images makes a massive difference – an image can speak a thousand words and is the best way to showcase your project or product.
You can upload up to 10 high-quality gallery images and an additional 10 under supporting material, which includes architectural plans, allowing ample opportunities to tell a visual story.
2. Storytelling: describe your inspiration and concept by answering five easy questions in the online entry form but imagine you’re describing the project to a friend or family member to ensure you don’t use jargon! Highlight innovative techniques, materials and technologies used to construct the building, interior, or product but explain them in simple terms.
We’re looking for cutting-edge and innovative designs that incorporate original thinking or address a problem in a new way – so take this opportunity to tell us why your project stands out amongst the rest!
3. Be concise: let your passion for the project shine through while sticking to the important facts and avoid exaggeration.
Keep it short! If you’re struggling to answer the questions, start by listing five key details you want to share with the judges and expand on those points.
Follow these three steps and you’ve got the makings of a great entry!
Start your entry today
We have a new entry platform for Dezeen Awards 2025, so if you have entered before you will not be able to use your previous login details. Instead, you’ll need to create a new account with Evessio, which is simple to do.
For individuals and companies with 10 employees or fewer, it costs £100 per category entry. For companies with more than 10 employees, it costs £200 per category entry.
Take advantage of our discounted early entry fees and submit your projects by 26 March.
All the information you need to enter can be found here. However, if you have more questions send an email to awards@dezeen.com and someone from the team will get back to you.
Dezeen Awards 2025 in partnership with Bentley
Dezeen Awards is the ultimate accolade for architects and designers across the globe. The eighth edition of the annual awards programme is in partnership with Bentley as part of a wider collaboration to inspire, support and champion design excellence and showcase innovation that creates a better and more sustainable world. This ambition complements Bentley’s architecture and design business initiatives, including the Bentley Home range of furnishings and real estate projects around the world.
There’s a term popularly used to describe AI art today, a term called “uncanny valley”, which refers to that small valley between fake and real, where the mind can tell the difference. Sometimes movies overdo their 3D VFX so much that it falls in the uncanny valley, where it’s not bad, it’s not good, it’s too good – so much so that the brain knows it’s CGI. Today, we ask you to cross that uncanny valley. With KeyShot’s latest 2025 edition, we want you to show us how real you can make your renders. In essence, we want you to fool us.
Welcome to the KeyShot Photoreal Challenge, where we ask you to push the boundaries of realism to make a render so believable, we think it’s a photograph. There’s a catch, however. This challenge is all about transparent materials and light. We want to see light filter through transparent, translucent, or cloudy materials with sheer realism. Play with reflections, refractions, caustics, and more importantly, with KeyShot Studio 2025’s new Planar Lighting UI that allows you to very intuitively place lights around your scene the way you would place lights in real life for your product photography. The KeyShot Photoreal Challenge invites you to share either rendered images or a video with us, and winners not only get a free subscription to KeyShot Studio Pro, but they’ll also have their work shown on KeyShot’s startup window, visible to hundreds of thousands of designers using the popular rendering software!
Download the model provided by TITAN Watches or build your own model/scene.
Share the design (3 total KeyShot renderings or 1 ten-second video) to your Instagram account with the #KeyShotPhotorealChallenge and tag @yankodesign_official and @keyshot3d
Submit your Instagram links (you can share multiple entries till the challenge ends) at designchallenge@yankodesign.com by April 14, 2025.
NOTE: Only the entry links shared to the email address will be considered
Shortlisted entries will be asked to submit their KeyShot files before being awarded prizes
Timelines:
Challenge begins: March 14, 2025 Challenge ends: April 14, 2025 – 11:59 PST
Important Information
Download the Free Trial of KeyShot 2025.1 to participate.
Use Physical Lights (light materials applied onto objects and planes) instead of HDRI Environment Lights. The scene must make use of at least 2 physical lights.
Use of AI tools to enhance/modify your render will result in disqualification.
Prizes
Gold Prize x 1
A free year of KeyShot Studio Pro
A free year of access to KeyShot Studio Web OR KeyShot Network Rendering
Get your design featured on the KeyShot website and social media
Free access to a Will Gibbons KeyShot Master Class of your choice
Silver Prize x 1
A free year of KeyShot Studio Pro
Get your design featured on the KeyShot website and social media
Free access to a Will Gibbons KeyShot Master Class of your choice
Bronze Prize x 1
A free year of KeyShot Studio Pro
Get your design featured on the KeyShot website and social media
Honorable Mentions x 2
Get your design featured on the KeyShot website and social media
Rumor has it that the new Switch 2 will launch in June, and while it’ll probably be sold out for an entire year before us regular folk can buy one, I couldn’t help but wonder… why didn’t Nintendo ever embrace the RGB lighting trend with the new Switch 2? Gaming and RGB lighting are practically synonymous, and any good gaming brand worth their salt has at least one product with an RGB backlight targeted towards gamers; but not Nintendo.
So it was almost like kismet when I found these RGB Joy-Cons while browsing the internet. They’re real, they have RGB strips running along the side, and they’re compatible with the existing Nintendo Switch. Perfect to jazz up your old console while you wait for the new one to be available, these controllers are gorgeous, functional, and really put the word Joy back in to Joy-Cons!
Designer: UGR Tech
They’re essentially third-party controllers compatible with the Switch. It’s nothing new, Nintendo has a bunch of third-party companies who create accessories like dongles, transmitters, and other peripherals for the Switch. Just in case you feel the regular ones are a little too boring, swap them out for these bedazzled ones that come with glowing lights on the left and right, effectively giving your Switch a halo on the sides.
You can expect the same performance from these controllers as you would from the stock Switch Joy-Cons. There’s 360° control thanks to a 6-axis gyroscope, dual-shock response, all the buttons along with two extra ones on the bottom that act as ‘Turbo’ buttons for rapid-firing during games. The internal battery serves up 30 hours of gaming on a full charge, and given that this isn’t manufactured by Nintendo, there’s probably no joystick drift problem to deal with either!
The RGB Joy-Cons are available on Stack Social for a starting price of $30.99, that’s less than half the price of the original Switch Joy-Cons, which sell for $79.99 on the Nintendo’s website. Moreover, they come in a variety of colors, from standard grey, black, white, etc, to dual-tone variants like the signature Mario red and blue, and even this gorgeous purple and yellow colorway that matches Wario’s costume!
The EU country might have the 5th strongest passport in the world, but they also have the most gorgeous passport now, with this new design unveiled by Geneva-based studio RETINAA. Passports are usually bureaucratic necessities—stamped, dog-eared, and mostly forgotten until the next border crossing. But leave it to the Swiss to turn theirs into a work of art. Designed by Geneva-based studio RETINAA, Switzerland’s next-generation passport transforms a travel document into an intricate, almost poetic celebration of the country’s identity.
Switzerland has long been a champion of meticulous craftsmanship, whether in watchmaking, graphic design, or infrastructure. The new passport is no exception. RETINAA has woven the nation’s landscapes into the fabric of the document itself, using 3D-modeled reliefs that chart an imaginary journey from the Alpine peaks down to the valleys. Think of it as a cartographic love letter to Switzerland—each page unfolding like a travelogue through the country’s 26 cantons. And just when you think you’ve seen it all, ultraviolet light reveals hidden contour lines and architectural landmarks, turning the passport into a layered, interactive experience.
Designer: RETINAA
It’s a design that feels distinctly Swiss in its restraint and precision. Unlike passports that lean on flamboyant holograms or overtly nationalistic motifs, this one takes a more refined approach. The inner cover features a hydrological map, an elegant nod to Switzerland’s reputation as Europe’s “water tower.” With 1,500 lakes, countless rivers, and glaciers that supply six percent of Europe’s drinking water, Switzerland’s geography isn’t just picturesque—it’s essential. The passport embodies this reality, using water as a recurring theme to symbolize movement, connection, and continuity.
Of course, design isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s also about function. A passport must be a fortress against counterfeiting, and RETINAA has seamlessly fused graphic art with security features that push the limits of modern printing technology. Intaglio printing, microtext, and UV-reactive inks are layered into the visuals, creating a document that’s nearly impossible to replicate. The effect is both subtle and striking—an object that looks like it belongs in a design museum but functions as one of the world’s most secure travel documents.
Even the color palette plays a role. The traditional Swiss red cover remains, but inside, the pages shift through a gradient inspired by the country’s diverse landscapes. From the icy blues of glacial waters to the earthy tones of rolling hills, each hue reinforces the feeling of traversing through Switzerland itself. It’s a subtle yet powerful way of embedding national identity into something as utilitarian as a passport. I won’t lie, it made me look up eligibility for Swiss citizenship just so I could possess the document.
One of the most innovative security features is the way the illustrations themselves interact with light. Under standard conditions, the passport looks like an elegant travel document, but under ultraviolet light, hidden details emerge—topographic layers, water currents, and architectural landmarks that subtly reinforce the themes of movement and identity. It’s a perfect blend of form and function, where the very elements that make the passport beautiful also make it exceptionally difficult to counterfeit. Most passports and banknotes employ this technology, but none as elegantly and artistically as the Swiss passport.
This attention to detail isn’t surprising given Switzerland’s legacy in graphic design. The country pioneered the International Typographic Style—also known as Swiss Design—defined by its clean, grid-based compositions and functional approach to visual communication. That DNA is evident in this passport. Every element is intentional, from the typography to the placement of security features. Even the microtext, which might look like decorative detailing at first glance, serves both a security function and a storytelling purpose, incorporating references to Swiss history and geography.
You have to give it to the Swiss for this surprising new achievement. Now, apart from the alps, chocolate, cheese, fondue, and impeccable watchmaking, there’s one more thing that Switzerland is undeniably good at – designing the most gorgeously secure travel documents humankind has ever seen!
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