The Milan Edit by STIR x The Third Space: Design and people beyond the Milanese fair

What stands out amid Milan’s annual celebration of design is deeply personal and somehow oddly difficult to quantify. For one week, when Milan offers itself with the aplomb and force of a weather system, becoming equal parts exhibition, performance, reunion stage and endurance test, the exhibiting designers unveil, re-veil; manufacturers scout; students observe; journalists sprint; visitors power walk; and everyone, from exhibitor to visitor, at some point, claims to have discovered something ‘new’. Amid launches, theatrical installations and decisions about what requires attention, there are also subtler exchanges fostered in the (subjective) moments that linger longer than the design fair itself: sometimes inadvertent; often impactful.  

Hosted by Devika Khosla (Indian interior designer and co-founder of New Dehi-based The Works Interiors and host of The Third Space Podcast), The Milan Edit by The Third Space in partnership with STIR, is a series of conversations with renowned global creatives, recorded during Salone del Mobile.Milano and Milan Design Week 2026 (from April 20 – 26, 2026). Across design, architecture and creative curation, the dialogues steered away from the finished objects and towards the intimate ideas, habits, convictions and contradictions that shape and sustain creative practice over time.

What does it mean to lead a century-old company today? How does architecture hold memory and care to conceive future spaces? Is wonder an ingredient for enduring designs? Featuring voices including Maria Porro, Ross Lovegrove, Tosin Oshinowo, Marcel Wanders and more, 14 conversations trace the values, observations and creative philosophies that continue to influence contemporary design, proffering, perhaps, a more intentional way of reading and retaining the design proffering of Milan itself.

Watch all the conversations below:

Maria Porro | The Future of Italian Design & Salone del Mobile

As the youngest and standing president of Salone del Mobile.Milano and marketing & communications director of Porro, Maria Porro, recalls her background in set design, and reflects on the registers of leadership, legacy and what it means to steward both a 101-year-old company and one of design’s largest public stages. The conversation moves through the evolving nature of contemporary Italian design, the democratic spirit of the Milanese furniture fair, intentionality in creative practice and how staying ‘real’ is her secret sauce.

“Good design and good connections are what we need.”

Lina Ghotmeh | Archaeology of the Future

The Beirut-born, Paris-based architect Lina Ghotmeh speaks about the joy of space and of architecture as an act of care—one rooted in heritage, belonging to the ground and emotional possibility. From her philosophy, ‘Archaeology of the Future’, to her pop-pink, labyrinthine installation Metamorphosis in Motion at MDW 2026 and reflections from her new book Windows of Light (2024), the conversation considers how spaces might urge a slowing down of time, to make inhabitants feel more present and in-tune with their surroundings.

“It’s about empathy… my idea is not to dictate how you feel in a space I design; but to open up potentials and possibilities of interaction.”

Marcel Wanders | Where Design Meets Emotion

In an animated exchange at Moooi’s 25th anniversary celebration at the design festival, conceived in collaboration with Superstudio Design,  Marcel Wanders reflects on storytelling and the enduring case for wonder in the quotidian. The renowned Dutch designer elaborates on his products existing between spectacle and sincerity as well as creating them to make life ‘amazing, spectacular and one big party’. His belief that our most human quality may simply be our willingness to remain delightfully silly is furthered by his trust in the younger generation, as he reveals.

“Design is our way of making the mundane extraordinary.”

FormaFantasma | On Design, Research, and Responsibility

For Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin of research-led studio Formafantasma, design begins long before form. In a reflective discussion spanning cultural responsibility and the faceted conditions shaping contemporary creative practice, the Italian designer duo reflect on their vision for the Prada Frames symposium this year, while advocating for a more investigative approach to design—one attentive to the economic, ecological and cultural systems it inevitably participates in and/or is complicit in. What has emerged from their journey to date is a view of design as a discipline concerned as much with how we live as with what we make.

“Rather than looking at what separates disciplines, we’re interested in looking at the common ground.”

Ankon Mitra | On Origami, Geometry & Parametric Design

For Indian designer, architect and researcher Ankon Mitra, the ‘fold’ is a creative ethos, a formal gesture and a way of thinking. Working at the intersection of origami, mathematics, computation and spatial design, a practice he terms ‘Oritecture’, the conversation traces nearly two decades of material experimentation with regards to folding, from porcelain and glass to wood, paper and mushroom leather, and considers how the act of making and steady research continue to shape his work, apart from reflecting on his site-specific installation for next125 at Superstudio Più this year.

“[While] we are open to using tools and machines, we like to think that most of the making should happen by hand—it remains very much part of the project’s expression.”

Nicoletta Brugnoni | Inside Rossana Orlandi's Design Universe

Among the bustle of the iconic Rossana Orlandi Gallery, Nicoletta Brugnoni, co-founder of the Milan-based gallery, gives Khosla a walkthrough of RoCollectible 2026 and its exploration of Porte: doors imagined as thresholds, boundaries, entrances, exits and fleeting moments of encounter. Moving between works by leading designers including Patricia Urquiola, Maarten Baas and Joost Van Bleiswijk, alongside a closer look at Piet Hein Eek’s cupboard-heavy interpretation, the conversation offers a candid reading of how collectible design continues to expand beyond the object itself.

Fadi Yachoui | On Contemporary Design & Creative Expression

Surrounded by his newly presented collection at Rossana Orlandi Gallery, architect and designer Fadi Yachoui reflects on his early education in design and the journey that shaped his creative practice today. Through sculptural rattan furniture that places craftsmanship and handwork at its centre, Yachoui speaks about reviving a disappearing making tradition in Beirut and sustaining local knowledge through contemporary designs. Moving between process and philosophy, the conversation considers why younger designers might benefit from prioritising experience, intentionality and remaining true to themselves over pursuing aesthetics alone.

“If you want to stand out on international platforms, you have to be true to yourself, and your pieces should reflect who you are as a person.”

Roberto Sironi | On Craft, Culture & Contemporary Design

For architect and designer Roberto Sironi, material is a vessel for memory. Reflecting on Future Memories, his collection presented at Rossana Orlandi Gallery in collaboration with Japanese carpentry firm Sansui, he shares how reclaimed, ancient wooden beams, traditional kigumi joinery and centuries-old craftsmanship can be reimagined into contemporary wooden furniture. The conversation at the Milanese gallery considers heritage, nature and the varied stories embedded in materials, revealing a practice that approaches design as an act of preservation as much as creation.

“The idea isn't to design a piece, but to design a story.”

Watch this space for upcoming conversations with:

Carlo Colombo
Tosin Oshinowo
Mario Cucinella
Marius Myking
Ross Lovegrove
Giulio Cappellini