Located a little ways away from the general hubbub and manic energy of Milan Design Week in Italy's preeminent capital of design, Alcova has always tended to set itself apart, literally and figuratively. The experience of design for the platform is as much a question of the setting as it is of the works put forth. “Fifty per cent of Alcova’s success for me is due to the choice of location,” said Valentina Ciuffi, one of the founders and curators of the showcase, about Alcova’s 2022 iteration. Veering away from the founders’ fascination with industrial buildings reclaimed by wilderness—in a way creating a dialogue between the idea of ceaseless productivity, contemporary design and the ultimately ephemeral nature of the products we consume—the works in 2024 were arranged in two historic villas, Villa Borsani and Villa Bagatti Valsecchi. This allowed the showcase to focus on a renewed idea of domesticity through site-specific artworks and provocative interior layouts within these residential architectures.

For their eighth iteration at Milan Design Week 2025, the Italian design platform that “investigates the future of living and making” will be housed in four locations. Along with the two residences from the 2024 edition, installations and projects will also populate two new venues—the former SNIA factory and the Pasino Glasshouses. In a return to what has become a thematic red thread for the curators, these spaces underscore the idea of nature’s reclamation of the built environment. Adding to this idea of nature and regeneration, the public programme for this year’s design festival at Alcova will be curated by Design Academy Eindhoven in collaboration with German bathroom solutions manufacturer KALDEWEI under the aegis “Are We Going in Circles?” This year promises to offer visitors “an eclectic journey, showcasing the work of established and emerging designers,” according to the official release, since the platform has established itself as something of a major patron for independent design, experimenting not only with their choice of talent but with the format in which these are presented.

Last year’s showcase within the villas was an invitation to think about and question the idea of domesticity and the objects that make a home what it is. While Villa Borsani, designed by Italian architect Osvaldo Borsani in 1945, was meant to be emblematic of modernist architecture, representing radical modes of living in the post-war era and a break from classical forms and motifs, Villa Bagatti Valsecchi represented 19th-century ideals of the home, replete with grand halls, intimate alcoves and expansive formal Italian and English-style gardens. This year, that mode of questioning is expanded to look at the rationalist architecture of the industry with the SNIA factory, abandoned almost 20 years ago and currently in a state of disrepair. On the other hand, the Glasshouse, located within the grounds of Villa Bagatti, adds another layer to the design exhibition that will be staged there, questioning how nature was subject to control in the Victorian era. The glasshouse, as the official release notes, was once home to one of Europe’s largest white orchid cultivations.

In response to this memory, Polish designer Marcin Rusak will exhibit a site-specific work, Ghost Orchid, evoking the flora that once flourished there. Apart from Rusak, the weathered glasshouse will host sculptor David Aliperti’s designs from the Mother Tree series; the installation titled Soft Horizons by New York-based research and design studio Objects of Common Interest in collaboration with Greek Marble; sculptural designs by Istanbul-based designer Sema Topaloğlu Studio; and terracotta-focused experimental design and research hub Terraformæ. With some of the exhibitors working with botanical themes for their projects, the greenhouse—abandoned, decrepit and loaded with vines growing over its broken glass panes—will come alive again in an uncanny recollection of the space’s former glory.

In the opulent 19th-century setting of the villa, the diverse displays and installations bring forth new relationships between different living spaces and a contemporary understanding of materiality, craftsmanship and innovation. These include offerings by Amsterdam-based designer Aleksandra Jakuć, Tbilisi-based product design studio Basetale, a collaborative project by food art studio AnanasAnanas and Milan-based design and research agency Parasite 2.0 and, lastly, a group show of Belgian designers by Belgium is Design. A debut collection by Istanbul-based Studio Lugo draws from Anatolia's rich agricultural past, using handwoven Kutnu fabric by Kutnia Crafted Fabrics to a present a striking visual narrative reflecting on the continuity of heritage. Also within the historic villa, a new collection by Bohinc Studio, Betsy will be presented; alongside furniture designs by Bokrijk | VAKlab x Michaël Verheyden; lighting designs by Darmes, Diaphan Studio and Brooklyn-based Forma Rosa Studio; and a collaborative project by Jean-Baptiste Durand & Waiting For Ideas. Works conceived by five global designers in collaboration with some of India’s most skilled ateliers as part of Shakti Design Residency, along with a project by marble company MAQSTONE in collaboration with Leo Lague, will be part of the diverse, unmissable works within the historical setting.

The Alcova Design Shop will also be set up in the villa in association with the creative media agency nss edicola. Each work within the elaborate mansion hopes to not only to underscore novel ideas of what it means to inhabit a home today, taking into account circular design, the non-human and experimental materialities, but in the 19th-century context, appears as a provocation against the otherwise orderly, conventionally beautiful displays offered by most trade events.

The radical interiors of Villa Borsani will come alive with artefacts that critique a stringent obsession with order and minimalism. Among the noted exhibits are works by CHELEBI, midcentury Italian artist Salvino Marsura’s furniture pieces, Kiki Goti + Office of Tangible Space’s installation A Human Touch, a presentation by Japanese designer Ryuichi Kozeki and new and limited edition pieces by Soft Witness. Some of the most thought-provoking works on display subvert the premise of the home as the private sphere by contending with politics and culture through design. The neglected space of the industrial building for SNIA, which becomes the fourth location for Alcova’s expansive showcase, hopes to allow visitors to dwell on the nature of decay and reclamation of order by wilderness.

The former factory will host works by Burg Giebichenstein University for Art and Design Halle, Decibel x Vizcom, Habitare, Ranieri, SPREAD and Warm Weekend + Mathias Palazzi + Robinson Guillermet. The sawtooth skylights—markers of a distinct industrial language—let in ample natural light, and the crumbling walls lend themselves to a distinct setting for the more refined and meticulously planned displays within the space.

As Joseph Grima reiterates from a conversation on Alcova's 2024 display, “We think that Alcova is not much about convenience, but more about creating a unique experience and a unique way of presenting design in a different way.” With its highlight on the setting through which design is experienced—away from the crowd yet with a robust roster that warrants an entire day to immerse oneself in—perhaps the spaces become a way to decongest from the events at the heart of Milan. If design is meant to be shaped by our experiences, then through the manipulation of architectural memory and the layering of the novel, the refined and the picturesque over settings that feel discarded and dilapidated, Alcova forges a radical lens through which to consider design events.

Keep up with STIR’s coverage of Milan Design Week 2025, where we spotlight the most compelling exhibitions, presentations and installations from top studios, designers and brands. Dive into the highlights of Euroluce 2025 and explore all the design districts—Fuorisalone, 5Vie, Brera, Isola, Durini and beyond—alongside the faceted programme of Salone del Mobile.Milano this year.