Isola promises an evolving roster of novel, emergent designs at MDW 2026

A hub for emerging designers, novel ideas and experimental outputs, the Isola Design Festival is celebrated for platforming materials and designs that are sustainable, human-centric, culturally moored and future-focused. The 2026 iteration of the design festival is now prepared to return to Milan, Italy, for its tenth edition, with immersive multidisciplinary showcases and discourses. Organised by the Isola Design Group, the design fair will remain open to the public from April 20 - 26, 2026.

As an acknowledgement and celebration, Isola Design Festival 2026 is themed TEN: The Evolving Now, marking its bygone decade of upward transformation. What began as a local event has evolved over the years into a full-fledged festival and a key district of Milan Design Week. The event now also has a dedicated digital platform and an extended global network.

“We actually started without the intention of gaining recognition. We were just a group of young people trying to make the most of an opportunity like Milan Design Week and find our place within it. Over time, everything evolved very organically—and to be honest, the most meaningful outcome is the community,” Gabriele Cavallaro, who founded Isola Design Group with Elif Resitoglu in 2017, told STIR in a recent interview.

Isola was born to address a clear gap in Milan’s design landscape: the lack of space and opportunity for young and independent designers to showcase their work. At a time when increasingly prohibitive costs were preventing people from participating in the design week, Isola emerged as an open, accessible platform to give these voices visibility and space. Even as the initiative has now grown into an international design network, with operations being grounded between Milan and Dubai, the founding spirit of the fair remains unchanged.

Reflecting these milestones and the initiative’s initial ethos, Isola Design Festival 2026 continues to place people, stories and local contexts at the centre of its curatorial vision. The tenth edition will mark both a return to and a continuation of that community-led approach, by revisiting some of the most successful past showcase formats and introducing new collaborations with key figures who have contributed to Isola’s history. Further, various creatives who were first platformed by Isola during their inceptive years will now return as established voices to the fair, while continuing to platform many young and emergent creatives.

STIR enlists showcases at Isola Design Festival 2026 that are equal parts experimental, inspirational and aspirational.

Isola Design Gallery: Reflecting disparate contemporary lifestyles

Returning this year for the seventh time, Isola Design Gallery’s exhibition will bring together a series of handcrafted objects, collectible design and customisable pieces that offer a glimpse into disparate contemporary lifestyles. For instance, Cezar Moldovan will present a project developed with the Romanian brand Arbore, translating architectural ideas into domestic objects, while STRATA will introduce handcrafted works combining wood, glass, mother-of-pearl and steel into layered, tactile compositions. Some participating designers and design studios include Abdalla, Byoung-hoon Woo, Cezar Moldovan, Elysanne and Eline, Famm, Jooyei E, Juri Nievergelt, Mano Design Studio, Maria Kostrzak Makos, Plazuli, Roseline El Jabbour, Sestra, Spinzi, Stanisław Stupkiewicz, STRATA, Szymon Keller, Valeriy Osmakov, Verce, Wm Metal Design and Yont.

No Space for Waste: Treating waste as value

Returning for its third edition this year, No Space for Waste will showcase objects that address themes explored in previous Isola exhibitions such as Materialized, Circolare and Is One Life Enough?. Amongst the projects to be showcased are those shaped by circular design principles, slow production processes and the reuse of discarded or underutilised resources. The exhibition is designed to highlight designers who promote more responsible approaches to production and consumption. Among the participants are studios such as Re-Edit, presenting a product reflecting on upcycling, bio-reengineering and woodcrafting, and Yubero Torno, whose collection is developed through traditional woodturning, a craft that values precision and respect for the material.

Rasa — The Indian Collective: A holistic view of ideation, process and output

Rasa — The Indian Collective is a celebration of India’s rich craftsmanship, reinterpreted through the lens of contemporary design. ‘Rasa’ here comes from a Sanskrit word that refers to the emotional experience evoked by creative expression. Featuring a wide range of experimental designs by Indian designers, the exhibition will offer an emotional journey through artisans' narratives, cultural continuity and innovation, thereby providing a holistic understanding of design inspiration, processes and outputs. Participating designers and design studios include Ananya Vijayendra, Arredatore, Artisanal Abode, Ashni, Eline Groeneweg Bhatt, Nikita Bansal, Padaipu and Spero Furniture.

The Dutch Atelier: Illustrating the evolution of Dutch design

The Dutch Atelier, first introduced during Milan Design Week 2022, highlights the importance of the Dutch community and its role in Isola’s global expansion. A curated selection of collectible objects and products displayed at The Dutch Atelier will illustrate how Dutch design principles and everyday culture inform the work of designers today, balancing identity, process and practicality. Participating designers and design studios this year include Atelier Oscar Greve, Dot Objects, Lidi Bus, Plura Studio and Studio Francesca Mueller.

Shape of Belonging: Tracing the links between identity and ancestry

Reflecting the exhibition's title, each piece showcased here will serve as a vessel for inherited knowledge and demonstrate, through craft and memory, how identity and ancestry are intertwined. “While cultures, languages and gestures may appear distinct, they often stem from shared human impulses. Expressed through contemporary forms and informed by established techniques, the exhibition treats craft as a universal language,” reads an excerpt from the press release. Shape of Belonging is the product of a collaboration between Isola Design and Oliwia Maria Studio, and the exhibition design has been undertaken by Kwiaty & Miut. Within the exhibition, one can approach the objects on display to examine their material techniques, their conceptual intentions or the interplay between the two, hence framing the path for more elaborate cultural and material narratives. Some participants include Aaron Scott, AB+AC, Aleksandra Zawistowska, Aneta Kocia, Camille Tan, Cedric Ceulemans, Clara Molina, Fenna Kosfeld, Formsophy Studio, Sarah Haukka and Vincent Laine, among others.

Default Is Not Universal: An interactive showcase to map divergent perceptions

Every object, space, creation and innovation can be perceived differently by different people, especially if these people emerge from disparate cultural and geographical contexts. It is this idea that the exhibition, Default Is Not Universal, addresses and encourages. Curated by Isola for Ithra – King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Default Is Not Universal rejects a single, fixed perspective. This will be reflected in the dynamic and interactive works on display at the exhibition. Visitors will be welcomed to engage with works by designers from the MENA region while also becoming part of the evolving installations themselves. These interactions will also be documented and translated into visual outputs, with the help of generative AI, so as to display diverse readings of the same designs and form a collective map of perception. Amongst the participating creatives in this exhibition are Abdulla Buhijji, Chafic Mekawi, Davina Atallah, Fajr Basri, Nermin Habib and Obliq.

The New State of Materials: An exposition of sustainable materials

The New State of Materials is a curated exhibition by Italian materials brand Materially. The exhibition is dedicated to showcasing material innovation and experimentation that are pivoted on sustainability, circularity and decarbonisation. Amongst the showcases that one can expect to witness at the fair offer alternatives to plastic and wood, smart and bio-based materials, metal finishes and second-generation solutions for both digital and traditional manufacturing. The event will be developed with technical support from Frem Milano and Parastruct, in collaboration with ADA Stecca. Further, the space will also host a programme of talks and panel discussions convening leading voices in the field.

Archivi Futuri: Mechanisms to archive for the future

Archivi Futuri will make its debut this year with a range of speculative objects conceived in anticipation of life beyond the year 2050. Amongst these, one can hope to explore designs that explore new ways of archiving emotions, cultural production and the state of the world through evolving technologies and methodologies. Co-curated by Isola and Italian designer Pietro Petrillo, the exhibition will bring together designers, studios and forward-thinking companies that investigate how knowledge, materials and processes can be preserved through AI, traditional craft and careful documentation. Some creatives who will showcase their work at the exhibition are Alessandro Pagura, Amit Hadar, Be(forma), Chris Zhou, Dong Zhang, Grace Qi & Lily Chen, Ilaria Critelli, Jiumo Wang, Malak Elzeftawy & Rana Ayman, Roya Abboud, Shiri Langer, William Mitchel and Yijia Zhong, among others.

Urban Collective Project: Collaborative design models to shape and reshape urban spaces

A new collaboration with Milan-based company Designtech this year will shape Urban Collective Project, a series of installations “scattered across the neighbourhood, each operating as a compact, expressive statement, an invitation to reflect on how we inhabit and shape urban space”. The project seeks to bridge the gap between innovation and digital fabrication and position them as practical, inclusive tools for new collaborative models. As part of the Urban Collective Project, three installations will dot Isola: Oasi in città by Aura, Corpo by nlcomp and Scandurra Studio and Maddie is in the Air by MadeInAdd.

Aura, a startup dedicated to ensuring better environmental quality in indoor spaces, will bring Oasi in città to the park near the Bosco Verticale. Their installation, conceived as a place for both passage and pause, is a nine-metre-long square installation that forms an immersive environment at the brink of urban life and nature. With a reflective exterior that blends with the greenery around it and a micro-ecosystem of vertical greenery that improves environmental comfort indoors, the installation demonstrates how nature and technology can work together to enhance air quality and wellbeing.

Corpo by Northernlightcomposites and Scandurra Studio is imagined as an urban device that is designed to be activated, hence transforming the square into a performative environment. With the usage of RComposite—a fully recyclable Italian laminate employed in the nautical and medical sectors—Corpo proposes a material that evolves and adapts, demonstrating how design can expand the possibilities of sustainable innovation.

Lastly, Maddie is in the Air by MadeInAdd will explore additive manufacturing. With the intention of promoting ease and inclusivity for designers, the installation hopes to highlight how the geometries enabled by additive technologies mirror structural principles found in nature and how these processes can begin with intuition rather than complex technical files. “Using technologies such as FDM, SLS and DMLS, the installation demonstrates how digital production can reproduce and scale these principles, revealing a continuity between nature, design and advanced manufacturing,” describes an excerpt from the press release.

Rising Talents: Spotlighting new, bold ideas

Rising Talents’ third edition will spotlight top students, recent graduates and emerging designers from around the world. Akin to previous editions, the final showcase is anticipated to be future-forward, bold and experimental. Various outputs of material experimentation, reinvention of everyday rituals and the interplay between form and function will challenge and invigorate audiences at the fair. Some designers whose work one can expect to see here include Anna Jaworek, Belinay Toglukdemir, Gagan Randhawa, Hagar Guri, Mr Johns Goods and Valerie Chua, among others.

Isola Design Awards winners’ showcase

The Isola Design Awards Winners’ Showcase will feature works by ten outstanding winners from its 2025 edition. During the event, an open call for the 6th edition of the awards will also be launched. This digital contest honours many young and upcoming designers across eight categories, namely furniture, seating, lighting, product, innovation, tableware and sustainability. The ten designers and design studios whose work will be showcased include Anton Kuzmin, Coima, Design Matter, Keren Sasson, Lorig, MOOQUE, Punxh Peerasin, Snorm, Sungjun and Yu Xinnan.

Scouring creative junctures within the district

Isola Design Festival manages to activate the entire district with exhibitions, installations, workshops, live demonstrations and design talks. Some product design highlights among these include Polish company .mdd’s curated lounge environments at Fondazione Riccardo Catella and Stecca3 designed for moments of pause and informal meetings; Lisbon-based ORA Home’s adaptive debut furniture collection inspired by coastal landscapes; AirPoise, a posture-responsive chair design by Tim Brennan; and Foot/Print EXP where one can come across new possibilities in footwear design through digital printing, material research and contemporary design.

Various immersive and experimental spaces will also activate the district. One of these is INTO THE WOOD, which will highlight the importance of forest ecosystems through crafted objects. Another installation, Light Our Fire, will arrive as a dynamic, luminous facade pavilion reflecting on energy, the future and our relationship with the planet. REBOUND – FROM WASTE TO CLOUD and Soft Monument – A Floating Common, will, on the other hand, address sustainability and immersive spatial experiences with a cloud-like landscape made of shredded mattress foam and a large-scale, immersive textile installation made using upcycled hot-air balloon fabrics, respectively. THE COLLECTOR’S ROOM will blur the boundaries between functional objects and narrative artefacts with design objects that are functional and evocative of memories, travels and personal taste. Lastly, exhibitions such as SOLIDIFIED: from matter to form will demonstrate material exploration, functional design and artistic expression through distinct objects, materials and ideas.

Further, amongst the cultural and educational programming within the district is Bravery Bar, an in-depth cultural and educational event designed through a joint project by 21 design schools. The programme for Bravery Bar includes two exhibitions, alongside installations, performances, workshops and a series of talks with brands and emerging talents. Another exhibition, Through the Looking Glass, will present projects and graduate works in glass, porcelain, stone, wool, water and air.

Open house: Studio, gallery and workshop visits

During the week-long event, various studios and galleries will open their doors to visitors to showcase diverse practices rooted in craft, material exploration and contemporary living. These include AlgrantiLAB with its furniture made out of reclaimed materials such as wood, iron, copper and aluminum; artist Myriam Kuehne Rauner’s exhibition Light and Shadows; Brussels House’s exhibition From Matter to Meaning where matter as a raw substance and a bearer of meaning will be explored; CASA NM3’s modular domestic landscape comprising a sequence of four rooms and referencing Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich’s Velvet and Silk Café; casa OZ opening up their private home; CIAM’s FreeGo° mobile refrigerated display designed by Marc Sadler; and rararà studio’s event Gozen celebrating the confluence of Italy and Japan through design. Others include furniture brand RivaViva, concept store ErnestoShop, wooden flooring and wall coverings brand Garbelotto Studio Milano, Baguette Studio with its live Le Labo lamps collection, DESIGN KOSOVA’s Local Shapes curatorial platform for culturally-rooted designers, IAMMI’s UNIT-01 installation made from recycled 3D-printed elements, The Industrial Design Association’s culturally rooted showcase and University of Montenegro’s MOCK UP JUNK LAB, which reexamines the aesthetic and social potential of discarded and secondary materials.

A platform for all things new, bold and experimental, now in double digits

Isola has, over the years, continued to remain emblematic of fresh ideas by emerging, often young creators. With its upcoming showcase marking its tenth edition, Isola’s tribute to and hope for new ways to think and do design, as well as carve a space to platform divergent and experimental ideas, stands especially relevant against the slew of AI slop and the quietly seething desire for more original creativity.

Stay tuned for exclusive coverage and highlights of Milan Design Week 2026 and Salone del Mobile.Milano 2026 on STIR. Tap here for regular updates on all design districts, including Fuorisalone, Brera, 5vie, Isola and beyond.