Richard Yasmine offers Vessels of the Intangible at Milan Design Week 2026

Interior architect and product designer Richard Yasmine will present his latest body of work, Vessels of the Intangible, at Milan Design Week 2026, as part of 5VIE Design District. To be showcased from from April 20 –26, 2026, the contemporary design collection marks a new chapter in his practice, positioning lighting design at the intersection of collectible design, art installation and theatrical experience. “[Vessels of the Intangible] investigates the latent dimension underlying perception and the emotional and sensory undercurrents that precede cognition, revealing the hidden architecture of experience as sensation arises before interpretation and feeling precedes thought,” the studio notes.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Yasmine continues to draw deeply from the cultural and emotional complexity of his surroundings. His work navigates the boundaries between the personal and the collective, often addressing themes of vulnerability, identity and societal taboos. By collaborating closely with local artisans, he bridges traditional craftsmanship with contemporary conceptual design.

Vessels of the Intangible, rather than representing the body anatomically, interrogates the sensory and emotional undercurrents that precede cognition—those fleeting, often ungraspable moments where feeling emerges before thought. Each product reimagines one of the five sensory organs—the eye, ear, nose, lips and finger. “Manifested as sculptural light, the works become vessels for what eludes immediate apprehension: the afterimage of sight, the resonance of sound, the lingering trace of scent, the imprint of touch and the expectancy of taste, translated into states of memory, longing, desire, anticipation and resonance,” notes the official release.

The collection comprises ‘characters’ such as The Eye—the Daydreamer, which “drifts in quiet nostalgia, suspended between dream and memory, seeing what others avoid. The tear is not sorrow, but memory made visible, as they look not at you, but through you”; The Nose—the Instinctive, “precedes thought, moving through sensation alone, raw, immediate, almost animal. Drawn to tension, danger and desire, the piercings do not defend but seduce”; The Mouth—the Seducer, that which “does not whisper, but declares. Blooming, adorned, unapologetically present, seduces through excess and allure. The bubble it holds is not silence, but a desire on the verge of becoming”; The Finger—the Desirer, which “reaches before asking, touches before knowing, guided by impulse yet driven by control. The ring is not a promise but a question of possession, suspended between restraint and surrender”; as well as The Ear—The Listener, that “receives what is never said, echoes, vibrations, presences, even absence, carrying them as weight. The adornments are not decoration but accumulation, traces of what has been heard”.

Crafted using a wide range of artisanal techniques—including metalwork, blown glass, embroidery, leather, wood and enamel— reflecting the contemporary designer’s ongoing commitment to material experimentation.

“Vessels of the Intangible shifts the locus of the work from object to encounter, where what matters is not what is seen, but what is felt,” mentions the press release.