Faro Barcelona responds to that demand in 2026 with three collections designed by Xavier Carrasquet that share a common orientation: outdoor luminaires with decorative intent and technical rigour, capable of generating characterful atmospheres without compromising visual comfort or the nocturnal ecosystem. Toba, Nara and Saga are pieces that understand light as a compositional material — warm, directed, contained — and the exterior as a space that deserves the same care as any interior room.

Toba: the string light that became a luminaire

String lights belong to the imagination of domestic exteriors: small lights suspended between trees or above a terrace that turn the night into celebration without greater pretension. Xavier Carrasquet took that everyday typology and asked what would happen if it were given the same attention as an architectural luminaire. The result is Toba, designed for Faro Barcelona.

Toba is formed by silicone discs of 18 cm in diameter — a flexible, resilient material conceived for outdoor use — that filter light through their layers. An internal opal diffuser distributes the illumination homogeneously, generating a warm light free of glare. IP65 protection guarantees its use in demanding environmental conditions. The form, a succession of stepped planes that widen downward, gives it a discreet and recognisable sculptural presence.

The discs are available in beige, terracotta and brown, three tones drawn directly from Mediterranean landscapes. Their function goes beyond the structural: they act as chromatic filters that subtly tint the emitted light. When several pieces of different colours are combined in a single composition, they recreate the gradation of the Mediterranean sunset — from vivid orange to the warm white of dusk. Suspended at different heights or aligned in sequence, they trace a gentle rhythm across the nocturnal landscape that accompanies architecture and vegetation without competing with them.

Toba works both as an individual suspended luminaire and in garland-type compositions, allowing lines of light to be drawn between trees, pergolas or architectural elements with the same freedom of installation as the original typology, but with a qualitatively different light quality. As the designer himself notes, the aim was to preserve the simplicity and freedom of the string light while transforming it into an object capable of integrating naturally into the outdoor landscape. Toba fulfils that purpose with economy of means and formal precision.

Saga: a bell of light with commanding presence

There is a formal economy in Saga that sets it apart within Faro Barcelona’s outdoor catalogue. The piece, designed by Carrasquet, is built around a large-format metal bell — exterior in beige, black, orange or oxide brown, interior in white — whose scale gives it a presence that is both commanding and resolved. There is no superfluous ornament; the form says everything.

The shade serves a dual function. On the outside it defines the volume and protects against environmental conditions with IP65 rating; on the inside, the white finish maximises reflection and directs light downward with precision, while an opal diffuser conceals the source and softens the beam to prevent glare. The result is a warm, concentrated illumination suited to uses that demand functional light: outdoor tables, exterior bars, circulation areas.

Saga allows individual installation — with ceiling rose or hook — and multiple compositions at varying heights, linking units to draw garlands of greater presence. That flexibility of mounting extends its field of application from the domestic setting to restaurants and hospitality. The aluminium bell is here both decorative object and luminous instrument, without one condition compromising the other.

Nara: the outdoor light that cares for the night

EThe extended use of outdoor spaces — terraces, gardens and patios — has brought to the exterior the same demands for comfort and warmth that define good interior lighting. Nara, designed by Xavier Carrasquet for Faro Barcelona, responds to that demand with a proposal that adds a dimension less common in decorative outdoor products: respect for natural darkness.

The piece is built around a rounded shade, wrapped by a linear pattern that acts as a structural steel cage. That enveloping framework projects a play of light and shadow that animates the surroundings without generating glare, and reveals the inner form — a PEMD opal diffuser — that distributes light in a homogeneous and contained manner. The ensemble carries the presence of a considered domestic object, without the utilitarian traits that typically characterise outdoor products.

The environmental dimension of Nara goes beyond visual comfort. The control of light dispersion offered by the opal diffuser limits light pollution and protects the nocturnal biodiversity of the surroundings, turning a formal design decision into a gesture of responsibility toward the ecosystem. Sustainable outdoor lighting resides not only in energy consumption, but also in how and where light is emitted.

The collection is presented in three versions — portable with cable, suspension and floor — that resolve different needs within a coherent formal language. The finishes in beige, oxide brown and black offer a chromatic range broad enough to suit diverse aesthetics, from the most neutral and organic to the most contrasted and contemporary.

Narita reinterprets the essence of Nara in a more compact format

Its shade, with an enveloping linear pattern, filters light and creates a play of light and shadow that transforms terraces and gardens into welcoming spaces full of character. It is manufactured in stainless steel for greater outdoor resilience. It can be installed as an individual luminaire with ceiling rose, or form part of a garland system with several units.

Xavier Carrasquet

Xavier Fernández Carrasquet was born in Barcelona, where he studied at Elisava and trained as a product designer. His early career took place at Benedito Design, Ramon Benedito’s studio, where he developed pieces for a wide range of sectors and came to understand design as a process of collective construction. A desire to deepen his knowledge of manufacturing processes led him to join Luxiona, where he collaborated on projects by Jean Nouvel and Toni Arola, and where lighting became the central axis of his practice.

In 2006 he took over as head of the Design Department at Lamp. Over more than a decade he transformed a distribution-oriented catalogue into a technical portfolio aimed at specification: more than twenty-five product families launched, numerous national and international nominations and awards, and the integration of LED as a significant technological transition. Between 2017 and 2019 he directed the Barcelona Creative Lab, a studio opened in the city by the multinational XAL, from which products such as Unico and Roomor for Wever & Ducré were brought to market.

Since 2019 he has worked independently, collaborating with companies such as Vibia, Lamp and Faro Barcelona, and with professionals including Maria Güell (La Invisible). His approach to design is explicitly collaborative: bringing together complementary skills to enrich every stage of the creative process. He has taught at Elisava since 2013, where he also serves as a thesis tutor for Master’s students. For Carrasquet, teaching and designing follow the same logic: learning together, with curiosity and emotion, as an indispensable condition of creativity.

Cruz Novillo began as a draughtsman at Publicidad Clarín in 1958, in a Spain where graphic design was still an activity without a name of its own. He summed it up with an almost programmatic simplicity: “I am a draughtsman; I always have been.” That condition was not modesty but method — a way of understanding the craft as observation, synthesis and the construction of form. In 1959 he began collaborating with SEDI, the Sociedad de Estudios del Diseño Industrial, and promoted one of the first specialist publications in the field in Spain, Temas de Diseño. In 1964 he was part of the team of artists at the Spanish Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair, an experience that would shape his understanding of design’s public dimension. The following year, at twenty-nine, he left Clarín and founded his own studio.

What came next is inseparable from the most intense period of transformation the country has known. The Spain of the transition and the decades that followed needed to give itself a new image: political parties, public institutions, emerging companies, media outlets, organs of state. Cruz Novillo understood that demand in a way that went beyond the commission. For him, designing an identity was not about solving a recognition problem but about helping to make legible a reality that was changing. His marks are memorable less for their originality than for their precision. Geometry, the use of positive and negative, a synthesised line and a formal economy: that was the language with which he built a visual vocabulary that still retains much of its force today.

He was also a film poster designer, and this aspect of his work — often overshadowed by his corporate identities — reveals another dimension of his graphic intelligence. The posters for El espíritu de la colmena, El sur, La escopeta nacional, Los lunes al sol, Barrio, Cría cuervos and Deprisa, deprisa belong to the visual history of Spanish cinema. In each of them, Cruz Novillo solved the same problem he faced with a brand: finding the direct, intention-laden image that could survive the noise and endure.

But to reduce him to the designer of great logos would be to stop at the surface. From the 1970s onwards, Cruz Novillo participated regularly in international art fairs — FIAC in Paris, Art Basel, Art Cologne, and ARCO from 1985 — with his own plastic work. A painter, sculptor and printmaker, he belonged to a generation that saw no clear boundary between design and art. His commercial work did not diminish his creative ambition; his artistic practice did not remove him from the real world. That tension, sustained well over decades, explains part of his importance.

From the 1990s he developed the concept of Diafragma, a line of artistic research in which he combined colour, sound, time and mathematical structure. His Diafragma dodecafónico 8,916,100,448,256, opus 14, premiered at ARCO in 2010, was conceived as a work of more than three million years’ duration that generates a unique and unrepeatable audiovisual piece every twelve seconds. The scale of that proposition was not a conceptual joke but the logical consequence of a way of thinking about time as artistic material. On 22 May 2009 he had delivered his inaugural address to the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando premiering the concert Diafragma heptafónico 49, opus 13, confirming that academicism and the avant-garde held no contradiction for him.

In 2007 he founded, together with his son Pepe Cruz — designer and architect — the studio Cruz más Cruz, continuing a way of working centred on visual identity and the relationship between brand, space and form. He was awarded the Premio Nacional de Diseño in 1997, the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes in 2012, and the Laus de Honor in 2023. In 2019 he was named Honorary Postman of Correos — the seventh in the institution’s three-hundred-year history — whose identity he himself had designed decades earlier. That same year the documentary El hombre que diseñó España, by Andrea G. Bermejo and Miguel Larraya, was released: the title was a statement, not a hyperbole.

The disappearance of Cruz Novillo deprives Spanish design of one of its most solid and enduring voices. But perhaps the most revealing thing about his legacy is precisely its invisibility: the signs he built draw no attention to themselves, only to what they name. That is the aim of designers who understand the craft as a service to collective intelligence. For nearly seventy years, Cruz Novillo drew and drew until he found the exact form. The result is everywhere, so thoroughly integrated into the everyday landscape that we no longer recognise it as design. We recognise it, simply, as reality.

Contemporary design, however, no longer operates solely at that scale. Alongside mass-produced objects, a more singular form of production now coexists—one that is closer to the cultural fields of art and craftsmanship. Unique pieces, limited editions, experimental objects, and historical reissues form part of an ecosystem that has grown quietly in recent years.

It is within this context that Salone Raritas emerges, a new platform introduced in the 2026 edition of the Salone. Conceived as a curated path dedicated to collectible design, this initiative acknowledges something architects and interior designers have long understood: certain spaces require objects that cannot be found within a conventional catalogue—objects capable of introducing a narrative, material, and cultural dimension.

Beyond a new section within the fair, Raritas signals a shift in perspective. Design is no longer defined solely by its capacity for production, but also by its ability to generate meaning.

The role of galleries

If the Salone has historically been the domain of industry, design galleries have played the role of laboratories. Within them, designers can work with a degree of freedom that rarely exists within industrial systems. A piece does not need to respond to large production volumes or optimised manufacturing costs. It can instead explore complex materials, artisanal processes, or forms that demand an almost sculptural approach.

In this context, the gallery operates as a space for research, where design approaches art without abandoning its functional dimension. Many of the pieces that today appear in museums or institutional collections were born precisely within this intermediate territory.

Over the past two decades, several international galleries have built a cultural network that has redefined the place of contemporary design. Exágono Magazine will dedicate a series of articles to these galleries; here, we simply acknowledge them.

Founded in London in 2006 by Loïc Le Gaillard and Julien Lombrail, Carpenters Workshop Gallery represents a roster of authors who approach the object through a sculptural lens, with production ranging from collectible furniture to monumental-scale pieces. Its activity extends across its spaces in London, Paris, New York, and Los Angeles.

In Paris, Galerie kreo opened its doors in 1999 under the direction of Didier Krzentowski and Clémence Krzentowski. Conceived from the outset as a laboratory for experimental design, it has collaborated with figures who have shaped recent design history—Ronan Bouroullec and Erwan Bouroullec, Marc Newson, Pierre Charpin, among others—and since 2014 has operated a second space in Mayfair, London.

Milan finds in Nilufar Gallery, founded by Nina Yashar in 1979, one of its most solid cultural references. The gallery’s programme articulates historical design, contemporary pieces, and emerging international voices within installations where each object enters into dialogue with interior architecture. Its original space on Via della Spiga was joined in 2015 by Nilufar Depot, a 1,500-square-metre venue on Viale Lancetti inspired by the structure of Teatro alla Scala.

David Gill Gallery, founded in London in 1987, has supported for nearly four decades designers who explore furniture through a sculptural dimension. Its programme has brought together names such as Fredrikson Stallard, Daniel Libeskind, and Chris Schanck, alongside historical works by Alberto Giacometti, Diego Giacometti, and Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann.

In the United States, The Future Perfect has occupied a singular position since its opening in Brooklyn in 2003, under the direction of David Alhadeff. Its current locations—a townhouse in New York’s West Village, Goldwyn House in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, a villa in Little Haiti in Miami, and a space in Pacific Heights, San Francisco—propose an encounter with the object within a domestic context, where furniture, art, and interior design are read as a whole.

Platforms such as The Invisible Collection have transformed the circulation of collectible design. Founded in 2016 by Anna Zaoui, Isabelle Dubern-Mallevays, and Lily Froehlicher, the initiative connects collectors and interior designers with pieces originally conceived for private projects, produced in limited editions by European craft workshops. Its online presence coexists with a network of physical galleries in London, Paris, New York, and Los Angeles, where this curatorial universe takes form within inhabited interiors.

Design and interior architecture

The growth of collectible design cannot be understood without considering the evolution of interior architecture in recent decades. Increasingly, residential, hospitality, and institutional interiors incorporate unique pieces or limited productions capable of constructing a specific identity for a space. These are objects that enter into dialogue with architecture and contribute to defining its character.

Some contemporary projects function almost as small private collections, where art, site-specific furniture, and gallery-acquired objects coexist. Within this context, the designer approaches the figure of the artist, while the architect or interior designer also assumes the role of curator of the space.

A new territory for design

Collectible design and industrial design respond to complementary logics. Industry enables objects to reach the everyday lives of many people; the gallery opens a territory where design explores its limits and tests materials, techniques, and forms at its own pace. Much of contemporary design culture now moves between these two conditions.

The emergence of Salone Raritas consolidates this movement within the industry’s most emblematic stage. It acknowledges an increasingly visible reality: contemporary design is also a cultural territory in which the object acquires the value of a singular work. In Milan, this dialogue between industry, craftsmanship, and experimentation finds, for the first time, its own place within the Salone.

From April 21 to 26, 2026, the Fiera Milano Rho fairgrounds will host the 64th edition of Salone del Mobile.Milano, an event that brings together more than 1,900 companies from 32 countries and spans nearly 169,000 square metres of exhibition space.

Since its founding in 1961, the Salone has evolved into something far beyond a trade fair. It is an ecosystem where industrial research, formal experimentation and cultural debate around contemporary living coexist. For one week, the fairgrounds and the entire city transform into a vast platform for exchange, where designers, architects, manufacturers and gallerists explore new ways of imagining the objects and spaces that shape our daily lives.

In 2026, this cultural infrastructure expands through new initiatives that reflect the transformation of the design sector itself. Among them, Salone Raritas stands out in particular—an exhibition that introduces, for the first time at the heart of the Salone, the territory of collectible design and limited editions.

Salone Raritas: collectible design enters the fair

One of the most significant gestures of this edition is the creation of Salone Raritas, a new exhibition path dedicated to unique pieces, limited editions and objects of high creative craftsmanship. Curated by Annalisa Rosso and with a scenography designed by Formafantasma, this space proposes a direct dialogue between design galleries, contemporary artisans and the international world of design practice.

For years, collectible design had found its place mainly in parallel exhibitions of the Fuorisalone or in specialised galleries. With Raritas, the Salone integrates this territory into the fair itself, acknowledging the growing cultural and economic relevance of a design conceived as a singular object.

The exhibition is organised as a luminous architecture composed of modular islands where each gallery can express its identity without losing the coherence of the whole. Formafantasma’s spatial project operates almost like a lantern: a neutral device that orders the visitor’s gaze and allows each piece to engage in dialogue with the others without being absorbed by the scenography.

More than a simple showcase, Raritas raises a deeper question: what place does design occupy today when it abandons the logic of mass production and approaches the territory of art?

At a time when architecture, hospitality and the high-end residential market increasingly incorporate unique objects and limited-edition furniture, this new space acts as a bridge between two worlds that until recently rarely intersected: gallery culture and the professional ecosystem of design practice.

The return of the biennials: kitchen and bathroom as domestic laboratories

The 2026 edition brings back two of the Salone’s most influential biennial exhibitions: EuroCucina and the International Bathroom Exhibition.

The kitchen, which for decades was a technical and domestic space, now emerges as a technological centre of the home. The integration of artificial intelligence, energy management systems and smart materials transforms this space into a platform where interior architecture, technology and sustainability converge.

At the same time, the bathroom continues its evolution towards a model closer to the domestic spa, where wellbeing, longevity and sensory experience become the new drivers of design.

Both sectors reflect a broader trend: the contemporary home is no longer conceived as a sum of functional rooms, but as a system where technology, comfort and sustainability operate together.

SaloneSatellite: the territory of emerging designers

If the Salone is where the industry presents its collections, SaloneSatellite remains the place where the questions of the future emerge.

Founded in 1998 by Marva Griffin, this programme brings together each year hundreds of designers under the age of 35 and international design schools. In 2026, it will once again host around 700 young creators, becoming one of the most compelling observatories for detecting new sensibilities.

Here, research often appears that does not yet have a clear place within the industry: experimental materials, alternative production processes or new relationships between object and user.

Many of the firms that now define the international design landscape began precisely in this space.

Where contemporary design is heading

Beyond specific product launches, the Salone functions each year as a cultural barometer. The 2026 edition points towards several directions that are beginning to take shape.

Radical sustainability. Sustainability moves beyond superficial discourse to become a structural issue. Circular economy, advanced recycling and material traceability take on a central role in contemporary design. It is no longer only about reducing environmental impact, but about rethinking production processes entirely.

The return of matter. The theme of this edition—“A Matter of Salone”—reflects a growing attention to materials. Stone, wood, metal or plant fibres are presented not only as technical supports, but as carriers of memory and cultural meaning. Design once again turns its gaze towards the origin of objects.

The hybridisation between art and design. The emergence of Salone Raritas confirms a trend that has been developing in recent years: design increasingly moves closer to contemporary art. Unique pieces, limited editions and experimental objects now find their place within the project ecosystem.

Invisible domestic technology. Technology continues to advance, but does so in an increasingly discreet way. Sensors, automation and smart systems are integrated into objects without altering their aesthetic dimension. Design acts here as a mediator between technological complexity and everyday life.

Spaces for wellbeing. Finally, the home is redefined as a place devoted to physical and mental wellbeing. Tactile materials, atmospheric lighting and more flexible spatial configurations point towards a slower and more conscious domesticity.

Milan, a city turned into a laboratory

No edition of the Salone can be understood without the city that surrounds it. During Milan Design Week, districts such as Brera, Tortona, Isola or 5Vie transform into a continuous network of exhibitions, installations and experimental projects.

The Fuorisalone expands the fair into historic palaces, galleries, showrooms and industrial spaces, turning the city into a kind of urban laboratory where design merges with art, architecture and cultural research. In this context, the Salone acts as the core of a much broader system.

A place where design reflects on the future

Each edition of the Salone del Mobile raises different questions about the role of design in contemporary society. In 2026, the conversation seems to focus on three fundamental ideas: matter, sustainability and culture.

Design appears less as a formal gesture and more as a form of mediation between industry, technology and the human experience of space. Perhaps this is why Milan continues to be, every spring, the place where design pauses for a few days to reflect on what it means to inhabit the world.

Kodu is built with the intention of breaking away from predictable perfection and opening design to a freer, more emotional dimension. Its universe develops beyond furniture, through a visual narrative that draws from the language of fashion, scenography, and a reinterpreted sense of pop culture. The pieces are presented as fragments of a scene, where space ceases to be a backdrop and becomes a narrative.

In its collections, color, volume, and materiality do not seek balance, but tension. There is a deliberate intention to place furniture in an intermediate territory, halfway between function and sculptural presence. Beyond resolving a space, they aim to provoke it.

Far from being understood as a parallel brand, it relies on the experience and knowledge of Vical to build its own language, aimed at a generation of interior designers and users who understand space as an extension of their identity. With the claim “Live as you think”, the proposal moves away from the normative to advocate a more personal—and freer—way of inhabiting.

Kodu was born within Vical, a company with many years of history. How did the idea of creating this new brand arise, and what need did you identify in the current landscape of design and interior design?

The truth is that Kodu emerged in a very curious and almost unexpected way, because this change had not been planned. The brand already existed under the name Lastdeco, with a more neutral, more homogeneous positioning… without making much noise. One day, speaking with Nacho, the commercial director, we considered giving it a twist. We felt there was potential to create something completely different: a new brand, bolder, even a little “crazy”, that would move away from that more perfect and controlled sensibility with which we usually work at Vical. From there, everything began. There were many conversations and working sessions together with Pep Gramage, art director of Vical and also of Kodu, who helped us shape the concept and build the entire new visual identity.

We were very clear about it: we did not want to be Vical’s “little brother”, but a brand with its own personality. And that is how we built it, step by step. Based on Vical’s know-how, experience, and quality, but taking it toward a more contemporary, freer, and more expressive language, with its own narrative.

The brand’s claim, “Live as you think”, seems to appeal to a very personal way of inhabiting spaces. What does this phrase really mean for Kodu, and how is it translated into the products and the identity of the brand?

“Live as you think” is an invitation to live in coherence with who you are. It is not just about decorating a space, but about building an environment that reflects your way of thinking, your emotions, and your personality.

At Kodu, we believe that spaces should not impose themselves on people, but accompany them. That is why we design pieces with character, allowing the creation of unique, non-standardized environments.

This translates into collections with a strong visual identity, unexpected combinations of materials, fearless use of color, and volumes that generate presence. Everything is designed so that each space can tell its own story.

At a time when many interiors tend toward neutral and repetitive minimalism, Kodu clearly embraces color, volume, and personality. Is this a deliberately critical stance toward that dominant trend? What would you say is the design philosophy that guides Kodu? Is there a manifesto or a set of principles that orient each collection?

We do not approach it so much as a direct critique, but as a necessary alternative. Minimalism has contributed a great deal to design, but when it becomes the norm, it loses its capacity to move.

Kodu proposes to recover expressiveness. We are committed to spaces that convey, that surprise, and that connect with those who inhabit them. Color, volume, and form are not an excess, but tools to generate identity.

Kodu’s philosophy is based on three pillars: identity, emotion, and creative freedom. We develop each collection from a clear idea: that design must provoke something. We are not only seeking functionality or aesthetics, but an experience. More than a closed manifesto, we have a very defined attitude: designing with personality, avoiding the generic, understanding space as an extension of those who inhabit it, and differentiation.

Who is behind the creative development of Kodu? We would like to know the team that designs the brand: designers, creative directors, product managers…

The Kodu team has been progressively built following the launch of the new brand identity. It is a team that emerges from within Vical, since, essentially, we are the same people behind the project, but working from a different perspective.

Precisely because of that shared origin, we are very aware that we naturally carry the language and sensibility of Vical. For this reason, from the outset, we have sought to open the creative process to new perspectives that help us step outside that familiar zone and incorporate a more experimental, freer, and, in a certain sense, more “daring” approach that defines Kodu.

Within the design team are Javier Boscá and María Jesús Fombuena, together with art director Pep Gramage, who brings a clear and contemporary vision to the brand’s universe. All of this under the direction of Pepe Boluda and Antonio García, heads of purchasing and product, who act as a key axis in giving coherence and meaning to each collection.

In the marketing area, I lead the strategic and communication development, supported by specialized agencies such as MSR Marketing and Focuslink.

In addition, Kodu’s creative development is enriched through external collaborations that help us materialize ideas and take them to a more expressive level. We have worked with studios that bring a fresh vision in creative direction, shootings, and catalog development. Last year we collaborated with Cosas que hacen Boom Studio, and we are currently working with Democracia Studio.

Overall, it is a hybrid, highly connected team that combines internal knowledge, strategic vision, and external contributions to build a language of its own, in constant evolution.

What is the process of developing a collection at Kodu, from the initial idea to the launch of the pieces? The collections present a strong sculptural and experimental dimension. Where do the main creative influences come from: contemporary art, fashion, architecture, pop culture…? Do you work with external designers, or is development mainly carried out within Vical’s internal team?

Development mainly originates within Kodu’s internal team, and this is something we take great care of because it allows us to build a very distinctive, coherent, and recognizable language.

But we also strongly believe in opening windows. This year, in fact, we are launching our first capsule collection with an external designer, and we are especially excited because it is a very powerful, highly expressive project… and very Kodu. It allows us to explore without losing our essence.

In terms of influences, we feel very close to the world of fashion. Not only aesthetically, but also in the way we work as a brand: we like to move through seasons, with two major moments each year: Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter, which gives us rhythm, evolution, and that sense of constant trend. Creatively, there is a very natural mix: contemporary art, architecture, visual culture… always from a very free perspective. Ultimately, Kodu is about that: mixing, experimenting, and creating pieces that do not go unnoticed.

Many Kodu pieces seem to sit at the boundary between furniture and sculptural object. Is this hybridization between art and functionality one of the brand’s objectives? The collections reveal retro references, pop gestures, and even certain brutalist influences. How are these languages combined to build a coherent identity?

Absolutely. In fact, it is quite intentional. At Kodu, we do not understand furniture as something purely functional. We are interested in pieces having presence, generating conversation, almost being felt as small sculptures within a space. But always with balance: they must function, yes, but also move.

We like that tension between the practical and the expressive. That a piece resolves a need, while at the same time having character and contributing something more to the atmosphere.

What role do materials and textures play in the design of the pieces? Is there a specific pursuit in terms of material innovation or production processes?

Materials at Kodu are not just a medium; they are part of the message. Very often, a piece begins precisely there: from a texture, a finish, or a combination that evokes something in us.

We are very interested in how materials are perceived, not only visually, but also sensorially. Contrast is key: mixing smoother surfaces with rougher ones, playing with gloss and matte, or combining materials that you would not expect to see together. We are not seeking innovation for its own sake, but we are constantly exploring.

Then there is the production side, which is fundamental for us. There is an ongoing dialogue between design and factory to ensure that pieces retain their character without losing quality or feasibility. Ultimately, it is about finding that balance between the creative and the real.

Who is Kodu aimed at? What type of client or interior designer connects best with the brand?

I love this question because it is closely tied to Kodu’s origin. When we began shaping the brand, we asked ourselves exactly this. Vical’s client has a very defined profile, focused on large-scale projects: large homes, villas, highly structured spaces…

And there we saw a clear opportunity. There was a part of the market we were not covering: smaller, more flexible projects, but with a great deal of creative charge.

Kodu is born precisely for that. For that client/interior designer who does not need as much volume, but much more personality. Someone who wants to take risks, mix, experiment… and build spaces with their own identity. Ultimately, Kodu connects with people who understand design as something freer, more expressive, and less normative.

Do you believe that Kodu speaks to a new generation of interior designers and users seeking more expressive and less normative interiors? In what type of spaces do you imagine your furniture: private homes, hotels, contract projects, creative interiors…?

Yes, absolutely. But not only to a new generation, also to many professionals who were already seeking this kind of language and did not always find brands that supported it. We like to think that Kodu is not so much for a type of space, but for an attitude.

It works very well in private homes where there is a clear intention to differentiate, but it also fits perfectly in hotels, restaurants, or more creative contract projects, where design is part of the experience. Ultimately, Kodu exists wherever there is an idea behind it. Where space is not only functional, but has something to say.

Kodu’s visual communication—campaigns, photography, color, art direction—has a very strong character, close to the world of fashion. How has this visual language been developed? Who is behind the creative direction of the campaigns and the brand’s visual universe? How important is brand narrative at Kodu? Do you aim for each collection to tell a story or evoke a specific imaginary?

From the beginning, we were clear that Kodu could not communicate like a conventional furniture brand. We needed a more emotional, more visual language, closer to fashion than to a traditional catalog.

From there, the whole team began working on ideas and how to shape them. We also sought collaborators who could help us take that universe one step further. The truth is that it has been a very natural and very enjoyable process, because we have connected deeply with all the teams we have worked with. It has been easy to share that vision and translate it into images.

Creative direction has been led by Pep Gramage and myself, building that visual language together and ensuring coherence throughout. From there, we work in a highly collaborative way between the internal team and external creatives. It is a very dynamic process, where each campaign, each shooting, adds layers and evolves the Kodu universe.

For us, narrative is everything. It is not only about having a good idea, but about knowing how to tell it, how to make it tangible, and how to translate it into real spaces. We always try for each collection to have its own imaginary, its own energy. That when you see it, you feel there is a story behind it, even if it is not explained literally. In the end, we are not just presenting products. We are building an atmosphere, an attitude, a way of living spaces.

Kodu is a relatively young brand. What are the next steps in its evolution: new product typologies, collaborations, international expansion…? How do you imagine Kodu in ten years?

As you say, Kodu is very young, and that is precisely what makes it interesting. We still have a lot to say. We do not have a fixed roadmap, because what defines Kodu is precisely that capacity to evolve, to experiment, to move. What we do have is a clear intention: we come to do something different, to position ourselves, and to bring a distinct perspective to the sector.

In a context where homogeneity has become a common language, Kodu’s commitment to identity, emotion, and creative freedom introduces a necessary fissure, through the construction of an alternative that assumes the risk of not being neutral, not being universal, not being complacent.

The strength of Kodu lies precisely in that willingness to position itself at the limit: between the functional and the sculptural, between object and image, between lived space and represented space. A hybrid territory that engages with new ways of inhabiting, but also with new ways of seeing.

In that tension—between design and narrative, between product and atmosphere—a brand is defined that is still under construction, but already points in a direction. Not so much toward what interior design is, but toward what it can become when it decides to embrace the risk of expression.

The idea for the collection emerged when HAY’s founders, Mette and Rolf Hay, set out to extend their philosophy of democratic design to outdoor living, imagining a collection that would feel both familiar and fresh, inspired by the nostalgic practicality of classic camping equipment. They immediately thought of the renowned British designer Jasper Morrison. “For us, Jasper is the master of everyday objects. He has an incredible ability to make the ordinary feel essential,” say Mette and Rolf Hay, founders and creative directors of HAY.

The collection was thus conceived with the aim of recovering the practical and everyday character of outdoor furniture. Morrison draws inspiration from the logic of open-air markets — lightweight structures, easily transportable elements and pieces designed for immediate use — to develop a set of objects that respond with simplicity and naturalness to the needs of contemporary outdoor life.

Rather than proposing monumental or permanent furniture, Outdoor Market offers a series of elements that accompany the use of outdoor space with lightness and flexibility. Tables, benches, chairs, stools and trolleys are combined with accessories such as parasols, trays and containers, forming a small ecosystem of objects designed for gathering, eating or simply spending time outdoors.

The formal language follows the British designer’s characteristic approach: clear structures, balanced proportions and a deliberately restrained aesthetic. The pieces avoid any superfluous gesture in order to focus on what truly matters — stability, durability and ease of use. Instead of seeking visual prominence, the objects integrate naturally into gardens, terraces or patios, becoming a quiet support for everyday life.

Materials and finishes reinforce this intention. Weather-resistant surfaces, lightweight metal structures and easily handled components allow the pieces to adapt to different contexts, from a balcony at home to a shared outdoor space. Everything follows a logic of durability and simplicity that has characterised Morrison’s work since his earliest projects.

In this sense, the collection continues the design philosophy that Morrison has defended throughout his career. The objects in Outdoor Market could easily be associated with his well-known idea of the Super Normal: pieces that seek to function with clarity and accompany daily life with discretion.

The result is a collection that understands the outdoors as a natural extension of domestic space. Outdoor Market proposes a set of quiet tools for inhabiting open air with the same naturalness with which we occupy the interiors of our homes.

In this way, the collaboration between Jasper Morrison and HAY once again places design in its most fertile territory: that of well-considered objects capable of improving everyday life without demanding attention. Because, as Morrison himself often reminds us, the best design is usually the one that fulfils its function so naturally that we barely notice it.

Project: Outdoor Market Collection.
Brand: Hay.
Design: Jasper Morrison.
Completed: 2025.

Jasper Morrison

Jasper Morrison (London, 1959) is one of the most influential designers of his generation. Over more than four decades of practice, he has developed a body of work that champions formal clarity, usefulness and discretion as essential values of contemporary design. His objects, conceived for everyday life, are characterised by a quiet presence and a functional precision that allows them to integrate naturally into the domestic environment.

He studied at Kingston Polytechnic Design School in London, where he received a Bachelor of Design in 1982, and later at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1985. During these years he also spent time at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, an experience that helped consolidate his interest in modern European design and in an aesthetic grounded in simplicity and functionality.

In 1986 he founded his Office for Design in London, the studio from which he has developed projects in furniture, lighting, electronics and household objects for some of the most important companies on the international design scene. Throughout his career he has collaborated with firms such as Vitra, Cappellini, Flos, Magis, Alessi, Emeco, Camper, Hermès, Muji, Samsung and Punkt., gradually expanding his work across different fields of industrial design.

From his earliest projects — including the Thinking Man’s Chair, presented in 1985 — Morrison has defended a conception of design far removed from the spectacular gesture. His work is directed towards objects that fulfil their function with clarity and naturalness, avoiding any formal excess. This approach crystallised in the concept of “Super Normal”, developed together with Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa, which celebrates the quiet beauty of well-resolved objects: those that, rather than seeking to stand out, discreetly accompany everyday life.

Pieces designed by Jasper Morrison form part of the permanent collections of institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, recognition of a body of work that has helped redefine the relationship between design, material culture and daily life.

Rather than pursuing a recognisable aesthetic, Morrison has gradually built a way of thinking about design grounded in the honesty of the object. His work proposes a calm relationship with the things that surround us and reminds us that, in many cases, the best design is the one that integrates so naturally into our lives that we barely notice it.

Within this context emerges Leku, the new collection designed by Javier Pastor, a designer who has maintained a long-standing and especially fruitful relationship with Expormim. The series integrates naturally into the brand’s recent evolution, reaffirming its interest in developing pieces capable of engaging in dialogue with architecture, landscape and the open spaces where much of contemporary life now unfolds.

Its very name —“place” in Basque— reveals the intention behind the project: to conceive the object not merely as a functional piece, but as a space for encounter, a point of connection between people, the surrounding environment and the time shared around a table.

On this occasion, the designer develops a collection of dining and coffee tables that openly engages with the sculptural language of Eduardo Chillida, incorporating into the design reflection concepts that were central to the Basque artist’s work: void, matter, gravity and territory.

The design of the collection

The Leku collection unfolds through two distinct approaches that nevertheless share the same architectural spirit.

On the one hand, the dining tables, available in oval and round formats, are constructed with textured cast-glass tops resting on solid FSC-certified sapele wood legs. The glass, worked with an irregular and organic texture, captures light and reflects the surrounding landscape, transforming the tabletop into a changing surface where the environment is projected and reinterpreted.

The relationship between glass and wood introduces an engaging dialogue between opposites: void and volume, light and shadow, texture and smoothness. Within this play of tensions the sculptural character of the collection emerges. Each table seems conceived as a small architecture open to space — a place designed for gathering, conversation and celebration.

The coffee tables, by contrast, develop a more intimate scale. While maintaining the same sculptural spirit, these pieces adopt a quieter role within the domestic space, functioning as a silent accompaniment to everyday life.

Their structure is built from aluminium sheet, whose form subtly recalls Chillida’s steel compositions. The piece appears to rise from the ground like a mineral root — a structure that supports the cast-glass top while establishing a delicate balance between weight and lightness.

In these tables, light becomes an active element: the glass captures its presence and returns it in soft reflections that shift throughout the day.

Leku within the trajectory of Javier Pastor

The collection integrates coherently into the path that Javier Pastor has developed together with Expormim in recent years. In the Nido collection, the designer explored the idea of refuge through lightweight structures suggesting protection and intimacy, creating pieces that invited rest in open spaces. With Käbu, the language evolved towards a more contemporary aesthetic in which ergonomics and the flexibility of outdoor use became more prominent.

Leku represents a further step in this evolution. While the previous collections focused on the comfort and habitability of seating, this proposal shifts the focus towards the table as the centre of collective experience. The design becomes more essential and more architectural, reducing formal elements to concentrate on the relationship between structure, material and space. In this sense, the collection reveals a more conceptual dimension of Pastor’s work, where furniture approaches the territory of sculpture without abandoning its everyday vocation.

At a time when the boundary between interior and exterior is becoming increasingly blurred, furniture plays a fundamental role in shaping new ways of inhabiting space. Terraces, patios and gardens have become natural extensions of the home — places where domestic comfort enters into dialogue with landscape and outdoor life.

The Leku collection responds precisely to this cultural transformation. The pieces designed by Javier Pastor for Expormim seek to accompany architecture and landscape with a balanced and discreet presence. In that quietness perhaps lies their greatest virtue: a design that understands furniture as part of an everyday landscape, where form, material and use come together to create spaces that are more habitable, open and profoundly human.

Project: Leku Collection.
Products: Dining tables and coffee tables.
Design date: 2026.
Design: Javier Pastor.
Photography: Mauricio Fuertes.
Materials: Tables with structure made from high-strength aluminium sheet finished with polyester powder coating and solid sapele wood legs. Tempered cast-glass top.
Brand: Expormim.
Source: Expormim.

Javier Pastor

Industrial designer Javier Pastor belongs to a generation of Spanish creators who have helped consolidate a rigorous culture of design, closely linked both to academic research and to collaboration with industry. His work has developed primarily in the field of furniture and domestic equipment, with particular attention to outdoor design, where he has built a distinctive language based on formal clarity, functionality and a careful consideration of materials.

Trained in Industrial Design, Pastor expanded his education in 1996 with a Master’s degree in Design and Design Management at the Domus Academy in Milan, one of the schools that, over recent decades, has played a key role in shaping European designers connected to the culture of the project and to the relationship between design and industry. This Italian experience helped consolidate a strategic understanding of design as a tool for innovation within companies.

Alongside his professional activity, Pastor maintains a strong connection with the academic world. He is professor at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), where he contributes to the education of new generations of designers, while also developing research work within the Design Research and Management Group (IGD). Through this group he participates in research, consultancy and training projects focused on design management and product portfolio development, collaborating with companies and institutions interested in integrating design as a central part of their strategy.

Throughout his career he has developed comprehensive design projects ranging from furniture and lighting to corporate identity and strategic communication. This transversal approach has allowed him to understand design not only as the creation of objects, but as a broader process that connects product, brand and experience.

A significant part of his work is linked to his collaboration with the Valencian company Expormim, known for its contemporary indoor and outdoor furniture. For the firm he has developed several collections that explore the relationship between comfort, structural lightness and durability in outdoor environments, including Nido, Käbu and, more recently, Leku, presented in 2026. These pieces reflect an approach to design in which formal clarity and functionality engage in dialogue with craft tradition and with the demands of contemporary outdoor living.

Beyond furniture design, Pastor has also worked in the bathroom sector with the company Poalgi, designing collections such as Litos, Bül and Dal, characterised by their exploration of innovative textures and by a refined aesthetic that combines material innovation with formal precision.

Ultimately, the trajectory of Javier Pastor reflects a way of understanding design as a discipline that integrates knowledge, industry and material culture, where each object forms part of a broader reflection on how we inhabit spaces and how relationships are built between people and the objects that accompany them.

More than an exhibition event, FORMA positions itself as a cultural infrastructure in the making. Its objective is to shape an ecosystem where brands, emerging studios, galleries, publishers, artisans and agents linked to object design, lighting and new materials can coexist. The fair will occupy Nave Una and the DIMAD Central de Diseño, unfolding a route that connects practice, thought and market around design as an expanded discipline.

The proposal also includes PER-FORMA, a parallel professional programme activating conversations, demonstrations and encounters between sector agents. A device that underscores the project’s pedagogical ambition: to generate knowledge transfer and foster lasting connections beyond the fair calendar.

A map of contemporary sensibilities

The first edition unfolds through a selection that reflects the current diversity of collectible design, where craft-based approaches, material experimentation and hybrid languages between art and object coexist.

Andrés Mariño

Among the participants, Madrid-based architect and designer Andrés Mariño stands out for his research into steam-bent wood, revisiting traditional techniques through a contemporary lens. His pieces, refined and quiet, establish a dialogue between structural precision and artisanal sensitivity. At FORMA he will present his work alongside Justino Del Casar, in a collaboration that confronts two complementary approaches to design through matter and time.

Arturo Álvarez

With more than three decades of trajectory, Arturo Álvarez introduces another dimension: light as sculptural territory. His practice, situated between art and design, turns lighting into an expressive field where material, gesture and atmosphere intertwine in pieces of strong formal identity.

Jaime Hayon

On a broader scale, the presence of Jaime Hayon underscores the international dimension of the event. His language, recognisable for its blend of humour, sophistication and craftsmanship, has helped blur the boundaries between art, design and craft, placing narrative at the centre of the contemporary object.

Justino Del Casar

From a more conceptual approach, Justino Del Casar works with discarded materials — documents, tickets, packaging — transforming them into symbolic pieces that question the ephemerality of consumption. His practice introduces a critical dimension into the fair’s landscape, reminding us that design can also operate as cultural reflection.

Nanimarquina

The brand Nanimarquina, a benchmark in contemporary textile design, will contribute its reading of artistic legacy through the Chillida collection, where the sculptural language of the artist is translated into textile compositions that explore void, rhythm and material density.

Regina Dejimenez

In the hybrid territory between body and landscape, Regina Dejimenez’s work unfolds a sensory investigation that connects biology and matter. Her pieces, halfway between installation and object, evoke organic processes where the visible and the imperceptible share the same structure.

Todomuta Studio

This selection closes with Todomuta Studio, led by Laura Molina and Sergio Herrera, whose multidisciplinary practice combines ancestral aesthetics and a futuristic vision. Their limited-edition pieces explore speculative narratives that expand the traditional limits of design, integrating craft, technology and material fiction.

A fair as cultural infrastructure

Beyond the sum of names, FORMA raises a deeper question: what role can a fair play in constructing a contemporary material culture? In a context where design oscillates between industry, gallery and authorial practice, the initiative proposes an intermediate format that privileges encounter and conversation.

The choice of Matadero Madrid is no coincidence. Its condition as a hybrid cultural space reinforces the experimental dimension of the project and situates it within the continuity of the city’s creative ecosystem. FORMA presents itself as a natural extension of the festival and of a scene seeking to consolidate its international projection.

In this first edition, the fair defines itself more as a foundational gesture than as a closed model. A place from which to observe where collectible design is moving and what narratives emerge when the object is conceived through memory, matter and time.

If it succeeds in consolidating itself, FORMA could become more than an annual event: a platform capable of structuring discourse, market and community around a shared idea of contemporaneity. A contemporaneity that, as with the best design, is built slowly — through the forms we inhabit and the objects we choose to keep.

The MDF26 programme is structured around four conceptual axes —responsibility, transcendence, impact and transmission— which act as a shared framework for very diverse projects, united by a common concern: how to design today with awareness of the consequences that every design decision generates over time, in the territory and in people’s lives. From this perspective, the festival addresses issues such as biodesign and biotechnology, material traceability, the circular economy, mobility, and the role of design in shaping new models of social and community relations. Craft occupies a central place here, as a living space of knowledge where identity, culture and know-how are projected into the future.

Forma Design Fair

Among the main new features of this edition is FORMA Design Fair, the first Spanish fair dedicated to collectible design, which will take place from 5 to 8 March. Conceived as a professional platform, FORMA is born with the aim of strengthening the economic value of design, generating real opportunities for designers, studios, brands and galleries, and consolidating Madrid as a relevant destination within the international contemporary design circuit. Integrated within the framework of the festival and developed with the institutional support of the Madrid City Council, Matadero Madrid and DIMAD, the fair seeks to build a stable economic ecosystem that benefits the city’s entire creative fabric.

Maison Parissienne, Rare, Vandenheede – Furniture Art Design, Mínima, Yukiko Kitahara, Vasco Fragoso Mendes, Regina Dejimenez Estudio, Difusions, Justino del Casar, Marco Calhau Handmade Collectibles, Studio Ejarque, Valuarte, La Ebanistería, Estudio Material, Attipico, Mush Myco Design, Ponce, Lignico, LZL, Grutta, SACo Sociedad Española de Artesanía Contemporánea, Nanimarquina, Arturo Álvarez, Estudio Cerisola, Todomuta Studio, Gärna Gallery, Sancal, among others, will take part in the first edition of FORMA Design Fair Madrid.

Madrid Design Pro

The Madrid Design PRO programme once again stands as one of the pillars of the festival. Over four days, design is explored and debated through masterclasses, round tables, conversations and workshops that bring together some of the most influential voices on the current scene. Professionals such as Patricia Urquiola, Luca Nichetto, Héctor Serrano, Christien Meindertsma, Loumi Le Floc’h and Liza Enebeis share the stage with studios, architects and designers working from social, community-based and experimental approaches. Artificial intelligence applied to design, the circular economy and regenerative leadership appear here as fields of work that demand critical positioning and in-depth knowledge.

Exhibitions and installations

The exhibition programme is once again based at the Fernán Gómez. Centro Cultural de la Villa, which will host three major exhibitions between 5 February and 3 May. André Ricard. Design in use reviews more than six decades of the industrial designer’s career through his most recognisable pieces and a design philosophy consistently linked to everyday life. Mediterranean Manifesto, curated by Mariona Rubio and co-produced with Cosentino, proposes a collective reading of the Mediterranean as a cultural, material and environmental territory through the work of more than thirty creators. Completing the programme is Textile art in Guatemala: design and identity, an exhibition that presents contemporary Guatemalan textile design in Spain for the first time, highlighting textiles as carriers of worldviews and ancestral knowledge reinterpreted through contemporaneity.

Fiesta Design

Fiesta Design, which will take place from 12 to 22 February at the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, reinforces the open and experiential character of the festival. Installations, workshops and presentations bring design closer to diverse audiences and demonstrate its ability to connect research, creativity and everyday life. Projects such as Generational Handover, directed by Kavita Parmar for Amazon; material-focused interventions promoted by Castilla-La Mancha; installations by Enorme Studio, Clínica Studio and Gianluca Pugliese; as well as the broad participation of schools such as IED Madrid, CEU Universities and UDIT, shape a journey in which design is understood as a shared cultural practice.

Madrid Diseña

The urban axis Madrid Diseña expands this perspective and turns the city into an active map of nearly three hundred participating spaces. Exhibitions, open studios, routes, meetings and educational activities unfold across different districts, with Chamberí joining this year the already established Carabanchel, Tetuán and Prosperidad. The aim is to strengthen the local design ecosystem, activate emerging urban economies and facilitate direct encounters between creators, institutions, commerce and citizens.

The programme is completed by initiatives such as the Wool Alliance, which works to protect and project the future of wool in Spain as a natural and cultural heritage, as well as various open calls inviting designers, studios and students to actively participate in the festival, from social design to the reactivation of peripheral industrial environments.

Beyond its scale and diversity, Madrid Design Festival 2026 confirms a coherent line of work: understanding design not as an end in itself, but as an instrument to reflect on the present and to rehearse possible futures. A space where a project is measured by its capacity for use, transmission and real impact on the way we inhabit the world. 

Under the theme “Past Reveals Future”, this edition offers a journey through the roots of contemporary design to gain deeper insight into its future. This perspective —both sensitive and critical— invites visitors to rediscover the value of artisanal processes, the richness of traditions and the depth of forms that endure within the collective imagination. The proposal is structured around four thematic axes that trace the evolution of creative thinking: Métamorphose, Mutation, Revisited Baroque and Néo Folklore.

Maison&Objet is a cultural phenomenon that brings together the global design community to celebrate excellence in its many expressions. The January 2026 edition brings together thousands of brands and creators from more than 60 countries, converging in spaces dedicated to decoration, furniture, craftsmanship, fragrances and wellbeing, fashion accessories, games and gifts, as well as specialised sectors such as Signature & Projects and the new Outdoor Livingenvironment.

Beyond the exhibitions, Maison&Objet offers a comprehensive programme of talks, workshops and meetings —The Talks— fostering the exchange of ideas among designers, thinkers, innovators and industry leaders, enriching the dialogue around sustainability, the cultural viability of design and future opportunities.

This year, the fair extends its reach beyond its pavilions through Maison&Objet In The City, a circuit that unfolds live experiences, studio visits, galleries and key spaces within the Parisian scene, integrating the city itself as part of the creative and professional narrative.

For Exágono, Maison&Objet Paris 2026 is an essential reading of the current moment in global design: an invitation to look back, to understand tradition as living matter, and to imagine —with curiosity and responsibility— the ways in which design and craftsmanship can shape the spaces of our future lives.