COVER’s 15 favourite displays at Milan Design Week 2025

April 16, 2025

Here COVER offers 15 spectacular rug displays from Milan Design Week 2025

Milan Design Week has become a great event for companies to debut new rug collections. This year the rug schedule was extensive and required a great deal of travelling around town.

Focusing on Salone del Mobile, there were well over 20 rug brand stands to visit. Jan Kath’s big space featured multiple new designs including the new Cyprinus collection, which is illustrated on one of three COVER 78 covers. There was also a table with three small looms to give weaving a go. Amini had a number of super designs including a flatweave in brown, which had great character and RD Field, a clever wool design by Rodolfo Dordoni. The Aminin showroom was home to an a beautiful installation based on the work of Bruno Munari. The clever rug designs and additional artworks painted an artistic but tongue in cheek portrait of the designer’s work. I also loved Mariantonia Urru’s new Pharos designs with Paulina Herrera Studio, three new works that really suit the pibiones technique.

While much of the rug design in Salone and beyond focused on brown shades and natural fibres such as hemp and jute, Turin-based brand Battilossi turned away from textural neutrals with a show called ‘We Dream in Color’. It featured Battilossi designs alongside antique rugs from Tibet and Morocco.

More highlights around town included the playful collection between Richard Hutten and Jaipur Rugs that combine antique designs blended with bright patterns, shapes and objects like bananas, which are even more covetable in the flesh. Hutten was present at the show in a bright jacket to discuss the designs.

‘Ways of Seeing’ by cc-tapis, at the brand’s showroom, was a fantastic display of rugs by 11 acclaimed designers such as Bethan Laura Wood, Cristina Celestino, Patricia Urquiola and India Mahdavi. One of the most innovative parts of the show was the use of the screens next to each design, which could be read through a viewer or ignored if you would rather not engage with digital information.

Based in Mexico, the Balmaceda brand debuted in Milan this year with two outstanding rug designs based on the theme of gardens. Company owner and designer José María Balmaceda shared his story with the COVER team. See the Summer issue of COVER for more. The next issue will also feature the new textile and rug collection by Marcel Wanders and Fischbacher, which was on show in Fischbacher’s Brera showroom. Titled Ancient Memories, the collection was all about textures and created predominantly with hemp. In terms of texture I also loved Daniel Costa’s new weaving made in Namibia, this project will also be in COVER 79.

Milan is all about drama and showing off. Many rugs brands created installations that captured the imagination. Christopher Farr’s new collection for The Future Perfect debuted in Europe at the Bocci showroom. Future Perfect founder David Alhadeff curated the show at the stunning Bocci showroom, including the opulent Farr rugs, which are predominantly in silk.

Altai’s ‘Long Hair Revolution’ exhibition captured the hearts of every textile fanatic. Based on his recent research into Central Asian long-haired textiles, the exhibition was a pre-cursor to what will become a book in the near future. The colour and texture of the pieces, alongside a video of weavers, was a moving experience.

It is proved time and time again that textiles have the power to create atmospheres. Lila Valadan’s ‘L NULLA [HEECH / NOTHINGNESS]’ show at the Alberto Levi Gallery demonstrated the beauty of simplicity and the art of embracing nothingness. On Wednesday night the party was full of rug and textile fans.

Three further great installations were The Rug Company’s show of Kelly Wearstler’s new Crescendo collection at the historic Teatro Gerolamo, which looked spectacular. Also, Beni Rugs’s new collection Intersection designed by Studio KO, featuring five weaving methods and introducing Rabat, a reinterpretation of the R’bati carpet.

The last fantastic installation was El Espartano’s fabulous collection with Japanese artist Miroco Machiko, curated by Lidewij Edelkoort. showing at Rossana Orlandi. Artist Machiko only paints animals and in these rugs the animals depicted were so alive and so well rendered in wool they felt alive. A really exciting display.

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Richard Hutten x Jaipur Rugs