With nearly 100,000 visitors registered between April 7 and 13, Isola Design Festival 2025 has once again confirmed its position as one of the most vital and participatory hubs of the Milano Design Week. Now in its ninth edition, this year’s theme was Design is Human, an invitation to reflect on the human experience in the design process.
The big news this year was the new location of the Basic Village (via dell’Aprica 12), which shifted the center of gravity of the district to the eastern area, closer to via Farini, where there was an increase in foreign attendance, with peaks both in the first days of the Design Week and in the closing weekend.
Conscious Objects – Photo © Luca Santini
The Basic Village, a converted early 20th-century industrial site, proved to be the most popular destination, with a packed program of exhibitions and installations. Among them was Be Aware, an exhibition dedicated to the relationship between design, sport and disability, a symbol of the growing focus on inclusivity, human well-being and sustainable innovation.
Enhance – Photo © Luca Santini
Three main exhibitions, curated by Isola Studio, enlivened the spaces of Basic Village: Conscious Objects, a sensory journey among interactive designs that combine functionality, creativity and robotics; Isola Design Gallery, which brought collectible design to the stage among unique, customizable pieces and furnishings inspired by contemporary living; and Openspace, a hub dedicated to start-ups and companies in the fields of technology and eco-design, enriched with talks and workshops.
Be Aware – Photo © Luca Santini
The Basic Village also hosted the Isola Design Awards Winners’ Showcase, which brought to Milan the winners of the 2024 edition of the Isola Design Awards, held in Dubai last November. At the same time, the open call for the 2025 edition of the competition was launched, which will award projects in the categories of Furniture, Seating, Lighting, Tableware, Textile, Product, Material, Sustainability, Outdoor and Innovation.
Be Aware – Photo © Luca Santini
Among the most prominent collaborations was that between Very Simple:Kitchen and Studio Proba, which presented a lively reinterpretation of modular steel kitchens. There was also a strong response to the second edition of Enhance, curated by Juan Torres: an exhibition that interprets design as a tool for social and sustainable change, inspired by the seven Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Very Simple Kitchen – Photo © Luca Santini
In a context increasingly focused on responsibility and impact, Gabriele Cavallaro, co-founder and CEO of Isola Design Group, affirmed that true design «comes from paying attention to the human experience, and every decision and innovation must be guided by empathy, understanding and respect for the diverse needs of all. Today, designers are called upon to do much more than create beautiful or functional products: they must approach each project with a sense of responsibility, aware of the broader impact of their work on society and the planet».
