Buccellati brings the forest and Furry Animals to Milan Design Week

During the maelstrom of Milan Design Week, visitors are understandably barraged with an endless torrent of the ephemeral and the new. So it’s a refreshing departure for a brand to focus on a hallmark product it has been perfecting and refining over decades. Storied jewellery and silverware house Buccellati is among the few embracing this approach during the 2025 event, with a thoughtfully curated display of its revered Furry Animals collection, set to be unveiled in Piazza Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, at the threshold of its Milan headquarters.

When Buccellati, founded in 1919 by Mario Buccellati as a goldsmithing atelier, first began producing its now-emblematic Furry Animals collection in 1965, the technique was nothing short of alchemic. 'It was an invention of my father in the 1960s,' explains Maria Cristina Buccellati, the brand’s global communication director. 'We were already employing venerable goldsmithing techniques, but he sought an entirely novel way to work with silver. He collaborated with Florentine artisans, studying how to emulate the organic texture of fur.'

Each creature in the Furry Animals collection is painstakingly sculpted. There are majestic eagles with lifelike feathers, sprightly squirrels with thick, luxuriantly textured tails, and sinuous tigers, seemingly poised to strike. 'It’s very complicated – very intricate,' Buccellati describes of the process required to make each piece, which is done almost entirely by hand. 'You take a mould of an animal, and the artisans – who are essentially sculptors – apply layers of silver, each precisely incised to create the illusion of fur.'

According to Buccellati, each statuette is still produced in the same workshop where the brand’s artisans have been honing their craft for decades. 'The first time I went was about 18 years ago,' she explains. 'And nothing has changed. It’s a family working in a tiny atelier, with little animal figurines all around them.'

For its Milan Design Week 2025 presentation, the brand has tapped Balich Wonder Studio and Berlin-based Studio Mary Lennox to create what it describes as an immersive experience that will transport visitors into a poetic reinterpretation of the natural world. 'Everyone loves the feeling of stepping into an alternate reality,' says Buccellati. 'So we recreated three environments: the forest, the mountains, and the sea.'

For the installation, the multisensory experience by Balich Wonder Studio will be enveloped by real foliage curated by Studio Mary Lennox. 'First, you step inside and see the mountain,' Buccellati continues. 'You’ll hear the noise of the wind and see rocks floating overhead – a bit like a Magritte painting. Then you’ll move into the woods, with a majestic stag – made by hand by Buccellati’s artisans – standing amongst the trees.'

The exhibition will take place in Milan’s Piazza Tomasi di Lampedusa from April 8th to 13th, buccellati.com

Read about more must-sees with our Milan Design Week 2025 guide