Ai Weiwei redefines textile art with Rubelli at Milan Design Week 2026

In contrast to the excessive noise that so often defines Milan Design Week, silence shapes Rubelli’s project, which presents an immersive installation in its showroom of the Venetian family-run company of luxury fabrics in Via Fatebenefratelli, created in collaboration with artist and activist Ai Weiwei.

‘Our first encounter dates back to an edition of the Venice Biennale,’ says Rubelli CEO Nicolò Favaretto Rubelli. ‘But it was only last October, when we began thinking about this year’s Design Week, that we reconnected. It was no random choice: he is a figure who has endured immense hardship – I have his most recent autobiography, published not long ago. Exile, humiliation, activism, imprisonment: above all, his mission is to communicate his message.’ Art and design have always been part of Rubelli’s DNA, the CEO adds, citing past collaborations with Paola Navone, Luke Edward Hall and Peter Marino, among others.

The title of Ai Weiwei and Rubelli’s exhibition, ‘About Silk’, is no coincidence: it marks the first time the artist has worked with this material. ‘Silk, one of humanity’s oldest materials, transcends the realm of imagination and lies beyond the scope of ordinary craftsmanship,’ says Ai Weiwei.

‘It is fascinating to me. I am a collector of ancient silks, some of which are over 3,000 years old. Each dynasty’s silk reflects different styles, but they all come from the delicate work of silkworms, making silk as a material both delicate and precious. When creating this artwork, my primary challenge was using silk as a medium to express long-standing themes such as human rights, freedom of speech, and the censorship system. Throughout this process, there were many discussions with Rubelli’.

The first room of the exhibit resembles a fully enclosed box, shielded from street light, where visitors are immersed in an intricate silk lampas. The composition radiates outwards from a central point like a burst of fireworks, with the regularity of a classical, almost Baroque drawing. On closer inspection, a dense weave of symbols emerges, tracing the artist’s history and struggles: surveillance cameras, handcuffs and chains, llamas (for Weiwei, a symbol of freedom and resistance to internet censorship in China), and the Twitter bird – from a time when it still represented digital freedom of expression. The reference is clearly Ai Weiwei’s original design, ‘The Animal that Looks like a Llama but is Actually an Alpaca’.

The warp of the fabric consists of 9,600 silk threads, equally divided between deep red and golden yellow. ‘The inspiration comes from a vase I bought 15-20 years ago in Beijing,’ Rubelli explains, describing a surface created through the interplay of intertwined threads, producing an iridescent effect reminiscent of Chinese ceramics, where colour is never uniform but vibrates with tonal variation. Metallic wefts enhance brilliance and shading, while the combination of five wefts and three shades of gold creates unexpected depth.

At the centre of the room stands a sculptural sofa upholstered in the same elaborate silk lampas. Its geometric backrest reveals subtle variations in depth, creating converging lines that distort perception. ‘Ai Weiwei had dreamed of making a sofa,’ says Rubelli. ‘When we met, he took a block and sketched it out. At first, I did not understand his idea of one part narrowing while another widens. The result is intriguing – more an art object than a sofa.’

The installation continues in a second room dedicated to ‘Finger’, one of the artist’s most recognisable motifs, inviting viewers to ‘raise our middle finger’ against sites of power and censorship. It also serves as a backdrop for two display cases designed by Formafantasma, containing textile documents from the Rubelli Historical Archive and the Rubelli Foundation, highlighting the millenary textile dialogue between Weiwei’s China and Rubelli’s Venice.

On the lower floor, the artist speaks through a black-and-white visual narrative, his voice calm and reflective. The documentary film, created for the occasion by Argentine director Felipe Sanguinetti and filmed between Downing College, Cambridge, and the Rubelli weaving mill in Como, captures the exchanges, sketches and experiments behind the project.

‘In the course of so-called social progress, we have increasingly lost our connection to nature and the inspiration it provides, much of which has been supplanted by new technologies,’ Ai Weiwei explains. ‘Similarly, a lot of modern technology has distanced itself from political, social, and historical discourse. In an era dominated by AI and algorithms, we see a growing narrative of technological control that continuously erases or obscures human nature and craftsmanship. This shift diminishes tactile experiences and emotions on a large scale, which I believe poses a threat to human nature and to historical memory. That is why, in my collaboration with Rubelli, I sought to develop a new approach using silk, a medium that could embody both functionality and complexity.’

Rubelli agrees: ‘We are a Venetian family company working with silk and precious textiles. I’m very glad that, through our work, we can help spread Ai Weiwei’s reflections and message.’

Follow all the latest news from Milan Design Week 2026 with our editors’ live blog.