‘Girls run the world’, the poet Beyoncé once said. In the design world, though, female creatives are still sadly underrepresented and under-recognised. Progress is being made, but the design and architecture professions are historically male-dominated – and great work created by women often doesn’t make it to highlight-level at major design events.
Wallpaper* aims to redress that imbalance. In Milan, where our editors are currently on the ground reviewing all that's noteworthy during Design Week 2026, we keep track of the achievements of incredible female creatives in the city – from Salone del Mobile president Maria Porro, injecting new ideas into one of the oldest design institutions in Italy, to trend-setting curator Valentina Ciuffi, whose Alcova has become an example of championing creativity from all corners of the profession, and doyenne of collectible design Nina Yashar (watch our Ground Report interview), whose galleries Nilufar and Nilufar Depot are among the most important places to discover design.
We also have a careful lens on the work that Patricia Urquiola is doing at Cassina, in terms of both innovation and championing an emerging generation of creatives; and the electric energy with which Visionnaire art director Eleonore Cavalli finds the most exciting ways to shake up her company's strong heritage (through unexpected collaborations with the likes of metal stalwart NM3, for example).
Here, we gather a small directory, spotlighting just some of the women whose work has defined this year's Milan Design Week. For many more, follow our coverage on Wallpaper.com, where you’ll find the likes of Federica Biasi and her respectful interpretation of Maddalena De Padova's legacy; the inimitable Bethan Laura Wood, reinterpreting Baccarat's baroque and subverting its rules; and Nao Tamura and her sculptural origami furniture for Porro that leave us marvelling at her creative gestures every time we encounter them.
Nine female creatives to know at Milan Design Week 2026
Faye Toogood
Faye Toogood is the queen of prototyping, and this Milan Design Week has made it even clearer that the British designer is the best when it comes to visualising ideas in compact ways. We are particularly fond of her mini carved butter sofas, a prelude to her collection of seating for Tacchini (aptly called ‘Butter' and comprising different modular elements, or ‘slabs of butter’: a three-seater sofa, an armchair and a storage unit). But her miniature-making prowess was also evident in the perfectly compact ‘Lie Low’ bed, for Poltrona Frau, and the folded paper experiments that represent her ‘Crease’ collection for Meritalia, inspired by flat-pack constructions.
And while the life-size versions of these furniture design concepts are magnificent in their own right, seeing the ideas unfold in small scale (and in such imaginative, expressive ways) always puts a smile on our face.
Linde Freya Tangelder
The work of Belgian designer Linde Freya Tangelder (also known as Destroyers Builders) is a powerful whisper. Over the years, the designer has built an aesthetic identity that is unmistakably hers, based on a version of minimalism that is multi-material and takes modularity to unexpected horizons. At Milan Design Week 2026, Tangelder and Cassina staged a display at 10 Corso Como titled 'Fluid Re-Collection', an immersion into her creative world that includes her furniture, objects and study models placed in conversation with the lighting design she has been creating with the Italian company since 2022.
Ambra Medda with Amy Tai
'I love being part of a city that is changing and evolving at such speed,' said design curator Ambra Medda, who recently moved back to Milan from her longtime base in London. Her new creative space in the city hosts its inaugural exhibition, co-curated with design historian Amy Tai, bringing together the ceramic work of Greek designer Leda Athanasopoulou and textiles by the Chinese artist Yumo Yuan.
Read our interview with Ambra Medda
Elisa Ossino
Elisa Ossino's secret garden with Molteni & C is a much-needed oasis of peace in the middle of Milan ('What a beautiful gift to the city', we overheard someone say on our visit at the beginning of Milan Design Week). Titled 'Responsive Nature', the verdant installation takes over Garden Senato in a way that is both poetic and also a stage to showcase the company's new outdoor collections (including new pieces by Ossino herself). Through five environments, Molteni & C's furniture is set amid tropical plants, architectural ruins overgrown with foliage and water features that make you feel like you have left the city and have stepped into an otherworldly natural paradise.
Kelly Wearstler
Kelly Wearstler, queen of the maximalist interior, made her Milan Design Week debut to launch a new furniture collection designed in tandem with H&M Home. ‘We still had a lot of boundaries,' she told us. ‘Every piece had to be modular, but it pushed us to be more creative.' While all the objects in the collection feel unique, Wearstler was also keen that they work with any environment. ‘I wanted to operate under the ethos of just offering great accessible design.' Launching in 28 markets, the collection includes chairs, tables and lamps, as well as a series of tabletop items, ranging from wooden vases to drinking glasses. Anyone who has visited one of Wearstler's luxury lifestyle-forward Proper hotels will immediately recognise her distinctive aesthetic.
Read our interview with Kelly Wearstler
Marta Sala
Milanese gallerist Marta Sala founded her namesake company, Marta Sala Éditions, in 2015, with the aim of building a platform dedicated to limited-run design collections rooted in architectural rigour and material precision. Eleven years on, that vision has been entirely realised – in no small part thanks to her longstanding collaborations with some of the most exacting figures in design. At Milan Design Week 2026, she launched a new collection with Herzog & de Meuron, making its debut at the inaugural edition of Salone Raritas.
Read our interview with Marta Sala
Natalia Criado
Since founding her eponymous brand in 2018, the Milan-based, Colombia-born designer Natalia Criado has been developing a body of work that reads as both functional object and sculpture. This year at Milan Design Week, Criado worked with Laboratorio Paravicini – the Milanese ceramics brand run by Costanza Paravicini and her three daughters, Benedetta, Margherita and Bona, known for their deftly hand-illustrated ceramics. 'I had been aware of their work for some time, and what drew me in was not only the craftsmanship, but the structure behind it, a family-run studio largely composed of women,' Criado says.
Read our interview with Natalia Criado
Sophie Lou Jacobsen
For the past several months, New York glassware designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen has been spending more and more time in Milan, developing her latest collection inspired by the famed local aperitivo culture. 'In New York, we have happy hour, and in France, there is apéro, but aperitivo is a ritual really ingrained into daily life in Milan,' says the designer, who aptly titled the collection 'Disco Aperitivo', a nod to the 1980s style that still defines many of the city’s historic bars.
Read our interview with Sophie Lou Jacobsen
Lina Ghotmeh
Lebanese-born, Paris-based architect Lina Ghotmehhas built a reputation for immersive, site-responsive work, and was also behind one of the most anticipated installations of Milan Design Week, at Palazzo Litta, transforming the historic building's courtyard into different pockets of calm, culture and conversation during a frenetic week. ‘At a time when the world is bombarded from several standpoints, I wanted a place that cherishes joy and human connection. It is a setting that gently slows people down and allows them to engage with one another and with the place around them,’ she explains.
Read our interview with Lina Ghotmeh
See our guide to what’s on at Milan Design Week 2026 (until 26 April), and follow the adventures of our editors on the ground in our live Milan blog.