In Partnership With Villeroy & Boch Group
At Milan Design Week 2026, where installations increasingly prioritise experience over display, Villeroy & Boch Group presents ‘Design Continuum: A Study in Sensory Experience’, its first joint installation uniting Villeroy & Boch and Ideal Standard. Platforming the group’s Milan showroom ahead of its reopening this summer, the project unfolds from 21-26 April as a new chapter in the company’s evolving design narrative.
Details from the installation at Milan Design Week 2026
Developed in collaboration with Elastique, the exhibition reframes what bathroom design can mean. It goes beyond form and function, exploring how tactile surfaces, materiality, light, and atmosphere shape the way people experience a space. Design Continuum is our way of showing that great design is something you feel — not just something you see.
Visitors move through five distinct environments, each conceived as a self-contained study. Together, they form a broader exploration of design as an ongoing process – one that unfolds through material experimentation, sensory interaction and spatial change. A ‘ready-made’ aesthetic runs throughout, revealing fragments of process and research rather than polished display and offering a glimpse into how ideas evolve before reaching completion.
The installation reflects the combined design DNA of the group’s two brands. Villeroy & Boch draws on a legacy of heritage, craftsmanship and technical innovation, while Ideal Standard brings a more accessible, contemporary approach to design. Together, they articulate a shared vision of the bathroom as a holistic environment, one shaped as much by atmosphere and emotions as by function.
‘Design is in our DNA and is our engine for transformation since our founding days, says Sven Ullrich, executive vice present product and marketing at Villeroy & Boch Group. ‘For us, bathroom design is about redefining sensory perception and creating spaces of wellbeing. At Milan Design Week, we bring this concept to life in our Milan showroom in a unique installation together with Elastique, showcasing forward-looking design and innovation.’
Rather than isolating individual pieces, ‘Design Continuum’ situates products within a wider narrative of material intelligence and sensory engagement. Surfaces respond to shifting light, textures invite touch and spatial transitions guide movement through the installation. The bathroom, here, becomes a space of ritual – where daily routines are reimagined as moments of reflection, immersion and pause.
Revealed at Foro Buonaparte 70, Milan from 21-26 April 2026, ‘Design Continuum: A Study in Sensory Experience’ offers a quietly immersive counterpoint to the intensity of Milan Design Week, as a considered reflection on how design continues to evolve through the interplay of material, technology and the senses.
-
Remembering 'King of Lucite' Charles Hollis JonesArchitectural historian Adam Štěch reflects on the work of the legendary American designer
-
The Kip House, a classic piece of post-war American Modernism is up for sale in BerkeleyDonald Olsen’s Kip House is a modest masterpiece of West Coast residential design, built in 1952 for a pioneering physicist and Bauhaus enthusiast
-
We report from the world’s most moneyed automotive event, Monterey Car Week 2026MCW 2026 was all about the big numbers. Across The Quail, Pebble Beach Concours and numerous other events, some of the world’s most storied automobiles were assembled in Northern California to be shown off, scrutinised, and occasionally sold
-
Incoming Triennale president Vincenzo Trione outlines the museum’s next four yearsThe president’s newly announced team includes designer Michele de Lucchi, who will lead the Museo del Design Italiano with a focus on craftsmanship
-
Nemo Lighting’s Milan space is like a surrealist treasure huntRon Gilad transforms the lighting brand’s Milan showroom into a journey of illuminated curiosity and discovery
-
The new Triennale uniforms draw on workwear culture and Bauhaus-inspired geometriesThe new uniforms for Milan’s Triennale museum were designed by Alessandra Facchinetti and produced by Older, and inspired by the Italian institution's visual codes, from the architecture to the colour and material palettes
-
Duro is Milan's latest nightlife haunt, a Brutalist nightclub with a Studio 54 spiritWelcome to Duro Club, the latest Milanese nightlife opening, set within the Certosa district. Designed by Turin's Velvet Studio, it draws on the Brutalist architecture of the building's industrial past
-
'A place that reflects the city's art and culture': Poliform's new Milanese home opens in the city's beating heartPoliform's new flagship on Milan's Piazza Scala features the company's furniture and kitchens as well as a cafe, taking a forward-thinking approach to connecting past, present and future
-
'We are here to solve problems': how NM3's furniture is crafting a new contemporary language through materiality and modularityItalian design studio NM3 has established a brand based on material-led minimalism, taking high-end design to new heights. Follow along as we explore the studio's universe, following our collaboration at Milan Design Week
-
Why are we waiting? What queuing says about usDaven Wu reflects on the beauty and true meaning of the queue – an act anyone at a design fair will have plenty of time to grit their teeth and ponder
-
Get the Wallpaper* Design Directory 2026, on sale now and full of showstoppersDiscover design highlights of the year so far, from Milan Design Week and beyond, gathered in the July 2026 issue of Wallpaper*, on newsstands
