Some weeks after the dust has settled on the whirlwind that is Milan Design Week, we find ourselves reflecting on the objects that lingered most vividly in the memory. Many this year, we realised, came in the form of glass.
Across the city, designers explored the material in ways that reinterpreted glassmaking traditions for a new generation – headliners dedicated to the medium included 6:AM’s standout showcase at Piscina Cozzi and Valentina Ciuffi’s The Romance of Fragility at Delvis (Un)Limited, while the highly decorative works of designers such as Sema Topaloğlu and Christian Pellizzari pushed traditional techniques into more dreamlike territory.
Rather than polished perfection, many embraced irregularity, distortion and visible process – using glass to create objects that felt expressive, spontaneous, and at times, wonderfully unruly.
Here are some of our favourites.
'Over and over and over and over' by 6:AM
The multicoloured cast-glass stools originally created for Bottega Veneta’s S/S 2026 runway show were stacked together to create a towering floor to ceiling wall of glass
The exhibition took place in the changing rooms of Milanese public pool, Piscina Cozzi
Set within the dramatic surrounds of Piscina Cozzi, 6:AM presented its latest collection, including the multicoloured cast-glass stools originally created for Bottega Veneta’s S/S 2026 runway show. As the exhibition’s title suggests, the installation explored repetition as a generative principle, with towering compositions that took full advantage of the piscina’s lofty proportions.
‘2026 Chapter 1’ by Barovier&Toso
The new table and floor versions of Agave, designed by García Cumini for Barovier&Toso
The Profilo suspension lamp by Luca Nichetto diffuses a soft light through its centrifuged discs
Historic Murano glassmaker Barovier&Toso used Milan Design Week to unveil ‘2026 Chapter 1’, marking a new era under artistic director Luca Nichetto. Presented within a softly layered showroom installation by Nichetto, the collection paired Murano craftsmanship with more restrained, architectural forms, signalling a shift towards a contemporary visual language while preserving the brand’s historic identity.
‘Boswellia’ wall lamp by Christian Pellizzari
Christian Pellizzari's fantastical ‘Boswellia’ wall lamp merges traditional Venetian craftsmanship with contemporary design
Christian Pellizzari's spellbinding Murano glass ‘Boswellia’ lamp was a particular highlight at ‘La Casa Magica’, an exhibition curated by Valentina Ciuffi for Nilufar Gallery. Here, an international roster of designers explored the home as a symbolic and ritual space. Inspired by the Boswellia tree, Pellizzari's sculptural piece merges traditional Venetian craftsmanship with contemporary design to create its fantastical form.
'The Romance of Fragility' at Delvis (Un)Limited
At 'The Romance of Fragility' at Delvis (Un)Limited, a group of international designers questioned the conventions and common perceptions of glass
Featured designers inlcuded Familiar Form, Serim Kwack, Johan Pertl, Inderjeet Sandhu, Tino Seubert, and Maria Tyakina
At Milanese gallery Delvis (Un)Limited, curator Valentina Ciuffi brought together delicate and precarious glass forms by a stable of international designers that explored vulnerability and impermanence. Cracked textures, fine edges and seemingly unstable compositions repositioned fragility as a strength – both aesthetically and conceptually.
‘Light as Medium’ by Bocci
Bocci transformed glass into an immersive study of light at its apartment showroom in Milan. Works included this piece that brought together all of the brand's designs in silver, forming a single reflective column in the bathroom
Bocci transformed glass into an immersive study of light, volume and atmosphere. Presented in the brand’s Milan apartment showroom, the installation was laid out over a series of rooms transformed by mesmerising glass lighting, including folded sheet glass and clusters of suspended globes that explored the idea of illumination as something emotional rather than purely functional.
‘Something Blue’ by Completedworks
Completedworks' 'Silo' and 'B517' vases are hand-blown using melted-down window and bottle glass
Displayed within the multi-level Convey exhibition, these slouchy glassworks formed part of Completedworks’ presentation. Hand-blown using melted-down window and bottle glass, the 'Silo' and 'B517' vases from the studio's 'Fold' series possessed a soft pale-blue hue created naturally through the recycled material. Their flowing, draped forms referenced the way painters have historically used fabric to suggest movement, while offering a more sculptural and conceptual counterpoint to traditional decorative glassmaking.
‘Liquid Parlour’ by Sudden Object
Stemmed glasses with pebble-like bases cast from epoxy resin were displayed within a reupholstered 18th-century vitrine at Convey
by experimental Rotterdam studio Sudden Object
Also spotted at Convey, we loved these stemmed glasses with pebble-like bases cast from epoxy resin by experimental Rotterdam studio Sudden Object. Displayed within a reupholstered 18th-century vitrine sealed behind epoxy doors moulded from carved wood detailing, the warped pieces formed part of 'Liquid Parlour', a collection exploring repair, collage and the beauty of damaged or discarded objects.
‘Disco Aperitivo’ by Sophie Lou Jacobsen
American glassware designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen brought her playful approach to drinkware and entertaining into an apartment installation that included Swarovski crystal-jewelled glasses, bowls, patterned glass plates and a glass ashtray – her personal tribute to Milanese aperitivo culture. Shop the collection.
‘Facetas’ by Berto
Berto used the 'Tiffany' technique – a 19th-century method of joining glass with copper and tin – to create these totemic stained glass floor lamps
Presented at Exhibit C during Milan Design Week, Berto Sánchez’s collection explored geometry, light and material through the 'Tiffany' technique – a 19th-century method of joining glass with copper and tin. The faceted forms shifted with light and perspective, while visible solder lines celebrated the handmade process and the beauty of imperfection.
‘Layers of Light’ by Venini
Presented as part of 'Layers of Light', these glass 'Volcano' panels are a reinterpretation of a 1970s design by Manfredo Vaccari Giglioli, originally conceived for the Cassa di Risparmio di Cento
Venini presented Layers of Light, an immersive installation exploring the relationship between glass, light and architecture. Modular systems including 'Lunettes' by Michele De Lucchi, 'Parete Pop' by Michele De Lucchi and 'Volcano' by Manfredo Vaccari Giglioli transformed glass into a spatial device rather than a decorative object, using layered transparencies, colour and reflection to create atmospheric architectural environments.
'Layers' by OOG Objects
'Layers' is a series of glass vessels by OOG Objects built from overlapping forms
Luigi Fiano
Ardesia Coco)
Presented along a windowsill at the Franco Albini-designed Villa Pestarini – one of Alcova's two destinations this year – OOG Objects founder Alicja Hajkowicz-Rudzka unveiled 'Layers' – a series of glass vessels built from overlapping forms that accumulated density at their centres while fading into transparency at the edges.
'Tales in Glass' by Gallotti e Radice
‘Ommi’ by Rania Hamed
‘Cauce’ by Estudio Persona
To mark its 70th anniversary, Gallotti e Radice celebrates with ‘Tales in Glass', an exhibition that will culminate in a group show featuring new work by a global cohort of female designers, including the LA- and Uruguay-based Estudio Persona; London's Miminat Shodeinde; Milan's Valentina Cameranesi Sgroi; Belgian-Dutch designer Ivania Carpio; Tokyo's Fumie Shibata; and the Dubai- and Montreal-based Rania Hamed.
The narrative lived within an immersive installation designed by Parisian architect Sophie Dries. ‘The scenography is inspired by crystal, so we're wrapping the walls with fabric and passementerie threaded with raw pieces of reclaimed glass,' says Dries. ‘It will feel quite precious, but, at the same time, the movement is very dramatic.
Sema Topaloğlu at Alcova
Sema Topaloğlu Studio presented The Waiting Room – an installation centred around psychedelic chandeliers adorned with multicoloured glass flora and fauna
Luigi Fiano
Ardesia Coco)
The Turkish studio also presented 'Tea Time' - an arrangement of glass flowers and vessels displayed across the balconies of Villa Pestarini.
Luigi Fiano
Ardesia Coco)
At Alcova’s Baggio Military Hospital site, Sema Topaloğlu presented 'The Waiting Room' – an installation centred around psychedelic chandeliers adorned with multicoloured glass flora and fauna that appeared almost extraterrestrial. The Turkish designer also presented 'Firfir in Garden', a series of flower-festooned vessels, alongside 'Tea Time', an arrangement of glass flowers and vessels displayed across the balconies of Villa Pestarini.
Vessels by Szkło
Hand-blown by Polish artist Aleksandra Zawistowska these vessels are produced without moulds, yielding more spontaneous forms
Luigi Fiano
Ardesia Coco)
Szkło showcased a series of wobbly glass vessels as part of group show, 'Semiophores. Obiecta Animata', at Alcova. Hand-blown by Polish artist Aleksandra Zawistowska with a team of craftsmen, the vessels' production challenges conventional techniques. Zawistowska explains: 'As no traditional moulds are used in the process, the sculptures assume spontaneous forms, often challenging the notion of beauty. The glassblowing process becomes as important as the final form itself.'