The new interior design trends we spotted at Salone del Mobile 2026

As we looked at interior design trends emerging from Salone del Mobile 2026, a few materials and furniture genres kept popping up and it became evident they are going to set a new direction for interior design in the coming year and beyond.

Walking the halls of Salone del Mobile and exploring Milan's new Fuorisalone locations, installations and more, we kept coming across a few recurring themes that will help shape how we imagine our homes in the year ahead.

From the ubiquitous use of lacquer – which is infiltrating soft furnishings, adding structure and elegance to sofas and chairs – to the inescapable sculptural table, there are plenty of signs that bold visual statements are the shape of interiors to come.

Here are the key interior design trends we observed in Milan, for 2026 and beyond.

Lacquer infiltrating soft furnishings

The ultra-softness and comfort-led approach of upholstered seating that we’ve seen in the past few years was definitely disrupted this year by lacquered elements inserted into sofas, supporting armchairs and breaking up conversation-style seating arrangements.

At Tacchini and Frigerio, for example, armchairs old and new were enriched by shiny structures that enriched their aesthetic. 'Lacquers envelop products like a thin, protective skin, capable of holding and preserving the impressions collected,' said photographer Massimo Gardone, who worked with Tacchini on their nature-inspired collection of reissues by Tobia Scarpa, Vico Magistretti and Gianfranco Frattini. 'Colour is no longer just a surface, but a living memory of the matter from which it originates.'

Meanwhile, Visionnaire, Minotti, Molteni & C and Living Divani all subscribed to this new wave of exceptional seating. These are sofas that take over a space with their intricate geometries – it's no longer just a matter of modularity, but a bigger concept where elements are placed in dialogue with one another throughout systems that play with materials, surfaces and colours.

Take Minotti's ‘Orion’ sofa, a system devised by Giampiero Tagliaferri: for the design, he was inspired by John Lautner’s architecture to create a spatial vision that goes beyond seating.

For Mauro Lipparini at Visionnaire, the sofa is part of a larger structural idea. 'In the “Baton Rouge” sofa, the compact base and rear connecting elements reinforce the project’s constructive logic, allowing the sofa to bring order and rhythm to the space,' reads a note introducing the new piece.

‘Each piece emerges from a desire to create forms that are both generous and precise, sculptural yet calm, expressive yet familiar,' said Vincent Van Duysen of his Molteni & C collection. 'Lines flow seamlessly, without rupture or tension, allowing the eye to move gently from one curve to another. Light becomes part of the design itself; it glides across surfaces, tracing the movement of a hand, revealing the textures of wood, fabric, and lacquered finishes.'

Architecture was also on Piero Lissoni's mind for his latest effort at Living Divani. Aptly titled 'The Edge', his sofa is defined by a lacquered container that envelops it on three sides. '“The Edge” is a sign that draws space. It does not occupy the room, but acts as an edge that organises it. It has a precise, pure geometry, almost architectural,' he says. 'The different elements that make up the seating form an open line, a perimeter for conversation, pausing, living.’

Sculptural tables

At Salone del Mobile this year, we spent a lot of time crouching under tables to admire their sculptural bases. It is clear that the dining table is no longer just a functional piece of furniture, but is now encouraged to set the aesthetic tone of a room, taking up space with imaginative structures supporting its top.

At B&B Italia, Ronan Bouroullec was unconsciously inspired by the architecture of the company's HQ, by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, to create his 'Abaco' table. 'I was both delighted to finally discover the place and eager to become part of this story,' he says. 'This project of tables and seating speaks of architecture, construction, and connection.’

Bouroullec wasn't the only one to bring bigger thinking to the table: at Minotti, Hannes Peer had Florence Knoll and Ray and Charles Eames on his mind for his ‘Blaine’ table, while Sebastian Herkner was inspired by brutalism for his 'Tara' table.

At Baxter and Frigerio, meanwhile, expressive marble elevated the sculptural nature of the forms. 'Assembled in a corolla shape, the panels form an architecture like a millefeuille, sometimes with sharp edges, sometimes with soft, rounded lines,’ said Delcourt of his 'Zaho' table for Baxter. ‘A base like a building, as light as it is monumental.’

Bigger influences are also at the heart of Calvi Brambilla's 'Kumo' table for Frigerio. 'Organic abstraction and sculptural presence characterise the project, which thrives on the dynamic contrast between mass and void, balance and tension, in a continuous dialogue between autonomous forms,' write the architects. '“Kumo” fills the space like a dance, evoking the fluid forms and bold colours of the sculptures of Alexander Calder and Henry Moore.'

The evolution of the tubular chair

The design world has been enamoured with the tubular chairs for a few years now, and Salone del Mobile 2026 confirmed that the genre is very much here to stay. The chairs were present at the fair and across town, in the form of new designs as well as reissues of originals, merging a sense of nostalgia for modernist ideas and a desire to innovate and expand the concept.

At Flexform, Antonio Citterio's 'Avalon' combined the essential character of the tubular base with a 'sartorial attentiveness' that is typical of the Italian company.

A fresh take on a classic tubular chair was offered by Cassina and Karakter, who joined forces to reissue Nicos Zographos' 1966 cantilevered chair. The design reverses the classic s-shaped Bauhaus cantilever, creating instead an equally elegant b-shaped seat using a continuous line of chromed tubular steel with gentle curves.

Japanese brand Time & Style also offered a new vision for the tubular chair, made of moulded plywood to add warmth to the design.

A different, humorous direction was seen by Carlo Colombo at Lema, who took the material to new horizons with the 'Graffetta' armchair: named after a paperclip, its tubular metal frame supports a leather seat and combines an essential visual gesture with a familiar concept.

Environmental richness

This year, designers didn't hold back when it came to decorating spaces. Milan Design Week not only offered new takes on traditional furniture, it also gave us a glimpse into how maximalism can transform spaces with elegance and how traditional ideas can be emboldened through new conceptual approaches.

David/Nicolas have long been serious proponents of boiserie – intricate wood cladding – and this year they staged a wooden takeover of their studio to show the technique’s creative opportunities, not just as a wallcovering, but for doors, cabinets and hooks for artworks. The project is the result of years of research from the Lebanese, Milan-based designers, and their modular system 'transforms the wall into an architectural feature'.

Elsewhere, the spaces created by designer Hannes Peer (who filmed a local’s guide to Milan with us – check it out before your next trip) also featured a rich, textural approach to dressing walls. Projects such as his Officine Saffi Lab takeover or his Casa Di Marmo for Margraf gave a good idea of how surfaces can be treated as art, to give interiors a new dimension.

Other designers took old-school wallcoverings to new horizons. Patricia Urquiola's 'Mosso' three-dimensional tiles for Cimento, for example, were used on the wall to encourage movement in the space.

Another shake-up was found at Artemest, where New York-based studio Gachot didn't hold back. We were impressed by its mirrored wall, a nod to 20th-century apartments, that works perfectly in contemporary interiors.

Textile wallcoverings also took a novel turn. At Nilufar Grand Hotel, for example, David/Nicolas and De Gournay showcased them in three-dimensional guise. 'The motif employs an array of hand-embroidery techniques, where “stumpwork” forms a rich dimension alongside silk, raffia and fine metallic threads,' reads a note from the company to explain the richness of the setting.

Design firm Studioutte, known for the cinematic quality of its interiors, worked with lighting studio De Troupe and textiles by Dedar for its ‘Camera Fissa’, an immersive space that nodded to private clubs. And while immersive was a buzzword across Milan Design Week this year (not always offering an experience matching the description), the considered approaches we’ve revisited here certainly promise interiors that absorb and engage.