MILAN — Beyond the media value-driven hype and the long lines around the mega installations of Milan Design Week are the niche designs created by centuries-old artisan firms, as well as the treasures found in the private courtyards and homes rarely seen by the public.

Despite the ongoing global challenges, this year’s events which closed Sunday were overflowing with surprises, marked by collections that focused on the intrinsic value of materials, processes and the spirit of one’s story.

Here are a few highlights from the week’s events.

Rubelli and Ai Weiwei Turn Adversity Into Regalia

When artist Ai WeiWei was four, his father was exiled and spent his first 20 years in the Gobi desert. Fifteen years ago WeiWei spent 81 days in prison for his activism. This season, the artist teamed up with storied Venetian fabric maker Rubelli for a fabric that crystallized his experience into a work of triumph. The artist wove surveillance cameras, handcuffs and chains, and the llama, a symbol of dissent against censorship, into a regal silk tapestry of freedom and creativity. “Fabric is not two-dimensional. You have to have the knowledge… It’s beyond fashion,” he said.

Osanna Visconti’s Bronze Lighting

Osanna Visconti is known for her furniture collections and objects made with the branches and leaves she picks herself in the countryside outside of Milan. Her bronze-coated creations mostly are derived from magnolia trees and bamboo. This year, she unveiled her new, evocative pieces of furniture and decor in the heart of Milan’s Cinque Vie district and she introduced a wall-lighting sculpture that imbues her signature poetry into the technical world of illumination.

Haydn Embraces Venetian Glass

Designer Haydn von Werp unfurled his new Stemma collection inside the gilded halls of Milan’s Museo Bagatti Valsecchi. With his Tresse collection, launched last year, von Werp brought back intricate detailing back into European design with braided metal twists. This year von Werp took it a step further by embracing Murano glass, which resulted in a unique, sculptural chair fashioned with mirrors and whimsical glass-blown elements.

Inside Casa Milana

Husband-and-wife duo, Italian designer Mario Milana and Colombian creative Gabriella Campagna, unveiled the Milan Design Week exhibit by their creative studio and home, Casa Milana.

The exhibition features new and recent works by Mario Milana, including La Piccola, a low, laid-back sofa that adjusts for conversation, together with artful seating, cabinets defined by rhythmic patterns, and lava stone tables developed with Ranieri. The designers’ work is built around presence, nourishment, and togetherness. This season’s collection began with the terrazzo floors of their Brera apartment, translated into wool carpets for Beni Rugs. Terrazzo, which is common to both Italian and Moroccan architecture, “carries a quiet belief — fragments made precious, the many held inside the one,” Milana said. The collection is crafted in a palette of Desert Rose, Oxblood, Goldenrod, Sienna, Rinsed Red, and Natural, chosen to reflect earthen warmth of both landscapes.

The World of Droulers

Stepping into the 5Vie showroom and home of Droulers, an architectural design firm founded by sisters Virginie and Nathalie Droulers, is an immersion into the best of Milanese taste. The company, whose residential work spans from London to New York and even the nautical world, recently launched its own business-to-consumer e-commerce design shop. The platform is dedicated to the new Droulers Collezione of furniture, objects, lighting and handmade wallpaper.

Global demand for their bespoke designs intensified after Milan Design Week 2025 when they debuted their Droulers Collezione of eight types of furniture and accessories made from unusual materials. The Nat chair, for example, is made in brass variations, luxurious textiles and napa leather, while the Damier rug is made from unexpected materials like agave, copper or silver threads and wool.

Fabscarte Wall Coverings

Inside Fabscarte’s atelier in Milan, decorators and master artisans employ techniques that trace their roots back to the days Leonardo Da Vinci called Milan his home. Among them, a “classic” technique of dusting and creating a “glaze” or plays of light and shadow on the paper. Their unique method also involves working with a variety of unexpected materials like plasters, metallic powders and even coffee powder.

During Milan Design Week 2026, Fabscarte showcased “Tender Flora” at the fourth edition of L’Appartamento by Artemest, set in Palazzo Donizetti. In the bedroom designed by Saudi interior architect Urjowan Alsharif Interiors, Fabscarte presented a custom version of its iconic wallpaper, originally created with Studio Mamo in 2019.

The bespoke design is colored with a soft ivory background with branches in a deep, warm black. Inspired by the Far East, it’s characterized by a rippled texture, delicate gold accents, and three-dimensional white stucco flowers.

Marta Bastianello’s Venetian Echoes

After more than 30 years dedicated to residential design, Marta Bastianello opened up her world within the Alberto Levi Gallery in Milan to the public with original pieces of furniture, objects and even carpets. With a curatorial approach, the collection was crafted in collaboration with master artisans and renowned manufacturers, alongside notable Venetian names like Rubelli whose fabrics covered masterfully designed chairs. Venetian firm Micheluzzi Glass, with whom the designer has worked for years, created vessels that call to mind the architecture and nature of the Venetian lagoon.