Milan Design Week was fun – and disappointing

Looking for new creative events to learn from, and attend

Playground readers,

The plan was to write insights from Milan Design Week in the same way I have done the two previous times I’ve been there. I made my daily notes, collected reflections, and tried to shape them into something useful – but it never quite landed.

Why?

While writing, and thinking, I realised Milan Design Week didn’t feel especially influential, nor especially “design” this year. It felt more like entertainment for people who like design. Or, even more so, for people who like brands.

So instead of forcing a clean event recap, I want to share the real reflections I brought back from Milan.

Here are my field notes.

From Wednesday, April 22nd in Milan Design Week

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Part one

First things first, many of you probably have seen more or less all of Milan Design Week already. Truthfully, probably even more than I did, despite being in Milan for four days.

The media and social coverage has become so big that, as many people pointed out, you can almost forget the fomo and enjoy the sofa scroll instead. These commercial brands make content so well that, often, there is very little surprise left in real life.

This is not a complaint about one brand, or even a few specific brands. I actually think brands are doing their branding job very well – hence, you’ve seen it all. It is more a reflection on the creative industries as a whole, and on our collective vision ahead.

I don’t know when we stopped asking the big questions – researching, educating, pushing, learning, innovating, surprising. But this year, I felt very little of that. What I saw, mostly, was entertainment.

We are quick to critique AI, tech bros, politics – for the right reasons – yet sometimes forget to look at ourselves. We go to protests, encourage protest, speak about better systems, and then create digital ecosystems that mirror the very realities we say we want to challenge. We support the players who do not always play the game fairly.

Not everybody, of course. But do we really walk the talk?

One example that stayed with me was Capsule. Public conversations have circulated around unpaid collaborators, including those connected to their exhibitions in Milan Design Week. We know this. And yet we still go. Brands still fund the platform. James Blake still plays in a tiny venue in Milan for them. People still stand in line.

I kept wondering: why?

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Part two

Looking back, I realised that so much of what this event now represents sits quite far from my own values.

Scream for the sake of screaming. Be for the sake of being. Do for the sake of doing.

And yet, I was walking around thinking: how do I become one of these fancy publishers, or one of these brands? Then I had to stop and shake myself.

Just because others are creating loud exhibitions that land on Instagram feeds of millions, it does not mean they are doing something meaningful. Nor does it mean that is what I should be doing.

This year, Milan Design Week reminded me of the Super Bowl or Coachella. But even there, what connects people is clear: sport or music. In this case, the original promise of design should be the holding glue of the week. Instead, it often felt pushed to the very edges.

Design, in many cases, was used as an aesthetic backdrop for content creation. What truly connected people was not always design, but the city, the crowd, and the performance of brands.

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Part three

Partly, and always, the media has a role to play too. We help decide what becomes visible. I say this knowing I am part of it.

When everything covers one type of thing, everything else becomes invisible. Or even worse, almost impossible to find by surprise, because people only want to see the big few – the queues, the recognisable names, the moments already approved by the feed.

Truthfully, I am happy I am not at the very start of my career. I think this kind of event could have impacted me in the strangest way possible.

It is not that Milan Design Week is bad. It is more that its purpose has become unclear.

So let’s unpack it.

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What is it good for?

• Showing up if you are a brand with money. The next time I go to Milan Design Week, it will be with a clear purpose or project – not just to stand in another line. I genuinely think people participating have more fun, and more purpose, than people visiting.

• Reflection. It is a good place to understand what you do and do not want to do. If you can think clearly about yourself in the middle of the noise, it can be useful. The event offers a very strange, skewed perception of the industry – but that, in itself, can make you ask: what kind of work do I actually want to make?

What’s the future?

Many brands showed up, and showed up well. You have seen them all. Many emerging designers and smaller brands came too, so my thoughts are not about individuals. They are about the event as a system – and about what we, as a creative community, are choosing to reward.

We often criticise the fair. But I still remember my first London Design Festival (when still had a fair) as one of the most impactful and inspiring design events I had attended, even with a fair at its centre. The Lithuanian national book fair is a real deal too – you explore new publishing, listen to industry talks, and feel part of a larger conversation.

So maybe the fair is not dead.

Maybe the better question is: who are these events for?

Who’s is Milan Design Week for?

→ Media

→ People who have money and want to watch a branded show

→ For brands to show up so they get featured in press

→ The industry, but only a very specific part of it

Who’s this is not for?

• People with disabilities or health issues. If you have any accessibility needs, are sensitive to the sun, or struggle with stress, the experience can be incredibly difficult. No lifts. Very little seating. Long queues in direct sun. It is almost ironic that an industry so often speaking about democratic design can create spaces that feel anything but democratic.

• Young creatives and designers. I worry it gives a distorted image of where the industry should be heading. I hope younger creatives can see through parts of it – because so much of it is a parallel reality.

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As a strategist at heart, I don’t know what the promise of these events is anymore. I find myself looking for industry events that are not built primarily for image creation, but for discussion, challenge, learning, and exchange.

I truly believe there are more niche, useful, and interesting events we should be looking towards.

And look, maybe it is not all that bad. Maybe the expectations simply need to change.

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These thoughts have probably been brewing because I am currently moderating the Testing Grounds talks, created together with Form Us With Love in Stockholm. Three talks in – first with fair organisers, then with brands, then with architects – I have been thinking a lot about what makes a good industry event.

The fourth talk, where we will explore this with a futurist and people from different creative industries, will be held on 28 May on Kungsholmen, Stockholm. If you are curious to explore this with us, save the date (and check on Instagram).

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