by Alan Hayward & Garreth van Niekerk

Every year, Milan Design Week offers more than a view of what is new. For the design trade, it is one of the clearest indicators of where the market is moving: what brands are investing in, what buyers are responding to, how materials are being positioned, and where the next opportunities may sit for manufacturers, retailers, studios and specifiers.

Across Salone del Mobile.Milano, EuroCucina, Alcova and the wider Fuorisalone programme, this year’s strongest signals pointed towards a market increasingly shaped by materials, experience-led presentation, craft and emotionally intelligent spaces.

For Decorex Africa and 100% Design Africa, Milan offers a useful lens on the shifts now influencing global interiors, retail, hospitality and residential design. It also sharpens the questions facing our own industry: how do products move from object to experience, how do brands tell stronger stories around material and process, and how can local design businesses position themselves within a global market that is becoming more layered, more sensory and more commercially sophisticated?

One of the clearest market signals from Milan was the continued movement across categories.

Architects are designing for furniture brands. Fashion houses are entering interiors with greater seriousness. Galleries are building collectible design programmes. Product designers are working with craftspeople, manufacturers and material specialists to create pieces that sit between furniture, sculpture and installation.

For trade audiences, this matters because it points to a broader shift in how design is being sold and specified. The strongest presentations were not simply product launches. They were complete brand environments, using space, light, sound, styling and narrative to build desire around a collection.

This is increasingly important for showrooms, fairs and retail platforms. Buyers are not only looking at the object itself. They are looking at the world around it, the story behind it, and how convincingly it can live across residential, hospitality, retail or commercial contexts.

Materials did much of the commercial work in Milan this year.

Glass appeared across the city as one of the most important material stories, used in furniture, lighting, shelving, partitions and installations. Its appeal was not only technical. Designers were using glass for atmosphere, reflection, colour, translucency and spatial drama. It suggests a strong opportunity for brands able to work with material in ways that feel architectural and emotional at once.

Marble also continued to evolve beyond classic luxury codes. It appeared in unexpected forms and applications, from sculptural furniture to kitchen cabinetry and surfaces. At EuroCucina, stone was often used to create full material statements, giving kitchens a more integrated, monolithic and architectural presence.

Chrome, stainless steel and silver-toned finishes also remained prominent. These materials are gaining ground across furniture and accessories, offering a cooler counterpoint to the warmer metals that have dominated the market in recent years. For brands, this points to a renewed appetite for reflective surfaces, sharper detailing and a more polished industrial language.

Comfort is no longer only a functional requirement. It has become a visual and commercial language.

Rounded furniture, fuller proportions, modular systems and flexible seating appeared across Milan, confirming the continued market strength of softness as a philosophy. Sofas and chairs are becoming more generous, more sculptural and more visibly comfortable. This is important for both residential and hospitality buyers, where atmosphere, dwell time and ease are increasingly part of the value proposition.

Pleated upholstery also appeared as a growing detail. After several years as a more niche or decorative device, pleating is moving into the mainstream as a way to add rhythm, texture and perceived craft value to furniture.

Wallpaper remains relevant, but the mood has shifted. The market seems to be moving away from highly graphic or garish pattern towards softer, quieter wallcoverings with more subtle detail. This gives decorators and specifiers another way to add depth without overwhelming a space.

Milan showed a clear return of decorative and craft-led detail, but not in a nostalgic way.

Carving, marquetry, crystal, pleating, embroidery, glasswork and other decorative techniques appeared across furniture, objects and installations. The strongest examples used these details to add distinctiveness, texture and evidence of the hand.

For the trade, this is a significant shift. In a crowded interiors market, craft is becoming a tool of differentiation. It helps a brand tell a stronger story, justify value, and create pieces that feel less generic in an increasingly globalised design landscape.

This is especially relevant to African design businesses. Craft, material knowledge and local production are not secondary to the market. They are increasingly part of what the market is looking for, provided they are presented with clarity, quality and contemporary relevance.

HARDCORE by Hannes Peer Architecture

Lighting continues to be one of the most dynamic categories in the design market.

In Milan, lighting was rarely treated as a purely functional product. It was used to shape atmosphere, create emotion, draw attention to material, and turn interiors into more memorable experiences. The strongest lighting presentations blurred the line between product, sculpture and spatial design.

This has clear relevance for residential, retail, hospitality and workplace sectors. Lighting is becoming central to how projects are experienced, photographed, remembered and shared. For exhibitors and buyers, the category offers strong potential because it operates across both technical and emotional registers.

EuroCucina confirmed that the kitchen remains one of the most commercially powerful rooms in the home.

The strongest presentations showed kitchens as fully resolved environments, not isolated cabinetry systems. Monochromatic palettes, seamless integration, matching appliance colours, crafted finishes and strong material statements all pointed to a more sophisticated kitchen market.

The kitchen is becoming more architectural, more social and more lifestyle-led. It is a place for cooking, display, entertaining and daily ritual. For manufacturers, appliance brands, surface suppliers and designers, this creates opportunity around integration, customisation, colour, material pairing and sensory detail.

It also confirms the importance of the kitchen as a key category for premium home investment. Consumers may be more cautious in some markets, but when they do invest, they are looking for spaces that deliver both function and feeling.

The signals from Milan are useful because they show where international buyers, brands and media are placing their attention. They also confirm that many of the strengths already present in African design, from material know-how and centuries-old craft knowledge to storytelling and expressive form - our continent’s inherent treasure is increasingly aligned with global demand.

The opportunity now is in presentation, positioning and scale. Products need to be supported by strong narratives, clear visual language, reliable production, professional trade communication and spaces that help buyers understand their relevance.

This is the role Decorex Africa and 100% Design Africa continue to play within the market: bringing designers, brands, manufacturers, retailers, specifiers, developers and buyers into the same environment, and creating a platform where products can move from inspiration to commercial opportunity.

As we look ahead to the 2026 shows, the message from Milan is clear. The market is not moving towards less. It is moving towards more meaning, more depth, more experience, and more confidence in the value of design.