Milan Design Week 2025
A few weeks ago, we got a dm from a guy called Adam. He wrote that he was in the process of planning Comune’s exhibition for Milan Design Week 2025 and wondered if we would like to be a part of it. I read it, a few times to be honest, and started typing a reply explaining how we were very honored to be asked, but unfortunately it didn’t fit with our plans and so on. Running a business requires sharp focus. Every hour and penny are to be spent with the purpose of moving towards well defined goals. As I typed, though, walking through a dark gray Stockholm suburb in the wet spring snow, another voice came into my head. The voice wasn’t f*cking around. It spoke of Italy in bloom, Birra Moretti in big wet glass bottles, late night pizza in yellow-lit plazas, a whole city bursting with the latest and greatest design along with the people behind it. It would be irresponsible to close the door on all that, at least before consulting the team? Right? So we talked about it. A few weeks later, we were on our way.
At Superspatial, the architecture office where Comune’s event was held, we were met by a crowd of cool cats smoking outside of what looked more like a nightclub than anything else. We nodded and smiled in different directions, acting totally chill in a super continental way. We made it inside and were welcomed by the wide smiling Adam himself, offering us drinks from this huge, winding metal tower which turned out to be a Negroni fountain. It was designed and built by a Parisian studio called Douze Degrees, who had their products displayed next to ours. Super nice and talented people.
Comune beautifully brought their mission to life by throwing this week-long party, celebrating the work of designers from different fields and places around the world, and the intersection which appears when they meet. We could not have wished for a better way to display Assembly_one, and as you might have seen, pre-reveal Assembly_two.
We managed to visit a whole lot of exhibitions during the week including the infamous, ridiculously huge furniture faire. All in all, we must have seen tens of thousands of products, and almost as many moustaches. On a more serious note, though, we left with two strong take-aways:
1. The most interesting work is currently done by young designers.
2. Design feels shallow if it is.
By being exposed to so many products, we had a great opportunity to properly consider what actually matters. For us, we realized, it’s the ideas that stick. Design at its best is a representation of a philosophy, a wordless way of communicating something way beyond the product itself. Lots of products appear alluring at first glance, but if it has nothing to say, you can tell. We feel more confident and excited about our mission than ever, and can’t wait to tell you more about Assembly_two. Your support makes it possible for us to do things like this, we won’t forget that. Thank you.
/John