The Milan Design Week is an unparalleled stage for launching the careers of newcomers. This year, the creative universes of six international talents stand out through art, boldness, and emotion.
Lucas Zito
His studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven led him to specialize in digital creation. Sensitive to fabrication processes, Lucas Zito chose lighting as his mode of expression — soft, sculptural, and adaptable. His innovative, airy lighting fixtures stood out at Milan Design Week. The 30-year-old French designer was showcased in several venues, including Labo, Rossana Orlandi, and Fabbrica del Vapore, as well as with Dutch designers in Varedo. There, he gathered an experimental collective under the exhibition Good Selection. From his Buoy lamp — 3D-printed in Paris — the designer has built a repertoire of ultra-light luminous sculptures, optimizing the use of both precious and complex materials made from PLA.
Laila Gohar
Born in Cairo, Laila Gohar is known as a food designer. She has made food her medium of creation, designing spectacular settings for the culinary world, notably for the opening event of Galeries Lafayette on the Champs-Élysées in 2019. Now based in New York, the thirty-something divides her time between whimsical installations and her brand of surrealist home objects, Gohar World, co-founded with her sister. In Milan, she transformed city architecture into a dreamy XXL bedroom. “A truly spectacular piece,” noted the artistic director of Finnish brand Helsity Markneious. With her sensory approach — blending daily rituals of meals, cooking, and art of hosting — Laila Gohar asserts a personal, singular universe, even venturing into joyful bedding collections.
Forma Rosa
Maria Teresa Castillo and Santiago Braby Brown hail from Lima and Washington. The duo, originally from Peru and the U.S., root their work in architecture. But it was in Brooklyn, New York, that they founded Forma Rosa. This couple of sculptors and experimental creators explore both city and nature. Fascinated by organic architecture, they design objects like aluminum flowers. Forma Rosa interprets urban and domestic volumes by merging them with forms inspired by flowers, crystals, and human anatomy. Their Passiflora Wave collection is a series of biomorphic lamps with classic geometries.
Studio Shoo
Founded by Shushana Khachatrian in 2017, Studio Shoo is an Armenian architecture studio. After studying architecture and design in Moscow and Milan, she began creating hotels and restaurants that reflect cultural hybridity. Examples include the Movempik Hotel in Yerevan and a boutique hotel in Tbilisi. Studio Shoo made its debut in major Milanese exhibitions, presenting an elegant, offbeat furniture collection — both retro and futuristic. The Puff Metal Cabinet stands not far from Yerevan’s omnipresent volcanic stone, in a city where “residents write and draw everywhere.”
Source Edition
This new French publishing house chose the global design capital to launch its market entry. Isabelle de Ponfilly (former director of Vitra France) and Joséphine Buraschi — sensitive to the art and vintage furniture market — form a mother-daughter duo. Together, they aim to reissue furniture, lighting, and objects from the 1950s–70s, “a period of creative effervescence when design took a radical turn.” Source Edition brings back forgotten works from designers and restorers, preserved by Mobilier National. These include pieces by Ben Swildens, Claude Courtecuisse, Georges Rivasdoris, Turenne Chevalier, and André Mongin. After showing at Labo d’Alcova in Milan, the young brand is now visible at Mobilier National and Le Bon Marché.
Craftica Gallery
Backed by Rossana Orlandi since its founding in 2024, Craftica Gallery embodies the contemporary voice of the international creative scene. Objects and furniture curated by Martine Schaefer combine ecology and art design, function and emotion. In Milan, she presented an unprecedented installation where recycled paper objects met noble materials. The gallery showcases experimental, daring collections that captivated visitors and professional buyers. Craftica Gallery promotes a new generation of emerging designers committed to craftsmanship and sustainable design. In just two years, the young gallery has proved itself with its rigorous selection and impactful discourse. An unprecedented model combining aesthetic narrative with high standards, it has already made its mark internationally.
Source: Home Fashion News Magazine – September 2025 (HFN58)
