Modern baskets. Seamless paper screens. Forest lights. Temple-inspired chairs. Purist bathtubs. A micro-house. Rippling tatami wall panels. And a washi-wrapped church interior.
The presence of Japanese design was threaded across the creative spectrum at this year’s Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week, with countless projects in the spotlight – from furniture and lighting to tea caddies and manifesto homes. Here are some highlights.
Nao Tamura at Ambientec
'Reliable, honest, pure – just like a hammer for a carpenter.’ This is how Nao Tamura sums up the simple functionality of her new ‘Vosco’ portable light for Ambientec, unveiled at Salone del Mobile. Inspired by generations-old tools, the lamp has a clean-lined solidity, with a cast iron top and base of Japanese walnut, maple or oak, using Karimoku wood not typically used due to sizing or knots. A new Fresnel lens creates a uniform light diffusion on five levels, from a candle-like glow perfect for bath soaks to a crisper brightness for dining or reading. 'This is not a light I would have designed ten years ago,' Tamura tells Wallpaper* at Rho Fiera. 'So much has changed in the world and there are already so many things on the planet, we have to ask ourselves do we really need more? It’s not just about beauty. I wanted to design something really useful.'
Some Echoes by Atsushi Shindo
'It’s inspired by a walk in a deep forest,' says Tokyo-based designer Atsushi Shindo about his lighting installation Some Echoes, launched at Salone Satellite. Standing tall and round as a tree trunk, the installation is crafted from hundreds of pieces of hand-split Japanese sawara cypress wood, across five cleanly-stacked vertical levels. A warm natural light is diffused from a central LED through the wood pieces, evoking the sense of small trees scattered in a forest. 'I don’t want to just design objects,' Shindo tells Wallpaper*. 'I want to create a moment in time.'
Kengo Kuma at Gandia Blasco
A dialogue between timber and textiles, strength and softness unfolds in Hos, a new collection by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, launched at Salone del Mobile by the Spanish outdoor furniture company Gandia Blasco. Rug-like textiles made from recycled PET fibres, with textured motifs echoing natural elements such as rain and fog, are organically draped over structural wood frames evoking the joinery of Japanese temples: 'The texture of recycled PET seemed very interesting to me, so I decided to experiment by combining it with wood,’ says Kuma. 'Recycled PET has a rich texture, similar to natural materials, and a certain roughness that I find very attractive.' Kuma also designed the spatial setting for the brand’s exhibition at Fiera, playing on a harmony between wood frames and draped textiles. Nao Tamura’s new Dunne collection for Gandia Blasco – a streamlined flow of clean curves inspired by waves and surf – was also launched.
Muji 5.5
Modular, minimalist and a manifesto for modern living: a micro-house was brought to life by Paris-based Studio 5.5 for Muji during Milan Design Week. The house, in the Pippa Bacca gardens in Brera, was created in five ‘slices’ – functional segments composed from a catalogue of pre-fabricated modules, made of bio-based and repurposable materials plus recycled textiles for insulation. Raised off the ground, it has a natural ventilation system, while a white roof reduces heat absorption and collects rainwater. This being Muji, it’s an essentialist showcase of minimalist functional design. A highlight? The sun-drenched ofuro bathroom ‘slice’ at one end, with a deep window-side wooden bathtub – and the mini Japanese niwa garden at the other, with rocks and a plant-packed ‘food garden’ on shelving. The living spaces in-between have a metal grid covering walls, from which almost anything can be attached – spoons to saucepans – plus a tatami sleeping area. In short? A Muji-perfect dream for micro-living.
Naoto Fukasawa, Jasper Morrison and Cecilie Manz at Maruni
'It’s super normal,' smiles Naoto Fukasawa, while seated on the latest rendition of his Hiroshima sofa for Japanese wood furniture-makers Maruni Wood Industry’s new 2025 collection at Salone del Mobile – complete with an intuitively angled new modular addition and a fitted shelf hugging the rear. 'People already have enough,' explains Fukasawa, the brand’s art director. 'Companies are thinking more about why they are making new things every year and what is a good product. With this new sofa component, the subtle angle says we want to sit down and have a conversation together. These tiny details help create a nicer life for people.' Nearby stands Cecilie Manz’s new Maku – a serene screen in washi paper and hinoki cypress (Maruni’s first washi product), with ‘invisible’ paper hinges. Connective and crafted, the frame of the intimately low-level screen is accented lightly with diagonals, hinting at the facades of northern European homes. 'You can see it as a small sculpture,' she says. 'You can turn it into a light by putting a lamp behind it. And you can hide a lot behind it.' Her Shoto (archipelago) collection also expanded, with a high table with a gently concave rim, plus stools with softly-rounded edges. Maruni’s new collection was completed with Jasper Morrison’s new Lightwood Sofa, with its circular wood armrests, soft cushions and flat-packed formula – all designed to evoke a sense of lightness. Morrison's T&O collection also expanded into workspaces, with a new Task Chair, Desk and Office Table, combining a crafted simplicity of form with colour accents in shades of lacquer (red, dark green, black). 'With less people working in offices, companies are looking for a more inspiring atmosphere, so I think there are possibilities to introduce high-end things for people to work at,' he says.
Adal Look Into Nature
The beauty of igusa – the natural rush grass used to make tatami – is the main protagonist at Adal Look into Nature, a brand based in southern Japan that aims to revitalise a fast declining tatami industry by reimagining the natural material in contemporary forms that go far beyond traditional flooring. Its latest exhibition at Salone taps into the idea of reconnecting humans with nature, through a collection inspired by weaving. New products include the Haori Armchair – complete with a traditional kimono jacket-shaped natural fibre cover, which slips on and off the curved back of a low wooden chair frame designed by Tokyo-based Canuch; and Nagare, undulating abstractions of hanging panels of woven igusa in nature-inspired shades, which ripple across walls like waves, dreamt up by Stone Design.
Karumoku Case, Karimoku New Standard, Mas
'A sense of serenity.' This was the starting point for Karimoku Case (KC)’s new exhibition at Salone del Mobile, a spatial sanctuary from the fair’s frenzied crowds, designed by the brand’s founders Keiji Ashizawa and Norm Architects. With a deep natural palette, clean minimalist lines and artfully scattered abstractions styled by Yumi Nakata, the residential-style space was the backdrop for new work by KC, a brand whose collections are created for specific spatial projects – including table and dining chairs for Taipei restaurant Logy and two small circular side-tables that slide smoothly over sofas or beds, for the new Bluebottle Nagoya. 'Structure is very important when designing,' explains Ashizawa. 'We try to make something that’s both comfortable and beautiful.’ A sharper contemporary atmosphere infused a ‘lounge’ created by sister brands Karimoku New Standard (KNS) and Mas, at Capsule Plaza, with shoes slipped off before entering a tatami space wrapped in white noren curtains. Here, a bright scattering of sunshine-yellow furnishings and prototypes ranged from the slender minimalism of KNS’ new paper lamp by French studio CPRV to Mas creative director Wataru Kumano’s new sofa (with a flippable back rest) and contemporary woven baskets by Shigeki Fujishiro – all set against a new urban film installation called City Plants, created by photographers Shinji Otani and Taisuke Koyama.
Yomosugaru
Yomosugara: an ancient word taken from Japan’s oldest poetry anthology, meaning ‘all night long’, is the name of a new Japanese lighting brand. Minimalist and monochrome, a series of contemporary outdoor lights, inspired by Japan’s deep-rooted ties to nature and elements from the natural world, debuted during Milan Design Week at Cavallerizze, Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology. The brand was created by Takasho Digitec, an outdoor lighting specialists from Wakayama Prefecture, and Tangent, a Japanese design studio based in London and Tokyo. Highlights from its pared-back black and white outdoor installation included Suiren (water lily), designed to evoke the serenity of water lillies floating on waters, with flat circular lights on stems; Shobu (iris), brushstroke-like black forms of softly tapering angles echoing the shape of a flower; and Kodama, a contemporary reimagining of Japan’s tree spirits, curved forms wrapped in a transclucent shell.
Time & Style
Japanese washi paper and centuries-old Italian architecture are unexpectedly harmonised inside the newly renovated Largo Treves showroom of Japanese furniture makers Time & Style. Around 5,000 sheets of washi paper quietly wrap the interior stone lines and curves of the 18th century former church – to deeply serene effect. On the floor are antique stones from Parma, in a subtly irregular layout evoking the atmosphere of a Japanese garden. Peaceful and crafted, the interior (one of three adjacent Brera showrooms) provides an atmospheric backdrop for their new 2025 collection. Around 30 contemporary pieces (in Akita cedar, Arita ceramics, Mino washi, hand-forged metals) are displayed in a scattering of their glass-fronted Museum Cabinets. Highlights include Kensaku Oshiro’s Vestige chair, rooted in bentwood craftsmanship, with a shell-like seat and flowing wood curves: the beauty of the hovering Amagumo (heavenly cloud) washi paper lighting system – horizontal, structural, modular – by Yumi Terauchi; the OEO Studio-designed Kouryu stool, cleanly crafted from zelkova with a tatami seat, joining the sister chair designed for Noma’s Kyoto pop-up; and Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune’s playful paper Koma (spinning top) lighting, with painted colour blocks.
Hideo
It’s all about bathtubs at Hideo – a Japanese company that specialises exclusively in making high quality freestanding tubs, fusing material technology and ergonomic research with contemporary designs by longstanding industry expert Hideo Shigeo. In light-filled Hideo Milano Studio, a series of luxuriously spacious white standalone bathtubs were exhibited during Milan Design Week – including TR-1500-E/Trono-Bio, a smooth contemporary white form balancing a square and circular shape, made from Cristalplant Biobased Active, which claims to be the first eco-sustainable solid-surface material, using plant-based resins. Other highlights include the softly curved lines of the IN-2000-E/Infinity-Bio bathtub for two, complete with a silky matte surface texture plus backrests and armrests.
Kaikado
It was birthday time for Kaikado, Japan’s oldest tea caddy makers, during Milan Design Week, as it celebrated its 150th anniversary. The iconic Kyoto-based family-run company, long famed for the craftsmanship of its timeless tea caddies, marked the occasion with the publication of a new book by ERG Media. The book is a visual feast highlighting Kaikado’s exquisite craftsmanship, with open spine-binding and metallic inks in tones of tin, copper and brass – aligning with the three key materials used to make Kaikado’s tea tins. An exhibition of 150 tea caddies was also displayed throughout an atmospheric sun-drenched and plant-filled Milanese courtyard, alongside a mini replica of the original Kaikado Café in Kyoto plus demonstrations by Kaikado’s tea caddy making artisans.
Nagano Interior
Camphor wood – or kusu no ki – is centre stage in a new series of stools launched by southern Japanese furniture brand Nagano Interior at Salone del Mobile. The new version of its Coupè stool has four sharply angled legs crafted from the aromatic wood from camphor trees – traditionally regarded as sacred in Japan – capped with a narrow seat upholstered in a rainbow range of textiles. The wood can also be finished in six lacquered finishes, with playful names ranging from miso to soba. Castello, a new foldable wooden bookcase designed by Giovanni Levanti, inspired by a children’s card game, was also launched.
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Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the worldCelebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
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‘Humour is foundational’: artist Ella Kruglyanskaya on painting as a ‘highly questionable’ pursuitElla Kruglyanskaya’s exhibition, ‘Shadows’ at Thomas Dane Gallery, is the first in a series of three this year, with openings in Basel and New York to follow
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Australian bathhouse ‘About Time’ bridges softness and brutalism‘About Time’, an Australian bathhouse designed by Goss Studio, balances brutalist architecture and the softness of natural patina in a Japanese-inspired wellness hub
