For Milano Design Week 2026, DcomeDesign presents MUTANTI – Corpi, menti, materia in trasformazione, an exhibition curated by Anty Pansera exploring transformation in contemporary design.
Included in the official program of Milano Design Week 2026 and in dialogue with Essere Progetto in the Fuorisalone, the exhibition looks at design as an evolving process—one that can adapt, transform, and redefine itself over time. It also intersects with the reflections of the Salone Internazionale del Bagno, where this edition places the home space at the center as an environment that is sustainable, technological, and increasingly oriented toward well-being.
MUTANTI does not offer a single, fixed perspective. Instead, it presents a “crossing” through multiple fields—matter, language, technology, and the ways of inhabiting space—each understood as something in continuous change. The exhibition brings together different experiences united by a shared ability to mutate over time, highlighting that transformation is not an exception but a structural condition of contemporary design. At the heart of the show—and as an identifying trait of the DcomeDesign association—lies the role of women in design and production: not only as designers, but as active protagonists throughout the entire value chain, from companies to research, from management to communication. The exhibition emphasizes how a widespread and deeply rooted female presence is capable of significantly shaping both production processes and the evolution of design itself.
Opening the path is Giorgina Castiglioni, whose reflection reads matter as an open process—between memory and possibility—offering a key to entering the theme of transformation. From there, the exhibition is built through an intertwining of corporate histories, technological innovations, and design experimentation, creating a dynamic conversation between tradition and the future: from Italian, multi-generational and family-led realities such as Alma and Bonacina, to companies driven by technological innovation and integrated systems like Roca and Vimar, up to more experimental research into languages and forms represented by Rapsel and Fabbro Arredi.
As Anty Pansera imagines it, the project takes shape through a shared horizon:
“It is within this horizon that the presences gathered at the Sala Colonne of the Fabbrica del Vapore are located: different stories, different types, united by an idea of transformation understood not as an isolated gesture, but as ongoing practice—an ability to mutate while remaining faithful to a distinct identity.”
Together, the six participating companies interpret transformation through distinct approaches, summarized by a set of guiding keywords.
Alma (Florence), born in close relationship with the textile district of Prato and guided—across three generations—by the women of the family today, introduces MATERIA RIGENERATA – da superficie effimera a forma permanente. The company reworks the material life cycle by transforming carpet tiles—an ephemeral product—into a durable resource. Through the Alma-Re project, the material is recovered, regenerated, and reused via 3D printing, taking on new forms and functions. This transformation reshapes not only the object’s appearance, but its meaning: turning waste into design matter and promoting a sustainable system involving the entire supply chain.
Bonacina, whose development process from the very beginning involved many women designers—from Lisi Beckmann to Raffaella Crespi, through Franca Helg, reaching Gae Aulenti, and today among others Clementine Chambon and Tomoko Mizu—stands for SOLIDA LEGGEREZZA: a balance between artisanal memory and timeless form. The company draws on natural materials such as rattan and midollino, building its identity on evolutionary continuity: tradition is reinterpreted through dialogue with designers from different eras, generating a language that combines memory and innovation. Lightness emerges from the equilibrium between technique and design sensitivity, while solidity is expressed through objects’ ability to endure over time—making transformation a continuous renewal of craft heritage in contemporary key.
The journey continues with Fabbro Arredi, a Friulian woodworking workshop working under the banner of FORMA INTERATTIVA – configurazioni in continua trasformazione. With Chiodino (2025) by Giorgia Bevilacqua and Marika Lamarina, the object becomes an open and modifiable system that allows the user to intervene in its configuration. Inspired by play, the project shifts attention from the object itself to the relationship between design, use, and everyday life—turning furniture into a dynamic device.
Rapsel, founded in the 1970s by Aldo Provini (with the second generation represented by his daughter Valeria) and known in Italy as a distributor of Scandinavian design brands, presents in the section LINGUAGGI IBRIDI – tra icona e progetto domestico. Here, it explores the boundary between design, culture, and experimentation, redefining bathroom language through objects that unite function and aesthetic research. Its identity grows from dialogue among different design visions, creating a coherent yet open system. Transformation, in this perspective, becomes the evolution of language—shaping a complex space where technical elements and domestic dimension merge.
Then there is the Catalan Roca, with METAMORFOSI TECNICA – da oggetto a sistema integrato. Roca conceives the bathroom as an integrated system in evolution, where technology, design, and sustainability converge. Products go beyond the idea of standalone objects to become part of a design ecosystem, where function and aesthetics blend. Solutions such as Avant make this shift visible, incorporating technical elements and redefining both installation and spatial perception. Innovation—discreet but impactful—improves efficiency and resource use, contributing to transforming the bathroom into a unified, contemporary space.
Finally, Vimar brings TECNOLOGIA RESPONSABILE – tra invisibilità e sistema. It develops an integrated system that connects design, technology, and sustainable process management. Switches, plates, and energy and plant-control devices are not isolated components, but parts of a broader structure capable of regulating and relating domestic spaces. Innovation expresses itself primarily through functioning—more discreet and effective over time. At the same time, attention to circular models and resource recovery extends the design approach to the entire production process, orienting technology toward responsibility.
Partners: ALMA – BONACINA – FABBRO ARREDI – RAPSEL – ROCA – VIMAR
Technical sponsor: NALLESSO
Photo credits: DcomeDesign
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