Tech Titans at Milan Design Week 2025

Milan Design Week 2025 witnessed an unprecedented convergence of technology and design as major tech companies claimed their stake in the world's premier design event. From April 7-13, 2025, tech brands transformed Milan's streets and galleries into immersive technological experiences, proving that design week is no longer exclusive to furniture and fashion.

Making the Invisible Visible | Image: Lachlan Turczan and Google

Google: "Making the Invisible Visible"

Google continued its established presence at Milan Design Week with a striking installation titled "Making the Invisible Visible," showcased at Garage 21. Co-created by Ivy Ross, Google's Chief Design Officer for Consumer Devices, and renowned light and water artist Lachlan Turczan, the exhibition explored how abstract ideas materialize into tangible experiences.

The centerpiece installation, Lucida (I–IV), featured ethereal spaces constructed entirely from light and mist, with visitors walking through "luminous veils" that responded dynamically to movement. The exhibition extended to showcase Google's hardware evolution, demonstrating how invisible ideas become real products, emphasizing Google's design philosophy of partnership between humans and technology.

Design You Can Feel | Image: ASUS

ASUS: "Design You Can Feel"

ASUS launched its immersive "Design You Can Feel" exhibition at Galleria Meravigli, exploring materiality, craftsmanship, and artificial intelligence. The standout was Studio INI's "Willful Wonder" - an interactive, biomimetic sculpture that reacted to visitors' presence with wing-like panels responding dynamically to touch and movement.

The exhibition spotlighted ASUS's innovative Ceraluminum™ material, a proprietary process combining aluminum with ceramics, resulting in surfaces 30% lighter and three times stronger than traditional anodized aluminum. Four exclusive Zenbook Signature Edition laptops, featuring nature-inspired finishes including Obsidian Black, Pamukkale White, Terra Mocha, and Luminous Blue, demonstrated how technology can be both functional and aesthetically compelling.

Bang & Olufsen and Antolini

Bang & Olufsen: Beosound Balance Natura

Bang & Olufsen unveiled the Beosound Balance Natura speaker in collaboration with Italian natural stone specialist Antolini. This luxury audio device features a sculptural pedestal crafted from Antolini's signature stones, including Cristallo Iceberg quartz and 160-million-year-old petrified wood from the Precioustone Collection.

The collaboration produced only 16 limited-edition speakers, each showcasing unique combinations of natural materials paired with Bang & Olufsen's acoustic engineering. The marriage of raw beauty and refined sound represents a new frontier in luxury home entertainment, with prices available only on request for bespoke orders.

A-Un | Image: Lexus

Lexus: A-Un and Discover Together

Lexus debuted two major installations at Superstudio Più, exploring human-centred technology through the lens of their "Black Butterfly" cockpit concept. "A-Un," created in collaboration with Japanese agencies SIX Inc. and STUDEO, featured a 3m x 10m bamboo fiber lattice screen projecting CGI animations of real-world locations and abstract data visualizations.

"Discover Together" showcased interactive works from Bascule Inc., Northeastern University, and Lexus's in-house design team, each reinterpreting the Black Butterfly concept. Earthspective transformed voices into glowing cosmic artifacts, while Our Energy Nexus visualized collective environmental impact through real-time air quality data.

Samsung & Archiproducts: ARIA - A Medium for Connection

Samsung partnered with Archiproducts to create "ARIA - A Medium for Connection," an immersive installation designed by Studiopepe at Archiproducts Milano. This collaboration demonstrated how Samsung's exclusive WindFree™ technology can seamlessly blend innovation with design, transforming air from a mere environmental factor into a design material.

The installation, called "The Gentle Room," explored how the absence of direct airflow creates a design advantage in delicate environments such as bedrooms, offices, and restaurants. Enhanced by artificial intelligence that adapts to context and usage habits, the space allowed visitors to experience true comfort where form, function, and technology breathe in unison. The project ran from April 8-13 at Via Tortona 31 in the center of Milan's Design District.

Salone & Pinacoteca di Brera, with Es Devlin

Lastly, though not involving a 'tech company' per se, a monumental kinetic installation by Es Devlin, the British artist and designer, known for her engagement with light and other latest technologies, also had a strong presence. Library of Light is a Salone project in collaboration with the Pinacoteca di Brera and with the contribution of Milan based publishing house, Feltrinelli.

The Salone del Mobile has commissioned the installation to sit within one of Milan’s most venerable landmarks: the Pinacoteca di Brera. The installation reflects a phrase by Umberto Eco that came to the artist's mind as she climbed the tall shelves of the Braidense National Library: “Books are the compass of the mind, they point to countless worlds yet to be explored.” Devlin’s luminous rotating sculpture is located in the centre of the 17th century Cortile d'Onore, which connects the Pinacoteca di Brera, the Braidense National Library and the Academy of Fine Arts. It is an 18 meter diameter revolving cylindrical sculpture formed of illuminated book shelves containing 3200 volumes. During the day, while the structure turns, the angled mirrored plane at the top of Devlin’s cylindrical sculpture will reflect the sun’s light into the columns, the statues of the portico and parts of the building never previously penetrated by the rays of the sun. At night, its illuminated structure creates shadow plays on the walls of the courtyard. 

The Tech Takeover

This edition of Milan Design Week confirmed that technology companies are no longer peripheral participants but central players in global design discourse. These installations demonstrate how tech brands are leveraging the prestige of Milan Design Week to:

1. Position themselves as lifestyle brands beyond their core products

2. Explore the fusion of physical and digital experiences

3. Showcase innovation through collaborative artistry

4. Connect with design-conscious consumers outside traditional channels

As the lines between technology, fashion, and design continue to blur, Milan Design Week 2025 proved that the future of design is inevitably technological, and the future of technology is intrinsically designed.

The Experiential Tech Platform: A New Renaissance

Milan Design Week 2025 revealed that tech companies aren't just designing better products—they're designing experiences that redefine what technology can become when freed from its utilitarian cage. Google's light sculptures, ASUS's tactile materials, and Samsung's invisible airflow represent a new paradigm: technology as emotional medium rather than functional tool.

This shift marks a departure from Silicon Valley's traditional approach of solving problems. Instead, these installations demonstrate tech's entry into the realm of pure sensory experience—creating moments that transcend utility. When Google transforms code into mist and light, or ASUS makes computers feel like stone artifacts, they're not iterating on existing categories but inventing entirely new ones.

The true insight isn't that tech companies now value design—it's that they're using design to reimagine their entire raison d'être. From problem solvers to experience creators, from efficiency tools to sensory orchestrators, these companies are perhaps broadcasting a fundamental shift in what Silicon Valley aims to become.

Related:

CBO Originals [ART in BRANDING] 3. The Corporate Approach: (iii) Technology Augments Art

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