Jump to...

• Video recap

• Listen to article

• Reserve my Trend Report

Milan Design Week 2025

During our final days in Milan, we explored nostalgia.

Every theme we investigated was rife with contrast – and nostalgia was no different. What is nostalgia – a contemplation of treasured memories that inspires us to create? A self-satisfaction that mires us in the past, stifling new thought?

While the answers varied, the goal of every creative mind we interviewed was the same: to create products with deep meaning that bring joy to people’s lives. For some creative minds, nostalgia for cherished memories is a motivating fire in the present; for others, nostalgia for the past is of no help if it takes away from looking to the future.

We spoke with Poltrona Frau CEO Nicola Coropulis; Berlin-based designer Hanne Willman; Haworth’s Larissa Sarjeant; the vice president of Euro Creations in Bangkok, Anand Amornrattanavej; and Nendo wrote us to share his thoughts! 

When we spoke with Jane Boddy of the Pantone Colour Institute about Dualities on our first day, we also asked her how AI might influence colour. ‘[AI] is a great creative partner to human imagination,’ Jane said. ‘And it’s really a lot of fun. And what I particularly love about it is actually the level of colour which is coming through. There’s a lot of this sporty, dynamic, crisp colour coming through in AI.

‘I was once talking to one of the AI models I was using about sour neons or sour tones, and the colours that came out were beautiful,’ Jane said. ‘For sure, AI is something we’re looking at to find inspiration from in colour. A lot of the clean levels that we’re seeing in AI actually reflect through into real products… I can really visualise some of my ideas through AI.’

Anand Amornrattanavej, the vice president of Bangkok-based Euro Creations, spoke with us in Cassina’s outdoor lounge.  ‘We believe life is better in beautiful spaces,’ Anand told us – and for over thirty years, Euro Creations has been crafting beautiful spaces in Thailand and beyond.

Brands as storied as Cassina and Poltrona Frau have rich histories – but Anand sees a timelessness in great design that allows a product to transcend chronological location. ‘You cannot ignore the past, because the past is what is happening in the present,’ Anand said. ‘And it will somehow influence the future as well.

‘If you look at Cassina, the [Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand collection] have been designed for how many years?’ Anand said. ‘If you design it right, it’s in it’s own time zone – and it will last forever.’

Every year in Milan, brands return to cherished stories. They celebrate anniversaries, renew designs from the archives, and – to borrow a word from Giulio Cappellini – honour longsellers that stand the test of time.

And yet this sense of memory does not stand on its own; it is paired with anticipation for what the future will bring. This contrast – this tension between complacency and creativity – is what keeps ‘nostalgia’ open to interpretation by creative minds.

Nostalgia might mean resting in the past, content in what is already done – a sense of the word that is of no interest to Nicola and Poltrona Frau. Nostalgia might mean the warmth of cherished, personal memories – a sense of the word that Hanne Willman trusts to forge a genuine affection between a person and a product.

After exploring nostalgia on our final day, we could not help but feel that with such a rich past, the future for the brands of the Haworth Group is looking bright. In fact, when we spoke to Matthew Haworth in the courtyard of Poltrona Frau early on our trip, he summed it up perfectly.

‘The future,’ Matthew said, ‘holds almost unlimited possibilities.’