Additive manufacturing is usually seen as a future know-how by skilled operators within the design trade or as a know-how of the previous. Nevertheless it’s hardly ever the know-how of the current, and this can be a restrict in creating actual industrial functions. VoxelMatters (by way of its earlier names) has been observing using AM in the course of the design week for over a decade. Initially, we even organized reveals to indicate the potential of those applied sciences. Nonetheless, not a lot has modified. AM is usually used as an experimental undertaking for futuristic designs or seen as a consolidated, relatively “outdated” course of for prototyping and tooling. Relying on the version, only a few or no 3D printed merchandise are exhibited on the Salone del Cell honest and the large inside lighting present Euroluce, and this 12 months was no completely different.
Business design merchandise favor easy varieties and intensely high-end, high-quality surfaces, which is the alternative of what 3D printing can provide, particularly on life-size, practical merchandise. Thus, 3D printing on the Salone del Cell honest stays principally confined to the SaloneSatellite part, the place college students and younger, experimental design studios carry their creations. Right here, you’ll at all times discover some very fascinating experiments however none that may affect the design merchandise market within the brief time period.
The Fuorisalone, which encompasses all of the occasions that happen all through the metropolitan metropolis of Milan throughout Milan Design Week 2025, is the place you’ll discover essentially the most superior and fascinating 3D printing installations. Fuorisalone isn’t just a corollary to the precise honest. Over the previous few years, it has turn into an enormous occasion and an attraction in and of itself. Nonetheless, most Fuorisalone installations are devoted to designer merchandise on the whole, whereas the honest focuses on furnishings and lighting merchandise, which characterize the core of design merchandise in VoxelMatters’ categorization as nicely.
Excessive-end merchandise by high manufacturers
Whereas many of the 3D printed merchandise seen throughout Milan Design Week 2025 are usually not industrial merchandise (or not but, a minimum of) a couple of high manufacturers have recognized 3D printing as a key know-how to both discover new prospects or promote their present actions. The one one at present serially manufactured is the Signify MyCreation line of designer lamps from the Dutch model Signify (previously a part of Philips). These are already serially produced within the order of a number of 1000’s within the Signify 3D printing farm. Every year, Signify makes use of the Dutch Masters pavilion at Fuorisalone to current the newest creations. This 12 months’s spotlight is a classy modern bar, designed particularly for the occasion in collaboration with Dekker Zevenhuizen and Triboo, illuminated completely by Signify’s award-winning luminaires. The set up showcases Signify myCreation’s emphasis on round design, superior customization, and efficiency.
The subsequent most spectacular show of 3D printing capabilities utilized to actual merchandise was on the CUPRA Design Home. For the second 12 months, the automotive model CUPRA used its location in Milan to indicate off the newest inside and accent design advances. CURPA has made superior design one of many defining options of all its merchandise, and additive manufacturing is current all through its product improvement. “In CUPRA, design is on the coronary heart of all the pieces we do. The launch of CUPRA Design Home is a testomony to our ardour for design, which works past the automotive world, pushed by creativity, innovation, and human connection,” mentioned Ignasi Prieto, Chief Model Officer of CUPRA.
At Milan Design Week 2025, CUPRA highlighted its use of 3D printing as a key innovation inside the new CUPRA Design Home. The model showcased 3D printed structural inside parts and debuted a totally 3D printed sneaker in collaboration with Zellerfeld, emphasizing personalization and fluid, parametric design. CUPRA additionally launched a sustainable baggage line that includes 3D printed particulars and an idea lounge chair with 3D printed surfaces that reply to the touch. Artistic Head Francesca Sangalli underscored how 3D printing permits CUPRA to push design boundaries, enabling extra exact, customizable, and waste-free manufacturing.
Zaha Hadid Architects is one other common high-profile presence at Fuorisalone. In 2017, the studio shocked guests on the Pinacoteca di Brera with the Thallus pavilion, designed with and 3D printed by LFAM software program specialist AI-Construct. This 12 months, the corporate offered Aevum, which means eternity in Latin. This 6×6 meter concrete 3D printed construction consists of waste marble mud and in addition has the structural properties crucial for large-scale structure. The set up attracts inspiration from the colonnade of the Statale College of Milan, partaking in a visible dialogue with it. It consists of arches of various heights misaligned with one another: each is product of marble or cement. The result’s an structure that mixes cutting-edge applied sciences with craftsmanship.
The marble arch is sculpted in strong Bianco Merano Gold marble and produced by A.A.T.C. and Co., whereas the 3D printed construction is made up with a cement combine developed by Sika and 3D printed by Vertico. At first sight, the construction appeared like a comparatively straightforward process for the development 3D printing specialist. CEO Volker Ruitinga defined the challenges concerned: “For those who have a look at the piece offered individually, you may see the big distinction in layer peak and the angles of the print. That is difficult from a slicing standpoint and, on this respect, the set up was very complicated. However this has little to do with the printed objects: We printed all the pieces in 3 weeks, together with a second, even bigger arch.
Relating to high-profile manufacturers, Emporio Armani is amongst Italy’s best-known manufacturers around the globe. The style home collaborated with Forestami. The initiative entails re-naturalizing the route of trolleybus strains 90/91, with the planting of 350 new timber, together with 60,000 shrubs and perennial crops alongside the trail that crosses eight of town’s 9 districts. The chosen plant species had been chosen for his or her resilience to city stress and skill to enhance air high quality, performing as pure obstacles towards pollution. In entrance of the Armani megastore, in a setting surrounded by crops in LFAM 3D printed vases, Forestami’s custom-decorated Apecar supplied guests a particular reward: a 3D printed flowerpot comprised of recycled supplies and a biodegradable card that may be planted to develop wildflowers at residence.
Moreover these top-tier manufacturers, a couple of extra specialised tasks emerged that mixed 3D printing and product design. Many discovered their “containers” inside multi-company reveals reminiscent of Alcova, Opificio, the newly inaugurated La Galleria, and the Value Partnership Venture (extra on these under). Others emerged as stand-alone tasks combining a number of companions. One among our favorites was Infill Heritage, a modular 3D printed set up that pays homage to Milan’s architectural heritage whereas embracing modern digital fabrication strategies. Created alongside BBOfficina and a community of famend collaborators, together with 3D printing studio MakeAdditive and 3D printing {hardware} producer BigRep (which has over 1,000 large-format 3D printers working globally), the undertaking is offered as a forward-thinking experiment that integrates structure, superior know-how, and lighting to craft a brand new aesthetic dialogue.
One other favourite is the collaboration between Balena, a maker of versatile PHA biodegradable polymers, filament maker Recreus, and Milan-based 3D printing software program studio MoonRabbit Lab (aka Adaptive Lab), which focuses particularly on footwear. Assembly with the studio’s CEO Jesus Marini Parissi, we discovered that they’ve been behind many high-profile 3D printed footwear designs we have now coated, together with the Puma Mostro. This 12 months, they experimented with making a sequence of modular footwear merchandise utilizing BioCir Flex3D filament.
Euroluce
A very powerful “container” of all of the Milan Design Week 2025 reveals is the Salone del Cell, one of many largest gala’s on the earth for any product. It occupies 12 pavilions of the large Rho Fiera Milano facility. Its inside present, Euroluce, fills 4 of these pavilions. Moreover the truth that the present’s group is impeccable and the media help is excellent, it’s at all times a bit irritating for us after we go to to see that no industrial high-end furnishings or lighting designer makes use of 3D printing as a visual manufacturing technique.
We all know from expertise and witness accounts that many use 3D printing for prototyping and even for a lot of inside components and parts. However only a few can use 3D printing as the principle manufacturing technique. The rationale, as we anticipated earlier, is that high-end design merchandise concentrate on easy shapes and intensely high-quality finishes utilizing costly supplies. This may be achieved with 3D printing just for small components (for instance, technical ceramics or some metals) at prices past industrial merchandise. Utilizing decrease value metals and plastics is turning into extra reasonably priced with LFAM processes reminiscent of WAAM or pellet extrusion however the high quality of the finishes stays that of plastic or metal and superior geometry alone doesn’t at all times (or not but) justify the price of a designer product. However, some are making efforts on this course, leveragin particularly the sustainability potential of AM processes and supplies.
One among these firms, the one one we noticed exhibiting at Euroluce, was SIDE SpA with its new Zero1 assortment of lamps. These lovely designs had been created utilizing recycled PETG supplies. The corporate believes this manufacturing technique is a viable answer for the long run and has developed lamps that may match seamlessly inside any high-end home inside.
One other 3D printed mild lighting fixture proven at each Euroluce and Dutch Masters (Fuorisalone) was the Nuevo Alta (New Daybreak) from Aga Blonska Studio. This 3D printed mild object, comprised of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA’s), an progressive bio-based materials derived from microbes, is totally biodegradable beneath all circumstances—even on a compost heap. The fixture was developed and printed by the Dutch innovator 3D Makers Zone, which performed a vital position in its technical realization.
Salone Satellite tv for pc
Salone Satellite tv for pc is the place many of the 3D printing-related tasks are discovered, offered by younger progressive design studios and design college students from high universities. Merchandise included furnishings objects from Danish designer Zara Adler and a lovely 3D printed ceramic assortment from Jan Contala’s newly launched ceraLAB studio in Issnbruk. These tasks, created completely by Contala utilizing his personal know-how, additionally stood out for the {custom} 3D printing packaging (as will be seen within the ceramic cup within the photogallery under). German design studio Morroni additionally offered its LFAM 3D printed Ruffini Chair.
One of the crucial curious strains of 3D printed merchandise – with an fascinating industrial potential – was InfillOut by designer Leo Koda. These had been 3D printed with a specific kind of infill in order that they’d change form usually and be “programmable” when immersed in sizzling water. The increasing heated air causes the partitions and surfaces to inflate, giving the article a mushy and distinctive look. Lastly, the Future Footwear Division, an open-source baseline for footwear improvement of sizing and grading (with a final library of editable 3D fashions) hosted three fascinating footwear fashions: the Traktor, created for Alchevsque by Fabrizio de Lucia, the Code Footwear skilled cleats from Jared Fiorovich and the Reptalons from Outbreak Lab.
Alcova
Again to the Fuorisalone, the Alcova reveals (which I nonetheless have by no means had the possibility to go to in particular person) have turn into a must-go-to for design professionals and so they typically function fascinating 3D printing-related merchandise. The primary attraction at Alcova this 12 months was PORTAL, a futuristic 3D printed furnishings assortment that includes 10 uniquely designed chairs. Created by means of a collaborative effort with AI design platform Vizcom and robotic 3D printing firms Caracol and DIVE, the undertaking blends AI ideation with robotic additive manufacturing. The gathering emphasizes sustainability, utilizing recycled and eco-friendly supplies, and is on show at Alcova, a reclaimed industrial website now used for artwork exhibitions.
Every chair is the imaginative and prescient of a distinct designer and explores themes like Techno-Casualism and childhood nostalgia. The set up additionally options reside 3D printing demonstrations utilizing Caracol’s HeronAM platform, showcasing the potential for localized, waste-reducing, on-demand manufacturing. PORTAL symbolizes a brand new period of design—the place AI and 3D printing empower creativity, speed up manufacturing, and help a round, sustainable future.
Opificio and SuperStudio+
One other high spot for 3D printing has at all times been SuperStudio+ and the close by Opificio within the Tortona district. This 12 months, we couldn’t move by in particular person to see if there have been 3D printed merchandise, however the impression was that at SuperStudio+, 3D printing is taken into account a bit like outdated information. Way back to a decade in the past, designers exhibiting right here confirmed their SLS prototyping and manufacturing capabilities. Stratasys even selected this location to current and launch its TechStyle capabilities.
La Galleria
We made it to the launch get together for La Galleria, a 100-meter-long gallery in a former manufacturing facility facility that hosts a number of digital (and non-digital) artisan retailers within the Certosa District. Our pals from 3D printing design and repair supplier WhiteLabel have arrange store right here and have LFAM and clay succesful applied sciences from WASP and Ginger Additive. In addition they collaborate with Pescara-based Treddy to provide components utilizing LFAM capabilities utilizing Caracol’s robotic know-how – reminiscent of their store’s wall cowl. Right here we additionally bumped into an fascinating concrete 3D printing undertaking from Centauroos, which seems to be to make use of recycled development materials – reminiscent of these from demolished buildings – to 3D print new concrete merchandise.
Value Exhibition
At La Galleria, we discovered from our pals at Puntozero about one other 3D printing-intensive exhibition within the Isola District: the WORTH Partnership Venture. It’s funded by the COSME Programme of the European Union to create and help transnational collaborations between designers, artistic individuals, manufacturing enterprises (SMEs), crafters/makers and know-how companies trying to develop design-driven and progressive merchandise. At Milan Design Week 2025, the WORTH Exhibition showcased 69 tasks that goal to redefine style, design, and sustainability.
The one which first attracted us to go the exhibit was RUIIN, a brand new idea of modular 3D printed footwear, designed utilizing nTop by the consultants by Puntozero. This actually disruptive strategy can mix Carbon (DLS) and HP 3D printing (MJF) applied sciences, that are among the many most superior and production-friendly in footwear AM, and extra conventional processes like 3D knitting.
However a number of different tasks additionally concerned 3D printing. One was Memento Naturae, from Tellurico Design Studio, which explores the opportunity of co-designing with Nature on the intersection of cutting-edge know-how and contextual analysis. At Milan Design Week 2025, Tellurico showcased a preliminary collection of objects from the gathering, produced in partnership with WASP to provide objects as much as 1 meter in peak. One other was Fauna, by Digital Craft by DVF, an idea for a 3D printed facade in concord with nature. Agogic, a studio specializing in research and improvement for technical clothes techniques, offered a line of 3D printed clips and equipment. On the identical time, Bioweave launched their progressive biomaterials for 3D printing that may also be hand-manipulated for conventional craftsmanship. Lastly, MOsche Bianche and Vivid Potato Studio offered their 3D printed Mediterranea customizable UV lamp.
