DEORON 2026 – All photos are by Anouk De L’Epinois.
Design. What began as an Instagram page has quietly grown into something far more substantial. DEORON — a lifestyle platform and webshop with a sharp eye for independent design — returned to Milan Design Week for its second edition, occupying a freshly renovated former factory in the Porta Venezia Design District. The space hosted over 50 projects by international designers and brands, alongside events, media partnerships, and a lively bar with DJ sets and music performances. As Creative Producer Fabio Colturri put it: “Not just a stage for product display but a living space, fostering synergies and connections.”
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The curatorial direction was equally considered. “For this second edition, we selected projects defined by an industrial style — think of aluminium, sharp lines and raw materials — juxtaposed with more figurative, soft and organic forms. As a lifestyle brand, our selection is not focused solely on design but also on fashion, accessories, and technology. Sound and audio systems also play a central role. We believe that music, not only furniture, is a key element to fill a space and connect people.” That tension between the raw and the refined ran through everything on show.
Archipanic’s Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Enrico Zilli, singled out seven projects from the selection. Visitors were welcomed by a stainless-steel modular structure by Belgian furniture manufacturer Stack by Studio Moto — simultaneously a bar, shelving unit, and audio system, with components interlocked without screws or welding, and speakers integrated directly into the shelves. A bold industrial statement for the designer listening bar of your dreams.
In the main hall, a brutalist espresso machine clad in hand-cast concrete from Anza Coffee caught our eye. Born in a Berkeley design studio next to an espresso repair shop, it carried a clear philosophy: “Watching all those metallic cubes made us think that coffee machines shouldn’t necessarily be ugly. Luckily, a nearby concrete factory triggered the idea.” Designed to belong to its surroundings, “it doesn’t dominate the space. It becomes part of it.”
Anza Coffee.
At DEORON, sound becomes a design material. German loudspeaker manufacturer New Fidelity contributed a site-specific installation of hanging speakers in a church-aisle formation, performing an industrial soundscape. “We develop systems that respond to their context, working closely with our clients from concept to installation. Our work spans fully custom projects like this, as well as a series of speaker systems for professional music reproduction.”
New Fidelity.
From Paris, Studio Ambre and Phasis Audio Systems pushed materiality further with their Yakisugi Speakers — enclosures charred in chimney-like structures and stabilised with specially developed resins, landing somewhere between design object, craft experiment, and audio system.
Yakisugi Speakers by Studio Ambre x Phasis Audio Systems.
Fashion entered with rather more urgency. THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM installation by label Giglio Tigrato with fashion designer Stella Stone is a provocative statement against fast fashion. The elephant in the room is what everyone sees, but no one wants to name: imposing, evident, uncomfortable. The designers brought to Milan a large textile elephant sculpture. The very same piece anchored their latest runway, where models paraded naked around the stitched pachyderm [Watch the video of the fashion show].
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM by Giglio Tigrato and Stella Stone.
DEORON closed on a provocative note. SMOKING KILLS is printed on every cigarette pack, yet the message rarely lands. What if the act of smoking itself is redesigned to raise awareness? Electric Architects presented Vice Consumption, a collection of architectural smoking objects made from polished 316 stainless steel. Extra-large ashtrays and mirrored holders reflect the user during the act, confronting private vice with radical self-awareness.
Vice Consumption by Electric Architects.
For those who can’t quite quit, Berlin-based Sucuk und Bratwurst offered a more playful take: a macaron-shaped grinder for tobacco and similar stuff.
Macaron Dope Grinder by Sucuk und Bratwurst.
All photos are by Anouk De L’Epinois, courtesy of DEORON.
