This document summarizes the Milan Design Week 2016 exhibition, which depicted a future where the digital and physical worlds are interwoven. Designers created ways to embed technology into everyday household objects like sofas and tables to remove the need for separate devices. The exhibition also demonstrated a desire to reconnect with nature through tactile and textured design, bringing plants and vegetation into products and spaces. It showed how connectivity will change kitchens in the future with touchscreen appliances and seamlessly integrated smart cooking devices, bringing more natural elements into the space.

1. MILAN
DESIGN
WEEK
2016

2. PHYGITAL
FUTURE
This year the various exhibitions depicted a truly
Phygital future. One in which the digital and
physical worlds are so tightly interwoven that is
hard to distinguish one from another.
We recognise that this new era will be
characterised by technology which seamlessly
blends into the home environment and becomes
part of our daily life.

3. TINTED
TRANSP-
ARENCY

4. DIPPED
MATERIAL
Our designers are consistently looking for new
and innovative ways to embed information-
sharing and entertainment into our immediate
surroundings removing the need for standalone
mobile devices and computers.
They are bringing a sense of digitalization into
previously passive household objects including
sofas, tables, chairs and even entire living spaces,
such as the garden, the kitchen and bathroom.

5. SMOOTH
GRADIENT

6. IRRIDE-
SCENCE
Mirrored surfaces, indulgent forms, bright and
energizing colours and the projection of images
at different scales and on different surfaces
throughout spaces have been used throughout
the entire exhibition.

7. BLOB-
OBJECTS

8. CROMATIC
ACCENTS

9. GEO
COMPO-
SITIONS

10. SCULPTURAL
FOLDS

11. INDULGENT
FORMS

12. NATURAL
MATRIX
In line with the fast growing technological world
this year’s exhibition demonstrated there exists a
desire to get back to nature through a focus on
tactility and the importance of texture in design
and experiences.

13. TAILORED
LOOKS
Products and experiential installations encourage
us to rethink our relationship with technology
and nature, so that tech products either fit more
easily into our lives, or become more joyful and
thoughtful.

14. WARM
METALS

15. INTRICATE
WAVES

16. PLANT
KINGDOM
Brands brought plants, vegetal decoration and
the reinterpretetion of nature into products and
private spaces in order to bring a touch of the
outdoor into the interiors, connecting homes to
the wider environment and sometimes to further
worlds.

17. SMART
KITCHEN
This year’s exhibition has shown how connectivity
and sensorial interaction will change the kitchen
in the near future, with innovations ranging
from touchscreen splash-backs connected to
consumer social networks, websites and personal
smartphones to invisible cooking stations with
seamlessly, integrated cooking functions.

18. INVISIBLE
KITCHEN
Numerous brands presented new concepts and
projects, designed to create an easy and intuitive
cooking experience, bringing joy to the consumer
while allowing them to save time and effort.
There is clearly a desire to bring some natural
and realistic feeling into a daily space such as the
kitchen with natural dark woods, marble table
tops and warm metals with a vintage touch used
throughout.