Alcova returns to Varedo from April 7 to 13, 2025, expanding its design trail across four locations that include both historic residences and newly activated industrial spaces. This year’s edition builds on last year’s presence at Villa Borsani and Villa Bagatti Valsecchi by adding two new venues: the former SNIA factory and the Pasino Glasshouses. Each site offers a distinct atmosphere, encouraging visitors to move through contrasting narratives shaped by nature, decay, experimentation, and light. Alcova’s ninth edition brings together established designers and rising voices through installations that respond directly to their settings, offering a fresh pulse ahead of Milan Design Week.
At the Pasino Glasshouses, once a major orchid cultivation site, Marcin Rusak Studio prepares “Ghost Orchids,” a sculptural series made with biodegradable materials developed with the Łukasiewicz Institute. The work reflects the site’s horticultural past while drawing from Rusak’s personal story. Nearby, “Soft Horizons” by Objects of Common Interest and Greek Marble reuses stone fragments, presenting them as floating sculptural forms. Over at the former SNIA factory, where industry once defined the rhythm of the building, nature has slowly crept back in. That tension drives “Under the Volcano,” a large-scale installation by Ranieri introducing a new lava stone line by Francesco Meda and David Lopez Quincoces. The factory will also host Finland’s Habitare platform, which focuses on future materials, and Decibel Made, a U.S. group producing objects live on a large-scale 3D printer. French designers Warm Weekend, Mathias Palazzi, and Robinson Guillermet will inflate “18 Drops of Sweat,” a hammam-like installation that plays with breath and presence.
At Villa Bagatti Valsecchi, known for its ornate rooms and grottoes, new voices take center stage. The American collective ANANASANANAS joins forces with Parasite 2.0 to present a project about food systems and soil exploitation. Rive Roshan will reimagine the Villa’s fountain with a light-driven piece. Soleille Gallery from Ibiza brings work by Andrea Mancuso, Marius Ritiu, Kym Ellery, and Manuel Bañówith, while Shakti Design Residency from India invites global talents, including Duyi Han, to interact with crafts from Jaipur and New Delhi. In the icehouse, Studio Noké installs two connected projects: “Drifting Cloud,” a series of six sculptures influenced by wave physics, and “Shape of Water,” featuring ceramics by co-founder Moon Seop Seo. Both projects examine the relationship between form, environment, and water. Meanwhile, “Design Signals,” curated by Martina Muzi, investigates design’s role in production systems and urban transformation, beginning with a study of Timisoara’s industrial fabric.
Villa Borsani continues to host projects that play directly with its architectural identity. Noritake Design Collection introduces a new ceramics line by Faye Toogood, and Athens-based THE BREEDER brings a light-based work by Objects of Common Interest. Completedworks debuts its first design collection, while Eleftheria Tseliou Gallery stages a reimagining of “The Library Show” in a domestic setting, curated by Joy Herro. Supaform, led by Maxim Shcherbakov, explores object identity in “Missing Material,” reconfiguring everyday items through urban influences. The Villa’s fireplace room transforms through the imaginative figures of Atelier dell’Errore, an art collective formed through work in child neuropsychiatry. In the garden, ceramic planters by Monstruosus x Michael Anastassiades reinterpret Greek urns in contemporary form, referencing the designer’s Cypriot roots.
Alcova’s 2025 public program, curated by Design Academy Eindhoven in collaboration with KALDEWEI, runs under the theme “Are We Going in Circles?”, sparking conversations around circular design practices. The food and drink areas, curated once again by Alessandro Longhin and LUNCHBOX by Victoria Small with Davide Longoni and GASTRONOMES STUDIO, will expand this year and include a special display by Mutina using Nathalie Du Pasquier’s “Mattonelle Margherita” tiles. With the event just weeks away, Alcova’s preview already promises moments of reflection, surprise, and transformation across every corner of its four locations.
