Furniture fair Salone del Mobile has moved into collectible design with its new Raritas section. Here, Dezeen picks five favourites from the installations on show during Milan design week. As collectible design continues to make waves, with an increasing number of design events and galleries now focusing on the art-design hybrid, it's perhaps no surprise that Salone del Mobile chose this year to launch Salone Raritas.
While many of the pieces on show veered more towards art than design, there were a number of exhibitors whose pieces were both beautiful and functional. Read on for more about the five best installations at Salone Raritas: Photo by Felix Speller Quilted Fragments by Lewis Kemmenoe, Max Radford Gallery Max Radford Gallery has become one of the go-to places to see interesting collecible design in London. For Salone Raritas, it showed a solo collection by designer Lewis Kemmenoe, whom the gallery has previously represented at the Collect fair.
Kemmenoe's almost camouflage-like patchwork chairs, made from multiple different European timbers, made for one of the most eye-catching booths at Salone Raritas. Booth 20 Photo by Saverio Lombardi Vallauri How High the Moon, Galerie Philia Design gallery Galerie Philia's exhibition How High the Moon juxtaposed a number of works made from stainless steel, aluminium and other silver-toned materials. Curated by the gallery's founder, Ygaël Attali, the furniture pieces were combined to create an installation that had both an industrial and an ethereal feel.
Booth 24 Photo by Letizia Cigliutti Plume by Sabine Marcelis The only piece in this roundup that's more art than design, Marcelis' beautiful pale-pink Plume – made from polymer resin and silicon oil – explores how air can move through liquid to create soothing, ever-changing shapes. "It's about collectible design that lives outside of marketing briefs," Marcelis told Dezeen. "I just wanted to be very free and do something unexpected, and it's all about material research – we spent a lot of time perfecting the viscosity."
Booth 32 Photo courtesy of Matera Matera The collectible design brand Matera, by Stefan Scholten and Manuela Rotta, made its debut at Salone Raritas with a selection of stone pieces by designers including Ronan Bouroullec and Clara von Zweigbergk. Scholten, who is known for his work in product design, told Dezeen that "focusing on edition design feels like a form of freedom". Booth 34 Photo by Cajsa Carlson Erosion by Zaha Hadid Architects, Neutra Design brand Neutra showcased its knowledge of stone craftsmanship with the Erosion collection by British studio Zaha Hadid Architects.
At Salone Raritas, it displayed undulating, curved marble seats and tables by the architecture studio, whose shapes evoked the amorphous forms of its buildings. Booth 27 The main image is by Saverio Lombardi Vallauri. Salone Raritas takes place from 21 to 26 April 2026 at Fiera Milano, 20017 Rho, Milan, Italy. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.