A classic appointment, a different report

Dear reader, this year too the UFO.ADV staff visited Salone and Fuorisalone 2026 in search of news, trends and inspirations. Below you will find the report we send to clients and friends, gathering some of our thoughts and observations. We apologise in advance for any errors.

The web is now overflowing with articles, reels and social carousels bouncing around the catchiest locations or promoting their own. Rather than adding yet another round-up, we decided to replace the traditional extensive photo-report by distilling 5 themes that emerged at the fair among industry insiders’ comments. An “inside” perspective – less obvious and – we hope – more useful.

The product at the centre as the result of a design process

A highlight of this 2026 edition is the political and cultural weight of B&B Italia’s return to the fair after approximately 25 years. To celebrate its sixtieth anniversary, the company chose a museum-like approachcurated by the studio Formafantasma.

The stand is conceived as a space for research and archive, where the product is not “sold” but explainedthrough its industrial genesis and production ethics. A stated intention: “presents the stand as an architectural space, rather than a conventional exhibition environment. The project stems from a simple premise: placing the work of the designers at the centre, allowing each product to be appreciated as the outcome of a specific design process” (bebitalia.com).

A new focus on content

This push towards content animated the Fuorisalone “design area”, where product and project press to return to the centre of the narrative and representation.

In this light, there is a notable preference for events centred on Talks and debates over the purely scenographic installations of past years, marking a clear difference from events in sectors oriented towards pure entertainment.

The “professional” audience of industry insiders sought meaning, material responsibility and authentic storytelling, confirming that design, in 2026, cannot afford to be merely a beautiful story or a beautiful surface, but must demonstrate a solid structure – both physical and conceptual.

A significant signal of change came from the physical form of exhibition spaces.

A clear fatigue with closed walls and forced routes was evident, in favour of a transparency that many brands interpreted through the use of exposed pillars and columns. In this context, the stand is read as a kind of rationalist framework, with direct references to the modernist villas of the 1950s.

An emblematic reference to this trend is the stand of Febal Casa, conceived by studio A++ by Paolo and Carlo Colombo as a villa with four distinct atmospheres. A rigorous architecture inspired by Italian rationalism, using large flats and wooden pillars to create imposing architectural volumes, where the relationship between solid and void conveyed a sense of a “total” and monumental home.

Febal salone – youtube

The project by Calvi Brambilla for Elica was based on a rigorous grid that served not merely as support but organised the brand’s entire technological narrative as if it were an art gallery (with freer, non-prescribed circulation).

In this context, the project by Giacomo Moor for QuadroDesign generated considerable interest and appreciation: the structure was not merely an aesthetic choice but a social commitment – a modular system of pillars and joints designed to be dismantled and entirely reconstructed in Zambia as a permanent building housing public bathrooms. A courageous initiative of great value, not only symbolic.

Moving to the products at the fair, the 2026 biennial – dedicated to kitchen and bathroom – highlighted two opposing yet in some ways complementary directions.

Ultra-gloss finishes and intense colours

In the bathroom sector, a decisive shift was observed towards what could be defined as a contemporary neo-déco, with the strong comeback of ultra-glossy and mirror-like finishes applied to a palette of dark and overtly dramatic colours such as plum, petroleum blue and deep black.

Rounded forms, lightness and twentieth-century references

Brands such as Ceramica Cielo and Agape played with rounded forms that openly reference the bourgeois design of the last century, yet managed to retain visual lightness and formal balance thanks to maximally reduced ceramic thicknesses.

Material luminosity

In contrast to the bathroom world, the kitchen has taken a path of extreme luminosity. The dark, “burnt” wood of recent years has given way to much airier and more natural species such as ash, blonde oak and birch.

These are “naked” woods, often wire-brushed with an open grain to emphasise the tactile sensation of the fibre.

The kitchen fades into the living area

This raw light trend transforms the kitchen into an element capable of gradually dimming into the living area – almost like a bookcase or an architectural wall where induction technology disappears beneath stone tops often dominated by butter tones.

New weaves replace bouclé

In textiles and upholstery, the classic bouclé appears to have finally exhausted its momentum, at least among leading brands.

In its place, more complex and tonal variations have appeared – three-dimensional jacquards that celebrate irregularity and a certain tactile roughness, as if the material had a story to tell.

Puffy volumes as soft as clouds

The most relevant novelty, however, is the emergence of an aesthetic that could be defined as soft-tech or puffer, where the sofa appears to have been dressed in a high-fashion down jacket – puffy and almost hypertrophic.

Models such as the Ardys by Cassina, designed by Patricia Urquiola, or the Solar and Butter sofas by Faye Toogood for Tacchini, display volumes that seem to want to mould themselves around the body like a cloud.

This is not merely aesthetics, but design that explicitly aims for protection and acoustic comfort, transforming the upholstered piece into a sensory refuge – perhaps a response and remedy against the rigidity of the outside world.

You’ve reached the end: thank you for your time and attention!

This report is sent to clients and friends by UFO.ADV, an agency that creates images and communication materials for companies in the design, furnishing and surfaces sector.

If you would like to comment on our observations or think together about new solutions, get in touch!

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