MoscaPartners makes a strong return to Palazzo Litta for Milan Design Week 2025, presenting MoscaPartners Variations, a multi-layered exhibition driven by the theme of Migrations. The idea expands beyond physical movement, focusing instead on cultural exchange and transformation, where design reflects the shift of ideas, materials, and perspectives. From April 7 to 13, the historic site becomes a platform for collaboration, with 24 exhibitors from 12 countries offering work that interprets migration in various forms.
Earth, Forest, and Mahk in the Courtyard
At the center of the exhibition stands Nobody Owns the Land: Earth, Forest, Mahk, a site-specific installation by Korean architect Byoung Soo Cho. This marks his first project in Italy and occupies the Main Courtyard of Palazzo Litta with a concept that invites reflection through sensory engagement. A raised platform, covered in red earth, invites visitors to walk barefoot, emphasizing direct contact with material as a form of connection. “The earth, nobody owns it, but everybody lives together,” Cho says. His work asks viewers to reconsider their place within shared space, not as owners, but as participants.
The installation develops across three elements: Earth, Forest, and Mahk. After crossing the courtyard’s suspended platform, visitors encounter a pictorial sequence of abstract works. These pieces, created with earth, paint, and ink, stretch horizontally under the colonnade like a visual forest. Cho prioritizes continuity over individual perfection, creating a rhythm that reflects growth and memory. From within this composition, the phrase Nobody Owns the Land appears in English and Korean, reinforcing the social message behind the work.
A Korean Philosophy Through Material
Cho draws from Korean philosophy and material tradition. The texture of each painting reflects the presence of Mahk, a concept that values spontaneity and softness over control. This principle extends to traditional ceramics as well, represented by mahksabal, Korean bowls shaped by hand, without chasing precision. Through this lens, Cho builds a deeper dialogue between Eastern and Western architecture, urging a slower, more responsive design approach that embraces simplicity and imperfection.
A Collective Migration Through Design
Inside Palazzo Litta’s piano nobile, MoscaPartners introduces a curated path through the work of 24 international exhibitors. These designers and companies present ideas through various materials and disciplines, from lighting to concrete, metal, textiles, and biophilic systems. The result is a collective composition that responds to the idea of migration not only through aesthetic language, but also through environmental and social engagement.
One of the standout projects this year places accessibility at its core. Adrenalina Meets Museo Omero and Istituto Cavazza, designed by Debonademeo Studio, opens the exhibition to blind and visually impaired visitors. Tactile elements and non-visual experiences enable a more inclusive approach to design, reinforcing MoscaPartners’ ongoing interest in expanding how we understand and experience space.
Material, Sound, Light, and Heritage
Other exhibitors take on migration through experimentation. Alessandra Pasqua | Wanderart presents We Will Be Light, a sound and sculpture installation created with Venturoni Studio and Flos Outdoor. BASE TIMES kawaguchi from Japan builds metal frames that reflect their natural surroundings, while Cultifutura reimagines vertical farming for modern living. DeltaLight offers a modular lighting system inspired by sculpture, and Fico explores proportion and movement through furniture and textile design rooted in Bangladeshi traditions.
New voices such as Super Loop, HONOKA, and Tactile Baltics reinterpret regional craft through contemporary processes, while established names like Politecnico di Milano School of Design and MC+ Design Studio with Tighe Architecture explore structural experimentation through light, scale, and geometry.
A Return to Palazzo Litta with Renewed Energy
From furniture and installations to soundscapes and ceramics, each participant approaches migration as a design tool. These shifts between materials, meanings, and cultural references point toward a more open method of working, one that allows for difference, movement, and thoughtful contradiction.
Returning to Palazzo Litta after activating other sites in recent years, MoscaPartners brings a renewed energy to its original home. Founders Caterina Mosca and Valerio Castelli continue to shape the space into a collective studio of ideas, where international voices meet and projects evolve through contact rather than uniformity. “We return to Palazzo Litta, our first home, with renewed enthusiasm,” Mosca says. “The movement of ideas, the conversation between tradition and innovation – this is what drives us.”
From Materials to Hospitality
As part of the installation Nobody Owns the Land, MoscaPartners worked with key partners including Kartell, Plust, Abet Laminati, and Eterno Ivica to bring materials and ideas to life. The support extended to hospitality partners such as Illy and San Carlo, further grounding the exhibition in Milan’s culture of exchange.
