From April 21 to 25, the Slowear showroom hosts an immersive installation created in collaboration with Luce di Carrara, telling the story of Franciacorta through matter, nature, and time. A sensory journey through design, wine, and landscape in the heart of the Fuorisalone.
During Design Week, Milan changes its rhythm. Courtyards become temporary galleries, showrooms turn into installations, and every space attempts to express a vision of contemporary living—and beyond. Among projects, materials, and creative experimentation, this year there is one rooted in a specific territory and its culture: Franciacorta.
For the first time, Franciacorta is taking part in the Salone del Mobile week in a structured way, bringing to the heart of the city a project designed to run throughout Milan Design Week.
In the past, the presence of Italy’s most renowned traditional-method sparkling wine was often linked to collaborations with individual brands, acting as a wine partner for events and presentations. In 2026, however, the approach changes: Franciacorta chooses to tell its own story through a dedicated space, building a direct dialogue with the world of design and with the international audience that animates the Lombard capital every year.
The project takes shape in the Slowear clothing brand showroom at Corso Sempione 4, which for the occasion is transformed into an immersive environment created in collaboration with Luce di Carrara, an Italian company specializing in reinterpreting white marble in a contemporary key. At its core lies a clear idea: to present wine as the result of a true cultural and territorial project, made of nature, material, and human work.
The concept fits within the theme of Milan Design Week 2026, “Being a Project,” which invites us to move beyond the dimension of the object and interpret design as a dynamic and responsible process. In this context, Franciacorta becomes a metaphor for a territorial project that brings together nature, craftsmanship, innovation, and generational transmission.
“Bringing Franciacorta to Design Week means telling the story of our territory through a new language, one that can engage with the world of design and creativity,” explains Emanuele Rabotti. “Wine is born from a balance between nature, time, and human work—elements that are also deeply rooted in design culture. With this installation, we want to offer visitors an experience that allows them to step, even if just for a few minutes, into the soul of Franciacorta.”
It is no coincidence that the dialogue takes place through a material like marble. Just as stone is extracted and transformed through human labor, grapes, soil, and climate are combined and interpreted to create a wine that carries the memory of its origins.
The installation translates this vision into a narrative path articulated across different environments, each dedicated to the elements that define Franciacorta’s terroir: earth, water, wind, human, and time. Visitors move through spaces where materials, sounds, and lighting evoke the natural and production conditions that shape the wine.
From the morainic soil flooring, recalling the geological structure of the territory, to the gentle movement of drapery suggesting the wind through the vineyards, to luminous surfaces inspired by the depths of Lake Iseo—every element builds a sensory narrative that begins with raw material and arrives at its most refined transformation.
The aim is to offer an experience that goes beyond tasting. Not just sampling a wine, but stepping, if only for a few minutes, into the cultural and natural landscape from which it is born.
Throughout the week, the space will also host a program of events designed to guide visitors in discovering the different expressions of Franciacorta. Alongside the exhibition, open from April 21 to 25, evening tastings and in-depth sessions are planned for both enthusiasts and industry professionals.
The program explores some of the denomination’s most representative styles: from Dosaggio Zero to Satèn, from vintage wines to Riserva, as well as more experimental encounters designed to stimulate the senses and encourage dialogue. These include a blind tasting led by visually impaired sommelier Luca Boccoli, a sound experience pairing wine with musical frequencies, and a comparative blind tasting featuring Franciacorta, Champagne, and Prosecco.
For one week, the showroom will thus become a sort of Design Week living room: an informal yet refined space to pause, meet, and discover new connections between wine, design, and creativity.
Taking part in the Salone del Mobile means entering one of the most representative stages of Made in Italy, where design culture, material research, and international vision come together. In this context, Franciacorta seeks to present itself not only as a winemaking excellence, but as a territory of design—where nature, time, and human work intertwine to generate cultural value.
For those exploring the Fuorisalone, the Slowear space will become an unexpected and surprising stop: a place where design can be seen, heard, and touched. And where, of course, a toast is always in order.
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