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Watch for these colours, styles and designs in home and furniture design for 2026.
The first time I visited Salone del Mobile in Milan back in 2022, I met up with designers, PR folks and design-business owners who were regular attendees and game to share their collective wisdom on how to do the world’s biggest furniture fair right. And even with that inside help, I’m not sure I was fully prepared for the mind-blowing immensity of the show itself and the impact it has on Milan.
This year, over 300,000 people from 37 countries descended on the fairgrounds and all over the city. For design lovers, it’s a week of immersive events that fuel inspiration for the year to come (wear comfortable-yet-stylish shoes!). And what is to come, exactly? Here are just a few of the trends I spotted on the floor of Salone del Mobile—look for these in showrooms and living rooms from now into 2026.
Straight lines are softened; circles become ovals and atypical shapes: for furniture, it’s all about geometric designs without the right angles. Vancouver designer Christian Woo had his Milan debut with a soft-circle-meets-square design for Zanotta; another Vancouver team, Marrimor, introduced their Drape sofa, its rippling seat like a breezy curtain; Minotti’s Bézier asymmetric seating system sees poufs that seem to swoop right into the sofa itself; and Argentinian designer Six N. Five—who created several new lines for Poltrona Frau—brings biophilic design to a floor lamp with a form that resembles the leaves of a poplar tree.
Call it a cousin of soft geometry: many designs on the floor this year were almost liquid-like in their form—shape shifting, relaxed, easy in nature. Maap from Flos is designed so that it can be infinitely rearranged on a wall, with magnetic “dots” shaping the Tyvek material into expressive shapes; for Moooi’s Drape light, designed by Torontonian Jamie Wolfond, gravity is the force behind the shape of its knitted polyester shade; and Gloster’s Wrap chair is designed to appear as though a rug has been tossed over the chair back.
The curves came in strong last year, and for 2026 it’s getting lounge-y, too, with enveloping shapes. Sofas, like the Coupé seating system from Minotti, are truly deep dives—designer Giampiero Tagliaferri inclined the seat slightly, so the user can’t help but lean back and relax—“an homage to an era when sofas embraced the body,” as the designer notes. Biboni from Knoll is a chubby ode to the Michelin man, with precise curves designed to envelop the sitter. And Kartell’s Bonheur du Jour looks ready for a Netflix marathon or three.
Earthy, organic colours remain strong—but two in particular dominated, on everything from sofas and dining tables to lighting and outdoor furniture. Get ready to see moss green—sage green’s earthier cousin—and red oxide, a warm red that’s a sibling to weathered brick.
Euroluce, Salone’s biannual spotlight (natch) on lighting is a showcase of just how important the perfect light can be for a room. And these statement lights demonstrate that flexibility can be a beautiful thing, too, from Davide Groppi’s Set—inspired by photography equipment—to Ipoli from Montreal’s Lambert et Fils, crafted from Quebec aluminum, to Moooi’s ever-evolving Tube light. Great lights involve the human touch: yours, directing it where you want it.
As LEDs and recharging tech gets more efficient and smarter, portable lighting—both indoors and out—becomes infinitely more stylish, too. Gloster’s Ambient Compass lantern is crafted from sustainable teak and can be recharged with solar power; Pedrali’s Filicudi portable light is designed to be waterproof, to act as a vase between charges.
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