RUFA at Milano Design Week 2026 with “Luminous Depths – Designing from the Shadows”
From 20 to 26 April | BASE Milano – FuoriSalone
Via Bergognone 34, 20144 Milan
Free admission
On the occasion of Milano Design Week 2026, RUFA takes part in the FuoriSalone circuit at BASE Milano, responding to the theme “Hello Darkness” with the project Luminous Depths – Designing from the Shadows.
An exploration of darkness not as absence, but as a generative space. In a present dominated by overexposure and digital noise, RUFA students choose to step away from blinding light and immerse themselves in luminous depths, where design becomes an opportunity for regeneration.
Darkness as a design space
The RUFA collection brings together a series of objects that behave like bioluminescent presences, capable of navigating uncertainty. The lamp Plankton, designed by Albina Fediushina, draws inspiration from deep-sea survival strategies, using organic forms and light to guide the gaze through the void.
Other works focus on reinterpreting the human body and its imperfections. Scoliosis, a project by Giulia Barbaliscia, transforms a spinal curvature into a functional element, becoming a lamp-stand that merges aesthetics and reflection. Durocco, designed by Alara Celayir, regenerates waste materials such as plexiglas and cardboard, transforming them into new objects for children and processes of creative regeneration.
Alongside these, the project 2IN1 by Elisa Tiberi explores the versatility of furniture through a hybrid structure that combines function and light, integrating materials such as plywood, metal and rice paper into a transformable object designed to adapt to different contexts of use.
In continuity with this investigation, Volut by Gabriel Martino presents a stool-bookcase that merges function and formal research: a curved lacquered steel seat, inspired by the elegance of the Ionic capital, integrates with a metal structure that also serves as a book holder, with a painted iron base.
Design as relationship
Part of the research focuses on the need to restore authentic connections, overcoming individualistic dynamics. The seating piece Culi Stellari, also by Giulia Barbaliscia, with its direct invitation GET YOUR ASS HERE, uses transparency and provocation to encourage physical interaction in an increasingly disconnected era.
In this direction, BLACK MOUNTAIN by Letizia Domilici combines metal tubing and 3D-printed elements to generate an essential, layered structure, evoking artificial landscapes and new ways of relating form and space.
Through filtered lighting devices such as Muzzle, designed by Mika Back, the exhibition invites visitors to slow down, adjust their gaze and embrace dimness. It is in this condition that a more intuitive design emerges, capable of existing beyond the glare of the spotlight.
Interaction, prototyping and multimedia design
Alongside product and lighting design projects, RUFA also presents a selection of works developed within the Multimedia Design course. In this context, students have transformed ideas into interactive experiences thanks to their collaboration with RUFALab, RUFA’s laboratory dedicated to product, lighting and multimedia design.
Developed through 3D printing and advanced prototyping techniques, these interactive objects demonstrate how creativity and technology can merge into concrete and functional projects.
Among the projects presented, Memory House by Martina Bortoletto, Chiara Amel Di Summa and Costanza Ferrini explores the sensory and narrative dimension of domestic space, while Melodya by Zaira Spaziani Testa investigates the relationship between sound and interaction. Pin & Play by Chiara Mosca and Benedetta Ugolini instead proposes a playful and participatory experience in which the user becomes an active part of the device.
«Luminous Depths» explores darkness as a fertile space for creation, suggesting that the brightest ideas often emerge away from the spotlight, in quietness and depth.
The project contributors
RUFA students participating with their projects are: Alara Celayir, Albina Fediushina, Elisa Tiberi, Giulia Barbaliscia, Letizia Domilici, Mika Back, Gabriel Martino, Martina Bortoletto, Chiara Amel Di Summa, Costanza Ferrini, Zaira Spaziani Testa, Chiara Mosca, Benedetta Ugolini.
The project is developed under the supervision and coordination of RUFA designers and lecturers Alessandro Ciancio and Paolo Parea, with the production support of partners Parea Design Studio, LabRUFA, FamoCose and Petrozzi Design.
With this participation, RUFA reaffirms its commitment to educating designers capable of interpreting the present and transforming it into conscious design visions, where experimentation, research and sensitivity converge to shape new scenarios for contemporary design.