Brussels Furniture Fair
sabrina-sciama 7/05/2025

The future is already here

Five inspiring ideas chosen from the multitude of proposals at Milan Design Week 2025, where the interaction between technology and design indicates the future - ever closer - of domestic, work, and public environments

The new achievements for contemporary living come through technology: from Ricoh‘s conductive printing on fabrics, to the ability to exploit the selective reflection of light to generate solar energy by Rive Roshan with SOL R&D; passing through the vision of a truly sustainable future where Aqua Clara bottles will be transformed into materials for architecture.

The picture is completed with two creations for the domestic environment, where high technology meets design: Bang&Olufsen with Antolini® and Poltrona Frau with Leica.

Soul and Soil by Ricoh

Soul and Soil by Ricoh

Ricoh. Soul and Soil: designing (and printing) the invisible
Ricoh presents a technology that, exploiting the potential of AI, allows sensors to be inserted into fabrics via conductive ink-jet printing. Connected to each other through an ultra-wideband wireless system, these “intelligent” sensors will be able to monitor personal parameters and process data to improve physical and mental health in environments.

Sun Catcher. Rive Roshan and SOL R&D (on cover)
Installed in the fountain of Villa Bagatti Valsecchi in Varedo, as part of Alcova, the Sun Catcher panel integrates solar cells into a transparent and reflective glass that captures sunlight during the day, then stores it in a battery that allows it to illuminate after sunset. The project by Rive Roshan with the startup SOL R&D, specialized in aesthetic photovoltaics, offers a glimpse of a future in which all surfaces can generate electricity.

Trace of Water by Aqua Clara x Honoka

Trace of Water by Aqua Clara x Honoka

Trace of Water. Aqua Clara x Honoka
An upcycling project that, in collaboration with the design studio Honoka, focuses on the potential of polycarbonate bottles from Aqua Clara water dispensers. Honoka discovered that the resin of the bottles that have come into contact with water retains moisture which, when heated, forms bubbles inside the material (trace of water, in fact). These traces give rise to unique textures and designs, transforming waste into a construction material, with which to create furnishing elements such as stools, lamps or vases.

Beosound Balance Natura by Bang & Olufsen and Antolini®

Beosound Balance Natura by Bang & Olufsen and Antolini®

Different by Nature: Bang & Olufsen and Antolini®
The Beosound Balance Natura speaker is the result of a collaboration between Bang & Olufsen and Antolini®, a historic Italian company in the processing of natural stones. A fusion of nature and innovation, in which the beauty of stone meets the sound of Danish technology. A collaboration between different materials, as well as a dialogue between aesthetics and performance, nature and technology. The products in the collection are made to order.

Fidelio Multimedia Cabinet by Poltrona Frau & Leica, design Roberto Lazzeroni

Fidelio Multimedia Cabinet by Poltrona Frau & Leica, design Roberto Lazzeroni

Home Cinema: Poltrona Frau and Leica
Developed to host the Leica Cine 1 100” smart laser TV, the new version of the Fidelio Multimedia Cabinet, designed by Roberto Lazzeroni in 2018 to house the television and stereo system, combines the quality of Poltrona Frau products and German engineering precision. The new home cinema version is enriched with a new feature: the top that integrates the motorized vertical lift projection screen and a drawer dedicated to positioning the device.

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