Highlights From Beauty Brands’ Activations

MILAN — No one is immune to Milan Design Week’s appeal. 

Fashion brands are not the only ones leveraging the event for extra visibility: beauty players are also increasing their involvement, strategically timing product launches with Salone del Mobile.Milano or presenting collaborations and immersive installations to engage with the international audience flocking into town.

Beauty powerhouses and niche brands alike came up with commercial and cultural activations, ranging from Valentino Beauty setting up a pop-up to Davines hosting a literary salon. 

Here, a roundup of highlights expected this week.

Aesop

Returning to Salone del Mobile for its third consecutive year, Aesop will this time explore the intersection of architecture, craftsmanship and light via an installation titled “The Factory of Light.” Set within the cloister of Santa Maria del Carmine, just a few steps from the Aesop Brera store, the installation will wink to how the brand illuminates every skin and room by unveiling Aposē, a trio of lights designed by the brand — one of which will be produced as a limited series.

“Salone del Mobile is an ideal setting for us to share our unique perspective on light and how it fits within our wider design philosophy,” said Aesop’s brand president Garance Delaye. “This year’s theme explores how our approach to spaces, objects and even formulations has been guided by an understanding of how best to harness light — and the shadows it may cast. From the signature amber tint of our bottles, originally chosen to protect formulations from the sun while creating captivating reflections in-store, to the ingredients our scientists select to bring luminosity to the skin, light is something we approach with scientific rigor and a poetic sensibility — as is our way.”

Designed by Australian architect Rodney Eggleston of March Studio, “The Factory of Light” will feature translucent volumes erected from salvaged scaffolding and trompe-l’oeil tarpaulins. Cut, recomposed and applied to an architectural structure, the tarps form a portrait of a fantasized yet recognizable Milan.

Inside the installation, visitors will move through a sequence of four rooms, where luminosity is explored through craft and a curated selection of objects and formulations for the home. These include the Brass Oil Burner and the Bronze Incense Holder designed for Aesop by Studio Henry Wilson and Studio Vogel, respectively.

Emerging into the sacristy, visitors will encounter a vast undulating surface composed of 10,000 fragrance bottles casting moving reflections across the carved-wood paneling. The amber wave will be illuminated by the Aposē lamp trio, revealed for the first time. 

Satinine

Milan’s storied fragrance brand Satinine, which returned on the beauty scene with the opening of a store in town at the end of 2025, will also focus on lighting to make its design week debut. 

The brand will present “Lumera,” a limited-edition lamp developed with Matlight and diffusing three in-house essential oils named “I Pini,” “Arte” and “Otto.” In particular, the two Milanese companies joined forces to create 10 design pieces where light translates into scent, via natural alabaster set within a structure in aluminum with a nickel-plated finish inspired by decorative arts.

Unveiled at the Officina Satinine store a few steps away from the landmark Duomo cathedral, the hand-assembled design piece will retail at 1,200 euros and include 20-ml of pure essential oils, sufficient to ensure more than ten diffusion sessions. The lamp will be flanked by the brand’s full collection of fragrances and home diffusers, as well as this month’s new launches, which include the floral-cypriot perfume “Via Viola” and the “Filicudi” bath salts.

Acqua di Parma

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned brand Acqua di Parma will bring its sunny approach to beauty and lifestyle to Milan Design Week by setting up its itinerant “Il Chioschetto” kiosk in the courtyard of publishing house ERG Media. The installation — which debuted in New York and after Milan will travel to Düsseldorf, Seoul and Shanghai — will celebrate both the launch of the “Buongiorno La Collezione” line of fragrances and Acqua di Parma’s new book dedicated to the Italian art of living.

Designed by Dorothée Meilichzon, the kiosk will evoke the silhouette of the brand’s Chapeau candle and enable visitors to discover and purchase the tome published by ERG Media, as well as the Buongiorno porcelain plate designed by Italian artist Matteo Cibic. The installation will also include tables in wood and yellow lacquer with bases recalling the silhouette of the Colonia bottle, paired with metal chairs shaped with arches that echo the brand’s retail codes. Completing the scene, Cibic’s oversize surreal structures will expand the Buongiorno universe around the kiosk, which will serve Italian coffee and refreshments throughout the week, alongside hosting workshops, a fragrance quiz and a memory game inspired by the collection’s campaign. 

Amouage

Amouage will take over a flower kiosk in central Via Manzoni. Titled “Love Hibiscus — Nature in Motion,” the installation is sure to catch passersby’s attention due to its large-scale protagonist: a big caterpillar that stands as a symbol of evolution and transformation around the floral bouquets on offer. Flanking these, the brand’s scent “Love Hibiscus” will be spotlighted, along the rest of the “Secret Garden” olfactory collection.

Byredo

An artistic dialogue will be at the forefront of Byredo’s activation. The brand will unveil a collaborative project with designer Jean-Guillaume Mathiaut, unfolding as a limited edition of sculptural seats. Developed as exhibition pieces, the six works are crafted entirely in wood and finished in black, painted with Japanese ink. The monochrome treatment emphasizes silhouette, proportion and shadow, allowing form and texture to take precedence while heightening the sensory experience.

The partnership will be unveiled at the Chiostro del Cappuccio location with an immersive scenography conceived as a contemplative environment.

Clive Christian Perfume

British luxury fragrance house Clive Christian Perfume will set a scaled-up silver chessboard at Museo Bagatti Valsecchi as part of “Transformism,” an immersive installation conceived in collaboration with the acclaimed Crosby Studios and its founder and creative director Harry Nuriev.

Open to the public from Tuesday through Sunday, the installation will invite visitors to interact with the pieces of the game, which have been reimagined with the brand’s iconography, including queens with crowns inspired by Clive Christian’s signature perfume bottles.

“This is transformism. When something familiar shifts and takes on a new meaning,” said Nuriev. “Chess and perfume work in a similar way. They unfold over time — through sequence, tension and trace. It’s not about the game. It’s about presence.”

The collaboration marks a continued creative dialogue between Nuviev’s Crosby Studios and the brand, following recent projects such as the opening of the label’s flagship in London’s Bond Street.

L’Artisan Parfumeur

L’Artisan Parfumeur is continuing its 50th anniversary celebrations at Milan Design Week through a tie-up with eclectic antique dealer Antoine Billore, who is taking over a Milanese apartment to present his first collection of hybrid furniture derived from upcycled pieces. 

Running through Friday and located near Milan’s landmark Bar Basso, “L’appartement” was conceived as a space that could genuinely be lived in, showcasing a full range of objects, artworks and vintage furniture, in addition to Billore’s very first creations. His pieces include solid wood chairs with a deliberately rudimentary, almost minimal design, integrating ornamental elements such as marquetry panels or tin bas-reliefs into their backs, legs or seats. This paneling principle also applies to a series of folding screens whose leaves encase small-format artworks. The two-in-one objects extend to steles that merge with vases. 

Home fragrances, cleansing gels, moisturizing lotions and candles by L’Artisan Parfumeur are scattered across the rooms.

“Antoine Billore’s work is rooted in a rigorous artisanal practice, founded on restraint, assemblage and great creative freedom outside of established frameworks,” said Reyes Lezcano, general manager of the fragrance brand. “His practice resonates with that of L’Artisan Parfumeur, which for 50 years has cultivated free creation driven by authorship. Being present in Milan, a place of experimentation and dialogue between artists and creators from around the world, allows us to express our vision of the home in a different way, true to our pioneering spirit.”

The installation is part of a program celebrating the company’s anniversary. This will be also marked by an exhibition in Shanghai this month, unveiling the back room of the brand’s founder Jean Laporte and where visitors will be able to see the creator-botanist’s notebooks. The show will be followed by a presentation in Paris in June that will explore correspondences between scents and visuals, unveiling the reissued limited edition of the ‘90s “Mûre et Musc” bottle, and the reveal of the iconic “Amber Ball” in a precious version woven with gold in Dubai later this year. 

Valentino Beauty

Valentino Beauty has partnered with New York-based painter, performer and drag artist Tabboo! to install a pop-up in Milan’s Porta Nuova area. Running Tuesday through Sunday, the space will be customized with the vibrant patterns of the designer, which will stand against the brand’s “Born in Roma Purple Melancholia” fragrance duo. Sensory stations will allow visitors to discover the olfactory notes that define the perfumes for women and men.

Memo Paris

Memo Paris is set to launch its new fragrance Cap Camarat. The scent was developed in collaboration with Italian artist Olimpia Zagnoli, who created illustrations for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. 

Inspired by the French, the fragrance was distilled in all the elements informing the perfume, from its name to the juice, which was created by Nadège le Garlantezec blending the likes of pink peppercorn and amirys essence, alongside Ylang Ylang, jasmine extract and vanilla absolute. Zagnoli’s colorful and stylized graphics on the bottle add to the solar inspiration of the fragrance and stretch to a series of objects, including tote bags and a travel fragrance case.

Launching on Wednesday, Cap Camarat will be showcased at the Plan C Framework store as part of the fashion brand’s “The Curated Core” activation conceived for Milan Design Week. 

Marvis

Not just scents. Marvis, the Italian brand best known for disrupting the traditional perception of a toothpaste product, playing with flavored formulations and catchy designs in its packaging, will tickle the senses in an unexpected way with one of its activations for design week. 

Cue the “Refreshing Balloons” kiosk set in the Corso Garibaldi district, where visitors will be handed edible balloons to experience three signature flavors of the brand’s toothpaste, including Strong Mint, Cinnamon Mint and Jasmin, in a new way. Immersive scenography, DJ sets and the custom creations of a mixologist will add to the convivial spirit of the kiosk, which will open on Monday and run through Sunday.

The company will also join the big installation “Città delle Idee,” or “City of Ideas,” housed in the historic headquarters of Italian daily paper Corriere della Sera. In sync with its upbeat spirit, Marvis will invite visitors to play and build urban spaces via colorful building blocks marked by the brand’s M logo. 

Tènua 

Tènua, the Milan-based brand of home fragrances and homeware that creative studio Phantasma launched in 2022, will investigate the synergy between scent and interiors.

The label will join “Bubbles of Time,” an immersive installation by Kaldewei developed in collaboration with Parasite 2.0 and housed at Palazzo Crespi, one of Milan’s most distinctive modernist landmarks. Designed in the 1920s by architect Piero Portaluppi, the building will be the set of a project exploring the evolution of the bathroom as a space of well-being and design.

While selected Kaldewei products will be presented throughout the rooms, the scenography by Parasite 2.0 will introduce floating forms and carefully choreographed lighting, creating a theatrical scene inviting visitors to experience the bathroom not only as a functional environment but as an integral part of modern living architecture and a personal retreat. As part of this immersive narrative, Tènua will develop the site-specific olfactory concept “Scent Scapes,” with custom compositions inspired by the quiet ritual of a bath. Fragrances and discreetly placed incense will diffuse gradually throughout the rooms, creating a soft, steam-like presence that enhances the environment. 

In addition to the olfactory component, Tènua will introduce tactile elements and small ritual gestures throughout the installation, including engraved soap bars. A limited series of 2,500 sculptural soap bars in antique pink marble tones will be gifted to visitors as a tangible memory of their sensory experience.