DESIGN DIARY

Five years after working from home became a permanent fixture for a significant portion of India's workforce, the furniture industry is beginning to treat it that way. Ergonomic office furniture, long considered a corporate procurement decision, is increasingly being bought by individuals setting up serious home workspaces. Humanscale's entry into the Indian home office segment is a signal of where that market is heading. The New York-based brand, whose products are already i

Intent Made is an Indian furniture brand whose work is built around solid wood and the craft traditions that have developed around it, and the Garden in Woods collection, designed by Swetha Vegesana, is the most complete expression yet of the direction the brand has been moving in. The collection consists of center tables and side tables, all made from solid timber and featuring marquetry work on their surfaces that takes considerable time to appreciate, as the more you look,

Salone del Mobile. Milano returns in 2026 as one of the most anticipated events in the global design calendar, drawing designers, brands, architects, and industry professionals from across the world to Milan for a week that consistently sets the direction for where furniture and interior design are heading. The 2026 edition continues that tradition, with previews and launches arriving from some of the most established names in Italian and international design, each using the

Häfele has introduced the Horizon Digital Lock as part of its Evolve Range of Digital Door Locks, a line the German hardware brand has developed for contemporary residential spaces where the entrance door is expected to carry both security and design considerations without one coming at the expense of the other. The Horizon operates across multiple locking modes, including auto locking, passage locking, privacy locking, and double authentication mode, giving the homeowner the

In Delhi, a 9,500-square-foot residence designed by Disha Subramaniam, founder and principal of her eponymous studio, takes a deliberate position against the kind of interior that reads as assembled in one sitting. The brief was clear from the outset: the house had to feel layered, its character built as though accumulated through years of inhabitation rather than delivered complete by a single design intervention. That intent shapes every room, every material choice, and eve

In Banjara Hills, a short walk from KBR National Park, TEVA Architects has completed Jolly Bros & Co, a 3,000-square-foot café that takes the Irani joints of mid-century Mumbai as its direct reference point. The project started with research. Principal architect Vamsi Ballepu and the client team travelled to Mumbai and spent time in establishments including Café Mondegar, Leopold Café, Britannia & Co., Café Universal and Jimmy Boy before a single design decision was made. The

At the ARAN Cucine Milan Flagship Store in Porta Nuova, during Fuorisalone 2026, designer Ulisse Narcisi showed a restyled version of Volare—one of the brand's most established kitchen designs and a model that has been part of the ARAN Cucine portfolio for a considerable number of years. The preview was part of Milano Design Week 2026, and for a kitchen that has gone through several evolutions already, this particular rethink feels like the most considered one yet. Narcisi, w

Black pottery has always carried a certain weight in the Indian craft landscape. Its surface is not decorative in the conventional sense. It absorbs light rather than reflecting it. It records touch. It reveals process. With its latest collection, Nimmit moves into this material territory, extending its existing work in textiles and object design into pottery. Founded by Manish Shah, Nimmit has so far been associated primarily with textile-based practices such as block printi

At Ashoka University, a new bamboo pavilion titled The Hungry Caterpillar introduces an alternative way of thinking about campus infrastructure, material responsibility, and everyday student spaces. Designed by Apoorva Shroff, the project takes the form of a pavilion rather than a conventional building, allowing it to function as both an architectural intervention and a lived-in environment. The pavilion spans approximately 650 square meters and is constructed entirely from b

Falmec has introduced updated versions of its Virgola under-cabinet cooker hood, presenting the Virgola Touch Comfort and Virgola No-Drop Comfort models. The new versions focus on acoustic performance and vapour management while retaining the compact integrated format designed for concealed kitchen installation. The Virgola Comfort models incorporate a soundproof chamber within the hood structure. This chamber is lined with noise-absorbing material positioned around the motor

Häfele has expanded its interior fittings portfolio with the introduction of the Classic and Design Series aluminium door profiles, developed for use in wardrobes and cabinet systems. The new profiles extend the company’s existing range of structural framing solutions, offering additional material finishes and surface treatments suited to residential interiors. Aluminium profiles have become widely used in wardrobe and cabinet construction due to their dimensional stability a

The Grand Palais in Paris has presented 32 carpets commissioned under King Louis XIV, bringing together a group of works that had never previously been displayed in this scale and sequence. The exhibition, titled Le Trésor retrouvé du Roi-Soleil (The Rediscovered Treasure of the Sun King) , examines the role of these carpets within the visual and political programme developed during the king’s reign. The carpets were produced between 1668 and 1688 by the Savonnerie manufactor

Wall/Pepper® has presented a preview of its upcoming 2026 catalogue at Salone del Mobile.Milano 2026, introducing a series of new graphic surface designs developed as part of its continuous wallcovering programme. The new graphics expand the company’s visual library and explore different compositional and environmental references applied to architectural surfaces. The new designs are organised as individual visual environments, each defined by a distinct graphic approach. Bor

Abimis has developed a new copper-infused finish for its stainless steel kitchens, presented as part of its preview for EuroCucina 2026 at Salone del Mobile.Milano. The finish expands the company’s existing surface treatments and introduces a different material expression within its stainless steel kitchen systems. The finish is produced using a galvanic metal deposition process applied to stainless steel. This treatment alters the external surface by depositing a metallic la

et al. will present the Nuy chair, designed by Marco Acerbis, as part of its preview for Salone del Mobile.Milano 2026. The chair expands the company’s seating collection and reflects its continued focus on wood construction, structural visibility, and hospitality-oriented furniture design. The defining feature of the Nuy chair is its ash wood frame, developed around an inverted “Y” configuration. This structural element forms the central support system of the chair and distr

knIndustrie has introduced a series of new trays and expanded existing lines, continuing its exploration of table objects positioned between utility and interior presence. The additions include new designs by Lara Caffi and Sirine Graiaa, along with updates to existing collections developed with designers and artists including Rodolfo Dordoni and Ivan Tresoldi. The Outline tray, designed by Lara Caffi, is produced in matte-lacquered beech wood. The form follows a rectangular

Häfele has introduced the Kallisto Series of cookerhoods and hobs, expanding its range of kitchen appliances designed to integrate with contemporary interior environments. The series focuses on combining appliance functionality with surface finishes and control systems that align with modern kitchen layouts. A defining feature of the Kallisto Series is the Shadowstone finish, developed as a surface treatment for both cookerhoods and hobs. This finish uses a dark grey base ton

The Balcoon bathroom collection, designed by Patricia Urquiola for Duravit, brings together ceramic, furniture, and fittings within a single design system defined by geometric layering and material contrast. The range includes washbasins, toilets, bidets, furniture consoles, bathtubs, and faucets, developed to function as a coordinated bathroom environment rather than as individual standalone products. The collection is structured around a recurring formal principle based on

The Ivory House, a 1,750 sq. ft. apartment in Pune, was designed by The Arch Studio under the direction of principal designer Siddhina Sakla. Located on the third floor within a residential neighbourhood that has seen increasing demand for high-end private apartments, the project reflects a design approach that combines formal decorative references with spatial restructuring to improve everyday usability. The apartment was originally planned as a standard three-bedroom unit w

The Lepli seating family, designed by Kensaku Oshiro, has been extended with the addition of a chair and a small armchair. These new pieces join an existing range that includes stools, a bench, and poufs developed for indoor and outdoor use. The expansion continues a design direction that Poltrona Frau has maintained in recent years, where existing concepts are revisited and extended rather than replaced. The Lepli project was originally conceived as a compact upholstered sea