During the Milan Design Week, the participation of several Alumni once again highlighted the international reach of the talent developed at Elisava, with projects featured across exhibitions reflecting the diversity of contemporary design approaches.

Inspired in Barcelona: Materia prima

At Inspired in Barcelona: Materia prima, an installation that brought together key figures in Catalan design, Alumni Eloi Sànchez and Xavier Roca took part. Roca, founder of RUN Design and a master’s tutor at Elisava, also developed the exhibition’s graphic identity and communication. Organized by the Barcelona Centre de Disseny, the exhibition explored the relationship between material and creative process through essential elements of Mediterranean culture.

Dos Mil Quatre-Cents Setanta Grams

Alumni participation extended to the exhibition Dos Mil Quatre-Cents Setanta Grams, held from April 20 to 25, 2026, where emerging designers presented furniture and lighting pieces under a shared premise: each object weighed 2,470 grams. A collective proposal that showcased the experimental and conceptual strength of a new generation of designers.

Interdependence

Elisava talent was also present at INTERDEPENDENCE, organized by the Scuola Politecnica di Design as part of Fuorisalone. Selected projects included Roomies, by Adrià Pascual Pujó, and Cheers to Youth, by Mako Gutiérrez Kitajim, both Alumni of the Bachelor’s Degree in Design and Innovation.

Roomies, developed within the Elisava Impuls incubator, addressed the experience of teenagers with rare diseases at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, exploring how hospitalization affects their social development and emotional well-being. Meanwhile, Cheers to Youth examined the K-POP community as a global cultural phenomenon through a set of objects analyzing participatory culture and the relationship between fans and memorabilia.

Through these participations, Elisava Alumni reinforced their presence in one of the leading international design platforms, demonstrating the community’s ability to generate proposals that connect research, culture, and design practice across diverse contexts.

A Dream House

As part of the We Will Design 2026 program, A Dream House, by Saúl Baeza and Manuela Valtchanova, proposed a collective игровая installation where participants built a digital home in The Sims to question, through imagination, the invisible spaces of power. The project approached video games as a critical tool—an intrusive tactic within today’s battle over perception and images.

Both designers, faculty members at Elisava and part of Elisava Research, were also involved in Temporary Home, an initiative presented during Milan Design Week from April 20 to 26 at casaBASE. There, five domestic spaces were transformed into a living lab for observation, interaction, and debate. Through international projects, the program offered an immersive experience to explore design across multiple sensory dimensions.