Lebanese architect Fadi Yachoui approaches design as a way of telling stories shaped by place, memory and lived experience. His latest presentation at Milan Design Week, running From April 20 to 26, brings that perspective to one of the world’s most influential design stages, offering an entry point into a practice that is both deeply personal and widely resonant.
Set within the gallery of Rossana Orlandi, the exhibition unfolds in a space that has become a landmark for contemporary and collectible design. Housed in a former industrial building in Milan, the gallery is known for championing emerging voices alongside established names, and for blurring the boundaries between art, craft and design.
For Yachoui, the moment also carries a sense of continuity. He first presented work in Milan in 2022 at SaloneSatellite, a platform dedicated to young designers. Four years later, his return reflects a practice that has expanded in scope and confidence, moving towards immersive environments where each piece forms part of a larger narrative.
“Returning to Milan feels less like coming back and more like continuing a conversation,” he says. “At SaloneSatellite, I was introducing a language in its early stages. Today, it carries a different weight.”
That language takes shape in La Volupte, a collection that moves between furniture and sculpture while foregrounding experience. Pieces are designed to be encountered as much as used, inviting viewers to engage physically and emotionally.
“For me, function is only one layer of an object’s existence,” Yachoui says. “I’m more interested in how a piece is felt, how it holds presence and carries memory.”
At the heart of the work is Beirut. The city’s rhythms, contradictions and resilience inform both the ideas and the materials behind the collection. For audiences unfamiliar with Lebanon, the work offers an accessible way into its cultural and emotional landscape, tracing themes of rupture, continuity and renewal that resonate far beyond a single place.
“It speaks of the womb of Beirut, of wounds and what emerges from them,” he says.
The collection builds on an earlier body of work titled The Cut, first presented in the Lebanese capital. That exhibition explored fragmentation and interruption, reflecting a city shaped by crisis, yet defined by its ability to endure. In Milan, the narrative continues through a process of unfolding, where those fragments are released into new contexts.
“The cord is ceremonially severed,” Yachoui explains. “Fragments are sent into the world, much like Beirut’s children and stories. Each carries a pulse, each remembers its origin.”
This sense of movement and transformation mirrors the experience of many within Lebanon’s diaspora, where distance often deepens connections to place rather than diminishing them. Yachoui’s work captures that tension, allowing it to be felt through form, texture and space.
Material plays a key role in grounding the work. La Volupte incorporates Lebanese wicker weaving, a traditional craft passed down through generations. Once a common feature of everyday life, the technique has become increasingly rare as industrial production and changing lifestyles reshape the region’s craft traditions.
“Lebanese wicker weaving is not only a technique, but a cultural language. By integrating it into new forms, it becomes a bridge between past and future,” Yachoui says.
By bringing this craft to Milan, the work places it within a global context while preserving its local significance. It also highlights the role of artisans, whose knowledge and skill remain central to the process.
That emphasis on making by hand offers a counterbalance to a design landscape increasingly shaped by digital tools and automation. Yachoui’s pieces draw attention to tactility and time, encouraging a slower, more considered way of engaging with objects and spaces.
“There is an irreplaceable value in the hand,” he says. “The work insists on presence. It asks to be touched, to age, to transform over time.”
Recognition has followed this approach. La Volupte recently received honours at the Createurs Design Awards, placing Yachoui’s studio, Atelier L’inconnu, among a growing group of designers gaining international attention. Yet, the work remains anchored in its origins, shaped by a strong sense of place and identity.
“The challenge is to remain grounded,” he says. “The goal is to bring a distinct voice to the global stage, one that remains anchored in its origins while continuing to evolve.”
For visitors encountering the exhibition in Milan, the experience unfolds gradually. The setting, with its layered history as an industrial space turned cultural hub, mirrors the themes within the work itself, where past and present co-exist and inform one another.
What emerges is not a fixed narrative, but an invitation. To engage with form and feeling, to reflect on how places shape us, and to consider how stories travel and transform.
In that sense, Yachoui’s work extends beyond design. It becomes a way of understanding Beirut, and by extension, the shared human experiences of loss, resilience and renewal that connect audiences across cultures.
