In April 2025, during Milan Design Week, a period when designers from around the world gather, Alcantara, the Italian luxury material brand familiar for its use in premium car interiors like Ferrari's, presented exhibitions at three locations in the city. The words of Chairman and CEO Eugenio Dollis revealed the company's current strategies and future plans as it approaches its 50th anniversary.

At Milan Design Week 2025, Alcantara held exhibitions at three distinct venues, each showcasing different aspects of the company's technological features and market strategies.

The largest exhibition was the third consecutive collaboration with "Archiproducts," an operator of a design product sales website, titled "À.RIA. A MEDIUM FOR CONNECTION." Presented at the Archiproducts Milan showroom in the Tortona district, this exhibition, curated by the Milanese architectural design firm Studiopepe, featured spatial arrangements themed around air.

Within the exhibition space, three-dimensional wall decorations made from Alcantara, utilizing 3D thermoforming technology that shapes flat materials into three dimensions through heat and pressure, were installed. This "bugnato" (a wall decoration with carved stone-like relief), realized in collaboration with a specialist in molding technology, concretely demonstrated Alcantara's potential for shaping.

The venue showcased Alcantara used in diverse applications such as curtains, partitions, and sofas, offering real-world examples of the company's innovative manufacturing techniques. The method of displaying material texture changes through light and shadow effects suggested an aim to explore new applications in the interior design field.

Meanwhile, the "Le Icone" exhibition, held in conjunction with the "Car Design Award 2025" awards ceremony at the ADI Design Museum, highlighted Alcantara's broad range of applications.

Exhibited items included the Stone Island jacket "4100027 ALCANTARA_Stone Island Ghost," the Ferrari-styled "Nero the Ferrari Tool Case," the "Tulip" chair designed by renowned Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, Microsoft's "Surface Laptop," and the AI robot "TCL Ai Me," among other examples of its use beyond the automotive sector.

Dollis explained the exhibition.

"Alcantara is an extremely versatile material that allows for the constant customization of car interiors in new and unique ways. Its excellent sensory characteristics—softness, luxury, sportiness, and creativity—combined with technical properties like lightness, breathability, and grip, guarantee an unparalleled experience."

At "Superdesign Show 2025," a central event of Milan Design Week, the retrospective exhibition "Unforgettable" was held, looking back at design history.

This exhibition, curated by Giulio Cappellini, a luminary of Italian furniture design, and design writer Leonardo Talarico, brought together iconic works from the past 25 years.

Among these was "Alcantara-Wood" by nendo, Japan's leading design studio. First presented in 2015, this work offers a contemporary interpretation of traditional joinery techniques, exploring new expressive possibilities through the combination of different materials.

This piece garnered attention as a work that explored new material expressions through the Japanese aesthetics of harmony and composition.
Judging by these exhibitions, Alcantara is clearly moving towards a new stage. What lies behind such a transformation?