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Every block in Milan, Italy, harbors some visual delight, whether that's skyscrapers covered in vertical plantings, a 200-year-old statue of Napoleon, or a secret chapel decorated with skulls from a medieval cemetery (the Ossuary of San Bernardino. It's wild). When this already artistic city hosts the annual Design Week, you won't find a storefront or courtyard that doesn't lead to a chic installation. The displays range from exhibits by high-end home goods brands to work by the native artisans of Uzbekistan .
Design Week began in the 1960s as a furniture expo, but it expanded to celebrate visual trends in clothing, lighting, textiles, and most recently, automobiles, which was, of course, why we were there. Kia and Hyundai showed off concepts , Mini joined forces with fashion designer Paul Smith for a special edition, and there were other events and installations from companies including Range Rover, Škoda, and Lexus.
Most of the exhibits were heavily weighted toward design, some so much so that there weren't even any cars on display, just sculptures or color swatches. This is the appeal of Design Week for automotive designers, who often see their work buried under technical or performance conversations at more traditional showcases like auto shows or new model reveals. We like a good textile, but we have to admit to a little extra car-nerd joy when we discovered the Lotus "In Progress" exhibit down a cobblestone street in the hip neighborhood of Tortona. Where the other automotive exhibits flowed and swirled with gentle projections of rippling water and soft ambient backlights, the Lotus exhibit was all about action and motorsports history.
The exhibit did begin with a room full of projections, but there was nothing gentle or swirly. It was all yellow and black animated wedge-shaped concept cars looping in a constant race across the walls like an outcut of some English competitor to Speed Racer . This room opened into a hallway with viewing pods showing vintage footage of Colin Chapman at work, and ending with a display of racing suits and helmets from Lotus's storied time on track.
The star of the exhibit was a concept car. The Lotus Theory 1 was first revealed in 2024, but it is still a head turner, with a low, angular design, a smoked glass cockpit, and a 3D-printed interior. We've covered the electric wedge when it was announced, but never seen it in person, so getting to walk around its forged carbon angles and see its folding doors in action was pretty cool.
Ben Payne , Lotus vice president of design, says bringing the Theory 1 to Design Week is a chance to bring new viewers to the Lotus brand without the expectations that they already know the Lotus history, and a chance to share that history once they are captivated by the high-tech Theory 1. Behind the concept, Lotus had a series of displays showcasing the evolution of different components from wheels and tires to dashboards and driver's seats. It was really a traveling Lotus museum, and while we can't say how many new Lotus customers it will create, we certainly left with a deep longing for a John Player Special.
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