josephgrima

ALCOVA MILANO 2026 / 20-26 APRIL / THANK YOU FOR YOUR VISIT Alcova Milano 2026 has come to a close. For seven days, from April 20 to 26, Baggio Military Hospital and Villa Pestarini came alive with the presence of more than 130 exhibitors and the thousands of visitors who moved through them. Throughout the week, Alcova became a temporary condition of attention, an invitation to look differently at what surrounds us, and at the many ways in which contemporary design continues to question how we live, build, produce, and imagine. From the morning light entering Albini’s rationalist interiors to the overgrown silences of the former hospital, from the continuous circulation of visitors between installations, garden pauses, and convivial moments around the bar to the exchanges generated by talks, workshops, and conversations, and finally to the nocturnal energy of VOCLA within the hangars, each layer contributed to the sense of a place in constant activation: an ephemeral city taking shape, and with it, a community gathering around design. To everyone who made this possible and shared this week with us, thank you. See you for our first Mexico City edition in February 2027! Video credits @francesco.mancin @corradjno Cover image @luigi_fiano @ardesia_coco

Alcova 2026 is a wrap! Thank you to all the incredible human beings who made this moving experience possible, starting with all of you who visited or exhibited at Baggio Military Hospital and Villa Pestarini over the last week. But most of all thanks to the insanely talented and motivated group of people who make up our team, and without whom none of this would be possible. And of course to my partner in all this utopian madness @valentinaciuffi Now just imagine if we could grow creepers over all the tanks and turn all the barracks into places to meet, make and dream, touched by the magic we all felt this week… @alcova.milano @vocla.milano

ALCOVA MILANO 2026 / 20-26 APRIL
/VILLA PESTARINI /BAGGIO MILITARY HOSPITAL

/ LUISA CASTIGLIONI. HOUSE IN PROGRESS BY BOCCAMONTE

“Luisa Castiglioni. Houses in Progress”, curated by Davide Fabio Colaci with scientific consultancy by Alessandro Benetti, presents Boccamonte, a design platform that brings together and highlights the rich and multifaceted legacy of Luisa Castiglioni, a 20th-century architect and designer, through archival work, research, and design development. The exhibition offers a first look at a selection of furniture pieces: a table and trestles designed by Luisa Castiglioni in 1963, alongside two lamps created today as a contemporary echo of Boccamonte’s architecture and spaces. @boccamonte 
 pics @piergiorgiosorgetti

ALCOVA MILANO 2026 / 20-26 APRIL /VILLA PESTARINI /BAGGIO MILITARY HOSPITAL From Villa Pestarini to Baggio Military Hospital, this year’s edition moves across two different atmospheres: an intimate Rationalist villa opening for the first time, and a raw, layered military hospital complex spanning over 2.5 hectares of indoor and outdoor space. 130+ exhibitors, between international designers, schools, and galleries. Walk it, explore it, get lost in it. Video credits @francesco.mancin @corradjno Cover image @luigi_fiano @ardesia_coco

VOCLA TALKS / HANGAR 2 ALCOVA MILANO 2026 / 20—26 APRIL Vocla Talks opened yesterday with the launch of BIG Atlas, published by Phaidon and designed by Studio Vedèt—a comprehensive monograph retracing 25 years of Bjarke Ingels Group. Bjarke Ingels joined Alcova co-founders Valentina Ciuffi (also founder of Studio Vedèt) and Joseph Grima (also author of one of the book’s main essays), for a conversation celebrating the making of the book, an extensive journey through BIG’s most iconic projects, told through images and essays. The next Vocla Talk turns toward Alcova’s future, happening tomorrow at 3PM in the spaces of HANGAR 2. A new international chapter begins with Alcova Mexico City 2027, introduced through a conversation with co-founders Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima, joined by voices from the Mexican and Latin American design scene. See you there! @big_builds @bjarkeingels @phaidonpress @josephgrima @valentinaciuffi Pics @luigi_fiano @ardesia_coco

ALCOVA MILANO 2026 / 20 - 26 APRIL /BAGGIO MILITARY HOSPITAL /VILLA PESTARINI / ALBINI IN PRESENT TENSE / CASSINA X HAWORTH BY PATRICIO URQUIOLA Franco Albini makes his principles of relational transparency explicit in his project for Villa Pestarini. A gesture establishing tensions between space, light and objects. From this principle, the installation curated by Patricia Urquiola in collaboration with Haworth and Cassina, takes shape in a concept that does not add a narrative but works through subtraction instead. At the centre of the villa, a large island is created with the Mokoro rugs by Cassina which act not as a surface but a spatial device. Its pattern reinterprets the modular rhythm of the large glass-block window, redesigned by Albini in the post-war period, returning light, filter and structure, like a photographic negative. A vital part of the set-up is Albini’s furniture, faithfully reissued by Cassina in collaboration with the Fondazione Franco Albini. A previously unseen armchair (1947), developed specifically for this installation, is presented alongside the Canapo chaise-longue rocking chair (1959), now part of the Cassina Historical Archive, the Luisa chair (Compasso d’Oro prize, 1955), the Tre Pezzi armchair, the Infinito bookshelf (1956-1957), the Cavalletto desk (1950) and the Cicognino side table (1953), in upholstery and finishes selected by Patricia Urquiola and arranged to create an extended domesticity within the space. The atmosphere of a lived-in, present-day home is enriched by a selection of contemporary pieces from Alcova Shop, including, among others, works by Maria Tyakina x Agglomerati, Giovanni de Francesco and Marta Pierobon, Polcha, Clara Schweers, and Sema Topaloğlu, alongside artworks by Atelier dell’Errore. The installation features a special panel courtesy of @slalom.acoustic @haworthinc @cassinaofficial @patricia_urquiola @fondazionefrancoalbini Pics @piergiorgiosorgetti

ANNOUNCING ALCOVA MEXICO CITY 2027 During yesterday’s press conference marking the opening of Alcova Milano, founders Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima also unveiled an important new chapter for the platform. After eight years of inhabiting and reactivating sites across Milan, from abandoned factories and military hospitals to modernist villas and industrial ruins, Alcova will expand internationally with its first Latin American edition, set to launch in Mexico City during Art Week 2027. In the vibrant Juárez neighbourhood of Mexico City, Alcova will activate a 1930s building with the support of Proyectos Públicos, alongside the opening of the modernist Casa Reforma by Francisco Artigas, extending into a wider network of site-specific interventions across the city. THURSDAY 23 APRIL / TALK / 3 PM / HANGAR 2 To deepen the exploration of this new chapter, a public talk with Alcova founders Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima will take place on April 23 at 15:00, at Alcova’s Baggio Military Hospital venue, in the spaces of VOCLA, HANGAR 2. Joining the founders will be key figures connected to the Mexico City edition, including Pepe Islas, founder of Proyectos Públicos, and Francisco Acuña, co-founder of Piacere, as well as voices tied to the Mexican and Latin American design scene. Among them Maria Dolores Uribe, founder of UNNO Gallery, the platform dedicated to contemporary Latin American collectible design, and Daniele Lora, co-founder and creative director of the Italian company cc-tapis, which in the last years took part in Mexico City Art Week with a series of activations and site-specific projects. Also participating are designers from the Mexican scene such as Adrián Cruz, whose work in resin and onyx bridges his Mexican heritage with European architectural training, and Carmen Aréchiga. @proyectospublicos @piacere_mx @daniele__lora @cc_tapis @unno.gallery @adriancruzelements @car_arechiga

ALCOVA MILANO 2026 / 20 - 26 APRIL VOCLA is an immersive project created by @henge__official in collaboration with Alcova. Conceived as a space where design, art and social exchange meet, it brings together installations, objects and atmospheres in a setting that moves beyond the traditional exhibition format. Through Henge’s material language and spatial vision, VOCLA becomes a place for encounters, inspiration and new cultural perspectives. The space unfolds across three evenings of music and gathering — by invitation — powered by @yapa_restaurant Sun, Tue, Wed 19, 21, 22 April / 9PM - 1AM Hangar 2 - Baggio Military Hospital Via Giovanni Labus, 10 Site specific Design by @henge__official Artistic & Architectural direction @ugocacciatori Cocktail bar powered by @yapa_restaurant Sound powered by @karray.official A project conceived by @alcova.milano  founders @valentinaciuffi   @josephgrima Visual identity @studiovedet Pics: @luigi_fiano & @ardesia_coco

ALCOVA MILANO 2026 / 20 - 26 APRIL /BAGGIO MILITARY HOSPITAL /VILLA PESTARINI Alcova is officially open! Come visit us and get to know the work of over 130 international designers thoughout our locations. / BAGGIO MILITARY HOSPITAL 11AM—7PM / LAST ENTRY AT 6PM / VILLA PESTARINI 10AM-7PM / LAST ENTRY AT 6:30 PM Pics: @luigi_fiano & @ardesia_coco

AD ha incontrato @valentinaciuffi e @josephgrima , ideatori e fondatori di @alcova.milano che aprirà i battenti al pubblico domani, 20 aprile. Per celebrare l’inizio ufficiale della settimana del design, li abbiamo coinvolti in #ADVoices Ecco come è andata 🎙️ - Stay tuned per scoprire di più sugli highlight di Alcova 📽️& Edit @carola.omehga 📸 cover via @alcova.milano AD met Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima, creators and founders of Alcova Milano, which opens its doors to the public tomorrow, April 20. To celebrate the official start of Design Week, we featured them in #ADVoices. Here’s how it went 🎙️ – Stay tuned to discover more highlights from Alcova

ALCOVA MILANO 2026/ 20-26 APRILE/ COMING SOON From April 20–26, 2026, Alcova returns for its eleventh edition, unfolding across two extraordinary sites. Alcova’ll be opening up new, previously unseen areas of the Baggio Military Hospital to the public and activating the legendary Villa Pestarini by Franco Albini, the only villa designed by the great pioneer of Italian rationalist architecture in Milan. Tickets are now available at the link in bio. We look forward to welcoming you to Alcova Milano 2026! Video @francesco.mancin @corradjno Art Direction @studioved èt

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