he 5VIE Design Week has gradually built its identity at the Milan Design Week through curated shows at the intersection of art and design, set within the context of historic buildings such as the 19th-century Cesare Correnti 14. In contrast to the 2025 edition’s focus on forming a bridge between objects and symbols of design, the 2026 edition centres on subjective perception, examining the ability of objects to grant unique sensory experiences through the theme QoT – Qualia of Things. The design district recognises the urgency of addressing individual emotional responses and uniting them into a shared lived experience through design. Moving beyond superficial associations between form and meaning, the 2026 edition highlights unique sensations, personal interpretations and new ways of experiencing design.
At the upcoming design week, 5VIE—of which STIR is a media partner—insists that observation alone is not enough. One must feel, absorb and process all that is communicated to one’s consciousness upon coming in contact with the objects. “Consciousness is the capacity to have experience through qualia and to learn the meaning of that experience,” physicist Federico Faggin’s words are stated in an official release, positioning design as an ethical practice as much as an aesthetic. Promoting a ‘humanistic innovation of technology,’ the district’s programme collectively attempts to reaffirm the value of human feeling.
Several exhibitions and installations produced by 5VIE collectively translate the abstract notion of ‘qualia’ into spatial, tactile and performative encounters, where objects are no longer inert artefacts but active mediators of perception and emotion. For instance, SWING Design Gallery presents Cosmic Meadow by Australian ceramic artist Elizabeth Lewis. The vibrant handcrafted vases draw on ancient animal sculptures and mythological architecture, resulting in their obscure, biomorphic forms. Japanese artist and a mother of four, Noe Kuremoto, presents an installation, JŌMON: A Mother’s Anthem, curated by Berlin-based independent writer, editor and curator Anna Carnick. Paying homage to the ferocious, hopeful and complex qualities of motherhood, the showcase features stone vessels symbolic of endurance, remembrance and transformation. The contemporary interpretations of some of the most ancient forms of pottery, dating back to the Jōmon period (circa 14,000 – 300 BCE), evoke the feeling of ancient Japanese talismanic figures.