Milano Design Week: the fifth edition of Bravery Bar

Florence, April 9, 2026

What kind of intelligence does Made in Italy need in order to move into the future without betraying its identity?

During Milan Design Week 2026 (April 20–26), IAAD, Accademia Italiana and SAE Institute — higher education schools within the AD Education network, an international organization comprising 21 institutions mainly focused on creative arts and design, with 77 campuses attended by over 42,000 students—are organizing the fifth edition of the “Bravery Bar”, a well-established and widely recognized Fuorisalone format, dedicated this year to the theme “NIMI – The New Intelligence of Made in Italy.”

Hosted within the context of the 10th Isola Design Festival, in the evocative spaces of Fondazione Riccardo Catella—an organization that has been engaged for twenty years in civic and cultural projects serving the community—located at Via Gaetano de Castillia 28, the Bravery Bar aims to be a platform for dialogue and shared design, capable of bringing together education, industry, and culture to reflect on the present and future of Made in Italy.

“Active since 2022, Bravery Bar now represents a privileged observatory on the evolution of design and on the role of education as a driver of cultural and industrial innovation. We wanted to create a place of inspiration where students, young people, professionals, businesses, and citizens can meet and build connections,” says Nicola Accurso, the new Managing Director of AD Education Italy. “During the symbolic week of Italian and international design, it is a call to rethink the creative process in light of the major transformations of our time, starting again from ideas, responsibility, talent, and the enthusiasm of new generations.”

The program includes five days of workshops and meetings involving hundreds of young designers, teachers, experts, and leading Made in Italy companies, aimed at developing innovative design proposals with Abet Laminati, Alcantara, Clementoni, Conserve Italia—brand Derby Blue — and Sustainera, Stellantis’ division focused on new design possibilities linked to the circular economy.

Between a 250 sqm indoor space and a 300 sqm urban public garden—where nature, social interaction, and shared care come together among bocce courts and educational gardens—throughout the entire Fuorisalone week, Bravery Bar will become a meeting point and an active research lab where craftsmanship, social dynamics, and technological innovation intertwine.

The project presentation will take place on Monday, April 20 at 5:30 PM, in the presence of institutions, partners, and stakeholders from the business and design world. This will be followed by a preview vernissage of the immersive exhibition created by Truly Design, a Turin-based artistic collective of international renown. Their works can be found on city walls, in museums, private homes, and corporate headquarters across Italy and Europe, as well as in New York, Miami, Hong Kong, and Macau; collaborations include Spotify, Nike, Amazon, Adidas, Red Bull, and Facebook.

On display throughout the entire duration of Bravery Bar will be previously unseen, site-specific works created especially for the event. Iconic 3D-designed sculptures, artistic installations with optical illusions, large paintings, textile tapestries, and artistic ping pong tables will transform Fondazione Catella into an art gallery designed to inspire. Among the works is the entrance installation, featuring a reinterpretation of the bifora windows of Spazio Catella, evolving into the two “B”s of Bravery Bar.

On the same occasion, the project “NIMI – The New Intelligence of Made in Italy” will also be presented. This initiative explores the role of artificial intelligence and applied arts in contemporary society and is funded by the European Union’s Next Generation EU (NGEU) under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), with Accademia Italiana as lead institution. Presented last March 4 in Brussels at the European Parliament, it aims to serve as a platform for dialogue between education, research, the creative industry, and institutions, building a permanent network of collaboration and an Observatory on new technologies applied to design, so that its outcomes may become a global reference for creative education and sustainable sector development.

Connected to this is “Makin’ Italy,” the traveling exhibition curated by Lucrezia Nardi, which showcases collective projects and presents Made in Italy not as a static label, but as a living organism. The exhibition features hybrid, experimental, and multidisciplinary works by partner schools including Accademia Italiana, IAAD, Poliarte, SAE Institute Milano, Schola, Abadir (Academy of Design and Visual Communication), and the University of Salerno. After stops in Florence, Bologna, Cologne, Warsaw, Belgrade, Brussels, and Turin, the exhibition arrives in Milan, strengthening a network of exchange among territories, schools, and companies. Three forms of intelligence will interact and merge: that of the hand, guardian of ancient knowledge and unique gestures; the social one, a fabric of relationships and collective co-design; and the artificial one, a critical tool reshaping the boundaries of what is possible.

Looking at the program in detail, each day of Bravery Bar opens from 9:30 to 10:30 AM with a welcome session, followed by workshop briefs and development from 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Final presentations of the projects will take place from 5:30 to 6:30 PM.

On Tuesday, April 21, “The Art of RE-USE” will be held in collaboration with Sustainera, a division of Stellantis, focusing on new design possibilities linked to the circular economy. Students are invited to reinterpret high-quality automotive materials—such as upholstery leather, technical fabrics, and seat belts—originating from production leftovers and testing, transforming them through upcycling practices into design and lifestyle objects.

On Wednesday, April 22, “The Perfect Serve: Reinventing the Gesture, Creating Desire” will take place in collaboration with Conserve Italia—brand Derby Blue—aiming to redefine the non-alcoholic consumption experience by transforming the point of sale into a true stage.

Thursday, April 23 will feature “Surfaces that Tell Stories” with Abet Laminati, exploring laminate as a narrative surface that goes beyond its technical function to become an expressive and perceptual element. Through interaction with light, color, texture, and space, the project investigates how materials can generate experience and emotion, combining photography, design, and installation in a contemporary interpretation of surfaces.

On Friday, April 24, “The Soul of Surfaces: Inhabiting Tomorrow with Alcantara®,” led by Alcantara S.p.A., will explore how environments often designed for efficiency—such as transport systems, hospitals, or educational spaces—can be transformed into more welcoming and human-centered places by enhancing comfort, tactility, and atmosphere.

Finally, on Saturday, April 25, “Bravery Bar for Clementoni” will focus on the design and creation of a site-specific audiovisual installation combining 3D environments, motion design, filming, sound design, and AI-generated content, resulting in an immersive device capable of engaging the public and activating a direct relationship with the Bravery Bar space. The installation thus becomes a narrative medium interpreting the brand through visual and sound languages, transforming the workshop into a live, interdisciplinary creative process.

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BRAVERY BAR is an event organized within the framework of the project “NIMI – The New Intelligence of Made in Italy,” funded by the European Union’s Next Generation EU (NGEU) for the internationalization of higher artistic and musical education institutions (AFAM), under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), MISSION 4 COMPONENT 1 – INVESTMENT 3.4 SUB-INVESTMENT T5 – CUP: H37G24000080001.