After being canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Milan Design Week is back, opening its doors to over 350,000 architects, designers, and furniture lovers from around the globe during its September 5th through 10th run. The week-long convention also known as “Supersalone” is undoubtedly one of the year’s biggest interior design events, celebrating 60 years in 2021.

We’ve rounded up some of our favorite pieces from this year’s event to give you a glimpse of the excitement taking place at the festival of furniture:

Oasi Kitchen

On display at the Rho Fiera Milano exhibit, this creative free-standing kitchen by ARAN Cucine and Stefano Boeri Architetti has a live lemon tree at its center. The self-contained kitchenette was designed to foster both sustainability and sociality. “As you grow the tree will grow itself, like a family, until the kitchen turns into something new, following the dynamism of the people linked together under its branches,” the company says. Cooking scraps can be composted right on site for the tree’s fertilization needs, and an irrigation system is integrated into the kitchen for watering. “Oasi” also features a cooktop, oven, sink, Corian countertops, extendable tables for dining, and wood cabinets for storage made from reclaimed wood from the Venice lagoon.

Shaped by Fire

Artist/designer Katerina Krotenko has created a unique collection of containers called “Shaped by Fire,” forged using a 1960s Finnish wood imprint technique. The glass is set aflame while positioned between two hollowed-out pieces of already-burnt firewood. The results are breathtaking, with stunning organic textures and patterns from top to bottom.

Design by Nature

From Swedish studio Front and Italian brand Moroso comes a new line of furniture titled Design by Nature, comprised of sofas that resemble natural forms from the outdoors. “We wanted the pieces to create the feeling that someone had lifted a whole glade from a forest with a gigantic shovel and moved it to a home,” says Sofia Lagerkvist, co-founder of Front. And it appears they were extremely successful in that goal, with their amorphous mossy seating blending perfectly into the forest from a distance. Another settee mirrors a boulder on the seashore, complete with cushioned “mussels” attached on top.

Pan

These playful coat racks by Sapiens Design are made entirely from salvaged steel. Designer Alessandro Mattia used industrial laser processors to cut geometric shapes all over the panels, infusing them with an organic essence inspired by Pan, the ancient Greek deity of the forests. The steel sheets are sized at different heights and protrude at unique angles, too, making for a distinctive mix of furniture and art in one.

Natural Capital

In addition to furniture and other interior design elements, Milan Design Week includes original art installed around the city. One of the coolest this year is an installation in the Brera Botanical Garden called “Natural Capital” by energy company Eni and Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA). In an attempt to educate visitors about the essential role of plants in providing us with oxygen, data bubbles have been placed over a variety of photosynthesizing species that display just how much CO2 each removes from the air. The bubbles range in size based on the amount of carbon dioxide stored by each plant and are juxtaposed with a giant sphere on the ground, demonstrating how much the average human breathes out each year.

If you’re hungry for more of Milan Design Week, you can check out the event’s website for updates and product details.