NTU Product Design Students at Milan Design Week
NTU Product Design students showcased sustainable, innovative work at multiple exhibitions during Milan Design Week 2025.
Jake and Isaac presenting their designs at Unfold conference
Second-year students from Nottingham Trent University’s BA (Hons) Product Design courses made a strong impression at Milan Design Week 2025, exhibiting their work at two major international showcases as part of the NTU Product Design’s International Design Studio (IDS).
Together, the two exhibitions attracted a total of 110,000 unique visitors, offering our students an invaluable opportunity to share their ideas with a global audience.
UNFOLD 2025 – Reaffirm Design
Returning after its successful debut, UNFOLD took place at BASE Milano with a theme focusing on reaffirming design. The exhibition encouraged students to think critically about the wider role of design in society, exploring how design can address urgent global challenges, support communities, and drive innovation beyond aesthetics and function.
NTU students Jake Offord and Isaac Biggin exhibited their projects, Lace Viewfinders and the Jardine stool, alongside peers from eleven international institutions, selected from over thirty applicants through a competitive open call led by Domus Academy. Our students’ work explored Nottingham’s lace heritage, reimagining it through contemporary design.
Lace Viewfinders is a series of cast iron frames holding delicate lace patterns, designed to frame and highlight key historical sites in Nottingham’s Lace Market, connecting viewers with the city’s lacemaking history in a visually immersive way. The Jardine stool draws inspiration from industrial lace machinery, featuring a robust cast iron leg frame with a solid oak seat, combining industrial aesthetics with domestic functionality while paying tribute to Nottingham’s global influence in lace production.
Representing regions across Europe, the Middle East, South America, the UK, the US, and China, the exhibition highlighted diverse global perspectives and interdisciplinary thinking. Projects ranged from conceptual pieces to practical solutions, all aiming to question and reshape the impact of design in today’s world.
Interdependence 2025 – Exploring Design in a Polarised World
NTU students' work exhibited at Interdependence
NTU students Tessa Benning, Siyu Chen, and Angela Yu took part in Interdependence 2025, presented by the Polimi Design System, which includes Politecnico di Milano’s School of Design, Department of Design, and POLI.Design.
This year’s theme of interdependence and exploring opposites challenged students to consider how design can engage with conflicting perspectives and dualities, and explore the grey areas in between.
Their project, A Second Purpose, was a collaborative international project that explored design interventions for repurposing discarded objects. Vessels made from household waste were selected and enhanced with additive components to transform them into functional, desirable products for displaying flowers.
The components, produced using 3D printing, were designed for the giftware market with a focus on sustainability, consumer ownership, and creating nostalgic connections. The aim was to breathe new life into seemingly obsolete objects, highlighting how design can combine sustainability with emotional value.
With contributions from around 40 design universities worldwide, the exhibition asked how, in a time of increasing global polarisation, design can act as a bridge that embraces complexity and fosters dialogue rather than division.