TALES IN GLASS - 2026

MILAN, ITALY

SOPHIE DRIES

On the occasion of Milan Design Week 2026, French architect and designer Sophie Dries was entrusted with curating and designing Tales in Glass, an exhibition celebrating the 70th anniversary of Italian brand Gallotti&Radice. Hosted within the noble salons of the historic Palazzo Meli Lupi di Soragna, the exhibition is conceived as an immersive journey through time, exploring glass as a living material across three distinct chapters: past, present, and future.

Conceived in close dialogue with the palace’s heritage architecture, the scenography unfolds as a soft, enveloping layer that dresses and activates the historic rooms. Sophie Dries structures the space through a delicate vocabulary of glass, fluid textiles, and suspended ropes, guiding visitors along a continuous journey across temporalities. Archive icons, such as Luigi Massoni’s 1971 Adam table and Pierangelo Gallotti’s 1975 T35 Trio, anchor the narrative at the entrance as symbolic gestures of welcome.

The project highlights the signature dialogue of contrasts dear to Sophie Dries: pairing the transparency and brilliance of glass with tactile textiles, structured ropes, and raw metal joints.  It brings together decades of Italian glassmaking mastery alongside six international design studios: Valentina Cameranesi Sgroi, Ivania Carpio, Estudio Persona, Rania Hamed, Fumie Shibata, and Miminat Shodeinde, each invited to reinterpret the material through a distinct cultural lens.

The exhibition offers a poetic sensory experience where memory, identity, and future design visions coexist seamlessly. By orchestrating a subtle play between architectural volume, light reflection, and material texture, Sophie Dries transforms the historic palace into an open narrative, celebrating seven decades of passion, innovation, and timeless elegance in glass design.