Olimpiadi

INTERNI kicks off 2026 by celebrating the excellence of Italian design worldwide and the major upcoming event of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games (6–22 February and 6–15 March), with a double editorial launch: the international issue Sport&Design and the new volume in the Gold Series Milano Design Hub&Spoke.

Two special publications exploring the dialogue between sport, culture and design will be previewed on January 14 at the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris, in collaboration with ITA (Italian Trade Agency), during a talk involving French designers and Italian companies. This will be followed,on January 28, by a presentation at Triennale Milano together with its president Stefano Boeri and all those who, in different roles, have taken on the challenge of addressing a complex and crucial theme: rethinking the future of the planet with a clear-eyed and responsible approach, using design as a compass to imagine new ways of living, practising and protecting the mountains.

What will become of winter sports when there is no longer any snow? Will we ski on sand, or chase the last surviving glaciers at unreachable altitudes? As the climate crisis reshapes Alpine landscapes, the way we experience them is also changing: equipment, facilities, architecture and entire ski resorts must be rethought, suspended between utopian and dystopian scenarios.

“Our January–February issue, traditionally published in English, provides answers to these questions,” explains Gilda Bojardi, Editor-in-Chief of INTERNI. “Starting from the topical relevance of Milan Cortina 2026 and from the exhibition White Out. The Future of Winter Sports (28 January – 29 March), curated by Konstantin Grcic and Marco Sammicheli at Triennale Milano. The exhibition, of which INTERNI is media partner, explores the role of design in the extreme conditions of the mountains and shows how, amid the climate transition, design intelligence is being called upon to redefine practices, equipment and imaginaries.”

The magazine also analyses winter tourism; sport as an advanced research laboratory for materials and functions; and architecture as a new ‘climatic skin’ capable of enveloping the body and generating comfort, quality and energy efficiency. This perspective also extends to urban regeneration projects, where innovation becomes a cultural and social value as well as a technical one.

The INTERNI Sport&Design issue (January–February) is enriched by two major supplements: the volume Milano Design Hub&Spoke and the Design Index Guide 2026. Available in both print and digital formats, the Guide features over 8,000 addresses from the world of design: who produces and what they produce, where to buy and what to buy, who designs, photographs, advertises, publishes, teaches, organises and exhibits. A complete list of showrooms and retail spaces of the companies featured in the Guide, with their respective brands, will also be available for digital download.

The magazine will be on newsstands and available via the app from 22 January. It is entirely in English, with an Italian translation included at the end of the issue.

Distribution of this special edition and its supplements is planned in Paris at hotels, art galleries, design and fashion boutiques, major showrooms and architecture studios, in the hospitality areas and at the Maison&Objet kiosk, as well as at the main newsstands in the city centre.

The volume “Milano Design Hub&Spoke”

Milano Design Hub&Spoke is the sixth chapter in INTERNI’s Gold Series, which celebrates the leading figures of Italian design and the companies that have played a decisive role in establishing Italian Design as a global benchmark for quality, vision and manufacturing excellence. In this new edition, the focus shifts to the territory, specifically to Milan, a city that has become a system in itself, an international hub for design, communication and, more broadly, project culture.

Over recent decades, the Lombard capital has taken on the role of a platform where skills, languages and disciplines converge, and where design finds its most fertile ground. This centrality is manifested through an increasingly articulated network of dedicated places: not simple commercial spaces, but environments that become points of encounter, discussion and exchange. Flagship stores, showrooms and retail spaces are transformed into cultural venues, recognised by international audiences as key nodes within the design supply chain. Here, products are not merely displayed but also interpreted, narrated and placed within immersive experiences that enhance visitors’ awareness and understanding.

The volume was conceived with the aim of interpreting Milan precisely as the beating heart of this complex ecosystem. The city is portrayed through a map of physical locations that embody contemporary design in all its expressions: ever-larger exhibition spaces, rich in content and distinguished by constantly evolving aesthetic and museographic quality. From this perspective, Milano Design Hub&Spoke becomes a valuable tool for navigating the excellences of Made in Italy and discovering where to encounter them, understand them and purchase them.

“If Milan represents the Hub – the nucleus that concentrates and amplifies the narrative of Italian design – the Spokes are the many productive realities that sustain this system,” explains Gilda Bojardi, Editor-in-Chief of INTERNI. “It is in the dialogue between city and territory that the strength of Italian design develops: a widespread heritage made up of companies, districts and supply chains that preserve centuries-old manufacturing traditions while at the same time embracing technological innovation and sustainability. It is a mosaic of complementary skills that reflects the value of Made in Italy and fuels a continuous flow between creativity, technique, research and production.”

The narrative of the volume is accompanied by a rich photographic gallery that juxtaposes the architectural icons of historic Milan with the buildings that, in recent years, have transformed its skyline. The images portray a city in evolution, where symbolic places of tradition coexist with new districts shaped by urban regeneration projects that have positioned Milan among the world’s most dynamic international metropolises.

The introduction includes the interventions of the main institutions of the Project System — Salone del Mobile.Milano, Triennale Milano, ADI and Politecnico di Milano-School of Design — which offer an authoritative point of view on the evolution of the sector. Particular attention is given to the theme of distribution, analysing how the physical space in which products meet consumers is changing in response to new needs, new contexts of use and transformations in global markets. The challenges faced by the sector clearly emerge: the need to rethink relationships with audiences, to enhance experience, to incorporate digital tools, while at the same time maintaining a strong connection with the material identity of the product.

Each company featured in the volume tells its own story, vision and the spaces that best represent it within the Milan ecosystem: flagship stores, urban showrooms, headquarters, museums and exhibition spaces. These are environments where relationships are built, ideas are developed and future projects are imagined. What emerges is a panorama of companies that safeguard Italy’s great artisanal heritage, capable of integrating it with advanced industrial processes and the most innovative digital tools, without sacrificing a strong commitment to sustainability.

The publication aspires to be a Who’s Who of Made in Italy: an authoritative and comprehensive guide for Italian and international professionals interested in discovering leading manufacturing companies, their expertise and the places where they can be encountered. The book also includes data and in-depth insights illustrating production capacity and evolution, offering an up-to-date and accessible tool for understanding the complexity of the sector.

The volume is distributed not only in Milan – through bookshops, newsstands and major design hubs – but also in the capitals most actively engaged in the international design debate: Paris, New York, Copenhagen, London, Dubai, Riyadh, Shanghai and Miami. These are cities where creativity, production, distribution and communication interact to bring design to a global audience, making it increasingly accessible, recognisable and shared.

The Paris event

In collaboration with ITA (Italian Trade Agency Paris) and the Italian Cultural Institute of Paris, INTERNI will present the January–February issue Sport&Design and the book Milano Design Hub&Spoke on Wednesday 14 January at 5.30 pm in the French capital, at 50 rue de Varenne.

Following the welcome addresses by Antonio Calbi, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute of Paris, and Luigi Ferrelli, Director of the Paris Office of the Italian Trade Agency, an exclusive talk will bring together leading voices to discuss the affinities between Sport&Design, practices, behaviours and disciplines. Speakers will include Giovanni Del Vecchio, CEO of the Giorgetti Group; Giulia Molteni, Marketing Director of the Molteni Group; Mathieu Lehanneur, designer and founder of Mathieu Lehanneur; Dominique Perrault, founder of DPA Architecture; and Carlo Ratti, Director of the MIT Senseable City Lab and co-founder of CRA–Carlo Ratti Associati. The discussion will be introduced and moderated by Gilda Bojardi, Editor-in-Chief of INTERNI.

Recent Olympic Games have further strengthened the connection between sport and design, involving leading designers in the creation of stadiums, athlete facilities and even Olympic torches – from the Paris 2024 torch designed by Mathieu Lehanneur to the Milano Cortina 2026 torch by Carlo Ratti. Dominique Perrault will outline the key principles of sports architecture, while Giovanni Del Vecchio and Giulia Molteni will explore competitiveness and discipline as shared values between sport and business in the design world.

The evening will conclude with a reception, offering participants the opportunity to continue discussions and delve deeper into the themes addressed.
Special thanks go to Agence 14 Septembre, Villa Marquis – Meliá Collection, Masciarelli Tenute Agricole and Eataly.

Grazia, the leading 100% Italian fashion brand, with 21 editions around the world and edited by Silvia Grilli, is on newsstands with a special issue entitled Olimpiadi della rinascita (the Olympics of rebirth)
The magazine looks at the protagonists of the Olympics and the rediscovery of sport. Readers will find the athletes of the 2021 Games in Tokyo, to the icons of the past: they will read  stories and first-hand accounts from many of the talents engaged in these post-pandemic competitions and dealing with the special rules and regulations that must now be followed.

“This extraordinary issue of Grazia is dedicated to the athletes who will bring us the thrill of these Olympics and the return of normal life,” declared the editor Silvia Grilli. “They will excite us with their records and help us to see a better world. Because that is what the Olympic Games are: commitment, respect, courage, self-improvement, progress, equality, pace, internationalism.  As well as a more satisfying tomorrow for women. Enjoy!” the editor concluded.

The personalities and contributors to the special issue include: the writer Laura Imai Messina, who has lived for years in Japan and talks about how the country will feel during the Olympics when they can once again enjoy competitive sport with spectators.

Historian Eva Cantarella explains to Grazia how society needs female champions that are an inspiration for the young girls of today and tomorrow, because sport is also equality and respect.

And then lots of athletes, authentic talents from different disciplines: from swimming’s ‘divine’ Federica Pellegrini, now competing in what will be her last Olympics, to Simona Quadarella, another highly talented swimmer who in Tokyo hopes to leave her mark. We also have the coach of the Italian national women’s football team Milena Bartolini and Novella Calligaris, the first swimmer to win a medal at the 1972 Olympics, who tells Grazia about the effort involved in becoming the number one.

Other voices opening up to the magazine include the trainer Giorgio Cagnotto who for years coached his daughter, the diver Tania who explains just how long the road to the podium is.  The fencer Alice Volpi shares with Grazia her excitement ahead of this great challenge, as does the rhythmic gymnast Alessia Maurelli.
Then there is women’s volleyball with the captain of team Italy Myriam Silla and the long jumpers Marcell Jacobs and Gianmarco Tamberi. As well as other accounts from young protagonists of sport: for water polo Pietro Figlioli, for wrestling Frank Chamizo Marquez and Abraham Conyedo Ruano and for artistic gymnastics Vanessa Ferrari.

In this special issue of Grazia will also find portraits by leading photographers of 6 great athletes who are part of the history of the Olympics and of sport. The basketball legend Michael Jordan, US swimming campion Mark Spitz, and the long jump champion Fiona May. As well as Carl Lewis who broke world records in both the 100 metres and the long jump, winning medals at four Olympics, Florence Griffith, the world’s fastest woman of all time and the great fencer Valentina Vezzali.

This special issue is also enriched by cool fashion with a sporty soul and beauty that emphasises the body and footloose, the new trend in which you walk barefoot.

Grazia – which reaches a total audience of 4.3 million people, including users and readers (Source: Nielsen data Fusion December 2020) – will also produce a special entitled Sport generation, available on Grazia.it, in which three young athletes will talk about their passion for sport, the sacrifices, the satisfactions and the hopes. #Graziasportgeneration also continues on the brand’s social media profiles, in particular Instagram, with a rich range of content and background, including curiosities, quizzes and sports-themed surveys, and involving 1.6 million fans (Source: Shareablee, TikTok, Pinterest June 2021).