CUPRA brings “Beyond the Known” to Milan Design Week 2026 with an exploration of parametric design
The Spanish automaker is using Fuorisalone as a testing ground for material-led design research, artist collaborations, and student work extending well outside automotive
For the past few years, CUPRA has made Milan Design Week one of the biggest events on its calendar to present the latest design innovations. In 2025, VoxelMatters had the opportunity to interview Francesca Sangalli, the Creative Head of CUPRA Design House, and to highlight the creative process behind many of these breathtaking designs, which makes additive manufacturing one of its key enabling technologies. Once again this year, CUPRA will use Milan Design Week 2026 as the venue for Beyond the Known, a three-part exhibition spread across Corso Como, Piazza XXV Aprile, and the Garibaldi Gallery. The project, developed as CUPRA, serves as the main partner of Fuorisalone 2026, centers on material experimentation, parametric design, and algorithmic processes as drivers of form, rather than as finishing tools applied to predetermined shapes.
Parametric process in Piazza XXV Aprile
The exhibition’s conceptual core is installed in Piazza XXV Aprile, where CUPRA interprets Fuorisalone 2026’s guiding theme—”Be the Project”—as an active process rather than a finished result. The installation explores parametric and algorithmically generated design, with color & trim work—the development of colors, materials, and surface finishes—presented as a primary research discipline rather than a downstream styling decision. AI-assisted processes are integrated into material exploration, generating surface treatments and aesthetic directions that go beyond conventional automotive finishing.
Art, education, and furniture at Garibaldi Gallery
At the Garibaldi Gallery, also in Piazza XXV Aprile, the CUPRA Experience extends the exhibition into art and design education. Own the Wheel, the brand’s first art exhibition, brings together seven European artists who have been invited to reinterpret the steering wheel as a symbol of control and individual agency.
The gallery also hosts the second edition of CUPRA’s collaboration with Raffles Milano, through which the brand supports product and interior design students via scholarships and direct project involvement. This year’s centerpiece is the 72 Hours project, in which students develop design concepts from a CUPRA brief within a compressed timeframe, producing work spanning product design and contexts unrelated to automotive.
Across the exhibition spaces, a CUPRA Lounge designed in collaboration with Gandia Blasco — a Spanish outdoor furniture manufacturer—provides an environment consistent with the broader aesthetic language of the installation.
