📅 April 14 – May 29, 2026
📍 Fragile, Via Simone D’Orsenigo 27, Milan
🎉 Opening: April 13, 2026, from 6:30 PM
A Design heritage rediscovered
On the occasion of Milan Design Week 2026, Fragile presents “Property of Sergio Asti. A Design Heritage”, an exhibition dedicated to one of the most prolific yet under-recognized figures of Italian design in the second half of the 20th century.
From April 14 to May 29, 2026, the space in Via Simone D’Orsenigo 27 will host a selection of works that reveal the diversity and remarkable breadth of Sergio Asti’s design practice.
A total Designer
Architect, designer, theorist: Sergio Asti was all of these, and perhaps even more.
His work moves across disciplines, styles, and materials with rare ease, shaping a language that resists categorization while interpreting, reworking, and experimenting with different dominant currents.
From tableware to lighting, from furniture to exhibition design, all the way to automotive and architecture, Asti embodies the figure of the “total designer,” capable of balancing vision and rigor, intuition and method.
An almost obsessive pursuit of quality — both conceptual and technical — becomes the common thread of a vast and cross-disciplinary body of work that feels more relevant than ever today.
Objects That Shaped History
The exhibition, whose display has been designed by architect Mauro Manfrin and created using reclaimed materials, brings together a series of iconic works that reflect the depth of Asti’s design thinking:
- the Profiterolle lamp for Martinelli (1968)
- the Marco vase for Salviati, Compasso d’Oro award in 1962
- the Trifoglio table for Poltronova (1969)
- the Sixties series of vases for Vistosi
- the Demodé vase for Venini
Different in function and context, yet united by a shared intention: transforming everyday use into a conscious design experience.
Property of Sergio Asti
The title of the exhibition originates from a detail: an old inscription, “Property of Sergio Asti,” found underneath a small table he designed.
Whether the object actually belonged to him remains unclear.
But that is beside the point.
The phrase becomes a key to interpretation: a way to describe a universe of forms, objects, and ideas shaped by a precise, personal, and recognizable design philosophy.
A legacy that Fragile chooses to bring back into focus, restoring Asti to the place he deserves within the narrative of 20th-century design.
An ongoing Research
With this exhibition, Fragile continues its research dedicated to key figures in design history, often left at the margins of the broader narrative.
Following exhibitions dedicated to Arredoluce (2024) and Carlo Nason (2025), the focus now turns to a designer whose contribution was quiet yet decisive in shaping the Italian design landscape.
A process of rediscovery and valorization that extends beyond the exhibition itself, into editorial production.
A Dedicated Monograph
On the occasion of the exhibition, a monographic volume dedicated to Sergio Asti will be published by Silvana Editoriale, curated by Rosa Chiesa and Alessandro Zannoni.
The publication brings together archival materials, research, and critical contributions, the result of extensive cataloguing work carried out with the involvement of scholars and institutions such as ASAC – the Historical Archive of Contemporary Arts of the Venice Biennale.
📅 Opening Hours
April 14–17: 10 AM – 7 PM
April 20–26: 10 AM – 8 PM
From April 27: by appointment
