Upcycling, Sustainability, and New Design Genealogies: RUFA’s Participation in We Will Design at Milan Design Week 2025.
RUFA, part of the Plena Education Group, is participating in Milan Design Week 2025 as part of the We Will Design project, the experimental platform promoted by BASE Milano, which this year explores the theme Making Kin, inspired by the thought of Donna Haraway. The concept of kinship—non-conventional bonds between humans, non-humans, and more-than-humans—becomes an opportunity to rethink the relationship between design, environment, and community. It is an invitation to build connections based on conscious choices, affinities, shared interests, and sensitivities, transforming kinship into an act of creative resistance.
Within a shared exhibition space with other international universities and design schools, RUFA presents Re-Designing Sustainability: New Forms, New Materials, a selection of innovative products born from the experimentation of students from the Bachelor’s programs in Design and Sustainable Fashion Design, under the guidance of professors Alessandro Ciancio, Paolo Parea, and Gianluca Lera, with contributions from Guenda Cermel, coordinator of the fashion program.
Design that Connects: Waste Materials and New Forms of Sustainability
RUFA students have embraced the theme of Making Kin by developing projects that reconsider the concept of interconnection and durability through the conscious use of waste materials and upcycling techniques. Collaboration with Petrozzi Design Srls, a leading company in plastic material processing, has enabled the creation of prototypes that challenge the perception of plastic as a disposable material, transforming it into a durable and functional resource.
Two key principles define the presented collection:
❯ New approach to plastic: Often demonized for its long-lasting nature, plastic is reinterpreted as a material capable of generating value through design that extends its lifecycle, thereby reducing environmental impact and promoting sustainability based on beauty and functionality.
❯ Upcycling as a tool for connection between humans, materials, and the environment: Using production waste—such as residual plexiglass sheets normally destined for disposal—and minimizing industrial processing, RUFA students’ projects demonstrate that design can be a means to create new genealogies of objects, rethinking how materials and resources intertwine in everyday life.
This vision aligns perfectly with the manifesto of We Will Design – Making Kin, which invites designers to explore new ways of building relationships, moving beyond mass production logic to embrace a more ethical, circular, and inclusive design approach. Through this collaboration, RUFA reaffirms its role in training conscious and innovative designers, capable of transforming environmental challenges into creative opportunities, paving the way for design that is not only about form but also social and ecological responsibility.
Useful Information
Where: BASE Milano
When: April 7-13, 2025 | Milan Design Week 2025