At this year’s Milan Design Week, a quieter, more introspective project is taking centre stage. Presented at the Jil Sander showroom, the Reference Library invites visitors to slow down and rediscover the tactile power of books.
A library of creative influence
Running from 20th to 24th April, the Reference Library is a collaboration between Jil Sander and Apartamento. The installation brings together sixty carefully selected books, each chosen by a global circle of architects, artists, filmmakers and writers.
Rather than being a traditional exhibition, the project is a meditation on influence, with each title reflecting the personal references that have shaped the creativity of its contributors. In an era defined by digital ‘skimming’, the installation proposes a return to depth, focus and intentional reading.
Visionaries behind the selection
Contributors include Simone Bellotti, Ronan Bouroullec, Jasper Morrison and Hans Ulrich Obrist, as well as individuals from various disciplines such as Lykke Li, Celine Song, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Faye Toogood. This diverse group of contributors offers an intimate insight into the intellectual and emotional foundations of contemporary design and culture.
Studio Utte’s minimalist scenography
The spatial concept developed by Studio Utte will transform the showroom into a contemplative environment. Chrome lecterns and mirrored walls create a stark, reflective setting that encourages concentration and slows perception. Access itself becomes part of the experience: visitors can only enter during one of 60 allocated time slots, and are given white gloves to handle the books, turning the simple act of reading into a deliberate ritual.
In Reference Library, Jil Sander and Apartamento reframe the exhibition format as an intimate, almost ceremonial encounter—one that positions the physical book not as an object of nostalgia, but as a living source of inspiration.
Courtesy of JIL SANDER
