At Milan Design Week 2026, KRILLMAT joins forces with SLIDE, Starbucks Italia and Favaretto & Partners to showcase circular design in action
Milan, March 25th 2026. KRILLMAT (formerly known as Krill Design) announces its participation in Milan Design Week 2026 (20th – 26th April) as a partner for material innovation in one of the event’s most sustainability focused initiatives. In collaboration with SLIDE, Starbucks Italia and the creative studio Favaretto & Partners, KRILLMAT brings the principles of the circular economy to life within the Starbucks store at 28 Via Durini, Milan.
At the heart of the project lies REKRILL®, KRILLMAT’s patented compound made from recycled used coffee grounds. REKRILL® transforms what would otherwise be an organic by-product of the coffee supply chain into a high-performance biobased polymer with a wide range of applications in industrial design and furniture. For KRILLMAT, this collaboration marks a significant milestone: the debut of its materials technology in the real world within a globally recognised retail setting, demonstrating that recycled materials can be given a new lease of life, meeting the aesthetic and functional requirements of contemporary hospitality design.
The project took shape through an extensive creative partnership with SLIDE, a Milan based design and manufacturing company renowned for its collections of furniture and home accessories, including those made from innovative materials. The Reborn collection, created using ecoBirdy (a project dedicated to giving materials a second life and circular production), provides the backdrop for the installation. Every piece of furniture installed in the Starbucks store demonstrates that design using recycled materials can be lightweight, durable and visually appealing all at once.
KRILLMAT and SLIDE share a common philosophy: the belief that waste is not an end, but a beginning.
“Milan Design Week is the perfect platform to showcase what REKRILL® can do in the real world”, says IVAN CALIMANI, CEO of KRILLMAT. “Working with SLIDE has been a natural fit from the very beginning: we share the same belief that materials created from waste can be beautiful, functional and commercially viable. This project marks the beginning of what we intend to build as a long-term partnership, founded on shared values, industrial ambition and a common commitment to making circular materials the norm in contemporary design.”
For Starbucks Italy, the project represents a further step on its journey towards increasingly sustainable innovation, whilst strengthening dialogue and collaboration with the creative community. The project ties in with an initiative already underway in Starbucks stores, Grounds for your Garden, where customers can collect used coffee grounds free of charge from designated containers. The coffee grounds thus become part of a wider effort to raise awareness of reuse practices and waste reduction.
Those same materials are now being given a new lease of life as REKRILL®, completing a local cycle from glass to material and finally to a design object.
The creative direction and product design for the installation are signed by Favaretto & Partners, an internationally renowned studio active since 1973. The studio has conceived TOGETHER, a brand-new product making its debut at this year’s Design Week and available in three versions (ice bucket, vase and coffee table), born from the meeting between Ambrogio and Amanda. The installation’s colour palette comprises two shades inspired by the different stages of coffee, from the raw bean to the finished espresso, reinforcing a coherent and instantly recognisable narrative through material, product and space.
A three meters tall sculpture of Ambrogio, created as a one-off piece for this installation, welcomes visitors outside the Starbucks store as an iconic symbol of the collaboration. The sculpture is crafted in a coffee-coloured shade that visually evokes the world of the beverage, whilst the apron is rendered in Starbucks’ signature green. Conceived as an urban landmark, the installation enhances the project’s visibility during Design Week, transforming the store’s outdoor space into a point of attraction and a narrative for the public.
