Stunning “Lagomar” Mural Brings Texture, Color and Storytelling to Milan Design Week 2026

The project marks the beginning of an ongoing collaboration between APE Grupo and Studiopepe, with future installations set for Cersaie 2026.

In the context of Milan Design Week 2026, which took place from 20 to 26 April, APE Grupo presented Lagomar, a project created with Italian studio Studiopepe that explored ceramics as a creative and architectural medium. Developed for Appartamento Spagnolo, the intervention formed part of Canvas, APE Grupo’s concept focused on expanding ceramic customisation.

Installed at Palazzo Castiglioni, Appartamento Spagnolo brought together 22 Spanish companies in a spatial experience composed of five environments: an outdoor garden, veranda, bedroom, living area and kitchen. Transitions between spaces were marked by metal chains that visitors moved aside by hand, adding a tactile and acoustic dimension. Studiopepe conceived the project as a journey of progressive discovery through different atmospheres.

Lagomar occupied a central role in the Sala del Pavone, the living area of the installation. The mural brought together the project’s colour palette, soft forms and dialogue between handcrafted expression and architecture. Conceived as a continuous ceramic surface, it transformed colour and texture into a visual narrative.

Studiopepe developed the mural alongside the surrounding space, moving away from traditional ceramic modularity toward a more artistic approach. Tile joints became part of the composition, blurring the boundary between construction material and visual expression. Developed on an existing ceramic base by APE Grupo, Lagomar demonstrated the potential of Canvas, which allowed designs to be transferred freely onto ceramic surfaces at different scales and formats.

Referencing Ricardo Bofill’s architecture and ancestral symbolic languages, the mural translated sea, vegetation and mineral forms into a hand-drawn graphic vocabulary. Terracotta, warm browns, acid green, dusty pink and teal reinforced the installation’s sensory atmosphere.

The collaboration between APE Grupo and Studiopepe was essential in preserving the studio’s handcrafted visual language throughout the industrial ceramic production process. Lagomar also reflected APE Grupo’s strategy of collaborating with internationally recognised studios to position ceramics within a more design-driven context.

Through Canvas, conceived as an ongoing collaborative platform, APE Grupo introduced an author-led approach to ceramics and announced two future Studiopepe projects to be unveiled at Cersaie in Bologna.

APE Grupo’s participation in Appartamento Spagnolo — promoted by ICEX and Interiors from Spain and curated by Elle Decor Italia — reinforced the company’s international presence during Milan Design Week, positioning ceramics as a medium capable of generating experience, emotion and contemporary discourse.