Adaptive Ground

An installation by Objects of Common Interest inside the flagship store on Via della Spiga, presented during Milan Design Week 2025

For Milan Design Week 2025, Marsèll displays an installation by Objects of Common Interest inside its flagship store on Via della Spiga, exploring the relationship between space and material, and showcasing excellence in footwear craftsmanship and innovation in furniture design. Adaptive Ground, the featured installation, engages with the material history of the Via della Spiga space—elements in marble and walnut, and walls clad in Brenta River stone chips—establishing a refined yet essential interplay of textures and forms. The sculptural objects envisioned by Objects of Common Interest are enriched by the extremely sophisticated work of Marsèll artisans, who created cushions, maxi belts, and leather coverings that enhance the final result. Adaptive Ground is part of Marsèll’s ongoing exploration of diverse forms of expression—an ethos that has always defined its identity—in collaboration with some of the most interesting names in contemporary design.

In Adaptive Ground, Objects of Common Interest work with leather—a natural and organic material—for the first time in their career. On the ground floor, they showcase a collection of furniture pieces that carry their signature aesthetic. Playing with the concept of tubular modules, The Tube Lights and Formations seating are reimagined in black or wrapped in black leather for the occasion, reinforcing the idea that design is an evolving conversation between different materials and perspectives. The Atmosphere Lamps, originally presented at the Noguchi Museum in New York, are inflatable sculptures inspired by organic shapes. The basement, in contrast, hosts a site-specific installation that reinterprets the store’s usual layout. The tiered platforms that typically display Marsèll’s Gomme collection serve instead as seating, outfitted with a series of leather cushions. Meanwhile, Marsèll’s footwear is showcased at the center of the room on an inflatable structure, fastened with a white belt crafted from repurposed brand accessories, as if asking to be contemplated.

“Adaptive Ground explores the fluid relationship between structure and softness, presence and transformation. Our ideas expand across the two levels of the space, materializing through formations that negotiate between stability and change.”

—Objects of Common Interest

“Everything is immersed in a rarefied atmosphere, as if moving through a gradual immersion and descent into abstraction, into oneself. Like a steam room, the descent from the ground floor to the underground triggers a progressive change of perception and experience.”

—Annalisa Rosso