Buccellati To Unleash a Living Bestiary at Milan Design Week

This Milan Design Week, Piazza Tomasi di Lampedusa becomes ground zero for a new kind of alchemy. From April 8-13, 2025, Buccellati presents Naturalia – an immersive exhibition where 16th-century engraving techniques collide with responsive biotech. The Italian jeweler, in collaboration with Balich Wonder Studio and botanical designer Mary Lennox, unveils three interactive ecosystems showcasing their Furry Animals collection:

The Trembling Forest: Master engraver Lucia Ferraro will demonstrate the Renaissance bulino technique in real time, her chisel creating individual strands of fur on a fox pendant while the surrounding moss walls pulse in response to her hammer strikes.

The Melting Mountain: The Mountain environment takes this further with projected avalanches that part to reveal hidden jewels, while actual snow (infused with mineral particulates) melts to expose marmot-shaped salt cellars. The technical marvel here is a life-size silver ibex whose engraved coat changes reflectivity based on crowd movements—a feat achieved through microscopic analysis of real ibex pelts from Italy’s Gran Paradiso.

The Mechanical Reef: A lobster-shaped cocktail shaker dominates the space, its articulated shell retracting with mechanical precision every 47 minutes to reveal a fresh layer of engraving beneath. “The mechanism borrows from 18th-century automata,” says Workshop Director Matteo Guerra, “but the alloy is our proprietary blend—it had to withstand 10,000 molting cycles during testing.”

Set within Buccellati’s Milanese home, Naturalia is a tribute to the connection between art and the natural world. Visitors will leave with a renewed sense of wonder, stepping into a world where silver breathes life.