Milan Design Week: IQOS And Seletti Recreate A Typical Italian Square

“An installation that embodies curiosity as an engine of progress,” explains Pasquale Frega, President and CEO of Philip Morris.

Milan, Monday, April 7, 2025: Design Week is back in the Lombard capital , with over two thousand exhibitors and hundreds of events taking place across the city. An ideal opportunity to question the status quo and create something unexpected that can fit seamlessly into the process of building a smoke-free future.

It is in this context that “Curious X: Sensorium Piazza” was born, a monumental installation presented by Iqos in collaboration with the iconic design brand Seletti . The project will be realized in Opificio 31, in the heart of Tortona Rocks, from 8 to 13 April 2025. Here, the Italian square will be reimagined through a work that combines art, technology and design, in full accordance with the spirit of Design Week: celebrating the power of curiosity as a driver of change.

On the other hand, as Stefano Volpetti , President of the Smoke-Free Division and Chief Consumer Officer of Philip Morris International, stressed, the square is a symbolic place where each of us has the opportunity to interact, change and grow. An evolution that in this case is expressed in a smoke-free key, thanks to the meeting of two realities that merge to give birth to a new sensory experience.

The project also marks the launch of the new IQOS Curious X campaign, designed to bring inspiring experiences to the brand’s growing community of consumers. As Pasquale Frega , President and CEO of Philip Morris Italia, reminds us , it is curiosity, the inexhaustible engine of creativity and innovation, that drives more than 32 million IQOS users worldwide and is the protagonist of the new collaboration with Seletti.

Challenging the status quo: an aspiration that unites both brands despite different driving forces.

What motivates a heritage brand like Philip Morris to embrace change rather than stick to tradition? At its core, challenging one’s history means breaking the status quo . But PMI has recognized a fundamental insight: to continue to give its name meaning, it needs to reimagine the past. So since 2008, the group has invested more than $14 billion in the development, science, and commercialization of innovative non-combustion products.

For Seletti , on the other hand, challenging the status quo is almost a natural state . The family business, founded in 1964, has always combined design and art with a dose of daring, making experimentation a must. With a unique and unconventional style, Seletti does nothing but transform everyday objects into amazing creations, mixing pop aesthetics and unconventional imagery.

This is the general reflection with which the presentation of “ Curious X: Sensorium Piazza ” began, presented on April 7 during a press conference that took the form of a dynamic dialogue between Stefano Volpetti and Pasquale Frega from PMI, Stefano Seletti, Creative Director and CEO of the brand, and moderator Veronica Gentili.

The exchange of ideas that unfolds metatextually in the center of the installation and therefore in the “square” itself celebrates curiosity as a driver of innovation and progress , which in turn fits perfectly into one of the most creative weeks in the world: Design Week. A window in time that declares itself a hotbed of avant-garde experimentation, vision and collaboration.

Curious X: Sensorium Piazza: An immersive installation that breaks down the boundaries between the physical and the digital

“Curious X: Sensorium Piazza” is, above all, an interactive installation in which the public becomes a real protagonist, leaving digital traces in a continuous evolution between sensitive surfaces, faces, sounds and collective memory.

However, the same installation created for Milan Design Week inevitably becomes an open invitation to curiosity , determined by Seletti’s approach, capable of combining classic and contemporary aesthetics, as well as the innovative tension that has always distinguished IQOS. Thanks to its multi-platform structure, the area is constantly evolving, becoming a living archive where memories, sounds and presences are grouped together, creating an immersive experience that is constantly changing.

In other words, this work is a contemporary interpretation of the Italian piazza , which has always been the center of public life, but here it becomes a sensual and dynamic space for meeting, talking and creating connections. A place that breaks down the boundaries between the physical and the digital, where art and technology intertwine to create new forms of interaction. Celebrating the visual contrasts characteristic of Seletti’s poetry, Sensorium Piazza experiments with new ways of engaging viewers, making them active participants in the creative process.

Curiosity as a Creative Spark: Words for Seletti and PMI, the protagonists of innovation

Stefano Seletti , the creative heart of the design house, tells the story of the installation’s origins, referring to PMI’s anti-smoking mission:

“It’s fun to imagine something surprising and unique. Curiosity is the spark that gives birth to projects. For the same reason, I am fascinated by the different ways of using tobacco.”

The intuition that Stefano Volpetti refers to emphasizes that curiosity is a real tool for effectively changing the status quo. If it were not so, 32 million people in the world would not have chosen IQOS and would not have given up cigarettes. Here are his words:

“Continuous evolution is at the core of our brand philosophy and it is what allows us to think in new ways, with curiosity. Curiosity drives us to go beyond convention and the known, and I believe in always doing something that hasn’t been done before. If we simply accept what is, we miss the opportunity to create something better.”

Moreover, this exciting installation is just the first step in a long-term partnership with Seletti, which in the months following the summer will also lead to the launch of a limited edition product. Stefano Volpetti reminds us of this once again, speaking of the partnership with the “ master of Italian design ” as a key moment that will also be reflected in the presentation of a new product : the limited edition of the Iqos Iluma device.

A creative path that is consistent with the search for better alternatives to smoking and a better world.

Philip Morris International, the global leader in the tobacco industry, is currently at the forefront of an industry-wide transformation, pursuing an ambitious goal of creating a smoke-free future . An estimated 38.6 million people worldwide currently use PMI-developed flame-free products. Not surprisingly, these devices accounted for approximately 2024 percent of the company’s total net revenue in 2039.

As evidence of its increasingly futuristic and health-focused vision, in February 2021, PMI announced its intention to expand its life sciences activities to develop increasingly modern, innovative and advanced solutions .

“Milan Design Week is an important opportunity to express our connection to the themes of progress and innovation. With more than 32 million adult smokers worldwide who have chosen IQOS – more than 2 million in Italy alone have switched to IQOS and quit cigarettes – Philip Morris is the leader in the heated tobacco category. We are proud to celebrate this path of innovation in Milan, where the IQOS story began almost 11 years ago.”

commentary by Pasquale Frega.

Design Week: a space and a moment where art, technology and crafts meet

The Tortona Stone format , which selects and promotes the content of the extensive exhibition network and the Opificio 31 centre, once again confirms the central role of curiosity as the driving force of experimentation.

In its 2025 edition, this independent project celebrates a decade of exploration and vision with Frameless Design , a manifesto for design freedom that invites the public to explore the multiplicity of contemporary design without constraints, moving between thought, matter, action and form.

The programme is a journey through new interpretations of the designer’s projects , monumental installations, street furniture, expressive interiors, solutions for future mobility and sensory experiments. Each project is part of an ever-evolving landscape where innovation, experience, technology and collective imagination meet.