breadmaking traditions of uzbekistan inform international design collaboration in milan
uzbek craft reimagined for an ethereal installation in milan
Uzbekistan’s first national exhibition opens during Milan Design Week 2026 as an exploration of how people in the Aral Sea region adapt to their environment through food, shelter, and clothing. Dubbed When Apricots Blossom, the show was hosted at Palazzo Citterio in Brera and was curated by WHY Architecture-founder Kulapat Yantrasast.
While the display includes several disparate elements — an apricot branch sculpture, a lattice yurt structure, and a textile installation which drapes the facade (see designboom’s coverage here) — the central exhibition is discovered within the main gallery.
Here, an undulating field is shaped by hundreds of slender, reed-like elements arrayed at varying heights and densities. Together, they form a sculptural surface for the display of contemporary design objects which draw from traditional Uzbek breadmaking practices. The effect is ethereal as sightlines break and reconnect, and visitors’ movements slow. The dreamlike space reads as an airy and otherworldly landscape rather than a sequence of rooms.
When Apricots Bloom, install view, Milan Design Week 2026. image courtesy ACDF
the significance of breadmaking in uzbekistan
Within this environment, the Milan Design Week exhibition builds as an exploration of breadmaking across Uzbekistan. Non — a fluffy, circular flatbread with a decorative surface — carries social and symbolic weight, and is marked with a chekich stamp before baking. Each imprint signals authorship and continuity, and links the bread to a specific maker and context.
Traditionally, non is treated as a sacred object, associated with life and prosperity, and is present at special moments such as weddings, births, and departures. Breaking bread by hand is understood as an act of welcome and mutual respect, and is even used to seal agreements. Strict customs, never placing bread face-down, cutting it with a knife, or wasting it, emphasize its symbolic value as a gift from the earth.
The process of baking is historically carried out in clay tandoor ovens. The generational practice is based on shared knowledge and regional identity, with different areas creating their own distinct stamped patterns.
baked bread for sale in Margilan market, Uzbekistan, April 2018. image via Wikimedia Commons
designers from around the world learn from a regional craft
As part of When Apricots Blossom in Milan, twelve designers from around the world were invited to engage this breadmaking tradition of Uzbekistan through a contemporary lens. Each developed a distinct tray for presenting bread alongside a series of vessels and limited-edition bread stamps. The group of designers includes Fernando Laposse, Glithero, Bethan Laura Wood, and Kulapat Yantrasast.
As part of the process, they traveled to Karakalpakstan to work closely with woodcarvers, tassel-makers, and other craftspeople, using locally sourced materials such as silk, felt, ceramics, and reeds. The resulting pieces draw on the region’s colors, textures, and patterns, reflecting how cultural practices continue to adapt over time.
Material choices vary, moving from carved wood to polished ceramic and cast glass, yet each object keeps a connection to function. Patterns remain legible. Edges show the pressure of making. Some pieces extend the geometry of traditional stamps, while others exaggerate scale or thickness. Together, they describe a lineage rather than a break, where contemporary work grows out of existing techniques.
the surface of the dough is marked with a ‘chekich’ stamp before baking. image courtesy ACDF
‘where the water ends’ documents memory as it’s spoken
Screened as part of the Milan exhibition is a film dubbed Where the Water Ends, which follows residents of Karakalpakstan as they record memories tied to the disappearance of the Aral Sea. The camera stays close to gestures and voices, and captures recollections of fishing routes, shorelines, and seasonal routines that no longer align with the present landscape.
Within the context of the installation, the film introduces a temporal layer that sits alongside the objects. While the bread stamps and tools carry continuity through repeated use, the film registers what has shifted, placing emphasis on spoken memory as a form of preservation. It extends the exhibition beyond material display, grounding the spatial language in lived experience and reinforcing how knowledge moves through both making and narration.
commissioned work by Raw Edges for ACDF, When Apricots Blossom, Milan Design Week 2026, image © ACDF
the yurt as a place for gathering and workshops
Towards the end of the sequence, the project extends into the courtyard where a yurt-inspired Garden Pavilion by Kulapat Yantrasast and his team at WHY Architecture is built to host workshops and discussions throughout Milan Design Week. The structure carries forward the same logic seen in the gallery, as its lattice framework refers to traditional craft from the region.
The pavilion operates as a social device. Activities take place within it, from making sessions to conversations around craft and the Aral Sea region, allowing the exhibition to shift from display into use. This moment reinforces the broader argument, where architecture grows from collective practice and remains tied to participation.
commissioned work by Raw Edges for ACDF, When Apricots Blossom, Milan Design Week 2026, image © ACDF
a sculpture of twisting apricot branches
Meanwhile, a sculptural installation of apricot branches is twisted and gathered into a vertical form. The apricot is one of Uzbekistan’s most important agricultural exports and adapts to the challenging conditions of the Aral Sea region.
For this installation, titled A Thousand Voices, Tashkent-based artists Ruben Saakyan and Roman Shtengauer worked with a single material: apricot branches collected during this year’s pruning season. Each year, gardeners cut back vertical shoots to guide the tree’s growth and support the next harvest. The work reframes this process as a gesture of care, suggesting that creative practice depends as much on ongoing upkeep and stewardship as it does on invention.
commissioned work by Raw Edges for ACDF, When Apricots Blossom, Milan Design Week 2026, image © ACDF
bethan laura wood’s textiles mark a threshold
The sequence returns to the building through the textile installation by English artist Bethan Laura Wood, developed with Uzbek and Karakalpak craftspeople. Installed across the facade, it draws from traditional weaving and ornamentation, translating these techniques into a vertical composition that shifts with light and movement.
Placed at the end of the narrative, the textile reads as an outward extension of the exhibition’s interior logic. Patterns that begin as imprints on bread and continue through objects and space reappear here at the scale of the building, bringing the project back into the city and closing the loop between craft and architecture.
video still from Where the Water Ends, a film exploring poetry, songs and recipes from Karakalpakstan, commissioned by ACDF 2026
project info:
installation: When Apricots Blossom
foundation: Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF) | @acdfuz | @uzbekistanmdw
design studio: WHY Architecture | @why_site
location: Palazzo Citterio, Brera
dates: April 20-26, 2026
artisans: Shukurjon Azimov, Nigora Amangeldieva, Boburjon Atabayev, Abdulla Abdurazzokov, Abdulvahid Bukhoriy, Otabek Gaybullayev, Madina Kasimbayeva, Nursultan Qosbergenov, Lyudmila Yusupova, Yorqinoy Yuldasheva, Biybisara Kunnazarova, Altinay Naubetova
designers: Studio CoPain, Sevara Haydarova-Donazzan, Glithero, Bobir Klichev, Fernando Laposse, Konstantin Lazarev, Nifemi Marcus-Bello, Raw-Edges, Marcin Rusak, Ruben Saakyan, Roman Shtengauer, Sanne Visser, Bethan Laura Wood, Kulapat Yantrasast, Didi Ng Wing Yin
film directors: Manuel Correa, Marina Otero Verzier
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