ALCHEMICA

At Milan Design Week 2025, an installation by Henge takes part in the exhibition-event by Elle Decor Italia, curated by Patricia Urquiola: a symbolic journey through the metamorphosis of the home.

In one of the most evocative settings of Milan Design Week 2025, Henge enters into dialogue with Alchemica, the exhibition-installation by Elle Decor Italia with the artistic direction of Patricia Urquiola, hosted in the spaces of Palazzo Bovara. An immersive and symbolic project that investigates the home as a transforming organism, a fluid space where materials evolve alongside contemporary lifestyles.

Alchemica unfolds as a conceptual journey through ten symbolic environments, inspired by the three stages of alchemical transformation: Nigredo, Albedo and Rubedo. More than an exhibition, it is an immersive narrative of change, presenting domestic space as a dynamic, emotional process. In this context, Henge's contribution takes on a prominent role, giving form and substance to the first phase of the narrative, the "Ardent Phase".

At the heart of the "Nigredo Ardeat" room, where fire marks the beginning of transformation, stands Henge’s powerful and material installation: the Kitchen Lab, a kitchen-laboratory inspired by alchemical processes, where matter blends and begins to regenerate. The central counter, designed as a compact, dark and asymmetrical monolith, is crafted from black stone and violet onyx. Illuminated from below by a subtle profile of light, it appears to float in space: a presence that evokes the workbenches of alchemists. Other functional volumes, also crafted in stone and onyx, develop around it, which house the hob and sink. A unique piece that interprets the space not only as an operational place, but as an experiential theatre.

In this setting, which celebrates the evocative power of matter, Henge presents an installation that does not limit itself to telling the story of design but brings it to life. The monolithic island is not merely an aesthetic object, but a presence meant to be lived, touched, and inhabited. An installation that fully reflects the brand's vision: to create environments that evoke emotion, transcend form, and awaken the senses.