Mergrath Design × Zimmer at Milan Design Week 2026

Mergrath Design at Salone Satelite, Milan Design Week 2026

Milan, April 2026 — One of the standout presentations at this year's Salone Satellite was the collaboration between Zimmer and Mergrath Design, an Indonesian interdisciplinary practice led by Cynthia Margareth. Held within the showcase dedicated to emerging and independent designers, the exhibition brought together two distinct design sensibilities in a rich conversation about craft, culture, and contemporary form — drawing considerable attention from the global design community gathered in Milan for the week.

Mergrath Design has steadily built its reputation on a quiet but distinctive philosophy, one that privileges subtle contours, evolving shapes, and a formal development that mirrors natural processes. Working fluidly across furniture, lighting, objects, and space, Cynthia Margareth's practice is deeply rooted in Indonesian cultural memory while expressing itself through a refined and thoroughly contemporary design language.

Enamel pin and branded packaging, part of Mergrath Design's showcase at Milan Design Week 2026.

The exhibition, titled Crafting Contours
offered audiences an intimate window into this evolving vision — a body of work that asks how gestures found in nature and embedded in tradition can be distilled into the objects we live with every day.

Coral Chair Crafted By Zimmer

At the heart of the exhibition is the idea that form is never arbitrary. Crafting Contours traces how landscapes and traditions across the Indonesian archipelago give rise to shape through gradual, almost imperceptible movements, the slow erosion of stone, the patient growth of coral, and the deliberate and repeated pressure of a craftsman's hand.

Central to the collaboration is the Coral Chair, conceived and crafted by Zimmer in close dialogue with Mergrath Design's curatorial vision.

Inspired by Indonesia's extraordinary marine ecosystems, the chair translates the organic language of coral reefs into a contemporary seating form with quiet confidence. Its sculptural woven backrest echoes the radial geometry of coral structures and shells, creating an envelope that feels both light and sheltering. Designed for indoor and semi-outdoor use, the Coral Chair strikes a rare balance between comfort, material resilience, and sculptural presence — and stood out as one of the most discussed objects at this year's fair.

The Coral Chair by Zimmer — a striking sculptural seat with a woven rattan backres, on show at Salone Satellite, Milan Design Week 2026.

What the collaboration between Zimmer and Mergrath Design ultimately demonstrates is that the most compelling design conversations happen across difference. Zimmer's deep command of material and construction found a meaningful counterpart in Mergrath Design's conceptual precision and cultural rootedness. Together, they showed that contemporary design need not choose between global relevance and local authenticity.

Crafting Contours was, for many visitors to Milan Design Week 2026, one of the clearest arguments yet that Indonesian design has not simply arrived on the world stage; it has something vital to say.