ARKET and Laila Gohar Turned Milan Design Week Into a Surreal Playground

At this year’s Milan Design Week, Swedish lifestyle brand ARKET teamed up with artist and chef Laila Gohar to create one of the event’s most talked-about installations: a whimsical carousel filled with oversized fruits and vegetables instead of traditional horses.

Set inside Milan’s Giardino delle Arti, the project transformed a centuries-old fairground ride into something between sculpture, performance and public art. Guests climbed onto giant radishes, figs and aubergines while the carousel slowly rotated through the garden space, blurring the line between childhood nostalgia and contemporary design experimentation.

The installation marked the launch of Gohar’s first ready-to-wear collaboration with ARKET, unveiled during Milan Design Week 2026. Known for turning food into theatrical art objects, Gohar brought her signature visual language into fashion and spatial design, combining humor, surrealism and everyday materials in a way that felt both playful and highly curated.

The carousel itself became one of the standout moments of the week, dominating social media feeds and attracting long queues of visitors eager to experience the installation firsthand. Rather than relying on traditional product displays, ARKET leaned into immersive storytelling — something increasingly common as fashion brands expand deeper into the world of design and experiential branding.

Gohar described the project as an exploration of joy and adult playfulness, arguing that design should create emotional experiences rather than simply functional objects. That philosophy extended into the broader collaboration, which reportedly blends Scandinavian minimalism with exaggerated proportions, tactile fabrics and subtle surrealist details.

The installation also reflected a broader shift happening at Milan Design Week itself. Once dominated almost entirely by furniture and interiors, the event has increasingly become a global stage for fashion houses and lifestyle brands seeking to build complete cultural worlds around their identities.

For ARKET, the collaboration succeeded because it felt less like marketing and more like a genuine piece of public imagination — equal parts design object, amusement ride and social experience.

And in a week crowded with luxury launches and polished installations, a carousel full of giant vegetables somehow became one of Milan’s defining images.