Paul Smith x MINI, A Garden of Curiosity
A red door bearing the words ‘Every day is a new beginning’ marks the threshold of ‘A Garden of Curiosity’, the installation created by Paul Smith and MINI at Palazzo Borromeo d’Adda during Milan Design Week 2026. Beyond it, the city begins to recede. What opens up is a garden of vivid colour and geometric structures where the atmosphere feels less like a display than a pause from the rhythm outside.
A wooden walkway, subtly recalling Paul Smith’s signature stripe, guides visitors through thespace, where cubic forms and greenery remain in constant dialogue. The most engaging moment lies in the exchange between the Listening Room and the Colour Theory Room. In the first, PaulSmith’s voice reflects on the way he thinks about colour; in the second, that thinking becomes something visitors can test for themselves, by moving coloured tiles across the wall and addin gnew combinations to those already left behind by others. The result is a composition that keeps shifting throughout the day, shaped by multiple hands and sensibilities.
Set within this landscape, the new MINI Cooper Convertible Paul Smith Edition enters th einstallation through detail rather than emphasis. Nottingham Green accents on the mirror caps, octagonal grille, and wheel hub covers fold the car into the garden’s wider vocabulary of colour and form, keeping it consistent with Paul Smith’s familiar idea of the classic made slightly offbeat.The result is a space shaped by shared experimentation.
Credits: Photographer Simon 171 / Text by Melania Musci / Location: Palazzo Borromeo D’Adda Milano / Creative Partner Simona Pavan