Unveiling Gubi Design at Bagni Misteriosi

We were about to keep walking after passing by that entrance, as there was not any big image indicating it was the place, when we saw a shy and very arty poster on the wall with yellow letters: GUBI SALONE 2023. There was an old sign saying it was a pool, but it didn’t seem to be something to take as an updated information. As we entered through the former fitting rooms, we realized we were about to be immersed in a special world created by GUBI in a unique venue. It was noticeable that the brand had put all its efforts into making this edition creative, fun and profitable at the same time.

Although we’ve never heard about it before, Bagni Misteriosi is an icon of the city. The place taken over by GUBI was staged as an immersive sensory spectacle that brought together cutting-edge contemporary creativity with timeless icons of 20th-century design. 

GUBI SALONE 2023 was far from a conventional design showcase. It was not somewhere to ‘look and leave’, but a series of spaces in which to linger and enjoy. Entering Bagni Misteriosi, visitors will be lured through a network of indoor spaces and pool-view terraces, following the path through the complex.

Bagni Misteriosi was both the host of GUBI’s expanding alfresco universe of furniture and lighting through introduce by the indoor/outdoor theme ‘Under the Sun’, and of the special exhibition ‘TEN: Beyond the Beetle’ that, curated by Marco Sammicheli, paid a creative tribute to that iconic piece.

From outdoor terraces overlooking the epic poolside, to atmospheric interiors, via canvas-covered spaces in between, GUBI unveiled a playful and daring vision of elegantly laid-back summer living, seamlessly flowing from inside to out, and back again.

With their expansive poolside space and sunny terraces, the baths are the beating heart of Milan’s summertime culture –and the best possible place for GUBI to celebrate the life alfresco. Building on the success of GUBI’s outdoor debut last year, the ‘Under the Sun’ theme took GUBI further alfresco to new levels of luxury and leisure. The breakthrough collection of works by the likes of Gabriella Crespi, Joe Colombo, and Pierre Paulin is enriched and expanded with vivid new designs, alfresco reinventions of GUBI favorites, and portable and outdoor lighting, offering everything needed to shape one’s space for the summer.

When it was first presented in Milan, the Beetle Chair by GamFratesi was never intended to be a commercial product; it was a creative experiment in a new design language. In the decade since, the category-defying piece has become one of the most important, influential, and successful designs for both GamFratesi and GUBI, beloved by design aficionados around the world, and an inspiration for countless creatives worldwide. A decade after it hit the market, the Beetle returned to Salone with a dedicated, one-of-a-kind exhibition conceived with curator and design critic Marco Sammicheli in which ten brilliant creative minds who had let their imagination run wild with the inner significance of the Beatle chair. 

Summing up, a singular experience of fluidity and the sense of a gradual unveiling, where GUBI’s designs were revealed one by one, like secrets, as a fitting homage to the atmosphere of mystery that gives the baths their name.