The city of Carrara is hosting from June 5 to August 30, 2026 the tenth edition of White Carrara, entitled Design Lives in the City. The event takes place under the artistic direction of Domenico Raimondi - thesignlab and takes the form of a widespread intervention in the urban fabric, as well as an outdoor exhibition project. The 2026 edition is presented as an event that involves public space through more than thirty design works made of marble. The interventions include street furniture, benches, collective seating, decorative elements, lighting systems, installations, parking devices, and light infrastructure. The works are signed by international designers and created thanks to advanced technologies deployed by local stone companies. The set of interventions contributes to the definition of a new urban geography destined to remain over time, transforming the historic center into a diffuse museum system and a laboratory for experimentation on public space.
The project is promoted and produced by the Municipality of Carrara, a city recognized as a UNESCO Creative City and Tuscan Capital of Contemporary Art 2026. The initiative enjoys the patronage of the Region of Tuscany and ADI Tuscany, and is carried out in co-partnership with the Northwest Tuscany Chamber of Commerce. Partners include Internazionale Marmi e Macchine Carrara Fiere Spa, Nausicaa, Marmomac, the Massa Carrara Order of Architects and Platform magazine. Main support comes from the Marble Foundation as main sponsor.
The event, now in its tenth edition, is positioned as a moment of consolidation of a path that over the years has intertwined design, industry and territory, with particular reference to the Carrara marble supply chain. The project is part of a perspective that aims to strengthen the dialogue between contemporary design and local productive knowledge, with the goal of enhancing marble as a material that is still active in design experimentation and in the definition of urban space.
Designers involved in the 2026 edition include Ross Lovegrove, Karim Rashid, Fabio Novembre, Serena Confalonieri, NIchetto Studio, Antonio Aricò, Beatriz Sempere, Gum design, Emiliana Martinelli, Michel Boucquillon, Marta Sansoni, Claudio Nardi, Benvenuto Saba, Pietro Franceschini, Andrea Ponsi, Cynthia Sah, Marco Pisati, Nicolas Bertoux, Arthur Vallin, Michele Monfroni, Antonio Leone, Nicola Maggi, Rima design, Formart, Nadia Sabbioni, Studio Lucifero, Andrea Spagnoli, Maurizio Michelotti, and Viviana Bianchi. The designers’ involvement is developed through a process of collaboration with local businesses, which are called upon to translate the projects into real artifacts.
Companies participating in the creation of the works include AD Marmi, Angeloni Marble Project, Arte Fer, Artco srl, Atelier Carrara, Bidese, BLC Carrara, Bruno Lucchetti, Campolonghi, Marmo Canaloni, Coop. Cavatori fra di Gioia, Studio Corsanini, FiammettaV, Il Fiorino, Studio Formart, Franchi Umberto Marmi, GipiSoft, Henraux, La Casa di Pietra, La Civiltà del marmo, Martinelli luce, Marmo+Mac, MaxMarmi, Michelangelo srl, Mondopi, Monfroni studio d’arte, Nicola Maggi Arte & design, Costa Paolo, Prato Marmi, Robot City, Rocchi Marmi, Rossi Pio, S.A.P. srl, SGF sculpture, Silvestri Marmi, Franco Spagnoli, Carrara art studios and Tanini home.
Compared to previous editions, Design is Back in 2024 and Design Here and Now in 2025, the 2026 edition marks a further shift, defined as an evolution from an exhibition event to a permanent urban diffuse project. The projects presented address the theme of urban transformation through design with different approaches. Some interventions involve the use of salvaged marble slabs assembled in layered volumes, where polished surfaces and rough parts coexist, making the production process legible. Other projects use organic and monolithic forms to redefine public space as a place of relationship, while further interventions rework functional elements such as bollards, soft mobility systems and lighting devices, transforming them into expressive tools related to urban identity.
Part of the installations is conceived as light and modular infrastructure, in which marble dialogues with integrated contemporary technologies, including lighting, information and orientation systems. In this case, the intervention also extends to places of passage and waiting, with the aim of redefining their aesthetic and functional quality. Other projects, on the other hand, focus on an experiential and sensory dimension, through devices that activate the relationship between body, matter, and space, or through collected environments that reconsider the concept of intimacy in public space.
The project is based on a system of collaboration between design and production that involves companies, institutions and technical realities in the area. The stated goal is to strengthen the local marble supply chain, while fostering processes of innovation, sustainability and interaction between craft and design skills.
Alongside the widespread route through the historic center, White Carrara 2026 also hosts DESIGNULTRA, an exhibition curated by ADI Associazione per il Disegno Industriale set up in Piazza Alberica. The exhibition addresses the relationship between function and expression, between object of use and symbolic value, proposing a reflection on design as a cultural language capable of crossing different disciplines. The exhibition project focuses on the boundary between product and icon, analyzing the transformation of the design object into aesthetic and narrative experience.
“Every year the opening of White Carrara is a day of celebration for our city and it is for so many reasons,” says Carrara Mayor Serena Arrighi. "It is so because the streets and squares of the historic center welcome so many ’beautiful things’ and they do so by involving the whole city, showcasing international excellence along with others that represent and guard our past, our present and our future. With White Carrara, the deep meaning of what Carrara is and what it represents in the world is put on display. White Carrara is the result of a great collective work that sees the Municipality of Carrara as the leader and has in Domenico Raimondi the curator and artistic director, but which involves so many realities of our territory starting, of course, with Imm-CarraraFiere, the Chamber of Commerce and the Marble Foundation, without forgetting the many companies, workshops and artisans who have made their time and skills available. To all of them go our sincerest thanks."
“With White Carrara begins, as is tradition, the Carrara summer, a season in which art and culture will be the great protagonists,” says Councillor for Culture of the Municipality of Carrara Gea Dazzi. "The works and exhibitions of White Carrara will be a beautiful thread that will unite many of these events dialoguing with them and enhancing each other. Already next weekend we will have, thanks to the organization of Aps Oltre, the three-day Carrara Studi Aperti that will then be followed by the return of Paper Fest and then again the concerts in Piazza Matteotti, C/Art and much more."
"With Design Lives in the City, design comes out of the exhibition spaces to become an integral part of daily life and an instrument of urban transformation,“ says artistic director Domenico Raimondi. ”White Carrara 2026 is not just a diffuse exhibition, but a design ecosystem in which designers, companies, craft workshops, institutions and cultural realities collaborate to build new connections between contemporary creativity and the identity of the territory. The value of this edition lies in the ability to connect different skills, visions and knowledge, giving rise to a shared process of research and experimentation that finds in marble a contemporary and innovative material. The city becomes an open-air laboratory in which the project is born from the encounter between manufacturing tradition and new technologies, generating cultural, social and economic value. White Carrara thus celebrates not only design, but the ability to make a system and leave a concrete and lasting legacy for the city and its community."
“White Carrara is now a central event in Imm-CarraraFiere’s annual programming,” says Massimo Cantoni, Imm-CarraraFiere. “It is an opportunity for us to develop synergies and relationships and at the same time sharpen skills in the area: that is why we are happy to be part of this team. So special thanks from me to all our employees who have dedicated themselves to this project in recent months and, last but not least, to the Municipality of Carrara, the Northern Tuscany Chamber of Commerce and all the other parties who have contributed in various ways.”
“Once again this year we are supporting White Carrara with the aim of putting the excellence of the territory and art in the spotlight,” says Walter Tamburini, President of the Northwest Tuscany Chamber of Commerce. “In fact, the program connects the savoir-faire of our stone to world-caliber designers, creating a solid link between local tradition and an international vision. As an entity we participate with concretely to raise quality and foster innovation along the entire production chain. This review demonstrates how synergies between public and private entities can enhance the vocation of the territory, drawing new prospects for development.”
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| White Carrara 2026, marble design returns to the city: 30 works for the historic center |
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