A Decade of Making Space for Design with Gabriele Cavallaro
What began as an independent initiative in a changing Milanese neighbourhood has grown into an international platform connecting designers, communities and cities. For Isola founder Gabriele Cavallaro, the ambition has never been simply to create exhibitions, but to build something that continues long after they end.
In 2017, while Milan Design Week was already drawing the international design world to the city, a different kind of creative movement was taking shape beyond its established exhibition circuits. In the Isola neighbourhood, a district undergoing its own transformation, a small initiative set out to create opportunities for independent designers often excluded from the industry's most prominent platforms.
"We didn't have a master plan to build an international organisation," recalls Gabriele Cavallaro, founder of Isola. "We started with a neighbourhood, a few exhibitions, and a lot of enthusiasm. Then things started growing, sometimes much faster than we expected."
Nearly a decade later, Isola has evolved into an international ecosystem of exhibitions, creative initiatives, digital platforms and permanent spaces. Yet its original purpose remains unchanged: supporting independent designers beyond the brief visibility offered by traditional design events.
"Visibility for one week a year wasn't enough. Designers needed support throughout the year, access to new markets, connections with brands, and sometimes simply someone who could help them turn a good idea into a real business."
During the pandemic, Isola introduced a digital platform to connect its community with international audiences, followed by initiatives ranging from awards to residencies and international collaborations. Each developed from an understanding that emerging talent needs more than exposure.
"Many of them are expected to be creatives, entrepreneurs, marketing managers, salespeople, and logistics experts at the same time," Cavallaro observes. "Of course, visibility matters, but I think connections and continuity make an even bigger difference."
For him, an introduction to the right manufacturer, gallery or collaborator can change the direction of an entire career.
"Our job is not to tell designers what to create. It's to help them find the right conditions to keep creating."
This philosophy has also shaped Isola's international expansion, particularly its growing relationship with Dubai. The platform first arrived in the city in 2022 as a guest exhibitor at Downtown Design.
What began as an introduction to the regional creative scene gradually developed into a deeper involvement, culminating in an approach from Dubai Design District in 2024 to establish a more permanent presence.
"What I found particularly interesting about Dubai is that it's a city still defining its own creative identity. Unlike Milan, where the design ecosystem has developed over generations, here there's the possibility to actively contribute to what comes next."
That ambition found a physical expression in Isola Space, established in collaboration with OMNIYAT at The Lana Promenade.
"Having a physical space changes everything," Cavallaro explains. "When you organise exhibitions around the world, you're constantly building temporary environments. You bring people together, create something exciting, and then a few days later everything disappears."
More than a conventional gallery or showroom, Isola Space creates a permanent meeting point where visitors can discover design, attend conversations and connect with the creative community throughout the year.
This November, that philosophy extends beyond its walls. During Dubai Design Week 2026, Isola is collaborating with OMNIYAT and The Lana to activate the Marasi Bay promenade and areas of the hotel through installations, exhibitions and creative experiences, connecting the waterfront with the activities taking place in Dubai Design District.
"I find this direction particularly exciting because it allows us to bring design outside traditional exhibition spaces and make it part of how people experience the city," Cavallaro shares.
The ambition also extends to Designwhere, a new venture conceived as a curated guide to discovering cities through their galleries, studios, exhibitions and creative communities. Beginning in Dubai, the project complements Isola's wider mission of making design more accessible.
Working between Milan and Dubai has given Cavallaro a particularly interesting perspective on the differences between the two creative ecosystems.
"Milan brings generations of craftsmanship, manufacturing and design entrepreneurship, while Dubai offers an openness to international perspectives and the willingness to turn ambitious ideas into reality. (...) In Milan, you sometimes spend a long time discussing why something might not work. In Dubai, the first question is often how we can make it happen."
Rather than seeing these differences as competing approaches, Cavallaro believes both cities have something valuable to offer one another.
Milan's established culture of independent production could inform Dubai's development, while Dubai's dynamism creates opportunities for experimentation and exchange.
Yet his vision for the next decade is not for Dubai to replicate another design capital. Instead, he hopes to see a stronger creative identity rooted in the region's cultural diversity and heritage, supported by independent studios, local production, design education and opportunities that extend beyond major events.
For Isola, success would mean contributing to that transformation through lasting relationships, creative infrastructure and greater opportunities for designers to reach international audiences.
"I don't think the goal should be to organise the biggest design week or build the biggest design platform," Cavallaro reflects. "It's about creating something that remains relevant and useful for the community over time."
From a changing Milanese neighbourhood to Dubai's evolving creative landscape, Isola's ambition remains remarkably consistent: to create the conditions for independent design to flourish.
And perhaps the most meaningful measure of that ambition will be found not in the exhibitions themselves, but in what the people who encounter them go on to create.
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