Underlight.Design as nature by Finsa x Arturo Álvarez

Underlight, design as nature by Finsa x Arturo Álvarez" invites the audience on a sensory journey from the forest to wooden-built spaces through luminous sculptures created by the Galician designer. The installation is designed by Parisotto + Formenton Architetti.

Finsa, a Spanish company with over 90 years of experience in the production of wooden solutions for the built environment, will take part in Brera Design Week (April 8-13, with a Press Preview on April 7) with Underlight, design as nature by Finsa x Arturo Álvarez, a sensory experience that guides visitors from forests to built up timber spaces through four light sculptures crafted by artisan Arturo Álvarez.

Underlight, design as nature can be visited inside the 19th-century building at Via Solferino 17, headquartes of  the Order of Architects in Milan and its Foundation. Designed by Parisotto + Formenton Architetti, the installation invites the public to explore the life cycle of wood and its role in shaping the spaces we inhabit.

Through Arturo Álvarez’s light sculptures, visitors embark on a sensory journey that highlights the invisible processes behind product creation—a journey that, for Finsa, begins with responsible forest management and ends with human connection. With its participation in MDW, Finsa embraces the challenge of the Fuorisalone 2025 theme, "Thought for Humans," emphasizing the importance of placing humans at the center of design and ensuring that every project responds intelligently and emotionally to individual needs.

The installation consists of four light sculptures, each placed in a distinct environment representing a stage in the wood cycle and its relationship with humans. The first room, "Primary Habitat," symbolizes the forest as the starting point—the origin of Finsa’s life cycle, without which nothing could exist. The second room, "Cyclical Processes," explores wood’s transformation through fragmentation and reconstruction, symbolizing the circularity of the production process. In the third space, "Waves of Connection," the Atlantic Ocean serves as a global connector, bridging nature, culture, and innovation, and defining Finsa’s global identity. Finally, in the last room, "Organic Strength," wood and people explore the evolving relationship between humans and materials through design.

Alongside Underlight, design as nature by Arturo Álvarez, the Order of Architects in Milan, in collaboration with Finsa, will host an exhibition dedicated to the Matilde Baffa and Ugo Rivolta European Architecture Award. The exhibition, set up in the courtyard of Via Solferino, will showcase the winning projects from the nine editions of the award, which celebrates the best European achievements in social housing.

Finsa, with its usual commitment to the design community, participates in Fuorisalone 2025 with innovative solutions in three prominent spaces in Milan, showing the versatility of its materials in different applications through locations and collaborators of clear prestige. For Finsa, these collaborations foster very inspiring creative relationships through a diversity of professional profiles that are mutually enriched with a 360-degree vision of the design world.

In the installation “Quattro – a taste of light”, Via Cernaia 7, together with Qu Lighting, designed by Parisotto+Formenton Architetti, Finsa contributes its expertise in technical wood with a system of heat-treated wood decking for exterior, guaranteeing durability and aesthetics in the outdoor area.

In the University of Milan, within the Dainelli Studio project for INTERNI CRE-ACTION, its materials are integrated into the boiserie and furniture, with Fimapan panels for benches and Fibrapan panels with HPL finishes in the Terracotta Nova and Azul Handy designs from the Finsa Design collection for bookcases, providing resistance and design. Finally, in the immersive installation by One Works, Finsa supplies the Fibrapan MDF panels, used in the walls of the labyrinth, the central tower, and the platform, contributing to a sensory experience that emphasizes the circularity and reuse of materials.