CELEBRATING PIN–UP 40

A Milan Design Week Dinner for the Independence Issue

by PIN–UP

The scene outside Piscina Romano, an abandoned pool house in East Milan where the PIN–UP dinner took place.

PIN–UP marked its 20th anniversary with a cocktail and dinner during Milan Design Week 2026. Held in an abandoned public pool building in Milan’s Lambrate district, the evening unfolded inside Over and Over and Over and Over, a luminous installation by 6:AM Glass that transformed the cavernous space into a temporary cathedral of light. A long table stretched through the former basin, draped in metallic Magniberg fabric and bathed in shifting tones of colored glass and candlelight.

India Mahdavi and Francisco Gaspar.

Dozie Kanu and Tawanda Chiweshe.

Francesco Palú and Libby Sellers.

Bernard Dubois, Ilona Mancikova, and Sissel Tolaas.

Rob Beyer and Simone Stephens.

Francesco Nazardo and Ben Ganz.

Ferdinando Verderi.

Dinner setting. Photographed by Benjamin Salazár for PIN–UP.

Creative directed by Cameranesi Pompili, with dinner by Laila Gohar, the evening provided the perfect setting for PIN–UP’s partnership with the Zaha Hadid Foundation. Hadid, who died ten years ago, has a singular connection to PIN–UP: she appeared in the magazine’s very first issue, and many times thereafter, including the 20th-anniversary edition. She also had a deep connection to Milan, where a street was recently named in her honor.

Peter Stapels and Michael Bullock.

Elizabeth Nattinger.

Pierre-Marie and friends.

Bernard Dubois.

Valentina Cameranesi.

Jordan Richman, Rich Aybar, and Alan Prada.

Ginevra Bitossi.

Daniel Witten Hannah.

Francesco Vezzoli.

Dinner setting. Photographed by Benjamin Salazár for PIN–UP.

The evening was also supported by Fisher & Paykel, the New Zealand–born luxury appliance brand whose CEO, Daniel Witten-Hannah, noted that the brand’s favorite guests are those who “live and breathe design.” There was no shortage of that, with those in attendance including Aric Chen (Zaha Hadid Foundation), Asad Syrkett, Carola Bestetti, Caroline Roux, Dan Thawley, Dozie Kanu, Fabio Cherstich, Ferdinando Verderi, Francesco Vezzoli, India Mahdavi, Raul Lopez, Jay Osgerby, Laila Gohar, Libby Sellers, Luca Cipelletti, Maria Cristina Didero, Noura Al Sayeh Holtrop, Peter Staples, Piero Gandini, Rafa Prieto, Rich Aybar, Sissel Tolaas, Tawanda Chiweshe and Francisco Gaspar (Studio YY), Valentina Cameranesi Sgroi, and many more.

Luca Cipelletti.

Felix Burrichter.

Rachel Hahn.

Francesco Nazardo, Ben Ganz, Margaux Esclapez, and Kristin Hrycko.

Raul Lopez.

Raul Lopez and Edoardo Pandolfo.

Philippe Jarrigeon and Katrina Glenday.

Carola Bestetti.

Asad Syrkett.

Charlotte Phillips hiding behind one of the publications from PIN–UP 40.

Fabio Cherstich and Maria Cristina Didero.

Noura Al-Sayeh Holtrop, Laila Gohar, and Michela Pelizzari.

Ben Ganz.

Simon Dearsley.

Pablo Genoux.

Margaux Esclapez.

Dirk Schönberger.

Francesco Vezzoli.

Marin Mornieux.

Nicholas Korody and Francesco Nazardo.

Kristin Hrycko.

Olivia Genoux.

Dan Thawley and Jim C. Nedd.

Aric Chen.