Between Pages and Spaces in Bologna and Milan

There are trips that feel like travel, and then there are trips that feel like stepping into the inside of your own practice. This was one of those.

From the pages of the Bologna Children's Book Fair to the immersive world of Milan Design Week, it felt like moving through two different but connected languages of creativity—one rooted in story, the other in space, texture, and form.

Bologna: Where Stories Gather

Bologna is always a kind of heartbeat for anyone working in children’s books. The fair is intense, vibrant, and slightly overwhelming in the best possible way. Everywhere you turn, there are illustrations spilling out of booths, publishers in deep conversation, and artists carrying portfolios like they’re holding small universes.

What I love most is the sense of shared devotion. Everyone is there because they believe in the power of visual storytelling for children—whether it’s picture books, early readers, or experimental illustration.

I spent time looking at work that made me pause—not just for technique, but for emotion. There’s something about seeing original artwork in person that changes how you understand it. The texture of brushstrokes, the scale shifts, the quiet imperfections… all of it feels more intimate than a screen can hold.

There were also the conversations in between: unexpected connections, quick exchanges that somehow stay with you longer than planned meetings. Ideas often arrive in fragments at Bologna, not conclusions.

And then, of course, there is the walking. Always walking. Between halls, between languages, between inspirations.

In from of the BolognaFiere, about to enter the Children’s Book Fair

Walking by the illustrators wall at the fair.

Meeting friends old and new at the fair.

We still made time to socialize and celebrate with fellow author, illustrator and publishers!

Milan: When Ideas Take Physical Form

Milan felt like a shift in pace and texture.

If Bologna is about story beginnings, Milan is about what happens when ideas grow bodies.

At Milan Design Week, design spills into the city itself. It isn’t contained in one place—it lives in courtyards, galleries, old buildings, pop-up installations, and unexpected corners. You start to feel like you are moving through ideas rather than exhibitions.

What struck me most was how sensory everything became. Materials weren’t just visual—they were tactile, spatial, atmospheric. Light, shadow, fabric, sound… all used with intention, like punctuation in a sentence.

As someone who works between illustration, storytelling, and design, Milan always feels like a reminder that narrative doesn’t only live on the page. It can be built, walked through, touched, and inhabited.There were moments where installations felt almost like picture books you could physically enter—where each room was a page turn, and each turn changed your emotional register.

Some displays and exhibitions I went to- AESOP and House Of GUCCI

Between the Two Cities

Moving from Bologna to Milan felt like moving between two sides of the same practice.

One asks: What is the story?
The other asks: What does it feel like in space?

And somewhere between those questions, I found myself thinking about my own work—how illustration, books, workshops, and visual storytelling sit in that in-between place. Not fixed to one format, but always in translation.

Travel like this doesn’t give neat answers. It doesn’t need to. It gives fragments, shifts, and new ways of seeing familiar work.

Sketching in Triennale di Milano- Pure bliss!

A Quiet Aftertaste

Now, back home, everything feels slightly re-sequenced.

The desk feels like a quieter version of those crowded halls. Sketches feel like they’re still remembering Italy. And ideas feel less like things to chase and more like things to listen for.

Bologna filled my head. Milan rearranged my senses.

And in between the two, I think I came back with a slightly different way of seeing the work I already do.