Seeking out artisans and designers is the most curious part of my job as Konfekt’s editor. I constantly overturn teacups and even chairs (mid-meal) to find the marque of a little-known manufacturer or bolt off on unscheduled trips to ateliers and factories on what’s meant to be a beach holiday – much to the chagrin of my family. Happenstance is behind many of the stories and people in the magazine. They are often elusive, discreet discoveries that we coax into print. 

During the week of Salone del Mobile the energy changes – ideas come in shoals, shimmering in the April light. Milan jostles and teems with inspiration; so much so that it can take a certain amount of restraint – and strategy – to simply walk across town. After months of cold days spent inside, the city’s bosky streets become a forum to reflect on space, form, beauty and the way we live.

A stroll through Brera during the fair feels like a carnival of sorts but also reminds you that beauty and innovation is a part of Milan’s tradition as a city. It’s this perspective that gives the flurry of launches such perspective – the old fabric of the city holds up the new. It asks us, “Will this pass the test of time?”

Navigating Milan at this time of year is about making time for the last of the carciofi and the first of the fiori di zucca. It’s about savouring the magnolias in bloom in the Piazza Tommaseo. Between appointments, I like to nip into Da Giacomo, near Porta Vittoria, for a plate of vongole or rest weary legs at Fioraio Bianchi Caffè, a florist that also serves unrivalled ravioli.

I try not to leave Milan without having a saffron-infused risotto in the café at the mid-century Villa Necchi, where mint-rattan is the order of the day and fleets of waiters hover. Built by architect Piero Portaluppi in the early 1930s (and made famous by the Luca Guadagnino film I am Love), the marble floors and damask walls speak of the way that tradition dances with the new in the city, and the sense that beautiful things – crafted to last – will continue to inspire and spark curiosity long after they were deemed new.