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From South Africa to Salone: SAOTA and OKHA Join YARDCOM for Milan Design Week 2026
From South Africa to Salone: SAOTA and OKHA Join YARDCOM for Milan Design Week 2026
Milan, Italy
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From South Africa to Salone: SAOTA and OKHA Join YARDCOM for Milan Design Week 2026
Milan, Italy
The collaboration between SAOTA, OKHA, and YARDCOM was formally unveiled at a launch event attended by Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille, Italian Ambassador to South Africa Alberto Vecchi and Rashid Toefy is currently the Deputy Director General: Economic Operations in the Department of Economic Development and Tourism. The occasion marked a significant milestone, with SAOTA becoming the first South African architecture practice to design a pavilion for Salone del Mobile.Milano 2026.
What began as a meeting between like-minded designers has evolved into a collaboration that brings a distinctly South African perspective to one of the world’s most influential design stages.
This April, SAOTA, alongside associated design company OKHA, will unveil a pavilion at Salone del Mobile.Milano 2026 in collaboration with YARDCOM. The project marks a significant moment, with a South African architecture practice designing a pavilion within the main exhibition halls for the first time.
The collaboration is grounded in a shared approach and alignment of values. Together with YARDCOM, a leading supplier of outdoor furniture, SAOTA and OKHA have conceived an immersive spatial installation that explores architecture, interiors, furniture, and landscape as a single, integrated system. Rather than a conventional display, the pavilion presents a cohesive outdoor living environment, defined by angled roof planes that establish scale and orientation while remaining open and legible.
The project draws from the culture of outdoor living that characterises many homes in South Africa, particularly in Cape Town, where both SAOTA and OKHA are based. “Cape Town has been fundamental to SAOTA’s design language. The city’s climate, landscape and culture of living have shaped our long‑standing focus on architecture that dissolves boundaries between inside and out, where space, light and environment are experienced as one continuous system rather than separate conditions,” says Stefan Antoni, SAOTA’s Founding Principal.
The pavilion, designed by SAOTA Principals Greg Truen and Dani Reimers, with team members Lu Ke and Zander Deysel, is conceived with this in mind as a spatial experience that prioritises movement, proportion, and atmosphere.
“Rooted in the ideas behind SAOTA’s Kloof House, the pavilion expresses the belief that architecture should operate as an open system rather than a closed object. Layered, interconnected spaces create a dialogue between people, building, and landscape, deepening the connection to place,” says Greg Truen.
Complementing the architectural framework, OKHA has developed a bespoke furniture collection for YARDCOM titled Forma Lenta. Defined by grounded forms and a quiet material refinement, the collection establishes a measured dialogue with the architecture and reinforces the pavilion’s emphasis on cohesion and restraint.
The presentation at Salone del Mobile coincides with SAOTA’s 40th anniversary. Founded in 1986, the practice has built a global portfolio shaped by a commitment to place, where climate and environment are treated as primary design informants rather than constraints. Today, SAOTA works across more than 90 countries and is recognised for projects that balance openness with order in response to site and context.
Visitors are invited to experience the pavilion from 21–26 April 2026 at Salone del Mobile, Hall 18, and engage with SAOTA, OKHA, and YARDCOM’s shared vision for contemporary outdoor living.
What began as a meeting between like-minded designers has evolved into a collaboration that brings a distinctly South African perspective to one of the world’s most influential design stages.
This April, SAOTA, alongside associated design company OKHA, will unveil a pavilion at Salone del Mobile.Milano 2026 in collaboration with YARDCOM. The project marks a significant moment, with a South African architecture practice designing a pavilion within the main exhibition halls for the first time.
The collaboration is grounded in a shared approach and alignment of values. Together with YARDCOM, a leading supplier of outdoor furniture, SAOTA and OKHA have conceived an immersive spatial installation that explores architecture, interiors, furniture, and landscape as a single, integrated system. Rather than a conventional display, the pavilion presents a cohesive outdoor living environment, defined by angled roof planes that establish scale and orientation while remaining open and legible.
The project draws from the culture of outdoor living that characterises many homes in South Africa, particularly in Cape Town, where both SAOTA and OKHA are based. “Cape Town has been fundamental to SAOTA’s design language. The city’s climate, landscape and culture of living have shaped our long‑standing focus on architecture that dissolves boundaries between inside and out, where space, light and environment are experienced as one continuous system rather than separate conditions,” says Stefan Antoni, SAOTA’s Founding Principal.
The pavilion, designed by SAOTA Principals Greg Truen and Dani Reimers, with team members Lu Ke and Zander Deysel, is conceived with this in mind as a spatial experience that prioritises movement, proportion, and atmosphere.
“Rooted in the ideas behind SAOTA’s Kloof House, the pavilion expresses the belief that architecture should operate as an open system rather than a closed object. Layered, interconnected spaces create a dialogue between people, building, and landscape, deepening the connection to place,” says Greg Truen.
Complementing the architectural framework, OKHA has developed a bespoke furniture collection for YARDCOM titled Forma Lenta. Defined by grounded forms and a quiet material refinement, the collection establishes a measured dialogue with the architecture and reinforces the pavilion’s emphasis on cohesion and restraint.
The presentation at Salone del Mobile coincides with SAOTA’s 40th anniversary. Founded in 1986, the practice has built a global portfolio shaped by a commitment to place, where climate and environment are treated as primary design informants rather than constraints. Today, SAOTA works across more than 90 countries and is recognised for projects that balance openness with order in response to site and context.
Visitors are invited to experience the pavilion from 21–26 April 2026 at Salone del Mobile, Hall 18, and engage with SAOTA, OKHA, and YARDCOM’s shared vision for contemporary outdoor living.
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