laila gohar spins a carousel of vegetables for arket during milan design week

an 18th-century carousel reborn in milan

At Milan Design Week 2026, Laila Gohar presents her collaboration with ARKET through a public installation at Giardino delle Arti, where a reworked fairground carousel becomes the central device for introducing her first ready-to-wear collection.

The installation takes the form of an antique carousel adapted from a rare late-18th-century model, its horses replaced by oversized fruits and vegetables. The shift is immediate and legible. Familiar objects are enlarged, displaced, and set into motion, turning a childhood structure into something closer to a staged environment for adults.

Gohar’s work has long operated in this territory, using food as both material and image. Here, that language expands into space. The carousel rotates slowly, creating a continuous loop of repetition and variation, where scale and material alter perception without obscuring the source. The installation reads as both object and atmosphere, with the movement doing as much work as the forms themselves.

images © ARKET

Laila Gohar enters the fashion world with arket

The ARKET carousel in Milan introduces a 27-piece collection that marks artist Laila Gohar’s first full entry into fashion. Developed with the clothing brand for Spring/Summer 2026, the garments (see in the gallery below) carry forward the same sensibility: practical silhouettes interrupted by unexpected detailing, including hand-applied beading, embroidered monograms, and soft structural shifts.

Workwear references sit alongside lighter, more delicate pieces, with materials ranging from compact cotton to silk organza. The collection moves between function and ornament without hierarchy. That balance reflects a shared position between Gohar’s practice and ARKET’s approach, where utility remains intact while allowing room for irregularity and gesture.

the installation centers on a working carousel placed in a public garden during Milan Design Week

staging play as a public condition

The installation runs from April 20th — 24th, 2026 and is open to the public, extending beyond display into participation. Visitors encounter the carousel alongside a temporary café and small programmed elements, including ticket draws tied to the brand.

What emerges is a compact environment that treats play as a spatial condition. The carousel becomes a mechanism for slowing down movement, holding attention, and reframing everyday objects through repetition and scale. In this context, clothing, installation, and experience align into a single system, where the boundary between use and display remains deliberately porous.

oversized fruits and vegetables replace traditional carousel figures

the carousel draws on a historic model adapted into a contemporary spatial device

slow rotation creates a continuous loop that shapes how visitors move and look