Kulapat Yantrasast on craft and crisis at Milan Design Week

Architect Kulapat Yantrasast argued that environmental crises can foster new forms of craft and cultural production during a panel at Milan Design Week. Speaking with Dezeen's editorial director Max Fraser, he discussed curating 'When Apricots Blossom,' an exhibition commissioned by Gayane Umerova, chairperson of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF). The show, held at Palazzo Citterio from 20 to 26 April 2026, explored how craft adapts in response to crisis. Yantrasast's studio WHY Architecture designed a temporary garden pavilion as a contemporary yurt. The exhibition followed research trips across Uzbekistan where international designers worked with local artisans, focusing on practices like bread-making, shelter, and textiles. ACDF invited 12 designers to reinterpret traditional bread trays and stamps (chekich). Designer Bethan Laura Wood also participated, emphasizing craft as living and evolving. The title references a 1930s poem by Uzbek writer Hamid Olimjon. Umerova noted Uzbekistan's young population and ACDF's initiatives to expand craft access. A film 'Where the Water Ends' by Manuel Correa and Marina Otero Verzier premiered alongside the exhibition.