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It’s eight degrees in Milan and Stefano Seletti is laughing, unbothered and curious. We’re standing outside Pirelli Hangar Bicocca moments after the unveiling of Sensorium Worlds – his latest collaboration with IQOS Curious X. It’s an art installation, a sensory experiment and somehow, a mirror of how Seletti himself sees the world: playful, unexpected and deeply human.
Sensorium Worlds was one of the city’s most anticipated creative moments of the season. Inside, the air still buzzed from the reveal. The vast industrial hall (considered among Europe’s largest) had been transformed into a living organism of light and sound. Sculptures pulsed, projections rippled, and every surface seemed to ask the same question: what happens when art, design and technology stop competing and start conversing?
But the story didn’t begin that night. What we’d glimpsed during Milan Design Week earlier this year was, in hindsight, a teaser of a reimagined Italian piazza that blurred the line between the surreal and the familiar. Light, movement and play were already at the core of IQOS and Seletti’s shared language. And in the months that followed, that idea grew roots.
At Seletti’s studio in Cicognara, the Curious Minds workshop gathered 20 artists and curators from around the world including Saudi Arabia and Turkey to build on that vision. The collaboration resulted in conversation, laughter and sketches that all fed into one shared theme: reframing the familiar. Those sessions became the emotional architecture of Sensorium Worlds.
By the time the installation opened, that collaborative energy had become the art itself. The evening began with a panel featuring Alina Igritskaya, PMI’s Global Head of Marketing for Heat-Not-Burn; Bryson Thornton, Global Communications Director; Stefano Seletti; and Stefano Volpetti, PMI President of Smoke-Free Products & Chief Consumer Officer. Together, they unveiled the next chapter of the IQOS x Seletti partnership including a new short film and the limited-edition IQOS ILUMA i collection.
Seletti described the device as a “jewel”, not only in form but in feeling. “Black and bold collide with bright gold,” he said, referencing its chrome-gold finish. “It’s symbolic of brilliance, innovation, and the celebration of the senses.” Around us, the installation seemed to echo that sentiment: a seamless fusion of artistry, craftsmanship and curiosity.
Each visual piece told a story of its own: African motifs reimagined through LED light, Middle Eastern geometry reworked into digital grids, Japanese minimalism layered with European irreverence. Seletti watched the crowd move through it all, faces illuminated by projection. “The creative process has been full of ideas and enthusiasm,” he said. “It was a privilege to gather and exchange with such a broad pool of multi-disciplinary artists from around the world.”
The product reveal itself carried the same design insensitivity. The IQOS x Seletti Limited-Edition Collection including ILUMA i PRIME and ILUMA i devices were displayed alongside wraps, doors, ring sets, and decorative patches, each stamped with Seletti’s unmistakable patterns. Proof that technology could be both functional and beautiful.
And that was the point. Even the device, in Seletti’s view, wasn’t meant to hide in a pocket. “Now you can take it out and put it on the table,” he said. “It decorates your table. It’s something human.” Later, as guests drafted out and the lights dimmed, Seletti lingered outside, still laughing, still curious. “It’s nice to stay here and get interviewed,” he said, amused. “It’s not something I do so frequently, so it’s a nice emotion.”
The night ended with a hypnotic set by Adriatique, whose sound turned the industrial space into a living pulse. It was the ultimate finale for an experience designed to make people feel, not just see. And when the final lights faded and Milan’s cold crept back in, Sensorium Worlds had done what it came to do: remind us that design, at its best, is all about dialogue.
