FOUR CULTURAL EXPERIENCES WORTH TRAVELLING FOR
Every now and then, a small change of scenery does wonders. A different street, a new rhythm, perhaps a room full of strangers all looking at the same thing.
Spring tends to encourage such behaviour. The days stretch, cities wake up again, and cultural calendars become pleasantly crowded.
Across Europe, festivals and exhibitions open their doors. Some loud and celebratory, others quiet and contemplative. All of them good reasons to pack a bag and step briefly out of routine.
Here are four cultural moments worth the journey this season.
For one week each spring, Milan becomes the beating heart of design. Salone del Mobile is not simply a furniture fair. It is a citywide celebration of ideas, materials, craftsmanship, and the curious ways people choose to live.Historic palazzos, quiet courtyards, and unexpected industrial spaces open their doors for installations and exhibitions during
Fuorisalone, the festival that spills out across the city. Designers from every corner of the globe gather here, not only to show what they have made, but to imagine what might come next.
In between exhibitions, there is espresso at the bar, late dinners in Brera, and the sense that creativity is very much alive and well.
Design week in Milan has its own dress code. Mostly black. Mostly architects. Mostly people pretending they discovered a chair before everyone else.
Arrive properly with the M/S Avail in Khaki, discreetly elegant and just practical enough for the inevitable taxi-to-gallery sprint. During the day, the M/S Shopper in Haptic works as the ideal companion for catalogues, coffee stops, and the occasional design object that “had to come home.” And because even design pilgrims answer emails, the M/S Pouch L in Khaki keeps your laptop close for a quick lobby session before dinner in Brera.
Barcelona in early summer already carries a certain electricity. During Sónar, that charge becomes unmistakable.
Since 1994 the festival has explored the meeting point between music, technology and digital art. By day, Sónar+D hosts talks, installations and experiments in sound and innovation. By night, the city moves to a different rhythm entirely. Warehouses, stages and outdoor venues fill with artists who are shaping the future of electronic music.It is thoughtful, playful, and occasionally slightly surreal. A reminder that culture sometimes arrives best through a very large sound system.
Sónar rewards those who travel light but move freely. Stages change, crowds shift, and suddenly it’s three in the morning and someone you’ve never heard of is playing the best set of the weekend.
The M/S Companion in Terracotta works perfectly as a large sling as you move between venues, carrying the essentials without slowing you down. For the truly minimal approach, the Belt Bag in leather keeps everything exactly where you need it. And if the night calls for something a little more understated, the Passage in black nylon brings the same freedom of movement — with a slightly more nocturnal mood.
Each summer, the medieval city of Avignon becomes one large stage. The Festival d’Avignon, founded in 1947, is one of the most respected theatre festivals in the world. Performances unfold everywhere. In historic courtyards, old chapels, public squares, and of course the majestic Palais des Papes.
Actors, directors, dancers and audiences arrive from across continents. The result is three weeks where theatre feels less like an evening activity and more like a shared civic ritual.
Expect bold interpretations, long standing ovations, and late night conversations in the narrow streets after the curtain falls.
In Avignon, theatre escapes the stage. Performances unfold in courtyards, narrow streets and historic halls, often followed by long discussions over wine somewhere nearby.
The Tour in black leather carries the quiet confidence of an artist’s bag - understated and purposeful. The M/S Vigour in grand herringbone / cuoio offers the right balance of sophistication and practicality as you move from one performance to the next. And when the evening stretches into midnight conversations under old stone walls, the M/S Drop Bag in grand herringbone / cuoio holds just the essentials.
Just north of Copenhagen, where the Øresund meets the lawns of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, literature finds one of its more elegant settings.
Each summer the Louisiana Literature Festival gathers writers, poets and thinkers from around the world for a few days of readings, discussions and reflections. The setting does half the work. Glass pavilions open toward the sea, sculptures rest quietly in the gardens, and audiences move between conversations with coffee in hand.
One moment you are listening to a novelist reflect on storytelling. The next you are walking along the sculpture park with the sea stretching calmly beyond.
A thoughtful pause, and a rather beautiful one at that.
Few places invite slow thinking quite like the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Writers speak, the sea quietly insists in the background, and the sculpture park offers the occasional thoughtful detour.
The Large Book Case in Ocean Jacquard ensures newly acquired reading material returns home safely - a sensible precaution given the irresistible museum bookstore. The M/S Field Tote in A Lovely Land carries you comfortably through a full day of talks, garden walks and small design discoveries from the shop, where a few MISMO temptations also tend to appear. And if the weather encourages it, the M/S Haven in A Lovely Land is perfectly suited for an afternoon by the water with a book you probably acquired just hours earlier.
