IQOS has brought its global collaboration with Italian design house Seletti to Dubai Design Week with the unveiling of “Sensorium Piazza,” an interactive installation that merges art, technology, and sensory experience. The installation, on display in Dubai Design District (d3) from November 4 to 9, 2025, reinterprets the idea of a traditional Italian piazza through digital and physical elements designed to provoke curiosity and creative exploration.
Developed in partnership between the smoke-free products brand and Seletti, known for its irreverent and unconventional approach to everyday objects, Sensorium Piazza represents a cross-disciplinary exploration of design, innovation, and the human senses. The collaboration extends beyond aesthetics, highlighting a shared philosophy that creativity is driven by curiosity and the courage to challenge familiar boundaries.
According to Richa Rustagi, Managing Director for the Lower Gulf and Iraq, the partnership embodies an ongoing effort to combine technological advancement with design thinking. She described curiosity as a catalyst for progress—an idea that shapes the brand’s commitment to developing smoke-free alternatives for adult consumers who would otherwise continue to smoke.
The project began at Milan Design Week earlier this year, where the installation quickly became one of FuoriSalone’s most-visited spaces. It evolved in June with the “Curious Minds” workshop at Seletti’s studio in Cicognara, Italy, where 20 multidisciplinary artists collaborated under the theme “What happens when you reframe the familiar?” Works from that session—including pieces by Saudi calligrapher Ahmed Al Sulaimani—are now featured within the Sensorium Piazza exhibit in Dubai.
Stefano Seletti, Creative Director and CEO of Seletti, described creativity as an act of reinvention, saying that design must always “do something that no one has ever done before.” His design philosophy comes to life in both the installation and the limited-edition IQOS ILUMA i x Seletti device—a sculptural design piece that fuses metallic tones, symbolic textures, and the visual language of craftsmanship. The edition seeks to merge the tactile and technological, reflecting the broader theme of sensory engagement that runs through the collaboration.
Visitors to Dubai Design Week can experience the “IQOS x Seletti” space, where daily talks and events invite discussion around design, innovation, and the role of technology in shaping creativity. The Sensorium Piazza installation acts as both an artistic statement and an exploration of how physical and digital design can coexist within public space.
The presentation in Dubai builds on an expanding global creative initiative that positions design as a bridge between technology, cultural storytelling, and human experience. While firmly rooted in visual artistry, the project also gestures toward a wider conversation about how design collaborations can humanize emerging technologies by emphasizing emotion and interaction.
Important information: IQOS is not risk-free and provides nicotine, which is addictive.
