The advent of digital technology has radically transformed most social and individual experiences, including shopping. After early predictions envisioned the total replacement of physical commercial spaces with online ones, a few years later it is clear that the transformation has occurred—but not through the elimination of stores. Rather, it has strengthened their experiential value, revealing the role of the retail space as a place of encounter and discovery more than mere purchase.

Today, physical stores offer brands the opportunity to sell not just a product, but above all the company’s vision in terms of aesthetics and ethics. Stores have therefore heightened the scenic value of their interiors, while salespeople continue to provide precious support to the overall experience. Even Amazon, born as a digital platform, has begun to take physical form in cities—first with automated lockers, then with supermarkets and shops recognizable by the brand’s signage.

After an initial period in which Amazon was used mainly for purchasing anonymous objects, spare parts, or very specific products, its offering has expanded to include food, appliances, and even major design pieces.

This evolution does not erase the legacy of the great designers who over the decades have created the most important design showrooms: Massimo and Lella Vignelli for Artemide in New York; Lella Vignelli for the Poltrona Frau showrooms in Salerno and Lecce; in Milan, Achille Castiglioni for the Flos showroom on Corso Monforte, Mario Bellini for Cassina on Via Durini, and Gae Aulenti for Martinelli Luce.

Today that same design approach is translated into the work of user experience designers, who define experiences in non-physical spaces navigable through the movement of fingers on a screen. Thus, design can also be purchased online—whether second-hand on social networks like Vinted or new on Amazon. We explored the online marketplace and found these fifteen design objects:

To ongoing questions about the questionable usability of the squeezer, the French designer began responding that this object is not meant to squeeze lemons but to spark conversation. And since 1990, when Alessi put it into production, it has fulfilled that function perfectly—sitting at the center of debates on the relationship between form and function, and on the political and narrative value of design. It has become an undisputed icon.

Playful and informal, Mendini’s approach to design turned objects into domestic helpers. His version of the traditional coffee maker preserves the elements of the archetype, celebrating its formal and mechanical perfection, but makes it “vibrate” by moving the surface with rounded shapes.

Mirror or painting? The result of the collaboration between Seletti and Toiletpaper constructs surreal images by making the real interact with printed imagery. In pure Seletti style, it offers a pop reinterpretation of the everyday and the ordinary.

A brilliant author of objects and texts, Bruno Munari compiles a dictionary of gestures, collecting bodily expressions fundamental to non-verbal communication and rooted in the culture of the Italian language. Each page is dedicated to a gesture and associates the hand movement with a definition in Italian, English, French, and German.

Magistretti had a dachshund named Dalù; in its honor, the lamp—formed by two hemispheres—took that name. Like Eclisse and Atollo, it derives from pure forms, the result of the synthetic design work that generated all his “telephone projects.”

This desk object celebrates industrial tradition, inspired by toolboxes and produced by Vitra in a fully recycled and recyclable material, available in a palette of bright colors.

An expression of the ingenuity that made Italian design famous worldwide, the Componibili are the most recognizable product of the company Anna Castelli Ferrieri founded with her husband Giulio Castelli. Colorful and, of course, made of plastic, they are designed to stack vertically, forming a potentially infinite tower of drawers.

No, this is not anonymous design; on the contrary, it is very much authored. Finnish product designer Olof Bäckström created the first-ever scissors with a plastic handle. And since production began in a factory that made orange citrus squeezers, adopting the same color for the scissors seemed the quickest solution.

Resembling an emergency device, this lamp is composed of a few essential elements and resists categorization: it works on the floor, on a table, hanging from the ceiling, or hooked onto anything. A recent child of design history, it entered the category of icons almost immediately. Flos produces it with a handle—clearly industrial in inspiration—available in various colors.

“Less, but better” — Dieter Rams’ motto translates into this travel object, a protagonist of Braun design since the 1960s. The characteristic yellow accent on the second hand is the chromatic signature of the German brand.

If you want a piece of modern architectural history in your home, you can choose the wall clock the master of Scandinavian design created for the National Bank of Denmark. It perfectly expresses the approach to formal synthesis that defined his work at every scale—from buildings to products to graphics.

In designing this elegant product, the Japanese company—active in producing objects since the 1920s—aimed to guarantee maximum control of the water flow, essential for preparing perfect coffee. For this reason, the spout is extremely thin and the handle highly angled.

This pattern’s story begins with a clear declaration from Marimekko’s co-founder: they would never again produce floral prints. Yet Maija Isola’s graphic proposal made her change her mind immediately. Unikko translated floral motifs into a modern visual language and remains among the brand’s most recognizable designs.

You don’t need to be an Eames expert to play this version of the famous Memory game—but if you're curious, it's perfect for you. In this edition by Ravensburger, the tiles pay homage to the work of the American duo who redefined furniture design in the mid-century.

Designed in 2001 by two giants of Italian design, this trilobate pencil case has been reissued by the young studio-company founded in Bologna in 2020. Pocket-sized and colorful, it is the ideal ally for designers, students, and the curious. Inside, it contains everything needed for sketching.