firefly presents “glow rod garage” at Milan Design Week 2026

Milan, 20 April 2026 — During Milan Design Week, firefly presents glow rod garage, an immersive installation at Fuorisalone in Milan’s Brera Design District. At its centre is the firefly Designer’s Edition by Kris Tomasson, which introduces the firefly glow rod as its defining design concept, reinterpreting the culture of car customization and hot rod's for the electric age.

Origins: hot rod culture
There was a time when cars were shaped in garages - built by hand, customised late into the night, and driven by passion and creative instinct. That spirit continues. But the context has changed.
Combustion has given way to electricity. Horsepower becomes watts. What once relied on mechanical intervention now evolves through the integration of software, materials, and light - while the underlying instinct to shape and express remains.
With glow rod garage, firefly revisits this tradition through a contemporary design lens, exploring how a culture rooted in craftsmanship, community and individual expression evolves in the age of electric mobility.

The firefly glow rod
At the heart of the installation, the firefly glow rod emerges as a new archetype. Drawing from the visual language of classic hot rods, Kris Tomasson's design reinterprets flame graphics as a symbol of electric energy. Light replaces heat. Flow replaces explosion.
The transformation is not stylistic alone. It is expressed through a controlled interplay of surface, illumination, and proportion, where light becomes an integral element of the design rather than an applied effect. It defines contours, reinforces stance, and shapes the perception of the vehicle within space.
The result is not a nostalgic reference, but a continuation - a translation of creative instinct into a new technological context.

An immersive environment
The installation extends this transformation into space. The firefly glow rod garage translates the familiar setting of a garage into a distilled spatial composition, where each element is reduced to its essential function.
A darkened environment frames the vehicle, while a large-scale illuminated structure animates the space with controlled pulses of electric energy. Light, sound, material, and scent work together to create a precise and immersive atmosphere.
Within this environment, the vehicle is staged as both object and protagonist. The garage shifts from a site of mechanical production to a space of cultural reflection and design expression.

Design as individual expression
In this context, the car is approached not only as a functional product, but as a design object - shaped by proportion, surface, and light, and defined by its ability to express identity within an urban environment.
The Designer’s Edition by Kris Tomasson reflects a distinct design perspective, translating the spirit of customization into a contemporary electric framework.
“Hot rod's were never just about speed - it was about identity and creative freedom,” says Kris Tomasson. “With the firefly glow rod, we’re translating that instinct into a new electric language. It’s about capturing the spirit of making, and reimagining it through design, technology, and light.”

firefly at Milan Design Week
For Milan Design Week, firefly places this exploration within a broader cultural context. The city, known as a global reference point for design and aesthetics, provides a setting where ideas of craft, innovation, and expression converge.
With glow rod garage, firefly engages with this dialogue, not through product launch, but through installation, narrative, and spatial experience - positioning the brand within a wider design discourse.
firefly is NIO’s high-end small electric car brand, created to build the finest small cars for a global community. Designed for urban mobility, it combines advanced safety, intelligent technology, and efficient use of space with a strong focus on design. Rooted in the idea of “freedom to glow,” firefly approaches mobility as a form of personal expression - where design enables individuality in a contemporary urban context.
firefly has already been introduced in multiple international markets, including Europe, and has received global recognition such as the World Urban Car of the Year award.

firefly glow rod garage will be open to the public during Milan Design Week 2026 at Fuorisalone in the Brera Design District.