Since they began their studio 10 years ago, 6:AM founders Edoardo Pandolfo and Francesco Palù have been working very, very hard.

For starters, they chose to work with a material famously difficult, and famously specialist. Secondly, they made it their mission to never say no, even when the project seemed entirely impossible.

At this year’s Salone del Mobile, you see all this hard work culminate in Over and Over and Over and Over, an ambitious exhibition set inside the atmospheric Piscina Romano. It’s a show built around their work with glass, and the importance of repetition, but not necessarily in the way you might expect.

“The idea that we wanted to show is the repetition of element,” they explain. “A way to bring an object, a furniture piece, to something at another scale, like an architectural piece.”

At the centre of the exhibition sits a towering installation made from Batch glass cubes, modular units stacked into a glowing wall that blurs the line between object and architecture. Repetition, here, is not about sameness, but instead, a reflection on process.

“We’re used to redrawing things over and over and over in order to get focused,” they say. “It’s like a mantra.”

That mindset comes directly from working with glass. Unlike wood or metal, glass allows almost no time for hesitation. Once it’s molten, the clock starts ticking. “You have maybe 20 minutes to do the piece,” they explain. “Once you start, you have to know exactly what you have to do.”

As a result, 6:AM don’t begin with form or with an attachment to the final product, they look at the process. “At the base of a product, there is a process,” they say. “We design the process first, and then we find a way to get to the final shape.”

It’s a method that demands a sense of discipline with an appetite for unpredictability. In glassmaking, repetition is essential, not just creatively, but practically. “The first two, three, ten pieces, you throw them away,” they say. “Then the eleventh piece is good.”

And even then, perfection is elusive. Small variations creep in. A shift in colour, a slight distortion, an unexpected reaction in the material. These are not mistakes to be eliminated, but part of the process itself.

The studio recalls an early chandelier made from glass cubes that turned green due to a reaction with a steel mould, an effect that initially seemed like a failure. “We said, okay, let’s just put them up,” they remember. “What we didn’t know was that everybody loved it.”

That openness to the unexpected runs through the Milan exhibition. Alongside the central installation are new iterations of lighting and furniture, as well as more experimental pieces, including a modular wall made from discarded materials and sculptural glass elements that move beyond traditional Murano aesthetics.

A key aim is to challenge how glass is perceived. “We want to show glass other than the archetype of the chandelier,” they say. “Something that you can use to create architecture in the space.”

The setting plays an important role. Piscina Romano, a semi-abandoned public pool, offers both scale and atmosphere, allowing 6:AM to expand their work into something more immersive. The exhibition itself grew out of last year’s Salone. “On the last day, we said, okay, let’s try to do something more ambitious next year,” they explain.

Outside, in the surrounding park, the studio has created Bar Pieno, a temporary bar that runs throughout the week, hosting chefs, DJs and an open-ended programme of events. It’s designed as a place to spend time, not just pass through.

The inclusion of a social space reflects a broader shift in how 6:AM think about their work. What began as a series of challenging commissions, “the craziest projects that nobody wanted to do”, has evolved into a more defined practice that sits somewhere between design, architecture and installation.

But the core of their practice remains the same. Repetition, iteration, and a willingness to work within limits.

“Repetition creates structure,” they say. “And inside that, you can explore.”

6:AM’s show runs until April 26, at Via Ampère 24, 20133, Milano.