This is just the map for those more typographically than topographically inclined. In 'Milan l'è un gran Milan' (a central crop of a larger typographic map), the roads, railways, parks and other features have been removed, preserving the type to the finest pixel. Based on NB Studio's previous jigsaw collaboration with Wallpaper* for an Entertaining issue (W*117), it's still a prototype. The designers are currently working with luxury toymaker Playsam and Wallpaper* to produce a sellable limited edition.

Photography: Stephen Lenthall

www.nbstudio.co.uk
www.playsam.com

When we approached one of our favourite Scandinavian architects, renowned Norwegian practice Jarmund/Vigsnæs, to design a dog house, they were delighted to take on the challenge. Working in collaboration with innovative timber experts Kebony, and architectural woodworkers Moderne Materiell - all fellow countrymen - the team playfully aimed to combine canine associations, such as an archetypal dog's bone, with traditional Nordic log structures. Easily flat-packed and for outdoor use, the house is created in naturally stained Kebony maple with a polycarbonate sheet roof to allow in light.

Photography: Robert Bellamy
Bauhaus Collar, £79, from Mungo and Maud

www.jva.no
www.kebony.com

The seeds of this project were sown at last year's Handmade, when we were inspired by a throwaway line by Gerhard Steidl in the film How to Make a Book with Steidl, which suggested his favourite scent was a 'freshly printed book'. We asked him to work with avant-garde perfumer Geza Schoen to try and bottle that scent. Into the mix came Steidl's friend and long-time collaborator Karl Lagerfeld, who designed the packaging and chose the name Paper Passion.

The perfume is now available to buy from Steidl, £70

Photography: Stephen Lenthall

www.escentric.com
www.steidlville.com

Michael Elmgreen, one half of artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset, has designed a rice cooker, produced in collaboration with Christopher Hill of British model makers and prototypers Solve 3D. And to accompany the perfectly steamed rice it produces, he's shared his prawn sambal dish with us. Grind ten de-seeded dry chillies, ten shallots and 30g of Malaysian shrimp paste together and stir-fry in a wok with 3tbs of oil. Add 600g of king prawns and cook for a couple of minutes, then add two cups of water, 2tbs of tamarind pulp mixed with half a cup of water and bring to a quick boil. Add three thinly sliced kaffir lime leaves, 1tsp of sugar, salt to taste, and serve.

Photography: Sam Hofman

www.victoria-miro.com
www.solve3d.com

We paired Scottish embroidery queen Louise Gray with high end German carpet company Vorwerk to create a series of eye-catching carpet tiles. Vorwerk has a history of collaborating with illustrious artists, architects and designers, including Jeff Koons, David Hockney, Gerhard Richter and Arata Isozaki. This collaboration sees Vorwerk's luxurious pile and rich colourways mixed with Gray's instantly recognisable prints and embroidery.

Photography: Simon Thiselton

www.louisegraylondon.com
www.vorwerk-carpets.com

Intent on making the sharing of food an elegant affair, we asked Jacques-Elie Ribeyron to develop a five-piece set, comprising a chocolate hammer, nut opener, a small knife, a brush for cleaning up crumbs and a cutting board. Ribeyron's sophisticated yet industrial aesthetic has been executed by Architectural Titanium, which used aerospace-grade titanium for the cutting board and its patented crystal titanium to make the faceted grips on each tool.

http://www.je-ribeyron.com
http://www.architecturaltitanium.com

Chocolate company Marou created an exceptional 80 per cent cocoa chocolate bar using organic Trinitario beans from the Tien Giang province of southern Vietnam. This bright, balanced chocolate is rich in flavours and aromas: there are notes of citrus fruit, banana, cinnamon and honey, with a hint of tobacco, all embedded in a dark-chocolate texture. The package design is by design agency Rice Creative, and the wrappers were hand-printed in Vietnam.

http://www.marouchocolate.com
http://www.rice-creative.com

Watch the film about the making of the chocolate

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

Scented candles have to work hard to earn a place in our world. We've fallen for Cire Trudon's pillar candles in the past, with their contrasting cameos and muted tones, and its historical wax busts (we particularly like the ones of Napoleon Bonaparte and Marie Antoinette), but always thought there were more ways to bring art into the mix. So we handed over the creative reins to Mexico-born artist Stefan Brüggemann, who came up with a textual motif to incorporate into the wax of a black pillar candle. His chosen motif 'Ideology is over' fits perfectly with Cire Trudon's smoky scent 'Ernesto', named after the famous Argentine revolutionary. And, to ensure you can always read the whole motif as the candle burns, it's written up one side and down the other.

http://www.ciretrudon.com
http://www.stefanbruggemann.com

Kuwaiti jewellery company Octium Jewelry came up with a contemporary take on a mabkhara, a traditional Arabian incense burner, for Handmade. Inspired by a love of geometry and architecture, the shapely result comprises four stacked porcelain compartments suitable for burning candles, oil and charcoal.

http://www.octiumjewelry.com

Photography: Stephen Lenthall

Realising an idea first conceived at art school, designer Irma Boom folds five Fedrigoni paper stocks into 'Convertibles' - a notebook, an object and a set of three bags - each exploring the strength, beauty and flexibility of paper. The pieces exploit the individual qualities of the stocks chosen: the soft and subtle Constellation Snow E/08 Tela Fine; the modest, stable and flexible Tintoretto Ceylon Crystal Salt; the dry top of Inspira Mistero; and the simplicity of Acroprint Mild White and Oikos Extra White.

http://www.irmaboom.nl
http://www.fedrigoni.com

We set London-based design office Michael Nash+Sion the task of creating personal stationery using the fine papers of Fedrigoni, our mill of choice. 'Sew your own' comes as A6 biglietti, the notecards used by all our chic Milanese friends, A5 notepaper and A4 letter paper. The Century Cotton Wove paper stock, selected for its ability to take ink well, comes punched with micro-holes, ready for you to sew your initials on with the thread and needles supplied. Each item comes with a classic tissue-lined envelope.

http://www.michaelnash.co.uk

Photography: Stephen Lenthall

Created specially by artist Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari, the provocative pair behind the magazine Toiletpaper, this tablecloth was one of a series of six - all playing with the ideas of neuroses, taboos, multiples and repetition - that featured on the tables at the Wallpaper* and Toiletpaper joint party, held in Milan to celebrate our Handmade exhibition. Look out for the fashion shoot in our September issue (W*162), which will incorporate elements from the party.

Photography: Stephen Lenthall

www.toiletpapermagazine.com

Always on the lookout for neat ways to store our grooming products, we turned for a solution to De Intuïtiefabriek, a Dutch collective that makes an art of designing furniture to contain and display objects, as well as designing the objects themselves. Taking the colours, textures and shapes of soap as a starting point, the project evolved from grooming boxes with mirrors to these mirrored cabinets, complete with their own natty range of bathroom containers.

Photography: Sabrina Bongiovanni

www.deintuitiefabriek.nl

For this year's Handmade issue, we asked some of our graphic designer and illustrator friends to design a series of covers for us. But we didn't just want to include our own choices. Calling out to the Twittersphere, we invited your creative direction, too, asking you to name your preferred cover star and tweet them a brief related to the handmade theme. The result is a grand edit of 30 works of art, created with you in mind, by the likes of Alan Kitching, Quentin Jones, Anthony Burrill, Tom Hingston, Rob Ryan and James Joyce.

See the covers close up

We asked shoemaker Sebastian Tarek to recruit two fellow craftsmen who match traditional skills with contemporary design. Using the Handmade logo, embroiderer Claire Barrett applied it to a neat brogue lace-up, while Duffy Jewellery embossed it on a bold silver buckle.

http://www.sebastiantarek.com
http://www.hawthorneandheaney.com
http://www.duffyjewellery.com

Handstitched by leather experts at Ghurka's Connecticut factory, the elegant 'Stash*' bag, complete with bespoke debossed Ghurka and Wallpaper* logos, is a new twist on the brand's classic 1978 'No. 67 Stash'. Designed with Wallpaper* readers in mind by the company's creative director Steven La Guardia, it features an interior iPad pocket and an exterior magazine pocket. It's also packed with other innovations, including a handy shoe 'garage' which stores a change of shoes away from other items.

http://www.ghurka.com

Watch the making of the the shoes

Photography: Robert Bellamy

'A proper barbecue takes time,' reasoned Alfredo Häberli when we challenged him to design an outdoor grill. 'And although cook-outs are considered to be social gatherings, they often exclude the cook.' So Häberli has made our barbecue a social place. Rather then isolating the person manning the station, the grill becomes a place to gather and have a drink with friends while the food is being cooked. Working with metal specialists, Kim, the piece is produced in a mix of oak, yellow zinc-plated steel, brushed stainless steel and painted steel. The accompanying tools are made from hand-forged stainless steel.

http://www.alfredo-haeberli.com
http://www.kim.ch

Once we had our barbecue sorted, we needed something to cook on it. So, having struck gold with Häberli, we decided to enlist the services of one of his countrymen, London-based Argentine chef and food entrepreneur Diego Jacquet. He answered our call with a chorizo criollo, a coiled sausage made out of British pork and Argentine beef, seasoned with dried chilli flakes, oregano, paprika, garlic and white wine. Traditionally, the wine is dry, but Jacquet bucked the trend with a fruity and sweet Torrontés from Salta, Argentina.

http://www.diegojacquet.com

We tasked the meat-loving owners behind Canadian sandwich shop Meat & Bread to create the perfect set of barbecue condiments. Frankie Harrington and Cord Jarvie specially created a meat rub with hints of fennel, coriander and star anise, a red pepper relish and a balsamic onion jam. The set is rounded off with a supersized jar of their signature mustard, all housed in a herringbone box created by the duo's design collaborators Glasfurd & Walker. Made from 700 pieces of wood to echo the shop's countertop, its animal logo is revealed when it's empty.

http://www.meatandbread.ca
http://www.glasfurdandwalker.com

When it came to creating an apron and a pair of oven gloves to complement our designer barbecue, we turned immediately to linen label Alfred. Its Belgian designers have devised two oven gloves and an oven cloth - all lined with a heat-resistant inner layer - a tea towel and an androgynous apron in a choice of graphic prints, with just the right amount of subtle styling for use indoors or out. Each piece is made from 100 per cent linen and is yarn-dyed for added durability.

http://www.thealfredcollection.be

Photography: Robert Bellamy

This year we hankered after a cocktail we could call our own, something a little bit decadent, with retro appeal that packs a punch. We put it to master mixologist Tony Conigliaro to come up with a take on the French 75, a 1915 invention dreamed up by Harry MacElhone of Paris' New York Bar, now called Harry's Bar. Veuve Clicquot would be our fizz, Belvedere Vodka would provide the kick, and Conigliaro would bring the twist - a sweetener of house-distilled elderflower.

Photography: Leigh Johnson

www.drinkfactory.blogspot.co.uk
www.veuve-clicquot.com
www.belvederevodka.com

In our never-ending quest for the perfect snack, we asked gourmet corn poppers Joe & Seph's to create a sweet and savoury popcorn for us that spliced Italian tradition with a British spin. Our savoury option mixes the rich creaminess of a Gorgonzola-esque blue cheese with hearty hints of walnut and a hit of bitter celery, while each morsel of the caramel macchiato version comes infused with a shot of Scottish whisky.

Photography: Sam Hofman

www.joeandsephs.co.uk

When we talked to legendary Place Vendôme jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels about taking part in a Handmade project, CEO and creative director Nicolas Bos - a keen Wallpaper* fan - was determined to take part. We love the fact that the brand has a history of creating not just jewels, but beautiful objects, too. So it was that all parties agreed on Bos' idea of a necklace with a detachable box. True to Van Cleef & Arpels' quirky take on high jewellery, the 'Carré de Saturne' is an interpretation of the centuries-old Chinese 'magic square', where the sum of any line of numbers on a grid is the same, whether counted vertically, horizontally or diagonally. The square case also reflects the jewellery house's long history of creating practical objects, such as gold cigarette cases and Bauhaus-style minaudières clutches, from precious materials. The necklace comprises white gold, diamonds, onyx, mother-of-pearl and 132 painstakingly sourced rubellite beads.

Photography: Charles Negre

www.vancleef-arpels.com

The idea of reworking the small magnifying glass that is a must-have tool for many industries, including jewellery making, horology and photography, was a commission close to our heart. On discovering that the word loupe derives from the French meaning for 'an imperfect gem or mass of hot metal', jeweller Emma Franklin reinterpreted the purely practical object as a decorative piece in solid gold and black gold-plate. London-based print designer David Pearson worked with Franklin to 'brand' the word 'loupe' on to the rim of the finished piece.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.emmafranklin.net
www.davidpearsondesign.com

'My objects, in their colour, shape and materiality, reference the ideas of restraint, containment and minimalism,' explains Belfast-based ceramicist Derek Wilson. Theses were precisely our thoughts when we discovered Wilson's creations at the London Design Festival two years ago. Impressed by their simplicity and elegance, we invited Wilson to design a new piece that was both functional and sculptural. The resulting, beautifully crafted jug and cups reference midcentury British constructivism.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

derekwilsonceramics.com

We decided to pair Dutch designer Aldo Bakker with Santiago Gonzalez, of luxury leather goods company Nancy Gonzalez, to create a unique chair. Gonzalez provided Bakker with a rare South African wild alligator skin, from which Bakker made a reinterpretation of Hans Wegner's 'Valet' chair.

Photography: Qiu Yang

www.aldobakker.com
www.santiagogonzalez.info

For her modern take on two of Murano's most celebrated and antique techniques, Petrobelli has used threaded filigrana workings and combined them with a notoriously technical and difficult incalmo glass-blowing technique to create a series of three place settings. Individually, the three plates have three different, but extremely simple patterns. Once stacked, as for example when preparing the table for lunch or dinner, these three plates combine to make a complicated display of lines and circles, which are referenced and repeated in the three glasses.

Photography: Sam Hofman

www.paolapetrobelli.com

We asked Cole & Son to turn Gucci's storied 'Flora' pattern, first created as a scarf design for Grace Kelly in 1966, into a wallcovering. The design is made up of 15 colours, which requires 15 individual silkscreens, a process that takes so long that for our Milan exhibition we showed a digital prototype.

Watch the making of the wallpaper

Photography: Jamie McGregor Smith

www.cole-and-son.com
www.gucci.com

We sent artists Idris Khan and Annie Morris - husband and wife but collaborating for the first time - dozens of Comme des Garçons wallets, an evergreen in Rei Kawakubo's product offer since the label's launch in 1969. Seeking to celebrate the wallets, Khan and Morris cocooned them first in Modroc tape and casting plaster before smothering them with an Yves Klein-blue pigment, retaining the original shape while emphasising the signature zip-pull as an erect protrusion. Presented as a stack, they tower around 2m high, a celebratory totem; in this new interpretation, the 88, originally white, leather wallets, says Khan, 'will be trapped in time forever'.

Watch the making of the '88… After Klein' sculpture

Photography: Tim Gutt

www.victoria-miro.com
www.allsoppcontemporary.com
www.doverstreetmarket.com

Design is the reason we flock to Milan every April, but the Italian setting has a pull of its own. And what better way to explore the shows on a warm Mediterranean spring day than with a cone of gelato in hand? We wanted to create our own version so we approached gelato experts Carpigiani, who invited Wallpaper* entertaining director Melina Keays to Bologna to craft two bespoke flavours - a creamy cardamom and pistachio gelato, and a cool pineapple and basil sorbet. The Wallpaper* gelato was served at the opening party from a state-of-the-art Screen ice cream freezer, designed by Delineodesign.

Watch a behind-the-scenes film about the making of the Wallpaper* gelato at Carpigiani Gelato University

Photography: Elisabetta Claudio

www.gelatouniversity.com
www.ifi.it

We like to work hard, play hard and travel light, so we asked Paris-based design duo Jouin Manku to come up with a vehicle that could combine all three elements into a fun experience for designers. The result became a collaboration with French company D3 Groupe, who transformed an electronic U-Box vehicle into an atelier on wheels for creatives. This allowed them to travel sustainably while working on their designs, listening to music, watching the scenery, breathing fresh air and exploring new ideas.

Photography: Hélène Hilaire

www.jouinmanku.com
www.numerodesign.com

Lindberg makes spectacles like no one else. So we charged British designer Peter Marigold with looking at how Lindberg makes its specs and then doing something else entirely. Or rather, taking its titanium twisting and turning technical and manufacturing nous and creating an entirely new product. The result is one of the most dramatic pieces in the exhibition. Marigold has strung together titanium strip sandwiches, each holding a small LED, to create a sort of branch lightning, designed specifically for the stairwell of the Brioni HQ.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.lindberg.com
www.petermarigold.com

Lernert & Sander's idea for this film arose naturally from the marriage of Brioni's bespoke tailoring and our Handmade theme. 'What better way to showcase the abilities of Brioni's tailors than to set them the ultimate test of skill with a particularly exacting customer?' they ask. Watch the film

Photography: Lernert & Sander

www.lernertandsander.com
www.brioni.com

David Kohn's design was conceived of as a pavilion that would offer a unique, kaleidoscopic view of its video content and the surrounding palazzo. Iconic Italian designers such as Gio Ponti, Carlo Scarpa and Lina Bo Bardi inspired the design's primary forms and bold colours.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.davidkohn.co.uk
www.changeperformingarts.com

We've admired Madeline Weinrib's geometric rugs and block-print cushions for quite some time now. So when looking around for a quilt to pair with Lee Broom's 'Parq Life' bed, we turned to the New York designer and asked her to come up with a bespoke solution. Weinrib obliged by incorporating several fabric designs from her new collection into a striking pattern to create a graphic bed cover, which she then handstitched in her studio.

http://www.madelineweinrib.com

Combining parquet's herringbone pattern with contemporary curves, Lee Broom's 'Parq Life' collection caught our eye when it debuted at last year's Clerkenwell Design Week. So we invited the London designer to extend his collection of lamps, sideboards and coffee tables, and design a bed in the same sleek, satin-finished walnut veneer.

http://www.leebroom.com
http://www.deadgoodltd.co.uk

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

French artist Thierry Dreyfus says of his work: 'For a while now, I have been working on using and shaping light to create a feeling of time slowing down and of weightlessness in the heart of the urban environment. "Élément of Lumière, Millimétronome" aims at slackening visitors' pace inside the room: a luminous metronome, it regulates, conducts and absorbs jagged times. Entirely crafted by hand, "Millimétronome" evokes the memory of lead, charcoal and oil pastels. Behind the pendulum, the hidden mechanics also evoke a meticulous creative process. Following its rhythmic movement, a pencil draws circles on the wall, imprisoning traces of time. Adjustable along the main bar, a magnifying glass zooms on the "writings" left by the pastels. As time goes by, brittle pastel fragments come running down the wall, onto the floor. "Millimétronome" is a luminous object that paces time to better reveal its intimate presence.' Limited edition of eight, plus two signed and numbered artist's proofs. Made to order. Materials: steel, wood, glass and LED

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.atelierthierrydreyfus.fr

Throughout the exhibition's opening day, Dutch artists Gijs Frieling and Job Wouters were busy creating a live painting based on the Wallpaper* Handmade logo design with paints by Schmincke.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.www.letman.com
www.gijsfrieling.nl
www.schmincke.de

Irish architects O'Donnell + Tuomey worked with Joseph Walsh Studio on developing a wall-mounted bureau that had the refinement and craftsmanship of bespoke luggage and the mysterious possibilities of a cabinet of curiosities. Made in ash and leather, when closed the bureau is a discreet box, but when opened it exposes a private world of correspondence and intimacies.

http://www.josephwalshstudio.com
http://www.odonnell-tuomey.ie

Cathal Loughnane and Peter Sheehan of Design Partners began their collaboration with Joseph Walsh Studio by buying a plain wooden armchair. Out of this they began to carve a new and improved chair, then sculpted a model that was later scanned and digitised. From here, Joseph Walsh Studio 'carved' its own live version. Meanwhile, Erica Wakerly designed a seat fabric that echoes the unique way in which the chair's pad wraps around the seat. There is a quiet, graphic simplicity to the upholstery, but also an irregularity, giving a sense of character and belonging to the chair.

http://www.designpartners.com
http://www.ericawakerly.co.uk

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

Paul Cocksedge turns the conventional bookmark on its head. Made of Pentelikon marble provided by Smili, the piece is strong and smooth, created with CNC water-jet cutting technology at the Smili workshop in Athens. Perfectly sized for your Wallpaper* magazine, it comes in two versions that rock.

Buy the bookmark

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.paulcocksedgeshop.com
www.smili.eu

Berthold Hoffmann's limited-edition, cast-iron cookware pieces are all finished by hand at his Nuremberg studio. We asked him to create a series of planters and he delivered beautiful extensions of his graphic aesthetic - which we filled with flowers courtesy of Belgian florist Baltimore Bloemen.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.hoffmann-metallgefaesse.de
www.baltimorebloemen.be

For last year's Handmade exhibit, Belgian designer Michaël Verheyden created a luxurious geometry set, so we invited him to try a larger-scale piece this year. Verheyden chose a games table that seats eight, covered in soft nappa leather with oak legs and brass detailing. It houses a secret compartment with a brass handle (engraved with the Handmade seal by Belgian engraver Mauquoy) for storing games and playing cards. Four small brass trays, connected to the legs and hidden under the table, can hold each player's dice - or a glass of whisky.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.michaelverheyden.be

After generations of handcarving cameos, Italy's De Simone made good use of its experience to produce James Irvine's seashell dominoes, featuring inset cameos and the Wallpaper* asterisk.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.james-irvine.com
www.desimonefratelli.com

This unique minimalist bathroom concept, which plays with spatial arrangements and materials, is the work of British furniture maker Paul Kelley and Italian bathroom specialist Agape. Finished with Agape's refined fixtures, the work references American sculptors Donald Judd and Richard Serra. A copper-clad volume hides a shower, washbasin and shelving unit, while the bath is revealed by sliding back a huge wooden teak cover.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.paulkelley.co.uk
www.agapedesign.it

Over the years make-up packaging has moved away from decorative gold to minimally embellished, matt black casings. However, Guerlain, a perennial cosmetic favourite of ours, has generally stuck to its opulent guns. We saw an opportunity to make an edit of its make-up classics and dress them to suit a modern environment. In the hands of Daniel Emma, the Handmade collection became a trio of galactic forms in satin brass, which discreetly open to reveal a Guerlain colour classic.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.daniel-emma.com
www.guerlain.com

We asked Industrial Facility to design a tent and Louis Vuitton to make it. Taking a foldable steamer bag and inverted 'V' logo as a starting point, the result is leather-trimmed with pegs that are overscale tacks lifted from a Vuitton trunk. And, as our matching bag wasn't quite ready for the show, we borrowed a 1901 Louis Vuitton original.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.industrialfacility.com
www.louisvuitton.com

Combining a tabletop skittles game (entitled 'Devil Among the Tailors'), a desk and a pub table, this piece is as playful as it is clever and beautifully produced by Benchmark in two American hardwood versions - ash and walnut, and cherry and maple.

Watch a film about Devil Among the Tailors

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.aberrantarchitecture.com
www.americanhardwood.org
www.benchmarkfurniture.com

 Applying its skills to textiles for the first time, research-based design practice Balmond Studio created 'Nexus', an embroidered fabric featuring a pattern derived from algorithms. The digital line takes on the delicacy of the thread, creating a dynamic cross between the handmade and the contemporary. To realise the piece, Balmond Studio collaborated with London Embroidery Studio.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.balmondstudio.com

New York-based industrial designer Lindsey Adelman's chandeliers are a revelation, which is why we asked her to create a large-scale piece for us. Inspired by icicles hanging from a barn she photographed in Maine, she came up with a chandelier made up of glass icicles that hang on a metal framework. She then paired it with a set of 40 wooden candlesticks with cast bronze fungus detailing.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.lindseyadelman.com

As lovers of good packaging, we turned to paper connoisseurs Postalco to create the ultimate wrapping paper set to truly get us into the spirit of giving. The set includes wrapping paper, two sizes of gift cards and two styles of gift bags that all feature a dynamic design of variegated stripes that have been individually printed on Postalco co-founder Mike Abelson's handmade wheel printer.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.postalco.net

We thought it was time to bring back the Roman concept of cleansing with oil and using a strigil to scrape it away with the day's dirt. Elemental Herbology looked to the oils of Italy, using neroli and olive to create the fragrant cleansing mix, while Charlotte Talbot designed the modern strigil and box for the oil.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.elementalherbology.com
www.charlottetalbot.com

Responding to the growing buzz around communal dining, Rockwell Group reimagined the Lazy Susan, now lovingly renamed 'Sliding Sue', as a linear structure that theatrically conveys dishes via a dual-tiered table runner. 'Sue' may playfully take her styling cues from the American Arts and Crafts era, but industrial metal details and soapstone trays firmly anchor the piece in the here and now.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.rockwellgroup.com
www.ca-atelier.com

We teamed up with Alexander McQueen for a special installation of handmade pieces from the brand's S/S 2012 collection, edited by our fashion director Sébastien Clivaz. The results, displayed at its Milan flagship store, showcased unique handcrafted techniques, including laser-cutting, handstitched pleating and hand-massaging. The one-off lace mask in our exhibition was handmade in the brand's London studio as a variation of a design seen in the S/S 2012 collection.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.alexandermcqueen.com

As return tenants to Brioni's Milan HQ, the challenge was put to our exhibition designers, Frederik De Wachter and Alberto Artesani of DWA, to transform the palazzo for the third year running. In contrast to the seductive moodiness of last year, they created a network of suspended platforms and troughs that created a discernible lightness. The mood was further enhanced by mixing Styrofoam packing material and light-coloured felts into the exhibits, bringing a Japanese garden ambience to the heart of Milan.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.dw-a.it

This pair of footstools, with their gilded carved oak legs and 'waisted' seats, have been dressed with off-white cotton crochet covers laid over a blue grey silk base. The specially created 3D crochet pattern is entirely handmade and based on a digital design of exploding atoms, molecules and flowers.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

davidcollins.com

Inspired by its nature-based prints, we called on fashion label Swash to make a sleeping bag for us. It came up with a camping-inspired forest design, which became the outer layer of Rab's lightweight Neutrino 400 model. Assembled and filled in Rab's Derbyshire factory, it also has a tangerine-coloured inner layer, a brass button and a leather harness.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.swash.co.uk
www.rab.uk.com

We challenged fashion designer Neil Barrett to create a fabric for Rodolfo Dordoni's 'Jensen' armchair and ottoman, designed for Minotti. Working with a traditional mill in Como, he magnified and unravelled a traditional chevron pattern in an engineered double-faced jacquard, in classic chalk and black.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.neilbarrett.com
www.minotti.com

Paying homage to legendary designer Barbara D'Arcy's 1970s Kartell merchandise displays at Bloomingdale's New York, the D'Arcy Party installation uses more than 150 Kartell 'Componibili' modular units to revisit D'Arcy's cosmopolitan approach, adding a contemporary hint of neo-noir film mystery.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.architectureatlarge.com
www.kartell.it

First presented in Milan last year, the cast-aluminium and moulded plywood 'Sellier' chair has been customised for us in wool felt and Everlisse cowhide - a combination that recalls Hermès' famed saddles.

Photography: Tommaso Sartori

www.renadumas.com
www.benque.com
www.hermes.com