They say nothing worth having comes easy, and that could certainly apply to getting to Anantara Tented Camp Kafue River in Zambia. After an 11-hour flight, followed by another two-hour hop by plane, and a five-hour car journey (the resort will soon get its own private airstrip), our 4x4 slowly rolled into camp after the sun had set, leaving it wrapped in darkness. Happily, glowing lights illuminated the pathway to a private villa, where we would stay for two days.

In the morning, light touched the surrounding landscape, proudly revealing where we had landed up and the tranquillity of the gently flowing Kafue River nearby. The camp itself, which had been under construction for three years before opening in September 2026, is elevated three metres above the ground on a series of stilts, its various elements connected by winding walkways. Ahead lies a slice of the 1,576km river, where elephants, hippos and crocodiles cool off.

With monkeys playing outside, eagles and kingfishers calling, and a mother elephant and her calf casually grazing at the entrance to the camp, the journey was well worth the effort.

Wallpaper* checks in at Anantara Tented Camp Kafue River

What’s on your doorstep?

Luxury hotel group Anantara, best known in Zambia for Anantara The Royal Livingstone at Victoria Falls, launched the tented camp as a way of creating a more sustainable safari experience. However, the thread that runs through the entire stay is its adaptability. This is achieved predominantly through a villa host – a dedicated member of the team who ensures guests’ itinerary runs smoothly, from bringing early-morning cappuccinos to escorting you to the safari area.

Start the day just after dawn with a 4x4 safari through Kafue National Park. The rangers, charming and knowledgeable, identify and point out camouflaged wildlife, from rare birds and leopards to elephants and warthogs. Enjoy coffee and homemade biscuits along the way, before returning to the camp for breakfast. If you prefer being on the water, a river safari is an incredibly calming way to start or end the day. Here, spotting a hippo in the Kafue River is as easy as seeing a cow in the English countryside. Resist any urge to take a dip, however, as the local wildlife is not accommodating of the casual swimmer.

One note: pack long trousers and long-sleeved tops to help prevent insect bites, and avoid blue and black – the pesky tsetse fly’s favourite colours.

Who is behind the design?

The interiors of the villas, suites and main reception and dining area are tactile, vibrant and playful. Meg Ralph, founder of her namesake design studio based in South Africa, spearheaded the design and steered clear of any clichéd game-park interiors – think animal prints and British colonial touches.

Instead, she focused on the abstract. Wall hangings that resemble a recognisable giraffe print are formed from clusters of geometric shapes; fringed pieces hang from the walls, fully integrating decoration into the interior; and large tables display carefully selected books that highlight the region’s craftsmanship. Curved wicker lights anchor the space, acting as both sculptural and functional elements.

The room to book

The camp comprises ten Kafue Pool Villas and three Horizon Terrace Suites. The former are set along a winding walkway, each named after a native tree. At the entrance, there is space for shoes, umbrellas and blankets, as well as an Instax Mini camera, free to use during your stay. Inside, the space truly unfolds. Glass sliding doors form the façade facing the river, offering uninterrupted views. The living area to the right is generous, with a fridge and a coffee machine stocked and ready. To the left are a large bed, a walk-in wardrobe and a desk.

Further into the villa, there is a dressing table, and a built-in spa suite for treatments from the comfort of your room. The bathroom features a large central tub, while double sinks overlook the terrace outside. The shower doubles as a sauna and steam room, ideal for unwinding. Outside, you will find an outdoor shower, a plunge pool, a seating area and a kitchen, giving guests the option to dine at their villa at any time.

The Horizon Terrace Suite feels like staying amid the tree canopy. Elevated 14.3 metres above the ground, it is accessed via a glass lift and offers 360-degree views of the river and park – a perspective rarely found in a safari camp.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

The food is inspired by the setting, but can be adapted to your preferences. There is the main dining area, Luzuba Harvestry, or you can enjoy food in the comfort of your villa. Less conventional are a sunken pontoon floating in the middle of the river, for a more intimate experience, and the chance to sip a mojito or a gin and tonic made with local 1964 Gin out in the bush.

Where to switch off

The riverside location is embraced throughout the design of the camp and even feeds into the gym. Fully equipped with Technogym equipment, the fitness suite floats on the water, overlooking the surrounding wildlife – the first of its kind in Africa.

The suites, with their private spa areas, are perfect for enjoying a massage or facial treatment and truly unwinding. However, a highlight of the trip was enjoying a refreshing mocktail at the end of the day, sitting in deep chairs around three giant fire pits in the main resort area. It’s a beautiful way to share stories and get to know fellow travellers.

The verdict

Anantara Tented Camp Kafue River aims to set a benchmark for eco-tourism, with the environment at the forefront of its design. What holds the camp together, though, is the hospitality – care and attentiveness sit at its heart, while kindness radiates throughout.

Stays start from £5,500 per room per night based on two people sharing a suite on full board, premium beverages, game drives and massage treatments. anantara.com

With the arrival of autumn, our thoughts can finally turn to more agreeable prospects: ski season. A snowy Courchevel sounds particularly enticing to those who were never made for the heat. If you're anticipating the layers-worthy weather, here's a little escapism: a new luxury ski residence designed by London studio Spinocchia Freund, Chalet Grand Chariot.

Developed under the eye of founder and creative director Brigitta Spinocchia Freund, the private residence lies in Courchevel village, embodying the resort's alluring blend of convenience and exclusivity, with ski-in, ski-out access alongside proximity to designer boutiques and Michelin-starred restaurants.

Spanning a dizzying 30,000 sq ft, Grand Chariot exists somewhere between a private home and a five-star hotel. Views are, of course, paramount: the residence occupies an impressive mountainside position looking out across snow-covered forests and surrounding alpine peaks.

Inside, the challenge was to balance scale with warmth, one that Spinocchia Freund strikes through the richness of timber, the earthiness of stone and an abundance of woven details. These are design languages frequently drawn upon in alpine interiors, with wood and stone echoing the mountains beyond. But here, refined detailing elevates proceedings from rustic to elegant.

The layout is zoned between communal areas and private retreats. Chief among the latter is the principal suite, conceived as a private apartment within the chalet, complete with bespoke joinery, handcrafted furnishings and generous dressing rooms. Ten further bedrooms each have their own identity, with bespoke linens and individual vignettes framing the surroundings. This thoughtful lack of uniformity reinforces the sense that this is a private home first and a ‘hotel’ second.

Entertainment and relaxation sit at the heart of the Grand Chariot experience. A vast dining table anchors the home, a natural gathering point for hearty meals; the stylish bar is made for après-ski drinks; and fireplaces warm several lounges, perfect for unwinding after a day on the slopes. And that's only the beginning – the lower ground floor is devoted entirely to leisure, with a traditional bowling alley, a cinema and a games room complete with vintage arcade machines, alongside wellness facilities including a swimming pool, spa and treatment rooms.

For anyone dreaming of the mountains, it's hard to imagine a more persuasive vision of ski season.

Louise Trotter has made a habit of infusing her tenure at Bottega Veneta with art since her debut show for the house last year. Then, it was a showspace bedecked with jewel-toned Murano glass stools, hand-blown by Milan-based studio 6:AM – audience seating which looked more like ethereal sculptures. In April, she launched an ongoing series titled ‘Bottega Veneta for the Arts,’ in which the brand collaborates with contemporary artists and artisans, beginning with photographer Peter Fraser. For S/S 2027, Trotter’s third ready-to-wear outing for the Italian house, she commissioned German visual and sound artist Florian Hecker to create a site-specific pre-show installation titled Scintillations 20 (2026).

Taking place last night (26 September 2026) at Milan Fashion Week, the work comprises 20 loudspeakers, playing a distinct atmospheric, textural sound generated by Hecker, coming together to form a unique soundscape that permeated through the space. Following the show, Bottega Veneta has acquired one loudspeaker for the house’s archive. With this element and its associated sound removed, the installation can never be staged again – making tonight’s audience privy to a singular, durational artwork that cannot be replicated.

Florian Hecker on his site-specific installation for Bottega Veneta S/S 2027

‘I enjoy working with spaces which have not been conceived for sound in the first place and also when sound is in dialogue with something outside itself,’ Hecker told Wallpaper* in an exclusive interview. ‘With the sonic, there are more spaces than just the built or architectural; there’s the acoustic space the piece inhabits, and also the mental space of how one is processing the sounds. This ambiguity is central to the piece; each loudspeaker is coupled with a stainless steel reflector that multiplies the notion of a visually seen sound source and of a perceived location of a sound in space that might not correspond.’

Hecker describes the soundscape as being ‘a bit like a cloud-like structure present in the room, weightless and enveloping, something closer to light diffusing through air than to music in the conventional sense.’ The audio was computer-generated, with processes taken from varying synthesis techniques across the decades. ‘Many of the sounds sit on the very edge between something that might be familiar and at once not, working with resynthesis methods that all come with their own characteristics and also instabilities,’ he said. ‘I was looking for something with a lightweight quality, of surface and grain and with a continuous dynamic.’

With the soundtrack of the runway show provided by British artist Mark Leckey, the work holds a particular significance for Hecker: ‘We had a joint 12-inch release a few years ago, and now this project together – which also meant working with ideas that were about mood and reference points, decades, maybe a certain nostalgia, into something built from synthesis, so no samples, no literal references, this was at the core of the collaboration.’ Of working alongside Trotter, Hecker remarked, ‘there was great trust from the beginning, which helps enormously when the sounds themselves often resist linguistic description.’

The work set the scene for a collection by Trotter inspired by the moment that spring turns into summer, whereby layers are shed, and you look for lightness in clothing. ‘A physical and mental de-robing,’ she described. ‘Summer as a proposition: to wear less, but feel more.’ To further capture this mood, a leather flower – handmade by the house’s leather atelier – had been laid on each seat, a series of resin-coated cardboard boxes by artist Illya Goldman Gubin. ‘The space evokes the bright airiness of summer and, with it, a renewed sense of possibility,’ says Trotter.

Stay tuned for more from Milan Fashion Week S/S 2027.

The subject of home is a multifaceted one. A place of refuge and routine, it can also be a place of containment and mundanity – eclectic meanings ripe for exploration by artists through the medium of sculpture.

In ‘There’s No Place Like It,’ curated by designer Henry Holland, members of the Royal Society of Sculptors muse on these meanings in works alternately poignant, humorous or unsettling. ‘I was really looking for pieces that made me feel something,’ says Holland, who was drawn to the theme upon being invited to curate works by Caroline Worthington, director of the Royal Society of Sculptors.

For Holland, home is a feeling, he says, adding he was keen to discover the artists’ often more subversive interpretations. 'I really hope that, like me, people come away from the show questioning their existing thoughts on what home can mean, while also exploring ways that this can be much broader - in essence, through reading and learning about some of the artists and the ways that they have approached the work,' Holland says.

Artists including Nick Hornby, Poojan Gupta, Michael Coombs, Abigail Norris, Dido Crosby and Victoria Ferrand Scott consider home through fragments, from the physical impact we leave on it - the hair in a brush, the shoes by a door, to the mementoes that become imbued with a greater significance.

‘I think the medium of sculpture allows the artist to explore the theme of home in such an evocative way, by subverting and repurposing recognisable motifs,’ adds Holland. ‘It helps to build a narrative that is completely personal and unique to the artist. What I love about the selection of pieces that we have in the exhibition is how varied the interpretations of home have been to each individual artist.’

There’s No Place Like It, The Royal Society of Sculptors Summer exhibition, curated by Henry Holland until 28 November 2026

sculptors.org.uk

In a Wallpaper* summer series, architect Carlo Ratti explores Italy through the ordinary objects that define daily life. As autumn kicks in, he waves goodbye to the sunny season - for now

It was my first time writing a summer column. Fourteen Sundays, fourteen Italian objects, from the condom to the condominium. Each week, we took something ordinary, explored its genesis, and tried to figure out what it might contain as a general lesson about design and the way we live. All fourteen pieces are collected below. As summer now draws to an end, I wanted to share a few final thoughts.

Design is a great way to start a conversation. I followed the reposting of the pieces online and the vast number of comments they generated. They taught me that an object goes on living in the hands of those who use it and argue with it, and that we can learn from that argument. As in natural evolution, these feedback loops can improve design itself – and perhaps also us as designers.

Also, in the middle of the summer, I received a WhatsApp message out of the blue from a glitterati friend. 'Why are you writing?' he started, and then: 'What are you trying to achieve?' It made me reflect on the importance of writing in the world of design. After all, Le Corbusier left some 75 buildings and close to 50 books (it is not obvious to me which caused more damage…). After some thought, I came up with five answers.

One. I was born sufficiently north in Italy that I guess I could not escape the sirens of France - and especially the concept of the intellectuel engagé: the belief that intellectual work should have a social return, that ideas should circulate beyond academic or professional circles.

Two. But there is something more. As a student, I worked with Umberto Eco. One of his books that I particularly love is Opera aperta: the idea that, like nature, our ideas evolve through open-ended feedback loops and continuous transformation. I write about our projects not simply to explain them, but to start a conversation around them.

Three. And ideas, when made public, can become self-fulfilling prophecies. Through discussion, they can activate a coalition of interests around them. This has happened to me before: articles and interviews on urban issues have contributed to preserving or transforming buildings, places, and fragments of cities.

Four. Of course, there is also vanity. Having someone read your words is a small form of recognition, a caress from the crowd. But, like vanity itself, it can be productive: it forces us to reflect on what one could call our 'positioning.' What we are doing, why we are doing it, and ultimately who we are.

Five. Finally, perhaps this is about life itself. My great-aunt, Parisian by adoption and a poet by profession, used to say that only a few things really matter. Her question was: What did I do with my life? Answer: Un peu de conversation… That is what this summer has been. Thank you for the conversation.

'Objectify' - Carlo Ratti's 14 objects

About 'Objectify' – a summer series from Italy by Carlo Ratti

Italy’s design canon has been told many times. The Bialetti moka pot, the Vespa, the Fiat 500, the Arco floor lamp: you know the list, and so does every airport bookshop and first-year design student. This column will discuss, poke, investigate, prod, ridicule and beatify the less glamorous Italian objects. They are the ones you ought to know, so that when you visit Italy, or spot apparitions of it on a friend’s social media, you can smugly point out: “Did you know the mosquito coil is a masterpiece of Italian design? The condom? The motorway toll transponder?” Objects so ordinary that Italians walk past them, or handle them every day, without registering that someone, with a mellifluous surname, designed them.

Proust wrote a seven-volume novel because a small cake dipped in tea, the madeleine, unlocked an involuntary flood of memory. For followers of the Italian version of this column, published weekly in Il Sole 24 Ore, the nation’s favourite Sunday read, perhaps these objects will have a similar effect. For you, anglophone readers peering at this somewhere between Rummidge and Euforia, they offer something else: beach conversation topics, an eye trained on unexpected places, and perhaps a few new madeleines for when you visit the peninsula yourself. After all, objects are never just objects. As the great Milanese designer Achille Castiglioni of Arco-floor-lamp fame once declared: “Objects should keep us company.” Especially during this scorching summer.

carlorattiassociati.com

When it comes to interiors, Westwing has plenty to offer. As the year draws to a close, the brand’s take on the advent calendar turns the countdown to Christmas into a celebration of design, with a curation of surprises combining pieces from its own collection with an edit of finds from premium partner brands.

It comes in an oversized red-and-white house-shaped box elegantly illustrated by Kera Till, a Munich-based artist whose whimsical motifs have featured on previous collaborations with Westwing. Behind each of the 24 doors is a design-worthy surprise, spanning home decor, tableware and self-care essentials, to be enjoyed during the festive season and beyond.

What's inside the Westwing advent calendar

The collection brings together some of Westwing’s most coveted brands, including Aesop, Audo Copenhagen, Ferm Living, Vinga, DBKD, Philippi, Vondels, WMF, Archivist and Broste. Several pieces have been specially customised for the calendar and aren’t available for individual purchase, adding an exclusive touch to the experience.

Beautiful yet functional, objects have been chosen to inspire elegant spaces and elevate the everyday, reflecting Westwing’s focus on craftsmanship, considered design and timeless appeal. Without giving too much away, last year’s sold-out edition featured a scented candle by Meraki, place card holders by Georg Jensen, and a wood plaid from Westwing's Collection – alongside linen napkins, champagne coupes, Christmas stockings and other festive accessories.

This launch comes at an exciting moment for the company: following its online UK debut earlier this year, Westwing opened its first flagship store in Germany in September, marking another step in its growing presence in the world of home and lifestyle.

As the brand continues to expand its offering for design-conscious consumers across Europe, the calendar captures its vision for shaping trends and taste. Conceived to be gifted or enjoyed as a daily discovery, it is a considered way to round off the year in style.

To work with glass is to work with contrasts – precision and spontaneity, fragility and strength. This frisson was on full display earlier this month at the tenth edition of The Venice Glass Week. Dedicated to the art of glass, the festival hosted more than 200 events from both Italian and international participants in a meeting of tradition and innovation, and, most importantly, vision.

Explore 12 chandelier from some the world's most notable creatives

The flagship event was called Murano Illumina il Mondo (Murano Lights Up the World): twelve chandeliers, made in collaboration between leading contemporary creatives and Murano’s finest glassmakers, lit up the Procuratie Vecchie of St Mark’s Square (and will stay up until November 1).

Designed by renowned architect Lord Norman Foster and forged by Salviati, The Hydra Chandelier turns traditional Venetian chandelier design on its head – its 20 arms throw light upwards, eschewing the usual construction’s chiaroscuro so it can illuminate the ancient portico in a red glow.

For Foster’s first time working with the Murano maestri, he chose a frosted glass to showcase the distinctive fine lines of the Rigadin technique (a Salviati signature). It gives the piece a sense of lightness and flow, which in turn emphasises the continuous line of the chandelier – no ornate layering of arms, nor botanical motifs, here.

'It's everything about tradition, and yet it's a reinterpretation in today's terms,' says Lord Foster. 'Instead of the mass being the central spine, the visual elements are arms reaching out, which then gives a very interesting challenge technically in how you support that.'

Salviati is recognised for reviving the Murano glass industry since the late 1850s, and they worked with the Norman Foster Foundation team on significant research and development still. 'All those accumulated years of experience to produce a material which is inherently fragile, then assumes an extraordinary degree of strength. I mean, to see that process and to share it is inspirational and educational,' adds Foster.

Multidisciplinary designer Bethan Laura Wood worked with maestro Matteo Tagliapietra of Gambaro & Tagliapietra on Taiko. Inspired by the traditional Japanese drum, its vibrant barrel forms resound with Murano’s filigree techniques (where thin canne glass rods are embedded inside a crystal-clear glass body to form patterns). From the mosaic-like murrina to the lace-like reticello, Wood is fascinated with how glass behaves under pressure.

'I wouldn't say I understand it completely because I think glass is quite a magical mystery, but it was really exciting to start to try and get a better understanding of how you start to predict what might happen with the behaviour of the glass, and you start to understand the way that different paints can be built or pulled to change the way that they behave when they're worked,' says Wood. 'I also love this mix between solidity and fluidity, especially when you're looking at the murrine and the bubbles that we've produced together.'

Many of the architects, designers and artists involved in Murano Illumina il Mondo are continuing to work with the glassmakers they were paired with to create commercial versions of their chandelier with a 'perfection of the imperfection', as Foster puts it.

A rapid water taxi ride from St Mark's Square, Murano is around one square kilometre, and yet according to a report by Banca Ifis (sponsor of The Venice Glass Week), 160 glass manufacturers operate there. Many are still family-owned, and employ more than 900 people and generate revenues close to €180 million. Despite a volatile energy market, the furnaces keep burning, and the centuries-old craft finds new forms through the suggestion of modern creatives and the gesture of the master glassmakers.

'Glass continues to be a living part of its present and future, melding together art and work, culture and enterprise, tradition and innovation,' says the Mayor of Venice, Simone Venturini. 'Glass perhaps tells the story of Venice better than any other material. It is born from fire, from an incandescent temperature, from a moment when everything is still possible.'

theveniceglassweek.com is on view until November 1 2026

From a distance, you might be forgiven for mistaking this São Paulo house for a leafy part of urban design. Yet upon approach, it becomes apparent that this is no park - but the lush exterior of a thoroughly contemporary family home in the heart of the Brazilian metropolis. Welcome to 111 House, a modernist-inspired property designed by Isay Weinfeld - a home further elevated by the Brazilian architect's close collaboration with his landscape counterpart, the specialist Rodrigo Oliveira.

The home, a family base for a couple of contemporary art collectors and their two children, was conceived as a space for displaying artworks but also an informal residence for meeting friends and experiencing daily life, 'in a simple and unpretentious way,' the architects explain.

Explore a São Paulo house by Isay Weinfeld with landscape by Rodrigo Oliveira

Weinfeld is a deft hand at crafting modern homes that nod to Brazilian modernism's defining principles – as the architect himself is part of a generation of his country's architects who picked up where leading modernists such as Oscar Niemeyer left off, taking the South American country's architecture to its contemporary chapter. Past projects include projects such as Geneses House, which won a Wallpaper* Design Award for Best Private House in 2014.

In this São Paulo house – titled 111 House – Weinfeld brought to the project another key proponent of Brazilian design – Oliveira, who adheres to a naturalistic garden perspective, inspired by Japanese garden methodology and the asymmetric beauty of nature itself. The landscape architect typically works towards 'spontaneous-looking gardens that blend seamlessly into the surroundings,’ he told us in an interview in 2025.

111 House matches an urban plot and 517 sq m of built space with a generous 280 sq m garden. Here, Weinfeld's expert language of clean lines, raw concrete and warm timber surfaces blends effortlessly with vegetation that overflows, smoothing edges, softening boundaries and creating a dynamic facade that will change with time and the seasons.

Planters have cleverly been incorporated into the facade's fabric, so that greenery and flowers take over not simply on the ground level or terraces, as is most conventional, but also vertically, moving upwards through the elevations on all sides of the building.

Oliveira's naturalistic philosophy for landscape design meant that he worked on consolidating plants that thrive in a variety of climatic conditions and better reflect the territory's current and future needs, where weather and nature are concerned.

The studio writes: 'Rather than resorting to a tropical forest of broad leaves and dense volumes, often associated with the Brazilian landscape, the house receives cold-climate species, small foliage, flowers and great botanical diversity. These are wind-resistant plants, easier to maintain and capable of ageing well, composing a delicate garden without losing presence.'

As the house unfolds across four levels, the property's footprint remains relatively small to allow for the garden around it to thrive. At the same time, overhangs, pergolas and the planting serve as brise-soleil to underline comfortable urban living for the residents year-round.

isayweinfeld.com

rodrigooliveirapaisagismo.com.br

Demna’s debut runway show for Gucci, held in February, took place amid a monolithic, marble-clad ‘museum’ inspired by the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and constructed from scratch in Milan’s Palazzo delle Scintille. Lined with recreations of Roman and Hellenistic statuary, Demna said he wanted to reassert the place that Gucci holds within Italian culture – as much a part of the country’s character as the masterworks inside the Uffizi (the gallery occupies the same piazza as Palazzo Gucci, the spiritual home of the brand, which was founded in the Tuscan city in 1921).

The realisation had come while viewing Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus – a work that Demna had encountered endlessly (it is one of the most replicated pieces of art in history), yet never viewed in real life. ‘Standing in front of it, I felt overwhelmed,’ he wrote. ‘The beauty in it was unconditional; it was absolute. When I left the museum and stepped into Piazza della Signoria, the first thing I saw was Palazzo Gucci. In that moment, I understood the place Gucci holds within Italian culture.’

This afternoon in Milan (25 September 2026), Demna held his second runway show for Gucci, staged in a simulacrum of a Gucci store meticulously constructed within the Allianz Mi-Co events space. It was designed to resemble Demna’s new ‘store concept’ for the house, which will begin with a renovated Paris store that opens in late October on Avenue Montaigne (further stores around the world will follow).

Within it, nods to ancient antiquity – stone frescoes, recreations of classical statues, sets of urns – recalled his debut’s showspace; elsewhere, planes of marble, velvet banquettes and high-pile carpets signalled Gucci’s association with luxury. The designer said he wanted it to have ‘monumental’ quality – a return to the days when the Gucci store was a true temple of desire (in the late 1970s, high-spending consumers at New York and Los Angeles stores were given a golden key to access the exclusive Gucci Galleria).

‘My first year at Gucci was dedicated to understanding and formulating what Gucci stands for,’ Demna wrote in a letter to guests. ‘The conclusion of my research is that Gucci stands for being rooted in the desire to belong to a more glamorous world, and in the audacity to remake that world in your own image.’

The show that followed saw models traverse the show space as if haughtily shopping for handbags or shoes (indeed, real product from recent collections hung around the ‘store’). ‘Gucci is about luxury that wants to be seen – it is about the tension between propriety and sensuality,’ he said. ‘The house begins with polished bourgeois respectability, but its most memorable periods introduce eccentricity, danger or sex appeal into that respectable world.’

As has become his signature – at both Gucci and Balenciaga, where he was creative director previously – the collection began with archetypes, among them ‘The Rebellious Aristocrat’, ‘The Snob’ and ‘The Eccentric’, which were here conjured by a cast which included Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Poppy Delevingne and Alex Consani. Bourgeois ‘fur’ coats and sinuous sparkling gowns met body-contouring riffs on equestrian attire, louche double-breasted tailoring and overcoats, as well as elements of prep: layered polos, tucked-in ties and sweaters worn over the shoulder all featured. Elsewhere, the horse bit became a recurring motif, whether miniature on the collar of a shirt or the pocket of a leather jacket, or supersized as a fastening on the back of a jacket or slung around the waist.

‘It kind of feels like it’s my first show for Gucci,’ he said backstage after the show, which he described as ‘broken bourgeoisie’ – a departure, he said, from his ‘comfort zone’. ‘I cannot base my whole vision on the 1990s – [on] snobby fashion glamour,’ he continued. ‘But you think about Gucci before fashion, before Tom [Ford], this is how it was, it was all about this claimed bourgeoisie. It’s quintessentially Gucci.’

Stay tuned to wallpaper.com for more from Milan Fashion Week S/S 2027.

Fondation Beyeler has just unveiled a new jewel in its crown; the art institution's leafy Basel campus now has a rare Peter Zumthor building – and more. The site has just soft-launched an expanded collection of spaces, including an entire, brand-new museum building, a dedicated event pavilion, a new office and art-handling facility, a design-led greenhouse and a listening salon. These new destinations were revealed this week and will be available to the public as a gradual preview for now, before a grand launch in January 2027, when they will be opened permanently and to their full capacity for all to enjoy.

Tour the reimagined Fondation Beyeler campus in Basel

The Fondation Beyeler, situated next to green fields in the corner of Switzerland that borders France and Germany, thus far contained an existing, handsome period structure dating back to the 18th century (which houses one of Basel's friendliest cafés) and the Beyeler Museum, designed by Renzo Piano and opened on site in 1997.

The foundation's rotating exhibitions draw from its impressive collection put together by Ernst and Hildy Beyeler, which includes works from Pablo Picasso to Claude Monet and beyond (over '400 classical, modern and contemporary art works', the website explains). They have so far been predominantly housed at the Piano building – but this is now joined by the trio of new structures, which aim to expand, 'physically and conceptually', the organisation's operations.

The star of the show among the new architectural additions is without doubt the Wyss Museum, a striking, monolithic building designed by Zumthor for art exhibitions drawing on the foundation's own and its regular collaborators' collections. The Swiss architect is known for his attention to detail, craft-based design, precise execution and clean, minimalist style – and this new cultural destination does not disappoint.

Spread across three flowing, open-plan levels, the building is made almost entirely out of a single material – Jura limestone. This appears in its rammed limestone walls, as terrazzo in floors, limestone wash on internal walls, and as slabs on benches. It took 11 builders two years to work on the limestone elements – a lot of it done by hand. Zumthor himself followed the construction closely, visiting the site to ensure the material's natural variation, as it was being rammed in place, felt balanced and appropriate to his vision.

The architect was keen to source all his materials locally – architectural bronze frames the generous openings (the architect likes horizontal light, so large side windows illuminate the galleries softly while allowing the eye to wander towards the verdant surrounds when taking a break from the art shows), and pear tree wood makes up the deliciously smooth handles.

In his Ammann Pavilion, situated at the campus' heart, just outside the Wyss Museum, Zumthor took a similarly local and tactile approach, but focusing on timber instead. Warm cherry wood lines floors and walls, pear tree appears on handles here too, and oak makes up the building's main structural frame.

This building is wrapped in glazing and furnished with pieces composed by Spanish studio Casa Muñoz, destined to be the campus' potentially most public-facing space. Its programme will be varied, spanning concerts, talks and even dinners and private functions, as it was designed to welcome the crowds throughout the day and for different events.

Opposite it and next to the Wyss Museum sits a new tower with glazed façades – the wooden-framed Erlen Torhaus, which hosts offices as well as art-handling logistics. The artworks will come in through this building before being taken to their exhibition spaces beyond. An underground connection between the tower and the Wyss Museum facilitates safe and secure movement of the precious pieces.

The period structures that form the street-facing side of the campus have also been updated with two new interiors – an India Madhavi-designed plant store and greenhouse, designed as a cold house for plants to survive as the climate warms up; and a listening lounge titled the 'Salon', where a collection of vinyl, picked for its sleeves by well- and lesser-known artists, is available to enjoy.

The latter space will have its own public programme, serving as a more intimate space for writing, debating and music sessions. The salon's soft interior, decorated with warm colours and soft furnishings, was created by Antonio Rossi.

The Beyeler also has further plans for its grounds, a formerly private park - now open to the public as a sculpture garden and open urban space. An entirely new garden section is coming up next year, and rotating art pieces, sparsely placed in a way that allows the visitor a sense of discovery, are in the works. New pieces by Louise Bourgeois, Pierre Huyghe, Rachel Whiteread and Fujiko Nakaya have been curated in place. Meanwhile, the garden addition, currently being crafted by Fischli/Weiss, will follow in spring.

Zumthor spoke warmly of his personal connection to the Fondation Beyeler site: 'I grew up in Oberwil, which is only five kilometres from Basel. Back then, it was still a world of its own. And now, with the expansion of the Fondation Beyeler, Iʼm back in the region, after so many years. This really means a lot to me. I know the landscape, the places and the paths. Bettingen lies on the hillside above Riehen; my first girlfriend lived there. We used to visit each other – it was a two-hour walk from Oberwil to Bettingen. Memories like that connect you to a place in a very personal way.

'I havenʼt yet designed a building in Basel myself. I never got an invitation to. So Iʼm all the more pleased that the expansion of Fondation Beyeler allows me to build in a place that means so much to Basel and the region.'

fondationbeyeler.ch

Did you think you knew the work of Geoffrey Bawa? Even if the answer is yes, a visit to the new show at the Vitra Design Museum is certain to offer new insights into the lauded Sri Lankan architect's work to most – as 'Geoffrey Bawa: Architecture for the Senses', now open till the end of February 2027, takes a deep dive into the creative's life and oeuvre. It is a territory that might feel far away to many of the institution's more local Swiss, French and German audience, but, as visitors will discover, it speaks to timeless qualities and an ever-relevant approach to design and architecture that resonates the world around.

Tour the new Geoffrey Bawa show at Vitra Design Museum

Born in 1919, Geoffrey Bawa was one of the most influential architects of the 20th century in his region and beyond, easily joining the ranks of the world's modernist architecture masters as he blended the movement's principles with the rich history and traditions of Sri Lanka, crafting his own version of what modern architecture should be.

Bawa was born to a family of mixed Asian and European heritage, and was a lawyer before training as an architect at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. He graduated in 1957 and set up his studio in his home country, working throughout his career on some 200 projects – some now built and still preserved, some since demolished and several remaining unbuilt.

The architect also designed his own homes – both his urban space in Colombo and a countryside base at the Lunuganga Estate in Bentota, whose sprawling gardens and structures are now run by the Teardrop hotel group – and several of the spaces within, including his private quarters, are now available to book and stay in, adding an extra dimension to what constitutes a visit to Bawa's houses for the architecturally savvy – or simply curious – traveller.

So far, so familiar – as perhaps his own homes are the most well-known Bawa projects and the architecture that most non-specialist audiences, particularly outside Asia, might associate with his portfolio. Yet, the Sri Lankan architect's legacy is so much more than that, and this is precisely what this exhibition has set out to showcase.

Vitra Design Museum director Mateo Kries told us at the opening: 'When you talk to people in Asia, Bawa is extremely well known. No matter whether it's in Japan, in China, or in India, Bawa is like a hero. I had seen the works. Rolf Fehlbaum, our museum founder, had travelled and seen them, and we both thought we should do something on him. Vitra is not producing Bawa furniture. He hasn't built outside of Sri Lanka and India and Southeast Asia.

'We think Bawa is just one architect who shows how the International Style or modernist architecture connected with local traditional, and even colonial influences, and of course Bawa is not the only one to do this; but Bawa is probably one of the most influential examples.

'We wanted this to be an intense, immersive show. It should convey something of that intensity of the places where Bawa built. When you go there, the colours are very intense. Nature is very present because it's [of a kind] that grows extremely fast. It takes over in no time.'

The show is organised in four rooms – the first one starts with the architect's personal homes, a highlight of his portfolio and an ongoing project for him until his death in 2003. He designed both the structures and the gardens. In fact, they illustrate extremely well how much Bawa valued landscape and how he regarded the terrain, the nature and wildlife on each of his sites as an integral part of his project.

The next room takes the visitor into the political and socioeconomic context of Sri Lanka at Bawa's time, showing how he experimented with materials and why, highlighting some of his works – perhaps lesser known than his residential designs, which also include the Ena de Silva house, recently relocated to Lunuganga – that have a more public and social aspect.

Among them is the St Thomas' Preparatory School (the architect here experimented with modernist construction and breeze-block ventilation, which eventually proved tricky in the country's hot and humid climate) and the majestic New Sri Lankan Parliament in Kotte.

Room three zooms into the fascinating blend of art and craft that Bawa brought into his works. Fabrics (such as those his client Ena de Silva produced), paintings, mosaics and more were integrated into the architect's buildings, not simply as ornaments or beautification techniques, but as integral building elements – a fabric that is not added to a ceiling, but indeed was the ceiling; or a mural or relief that formed part of the building's structure from the get-go, rather than being added later.

'He really saw architecture and art as intertwined, so we call this room 'Weaving art into architecture', and the focus is on those creative collaborations and how these work,' says Shayari de Silva of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, who worked as a co-curator on the show, alongside exhibition curator Johan Deurell and Ikko Yokoyama of M+ (the exhibition is set to travel to M+ in Hong Kong after its time at Vitra). 'So when you see a batik panel above, it is literally a ceiling. It's not art on a ceiling.'

The final room explores the 'total picture' of Bawa's work, zooming out and looking at entire sites through aerials, drawings and the way Sri Lanka's lush nature interacted with and indeed was regularly and respectfully included in the architect's designs. There are lots of bits of information that will inspire and perhaps even surprise - exhibits include the Kandalama hotel, surely one of the world's first even green eco-hotel projects, planted roofs and everything.

The show brings together archive drawings, models, film and newly commissioned photography by Iwan Baan in an exhibition design sensitively put together by Lina Ghotmeh in a way that not only creates a warm, enveloping environment that takes the visitor one step closer to the Sri Lankan context of Bawa's life, but also feels in harmony with the Vitra Design Museum's own building, a Frank Gehry original from 1989.

The result is an immersive journey through the world of Geoffrey Bawa – and if you can't make it to Sri Lanka any time soon, this is definitely something worth experiencing.

'Geoffrey Bawa: Architecture for the Senses' is open from 26 September 2026 to 28 February 2027 at the Vitra Design Museum

design-museum.de

'All of my artworks are given female names,' Renée Levi tells me. We are sitting in her Basel studio beside September, a colossal abstract painting in the vivid, often neon palette that has defined her work for decades. Blues, greens, oranges and pinks, thick with pigment, gather in loose squares and looping circles, each swept across a grid-like industrial mesh with a large mop. Around every mass of colour, Levi has built up zig-zags of silver spray paint. Read from left to right, the forms swell in scale. The surface takes on the look of a map or a geological survey, charting a body moving across it.

The choice of female names is an insistent act to ensure that women are no longer written out of art history. This painting also takes its title from the month of its unveiling on the Hayward's façade on London's South Bank, where it is residing from 23 September to 15 November 2026, marking a shift in seasons when the light changes, the weather turns and the city picks up its pace after summer.

Co-commissioned by the Hayward Gallery and Audemars Piguet Contemporary, and Levi's first large-scale commission in the UK. Seen from the Royal Festival Hall, September appears a different work from the one in the studio. By day, the colour sits on the iridescent mesh. As the afternoon fades it begins to loosen, and by dusk it has lifted from the surface entirely, hovering against the concrete as though nothing were holding it there.

To understand why Levi paints the way she does, it is helpful to know that she did not begin her career as a painter. Born in Istanbul in 1960 and raised in Aargau, Switzerland, she trained as an architect and worked with Herzog & de Meuron in Basel before studying art at the Zurich University of the Arts. Though she sees her early career informing her painting practice.

'It is a kind of continuation,' she says. 'For me, architecture isn't really separate from painting. That separation is something the art market imposes, and it's also a product of how we're taught to think in categories.' Levi thinks of her paintings as objects, and of walls and façades as structures that dictate scale, material and gesture. She has made several public interventions since early in her career, including a commission for the pediment of the Federal Palace in Bern, and her practice has been recognised with the Prix Meret Oppenheim and the Prix de la Société des Arts de Genève. The Hayward is the latest commission in a long investigation into what painting can do to a building, and what a building can do to a painting.

The Hayward is a Grade-II listed landmark, all exposed concrete, jutting forms and hard and fast geometry. Levi’s first visit to the South Bank was on a cold, rainy day, and she read the site closely, with its worn cement paving, an outdoor seating area she describes as ‘full of unrealised wishes’, awkward stairs and yellow concrete elements dating from the seventies. What emerged responds directly to the building's own composition. September takes the Hayward's distinctive protruding rectangular window, often called the ‘eye’ of the building, and makes it part of the painting, extending the work above and below it. Rather than laying an image over the façade, Levi has let the architecture set the terms.

Levi's method is, on its surface, disarmingly simple. She paints in a single continuous passage, left to right, like writing, without correction or overpainting. In her own words: 'Drawing is an immediate, bodily act in situ within a site that determines material, scale, and action… Rules arise within the act and exclude correction, overpainting, and composition.' The immediacy, though, rests on long stretches of preparation and patience. 'You have to understand that I take a lot of breaks,' she says. 'Sometimes I'll go three months without painting, and then I decide it's time to work again.'

She arrives at that moment without a picture in mind, but with everything else settled: the brush, the material, the size of the surface, the colours. 'The preparation actually takes much more time than the painting itself, precisely so that I'm not interrupted once I start.' For September, that meant buying several large mop brushes in advance, one for red, one for blue, one for green, so she would never have to stop and switch. She works with an assistant, but needs silence and concentration above all.

Because the act of painting is everything, Levi does not believe in failure in the usual sense. 'There is no “bad”,’ she says, 'because I really believe in the moment of doing.' The scale of each gesture is governed by the reach of her own body. On the Hayward's surface, no mark exceeds what a human arm can make. Up close, a colossal public painting turns out to be a record of one person moving. Painting outdoors on the Thames for two months posed practical questions for the commission too. The answer was an industrial mesh, the kind usually used for large-scale advertising, which lets air pass through the surface and withstands the weather. There is no system to the palette. 'It's mostly about what makes me happy in the moment,' she says.

What makes September unusual, even within Levi's own practice, is where it will be seen. Painting at this scale as urban public art is new territory for her, and the South Bank as a thoroughfare of commuters, tourists, skateboarders, concert-goers heading to the Royal Festival Hall. Most people will not stand before the work so much as move past it. Levi has embraced that. 'The work can never be seen all at once,' she says. 'It is encountered in passing, from different distances and viewpoints, and perhaps something different is noticed each time.' The painting, she suggests, unfolds twice: first in the act of making it, and again in the movement of the people who walk by. Hayward curator Yung Ma sees it as a disruption of the grey façade, a work that turns an ordinary riverside walk into an unexpected meeting with colour.

For eight weeks, it will slip into the routine of the people who pass it every day, glimpsed at an angle from the bridge, the river path or the top deck of a bus. September's sun sits lower than the summer sunlight, and by late afternoon it glows across the South Bank, turning the grey concrete briefly to honey and catching the mesh so the whole surface shimmers. Against that warmth the neons burn hotter, while the silver zig-zags flare and vanish as the angle changes. As the weeks run on towards November, the light will shorten and cool, the shadows of Hayward's own jutting forms will stretch further across the painting, and the colour, deprived of sun, will begin its evening float earlier each day. As the days change, no passers-by will see quite the work in quite the same way. Then it will be gone. Levi, characteristically, is most interested in that moment. ‘For a limited time, September changes the appearance of the Hayward Gallery. And when the work disappears again, those who have passed it before may notice that something is missing.’

Renée Levi's September, co-commissioned by the Hayward Gallery and Audemars Piguet Contemporary, is on view on the façade of the Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London, from 23 September to 15 November 2026

southbankcentre.co.uk

Royal Huisman has revealed its Project 410, described as the world’s largest sloop – a yacht with a single mast and two main sail. Measuring an impressive 85m (280ft), Project 410 is a sloop rigged sailing yacht, or megayacht, currently undergoing final completion at the company’s shipyard in Vollenhove, The Netherlands.

The company has revealed new renders showcasing the design, with exterior and naval architecture by Frers Design and interiors by Wetzels Brown, after a period of intense secrecy surrounding the superyacht’s construction.

From the outset, the intention was to create a ‘sailor’s yacht’, despite Project 410’s scale (Royal Huisman say it’ll be amongst the ten largest sailing yachts in the world). The balance of interior accommodation to the fluid, dynamic hull was carefully stewarded from the outset, allowing for generous living spaces that haven’t compromised Project 410’s ability to slice through the water.

The accommodation is arranged across two decks with a low-profile pilothouse set behind the mast, developed by Royal Huisman’s sister company Rondal, specialists in carbon fibre and aluminium rigging. According to Mani Frers of Frers Design, the yacht’s ‘pure deck lines form a single arrow shape from bow to stern, incorporating the glass pilothouse, while the raked mast and uniquely engineered boom reinforce the yacht’s dynamic profile.’

The hull has been formed with large windows, skylights and high ceilings across the main deck for an unprecedented feeling of space, as well as views to the horizon and up to the billowing sails. In addition to a double-height main entrance, there’s a large salon leading through to a veranda and beach club, while the private owner’s suite is set further towards the bow. There’s also substantial battery capacity on board – which can be charged while sailing – for a silent operation mode when needed.

‘For us, the interior is about creating an environment where people can relax, feel close to the sea and create memories,’ says Gillian Brown of Wetzels Brown, ‘The exterior, interior and experience of sailing have been developed as one continuous expression.’

Project 410 is due to be launched in November, after which the towering carbon fibre mast will be raised (‘stepped’), ahead of customer delivery next year.

RoyalHuisman.com, @RoyalHuisman / Frers.Design, @ManiFrers / WetzelsBrown.com, @WetzelsBrown

On show this weekend at Chelsea Industrial in New York, this installation by Brooklyn-based conceptual art collective MSCHF demonstrates Lexus’s ongoing commitment to art, the avant-garde and the importance of making an impact. Motomorphosis is making its debut during Armory Week and features two outlandishly altered production Lexus EVs, a Lexus RZ450e and a Lexus RX450h+.

Each model has been turned into a sculptural piece, Circle Car and Twisted Car, displayed alongside its original vehicle. The installation is a continuation of MSCHF’s exploration of the intersection between the digital and physical worlds, using techniques and aesthetics more commonly associated with 3D software, Photoshop and CGI and translating them into real-world forms.

Hence the surrealist nose-to-tail loop of the Circle Car, which looks like as if a regular Lexus RZ450e has been extruded along a circular path. It’s paired with Twisted Car, an almost nightmarish vision of the latest Lexus RX450h+ scrunched up like a wrung-out towel, with its signature fluted and twisted body forms given uncanny amplification.

These aren’t concept cars in the conventional sense, but ‘Form Cars’ – at least that’s how MSCHF describes them. ‘Where a car is concretely engineered to move, the works in Motormorphosis are sculpted to produce the idea of movement,’ the studio says. As well as computer-driven processes, the two sculptures also nod to Futurism, the century-old art Italian art movement that strove to convey dynamism through static form.

‘Most conversations about electrification focus on how a vehicle is powered. Motormorphosis asks a different question: what can electricity power in our imagination?’, says Lexus marketing’s senior manager Lisa McQueen, ‘working with MSCHF allowed us to take the automobile beyond its familiar form and explore movement, transformation and possibility in an entirely new way.’

Rather unnecessarily, the exhibition’s disclaimer notes that ‘the vehicles shown are special project vehicles modified with non-Lexus parts that may void warranty, negatively impact safety, and not be street legal.’

Motormorphosis is at Chelsea Industrial, 545 W. 28th St., New York, NY
Motormorphosis.com, @ChelseaIndustrial, MSCHF.com, @MSCHF, @LexusUSA

Welcome to Wallpaper’s video series, ‘Work in Process’, where we delve into the creative methodology of today’s most inspiring artists and creators. For this episode, we head to Object of Common Interest's workshop to discover what a day in the life looks like at an award-winning studio's space for experimentation.

The founders at Objects of Common Interest, Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis, never stand still. Sharing an architecture background, they decided early on not to confine themselves to building design, the speciality of their first joint practice, LOT (featured in the Wallpaper* Architects Directory in 2014). Instead, they set up LOT's younger sibling – their now-renowned design outlet Objects of Common Interest, in New York in 2016. Splitting their time between their native Greece and their current base in New York, they swiftly and boldly expanded into the world of product and installation.

International recognition soon followed (including being named Wallpaper* Design Awards Designers of the Year 2022), and the pair now find themselves at the forefront of the design world, a position that developed organically and that they don't take for granted. Did they rest on their laurels? They did not. Their resin workshop in Greece, which opened its doors in 2022, is proof of that.

Step inside Objects of Common Interest's Piraeus workshop

Petaloti and Trampoukis launched their resin fabrication workshop in the Athenean port of Piraeus as a physical extension of their commitment to 'artisanal craftsmanship and human-centred design’. Its manifestation in the two-storey, 800 sq m industrial building it currently occupies behind an unassuming – if not slightly mysterious – blank wall came to be thanks to a series of unplanned, and possibly unexpected, events.

Master craftsman and artisan Ovidiu Colea maintained his own resin workshop in Long Island City, New York, for years, and a chance meeting with Petaloti inspired an interesting possibility. Looking to retire, Colea offered to pass on all his machinery to Objects of Common Interest and relocate it to Piraeus, to be managed by the two designers and their team. It was not something the pair necessarily had on their to-do list but, intrigued – and fuelled by their desire to keep experimenting, making and pushing the boundaries of materials and objects – they jumped at the opportunity.

Taking Colea's knowledge, legacy and techniques and pushing them even further became a fascinating challenge for the duo, who share a deep appreciation for craft and artisanal skills that deserve to be preserved – such as resin craft. One of their goals? To make resin fabrication a circular process, as they test saving and reusing the same material in new moulds. Meanwhile, their manufacturing offering also includes resin types from cast to lucite and mineral powder.

'The method of resin making is simple, but at the same time has a certain complexity,' says Trampoukis. 'During every process, there is an amount of uncertainty. We can be surprised ourselves that something started as [one thing], but that it evolved into something new.'

Objects of Common Interest embraces this unexpectedness, which sits at the core of its approach, and is even enshrined in its name. 'Our name has a certain amount of ambiguity that leads to curiosity,' says Trampoukis.

In a similar way, resin's qualities, such as its fluid nature and malleability, continue to attract the designers – precisely because it's a material not without challenges. Trampoukis explains: 'Resin is a very demanding material because it needs precision and needs the context to be able to be cured properly. Temperature, heat, dust all affect its quality. So there is a certain type of predictability in how you can achieve a perfect result, controlling the environment and controlling the circumstances. But then there is this magic of randomness and the magic of surprise that comes when you open the mould.'

This workshop offers the perfect space for experimentation. '[In] our fabrication studio in Piraeus, it's where we develop our ideas. And it's a place that we can test any crazy idea, fail, and start a new one,' Petaloti says. 'For us, the most exciting moment is the process: starting an idea and seeing it being developed.'

Video credits
Directed by Sebastian Jordahn. Director of photography: Evan Maragkoudakis. Focus puller: Nick Sempos. 2nd AC and data wrangler: Argiris Papatheodorou. Sound recordist: Yiannis Zervakos. Editor: Mikołaj Denysiuk. Colourist: Nielsan Bohl at Selected Works. Sound design: Indústries Sòniques. Production : 10 AM. Prodution manager: Yiannis Anagnostou. Title animation: Berke Yazicioglu. Opening track: Extempore by Musical Meandering

With thanks to Objects of Common Interest

Just an hour by car or train from central Tokyo, Casa Caban Hayama is a seaside hideaway with sweeping views across Sagami Bay towards Mount Fuji. The hotel is the fruit of a collaboration between Spanish architect and product designer Patricia Urquiola and Japanese fashion and lifestyle company Tomorrowland. Established in 1978, Tomorrowland was one of the Japanese pioneers in blurring the boundaries between fashion and lifestyle. Though it had already dipped a toe into hospitality, Casa Caban Hayama is its first standalone hotel venture. The leitmotif that runs through both the architecture and interiors is ‘weaving’. Throughout the hotel, artworks conceived by Urquiola herself add a playful, singular dimension.

Wallpaper* checks in at Casa Caban Hayama

What’s on your doorstep?

Casa Caban Hayama’s entrance sits at the edge of a quiet residential area of Hayama, while the guest-room terraces and restaurant overlook Morito Beach, with uninterrupted views of the coast. The shore is neither a glamorous Slim Aarons-esque resort scene nor a Martin Parr-esque portrait of popular beach life. With the bathing area, bars and beach huts located a little farther down the coast, there is little to obstruct the view, save the occasional passer-by walking along the sand or sailboats out at sea. It feels almost as serene as Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Seascapes series. Although Hayama is no conventional sightseeing destination, those wishing to explore can visit Morito Daimyojin Shrine nearby. For water sports and other seaside activities, Hayama Marina is within a ten-minute drive.

Who’s behind the design?

About ten years ago, Patricia Urquiola, creative director of Cassina, met with her old friend Hiroyuki Sasaki, chairman of Tomorrowland. The company has its own clothing lines, including the label Caban, defined by a playful approach to essential pieces, and lifestyle collection Tomorrowland Home, as well as concept stores. A conversation between the two creatives soon gave rise to the hotel project. At the time, they were standing on the very site where Casa Caban Hayama would eventually be built, then occupied by a café, the company’s first seaside hospitality venture.

‘I can bring everything together around one cohesive vision, uniting the structure, the materials and the design. I am honoured to be able to express our worldview through the fusion of this location and Tomorrowland. My love for Japan, Tomorrowland and Hiro (Hiroyuki Sasaki) is what this hotel is all about,’ says Urquiola. Inspired by the coastal landscape, the designer drew the meeting of land and sea into a colour palette ranging from earthy tones to ocean blue, alongside organic forms. Craftsmanship and sustainability were values shared by both sides.

The architectural common thread is ‘weaving’ – Urquiola’s nod to Tomorrowland’s origins in knitwear. The idea is expressed through a variety of materials and techniques, each playing with warp and weft. On the building’s façade, the concrete surface is scored with vertical and horizontal lines. It is partly clad in grid-like panels, handwoven in Indonesia using recycled polyethene. For the ceiling in the lounge, Urquiola commissioned Kyoto artisans to reinterpret the interlaced motif in bamboo. In the guest rooms and corridors, the louvres are not conventional horizontal slats but incorporate vertical elements, creating a woven pattern. They provide privacy while filtering sunlight and casting grid-like shadows. The swimming pool floor, meanwhile, is covered in a blue-and-white checkerboard pattern, reminiscent of a tenugui, a traditional Japanese cotton towel.

Another noteworthy feature is suminagashi, the traditional Japanese art of ink marbling. It appears on roof-tile-shaped pieces, which are deceptively made from lightweight resin rather than ceramic. They line a wall in the entrance hall. In contrast, ceramic is used to clad the lounge’s columns, similarly treated using the technique. The furniture and lighting are largely by Urquiola, working with makers including Flos, Moroso, Kettal, Glas Italia, cc-tapis and, of course, Cassina, for which she serves as artistic director, with many pieces customised from existing designs.

Urquiola’s involvement extends to artworks and objects throughout the hotel. In the entrance hall, a geometric light box invites guests to decipher its motif; Urquiola aficionados might recognise an echo of the Loveseat she designed for Moroso. Many of the wall hangings interpret forms found in nature; conceived by Urquiola, they were handmade by cc-tapis. Elsewhere, ceramic objects were personally selected by the designer. ‘By treating the hotel as a vast canvas, I believe we have created a world that embraces its guests gently,’ she says.

The room to book

The Caban Suite is the signature room, spanning 173 sq m, including two rooftop terraces. In the living area, Cassina’s Mon Cloud sofa is paired with a marguerite-inspired rug made by cc-tapis. Their curved lines and understated tones are echoed by a Cimento dining table. In the additional lounge area, rectangular and square ceramic tiles pick up the recurring ‘weaving’ motif in terracotta hues. Throughout, the details come together with a sense of considered cohesion, guided by Urquiola’s meticulous eye.

The Hayama Suite spans 89 sq m, including a 17 sq m terrace, and takes a more eclectic approach. Cassina’s chunky Dudet chairs and a Flos pendant bring a playful note, while lilac accents set against warm copper tones somehow feel Japanese. The Urquiola-designed tapestries add a funky, offbeat note to the space.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

The main dining room serves Italian-influenced cuisine enhanced with Japanese finesse, drawing on seasonal local produce. Pasta might come with shirasu (baby anchovies) or Hayama sea urchin, while charcoal-grilled Hayama Ishii beef is another highlight. On the B1 level, Ashitaba offers a change of pace in a minimal setting – uncharacteristic of Urquiola, as it is the hotel’s only space not designed by her.

The traditional Japanese restaurant serves an omakase menu featuring seafood from the Miura Peninsula. Both restaurants are open to non-hotel guests. The lounge bar, meanwhile, is reserved for overnight guests and serves a range of creative cocktails and mocktails; a daily special might be a piña colada mocktail topped with herbs from the garden. Alternatively, guests can take a drink back to their terrace. Each room has a small wine cellar with a curated selection of bottles, while the complimentary bottled water is sourced from the foothills of Mount Fuji.

Where to switch off

The hotel intentionally places greater emphasis on time spent in the room and by the swimming pool than on dedicated spa facilities. Here, far niente is perhaps the best way to unwind, with the stay itself conceived as a retreat. There is no need for yoga sessions or beauty treatments. All fourteen rooms face the sea and have their own terraces. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Forget about a morning shower; opt for an evening bath, just like the Japanese. After soaking in Dead Sea salt and caressing your skin with Japanese products based on botanical or marine extracts, you can slip into extra-soft, extra-long-staple fabrics: the bed linen and pyjamas are made from Egyptian Giza cotton, while the towels are Supima cotton, all designed by Tomorrowland Home.

The verdict

For design lovers, Casa Caban Hayama offers a rare opportunity to immerse themselves in Patricia Urquiola’s world. At the Caban store on the B1 level, footwear and bags designed by Urquiola are also available. Add sweeping coastal views, thoughtful dining and attentive service, and the result is a compelling seaside escape. Above all, the hotel reflects the deep creative affinity between Tomorrowland and Urquiola.

Casa Caban Hayama is located at 955-2 Horiuchi, Hayama-machi, Miura-gun, Kanagawa 240-0112, Japan. Rates: from JPY 177,100, including dinner and breakfast.

‘Gérald Genta was such an unlikely person to change and save the watch industry,’ says Alexia Genta, the watch designer’s daughter and co-founder of the Gérald Genta Heritage Association. ‘I think that can really inspire people today.’

Alexia, alongside her mother Evelyne Genta, attended Watches & Wonders 2026 earlier this year to mark the 50th anniversary of one of Gérald Genta’s most famous watch designs, the IWC Ingenieur SL.

To celebrate the occasion, IWC is releasing the Ingenieur SL in two limited editions (a 35mm and a 40mm), distinguished by their elegant brushed silver-plated dials, which draw inspiration from a rare variant of the Ingenieur SL.

‘Design came first for him,’ Alexia adds. ‘He was not somebody who was ever looking at other watch brands, simply because he didn't care what they were doing. That's why he was always such a visionary, always bringing new things and shocking the industry. He was following his artistic vision.’

Genta (1931-2011) created the original Ingenieur SL, Reference 1832 in 1976, midway through a decade that saw the emergence of luxury steel sports watches with integrated bracelets, a form Genta mastered with his streamlined, ergonomic design.

‘A Gérald Genta design could be manufactured,’ says Evelyne. ‘Sometimes designers are very wild and very unusual – you give the products to the factory, and good luck! My husband designed what could be done, and this is an incredible quality. Giving it to a factory, he knew how thick it needed to be, so he would design the profile. You have to be perfectly clear and exact with a watch design, and he knew that.’

For David Seyffer, head of archive at IWC, the new editions mark a full circle moment. ‘When the Ingenieur first appeared in 1955, it was considered more of a tool watch,’ he says. ‘When Gérald Genta reinterpreted it [in the 1970s], it became a completely new design. He was a really free spirit. He always considered himself as an artist, not as a watch designer, and he brought this artisanal aspect into his designs. It's always interesting to see this transformation from the watch it was in 1955 to this very design-led watch.’

Thanks to this freedom of vision, the Ingenieur SL is a watch that has endured. ‘He was notoriously quite audacious,’ Alexia adds. ‘He was always bringing out visionary designs that shocked the industry. But if you think about them, they were always elegant and wearable. He was not trying to shock people on purpose, he was just creating something that was elegant but also pioneering.’

iwc.com

Like the familiarity of your morning jogging route, running-store design sticks to a well-trodden path: a wall of shoes, a jumble of fuel belts and caffeinated goops, and that distinct, fresh-out-of-the-box aroma of synthetic fabrics.

As running has experienced a post-pandemic explosion, though, the culture – and the style– has swiftly evolved. Leading the pack is Paris-based label Satisfy, a running brand known for its routinely sold-out technical apparel as much as its viral marketing activations (say, a mosh pit in the Arizona desert).

This month, Satisfy opened the doors to its first-ever brick-and-mortar storefront in Paris’ historic Marais district. Rather than cashing in on thousands of $140 moth-eaten T-shirts, however, this boutique is selling something else: ‘It’s not really a Satisfy store. It’s Satisfy as a store,’ founder Brice Partouche wrote on Instagram.

To distill Satisfy’s ethos – one driven by performance, design innovation and a winking sense of humour – into an IRL location, Partouche hired Ciguë, a multidisciplinary architecture and design office located just outside of Paris. The firm, founded by three friends in 2003, is known for its innovative takes on tried-and-true typologies, ranging from hotels (see: Ace’s new Athens location) to factories.

‘Satisfy is one of the few brands where we were like, “We should call them,’” Ciguë co-founder Alphonse Sarthout recalls. ‘But Brice called us first.’

Satisfy’s Paris footprint occupies two storefronts on opposite sides of Rue de Saintonge – Supply, which hosts the boutique, and Fuel Station, a pint-sized coffee shop that concocts caffeinated pre- and post-run beverages. ‘The brand has been online for 11 years, and it sells super well, so the main target of the store was not to sell more – it was to sell differently and finally meet the people,’ Sarthout says.

The main store, Satisfy Supply, feels more like an art gallery than a running store. That’s because it’s mostly bare, save for a wall-spanning triptych of the American West by painter Othelo Gervacio. The mural – which depicts rugged buttes and a mustang horse – comes directly from Satisfy’s brand lore, which draws heavily from desert terrain and the kitsch that can accompany it (fringe is a common feature on Satisfy apparel, as are bald eagles). It also serves as Ciguë’s boldest design move: ‘We had the idea of a diorama, like in a museum,’ Sarthout explains.

Against this western backdrop, the designers kept displays to a minimum. Clothing hangs off of suspended stainless steel rods or gridded display racks; shoes are displayed on sculptural wood plinths; and T-shirts are splayed out on custom cast-Zamak alloy slabs, hovering just inches off the ground. ‘So many brands would be like, oh, you kill the strength of the product. How can I buy a $200 T-shirt when it's lying on the floor?’ Sarthout says. ‘But [for us] it's very interesting because it slows down the rhythm of the space – you almost feel like sitting, and bending down to touch the products.’

There are other retail unorthodoxies. For instance, there is a conspicuous absence of explanatory text touting the technical qualities of shoes and clothing; the choice encourages customers to ask questions of sales associates, who underwent months of product knowledge training. ‘It brings back the importance of hosting and the team working there,’ Sarthout says. The same thought went into the changing rooms, which are clad in knotty timber (not unlike an old school diner you might stumble into on Route 66) and feature linen curtains. The store even features a custom scent. ‘It makes you feel like you’re in a luxury fashion store and not in a running store,’ the designer adds.

Satisfy Fuel Station, the coffee bar, has a similarly minimal feel, akin to American gas stations and hardware stores. The idea is for runners and shoppers alike to achieve the coveted endorphin-driven ‘runner’s high’ with hydrating, energising or carb-rich concoctions (the menu is helpfully organised into ‘pre-high’ and ‘post-high’ categories). The western imagery continues on the shiny espresso machine. ‘Here you can just come in, get a drink, and not necessarily buy something [at the store], so it becomes a gathering space,’ Sarthout says. Already, the Fuel Station has become the de facto meeting point for Satisfy’s regular ‘LSD’ club runs – runners'-speak for ‘Long Slow Distances.’

Judging by the queues that regularly form outside the shop, it’s likely that there are more Satisfy locations in store (a spokesperson said the brand is currently exploring opportunities for expansion). And even if Satisfy’s vibe (or price tag) isn’t aligned with your personal running aesthetic, the label is demonstrating a principle that other athletic brands would be wise to note: create community or eat dust.

While Wallpaper* is celebrating its 30th anniversary – not least with a trio of guest editors in the October 2026 issue, and 30 cakes by 30 creative friends – Whispering Angel is hot on its heels, turning 20 this year. So when the Wallpaper* team headed to London’s newly launched Park Hyatt Residences for an evening to mark our own milestone, it seemed fitting to raise a glass of 20th-anniversary rosé while we were at it.

Fresh and delicate, Whispering Angel’s 20th Vintage felt smooth and silky, with a crisp, citrus finish – perfect for our end-of-summer soirée.

Back in 2006, the label’s founder, Sacha Lichine, and the late Patrick Léon, former technical director of Château Mouton Rothschild, wanted to usher in a global rosé renaissance.

Twenty years on, the collectible anniversary bottle features Lichine’s signature alongside the Whispering Angel brand mark – the ‘angels’ of Château d’Esclans. The logo and the brand's name are inspired by cherubic figures that feature in the Provençal wine estate’s private chapel and apparently ‘whispered’ to Lichine.

A French wine with an English name is rare, but it’s perhaps this cultural neutrality that helped propel it to success – that and its easily drinkable nature.

Bruno Yvon, the general manager at Château d'Esclans, agrees: ‘The name set an agreeable theme with which people could readily identify. Introducing rosé, a category that 20 years ago was unknown, while creating a quality wine that was fresh, elegant and balanced, contributed to captivating the world.’

Whether enjoyed in its native Provence or overlooking the London skyline, Whispering Angel can be summed up in two words, says Yvon: ‘crisp and quaffable’. And as the evening sunshine turned to night, we had to agree.

Whispering Angel 20th Vintage Limited-Edition is £110 and available at selfridges.com

This Swedish villa, on the country’s southern tip, is a soothing family home set within the coastal town of Höllviken, rich in vibrant Viking history. Designed by Johan Sundberg, architect and founder of his eponymous firm, the residence, titled Villa HDV, is a direct response to its context, boasting a hard-shell façade that, when peeled back, unveils a cosy core.

Step inside this Swedish villa with a cosy interior

The residence is defined by its inner courtyard, which houses a pool and is bordered by the living areas and a bedroom. However, the plot was deep and not especially large, which meant that finding enough room to create this sheltered space took careful planning.

Sundberg explains, ‘There was also the accumulated complexity of making the building work. It has many corners and a freeform upper floor, combining a timber frame with a concrete structure. A great deal of work went into the timber detailing of the roofs, eaves and pergolas, and into resolving the zinc details around the curved upper floor. It comes down to many small decisions and adjustments. This is a patient and sometimes tedious part of architecture, but I think it deserves attention: much of the quality of the finished house depends on work that you might never consciously notice.’

Using this as a foundation, the architect made sure that the residence was in constant dialogue with nature, while also balancing a sense of enclosure. The concept's core? A home as a secret retreat embraced by nature.

‘The plan has shifts in it that create more intimate places, and we worked with the gardens in the same way. I thought of the concrete exterior as a protective shell, almost like a tortoise, with a softer and more sensitive inside where the family spaces and gardens are,’ Sundberg tells Wallpaper*. ‘From early on, we also wanted the character to come from the materials themselves: concrete, natural stone and timber, with their different textures and the way they change over time.’

The interior of the residence feels like a relaxing exhale. Soft curves let the eye travel across the interior, inviting users to unwind with the residence's rhythm. Wooden walls and cabinetry envelop the kitchen, while a living room window – with a seating nook – frames the garden outside. The bedrooms’ soft geometries continue the building’s gentle aesthetic.

Sundberg notes that the client has already embraced bringing the outdoors in, integrating planting throughout, and the architect hopes that the building will one day be covered in vegetation.

‘There seems to be no limit to the feeling of home that can develop through that relationship. This has interested me since my first houses, but here the relationship with the garden is more developed, reaching into different spaces around the building,’ says Sundberg. ‘I’m particularly fond of the kitchen garden to the east, with its morning sun. Seeing the planting grow into the architecture, and the family continue that process, is perhaps the most satisfying part of the project.’

The overall feel of Villa HDV is one of relaxation, as Sundberg concludes: ‘The views, materials and movement between rooms should invite you to explore, while also giving you places where you simply want to sit and stay. For me, comfort and curiosity belong together in a house.’

johansundberg.com

Sleeper trains are back and they’re bringing with them a world of refined, transformable interiors that turn every class of travel into a spacious, sleek experience to rival and transcend the air travel alternative. At least, that’s the takeaway from the Day/Dream concept developed by specialist transportation design bureau PriestmanGoode in collaboration with three key material partners, Testori, Kydex and Muirhead.

Together, the design team has incorporated a swathe of modern materials across a fantasy triple-level train that offers the perfect inter-city travel solution for a sun-dappled European landscape. It’s utopian, for sure, but despite writing this from a cramped standard class seat on an overcrowded, highly delayed service into a different London terminus than I originally booked, the allure of truly sorted train travel is still strong.

Day/Dream envisages a well-staffed trans-European service that includes an onboard hospitality crew who supervise the transformation of the carriage layout from day to night configurations. Unusually, the layouts can be converted across all three classes, standard, business and first, turning the train into an overnight sleeping environment.

PriestmanGoode note that the idea came partly from their copious experience in the aviation sector, where they’ve worked on everything from private jet concepts to Finnair’s AirLounge business class seat to Lufthansa’s First Class Suite configuration, along with work for United, Airbus and Korean Air, amongst others.

There’s also plenty of rail in their portfolio – the agency is one of the go-to suppliers for all forms of railway, from London’s Piccadilly and Elizabeth Lines to Austrian Federal Railways and VIA Rail in Canada, with a clutch of industry awards to acknowledge their contribution.

The new concept was unveiled at InnoTrans 2026, Berlin’s International Trade Fair for Transport Technology. Working with ‘image-infused thermoplastic’ from Kydex, plant-based recyclable fabric from Testori and BioTan low-carbon leather by Muirhead, the interior owes as much to hospitality design as it does transportation.

The reconfigurable interior is reshaped depending on the time of day and has been sized to fit within existing European rolling stock. According to PriestmanGoode, the main aim of the exercise was a ‘deliberate move away from the couchette model that defines most existing overnight rail provision’. Instead, multifunctional spaces preserve capacity and increase comfort.

‘Day/Dream is designed around the lounge as the primary social space, one that belongs equally to every passenger on board, regardless of how they have chosen to sleep,’ says the designers, explaining how, unlike in aviation, ‘privacy is tiered; the experience is not. A passenger in a shared sleeping space and one in a private cabin share the same lounge, the same quality of environment, the same sense of occasion.’

The idea is that a different set of passengers will use the train at different times of the day. For commuting, First, Business and Economy all function as normal; at night, a separate set of overnight travellers boards the transformed carriage interior; while a Business Class day seat might accommodate four daytime travellers, it becomes a single or dual bunk at night.

Remarkably, the interiors have been configured so that open train carriage seating in the day can be turned into private lockable compartments at night. ‘Our understanding of how passengers move between different states, working, eating, socialising, resting, across a long journey has been central to how we have approached Day/Dream,’ says Kirsty Dias, managing director, PriestmanGoode. ‘Designing a space that performs equally well in two distinct operating modes, and transitions smoothly between them, draws on disciplines that are well established in aviation interior design: considered space planning, material performance under continuous operation, and a genuine understanding of passenger psychology at every phase of a journey.’

Rail concepts often require a hefty dose of utopian thinking, and while Day/Dream doesn’t require trackside infrastructural updates or major changes to rolling stock, it’s still very much a future vision of a more democratic and widely accessible approach to long-distance rail. With rail continuing to be the leader in the race to decarbonise the transport sector, maybe it really does make sense to dream.

PriestmanGoode.com, @PriestmanGoode

Known as the ‘king of chairs’, Hans J Wegner (1914–2007) created more than 500 chairs over the course of his six-decade career, including some of the most recognisable designs of the 20th century. More than a century after his birth, many remain in production and his influence is almost omnipresent in the world of design.

A trained cabinetmaker with an exceptional understanding of wood, construction and the human body, Wegner approached the chair as a problem that could be endlessly reconsidered and refined. ‘If only you could design just one good chair in your life,’ he once said. ‘But you simply cannot.’

Who was Hans J Wegner?

Born 2nd April 1914, Hans Wegner came from humble beginnings. The the son of a cobbler, he grew up in Tønder, southern Denmark, where a career as a furniture designer seemed unlikely. However, he showed early artistic promise as a child, reportedly drawing and creating paper cuttings before he could even walk.

At 14, he began an apprenticeship with master cabinetmaker HF Stahlberg, where he learnt traditional joinery, developed what he called ‘a feeling for wood’, and made his first chair aged 15.

A visit to the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild Exhibition in 1935 proved pivotal. Seeing master cabinetmakers collaborate with architects and designers including Kaare Klint convinced Wegner to pursue furniture design.

He went on to study at the School of Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen under Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen, where his remarkable drawing ability reportedly led teachers to suggest he become a portrait painter.

In 1938, Wegner exhibited his first design at the Cabinetmakers’ Guild Exhibition and was recruited by Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller to design furniture for Aarhus City Hall. He also began an important collaboration with master cabinetmaker Johannes Hansen and worked briefly with his former classmate Børge Mogensen at FDB Møbler, producing affordable, functional furniture for the Danish cooperative.

Wegner opened his own studio in Aarhus in 1943, spending much of his time at the local library studying furniture from different cultures and periods.

Hans J Wegner and the rise of Danish modern

In a book by Danish furniture designer Ole Wanscher, Wegner encountered images of Danish merchants seated in Chinese Ming dynasty horseshoe-back chairs, distinguished by a continuous curved rail forming the backrest and arms. Rather than simply imitating them, he distilled their construction and reinterpreted the historic archetype through the lens of Danish craftsmanship. The result was the China Chair, produced by Fritz Hansen in 1944, which established an approach he would refine throughout his career: studying earlier furniture traditions, identifying their structural logic and reducing them to their essential elements.

That same year, he designed Peter’s Chair as a christening gift for Børge Mogensen’s son, using four pieces of wood that fitted together without adhesive or fasteners. In 1947 came the Peacock Chair, created with Johannes Hansen and inspired by the British Windsor chair. Its fan of ash spindles was flattened where the sitter’s shoulder blades met the back – an ergonomic refinement that appeared decorative. Finn Juhl likened the effect to a peacock’s plumage, giving the chair its name.

It was a more restrained design, created for the 1949 Cabinetmakers’ Guild Exhibition, that transformed Wegner’s international reputation. Reportedly conceived in 48 hours, the Round Chair featured four legs, a seat and a continuous backrest and arm rail. Initially overshadowed by Wegner’s other more experimental plywood design, it caught the attention of visiting American journalists. Interiors magazine described it as ‘the most beautiful chair in the world’, prompting orders beyond the capacity of Johannes Hansen’s small workshop. Wegner nevertheless resisted moving production to the United States, maintaining that the chair had been designed for Danish craftsmen.

The same year brought the Wishbone Chair, the final and most commercially successful design in Wegner’s China Chair series. Carl Hansen & Søn began production in 1950 and continues to make it today. In 1951, Ivan Olesen established Salesco, bringing five of Wegner’s preferred manufacturers together under one sales and marketing organisation and helping his furniture reach an international audience. Recognition followed, including the Grand Prix at the 1951 Milan Triennale and the inaugural Lunning Prize that same year.

That audience expanded dramatically in 1960, when John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon sat in Round Chairs during the first televised US presidential debate. Seen by some 70 million viewers, the broadcast introduced Wegner’s work to millions of Americans and earned the design its enduring nickname, ‘The Chair’.

Craft, comfort and experimentation

In 1950, while at the beach with his children, Wegner reportedly made a chair out of sand to explore the ideal reclining angle. The resulting Flag Halyard Chair was unlike anything he had previously made: a stainless-steel frame wrapped in 240 metres of flag rope, topped with an Icelandic sheepskin and leather neck cushion.

Conceived as an homage to modernists including Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand, Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer, it also proved that his finesse extended beyond wood.

Continuing this experimentative and playful streak, the enveloping Papa Bear Chair followed in 1951, while the Valet Chair (1953) brought ingenuity to the everyday problem of storing clothes at bedtime. Its back rail doubled as a coat hanger; the hinged seat flipped upwards to hold trousers and concealed a compartment for small possessions. King Frederik IX of Denmark ordered ten.

The 1950s were Wegner’s most productive decade. Alongside chairs, he designed tables, desks, sideboards and sofas in a wide range of materials and styles. He made almost all his prototypes in his studio and tested them at home, looking for weaknesses and opportunities for improvement before they entered production. Although he experimented freely, he remained devoted to natural materials, selecting timber so that its grain contributed to the design.

In 1960, he debuted the Ox Chair, a humorous leather-and-chrome design reportedly inspired by Picasso’s paintings of bulls. Available with or without horns, it was said to be Wegner’s personal favourite. ‘We must take care that everything doesn’t get so dreadfully serious,’ he said. ‘We must play, but play seriously.’

Later work and enduring legacy

By the 1960s and 1970s, new plastics, Pop and postmodernism had pushed Danish modern out of fashion. Wegner continued designing, however, and his relationship with the family-run workshop PP Møbler became increasingly important. When Johannes Hansen’s workshop closed, PP Møbler assumed production of many of his most significant designs.

The changing reception of the Shell Chair encapsulates Wegner’s later career. Introduced in 1963, the three-legged plywood chair grew out of experiments begun 15 years earlier, but its wing-like seat and curved backrest proved too radical for the contemporary market. When Carl Hansen & Søn reintroduced it in 1998, a new generation embraced its sculptural form, transforming a commercial failure into one of Wegner’s most celebrated designs.

Wegner lived to see the revival of Danish modern and received honours including the Danish Furniture Prize, the CF Hansen Medal and an honorary doctorate from London’s Royal College of Art.

For Wegner, furniture was never complete until there was human interaction: ‘A chair is only finished when someone sits in it.’ His constant process of testing and refinement continued throughout his career. As he put it, ‘The good chair is a task one is never completely done with.’

He died in Copenhagen in 2007, aged 92, leaving an influence that lives on as much in his methods as in the objects themselves. Of the 500 different chairs he designed during the course of his lifetime, a over 100 designs reached mass production. In April of this year, Museum Wegner opened to the public in his birthplace of Tønder, Denmark .The opening marks the first phase of a larger museum project dedicated to his life's work.

It's a funny thing, Peter ‘Hooky’ Hook is telling me down the line from a California hotel room, ‘to still relish something that you did under very difficult circumstances’.

I’m talking to the bass player – once of Joy Division, then of New Order, now of The Light, the band he formed to play both those previous bands’ songs – about Eternal (Live). It’s a lavish new Joy Division boxset comprising 14 CDs, documenting 16 gigs, and two DVDs of filmed performances. The audio, video and accompanying photography and text vividly capture the short, intense onstage existence of the band, their lifespan cut short after the 1980 death by suicide, aged 23, of Ian Curtis, the frontman who struggled with depression, severe epilepsy and the side-effects of his medication.

‘And it’s a wonderful thing,’ Hook continues, able to be beatific about the near five-decades-deep shared creative endeavour even as his infamous rift with his former bandmates remains as entrenched as ever. ‘Because we made Joy Division’s music, particularly Closer,’ he says of 1980’s second album, released two months after Curtis’ death, ‘and did some of the gigs that are featured on this, when Ian was ill. And as someone said to me yesterday: “It must be really weird, playing Joy Division music to 3,000 people in San Francisco.”’

He couldn’t disagree with that. With Joy Division – the name by which he, Curtis, Bernard ‘Barney’ Sumner and Stephen Morris started performing in 1978 – ‘I was professional for six months. If you can call professional being on £13 a week! And when Ian died, we thought everything had died with him. So it’s amazing to be here, 46 years later, watch how popular it is, and see what an investment that time and difficult working procedures were. Because it's still paying off.’

That ongoing investment finds form in the thoughtful, immersive, world-building creation, design and packaging of Eternal (Live). With spruced-up, 2026-level sound mastered at Abbey Road Studios, the grotty, sticky pub and club venues of 1979 and 1980 never felt more present. With artful updates on Joy Division’s visual language, their heritage and iconography has rarely felt more alive than in this weighty packaging, all housed in a 12-inch x 12-inch lift-off-lid box.

The cover image is a 2023 Wolfgang Tillmans photograph, with the explanatory title Sirius through a Defocused Telescope. ‘I see it as a bookend to the cover of [1979 debut album] Unknown Pleasures,’ explains Peter Saville, longstanding creator of Joy Division and New Order artwork. ‘That’s an image from deep space, a data recording from the first discovered pulsar. And here we have the star Sirius. Conceptually, this idea of an astronomical image is a perfect counterpoint to Unknown Pleasures.’

That new image was chosen by Warren Jackson, who works with Sumner as a personal creative/art director. Its usage was secured when Saville approached the German photographer – a visual artist whose work now commands vast sums, but who was happy to do Saville and the band a favour in terms of usage rights and costs.

‘The influence of Joy Division has gone far and wide,’ says Saville, ‘and across all sectors, to filmmakers, photographers, artists, fashion designers. And Wolfgang is a perfect example of an innovative artist who came through photography, into fine art, in this post-Joy Division era, and to a highly regarded, celebrated [level]. So, the idea of being able to propose it to Wolfgang was in itself very pleasing to me. That’s a very satisfying part of the history of the band.’

Alongside a powerfully Proustian essay by Simon Armitage, the Poet Laureate who was a year-zero Joy Division fan, the interior booklet features 16 pages of evocative portraiture and reportage imagery. They’re by the now-celebrated photographers that the band picked to work with them, and who rose with them, including Anton Corbijn, Kevin Cummins and Jill Furmanovsky. As Corbijn – who directed 2007 Curtis biopic Control – puts it to me: 'I always wanted to work with people who are very serious about what they're making. And Joy Division were that.'

Here are time-capsule monochromes of the gigs captured on the live discs. Hook and guitarist Sumner, intent on their instruments, shot by fan Jonathan Crabb at London’s Hope and Anchor pub, 27 December 1978 – the night that, en route home to Manchester, Curtis had his first recognised epileptic seizure. The singer, head thrown back and blurred in Furmanovsky’s image, at London’s YMCA, 2 August 1979. Drummer Morris, sweat-drenched and locked-in, shot by Martin O’Neill, in front of the paisley-esque wallpaper of Bowdon Vale Youth Club, Altrincham on 14 March 1979.

'Oh, God, yeah, I remember that youth club!' says Morris with a laugh. ‘We played it twice. It was good to do things for young people,’ he adds, mentioning two gigs in one day at Liverpool club Eric's, the first a matinee, ‘the idea being that under-18s could see you’. There is, too, video footage from that night in Altrincham in the boxset’s films, shot by Malcolm Whitehead. He was head of Ikon, which was the filmmaking arm of Joy Division’s record label Factory. Not, insists Morris, that the band had one eye on posterity.

‘It was basically just Malcolm saying, “I want to film you”, and us leaving it to him. We weren't going to say: “Please don't do that, because years later we don’t want pictures of us playing in a place with red flock wallpaper popping up on YouTube and destroying our once powerful, dark mystique,”’ the musician says larkily.

Corbijn, though, thinks the musicians ‘must have had some idea’ about the strength of good photography. ‘You had Bowie [around] and you’d like to look as cool as that. So I’m sure there was that kind of desire.’ He mentions his first, much-reproduced shoot with the band, 15 quick minutes in November 1979 on the steps of Lancaster Gate Tube station in west London. ‘When they saw those, they realised there was a strength there. They were the only people who weren’t shooting “art” pictures.’

Morris valorises those images for reasons for that are, not unusually for the cheerfully plain-spoken drummer, more prosaic. ‘Anton said, “Go down these stairs”, took a couple of pictures and said, “Right, that’s it”. That turned out to be a great photograph, obviously, Ian looking backwards and we’re all coming down the stairs. But the fact that it took him less than 15 minutes to take our picture made him an al right guy to us. We thought, “He can do that again!”’

Hook, finding rare common cause with his former bandmate, tells a similar story. ‘I remember a French photographer, very famous in France, who came to do pictures. Barney was in a terrible mood, and he said, “I'll give you five minutes”. The guy started ranting on in French and pidgin English: “You cannot treat me like this! I have come all the way from Paris! I have many, many pictures to my name!” And when he stopped, Barney went: “Four minutes.”’

As for Corbijn’s own memories, of the gigs, in particular, they’re more blurred. He does, though, recall the night of 4 April 1980 at the Rainbow Theatre, shots from which close the booklet in totemic, shivery greyscale: Curtis, gripping his microphone stand as if his life depended on it. As well he should: ‘Ian had a fit onstage that night and they had to carry him off. That was scary to see. I used that in Control.’

Ian Curtis, of course, was a star who burned brightly and intensely for too short a time. I ask Saville if that isn’t too much of an on-the-nose interpretation of the image that adorns Eternal (Live). Especially given how it – as the designer put it – bookends, almost half-a-century on, the image on the cover of Unknown Pleasures.

‘That is one of the interpretations on the pulsar,’ he agrees. ‘Basically a star that is no longer, but the signal and the energy of which continue in infinity. That is a reading of the pulsar from Unknown Pleasures. It's a dead star, the energy of which is with us forever. It's still radiating around the universe. And you can make that same analogy with the star Sirius.”

Like the title said: this is Eternal.

Eternal (Live) is out on 25 September via Warner Music, available at hmv.com

UK-based tech firm Gomi set out a firm ethos right from its earliest days, foregrounding sustainable sourcing and the right to repair. The Brighton company’s range of Bluetooth speakers, powerbanks and wireless chargers all have a modular construction, so easy repair is prioritised. In addition to reusing e-bike batteries, Gomi’s products are easily discernible thanks to their swirling, polychromatic, unique casings, proudly formed from recycled plastics and resembling miniature canvases.

Now there’s another source of plastic in the mix. The company has launched a new 'Childhood Memories Collection’, with materials taken from recycled Barbie dolls and their myriad accessories. The plastic figures will now find a second life in Gomi’s limited-edition range of handmade speakers, power banks and tracker tags.

According to Gomi co-founder Tom Meades, the project emerged out of a desire to make waste material more meaningful and relatable. ‘We’re ending boring grey consumer tech, and instead creating colourful interesting objects made from waste materials that tell a story,’ Meades explains. ‘In making the latest Childhood Memories Collection, we’re asking the public to send us their Barbie dolls, to melt down, and recycle parts of these materials into Gomi power banks, tracker tags and speakers – all designed to last a lifetime.’

Each month, Gomi plans to take the expected deluge of donated dolls and splice them with its plastic supply to create a series of unique and distinctive pieces of consumer electronics that are struck through with remnants of Barbie’s brightly coloured world – perhaps there’ll even be a Barbie phone or two?

To accommodate Mattel’s favourite lady, Gomi had to make some adjustments to its production process. Barbie, Ken and friends will be blended with plastic-bag waste (not commonly accepted through the UK’s household recycling systems) and resurface as second-use, repairable products that will hopefully retain some spark and colour, whilst also demonstrating to a young audience ‘how familiar objects can be thoughtfully reimagined through circular design’.

According to Gomi, ‘this very deliberate combination of nostalgia, creativity and product innovation [will] encourage conversations about keeping materials in use for longer and considering what can come next for products at the end of their original life’.

More details of the Childhood Memories Collection at gomi.design, @gomidesign

New York’s Crown Building comes with a history as flamboyant as the bejewelled coronet that sits at its top, including stints as the original home of the Museum of Modern Art and, infamously, a one-time birthday gift for Imelda Marcos. In 2022, though, the upper storeys of the landmarked tower reopened as a bastion of understated sophistication, Aman New York, marking the ultra-luxury, Swiss-based hotel brand’s first urban location in the United States.

Like Aman’s other US destinations – notably Amangiri, the storied desert escape in Canyon Point, Utah – Aman New York quickly became one of America’s top hotels. It’s even earned the Michelin Guide’s coveted Three-Keys designation, one of just four hotels in the city to meet the standard.

Not being a property to rest on its laurels (though the top of the building is festooned in carved floral wreaths), Aman New York recently added a new class of luxury accommodation to join its existing 83 guest suites and residences. The property’s Home collection consists of seven sprawling private residences that are geared towards discerning travellers looking for a personal, apartment-like feel, whether they’re staying for a few nights or a few weeks, travelling with extended family or a retinue. With luxury amenities that include everything from private pools to private chefs to private butler service, Aman New York’s Homes offer a new benchmark for luxury hospitality in the Big Apple. Here’s what to expect.

Wallpaper* checks in at the Aman New York Homes

What’s on your doorstep?

Located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street – aka Billionaire’s Row – Aman New York places you in the heart of Manhattan’s most iconic shopping district. In fact, some of New York’s most storied shops can be found no further than you can throw a Birkin, including Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany & Co, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, all of which are across the street. Don’t feel the need to cross a chaotic city road? Bulgari and Prada are just downstairs.

Walk two blocks north and you’ll find yourself in the lush expanse of Central Park. Enjoy a leisurely stroll, or – if you’re feeling ambitious after all that shopping – lace up your sneakers for a brisk six-mile loop. Cultural attractions abound in this part of Manhattan, too, whether you hoof it four blocks to MoMA (the institution left the Crown in 1932) or hitch Aman’s private car to Lincoln Center, the Met, the Guggenheim or the Frick.

Who is behind the design?

Aman relied on longtime collaborator and hospitality veteran Jean-Michel Gathy and his Kuala Lumpur-based design firm Denniston for the interiors. The name ‘Aman’ is derived from the Sanskrit word for ‘peace’, one that can feel incongruous in a city as intense as the Big Apple. ‘The challenge,’ the firm said, ‘was to bring Aman's stillness into one of the world's most relentless cities.’

That’s a feeling as soon as you step in from the busy street to the hushed double-height lobby. Visitors ascend an elevator to the 14th-floor reception area, a step that provides additional removal from the stressful metropolis.

In contrast with the Crown Building’s opulent exterior (30 gallons of liquid gold purportedly coat its summit), Gathy designed the spaces with warm Japanese minimalism in mind, emphasising mindful materials and connections with nature. The ceilings in the reception are in a rhythmic basketweave, a pattern that’s picked up in the subtle-yet-sumptuous dark marble flooring. Finishes like timber, grasscloth and raw stone create an enveloping, wabi-sabi atmosphere. Even though you’re in the middle of the concrete jungle, thoughtful touchpoints with the outdoors can be found everywhere, from precise ikebana floral arrangements to an outdoor terrace that’s planted with rustling maple trees to the vertiginous views out to Central Park.

The room to book

Guests of Aman New York can expect an exceptional experience from any of the hotel’s 83 suites, each of which comes equipped with its own working fireplace. But for discriminating travellers looking for an even more immersive experience – and more room for their friends and family – look no further than the four new Homes. Two feature private pools, offering the chance to almost quite literally float on the clouds.

For the ultimate chance to spread out in style, aim for the full-floor residence. Encompassing a mind-boggling 6,300 sq ft, this residence comes with three bedrooms, an open-plan living and dining area, a sprawling kitchen stocked with matching Le Creuset cookware, a dedicated office, an entertainment room and even staff quarters. The quarters even come with a private butler.

The level of detail is on par with the rest of Aman’s spaces, from the refined parquet floors inlaid with brass; fireplaces in the living room, primary bedroom and (yes) bathroom; and bespoke furnishings. Ikebana arrangements are brought in fresh. Even the door surrounds are perfumed with cinnamon-scented wood, a feature that leaves a softly-scented wake as you drift from room to room.

Just as luxurious is the surfeit of square footage, a rarity in New York’s cramped hospitality market. The walk-in closet comes with an additional closet; the living room has two sitting areas; the private office has its own en-suite bathroom. A recent visitor even had to call her husband’s cell phone to find him. The biggest treat, though, is the views. This plush aerie affords wrap-around views of Central Park, the green mansard roof of the Plaza Hotel, and Louis Vuitton’s trunk-shaped scaffolding.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

There’s no shortage of fine dining options in this part of Midtown. But some of the best – and most exclusive – can be found at the Aman New York; in fact, dining spaces are only accessible to hotel guests, residents and members of the Aman’s private club.

For unforgettable Japanese cuisine, allow the elevator to whisk you down to Akari on the 14th floor. The organic interiors, which feature a ceiling inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, allow you to prepare yourself for the exquisite feast to come, courtesy of chef Takuma Yonemaru. For the best experience, opt for the Chef’s Tasting Menu, which highlights seasonal ingredients and the finest seafood, flown in directly from Japan. (And don’t miss the Matcha-misu, a green-tinged riff on the Italian classic). Craving comforts? Head to Arva, the Aman New York’s Italian concept. Choose from classics like veal Milanese and spaghetti alla carbonara, or have a leisurely Sunday morning on the terrace during the restaurant’s weekend brunch.

If you’re craving light bites and cocktails, the Aman also offers a host of relaxed nooks in which to imbibe and unwind, from the verdant Garden Terrace, to the seductive lounge bar to a speakeasy-style jazz bar. Of course, you may not want to leave your gorgeous suite at all. Not to worry: you can book your own in-home chef experience.

Where to switch off

Aman New York takes wellness seriously. So seriously, in fact, that three floors and 25,000 sq ft of the property are dedicated exclusively to fitness, longevity and relaxation. Work out on cutting-edge Technogym equipment in the fitness centre, where you can also access a yoga and a pilates studio and a cryotherapy chamber for recovery. Looking for more? Book a private class in everything from yoga to Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a custom fitness assessment, or special wellness journeys curated by Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic.

But more likely than not, you’ll want to spend your time on the second floor lounging alongside a fire pit in front of a 65ft lap pool. Here you can also find a banya and hammam, each with a terrace and cold plunge. The Aman New York’s spa is best in class, with specially-designed treatments to leave you calm and refreshed. The 120-minute Aman New York signature journey is especially designed to calm stressed-out urbanites, with a ritual that begins with a fluorite crystal (a mineral that can literally be found in Manhattan’s bedrock) and continues with massage, singing bowls and an Aman x 111Skin hydrogel mask.

The verdict

Like the name of its building implies, the Aman New York is a jewel in the crown of Manhattan hospitality. With everything literally at your doorstep – from world-class shopping to superlative service – the Homes category allows well-heeled travellers to feel like they have their very own city pied-à-terre, whether they’re spending a night or two, or settling in for a multi-week stay. A slice of the Big Apple with no strings attached? We can’t think of a finer luxury.

Aman New York is located at the Crown Building, 730 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10019, USA

When one thinks of Roberts radios, the immediate association is with a traditional form factor, a device intended to sit on a nightstand or kitchen counter, near permanently tuned to something warm and inviting. It’s the reason why Roberts carries a Royal Warrant for King Charles III (having originally been granted one for his mother back in 1955).

Browse RobertsRadio.com however, and you’ll experience the huge scope of products, from speakers and turntables, through to modern updates of classic form factors like the Revival and Rambler.

Now there’s an even newer model in town, the Roberts Revere. This family of three all-in-one audio solutions is being launched to tackle one of the missing links in the line-up, the compact disc player, providing a high-quality, room-filling sound machine that covers all bases.

Available in three sizes, 100, 300 and 500, the Revere eschews the usual colourful Roberts spread in favour of a simple stripped-back black lozenge, made from wood with a black leathercloth finish. All have top mounted controls, a front colour LCD display and forward and rear-facing speakers.

The simplest model is the Revere 100, which comes with the broadcasting triumvirate of DAB+/DAB/FM radio along with Bluetooth speaker capability. Two 2.25-inch full-range drivers are combined with a 5.25-inch passive bass radiator.

The Revere 300 is where things get more interesting. This model adds a CD player, together with USB device playback and the ability to charge a smartphone, along with a remote control and all the features of the 100. The speaker system includes two 3-inch full-range drivers with ported bass.

The new flagship is the Revere 500, which takes the 300’s functionality and adds in internet radio and podcasts, along with support for hi-res Spotify Connect, and Deezer, as well as control through a dedicated app and the ability to shape the sound profile depending on the placement of the device. The speaker systems includes two 2.5-inch full-range drivers along with two 3.5inch woofers.

According to Roberts CEO Owen Watters, ‘the Revere collection continues our sound-system legacy for Roberts. We have been lucky to have successful sound-system models such as the MP and Blutune series to establish our presence in this category, but Revere is a clear step-up’.

The CD revival is gathering pace, although it might never reach the heights of the renewed fascination with vinyl. With that said, CD sales are up ten per cent year on year in the UK, and Roberts cites stats from John Lewis (one of their key retailers) that show searches for CD players have increased by 96 per cent in the last few months.

‘The Revere range caters for all sizes and aspects of technology and has been crafted with our audience in mind, from slotting into the bookshelf to full-blown hosting in an open-plan area,’ Watters continues. ‘Our Roberts heritage has been visually preserved in each system, leveraging iconic design elements from the Revival family but doing this sympathetically and sensitively.’

The trio preserve the Roberts ethos whilst also adding something new (the CD component), and Watters notes that the welcome solidity of its classic radios has been carried through to the Revere models. ‘The tactile element of owning a Roberts has been preserved by the notable weight of the product, while packing the warm, rich, signature Roberts sound,’ he says, ‘We’re incredibly proud of the Revere series, and we hope Roberts fans will be even prouder.’

Roberts Revere 100, £249.99, Revere 300, £399.99, Revere 500, £599.99, RobertsRadio.com, @RobertsRadio

Prada has expanded its presence within the brand’s historical home: Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, on the site of the original Fratelli Prada boutique that opened over a century ago.

The new Prada Galleria concept sees an expanded women’s store with categories including luggage, beauty and home, alongside a wider bags, accessories and ready-to-wear offering; private-client spaces including a salon and apartment; Fondazione Prada’s Osservatorio, dedicated to visual experimentation and research; and Pradasphere, the first permanent exhibition space dedicated to Prada’s heritage, craftsmanship and evolution.

The four-storey, glass-vaulted arcade of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is one of the Italian city’s most iconic landmarks, and now two opposing sides of its central piazza are occupied by Prada – the men’s and women’s stores facing each other and connected for the first time by a subterranean ‘Passaggio Segreto’. The luxury shopping centre, which opened in 1877, was this week the location for Vogue World’s fifth edition, with Prada’s co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons sitting front row alongside other luminaries of Italian fashion.

Prada Galleria’s interior design riffs on different elements of the brand’s distinct visual language while remaining sympathetic to the arcade’s original architecture. Pistachio green walls – the signature colour of Marchesi 1824, the Prada-owned pasticceria that sits in the mezzanine of the new space – contrast with black-and-white marble tile floors, and elsewhere rich wood panelling is echoed across vitrines and display cabinetry.

On the level above Marchesi 1824, the Pradasphere displays garments and artefacts from the company's 114-year history, where visitors can discover more about Prada's heritage, evolution, and craftsmanship from within its spiritual home. ‘For Prada,’ a press statement reads, ‘the past is never past but an accumulation of ideas bound by intuition, collaboration, and intellectual exchange.’

‘Prada Galleria’ shares its name with the brand’s signature top-handle bag, first launched in 2007 and named for the first Prada store, opened in 1913. Prada also opened the S/S 2027 season of Milan Fashion Week on Tuesday, with a collection featuring a total of 63 skirts, shown in the Fondazione space on the southern edge of Milan.

Prada Milano Galleria, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, 63-65, 20121 Milan, prada.com

Vacheron Constantin marks the anniversary of its Overseas collection with a new version of the much-quoted model. The Swiss Manufacture first launched its Overseas collection of timepieces in 1996. With a utilitarian design detail – bezel fitted to a flat case with visible screws – as its signature, the Overseas collection was introduced to follow the 222, the 1977 Vacheron Constantin launch sketched by designer Jorg Hysek. It was the 222 and the 1975 Chronomètre Royal, that established the Swiss watchmaker’s contemporary style as sitting somewhere between sporty casual and pared-back elegance.

The Overseas collection continued in a similar vein and the 1996 launch inspired subsequent iterations. In 2004, Vacheron Constantin introduced Overseas watches with integrated bracelets, the shape of their links nodding to the Maltese Cross, the brand’s longstanding emblem. There also appeared bejewelled Overseas wristwatches, and models fitted with complications. The Overseas’ third generation was launched in 2016; chiefly among the updates was a quick-change strap system. Today, each Overseas watch comes complete with a set of straps (typically three straps, made from leather, metal and rubber) that can be added to or taken off, no tools required.

This autumn, Vacheron Constantin celebrates three decades of Overseas watches with a new model. The Overseas Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin has been issued as a limited edition of 200 pieces. Fitted with a moon phase disc and moon in white gold, a lacquered dial in azure blue, a dial colour that Vacheron Constantin first added to its repertoire in 2016, is matched with a white gold case. A satin-finish white gold bracelet consists of links in the shape of a half Maltese cross; other strap options include white rubber and denim blue rubber. The white gold case of the Overseas Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin measures a mere 8.11mm in thickness; it houses the Calibre 1120 QP/1, a self-winding mechanical movement that has been developed and manufactured by Vacheron Constantin.

vacheronconstantin.com

Bentley’s late arrival in the all-electric space has been freighted with anticipation, especially given the relatively short shrift afforded its more punctual rivals, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar and especially Ferrari. To the untrained eye, the new Bentley Torcal follows an aesthetic path that has been well-trodden by the British luxury manufacturer. A sporting SUV/crossover, it sits below the Bentayga in price and scale and squares off some of that model’s more awkward edges.

In short, the Torcal looks like a Bentley. Aside from a subtle shift in proportions, there’s little hint that the powertrain is electric and not the brand’s famed V8. To the uninitiated, it might therefore seem that Bentley has reined itself in, mindful of the reception afforded to Ferrari and Jaguar and wanting to stay out of the fray. However, that’s not how the industry works. Automotive planning is more akin to steering an oil tanker than weaving through the brickbats of social media.

Even by the time Jaguar had become a tawdry meme amongst edgelord social conservatives and long before the Luce had lit the touchpaper of a bona fide car design controversy, it was way, way too late for Bentley to pivot. The Torcal and the ethos it embodies were already set in stone. It’s therefore not surprising to find members of the Bentley team privately confessing to first night nerves.

Thankfully for them, the end result will not be setting the internet alight with angry missives. The Torcal sits on the VW Group’s Premium Platform Electric (PPE), sharing its 113kWh drive battery and 800V electrical architecture with the Porsche Cayenne.

Aimed squarely at the burgeoning sports SUV segment, Bentley have followed a now familiar playbook with the marketing, stressing the badge, the quality, the capability and the lineage. ‘The only focus was to make the next great Bentley,’ says Product Line Director Martin Page, revealing the car on screen for the first time.

The lowdown on the electrical underpinnings come later, but it does reinforce a persistent feeling of caginess around electrification, especially amongst the luxury brands. Whilst at the bottom end of the market the case for EVs has been all but conclusively made, potential buyers of Bentley and its ilk are being painted as hesitant, conservative and generally allergic to an EV-focused approach.

By now, the technology has matured to the point where the differences in performance and day-to-day usability are negligible. Bentley is emphasising the GT qualities of the Torcal above its performance abilities, although the latter are suitably impressive. Power is around 888PS (the most powerful Bentley ever), a number kept ‘low’ to avoid a neck-snapping, fire-breathing character (and perhaps to avoid treading on the toes of Porsche’s 1,156PS Cayenne Turbo Electric).

The all-important range is around 375 miles (600km), although exploring the 2.9 second sprint to 60mph or the 162mph top speed will swiftly bring that figure down (as will lugging a trailer of up to 2,700kg). Find a 400kW charger and it’ll take just over a quarter of an hour to top the car up from 10% to 80% of battery, in line with most other premium EVs.

Even though a more powerful S model is in the works, it’s not power, speed and/or the convenience of electrification that’ll sell these cars. What’s important is the design and the details. Bentley Director of Design Robin Page walks us through the four pillars that shape the Torcal, progressive, crafted, authentic and curated.

The profile showcases the endless bonnet line and ‘upright elegance’ of the squarish, foursquare stance. The flared rear wheel arches give the Torcal a sense of power and dynamism, what Bentley calls a ‘resting beast’ stance; the car itself is 50mm lower than the Bentayga.

The devil is in the details, and Bentley has clearly made a pact based on lighting design, with a front grille that’s evolved from air intake into a ‘piece of art’, a matrix of diamond shaped crystal forms that illuminate and sparkle alongside the vertical headlights (which in proportion and pattern evoke the earlier Continental T). It’s a bold move but not a pioneering one, with light features become a mainstay of premium design.

Rear light clusters continue the diamond theme, as does the side projection lighting and animated puddle lamps. Inspiration for the swirling, geometric light forms came from real crystal; Bentley teamed up with manufacturer Cumbria Crystal, creating imagery of dynamic lighting patterns that have been translated into the interior graphics.

It’s the kind of above and beyond effort that typifies Bentley’s approach to materiality; work with an established supplier, push the envelop and emerge with a twist on a classic that tells a story as well as conveys a function.

That storytelling approach is also in evidence in the use of merino wool on interior surfaces. Developed in collaboration with Somerset-based Fox & Sons (est. 1772), it’s the first time the material has been certified for automotive applications. There’s also a new sunburst aluminium finish on the dashboard as well as a specially developed engineering walnut veneer.

Finally, for the ultimate twist on dovetailing old and new, Bentley worked with a real orchestra to create the Torcal’s motive soundtrack. This ‘acoustic DNA’ was achieved by mimicking the distinctive burble, throb and thrum of a V8 engine using orchestral instruments, with musicians shifting in tone and rhythm to indicate speed of travel.

Page describes this as ‘more emotional than a V8’, with other sound signatures achieved in similar ways. The turn indicator is a craftsman’s hammer being tapped on leather, while the squeak of real crystal glass is used by the onboard digital assistant. Dig deeper into the car’s many modes and you’ll hear real birdsong and the sound of a flute.

The latter surfaces in the Torcal’s mood curation modes. An evolution of the drive modes found in modern luxury cars, the Torcal offers Sport, Comfort and Refresh, three distinctive driving modes that are colour coded throughout the cabin (Blue, Orange and Green respectively) and give driver and passengers a distinctive environment that can be bolstered by the (all-new) seat massage system and other fripperies.

Other niceties include a 28-speaker Naim stereo with Dolby Atmos, dashboard access via facial recognition, a switchable glass sunroof and four powered doors. Pointedly, there is no passenger screen. Not Bentley.

We won’t get to sample the orchestral manoeuvres that replace the spark until some time next year when the first customer cars (and press fleet) are ready for action. In the meantime, consider the words of Bentley’s (German) Chairman and CEO, Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser: 'The best luxury motor cars come from Britain.’ Will the shift to electric change this global perception as Bentley looks to beat the curse of the luxury EV?

Bentley Torcal, for pricing and reservation details visit BentleyMotors.com, @BentleyMotors

In the multifaceted world of Faye Toogood, clay is a material that is both recurring and beautifully shaped by the designer's hands. Her propensity for hand-prototyping is well-documented throughout her practice, and every project begins with an intimate act of creation before developing into fully fledged products. It is surprising, then, that throughout her career, the British designer had not yet tried her hand (literally and figuratively) at making tiles. 'As a studio, we have been asked by a few tile companies to collaborate,' the designer admitted earlier this week. 'But I turned them down in the hope that maybe one day I would get a call from Mutina.'

That call eventually arrived, and the pair just unveiled their first collaboration at the company's HQ in Fiorano Modenese, Italy. Titled 'Faces & Figures', the collection speaks the visual language of clay through a dual approach that is both discreet and boldly figurative, a testament to the designer's ability to shape her thinking into three-dimensional expressions.

‘Faces & Figures’ tiles by Faye Toogood for Mutina

The starting point for Toogood was a question: 'How can I challenge the industrial nature of Mutina to create something that felt like it had been touched by the hand?'

Hailing from Italy's centre for ceramic tile production, Mutina has perhaps been the company that most successfully continued the industrial tradition of its manufacturing district while opening up its portfolio to some of the most celebrated creative voices of today. From Patricia Urquiola to Barber Osgerby and Nathalie Du Pasquier, Mutina's collaborators have had a go at reinventing the tile both functionally and creatively.

The project started in Toogood's London studio, as the designer began modelling with clay, cardboard, paper and canvas – her usual palette of materials that helped visualise the collection's direction. The result is a full toolkit for creating a space: three sizes of plain geometric tiles in four colours (chalk, sand, clay and mud), each available in glossy and matt finishes, and two matching organic forms in a brushed matte clay effect, as well as a series of extruded bricks (bricks being a staple of Mutina, which has reinvented the genre creatively).

The human body was at the heart of Toogood's exploration, and the resulting collection features the subtle warmth of clay and the bolder expression of anthropomorphous forms. Sculptural eyes, ears, mouths, noses and nipples peek out from tiles, animating their surfaces, and serve as a complement to the more neutral pieces.

Although every tile in the collection is the result of Mutina's industrial process, they appear handmade, as if they just came out of the designer's studio. The idea is for every element to be able to be mixed and matched in both traditional and unexpected patterns, the more human elements able to insert themselves into the visual conversation quite seamlessly. 'Maybe the fact that I didn't study design means that I'm able to open a door without even realising I'm breaking a boundary, because I haven't had those boundaries and lines created for me,' notes Toogood, who started her career as a magazine editor before pivoting towards design.

It is an admirable feat, to be able to create something that is so warm and personal ('There couldn't more of me in this collection,' Toogood admits) and yet replicable on an industrial scale to be used effectively and efficiently to design a space. 'Could we create, on an industrial scale, something that generally felt like it just came out of my studio?' she asked earlier on in the process, and the answer is an astounding yes.

'When I think about a chair, I think about how the body connects to the chair, when I make a table, I think of how the legs sit underneath the table. It's all about how the body connects to furniture and objects,' Toogood shares of her process. 'And I wanted to do very much the same with a surface, so it couldn't be only geometric. I wanted it to feel like it had actually had a human touch.'

Belgrade has never lacked architectural tension: neoclassical façades, Yugoslav brutalism, socialist-era futurism and everyday urban grit all coexist, which makes the arrival of a new eclectic hybrid entertainment venue feel oddly at home.

Esthetic Joys Embassy (EJE) inhabits a 1927 villa in Dorćol, originally built for Edvard and Danica Vlajić Zamboni, a prominent and intellectual couple of the time, and designed by Serbian architect Branislav Kojić, with interiors by his wife, Danica Kojić. The building later served as the Kap mleka milk dispensary and, in the 1960s and 1970s, as Iran’s diplomatic mission in Belgrade. Today, it houses Pavilion Hotel and EJE Belgrade: a hotel, dining room, bar and discotheque under one roof.

Wallpaper* dines at Esthetic Joys Embassy, Belgrade

The mood: Yugoslav kiosk meets Japanese listening bar

Dreamt up by Paris-based studio Supaform, EJE emulates late-1950s and early-1960s Yugoslav modernism, when optimism arrived in aerodynamic forms and modular civic structures. The key source of inspiration is industrial architect Saša Mächtig’s 1966 K67 kiosk: a rounded, portable, if not slightly utopian, shape-shifting system of modular fibreglass structures mass-produced until 1999.

Inside, the room flirts with that tension of endless possibilities. A warm, deep yellow runs through the space, while oval ceiling lights cast a nostalgic glow and a Dulton Double Face Japanese station clock ticks and tocks near the DJ booth. The banquet sofas that skirt the darkly hued wooden walls are upholstered in the final run of Misha Black’s District line moquette, sourced from the London mill before the pattern was discontinued.

The otherworldly spatial picture is complete with vintage JBL 4435 studio monitors and a dug-up vinyl collection, staying true to Japanese listening-bar culture. Guests can settle at the bar, linger at the sound module, dance, or lose track of time in one of the six ichiran-style booths, where curtains close, headphones go on, and food can be ordered contactlessly.

The food: everyday dishes with an Asian pulse

Chef Andrey Balakhnov describes EJE’s food as ‘modern, vibrant, and easy to understand’: familiar dishes given depth through Asian techniques, spices, sauces and ingredients. He recommends starting with the rich and comforting pork ramen and finishing with the inventive sake tiramisu. Elsewhere, the drinks menu disguises itself as a stock exchange fantasy, with signature cocktails inspired by world currencies. The Chinese Yuan pairs vodka, sake, kombu and miso into an umami-led serve; the Japanese Yen brings yuzu and sparkling wine together, while the Korean Won mixes gin, strawberry soju, coconut and citrus.

Esthetic Joys Embassy is located at Dobračina 39, Beograd 11000, Serbia

Before marrying a Beatle, becoming a mother of four, a key member of the band Wings, an animal rights activist, and a vegetarian food entrepreneur and cookbook author, Linda McCartney (1941-1998) was a photographer.

On 25 September 2026, Wrensilva Los Angeles – the audio company’s West Hollywood showroom and listening space – will unveil to the public ‘The Art of the Album: The Photography of Linda McCartney’, presented in conjunction with The Linda McCartney Archive LLP, and MPL Communications. This date will also see the US Postal Service honour McCartney’s extraordinary life with a limited-edition stamp series.

Photography connected with all facets of McCartney’s career and life. The images on display at Wrensilva were used on album covers, and while many were the result of official commissions from record labels, some were personal snapshots.

This is the only installation in the US currently devoted solely to McCartney's music photography. Running through February 2027, it pairs her photographs with the vinyl records that immortalised them, alongside a Wrensilva console where you can play music from that era, including The Beatles, The Cimarons, Denny Laine, Paul McCartney, The Pretenders, Professor Longhair, and Neil Young.

This is the fourth installation for Wrensilva Presents: The Art of the Album. Each one pairs a photographer's work with the respective record covers and vinyl. ‘The idea is to bring people into the creative journey that surrounds the music,’ says Greg Perlot, CEO of Wrensilva. ‘Essentially, [it’s] seeing the genesis of an album cover through the photographer’s lens, what they saw, and then what ultimately became the finished album cover we know and love. For this chapter, we wanted a photographer whose work went beyond enhancing a recording. Mrs McCartney’s unique style helped define what an album cover could be. We brought the concept to the MPL Communications team, and they gave us the chance to do it. We hope this offers people a chance to see her photography in person and experience it in a new way by hearing the albums that feature her iconic work.’

As for a few of Perlot’s standouts in the show, ‘The first is the cover of Paul's 1970 solo record, McCartney, shot during a family holiday in Antigua in 1969. It's the hero image of the installation, and we're presenting it three ways: as a framed print, scaled up into wallpaper on one wall, and reproduced as the commemorative poster.

‘The second is Professor Longhair's Live on the Queen Mary. Paul and Linda met him in New Orleans, while Wings were recording Venus and Mars. When the sessions wrapped, they threw a party aboard the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach and brought him in to play. Nobody released that performance for three years, until Paul put it out in 1978 as its own record, with Linda's photograph of [Professor Longhair] on the cover.’

What it took to document these historical snapshots is the stuff of legendary music lore. According to Perlot, Linda put it best herself: ‘Most people, if I like their music, I can get good pictures.’

‘Most of the people she photographed were already in her circle,’ he says, ‘not assignments she was sent to cover. And sometimes [these] were portraits that hinted at a crack in the mask of rock-star grandeur.

‘Some of these photographs became the cover,’ adds Perlot. ‘Some lived quietly inside the sleeve, found only by the listener who opened it. Some were taken in the middle of the work, before the album had a shape. She photographed people as she found them, not as they performed for the lens.’

Linda McCartney was born Linda Eastman, in Scarsdale, New York in 1941. After attending Sarah Lawrence College, she studied art under Hazel Larsen Archer in Arizona. Using a Leica camera, she landed her first big gig with Town & Country in the mid-1960s, photographing musicians and entertainers, and became a regular at Bill Graham's Fillmore East New York concert venue. Here she shot the most magnetic performers of the day from Aretha Franklin to Bob Dylan, John Lennon, the Who, and the Animals. Over the years, she perfected her craft and shot legends such as Jimmy Hendrix, and The Rolling Stones on a yacht, and finally, she had that fateful backstage pass to shoot The Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965.

Rather than set up structured photo shoots, McCartney was a fly on the wall and used a more organic approach to capturing her subjects; she said at the time, ‘Suddenly I found that taking pictures was a great way to live and a great way to work.’ Nothing was contrived and McCartney didn’t direct her subjects, but easily captured some of the most famous musicians of her generation in an unguarded fashion when they were on tour, in hotels, or at home, the images sometimes ending up as cover art for albums. In 1967, her photo of Neil Young appeared on the cover of Sugar Mountain – Live at Canterbury House, 1968. Later in her career, she would take the photograph for the cover of Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson’s single The Girl Is Mine (1982).

Her unique style and soaring reputation led her to become the first woman to photograph a Rolling Stone magazine cover, in 1968, featuring Eric Clapton. Later, she appeared on the cover herself, alongside Paul, in a 1974 issue (photographed by Francesco Scavullo).

Among McCartney’s favourite subjects to photograph were her family and animals. Her photographs have been exhibited throughout the United States as well as at the Royal Photographic Society and the Victoria & Albert Museum in the UK. A collection of photographs, Linda McCartney’s Sixties: Portrait of an Era, was published in 1992.

As for her latest posthumous legacy, the limited-edition US stamp collection features a pane of 20 stamps showcasing five different photographs. The selvage features a black-and-white self-portrait of McCartney behind her camera. Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps and stamp pane. There will be a first-day-of-issue ceremony for stamps featuring her photography at MoMA in New York City on 25 September 2026.

Wrensilva | Los Angeles, 8625 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA 90069.
On view through February 2027. Gallery hours: Monday – Saturday, 11am-6pm

wrensilva.com

The temptation to describe Horl’s scissors as ‘a cut above’ has the gravitational pull of a black hole, but let’s not succumb to easy cliché and instead consider why these German masters of the cutting arts are so successful.

Horl is a small company punching way above its weight. Based in Freiburg in the Black Forest, the company was founded in 2016 by Otmar Horl and his son Timo. Today, the company’s MD is the newly installed Heiko Stahl, a longstanding major player at Vitra, who works alongside Timo Horl.

The company ethos has always been to make utensils that last, alongside the tools and knowhow to ensure a high-quality product stays useful for as long as possible. Horl scissors are admittedly pricey, but it’s the attention to detail that makes it possible to keep them in fine fettle. Whether they’re for use in the kitchen, crafts, or fashion, Horl reckons these scissors can slice through over 100 different materials.

The key point of difference is the spring-loaded quick release that enables the two blades to be easily separated for individual sharpening. With this simple movement – open the scissors wide and add a little bit of extra pressure and they pop apart – the blades can be brought back to as-new condition via the use of Horl’s own suite of sharpeners, the entry-level 3 Cruise, the 3, and the 3 Pro.

The last includes a planetary gear set to speed up the grind, and costs £399, while the 3 Cruise has a recycled plastic case and fixed blades. The mid-range 3 is the sweet spot, with exchangeable sharpening discs and the choice of a walnut or oak finish. All come with a sharpening support with two angled ends for a choice of sharpness (the 3 Pro offers six grinding angles).

The rolling sharpening process is achieved by sandwiching the blade between the support and the sharpener and then grinding until you’ve achieved the edge you desire. The company also supplies whetstones and strops in addition to its sharpener tool. For the edge-obsessive, there’s even a Horl-branded magnifier for a close-up look at the cutting edge, providing visual confirmation of its sharpness. These are tools for the professional (and the obsessive), and the Horl website contains plenty of information about different techniques for sharpening and knife care.

We're invariably asked for best of the best selections in a particular category, from cars to smartphones. When it comes to purely analogue objects, you should be looking at a service life of decades, rather than years. The scissors themselves have a welcome weight and balance, along with a carefully shaped form that lets the individual blades sit at the right angle for sharpening.

While the price of entry is high, Horl’s penchant for quality and ease of maintenance make them an easy choice for lovers of quality but occasional consumption.

Horl.com, @Horl1993

In west London, housed in a historic 1910 building, designer Rose Uniacke’s latest project unfolds. She worked closely with her client, a collector with an eye for art, who wanted to improve the apartment conversion and create a comfortable London base for him and his family.

The 3,111 sq ft space offered more than a design project, as Uniacke – who has previously shown Wallpaper* around her own London home – leaned into the building’s architectural context, encompassing bespoke joinery and lighting design. ‘While the interior is now fairly contemporary, with minimal detailing, the original architecture retains a strong presence, particularly through the bold arched windows that frame beautiful, expansive views,' Uniacke tells Wallpaper*. She sourced rare midcentury works by Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand and Jean Dunand, and paired these with contemporary elements.

Uniacke stresses that it was important for the home not to feel like a gallery. ‘I wanted the spaces to feel considered and layered. The room should always come first, with the beautiful things within it coming second. The overall feeling needed to be comfortable, welcoming and light, with a sense of ease.’

Artworks from the client's collection were chosen to anchor colour and mood, and Uniacke added furniture and objects of equal standing, inspired by the initial conversations she had with her client. ‘It led me towards collectible French furniture of the 20th century and pieces from contemporary Japan, alongside my own designs from the Rose Uniacke Editions range, and I wanted to include some pieces from antiquity. As always, the pieces led the design.’

Uniacke explains that fabrics and paints are always in response to light, objects and furniture. For this project, the palette shifts from white and pale blue-green through to soft pink and dark red. Fabrics are used on the bedroom walls, adding a sense of softness.

‘I like the way there is often a lightness to 20th-century design that worked particularly well in this apartment, alongside the large windows and open views. The Jean Prouvé bookcase in the main sitting room was an important starting point,' she notes. 'It was made in 1930 as a special commission and is an important and unique piece, complete with its original paint. It was the right scale, the perfect colour, and had an interesting feeling of airiness that felt completely at home next to the windows. It became an anchor for the room and, in many ways, the driver for everything around it.'

The rest of the room features treasures such as an Egyptian carved tablet from 332–30 BC, depicting Ptolemy III and retaining traces of its striking original paint, a ceramic Pyramide by Jacques and Dani Ruelland from 1980, and a Jean Prouvé wall light from 1950. ‘I like these kinds of echoes and conversations between pieces, particularly when they cross periods and cultures. The overall feeling is one of elegant informality and ease.’

Although the home is full of collectible pieces, it is important for the space to feel comfortable and welcoming – even if there are significant art pieces, the atmosphere doesn't feel too precious. However, in a world full of visual noise, how does one know when a room is done? For Uniacke, the answer is simple: ‘I don’t think a room is ever done, is it? It might achieve a certain balance that makes it ready to be lived in, but rooms are always going to evolve. In this case, being the home of a collector, things come into the collection and move around. Rooms change over time with the people who live in them. I’m excited by rooms that continue to evolve; it’s part of the fun.’

roseuniacke.com

Every now and again a new design emerges from a marginalised sector that initiates a total rethink. This is the case with Lume’s new Ranger caravan, a design that somehow fuses the best of retro design for the golden era of aluminium travel trailers with a modern sensibility in design, proportion, packaging and materials.

The Ranger is a compact caravan/RV/travel trailer (delete as per your preference). With a fixed rear double bed alongside an internal bathroom and WC, the Ranger crams a lot into a small 5.19m by 2.04m footprint. The missing interior element – the kitchen – is actually on the outside, contained within a slide out unit with integral worksurface, sink and two gas burners.

Lume makes a virtue of its Dutch designer roots, and the Ranger joins a line-up that includes the Adventure, the all-weather Nordic with its extra insulation for sojourns in Northern climes, and the flagship Expedition. The Ranger is the smallest and lightest of the lot (coming in at 1,150kg when unladen, especially helpful if you’re towing with an EV).

While the Expedition is designed for three (the front table converts), it also has a more comprehensive galley set-up at the rear, with the entire end of the caravan lifting up to provide a cover for cooking. In the Ranger, you’ll need an awning to prepare food in inclement weather, but the indoor amenities should make up for the discomfort.

Standard equipment includes a scattering of LED reading and spot lamps, wool felt on the walls and ceiling for a soft touch, high insulation finish, teak wood flooring throughout, a mattress from Dutch specialist Auping and power and USB sockets placed in practical points around the interior. Options are extensive, ranging from a Bluetooth speaker from Bang & Olufsen to tableware and pans to create a true turn-key solution.

Another important detail for more spacious stays is the standard pop-up roof. This increases the interior head height from 2.19m to 2.6m. The aluminium skin conceals a couple of storage areas, and an optional drawbar box at the front can be specified with a Thule bicycle rack. An awning is also available, as is an outside shower system.

The Lume Ranger is laser-targeted at the design lover, from the Airstream-adjacent silvery skin to the well-crafted interior and quality of fixtures and fittings. Light in weight but heavy on style, it promises to be an excellent way to venture out into the scene.

Lume Ranger, from €49,950, LumeTraveler.com, @LumeTraveler

‘Our archive is fundamental to the brand, but we do not see it as something static or nostalgic,’ says Robert Triefus, Stone Island’s CEO, as the cult technical-wear brand unveils its first formal collaboration with the independent collectors ‘who have helped preserve, interpret and shape the brand over [the past] four decades’.

Titled ‘Selected Works ’982–’026 Stone Island: The Collector Series’, the project will unfold at Selfridges Corner Shop, the London department store’s ephemeral ground-floor space that has previously featured pop-ups from the likes of Celine, Loewe and Prada, among others. Open for six weeks, the space will feature pieces from Stone Island’s ‘living archive’, but also host some of its most dedicated collectors: among them Maher, Better Gift Shop, ’bout, 194 Local, Louis Holsgrove, Metallic Curtain, Pezze and SimJae, who will curate their own selections as well as participate in events across the month.

‘The project is an evolution of Selected Works, through which we have previously explored the Stone Island archive in different cities and cultural contexts,’ says Triefus. ‘For Selfridges, we wanted to develop that idea further by bringing our own archive into dialogue with the independent collectors who have preserved, studied and interpreted Stone Island over many years.

‘For the first time, selected pieces from collectors’ personal archives will be available to purchase,’ he continues. ‘Their provenance and individual histories are an important part of their value. The result is not simply a retrospective or a pop-up store, but a meeting point between archive, current product, commerce and culture [as well as] between Stone Island and the community that has grown around it.’

To conceive the space, Stone Island drafted Willo Perron, Wallpaper’s Designer of the Year at the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2026. The Montreal-born designer said he wanted the Corner Shop space to feel ‘intentionally temporary, modular and adaptable’ – a reflection of the idea of a ‘living archive’. Inspiration came from military and base camps that can be ‘rapidly deployed, using structures and systems that can be assembled, moved and reconfigured as needed’, as Perron explains. ‘That logic felt very connected to Stone Island, where function, utility and material experimentation have always been so present.’

He also describes the space as an ‘active build’, reflecting the changing programme of collectors who will inhabit the space. ‘The “active build” is really about allowing the environment to evolve over the course of the installation,’ he says. ‘Fixtures can move, and displays can be reconfigured as the collectors and pieces change. The temporary and modular nature of the space allows it to continually shift throughout the six weeks.’

In the Corner Shop space, which can be viewed from Oxford Street through hazy, translucent windows, moments of industrial design – like a series of metal display stands on castor wheels and modular shelving units – meet tent-like structures and digital display screens. ‘Materiality and hardware are central to the design,’ says Perron. ‘Stone Island has always been defined by its experimentation with materials, finishes and processes, so we wanted that language to carry through into the space. The way the materials, hardware and fixtures come together is really what defines the space.’

‘Willo has a very particular ability to create environments that are conceptually precise but still feel immediate and experiential,’ adds Triefus. ‘What interested us was his understanding that this should not feel like a conventional installation or retail space. [Instead it’s] a flexible system of soft structures, modular components, metal fixtures and digital elements that can be reconfigured as the collectors and garments change.’

For his part, Perron says he understands the appeal of being a Stone Island collector: growing up in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he remembers being ‘obsessed’ with images of British raves, where Stone Island was the unofficial uniform. ‘I was always drawn to it visually, but equally to how important it was culturally. That’s really what translates into the space: recognising the people and culture around the brand, and putting that history alongside what Stone Island is doing today.’

‘Stone Island has always been shaped not only by the garments we create, but by the people who find meaning in them,’ adds Triefus. ‘Different communities have adopted the brand in different places and in very different ways, often independently of anything we could have orchestrated ourselves.

‘Their knowledge complements our formal archive and sometimes allows us to look at our own history through a different lens,’ he continues. ‘It is important that the relationship remains reciprocal and that we do not just absorb collector culture into the brand. This project gives collectors genuine authorship and a platform to present their own perspectives – fot me, that is entirely consistent with our belief in community as a form of research.’

‘Selected Works ’982–’26 Stone Island: The Collector Series’ runs until 6 November 2026 at Selfridges Corner Shop. For a full schedule of cultural programming, visit Stone Island’s website.

Midcentury Italian lighting design spans as many genres as one can imagine, with a range of creative expressions that expand on the functional mission of lighting design. From the overly decorative to the sci-fi inspired, from the sculptural to the purely industrial, Italian lighting design has shaped the history of domestic objects in an impactful, long-lasting way.

The work of Venetian lighting designer Carlo Nason sits at the more abstract, experimental end of this spectrum. A Murano glass expert that operated at the cusp of art and design, his work explored the sculptural creative possibilities of glass.

'Carlo Nason grew up with an extraordinary knowledge of Murano glassmaking, but he was not defined by its traditions,' says Marie Kristine Schmidt, CEO of Danish design company Gubi. This month, the Scandinavian company adds Nason to their ever-growing portfolio of design reissues, with a collaboration that brings back the designer's ‘LT305’ lamp, now re-named the ‘Lotus’ lamp after the evocative nickname used by collectors.

One thing Schmidt admired in Nason's work was his independence. 'He looked beyond Murano to industrial design in Milan, Northern European modernism, photography, and the world around him, and brought those influences into his work,' she told Wallpaper*. 'There is an intelligence and practicality to his designs that I find very compelling. He thought about how a lamp was made, assembled, cleaned, and used, without compromising the beauty of the object. Nothing feels unnecessary.'

Nason died in May 2026, so the timing of the launch, which was developed in close collaboration with the designer and his son Alberto Nason, feels momentous. 'It gives us the opportunity to celebrate his work and bring renewed attention to a designer with a very independent and original point of view,' adds Schmidt.

Carlo Nason's ‘Lotus’ lamp reissued by Gubi

The ‘Lotus’ lamp was originally created in 1969, and embodies Nason's curiosity and prowess with glass. Through his work, he was instrumental in putting Murano on the global design map and among his most creative glass experiments are lighting objects that push the boundaries of the material with explosive forms that appear futuristic and are technically challenging.

The ‘Lotus’ lamp is a fitting example: only produced for a few years after its creation, it was originally part of Nason's exploration of multi-layered glass compositions within an object (a recurring theme of his vast oeuvre).

'The “Lotus” looks simple, but making it is incredibly demanding,' notes Schmidt, describing the intricate manufacturing process behind the piece. 'Each of the four glass shades is mouth-blown individually, and they have to fit together with great precision. Inside, a compact steel structure carries the weight of the glass, keeps exactly the right distance between each layer, and hides the light source.

Then you have the pulegoso glass, with thousands of tiny bubbles and natural variations created during the making. So there is a very precise construction, but you can still see the hand of the maker. No two lamps are completely identical. That balance between precision, craftsmanship, and individuality is what makes the “Lotus” so special.'

The lamp joins a collection that includes archival designs from some of modern history's most celebrated voices, from Gabriella Crespi to Pierre Paulin, as well as regular contemporary commissions to the likes of Gam Fratesi and Space Copenhagen. It is an interesting approach for a Scandinavian design brand, to expand its portfolio beyond its geographical confines and playing an integral part in the preservation of some of the past century's most important creative moments.

'For Gubi, being historically important is not enough reason to bring a design back. It has to be relevant today,' explains Schmidt. 'We have to believe that people will want to live with it now, not simply admire it because of its history. The “Lotus” is a good example. Carlo Nason designed it more than 50 years ago, but the way he thought about lighting feels very relevant today. Bringing back the Lotus is also about telling Nason's story and introducing his work to a new audience. That is an important part of Gubi's role when we reintroduce historical design.'

gubi.com

With their steel profiles, flush cabinetry and marble tops, the low-profile credenzas and elegant desks designed by Florence Knoll in 1961 revolutionised office design, consigning traditional clunky filing cabinets and heavy bureaux to the past. Sixty-five years later, a new collection by Sam Chermayeff for Knoll allows these classics out of the executive suite and into the home, where they have increasingly been put to use over the last decades.

‘If Florence Knoll was still around, she would’ve responded to the current climate by reshaping her own system to fit domestic needs. Back then, people didn’t put their socks in a Florence Knoll credenza, but she would’ve been like, “of course people do that now”,’ says Chermayeff, whose new ‘Knoll Chermayeff Storage’ collection includes a bookcase, bar cabinet, console, side table and coffee table.

Florence Knoll’s ‘2544’ credenza was inspired by her former mentor Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s minimalist principles, and Chermayeff has taken a similarly architectural approach to his debut collection for Knoll, pairing bold precision with various finishes that allow for personalisation.

The American-born, Berlin-based architect has a strong personal connection to Knoll: his father, Ivan Chermayeff, led Knoll’s rebranding and graphic standards in the early 1990s with Tom Geismar (and also designed the MoMA logo). ‘In my memory, there was a Florence Knoll credenza in my father’s office,’ he says. ‘I remember Massimo and Lella Vignelli also had one in their office/house. In both cases, I remember red things on top of them and flowers. My son will probably remember the toys in the new ones that we have.’

Chermayeff knew that a light touch was all that was needed to adapt Florence Knoll’s original modernist designs to our more flexible contemporary world. From the tall open shelving to the console tables with push-to-open drawers, each piece clearly belongs to the Florence Knoll lineage – an evolution, not a revolution. All are fully finished on all sides, with particular attention spent on their silhouettes, so the pieces are free to float and take centre stage in the room.

There are plenty of colours and finishes to choose from: the side table, for example, is available in five types of veneers, ranging from Ebonized ash to Oxford walnut, as well as deep red, green, and blue lacquers – plus seven different types of marble (either gloss- or satin-coated) for the tabletop. The bookcase is also available with clear class shelves, while the bar, which features a mirrored top half with glass rack, is particularly striking in Dark Red Ultra.

‘‎Florence Knoll was a genius in how she used materials,’ says Chermayeff. ‘I like to follow her way, and I think it's best when the top is lighter and the body is darker – but not too dark. In my mind, the most classic combination is chrome, maple veneer, and white marble. You get that feeling with many of the colours and light tops. But then there’s black stone, which really has something and is lovely to live with.

‘I love this system for being able to withstand a lot of different expressions,’ he continues. ‘It’s generous in that way, and even though I took it on a little walk, it’s still Florence’s thing.’

The ‘Knoll Chermayeff Storage’ collection will be available in the UK and EU in November 2026.

It's an exciting time in London when a big player makes their debut – and the Park Hyatt Residences, sales of which launch today (23 September 2026), offer such a moment. The project, housed above the Park Hyatt Hotel, which opened in 2025 within a contemporary twin-high-rise development designed by KPF, includes 103 turnkey branded residences. This was a tantalising prospect when it was first announced, but now eager buyers can get the full experience by exploring the first series of show apartments, which throw open their doors to visitors this week.

Step inside the new Park Hyatt Residences show apartments

The first family of interiors comprises two residences composed by South African designer Christian Bense. Looking to craft homes that respond both to the prospective buyers' contemporary sensibilities and the location's amazing context (the property is set right by the River Thames in Nine Elms), the creative curated an immersive domestic experience conceived to soothe and intrigue.

The interiors on offer are situated high up on Level 26, allowing long views of the London skyline, as well as close-up aerials of the neighbourhood's highlights, such as Battersea Power Station, the US Embassy and the Thames' swirling waters. The available layouts come in two different scales – a three-bedroom and a one-bedroom residence – to provide options and ignite guests' imagination.

Featured products and art include a sisal rug by Peter Page; an etching by Juan Escudero; a bespoke wool and silk rug by Amy Kent; a vintage Danish oak cabinet from The Modern Warehouse; and a bespoke sculptural triangular entry table, co-created by Bense with Atelier 278.

Bense drew on midcentury references spanning the 1950s to the 1970s to create interiors that bring together modern style and lush comfort. It was important to create pockets of cosiness and not direct all views and seating set-ups towards the outdoors – the aim was for this interior to feel like a real home that is used not just for its vistas but also for its luxurious feel and, ultimately, daily life.

He says: 'Not designing for a particular client does provide a challenge when doing a show apartment, but I feel that if you try and cater to everyone as a solution, you risk catering to no one. So it is important that you still aim to provide a unique point of view, a voice and a personality when you design. One would hope that anyone can appreciate good design when they see it, regardless of whether the style is to their taste. Ensuring that you design with a personality in mind goes a long way to ensuring the design has soul.

'In these apartments, we wanted to evoke the sense of a well-travelled client, returning home. So we combined a worldly view on antiques and all-over style, but mixed that with the comforts and familiarity of home. [There are] soft fabrics, a personalised art collection, interesting antique finds, etc. Together, this creates not only a depth of character to the design, but a personality to the home which I feel could resonate with [most people].'

A development such as this will no doubt bring a new layer to its ever-evolving Vauxhall neighbourhood. The homes are brought to market by luxury property consultancy Knightcrest, backed by London developer and placemaker Valouran.

'What makes Park Hyatt London River Thames Residences distinctive is the combination of an exceptional sense of place with the level of personalised service that defines Park Hyatt. The panoramic Thames views and Christian Bense’s beautifully considered interiors are undoubtedly part of the appeal, but what really sets the branded residences apart is the ability to pair these elements with the ease and discretion of Park Hyatt hospitality,' says Henry Barrow, sales director at Knightcrest.

He continues: 'Residents have the rare opportunity to enjoy a private home in one of London’s most dynamic new neighbourhoods, while having the services and experiences of Park Hyatt woven seamlessly into everyday life – from dedicated staff and 24-hour concierge to preferential access to the hotel’s dining and its spa, pool and fitness facilities. For us, it is this combination of a highly individual home, an extraordinary London setting and genuinely personalised hospitality that makes the proposition so special.'

Indeed, apartment residents at Park Hyatt Residences will have access to the nearby hotel's wealth of amenities – such as its swimming pool and concierge services. More amenities include a Residents' Lounge within the building, on Level 19.

Meanwhile, Bense's creative interpretation of the residences' interiors will be just the first of several planned launches and special reveals to come. The developers are planning more show apartment interiors by a curated selection of designers to be spotlighted over the next six months. Watch this space.

riverthamesresidences.com

New York has no shortage of venues to view great 20th- and 21st-century design – the Cooper Hewitt, the Brooklyn Museum, the Met and the Museum of Arts and Design, to name just a few.

Less common, though, are places to view rarities, prototypes and other design B-sides in an archive-like atmosphere, outside the constraints of an exhibition thesis or a permanent collection. The co-founders of R & Company – one of America’s most esteemed collectible design galleries – are looking to change that by opening their long-time storage facility Building 86 to the public for the first time.

The 16,000 sq ft warehouse, located in a former machine shop in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, housed the gallery’s permanent collection, designer archives, photo studio and administrative spaces for the better part of a decade. But co-founders Zesty Meyers and Evan Snyderman recognised an opportunity: ‘The idea of being able to share 30 years of collecting with our clientele seemed like a really great idea,’ says Snyderman. ‘Everything in this building has a story.’

Building 86 will be open, by appointment, to collectors, designers and the public alike. Items are displayed on towering shelves, in no particular order, allowing visitors to wander and discover. Here, you may bump into a work by a modernist titan. There, you may encounter a contemporary designer you’ve never heard of. It’s all meant to foster a sense of serendipity and discovery. ‘We have things from France, we have things from Denmark. We have things we’ve owned, collected, wanted, lived with, cherished, loved, found – you name it,’ says Meyers.

‘A bigger thing,’ he adds, ‘is we just get to have fun.’

Below, Snyderman and Meyers share their 10 favourite finds.

1. 'Sluggo' lamp by Wendell Castle

This is one of my favourite things of all time. Most people know Wendell for his work in wood. I sort of brought him out of retirement in a way about 25 years ago when he didn't have a gallery representing him. One of the things I found most interesting was this series of work that he created in the late ‘60s to early ‘70s. It was a very short period of time, about four years, that he took a break from working in wood and switched to working in fibreglass because he was inspired by what was happening with the Italian Radical Design movement through a show at MoMA called The New Domestic Landscape. He got tired, from what he told me, of ‘everything being brown.’ He wanted colour. Wendell also comes out of hot rod culture – he built racing muscle cars and things like that. He was always a car fanatic. This lamp is sparkly blue – It's like that hot rod color. He was also looking a the cartoons of the 1940s, like Sluggo from the Nancy comic strip. That has nothing to do with the shape of this. It's just like this odd, surrealist object, and it looks like a slug. It sits on the floor. It's a lamp, which only illuminates this little strip of clear plexiglass at the bottom, so it really doesn't function as a lamp – it just glows. The whole thing is absurd, and that's what I love about it. – Evan Snyderman

2. Modular cat toy by Verner Panton for Naef

[This cat] was produced by Naef, a great Swiss toy maker. But the thing is, you have to build and put it together by interlocking these six-sided cubes with these plastic clips, and it's really, really hard. So it failed as a product; it was supposed to be marketed to kids and the adults couldn't even put it together – it takes hours, and they're very fragile. It's harder than Lego, and so in a couple of years they stopped producing them. We have original boxes. We have original instructions. Obviously, if you can make the cat, you can make another shape. They came in different colours. Evan and I have been buying them for years, and we keep buying them if we find them – they’re that rare. We have sold them too and we've tried to buy them back. We have clients that bought them from us even in the '90s, and we've tried to buy back, and they won't sell them to us. No one wants to get rid of the good Verner Panton. – Zesty Meyers

3. 'African' Chair by Garry Knox Bennett

This chair is wild, and he was wild. Garry Knox Bennett was one of the early American studio furniture makers. He's a contemporary of Wendell Castle. He lived in Oakland, California. Coming out of school, he made very elaborate roach clips, like in the ‘60s, and jewellery. What he was selling became popular, and that's when he went into the furniture-making world. You can't see it in the photo, but there are these silver hand-hammered little nails that are on top of the seat. So it's very much like a combination of furniture and jewellery. A lot of his work has this kind of detail, this level of like very fine metalwork combined with eccentric, wild woodwork. He was quite a character. Most people don't know who he is, but I just find it really exciting. This is my own personal chair. I used it in my office for many, many years, but I just retired it because I didn't want to destroy it. – ES

4. Flat file by Poul Kjaerholm

Paul Kjaerholm mostly worked in Denmark, that was the country of wood carving, and he was a teacher at the Royal Academy. I don't know if he coined the term, but he called himself an interior architect. I've never seen a flat file executed by Danish cabinet makers. And the handles are so beautiful, and everyone that's ever bought them from us are only art collectors. And it makes so much sense. The handles are pine. Danish cabinet makers were able to do this. – ZM

5. 'Paramount' lamp by Lapo Binazzi

Lapo Binazzi is my favourite of the Italian Radical designers. He's the coolest person. He lives in Florence. He's 85 or so years-old now. He started Grupo UFO and was one of the most radical of the Radical designers. He did this series of lamps between 1972 and 1973. They were statements about Hollywood movie companies and the American dream. This one is about Paramount, with the mountain from the Paramount logo. This is part of our permanent collection. The base is ceramic, handmade by him, and then the umbrella is custom-made by an umbrella maker in Florence. He works with all these old artisans and people in the neighbourhood. These craftsmen are going away – like the handmade umbrella, this kind of thing doesn't really exist anymore. As pop-y and and funny as they are, Lapo’s lamps are also completely crafted. – ES

6. Model 4088 table lamp by Joe Colombo for Kartell

The top part of this lamp turns. This is a lamp in my own personal collection, but I've never had in one of my houses – it's just been in a box. There's a second version of that lamp that's much shorter, that was more heavily produced. I've only ever seen a couple of [this model] in my lifetime, so I bought it. I'm a giant fan of Joe Colombo. I'm a giant fan of the late '60s into the '70s and that sort of pop era. I love that he was that far ahead of his time, and it's great that we can put it in a vignette. – ZM

7. 'Codependent' light fixture by Katie Stout

This is Katie Stout at her best. This has individual shades. She mixes these forms together and calls them 'codependent', but it's only something she can create and think of in this way. It’s just stunning. The colours and the innocence of it– it looks like a little kid’s thing, it’s absolutely amazing. – ZM

8. 'Elephant Skin' candelabra by The Haas Brothers

This is a very early Haas Brothers work. We were their first gallery. And it’s huge. I mean, it stands probably three feet tall – it's almost Gothic in scale. This piece was made in 2013, around when we first started to work with them. They made a series of these large candle holders in bronze. It's sculpted out of clay and then cast into bronze. Each one is made in an edition of three. We sold all of them almost immediately. We acquired this one back from a client a couple years ago. It has the most beautiful patina on it. In fact, Niki Haas was here a couple of years ago and saw it. He was like, ‘Oh my God, we need to make these again. This is the coolest thing ever.’ They call them ‘elephant skin’ because they have this really interesting texture. They look like folded skin almost, like, soft and squishy looking, but they're obviously cast bronze. It's just beautiful. – ES

9. Five-piece sectional sofa by Roberto Matta

Roberto Sebastian Matta was a surrealist painter from Chile, and this is one of the few furniture pieces he ever made. He lived in Chile and then Italy for many years, and he worked with Gavina, which is the company that produced this. Eventually, Gavina was sold to Knoll, so that's why the Knoll factory then produced these.

I love how it creates this whole living environment; it's a sculpture, but then it transforms into a sofa. But then you can turn it into, like, a fort. You can turn it into a whole room. You can make multiple installations out of it. I love the playfulness of it, and the fact that it's really a work of art masquerading as a sofa. This particular one, I bought from a woman who inherited it from her parents, and it had sat in her Upper East Side New York apartment since the 1970s. – ES

10. Bed by Joaquim Tenreiro

This is a single bed, I mean, you could use it as a day bed. If you notice on the front end where the footboard is, it tapers up, and the the headboard tapers up to to this beautiful sliver of wood. It has caning in the headboard, and it just shows Tenreiro's craftsmanship. It's something that we've never seen before. We've had one bigger one that was more of a full or queen-size bed. But he is, by far, the best wood carver in the history of Brazil. We own part of his archive. I'm a huge fan. He was born in Portugal and immigrated to Brazil. I think he's one of the best from the 1940s to about 1970s. – ZM

‘A skirt is like a T-shirt,’ Miuccia Prada told Ingrid Sischy on the Charlie Rose show in 2006. The interview coincided with ‘Waist Down – Skirts by Miuccia Prada’ exhibition, which was running at the New York Prada Epicenter store at the time, a display of the designer’s skirts from 1988 to the present – from those adorned with red lips or swathes of crystals and beads, to versions in chiffon, leather and mohair.

Which is to say that the skirt has always been something of a canvas for Mrs Prada, who largely wears the garment herself and has continued to experiment with the style in her recent collections (now, she does so alongside Raf Simons, her co-creative director since 2020). She will occasionally wear trousers, but never jeans – she admitted after her S/S 2027 menswear show that she had never worn a pair in her life, even as a teenager.

She mentioned this because jeans were the starting point of that menswear collection, which the designers described as ‘an exercise in clarity’ (Mrs Prada has often said that a collection will begin with something she ‘hates’). Versions came in brightly-hued leather, tailoring wool or a sheer fabric which revealed the jean’s workings beneath; other ‘ingredients’ of the collection were ‘the denim jacket, the blazer, the leather blouson and the T-shirt.’

Simons said that the idea for that collection was for ‘everything to [be] simple, but it is not,’ likening the process to creating a ‘pasta al pomodoro’ – a staple of Italian cuisine made from just the simplest of ingredients. ‘There was something compelling about reiteration, about this focus,’ the designers said at the time. ‘It is about being extremely decisive and precise.’

This afternoon’s womenswear show, held amid the same OMA-designed showset at Fondazione Prada as the men’s show (the perspex floor and strip lighting give the effect of standing on a lightbox, or photocopier), hinged on a similar conceit. This time, it was the skirt that was under scrutiny: ‘we used the skirt as a framework,’ said Mrs Prada. ‘Like a raw material to express concepts.’

And there were a multitude of ideas here. Skirts came in jewellery-like webs of crystal, evoking lace. Others fastened with embellished Velcro, meaning they could be worn in different ways. They came in cotton, with the illusion of leather, or were wrapped in a layer of tulle, as if their bows and pleats were being preserved in a museum. Others still split down their seams to reveal layers of polka dots or flowers beneath, or were constructed from strange, translucent nylon in various Prada-esque hues.

Mrs Prada called it the ‘most flexible’ garment, to her representing a feeling of sartorial freedom (‘people can wear it however they want’), while Simons said that the skirt appeals to different types of women, and their different moods. ‘You want to be sexy, you want to be luxurious, you want to go to work, you want to be at ease with your kids,’ he said. ‘There are all kinds of skirts [for that].’

The skirt also allowed for what Simons called the collection’s ‘illogical’ combinations – a corporate shirt worn with an expansive pleated skirt (some had to be held in the hands, as one might navigate a ballgown); satin bra tops with a clean-lined Velcro skirt; or a vivid floral skirt, slit to the hip, with a nylon raincoat. ‘[Skirts] are full of contrasting contradictions in their ideas,’ he continued. ‘[This collection] is a process of questioning, reconsidering, rethinking.’

Asked why the skirt had stuck with Mrs Prada so long, she answered, ‘It's theoretical, it's conceptual, it's a frame.’ ‘It’s a contradiction,’ she concluded – that most Prada of concepts.

Buenos Aires modernism emerged in the mid-1930s to the early 1940s. It is a movement that grew in sync with a period of fast-paced, radical change in the South American city. From experiencing a golden age for tango, film and literature to the implementation of urban developments around car use that transformed it into a modern 20th-century metropolis, the Argentine capital quickly became one of the era's cultural powerhouses.

During this period, and inspired by the rise of modernism everywhere, architects began to reject the heavy ornamentation of European eclecticism and Beaux-Arts styles in favour of avant-garde design – and modernist architecture's clean lines and streamlined geometry.

A homegrown regional style began to develop, which combined elements of European rationalism, Bauhaus-inspired German aesthetics, and art deco. Reinforced concrete and industrial materials became popular during this period of rapid urban expansion when demand for construction soared. Early modernist exponents blended Le Corbusier's theories with their own approach and local idiosyncrasies to impressive effects. Buenos Aires modernism is a true gem of its genre as a result.

Explore Buenos Aires modernism

Buenos Aires architects worked on many private residences, but also experimented with collective living spaces that prioritised integration with their natural surroundings. Public and cultural spaces complete the mix of an era that led the way in innovative thinking. Here is a selection of projects that best represent this time.

Kavanagh by Luis Sanchez, Ernesto Lagos and Luis María De La Torre

When: 1934-36

A beacon of the golden era of Argentine prosperity and opulence, the building was commissioned by wealthy landowner and socialite Corina Kavanagh and was the tallest reinforced concrete building in South America on completion. Kitted out with all mod cons such as air conditioning and central heating, as well as impressive tiered garden terraces, it was designed with no expense spared. Kavanagh hired French designer Jean Michel Frank, who collaborated with local design firm Comte to custom-design several luxurious apartments as well as the main lobby. The result is considered one of his most emblematic works and is still 100 per cent preserved. Signature hallmarks include parchment-covered doors and walls, intricate straw marquetry and elegant minimal furniture.

Casa Bigatti-Forner by Alejo Martínez

When: 1937

The building was commissioned by Argentine artists Raquel Forner and her husband Alfredo Bigatti to house both their studios and residence under the same roof. The design comes with some interesting bespoke details. The couple's interconnecting studios over two levels allowed them to converse while working independently, with a double-height glass door that maximised both sunlight and functionality (Bigatti's monumental sculptures could thus easily move in and out of the house).

Ateliers para Artistas by Antonio Bonet, Abel Lopez Chas and Ricardo Vera Barros

When: 1938

Located on a bustling corner of Downtown, this building is a benchmark in Buenos Aires modernism. With its pleasing streamlined lines and curved facade with vertical electric parasols at the intersection, it was originally designed to accommodate four ground-floor commercial spaces, with the two floors above spanning seven ateliers and studios for artists and architects, each boasting double-height ceilings. Its characteristic industrial design includes glass bricks and a collective roof garden. The iconic butterfly chair (BKF) was first piloted in this project, which Bonet designed collaboratively with architects Kurchan and Hardoy as part of the Argentine Austral design group.

Edificio O'Higgins 2319 by Jorge Ferrari Hardoy and Juan Kurchan

When: 1941

In 1937, Hardoy and Kurchan did a year-long stint in Paris working as draftsmen with Le Corbusier in his Rue de Sèvres atelier. On their return, they worked on various projects, deeply influenced by the modernist master's tutelage. First came O'Higgins, built on a narrow plot of just 9.52m wide by 13.90m in length but maximised by its transformable design, allowing residents to reconfigure the layout of their apartments through moveable partitions and mobile cupboards. Innovative cooling systems include double brick walls, wooden window louvres, and cross-ventilation to temper the hot summers.

Eucaliptos / Edificio Virrey del Pino 2446 by Jorge Ferrari Hardoy and Juan Kurchan

When: 1941

This radical design incorporated two large pre-existing eucalyptus trees, promoting a dialogue between nature and architecture – a concept not tried before in Buenos Aires. Built at the rear of the plot and set back from the road, the building challenged the strict urban code of the time, which called for a uniform street facade. Sadly, the trees grew so tall that they prevented sunlight from reaching many of the units and eventually had to be cut down. All the apartments featured built-in storage, compact centralised waste chutes, modern refrigeration systems and shared communal areas such as a creche, library and in-house canteen to facilitate modern community living.

Casa en Calle La Pampa by Wladimiro Acosta

When: 1936-40

Set back from the street, this secluded private residence was the studio and personal residence of the Ukrainian-born, naturalised Argentine architect Wladimiro Acosta – designed and owned by himself. His groundbreaking Helios system, developed in 1932, is implemented to great effect here. The house incorporates a vertical slab that provides shade and protection from the blistering summer sun, while maximising sunlight in the winter months thanks to the house's positioning and openings. By scientifically adapting modern architecture to regional climates, Acosta shaped his design's geometry and orientation to work with nature. Inside, the layout is functional, featuring cross-ventilation, natural light and huge windows that look out over the verdant surroundings.

Automovil Club Argentino (ACA) - Central by Antonio Villar and associates

When: 1941-43

During what was a period of exponential growth in the automobile and petroleum industries and expansion of the city's road network, the ACA developed a prestigious and powerful reputation. The imposing, monumental style of its headquarters was meant to reflect this position, and it occupies an entire block in one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods in the city to this day. Architect Antonio Vilar worked alongside a collaborative team of respected modernists, including Alejandro Bustillo and Jorge Bunge. The design fuses a symmetrical, marble-fronted rectangular prism that houses a museum and administrative and corporate areas, with a semi-cylindrical structure at the rear that includes a service station and parking.

Teatro Gran Rex by Alberto Prebisch and engineer Adolfo Moret

When: 1937

Built a year after Prebisch worked on the city's famous obelisk, this theatre's rationalist design employs the same modernist principles, defined by geometric lines, swathes of marble and minimal ornamentation; a conscious move away from the aesthetic of European palace-style theatres. Making the most of the widening of the newly inaugurated Corrientes Avenue, he created a large transparent glass facade to allow for a visual dialogue with the hustle and bustle of the street outside. Inside, the layout is functional, aided by the absence of obstructing columns; the impressive triple-height lobby and capacious auditorium seating over 3,200 people are reminiscent of New York's Radio City Music Hall.

Twenty years ago, Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette was released to a mixed reaction. Some applauded its unusual nature, while others dismissed it. Critics booed the film at Cannes, calling it a superficial, pastel-coloured confection. However, with a major new exhibition at the Petit Trianon inside the Palace of Versailles, running from 22 September 2026 until 24 January 2027, the film is now receiving the ultimate institutional validation. Conceived in close collaboration with the filmmaker and curated by Laurent Salomé, director of the National Museum of the Châteaux of Versailles, and Hélène Delalex, the palace’s chief curator of heritage, the show transforms a once-misunderstood project into a celebrated work of art.

As visitors move through the venue, they encounter a dialogue between real history and cinematic illusion, exploring the Trianon estate as the Queen's personal domain, which Louis XVI gifted to her as a private sanctuary away from the rigid etiquette and intrigue of court. It showcases original production artefacts, including Milena Canonero's costumes and accessories, which won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, offering insight into how the film transcends the traditional, restrained boundaries of period dramas. By emphasising the opulence of the French court, the film also reveals the isolation and performative nature of Marie Antoinette’s life, portraying her existence as a continuous public spectacle.

'I was surprised and excited that the curators wanted to do this exhibit,' Coppola tells Wallpaper*. 'It’s a strange, unique feeling to visit elements of the filmmaking in Marie Antoinette’s actual home, to look at our interpretation of her next to her real busts, with the view of her garden, blurring history and recreation in a way I’ve never seen before. I haven’t worked on an exhibit before, and the curators really invited me and let me set it up, which was amazing to do in the place.'

Stepping inside the ground floor of the Petit Trianon, the intimate space evokes a domestic tranquillity. Unlike other French Queens, such as Catherine de Medici, Marie Antoinette’s historical image carries a lightness of spirit, characterised by fashion, courtly entertainments and pastoral escapism, which were criticised during her lifetime. This exhibition highlights this by presenting the space not as a fixed monument but as an active home.

Coppola's bold aesthetic choices, including decadent visuals paired with a 1980s pop soundtrack, create a juxtaposition between consumerism and historical introspection. The film reflects not only Marie Antoinette’s evolution from a confined teenager to an independent mother amid societal upheaval, but also explores themes of isolation. 'I tried to convey the way they lived and Marie Antoinette’s emotional state and bring the audience into their world instead of looking back as a history lesson. To make it feel tangible and immersive, that you’re there with them. I felt that it could be made with the same playfulness as her follies,' Coppola says.

The retrospective, supported by Cartier, marks a moment of reflection for the institution of Versailles. For Salomé, launching this unique film archive at the palace felt timely, connecting the location’s cinematic legacy with an ambitious curatorial approach. 'It's a very unusual exhibition for us because we don't usually have events like this at the Petit Trianon,' he explains. 'This is the first time we have an exhibition on one film and the making of it.'

Choosing the château was an intentional storytelling decision. 'A lot of the scenes actually made in Versailles were shot in the main palace, but Petit Trianon is completely related to Marie Antoinette,' Salomé says, noting that it became her rural refuge from stiff court etiquette. The exhibit pays homage to the artistry of filmmaking.

The space is filled with visual influences and production artefacts, including diamond jewellery, feathers, and make-up sketches, surrounded by mannequin heads styled with powdered white wigs. On the first floor, mannequins, dressed in Canonero’s elaborate gowns, sit on the original furniture. Salome makes an interesting point about the juxtaposition of new and old. 'The challenge of having film costumes, which of course are not historical 18th-century dresses, is how they work in the actual place where Marie Antoinette lived.' Coppola's film is the only production filmed in this remarkably preserved theatre on the Petit Trianon grounds.

Accompanying the exhibition is the book Making Marie Antoinette, published by Mack and compiled by Coppola's collaborator Andrew Durham, which offers personal insight into the film's creative process. It illustrates daily life on set, juxtaposing historical artistry with contemporary realities such as lavish 18th-century-style wigs alongside modern-day flip phones and ornate gowns worn during cast members' cigarette breaks. This depiction subverts the idealised portrayals of the French monarchy and reveals the genuine camaraderie among the cast and crew, adding depth to the spectacle. Traditional criticisms of the film's anachronisms, such as the appearance of Converse trainers, are addressed, presenting a more nuanced understanding of the film's approach to history and creativity.

'I love Andrew’s photos that capture what it was like on set, and hopefully people who like that film might enjoy this view of it,' Coppola says. 'He captures the actors off set and the mix of period and reality on a film set, them in wigs on their phones or at craft service. I never get jaded about movie magic and the fun of a film set where anything becomes possible.'

Also complementing the exhibition's material archive, Making Marie Antoinette (2026) is an almost 90-minute feature-length documentary being released by Mubi (on 6 November), drawing on 80 hours of behind-the-scenes footage filmed by Sofia Coppola's late mother, Eleanor Coppola. This previously unseen material offers an in-depth look at the film's production and an intimate portrait of the Coppola family, told through Oscar nominee Diane Lane's narration of excerpts from Eleanor's diary. 'It’s cringey for me to see myself as a young director, not yet sure about asserting myself, but I hope it shows how artists develop, and it was touching for me to see this through my mom’s eyes,' Coppola reflects. 'It was such a different time when a female point of view was unusual in film and she shows the pushback and what I was trying to do, which reminds me of that time and how different it was.'

The Versailles exhibition illustrates how the emotional and subjective aspects of a woman's life can go beyond political narratives, and how the story continues to evolve in the public consciousness. 'I tried to make Marie Antoinette human instead of a villain. Antonia Fraser’s biography opened up a new view on her,' Coppola says. 'I can see how, even more these days than when I made it, there’s a lot of pressure on looks, perception and commentary on this.'

'Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola', supported by Cartier, is at Petit Trianon inside the Palace of Versailles, running from 22 September 2026 until 24 January 2027

chateauversailles.fr

Making Marie Antoinette book (Important Flowers, 2026) by Andrew Durham, published by MACK, is now available to order. The Making Marie Antoinette documentary is in cinemas in the UK and Ireland from 23rd October 2026 and streaming exclusively on MUBI from 6th November 2026.

Restomod specialist Lunaz reveals two new Range Rover commissions, showcasing the very different approaches the Silverstone-based company is able to take in its quest to update and uprate classics old and new.

Since it was founded in 2018 by David Lorenz, Lunaz has evolved from specialising in electrification to offering up a diverse portfolio that embraces a number of key marques, from Bentley and Aston Martin through to Range Rover, Jaguar and Rolls-Royce. The company’s workshop is a car-lover’s dream, awash with machinery in various stages of assembly and disassembly.

The two new Range Rovers demonstrate the traditional combustion-powered route as well as Lunaz’s established expertise in create bespoke electric powertrains. We’ve sampled the company’s Bentley, Rolls and Range Rover conversions in the past and come away impressed by the way an EV powertrain bolsters the basic performance without losing sight of the qualities that give these cars their original character.

First up is the Pop Art-inspired ‘Kermit’ commission, a green machine that wear its vivid hues inside and out with pride, complete with contrasting colour strip on the specially trimmed seats, cloth and leather dash and contrasting orange seatbelts. Under the skin, Kermit has a modern V8 – it was originally a black-on-black model created by Range Rover specialist Overfinch.

Updates are extensive but subtle (not counting the colour). They include Lunaz’s own 3D printed dashboard and new centre console, both of which are styled to match the original but contain the space and openings for uprated air conditioning, sat nav and multimedia.

The other new Range Rover has a more refined, traditional look. Designed for a client who wants a car for use on their extensive ranch in Nevada, it utilities Lunaz’s bespoke electrical running gear. Whether ICE or EV, each Range Rover puts out around 350bhp (up from 200bhp in the most powerful model back in the day). The Nevada car has a dark green exterior with ivory leather and tailored textiles inside alongside wooden trim.

Both machines use the classic four-door Range Rover bodyshell, with interiors and extras developed in close collaboration with Lunaz’s design team. Available optional extras run from heated and massaging seats to 360-degree cameras, wireless charging and even Starlink internet connectivity.

The company will be producing just 25 examples of the Range Rover Classic in the current run of commissions, held back not by demand but by capacity at its Silverstone factory.

Range Rover Classic by Lunaz, for more information visit byLunaz.com, @LunazDesign

Since its creation by architect and professor Lesley Lokko OBE in 2021, the African Futures Institute has been promoting a new model for education around teaching, research, and public events. Organised as a network of African changemakers, it mainly operates through partnerships and temporary spaces across Africa, as well as their flagship programme, Nomadic African Studio.

Explore the African Futures Institute headquarters

Now five years in, the institute has reimagined and transformed a former tile warehouse as its headquarters. Located in Osu, one of Accra’s most dynamic neighbourhoods, the new space will retain the character of the original warehouse while balancing environmental responsiveness and spatial flexibility. The construction was developed collaboratively by a team comprising Lokko, Patrick Gentilezza (Buro Ghana), Patti Anahory, Laurence Lord and Fred Swart, bringing together architectural direction, design development, construction expertise and fabrication.

Until now, the African Futures Institute (AFI) had mostly been defined by its itinerant character rather than as an organisation with a permanent home: this first institutional building lays a significant stone in the organisation’s history. Nothing too conventional, however, as the space has been conceived to embody AFI’s adaptative approach to architecture, with flexibility, openness, and experimentation at its heart. More than an architectural milestone, it is a piece of civic infrastructure, a platform where teaching, making, conversation, exhibition and performance could live under one roof.

‘We wanted a building that could hold many futures at once,’ says Lokko. ‘Not a monument to an institution, but a framework for activity – somewhere that can be a school in the morning, a studio in the afternoon and a public room at night. Architecture, for us, begins with the possibility of bringing people together.’

While providing a new physical home for AFI’s team and archives, the building will host educational programmes, lectures, exhibitions, film screenings, residencies, and public events in the Urban Room. A new space for collaboration, designed to weave itself into Accra’s culture and everyday life.

africanfuturesinstitute.com

Premium quality is the new everyday and over-ear headphones are the new earbuds. That seems to be the logic behind the launch of the newest pair of headphones from Beats, Apple’s younger, hipper audio sub-brand. The new Beats 360 are flagship headphones with flexible design, high levels of durability and ultra-light wearability, pitched at a generation who want all-round comfort and immersive sound, whether walking to work, taking a gym class or simply lounging around to listen to sounds.

Part of the appeal of Beats – founded by musician Dr. Dre and record industry impresario Jimmy Iovine in 2006 – is that it has managed to bring headphones back into the heart of pop culture. The pro-grade Beats Studio model was launched in 2008, with the Gen 2 version following in 2013. The next year, Beats made headlines by becoming Apple’s largest ever purchase – the company was acquired for $3.2bn.

The current product is the flagship Studio Pro, but Beats 360 will now take the crown, doubling down on the increasing popularity of over-ear headphones in places like the gym and jogging track. The design has been directly inspired by the colours, materials and forms of athletic footwear, seen in the lightweight, layered and breathable material of the cushions, as well as a sporting palette of colours.

Overall, Beats 360 are 30 per cent lighter than Studio Pro. The new design also uses 80 per cent recycled plastic and 100 per cent recycled rare earth elements in the magnets, as well as 100 per cent recycled packaging.

In addition to the durability of this new Performance Knit (featuring 36 micro-threads woven into a diamond pattern) that swathes the memory foam cushions, the material is also breathable as well as water- and sweat-resistant (with an IPX4 rating).

Six colours are available, Black, Cloud, Pink, Sky, Navy, and Volt, and crucially, the cushions are fully swappable. Not only does this mean they can be washed, but myriad colour combos can be constructed depending on your mood.

The six Performance Knit colours are joined by two UltraPlush colours, Black and Cloud, that make the most of this soft engineered leather. That gives even more combinations of colour and headband.

To change the cushions, a simple slot fastening is deployed that also automatically adjusts the acoustics to the type of material used. Beats 360 has gone through Apple’s raft of reliability tests to create headphones that are as resilient as they are stylish.

Enhanced tech specs

‘Beats didn’t just participate in the rise of over-ear headphones – we helped define the category,’ says Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Music, Sports, and Beats, fresh from announcing the arrival of Apple Music Hall in London’s Battersea. ‘Beats 360 is the next chapter of that story. We combined our most advanced acoustic performance ever with a perfectly balanced design that moves effortlessly with you. And with our new interchangeable cushions, our customers can express themselves in a way no other over-ear headphone can.’

Tech specs include three-layer diaphragms and dual neodymium magnets in each driver for better bass delivery and less distortion, while those who want to truly escape into their music will appreciate Beats’ next generation adaptive Active Noise Cancelling system, said to be create 1.75x more total noise cancellation than Beats Studio Pro.

You’ll also find Personalized Spatial Audio on board, together with Dolby Atmos. The former is Apple’s proprietary spatial sound system and uses the Beats 360’s onboard built-in accelerometer and gyroscope in the left earcup to track your head movements to add a sense of depth and immersion in compatible audio. A total of nine microphones are scattered around the device to deliver ultra-clear call audio and feed the ANC system.

Beats 360 pairs swiftly with both Apple and Android systems via Bluetooth 5.3, while Apple users are naturally better catered for. In addition to Personalized Spatial Audio, the new headphones provide access to Siri, add spatial audio to FaceTime, and device location tracking.

Physical controls are placed on the back of each earcup – volume and play/pause on the right, power and listening mode on the left. Battery life is quoted at a maximum of 32 hours, while the USB-C charger can deliver one hour of playback in just five minutes of charging.

Beats has cannily seeded the 360 amongst a bunch of sports folk and sporty folk, with a campaign headed up by ubiquitous spokesperson Kendall Jenner. Marking yet another victory for the athleisurification of everyday life, Beats 360 look set to be popular choice amongst the perennially mobile.

Beats 360, £350 (introductory price £299.95), with Cushion Kits from £49.95 (introductory price £9.95), Beats Studio Pro is now £249.99, BeatsbyDre.com, @BeatsbyDre

Hong Kong food – while commonly tucked under the wider umbrella of Cantonese cuisine – has its own distinct identity, with unique local takes on dishes and drinks, from Hong Kong French toast (a peanut butter fried sandwich) to milk tea (with evaporated and/or condensed milk) and char siu (sticky-glazed roast pork).

Putting Hong Kong food on the map in London is Nicole Ma, co-founder of Hoko, a growing line of cafés. The Brick Lane original is inspired by a cha chaan teng (a traditional Hong Kong café) and feels at once retro and contemporary; the second concept, in Seven Dials, Hoko Wonton Noodles, dishes up plump and succulent hand-wrapped noodles; and now a third opening, Bakery Hoko on Bethnal Green Road, leans into the sweeter side of life.

Inside Bakery Hoko

Each Hoko location feels different, but all are marked by the intention to create a space that sits at the intersection of Hong Kong design and the context of London.

For Bakery Hoko, Ma worked with Justin Melican of Block One Design, who also designed Hoko’s Brick Lane café. Together they decided to focus on the material language of Hong Kong’s post-war public housing estates, which has been interpreted through a restrained brutalist lens.

‘Hong Kong’s post-war housing estates often had humble neighbourhood bakeries within them,’ says Ma. ‘So that relationship between everyday architecture and bakery culture felt very natural to us.’

She explains that they referenced visual codes such as repetition, grids, dense geometry, and very direct use of materials. However, ‘rather than recreating a Hong Kong bakery literally, the idea was to capture something of that architectural character and give it a contemporary London identity’.

She continues, ‘I shared lots of photographs and references I’d collected in Hong Kong, things I recognise instinctively as a Hong Konger, while Justin brought another perspective through materials and [knowledge of] brutalist architecture. We had plenty of friendly “battles” along the way, but that back-and-forth helped us find the balance between Hong Kong nostalgia and a contemporary London identity.’

One thing they both settled on was the bold mix of materials often found in Hong Kong, such as mosaic tiles, terrazzo, concrete and strong colours. In the bakery, this dynamic energy is seen, for example, in tiling and concrete working in harmony with Ketley brick counter, a nod to the Barbican.

Ma continues, ‘There are smaller, more personal details: our own photographs of Hong Kong housing estates, plastic bread trays, orange bakery tongs, and vintage blue melamine plates sourced by my mum. Those are probably the details that make the space feel most like home to me.’

The food: try a Hong Kong egg tart for a start

The baked goods look as good as the surroundings. Each gets its signature springy texture from Japanese flour. The breads are made using a sponge dough method, with controlled low-temperature fermentation. This means part of the dough is fermented separately at a lower temperature before the final mix, allowing flavour and dough structure to develop gradually.

There are both sweet and savoury goods on offer, from seaweed egg salad buns to lemon honey butter toast and bolo buns. At the heart of the bakery is Hong Kong’s most recognisable bake: the egg tart.

‘For me, the perfect egg tart is all about balance,’ says Ma. ‘The egg filling should be just cooked, soft, light and silky, almost closer to steamed egg than custard. It shouldn’t be too sweet, and you should still be able to really taste the egg. I also love a handmade crust with a slightly thicker lip. It gives you a proper crunch, and the small imperfections are part of what makes it beautiful. The pastry itself should be rich in butter and very crumbly. And most importantly, it should be eaten warm, when the filling is at its softest and the buttery aroma is at its best.’

Ma also notes not to miss the snow-crust char siu bun, filled with barbecue pork and wrapped in soft bread with a thin, crisp sweet crust on top; the Horlicks Swiss roll, with a very light, eggy sponge with malted Horlicks cream; and a strong Hong Kong milk tea.

You don’t need to be familiar with Hong Kong to enjoy the bakery. Just bring a hungry curiosity.

Bakery Hoko is located at 152-154, Bethnal Green Road, London E2 6DG

Introducing the 2026 Oslo Architecture Triennale, Line Ramstad laments: ‘Too often nature comes last.' Her simple response as chief curator for the global event, which just opened its doors in the Norwegian capital, became its theme: ’What if nature came first?’ At Oslo’s Sofienberg church, which rises over the city’s diverse, lively Grünelokka neighbourhood, 32 international exhibitors have responded.

Dive into the 2026 Oslo Architecture Triennale

Since 1877, people climbing the small hill to the church have sought higher visions. The triennale now offers an updated one, which, as Ramstad outlines, is to ‘imagine our built environment on nature’s terms’. It couldn’t be more timely as we race towards climate tipping points. Buildings contribute almost 40 per cent of CO2 emissions, and the construction industry generates a third of all waste. Reuse rather than demolition, rethinking waste, natural materials and addressing wider effects on territory are architecture’s new front lines, and they all take centre stage in Oslo.

Filling the church’s nave, displays are mounted on wooden structures, built quickly and set to be dismantled for reuse just as fast. The first encounter is with a curious quilt-like band of square panels in red, tan and black hues. They come from the Upcycling Wool Ecology project of Harvard University’s Grinham Research Group, which addresses our annual two million tonnes of wool production, half of which is wasted.

From sheep farming to the making of keratin-rich construction panels from their wool, the project is explained by a fascinating but text-heavy presentation.

By contrast, no words accompany the acrylic paintings by artist Gitta Saetre, which vividly document the construction of Norway’s new Rv.555 Sotrasambandet highway.

Another artistic contribution, about territory, from Galena Sardemova and Paris Bezanis, shows three enchanting copper plates in mud-moulded pewter frames, etched with images of mud bathing in the Black Sea.

One of the many messages on advocacy group HouseEurope!’s single-sentence posters reminded us that ‘We (architects) are practising in a system that puts profit over people and planet’. Nevertheless, architects at the triennale present projects that take sustainability to radical levels, such as Danish architecture studio Pihlmann’s maximal reuse to transform Thoravej 29, a Copenhagen factory – ‘most of the buildings of the future are already standing’, they note.

Norway’s Architects Without Borders (AUG) show projects from across the planet in their ‘Building with What Exists’ display, complete with material samples, from biomaterials to reused oil pipes. Around the church exterior, waste reuse is demonstrated by projects such as Ask Holmen’s sculptural benches made from granite quarry offcuts.

Beside the church’s entrance, there is a small sauna house. This fresh wooden structure with colourful roofing surprisingly complements the soaring brick church and offers saunas to triennale visitors and locals. Inside, temperatures surpass 80°C, and the cold shower to follow is outside, shaded by trees. Open Sauna is run by sauna association Oslo Badstuforening, an associate of the triennale that has facilities around the city.

In Oslo’s polluted harbour waters beside one such facility, local practice Transborder Studio (which is also exhibiting its Ready Clay One proposal for a house built from the Oslo clay beneath it, with rammed-earth walls) has submerged a 9m x 9m wooden platform (a project titled Oslo Badebotaniske) to give biodiversity a new chance, and it’s already a thriving marine garden.

The triennale’s legacy will emerge as architecture takes the call to put nature first. That brings us to Paradigme, a handsome book edited by Nora Ulrikke Andersen and Ingrid Haga. Through the triennale, they issued an open call for projects from young Scandinavian architects. Thirty-six were selected, from the whimsical House for a Troll by Martin Hopland (trolls were big Norwegian folklore creatures long before the online variety) to Jens Hansen’s practical reuse of demolished concrete rubble, which retains compressive strength good for columns.

Ramstad says that ‘if the system is broken, fix it’. The triennale highlights the system’s problems and demonstrates solutions, but ultimately, the hope of building in balance with nature lies with young architects, like those that Paradigme spotlights.

oslotriennale.no, until 1 October 2026

This afternoon (22 September 2026), Prada will open the latest edition of Milan Fashion Week as the fashion world decamps to the Italian fashion capital from London, after Burberry provided its final act yesterday evening (you can read our picks of the best shows of London Fashion Week here). It will mark the first time that Prada is showing on day one – as to whether this will affect what Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons show on the runway, or indeed the OMA-designed show set, remains to be seen (an otherwise sparse first day leaves the evening open for the latest edition of Vogue World, which will unfold at the historic shopping arcade Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II).

Elsewhere, it is a season of consolidation as relatively new creative directors hold their sophomore runway shows at some of Italian fashion’s major houses: among them Demna at Gucci, Maria Grazia Chiuri at Fendi, and Meryll Rogge at Marni. And, while we await the first collection from Dario Vitale at Emporio Armani – the former Versace designer was named creative director last week – the brand will host a presentation in lieu of a show, with the collection designed by Silvana Armani and Leo Dell’Orco, head of womenswear and menswear, respectively, at the Armani Group. Outside of fashion – though no doubt attracting a stylish crowd – Luca Guadagnino and Stefano Baisi will launch their collection for Zara Home.

Read below for all of Wallpaper’s moments to look out for at Milan Fashion Week S/S 2027.

Prada is now the week’s opening act – and is opening Prada Galleria

Prada, which typically shows on the Thursday afternoon of Milan Fashion Week, will be this season’s opening act at 2pm on Tuesday. There is little word as to why the house has chosen to make the move, though it allies with Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’ knack for setting the fashion agenda. The week will also see the opening of Prada Galleria, an ambitious extension of its presence in Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where Mario Prada and his brother Martino Prada (Miuccia Prada’s grandfather and great-uncle) opened their first store in 1913. The ‘multi-floor immersion’, as Prada describes, will feature eight floors of retail, hospitality and cultural displays, stretching across the two sides of the 19th-century shopping arcade through a subterranean passage. Joining the Prada Donna and Uomo boutiques, Marchesi 1824, and the Osservatorio Fondazione Prada through new private and invitation-only floors, the Galleria will also feature a permanent exhibition, Pradasphere, on its piano nobile, which traces the house’s history from 1913 to the present day.

Emporio Armani will show via presentation as it awaits new creative director Dario Vitale

Last week, the Armani Group announced the appointment of Dario Vitale – best known for a short but impactful stint at Versace, having spent much of his career behind-the-scenes at Miu Miu – as the Emporio Armani creative director; he will also head up Giorgio Armani accessories. Silvana Armani, Mr Armani’s niece and head of womenswear design, and Leo Dell’Orco, head of menswear design of the Armani Group, said that they chose him as they felt he could interpret Emporio Armani’s spirit of ‘freedom, experimentation and energy’ with ‘respect and authority’. This season, though, Silvana Armani and Dell’Orco will remain at the helm, showing a men’s and women’s Emporio Armani collection via presentation on the evening of 24 September 2026.

It is the season of the sophomore runway show

If last season in Milan saw debuts from Meryll Rogge at Marni, Maria Grazia Chiuri at Fendi and Demna at Gucci (the last had shown via short film the season prior, but A/W 2026 marked his first runway outing), this September will be the season of the sophomore act – a somewhat trickier proposition as designers seek to hone their vision and build on their opening collection’s hype. Expect a no-doubt blockbuster outing from Demna at Gucci (last season, he constructed a monolithic marble ‘museum’, evocative of the Uffizi Gallery), while Rogge and Chiuri both held more understated opening acts: the former created a series of ‘dioramas of everyday life’ alongside Formafantasma for her first show, while Chiuri stripped back the vast exhibition space in Fendi’s Milan HQ for a show of pragmatic glamour, which ran with the tagline ‘less I, more us’ (it was also printed across the floor).

Luca Guadagnino and Stefano Baisi will launch their collection for Zara Home

Earlier this month, lauded director Luca Guadagnino and longtime production designer and architect Stefano Baisi revealed a blockbuster 200-piece collection for Zara Home. Referred to by the brand as an ‘atlas of design’, it brings the pair’s distinctive vision – Guadagnino’s eye for desirable interiors has been a hallmark of his career – to furniture, scents, lighting and furniture, as well as a handful of garments. Guadagnino’s close links with the fashion world (Dior designer Jonathan Anderson has collaborated with him numerous times on the costumes for his films) make Fashion Week in Milan – a city he is also synonymous with – the perfect occasion to launch the collection with a no-doubt star-studded party. 'I think we really wanted to do something that we felt could speak the language we wanted to speak, which was a language of form and colour,’ says Guadagnino of the collection, which becomes available on 26 September 2026.

READ: Luca Guadagnino and Stefano Baisi unveil a blockbuster lifestyle collection for Zara Home

Italian biggest names are back

Rounding out the schedule is the usual line-up of names that have long defined Italian style, among them Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Tod’s, Max Mara, Bottega Veneta, Jil Sander and Ferragamo, as well as presentations from the likes of Brunello Cucinelli, Brioni, Herno and Valextra. This season, according to Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana – the week’s organising body – there will be 54 physical shows and 88 presentations in total, spread across the schedule.

London Fashion Week concluded yesterday evening with Daniel Lee’s latest show for Burberry: a collection of ‘lived-in imperfection’ that featured a collaboration with 85-year-old textile designer Celia Birtwell, whose prints defined the 1960s and 1970s. ‘Nothing is overly pressed or pristine,’ Lee said. ‘There’s an intentional imperfection: the idea of owning a piece, living in it.’

Elsewhere, the consensus was that this week’s edition has been a success: prior to its start, British Fashion Council CEO Laura Weir, who is now in her third season, promised to bring back London’s reputation as a hub of creativity. ‘The schedule reflects the confidence and momentum of British fashion today, bringing together established houses, emerging designers and industry partners on a platform that continues to shape global fashion,’ she said. ‘Together, they reaffirm London’s position as the global home of creativity and a catalyst for innovation, opportunity and growth.’

This included the return of McQueen and Mulberry, the latter under new creative director Christopher Kane, who is himself showing for the first time since the shuttering of his eponymous label in 2023. His ‘modern, streamlined’ vision for the British heritage house was one of the highlights of the week. ‘For me, heritage is a foundation, not a limitation,’ he said. ‘I want to write my own codes.’

Explore our pick of the best shows of London Fashion Week S/S 2027 below.

Oscar Ouyang

Central Saint Martins graduate Oscar Ouyang chose the sunlit upper floor of Rochelle, a former school in London’s Shoreditch, to show a collection which he described as one of ‘youthful romanticism’. The designer, who was born in Beijing and now lives and works in London, said he was thinking about the way that we ‘assemble’ identity on the journey from youth to adulthood. As such, the collection had a feeling of dress up, combining ‘curiosities’ (pine cone-shaped jewellery, curtain-like tassels, satin hair bands, intarsia swans) with garments which looked as if borrowed or deconstructed (a dinner jacket with its arms cut away and its lining on show, waistcoats which flapped open at the front), or worn in playful combinations, like slouchy sweaters with embellished silk shorts, or ruffled shirts and evening jackets with insignia track pants (he described it in the collection notes as ‘the uncertain interval between adolescence and adulthood, when familiar objects, clothes, and gestures suddenly acquire new meanings’). Knitwear, as ever, remained central – Ouyang began his career working primarily in the medium – but there was plenty more on show here. A series of safari-style jackets, cut in satin and nipped at the waist with a tassel fastening, or the white blouse and waistcoat which cleverly twisted across one shoulder, felt like the promising young designer was breaking new ground.

A Letter

There was a graphic simplicity to A Letter’s debut runway show which made it one of London Fashion Week’s best shows (other designers should note that choosing a location with natural light and bright white walls, as the Rose Easton Gallery has, can sharpen the audience’s view of a garment – and make for much better pictures). The designers Matt Empringham and Freddy Coomes are alumni of JW Anderson and Loewe respectively, and there are certainly traces of their mentor Jonathan Anderson’s work here in the way he oftentimes repeats a look or idea in a collection, and revels in the strange and offbeat. For their part, Empringham and Coomes described the collection as ‘exciting clothes with a hint of something slightly off,’ via the Dal Chodha-written press release.

The starting point for this S/S 2027 outing was ‘a pile of British clothes’ – among them ‘a Ben Sherman gingham shirt, a St Michael’s underwear and day dress, a nightie, a sweater, a mod shift’ – which in their hands felt radically simplified, and often hung away from the body, giving them a paper doll-like quality (indeed, last season, their entire collection was made from paper). Versions of the day dress or pinafore, with single flap pockets and a homespun feel, were reiterated throughout, while other garments were cleverly constructed to reflect the folds that remain when you remove clothing from its packaging. Most intriguing, though, were a series of PVC dresses with a degradé effect which made them appear like fabric on their front and sheer along the back, revealing underwear beneath. ‘A naivety – an unsureness – is the thing,’ read Chodha’s notes. ‘A new kind of eccentricity lurks in plainness.’

Fashion East