Welcome to the August 2023 issue, Wallpaper’s guide to creative America. We shine a spotlight on a dazzling array of talent that is shaping the future of the creative industries, and compile the names you need to know in our Wallpaper* USA 300 – from Pharrell Williams to Pamela Shamshiri, and from Nifemi Ogunro to André Balazs. These are the hottest names in the USA today, from born-and-bred locals to the global thinkers who have chosen to make it their home, from the trailblazers and the tastemakers to the rising stars of tomorrow.
Wallpaper* August 2023: Made in the USA
The Wallpaper* August 2023 cover features an image of the 81st Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, photographed by a member of a (mostly) New York-based collective whose work is featured in the issue
Highlights of the issue include our profile of Stephen Galloway, master choreographer and creative alchemist, who was captured in a series of intimate portraits by photographer and artist Paul Mpagi Sepuya. According to writer Mallery Roberts Morgan, Stephen Galloway brings the magic. ‘Using the roll of a shoulder, the twist of a head, the exact placement of an arch of a foot, Galloway has pioneered a singularly unique profession as a creative movement director,’ she says.
We visit Salmon Creek Farm, originally established as a commune set within the coastal redwood forests of Albion, California, and reborn as the ultimate creative retreat by artist Fritz Haeg. A place to foster a relationship with nature, slow down and enjoy the simple pleasures of daily life. Then to a transformed new public space in Memphis by Chicago-based architect Jeanne Gang, who champions urban spaces for all and has collaborated with Kate Orff to restore nature on the banks of the Mississippi, before heading over to Venice Beach for a very personal tour of unsung hero and original mirror queen Lenny Steinberg’s minimalist home, inspired by movement and music (captured in a charming film).
Over to Brooklyn, New York, for a profile on Nan Goldin and her PAIN collective, photographed for the very first time together by Jason Schmidt in Nan’s living room. Following All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, the 2022 documentary directed by Laura Poitras, Goldin discusses using her influence in art to confront power and accountability in the US opioid crisis.
We also discuss the weird and wonderful world of cult filmmaker John Waters in his Baltimore studio ahead of his upcoming retrospective show, titled ‘Pope of Trash’, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in LA.
We showcase an energy-efficient mountain retreat in Utah by local practice Klima Architecture, eat at The Commerce Inn, a Shaker-inspired, early American tavern in New York’s West Village from esteemed chefs Rita Sodi and Jody Williams, and relax at the Kona Village in Hawaii, which carefully preserves the spirit of the site’s original 1960s resort and the sacred land it sits on.
My eternal thanks and enormous credit to our US Director Michael Reynolds, who achieved such extraordinary features and shoots and brought them to our pages with the same passion and enthusiasm as he did for the very first cover of Wallpaper*; US Editor Pei-Ru Keh; and NY-based contributing editor Tilly Macalister-Smith.
August 2023 Wallpaper*, ‘Made in the USA’, launched on Wallpaper.com on 4 July with a month of digital programming – we promise there will be fireworks!
Sarah Douglas
Editor-in-Chief
The August 2023 issue of Wallpaper* is available in print from 6 July, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
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Two compact Canadian cabins borrow space-saving ideas from boat interiorsSpace, storage and serenity are maximised in the interiors of these lakeside cabins, immersed in nature on Vancouver Island
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Javier's, a new cathedral-inspired restaurant in downtown LA, offers a divine take on Mexican cuisineAt the restaurant's newest location, discovery lies around every corner – and on every plate
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We'd happily move into this super-stylish New York architecture officeMichael K Chen’s newly expanded Midtown workspace is a calling card for his intuitive style and inclusive approach
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New furniture from Maiden Home elevates elemental materials through unique designFinely crafted and exquisitely formed, the New York furniture brand’s latest designs find their perfect showcase at a modernist Californian home
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Wallpaper* USA 400: The people shaping Creative America in 2025Our annual look at the talents defining the country’s creative landscape right now
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Workstead's lanterns combine the richness of silk with a warm glowAn otherworldly lamp collection, the Lantern series by Workstead features raw silk shades and nostalgic silhouettes in three designs
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Can creativity survive in the United States?We asked three design powerhouses to weigh in on this political moment
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Murray Moss: 'We must stop the erosion of our 250-year-old American culture'Murray Moss, the founder of design gallery Moss and consultancy Moss Bureau, warns of cultural trauma in an authoritarian state
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‘You can feel their presence’: step inside the Eameses’ Pacific Palisades residenceCharles and Ray Eames’ descendants are exploring new ways to preserve the designers’ legacy, as the couple’s masterpiece Pacific Palisades residence reopens following the recent LA fires
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2025’s Wallpaper* US issue is on sale now, celebrating creative spirit in turbulent timesFrom a glitterball stilt suit to the Eames House, contemporary design to a century-old cocktail glass – the August 2025 US issue of Wallpaper* honours creativity that shines and endures. On newsstands now
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‘Boom: Art and Design in the 1940s’ explores the creative resilience of the decadeNoguchi and Nakashima are among those who found expression and innovation in the adversity of the 1940s; take a walk through the Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition
