On the eve of the United States’ semiquincentennial, our August issue celebrates the country’s resilient and rambunctious creative spirit. These are turbulent times for those responsible for its vitality, many of whom are facing threats to their lifestyles and livelihoods. Which is why we have chosen our third annual US Issue to celebrate its culture as an enduring, inspiring force for optimism and change.
For this month’s two cover stories, we visit the Brooklyn home of performance artist Darrell Thorne, and head to the Pacific Palisades on the eve of the reopening of the Eames House to hear how the designers’ family have launched a new foundation in a bid to keep their grandparents’ mission alive.
A painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat hangs in an art-collecting family’s apartment on the 65th floor of New York’s 432 Park Avenue building – one of four US homes we tour in the August issue
We profile a rising generation of young design gallerists who are putting social engagement and community before commerce; we drop in on a London gallery for a group show of seven female New York-based artists that are taking a philosophical approach to the visceral dimensions of human experience; and we survey the American domestic interior across four magnificent dwellings, each as different from each other as the landscapes in which they reside.
Along the way, we take a fashion trip on Route 66, get in line for the opening of a staggering number of new and newly refurbished cultural institutions, and (carefully) raise a martini to the centenary of that seminal cocktail’s signature stemware, a fusion of panache and polish as exacting as any mixologist.
Finally, we bring you our edit of the nation’s most covetable contemporary design, and we task three powerful voices from the worlds of design, fashion and architecture – Murray Moss, Willy Chavarria and Florencia Rodriguez – with delivering their own state of the nation address. Theirs is a clarion call for community, itself a cornerstone of the creative urge to stand up and speak out.
Bill Prince
Editor-in-Chief
The August 2025 issue of Wallpaper* is available in print on newsstands from 10 July 2025, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
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Introducing the design-led Split Watches, a force for goodGood design is given a charitable spin by Split Watches – for every one sold, the company donates an hour of therapy
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Meet the New York-based artists destabilising the boundaries of societyA new show in London presents seven young New York-based artists who are pushing against the borders between refined aesthetics and primal materiality
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Inside a Montana house, putting the American West's landscape at its heartA holiday house in the Montana mountains, designed by Walker Warner Architects and Gachot Studios, scales new heights to create a fresh perspective on communing with the natural landscape
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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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‘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
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Ludmilla Balkis’ organic, earthy ceramics embody the Basque countrysideThe sculptor-ceramicist presents a series inspired by and created from found natural objects in a New York exhibition
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From migrating elephants to a divisive Jaguar, was this the best Design Miami yet?Here's our Design Miami 2024 review – discover the best of everything that happened at the fair as it took over the city this December
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California cool: Studio Shamshiri debuts handmade door handles and pullsLos Angeles interior design firm Studio Shamshiri channels the spirit of the Californian landscape into its handcrafted hardware collections. Founder Pamela Shamshiri shares the inspiration behind the designs
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Is Emeco's 'No Foam KNIT' a sustainable answer to synthetic upholstery textiles?'Make more with less' is Emeco's guiding light. Now, the US furniture maker's new mono-material textile, the 'No Foam KNIT', may offer a sustainable solution to upholstery materials
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Smooth operator: Willett debuts new furniture at Design Miami 2024, with a playful touch of retro allureLA furniture designer Willett turned heads in the design world with the launch of his eponymous brand earlier this year. Ahead of his Design Miami debut, he told us what’s in store for 2025
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Forged in the California desert, Jonathan Cross’ brutalist ceramic sculptures go on show in NYCJoshua Tree-based artist Jonathan Cross’ sci-fi-influenced works are on view at Elliott Templeton Fine Arts in New York's Chinatown
