Emerging designer Amelia Stevens' playful, minimalist design

Amelia Stevens, photographed by Mikey Massey, at the Max Radford Gallery in east London, with ‘The Architectural Completion of a Floor Bolster Cushion’Photography: Anya Glik, courtesy of Max Radford Gallery @ameliastevens_design

(Image credit: Image credit: Portrait by Mikey Massey. Photo of 'Species of Table and Other Pieces - Side' by Anya Glik; courtesy of Max Radford Gallery)

For Wallpaper’s 2025 Next Generation issue, we have rounded-up a hotlist of emerging design talent from around the world, shining a light on the newcomers paving the present and forging the future.

Join us on our journey to meet ten emerging designers from Adelaide, Tokyo, London, Lagos, Guatemala City, Mexico City, Loch Lomond, New York and Paris. Welcome to our ascending stars of 2025.

Emerging designer Amelia Stevens

Design by Amelia Stevens — Amelia Stevens at the Max Radford Gallery in east London, with 'The Architectural Completion of a Floor Bolster Cushion - 1 Person'

Stevens studied architecture at Cambridge, then worked as a set designer and writer before setting up her design practice in 2021. Her furniture and object series have a strict formality and material confidence that bely the glorious indulgence of their function and witty, subverted literary titles. Standout pieces include her ‘Ashtray Without Qualities - Standing’ and the stainless steel and toughened glass ‘Species of Table and Other Pieces - Side', named after Georges Perec’s seminal 1974 text Species of Spaces and Other Pieces. Stevens is quick to point out that she does not smoke.

Wallpaper*: How did you settle on design as your calling?
Amelia Stevens: I’ve always felt compelled to design, but the timescale of architecture didn’t suit me. After graduating, I worked in set design and found the scale and pace more enjoyable; the aspirational and experimental quality was interesting. I love academia, research and writing about design. Designing objects and furniture became a viable way of giving form to my own expression, while engaging in creative production.

W*: How do you describe your work?
AS: My personal design language is minimalist and understated, but my pieces have hidden meanings that are playful. I like reducing things to their essential forms. The idea of creating objects with a very specific function is fun.

W*: What has been a career highlight?
AS: I’m proud of my progression. It might sound counterintuitive, but it’s very hard to make things look simple. And I work with exceptional craftspeople with so much knowledge and expertise. Working in collaboration is such a joyful part of my practice.

W*: What would be a dream commission?
AS: I’m interested in working with a cultural institution. I find interacting with other art forms exciting. I’d love to explore designing scenography for performances to play with the experiential possibilities of design.

W*: What do you believe is the power of design?
AS:I subscribe to the 20th-century optimism of design. I use high quality materials and craftsmanship to create pieces that people will fall in love with and look after. My practice is small and made to order; it’s geared towards beauty as a function of longevity, as opposed to contributing to throwaway culture.

@ameliastevens_design

Hugo is a design critic, curator and the co-founder of Bard, a gallery in Edinburgh dedicated to Scottish design and craft. A long-serving member of the Wallpaper* family, he has also been the design editor at Monocle and the brand director at Studioilse, Ilse Crawford's multi-faceted design studio. Today, Hugo wields his pen and opinions for a broad swathe of publications and panels. He has twice curated both the Object section of MIART (the Milan Contemporary Art Fair) and the Harewood House Biennial. He consults as a strategist and writer for clients ranging from Airbnb to Vitra, Ikea to Instagram, Erdem to The Goldsmith's Company. Hugo recently returned to the Wallpaper* fold to cover the parental leave of Rosa Bertoli as global design director, and is now serving as its design critic.