Welcome to Wallpaper* issue 301. Our tricentenary successfully navigated, it feels a no less auspicious moment to be ushering in a new age of design – just in time to celebrate Salone del Mobile 2024.
Why a new age? Because a younger generation at the apex of forward-thinking furniture companies – Giulia Molteni and Maria Porro, for instance, or Carola Bestetti at Living Divani and Eleonore Cavalli at Visionnaire – has resulted in a broader scope being offered to designers commissioned to create work for the leading brands. With this deeper pool of references comes a slew of fresh ideas on how to live, work and play that reflect a wide spectrum of cultural, societal and environmental shifts.
In the same questing spirit, we profile a few of those whose work embodies where design is (or should be) going: whether that’s Atelier Biagetti’s concept of nomadism, recast in its collaboration with MCM as a new idea of home that embraces technology, or Faye Toogood, whose repurposing of folk references for Poltrona Frau breaks with the contemporary concept of the ‘luxury furniture designer’.
As well as documenting those currently disrupting the established houses, we examine the roles of three emerging design studios in exploring new ways of working in furniture and design, whether through collaboration, performance or the repurposing of industrial materials and processes. We also revisit the lives and careers of two pioneering figures in the design world – Ingo Maurer and Louis Kahn, the latter being recognised at Salone.
Massaro House in New York’s Hudson Valley, a new build based on original drawings by Frank Lloyd Wright
And we feature two ‘revivals’: one the simulacrum of an unbuilt, site-specific Frank Lloyd Wright house, the other a rebuild of Aluminaire House, a novel aluminium-clad home by Albert Frey, that has moved from New York to its present resting place in Palm Springs. And capturing the spirit of the present, we bring you a working wardrobe that, well, works, read the runes around outdoor furniture, and feature nine watches united in their dramatic use of dark hues.
Finally, and by way of a hello, it gives me great pleasure to be rejoining Wallpaper* as Editor-in-Chief. I’d like to thank Sarah Douglas for handing on a title in such spectacular health – testament to her seven years of exemplary stewardship. The eagle-eyed among you will notice some further changes to the editorial masthead. These new positions are richly deserved; harbingers, too, of a new age for Wallpaper* as it heads towards its quadricentennial. Enjoy the issue.
Bill Prince
Editor-in-Chief
The May 2024 issue of Wallpaper* is available in print from 11 April, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
On the newsstand cover: ‘Pilotis’ console, by Rodolfo Dordoni, for Minotti. Pair of 18th-century urn-shaped vases (Walter Padovani). Bas-Relief I (2023), by Sergio Roger (Spazio Nuovo). Fruit platter (1937), by Jean Puiforcat. Travertino Romano Classico panels in matte finish, by Marsotto.
On the limited-edition cover: A ‘Karat Blau’ pendant lamp, by pioneering brand Ingo Maurer, which is looking forward to a new age under the guidance of lighting firm Foscarini
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‘A beginning is a dialogue’: Simone Bellotti reveals a first glimpse of his vision for Jil Sander with an EP and music videoTitled ‘Wanderlust’, the music video and EP is a collaboration with Bochum Welt, signalling an esoteric start to Simone Bellotti’s tenure at the house before his runway debut later this year
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Interni Venosta’s vases are made from laundry detergent bottlesBritt Moran and Emiliano Salci of Dimorestudio have conceived a series of expressive vases whose starting point is a humble plastic bottle
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How an icon of Japanese Metabolist architecture took on a life of its own – even after its destructionWhen Kishō Kurokawa designed the modular Nakagin Capsule Tower more than 50 years ago, he imagined it boarding ships and travelling the world. Now it has, thanks to a new show at MoMA
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Dine within a rationalist design gem at the newly opened Cucina TriennaleCucina Triennale is the latest space to open at Triennale Milano, a restaurant and a café by Luca Cipelletti and Unifor, inspired by the building's 1930s design
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20 emerging designers shine in our ‘Material Alchemists’ filmWallpaper’s ‘Material Alchemists’ exhibition during Milan Design Week 2025 spotlighted 20 emerging designers with a passion for transforming matter – see it now in our short film
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Delve into the Wallpaper* Design Directory 2025, on sale nowIn the July issue of Wallpaper*, find a photographic love letter to Milan Design Week, plus the best new furniture, lighting, kitchens, bathrooms and more
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Tokyo design studio We+ transforms microalgae into coloursCould microalgae be the sustainable pigment of the future? A Japanese research project investigates
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Delvis (Un)Limited turns a Brera shopfront into a live-in design installationWhat happens when collectible design becomes part of a live performance? The Theatre of Things, curated by Joseph Grima and Valentina Ciuffi, invited designers to live with their work – and let the public look in
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Naoto Fukasawa sparks children’s imaginations with play sculpturesThe Japanese designer creates an intuitive series of bold play sculptures, designed to spark children’s desire to play without thinking
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Inside the Shakti Design Residency, taking Indian craftsmanship to Alcova 2025The new initiative pairs emerging talents with some of India’s most prestigious ateliers, resulting in intricately crafted designs, as seen at Alcova 2025 in Milan
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Faye Toogood comes up roses at Milan Design Week 2025Japanese ceramics specialist Noritake’s design collection blossoms with a bold floral series by Faye Toogood
