This month we publish the 330th issue of Wallpaper* – a serendipitous number as we celebrate 30 years since we launched in print, three decades ago. Much has changed since, apart from Wallpaper's predilection for presenting the world through the lens of contemporary culture, whether witnessed in groundbreaking design, architecture, fashion, beauty, art, travel, entertaining, transport or technology. Which is why we have chosen to resist the urge to look back on the occasion of a big birthday, and focus instead on the here, now and next with the help of three guest editors whose work we are delighted to be hosting in the monumental, 356-page, October 2026 issue.
Guest editor: Es Devlin
Es Devlin's cover, photographed by her cousin Daniel Devlin, is an overhead view of her ‘30-Year Desk’. Forming a key part of her new exhibition ‘Other Worlds', which opens at London's Design Museum in October, this large-scale installation references works from the artist's 30-year practice
For our first guest editor, we approached Es Devlin, who also launched her creative practice 30 years ago. As a self-described ‘everythingist', the genre-defying designer has gained renown for her cross-disciplinary practice, which continues to make magic at the intersection of sculpture and installation. This autumn, the scale and scope of her work is recognised in ‘Other Worlds' at London's Design Museum, before which Devlin offers us a glimpse into the breadth and depth of her output, using the full potential of the print medium to demonstrate how her work offers moments of marvel and connection.
Guest editor: Palace Skateboards
Created for us by longtime Palace Skateboards collaborator Ben Drury, the Palace cover features the brand's Tri-Ferg logo, designed by Fergus ‘Fergadelic' Purcell
We also handed the editorial reins to Palace Skateboards, the cult streetwear brand, founded in 2009 by Lev Tanju and Gareth Skewis, that has gone on to become a collaborative ecosystem in its own right. For their intervention, they have chosen to turn their lens towards the Palace crew – a cohort of visionary friends and muses from the worlds of skating, fashion, art, music and beyond that make up their own community of creative collaborators.
Guest editor: Carrie Mae Weems
Carrie Mae Weems explores monuments, mourning, meaning and memory. Her cover (top centre) features Memory, one of two Assyrian-style, sphinx-like sculptures at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri
The celebrated American artist Carrie Mae Weems, our third guest editor, has chosen to reflect on themes that have endured throughout her decorated career, works that have often centred on powerful images of Black identity, while providing an essential commentary on class, power and social engagement. Long fascinated with the role of monuments in relation to mourning, meaning and memory, her portfolio for Wallpaper* stunningly presages her next collaborative undertaking, titled 250 and Change, a nationwide, artist-centred project that features her and others' response to the US semiquincentennial.
More from Wallpaper* at 30
This month, we also accepted an invitation to tour the new home of the Zaha Hadid Foundation, in the former Design Museum building at Shad Thames, where staff are busy cataloguing a vast archive of the late, great architect's personal and professional effects, ten years on from her untimely death at the age of 65. We trust she would have approved of the 25th edition of our Architects' Directory, freshly expanded to recognise 30 new and emerging practices, all of whom join the 500-strong alumni of international talent that have featured since its launch at the start of the millennium.
Elsewhere, we drop in on an exquisite Japanese tea atelier, tucked away in the GDR-era Funkhaus building in Berlin, and explore the burgeoning appeal of audio installations as a much-needed antidote to visual overstimulation. We also mark another landmark moment – the centenary of a trailblazing timepiece, the Rolex Oyster.
Patricia Urquiola ‘baked’ us a cake, one of 30 from our creative friends
As Wallpaper* enters its fourth decade, it continues to serve as a wellspring of artistic endeavour, conversation and community-building. It's a responsibility and bond that we hold very dear, and something wonderfully illustrated in the response of 30 friends, from across the creative industries, to our invitation to make us a cake. As expected, the results came in all shapes and sizes (some were actual cakes), but we are indebted to each and every one of them for marking our birthday, as we are to all those who continue to contribute to Wallpaper's success. It's a journey you can follow online at Wallpaper.com and across our social feeds, where more anniversary surprises await. Thank you for reading, and enjoy the issue.
Bill Prince
Editor-in-Chief
Wallpaper’s October 2026 Guest Editors’ Issue is available from 3 September, in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today