We’ve scoured the globe to find the most captivating, uncanny and memorable design exhibitions. From retrospectives and major blockbusters to thematic exhibitions and solo shows, here’s the design events not to miss this month.
Louis Vuitton Objets Nomades, Hong Kong
Hong Kong-based architect Joyce Wang has transformed two floors of the city’s former Central Magistracy into a grand pop-up that perfectly balances the colonial architecture, contemporary rooms and niches to create an immersive experience of Louis Vuitton’s Objets Nomades travel-inspired furniture and accessories. The poetic and cinematic feel is enhanced with whimsical touches including a dining-room with walls clad in bamboo and vertical greenery, elegant diaphanous steel mesh archways and a virtual swimming pool. Standout new pieces include a chair in riotously patterned fabric by Raw Edges and Patricia Urquiola’s simple ‘Overlay’ bowl, a sculpture of four leather sheets, created for Les Petits Nomades. Writer: Catherine Shaw
Until March 31; Tai Kwun, Block 9, Central Magistracy, 10 Hollywood Road
Neotenic Design at A/D/O, New York
Leave it to A/D/O to give the emergence of ‘cute’ furniture and design a real name. The term ‘neoteny’ is traditionally a zoological reference to the retention of juvenile features in an adult animal, but it could easily also apply to the proliferation of childlike features and proportions, such as thick legs and rounded feet, in design over the last ten years. Curated by A/D/O members, the design firm Jumbo, ‘Neotenic Design’ brings together objects from designers like Faye Toogood, Konstantin Grcic, Big Game and Pierre Yovanovitch, to show how the trend for rounded, chubby shapes in design actually elicits an emotional response that we are subconsciously seeking.
Until 28 March; 29 Norman Ave, Brooklyn, NY
The strange order of things, by Nathalie Du Pasquier at Pace Gallery, Seoul
This is the second exhibition of work by Nathalie Du Pasquier at Pace in Seoul and it is a particularly personal one, as the French artist and designer curated it herself. In an array of 30 paintings, drawings and ceramics, the show dives into the her engrossing visual world that started life in painting and travels through her time as a founding member of the Memphis Group. ‘For this exhibition, I’m interested in how things chosen from different moments in the last 20 years go together in a specific display,’ Du Pasquier mentions of the edit that forms an abstract dialogue in the space.
Until 25 May; 5F, 262, Itaewon-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
-
Each mundane object tells a story at Pace’s tribute to the everydayIn a group exhibition, ‘Monument to the Unimportant’, artists give the seemingly insignificant – from discarded clothes to weeds in cracks – a longer look
-
Discover The Legacy, Hong Kong’s eye-catching new condoThe Legacy, by ACPV Architects Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, is a striking new condo tower that aims to ‘create a sense of community and solidarity among people’
-
In BDSM biker romance ‘Pillion’, clothes become a medium for ‘fantasy and fetishism’Costume designer Grace Snell breaks down the leather-heavy wardrobe for the Alexander Skarsgård-starring Pillion, which traces a dom/sub relationship between a shy parking attendant and a biker
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt’s been a week of escapism: daydreams of Ghana sparked by lively local projects, glimpses of Tokyo on nostalgic film rolls, and a charming foray into the heart of Christmas as the festive season kicks off in earnest
-
Ed Ruscha’s foray into chocolate is sweet, smart and very AmericanArt and chocolate combine deliciously in ‘Made in California’, a project from the artist with andSons Chocolatiers
-
Inside the work of photographer Seydou Keïta, who captured portraits across West Africa‘Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens’, an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, celebrates the 20th-century photographer
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekFrom sumo wrestling to Singaporean fare, medieval manuscripts to magnetic exhibitions, the Wallpaper* team have traversed the length and breadth of culture in the capital this week
-
María Berrío creates fantastical worlds from Japanese-paper collages in New YorkNew York-based Colombian artist María Berrío explores a love of folklore and myth in delicate and colourful works on paper
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekAs we approach Frieze, our editors have been trawling the capital's galleries. Elsewhere: a 'Wineglass' marathon, a must-see film, and a visit to a science museum
-
June Leaf’s New York survey captures a life in motionJune Leaf made art in many forms for over seven decades, with an unstoppable energy and fierce appetite leading her to rationalise life in her own terms.
-
Jamel Shabazz’s photographs are a love letter to Prospect ParkIn a new book, ‘Prospect Park: Photographs of a Brooklyn Oasis, 1980 to 2025’, Jamel Shabazz discovers a warmer side of human nature
