Today (8 July 2026), British designer Faye Toogood unveils her latest collection. ‘Bone, Roll, Slump’ comprises furniture pieces that have an air of the archaeological about them – objects that feel found or unearthed rather than made.

The first chapter, ‘Bone’, centres on a dining collection inspired by mudlarked bones and fossils. At its heart is the ‘Bone Table’, a monolithic superellipse carved from solid oak. Asymmetrical in form, it is available in an eight-seat version or a smaller, more circular table for six.

Rather than being lacquered, the oak is oiled, preserving its natural texture and allowing the material to age gracefully. Four circular piercings punctuate the tabletop, recalling the oversized timber plugs once used in traditional joinery. They expose the oak's vertical grain while anchoring the surface to its stout, rounded legs. The swollen, sculptural profile of those legs, shared by the table and its chairs, reference knucklebones – once used in games and divination.

The ‘Bone Chairs’, meanwhile, stand on two solid legs, adopting a primal stance. Beneath their tactile exterior lies a timber frame sculpted with wool, coconut husk and natural latex – upholstered in bouclé as standard, with other fabrics available. The family comprises a dining chair, an armchair and an oversized ‘Jumbo’ armchair.

Where ‘Bone’ feels excavated, ‘Roll’ is more contained, while retaining the collection's preoccupation with weight, volume and organic geometry. Three-drawer consoles and single-drawer bedside tables take the form of rounded timber lozenges resting on stout, trunk-like bases or, alternatively, cantilevering from the wall. The grain follows the curvature of each piece, while finishes include golden oak, rich walnut and ash stained in ‘Chalk’, ‘Putty’ or ‘Malachite’.

The collection concludes with ‘Soft Slump’ – asymmetrical, bagel-like lounge chairs which appear to collapse gently into themselves. The effect is achieved through an unconventional construction: rather than stretching upholstery taut, around four metres of fabric are gathered and cinched, a bit like the drawstring of a duffel bag, creating deep folds. Set atop either hand-forged, dimpled steel legs or industrial castors, Toogood insists these are also the most comfortable chairs she has ever made.

'Bone, Roll, Slump' is unique, intriguing and pleasingly tactile – a quality that makes it feel both contemporary and somehow elemental.

Pieces from the collection can be purchased from Faye Toogood’s website.

'Japanese design has this ability to combine precision with a poetic dimension. Minimalism is not a stylistic choice, but a way of thinking – removing what is not necessary to give more clarity and strength to what remains.' Maria Porro, president of Salone del Mobile, was speaking to Wallpaper* about the ever-growing influence of Japanese design in Milan – and true to her words, the city was awash with high-quality projects from Japan. Design innovations spanned the spectrum: from architectural rugs, quiet paper innovations and crafted chairs designed to “not to be noticed” to textiles created by sound.

Japan's creative output has perhaps never been more relevant, according to Porro: “Japanese design offers clarity at a moment of global complexity. It demonstrates a strong ability to translate cultural values into contemporary forms, while maintaining continuity. For me, its relevance lies not only in its aesthetics, but in a way of thinking that is rigorous, responsible and increasingly necessary in shaping the future of design.”

Here, Wallpaper* highlights a fraction of the many Japanese projects that left an imprint on Milan’s designscape this year.

Best Japanese design at Milan Design Week 2026

‘bit by bit’ by Haruka Misawa at ADI Design Museum (until June 7)

Paper – with thread, wood, wire, nail, leaves, stones, pencils, glass beads, acrylic pipes. These ingredients shape the quiet beauty of ‘bit by bit’, Haruka Misawa’s first solo exhibition in Italy. Spanning long rows of steel displays are time-slowing creations – cut, pasted, stitched, layered and minutely crafted. One paper work has tiny squares containing the miniature intricacy of staircases; another has a small missing segment – the cut out part transformed into a cloud-like puff of light paper shreds. A highlight? Tiny paper shapes that dance, float and spin – the otherworldly result of a meticulously researched combination of washi paper containing metal powder with a hidden magnetic system. 'Paper is thin and flat yet it has many possibilities,' Misawa, a respected designer who helms Misawa Design Institute at Nippon Design Centre, tells Wallpaper*.

Koyori at Salone del Mobile

Sunrise – or hinode in Japanese. This is the inspiration behind Vincent Van Duysen’s debut collection for Koyori, a Japanese furniture brand rooted in quality craftsmanship and contemporary design, launching at Salone for the first time. Showing Wallpaper* his warm T-shaped chair and tables with softly twisted wood edges, Van Duysen explains: 'Hinode is about new beginnings and a homage to nature. Wood is a material I carry in my heart. Natural. Timeless. Real textures. The beauty of imperfection. In terms of executing details, the craftsmanship at Koyori is on another level.'

Ronan Bouroullec also unveiled the pared-back beauty of his Ichirin chair, its structural purity and lightly sensual edges sharpened by a clean-lined wood grain. 'I wanted this to be a chair you don’t notice,' he explains. 'You just feel good in the room. Like a teabag in a glass of water. It’s almost nothing. Just function.' Added to the mix were GamFratesi’s latest Koyori pieces, including their playful Kinomi side tables – acorn-like forms balancing lightly on tripod legs. 'Not everything needs to be big,' says Enrico Fratesi. 'We want to create a memory and an emotional connection.'

Oke by Junichiro Yokota Studio at SaloneSatellite

Oke – or wood bucket. This everyday Japanese object is the inspiration behind the Oke chair, a curved sweep of vertical wood components, rising in clean lines around two minimalist panels – crafted from leftover wood. The chair was created by Junichiro Yokata, a Tokyo product designer, who explains: 'the feeling of being enveloped in the surrounding wood teaches us the inherent richness of materials.' Also exhibited was his atmospheric Toi table lamp (a pendant version launched last year), a softly-curved glow of organic washi paper; plus Extra, a contemporary basked shaped by two interlocking circles – all explorations of the 'ordinary' in everyday life, anchored in a pared back beauty and minimalist simplicity.

Unseen Objects / Overflow by We+ and Heiwa Gokin at Galleria Rubin

Burr – the surplus metal removed during traditional casting processes – shines in the spotlight in Unseen Objects / Overflow, a new furniture collection brought to life in an innovative collaboration between Tokyo design unit We+ and century-old foundry Heiwa Gokin based in copper casting hub Takaoka. A contemporary excavation of traditional craftsmanship, the project taps into the 'imperfect' formations that trace material surfaces during large-scale metal castings in sand moulds – delicate fringes of metal known as burrs which are typically removed in the making process. Leaving these material imperfections in place, cast panels were layered into a puzzle of aluminium panels to create unique shelving and low-level tables – creating structural furniture imbued with an elemental, primitive and organic essence. The furniture launch follows last year’s launch of small objects such as vases, using the same technique.

NII at Salone del Mobile

Playful, contemporary, flexible: NII is a high-end new office furniture brand created by Itoko, a long respected Japanese office solutions company dating back 125 years. Its launch collection included the clean Lego-like modularity of sofa system Bitmap by Todd Bracher; light filtering shingle-like wood screens Pigna wrapped around seating, by AMDL Circle; the transparent river-like flow of glass table Connexa, on a structural base with hints of shrine gates by Rodolfo Agrella; the organic curves and ergonomic modularity of Parlamento sofa system by Jun Aizaki of Créme; and the super-smooth glide of Allround stools with clean modern silhouettes in glossy shades (red, blue, beige).

'It’s about ingenious design,' says Hirotaka Tako, creative director at NII, his red socks matching the red stool he is gliding on at Salone while chatting to Wallpaper*. 'The boundaries between office design and hospitality design are increasingly blurred. There is flexibility and freedom in these spaces – and furniture needs to adapt to this.'

Faces by Kengo Kuma for Jaipur Rugs at Crespi Bonsai Museum

Architecture and rugs don’t often tangibly overlap – yet Faces is a new Jaipur Rugs collection designed by Kengo Kuma, which translate facades from his building designs into woven rug creations. Handwoven surfaces are imbued with the Japanese architect’s spatial language, expressed through light, shadow and rhythm motifs. Launched with an atmospheric installation at Crespi Bonsai Museum on the outskirts of Milan, the new rugs were scattered among light-filled greenhouses and gardens.

Five designs include Sukima – the space between forms, allowing light and air to flow – inspired by the Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo, with subtly shifting linear planes; while small square motifs imprint the surface of Chirashi, a reimagining of the stone structure of the Museum of Kanayama Castle Ruin and the Kanamaya Community Centre. Jaipur Rugs MD Yogesh Chaudhary tells Wallpaper*: 'These are all inspired by actual buildings. But it’s not just the facades – it’s how it interacts with light and air. It’s a way of seeing.'

Wave Weave by Hosoo with Carsten Nicolai at Hosoo Milan

A sublime mesh of textiles, music and technology shapes Wave Weave, by centuries-old (and ever-innovating) Kyoto textile company Hosoo, with German sound artist Carsten Nicolai. Unravelling the auditory poetry of textiles, the exhibition – unfolding in the intimate elegance of Hosoo’s Milan flagship – centres on a 22-minute film of Hosoo’s workshop. Nicolai’s soundtrack was then translated into a textile design, with sound visualised as a sonogram – resulting in an exquisitely otherworldly silk obi (kimono belt), with cloud-like woven abstractions (a minimalist installation light moves just above the textile, matching the exact musical notes being played to the material).

Nearby is another digital expression reborn in material form: new textile collection Raster Gradient. Monochrome silk panels are peppered with a gradated spectrum of tiny white dots emerging from deep black oblivion before dissolving into pure light – the result of years of experimentation (each handmade panel contains 9,000 warp threads alternating black and white). 'Technology and textiles are very close,' explains Masataka Hosoo.

Karimoku Case at Salone; Karimoku Research at Capsule Plaza

Intimate, minimal and quiet, it had all the ingredients of a hotel – from the wooden front desk and calm lobby to a spacious suite. Karimoku Case created 'A Thoughtful Stay' at Salone del Mobile, tapping into its holistic philosophy of designing objects and spaces in harmony, as envisioned by Norm Architect and Keiji Ashizawa Design. Layers of wood harmonised with natural materials (paper, stone, textiles), alongside signature triangular lanterns and the smooth crafted lines of Karimoku Case furniture. 'The goal was to showcase the brand in a holistic boutique hotel environment,' says Frederik Werner of Norm Architects.

Across town at Capsule Plaza, a different rhythm shaped 'Research Published as Furniture'. Shoji paper screens and bright colour pops were the backdrop for the Milan debut of four new brands developed through Karimoku’s research projects. Among them was a structural glass table from CMPT by Lichen, plus the soft olive leather textures of ZE Sofa from Karimoku Re:issue by Lichen, reimagining an iconic 1982 design; alongside stacked formations of modular wooden containers from Stakko, a brand created with Postalco. A second space was filled the modern playfulness of sculptural shapes in jewel tones by wagetsu わ月, a brand made with LA-based Waka Waka – including angular low tables with high-shine surfaces, made using a technique typically used for pianos.

Meeting Horizons at Time & Style Milan

A light tangle of wood curves floating like a cloud. Solid wood shelving with softly tapered edges and traditional joinery. Cantilevered chairs, hovering above stone floors. Time & Style unveiled the Meeting Horizons collection in the near temple-like serenity of their Milan flagship, with a thoughtful layering of Japanese and Western influences. There is Yoshino Breath Armchair, its clean-lined cubic cedar form assembled without metal fittings; Soe, by Wohl Hütte, its layered planes and vertical bamboo element riffing on traditional Japanese alcoves; a lightly hovering mobile of steam-bent wood by Drill Design and a natural new textile of cotton and wool by Noriko Tsuiki. An exhibition in the paper-wrapped vaulted basement also showcased the minimal white curves of stone artist Ayako Ueda on wood blocks with traditional Japanese joinery.

Future Memories by Roberto Sironi with Sansui at Rossana Orlandi

Picture a circle of light-reflecting polished steel, its water-like surface floating above an angled base of sturdy pine beams darkened with time – fragments of wooden carpentry from an abandoned house in rural Japan. This mix of new and old, lightness and strength shapes Future Memories, a contemporary installation of sculptural objects which gives a fresh lease of life to salvaged beams from Japan’s empty kominka farmhouses, by Italian designer Roberto Sironi in collaboration with Sansui, a century-old Japanese carpentry company. Centre stage in a vaulted stone space are fragments of beams reconfigured to create sculptural objects, chairs and tables. Written into the material are traces of time, with nail-free joinery and hints of human touch on hand-carved surfaces. 'Each beam has its own story,' Sironi tells Wallpaper*. 'There’s no painting, no vanishing, just the patina of time.'

Noritake Design Collection at Alcova

Curved, flowing, fragmented, in earthy tones – just like the earth. This idea shapes the abstract beauty of Landscape, a debut ceramics collection by Michele De Lucchi of AMDL Circle for Noritake, a Japanese company dating back to 1904.

Studio Toogood also launched Kiln: a harmony of sculptural curves and lines, cleanly shaped in monochrome black and white. 'I wanted to bring some strong geometry to the Noritake table, taking influence from its incredible relics of manufacturing,' says Faye Toogood. The new Imperial Peacock Collection was also displayed, a collaboration with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, inspired by stone carvings at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. These new additions to Noritake Design Collection were showcased at Baggio Military Hospital – where talented master artisan Masami Okada from Japan, sat surrounded by paints and brushes, showcasing his quiet mastery of ceramic painting, throughout the week.

Lesson in Relations by Takt Project at Chiesa di San Bernardino alle Monache

The atmosphere tilted at the threshold of Chiesa di San Barnardino alle Monarche: inside the empty church was Lessons in Relations by Takt Project, a conceptual exploration of nature, humans and materiality. Scattered on the ground were branches collected from forests in Nagano, completed with 3D-printed white elements – looping, knotted, tied, threaded, wrapped around the wood. Each 'branch' was placed in a delicate white circle of instructional text on the floor, in Italian and English – such as 'find a circular fragment within the branch'. The result was poetic record of a human-forest relationship – as the Tokyo studio explains: 'This project takes the branch as a motif to explore a contemporary way of relating to materials.'

Sur+Plus by Atma at Alcova

Sitting in a quiet concrete space in the basement of Villa Pestarini was a sculptural scattering of unique chairs created from fragments of material offcuts (stones, marbles, wood, tiles, carpet). Created by Tokyo studio Atma, the Sur+Plus chairs are made from a simple tilt of two panels, attached by a clean-lined metal fixture. Minimally visible design intervention amplifies the beauty of the pastel-toned textures, disparate fragments and organic material edges that shape the chairs, each unwaveringly unique. 'What emerges is a form of co-existence – elements connected while their differences remain,' explain the studio founders.

Hideo at Salone del Mobile

Behind a white curtain in pavilion 10 at Salone del Mobile was a small pocket of Japanese bath serenity. It was the Salone debut of Hideo, a company created by the so-called Japanese master of modern bathtub design Hideo Shimizu. The Japanese designer, based in Italy, has spent decades reimagining traditional Japanese design and craftsmanship into contemporary form. On display in the Time & Style-designed space were two white bathtubs designed in Japan and made in Italy, using a high-tech material rooted in a plant-derived bioresin – including keyhole-shaped Chiave and the curves of Infinity.

‘Girls run the world’, the poet Beyoncé once said. In the design world, though, female creatives are still sadly underrepresented and under-recognised. Progress is being made, but the design and architecture professions are historically male-dominated – and great work created by women often doesn’t make it to highlight-level at major design events.

Wallpaper* aims to redress that imbalance. In Milan, where our editors are currently on the ground reviewing all that's noteworthy during Design Week 2026, we keep track of the achievements of incredible female creatives in the city – from Salone del Mobile president Maria Porro, injecting new ideas into one of the oldest design institutions in Italy, to trend-setting curator Valentina Ciuffi, whose Alcova has become an example of championing creativity from all corners of the profession, and doyenne of collectible design Nina Yashar (watch our Ground Report interview), whose galleries Nilufar and Nilufar Depot are among the most important places to discover design.

We also have a careful lens on the work that Patricia Urquiola is doing at Cassina, in terms of both innovation and championing an emerging generation of creatives; and the electric energy with which Visionnaire art director Eleonore Cavalli finds the most exciting ways to shake up her company's strong heritage (through unexpected collaborations with the likes of metal stalwart NM3, for example).

Here, we gather a small directory, spotlighting just some of the women whose work has defined this year's Milan Design Week. For many more, follow our coverage on Wallpaper.com, where you’ll find the likes of Federica Biasi and her respectful interpretation of Maddalena De Padova's legacy; the inimitable Bethan Laura Wood, reinterpreting Baccarat's baroque and subverting its rules; and Nao Tamura and her sculptural origami furniture for Porro that leave us marvelling at her creative gestures every time we encounter them.

Nine female creatives to know at Milan Design Week 2026

Faye Toogood

Faye Toogood is the queen of prototyping, and this Milan Design Week has made it even clearer that the British designer is the best when it comes to visualising ideas in compact ways. We are particularly fond of her mini carved butter sofas, a prelude to her collection of seating for Tacchini (aptly called ‘Butter' and comprising different modular elements, or ‘slabs of butter’: a three-seater sofa, an armchair and a storage unit). But her miniature-making prowess was also evident in the perfectly compact ‘Lie Low’ bed, for Poltrona Frau, and the folded paper experiments that represent her ‘Crease’ collection for Meritalia, inspired by flat-pack constructions.

And while the life-size versions of these furniture design concepts are magnificent in their own right, seeing the ideas unfold in small scale (and in such imaginative, expressive ways) always puts a smile on our face.

Linde Freya Tangelder

The work of Belgian designer Linde Freya Tangelder (also known as Destroyers Builders) is a powerful whisper. Over the years, the designer has built an aesthetic identity that is unmistakably hers, based on a version of minimalism that is multi-material and takes modularity to unexpected horizons. At Milan Design Week 2026, Tangelder and Cassina staged a display at 10 Corso Como titled 'Fluid Re-Collection', an immersion into her creative world that includes her furniture, objects and study models placed in conversation with the lighting design she has been creating with the Italian company since 2022.

Ambra Medda with Amy Tai

'I love being part of a city that is changing and evolving at such speed,' said design curator Ambra Medda, who recently moved back to Milan from her longtime base in London. Her new creative space in the city hosts its inaugural exhibition, co-curated with design historian Amy Tai, bringing together the ceramic work of Greek designer Leda Athanasopoulou and textiles by the Chinese artist Yumo Yuan.

Read our interview with Ambra Medda

Elisa Ossino

Elisa Ossino's secret garden with Molteni & C is a much-needed oasis of peace in the middle of Milan ('What a beautiful gift to the city', we overheard someone say on our visit at the beginning of Milan Design Week). Titled 'Responsive Nature', the verdant installation takes over Garden Senato in a way that is both poetic and also a stage to showcase the company's new outdoor collections (including new pieces by Ossino herself). Through five environments, Molteni & C's furniture is set amid tropical plants, architectural ruins overgrown with foliage and water features that make you feel like you have left the city and have stepped into an otherworldly natural paradise.

Kelly Wearstler

Kelly Wearstler, queen of the maximalist interior, made her Milan Design Week debut to launch a new furniture collection designed in tandem with H&M Home. ‘We still had a lot of boundaries,' she told us. ‘Every piece had to be modular, but it pushed us to be more creative.' While all the objects in the collection feel unique, Wearstler was also keen that they work with any environment. ‘I wanted to operate under the ethos of just offering great accessible design.' Launching in 28 markets, the collection includes chairs, tables and lamps, as well as a series of tabletop items, ranging from wooden vases to drinking glasses. Anyone who has visited one of Wearstler's luxury lifestyle-forward Proper hotels will immediately recognise her distinctive aesthetic.

Read our interview with Kelly Wearstler

Marta Sala

Milanese gallerist Marta Sala founded her namesake company, Marta Sala Éditions, in 2015, with the aim of building a platform dedicated to limited-run design collections rooted in architectural rigour and material precision. Eleven years on, that vision has been entirely realised – in no small part thanks to her longstanding collaborations with some of the most exacting figures in design. At Milan Design Week 2026, she launched a new collection with Herzog & de Meuron, making its debut at the inaugural edition of Salone Raritas.

Read our interview with Marta Sala

Natalia Criado

Since founding her eponymous brand in 2018, the Milan-based, Colombia-born designer Natalia Criado has been developing a body of work that reads as both functional object and sculpture. This year at Milan Design Week, Criado worked with Laboratorio Paravicini – the Milanese ceramics brand run by Costanza Paravicini and her three daughters, Benedetta, Margherita and Bona, known for their deftly hand-illustrated ceramics. 'I had been aware of their work for some time, and what drew me in was not only the craftsmanship, but the structure behind it, a family-run studio largely composed of women,' Criado says.

Read our interview with Natalia Criado

Sophie Lou Jacobsen

For the past several months, New York glassware designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen has been spending more and more time in Milan, developing her latest collection inspired by the famed local aperitivo culture. 'In New York, we have happy hour, and in France, there is apéro, but aperitivo is a ritual really ingrained into daily life in Milan,' says the designer, who aptly titled the collection 'Disco Aperitivo', a nod to the 1980s style that still defines many of the city’s historic bars.

Read our interview with Sophie Lou Jacobsen

Lina Ghotmeh

Lebanese-born, Paris-based architect Lina Ghotmehhas built a reputation for immersive, site-responsive work, and was also behind one of the most anticipated installations of Milan Design Week, at Palazzo Litta, transforming the historic building's courtyard into different pockets of calm, culture and conversation during a frenetic week. ‘At a time when the world is bombarded from several standpoints, I wanted a place that cherishes joy and human connection. It is a setting that gently slows people down and allows them to engage with one another and with the place around them,’ she explains.

Read our interview with Lina Ghotmeh

See our guide to what’s on at Milan Design Week 2026 (until 26 April), and follow the adventures of our editors on the ground in our live Milan blog.

It’s rare to encounter a bistro built entirely around a vegan menu – rarer still for it to feel so instinctively right. The format’s inherent warmth and intimacy lend themselves naturally to plant-forward cooking, yet few have made the pairing stick. In Notting Hill, Holy Carrot proved there is an appetite, evolving from a cult pop-up into a neighbourhood fixture in just five years. Now, it heads east for its next chapter, settling into a quiet corner of Spitalfields Market. Founder Irina Linovich is still very much at the helm, with executive chef Daniel Watkins (also co-founder of Acme Fire Cult) leading the kitchen.

Wallpaper* dines at Holy Carrot Bistro, London

The mood: a dreamscape

Leave it to British designer Faye Toogood to etch out a bistro of dreams through her signature interplay of sculptural forms and raw materiality. ‘I wanted Holy Carrot Bistro Spitalfields to feel grounded in something ancient and elemental,’ she tells Wallpaper*. ‘A place where materials are honest and gestures instinctive – a playful, memorable space shaped by hand, by soil, by time.’

The snug room unfolds in a stripped-back palette of natural tiles, steel, linoleum and canvas, offset by a hand-painted mural in deep pinks. Figures and oversized vegetables emerge across the walls: a surreal ode to soil, sustenance and regeneration, where body and earth blur into one.

Furniture follows a similarly considered mix: antique pieces sit alongside contemporary and custom designs, including powder-coated steel bar stools upholstered in Opio and Orzo. ‘There’s a tension I enjoy between the everyday and the theatrical,’ says Toogood. By day, the space reads as light and utilitarian; by night, it softens: candlelight flickers from textured aluminium holders, white tablecloths begin to gather generous, colourful spreads.

Details reveal themselves gradually: a paper-sculpted candelabra; a downstairs anteroom lined with vivid bespoke tiles. On your way to the restroom, spot Studio Toogood’s Gummy Armchair in Opio Kiwi wool paired with a Cobble Side Table in Bottle green, set against a 1960s Italian floor lamp.

The food: divine vegetables

This is cooking that makes you want to declare: ‘I am what I eat’. Seasonal produce is treated with imagination, shaped by fire, fermentation and spice. Watkins, alongside head chef Maria Criscuolo, works closely with small-scale organic producers, embracing a near-zero-waste approach that honours each ingredient from root to leaf.

Start with coal-roasted beetroot paired with sharp ezme, or flatbreads enriched with fermented koji and silken tofu. For something deeper, the smoked chilli mushroom ragù delivers real depth and richness. The tempeh and smoked tofu schnitzel – finished with celeriac remoulade and a curry-leaning café de Paris butter – is a standout.

Cocktails follow suit: bold, layered, and playful. Heat is the restaurant’s take on the spicy volcán margarita – with pineapple, coriander, poblano chilli and sherbet – and lands with a lingering kick.

Holy Carrot Bistro is located at 61, 63 Brushfield St, London E1 6AA, United Kingdom

Faye Toogood’s Poltrona Frau debut from 2024 is etched in our memories as a brilliant example of how a creative mind can shake up a traditional furniture company. Working with the heritage of the Tolentino-based furniture manufacturer, Toogood created a collection of curvaceous furniture that she described as ‘English Folk with Italian Horsepower.’

Dubbed ‘Squash’, the collection featured mirrors, rugs and an armchair which, Poltrona Frau CEO Nicola Coropulis said, ‘epitomised the essence of a Poltrona Frau armchair, effortlessly evoking feelings of comfort, innovation, and forward-thinking creativity, all ensconced in a cocoon of leather.’

Lie Low bed by Faye Toogood for Poltrona Frau

Poltrona Frau is now unveiling the next chapter in this fruitful collaboration, presenting Toogood’s Lie Low bed (with matching bedside table) at Milan Design Week. Toogood’s sculptural approach to furniture design meets Poltrona Frau’s precise curation of forms and materials, and the result is characterised by the designer’s signature ‘chubbyness’, with a sculptural headboard that makes the most of the leather company’s expertise in the material. Rather than stretched tight, Toogood chose to leave the leather to ‘crinkle and gather’, revealing a sense of informal comfort.

‘I have been working with the artisans at Poltrona Frau for a couple of years now, and there’s nothing they don’t know about leather craft,’ observes Toogood. ‘I want to celebrate the hands-on knowledge and skill of the workshop, but propose new ways of thinking about process and material. Rather than being perfectly taut, the leather of the Lie Low bed is wrinkled, giving it movement and malleability. It’s a bed that entirely embraces you.’

fayetoogood.com
poltronafrau.com

Tree stumps. Public benches. Swaying treetops. A worker and his bandsaw. Heavy machinery. And five animal spirits preserving the soul of a forest – from a jumping deer to a curious fox.

'A Tree' is a new project in Japan that journeys through a raft of creative perspectives – from the technical and the functional to the otherworldly magical – bringing to life a new series of objects crafted in cedarwood from ancient forests.

Six designers – Siin Siin from Japan, South Korean studio Kuo Duo, Fabien Cappello, working from Mexico, plus London-based creatives Rio Kobayashi, Max Lamb and Faye Toogood – travelled to the deep forests of Yoshino in Nara Prefecture, to explore its centuries-old forestry history and communities, cultivation technology and making practices.

Six designers working with Yoshino Cedarwood

Each creative was given a tree to transform. The end results, from chairs to benches, are now displayed at Ginza Six retail complex in Tokyo, scattered in public spaces to enhance interaction between visitors and objects, forest and city.

Helming the project, architect Keisuke Nakamura of Daikei Mills tells Wallpaper*: 'Following a project I undertook in the Yoshino area three years ago, I became acquainted with the local forestry industry. Whilst I came to appreciate the depth of Yoshino cedar and its significance as a material unique to Japan, I also became aware of the challenges facing the forestry sector –and felt a sense of responsibility as a creator to become more deeply involved.'

Highlighting the connective thread between the designers, he adds: 'They are all creators who, in their craft, demonstrate a passion for exploring materials, place great importance on the creative process and show respect for everyone involved in a project.'

Over the past 500 years, cedarwood from Yoshino, known as Yoshino sugi, has become a near-sacred byword for quality wood manufacturing in Japan, shaping countless spaces and objects, from temples, shrines and residences to sake barrels and bathtubs.

Meticulously cultivated using an ancient plantation technique, Yoshino sugi is used widely among architects, designers and artisans, due to its straight grain, minimal knots, lightweight strength and distinct forest-fresh aroma.

A growing furniture collection

The project collaborated with two timber specialists Houei Forestry and Ohtani Wood in Yoshino, while the works were produced by E&Y. Creations by Lamb and Toogood recently joined the collection, as the second phase of the series.

For Lamb, witnessing the meticulous technical mastery of 'one man and his machine' during his visit into the heart of the forest inspired his sculptural series Cedar is a Soft Wood. As he explains: 'It begins and ends with a tree. In the middle there is Ohtani-san and his bandsaw. Nothing else. What can Ohtani-san do with his bandsaw?'

Toogood tapped into the spiritual depth of the forest and Japan’s innate respect for the natural world – expressed through the magical realism-inflected storytelling of five animal 'spirits'. Timeless and playful, the forest was reimagined in watercolour paintings, poems and eventually five seating sculptures crafted from a single 25m high tree.

Shaped by a primitive simplicity, 'Five Spirits, One Sugi' includes the flowing lightness of The Deer, the rhythmic form of The Woodpecker, the earthy curves of The Toad, the diagonal edges of The Fox and the warm solidity of The Bear.

'My pieces started with a very spiritual response to the forest,' she explains. 'I came back and in my journal, I wrote a poem and did some watercolours of the animals that I'd seen. It was not just my experience in the forest that I wanted to represent – but also the fact that this forest is a habitat for all these beautiful animals.

'Having that context with nature is so important to my work and something I want to bring into a commercial environment. I think that feeling of nature is not only coming through from the material, but also the way you view the shapes. I brought the animals into the furniture – the big bear, the jumping deer – they are all there. For me, it was about trying to let those animals live through the wood and the furniture.'

The full A Tree collection, currently on display at Ginza Six, also includes creations completed last autumn for phase one of the project. Fabien Cappello designed a bench that transforms the act of seating into a shared and public experience, inspired by common typologies found in airports, bus stations and waiting areas. As he explains: 'It explores the questions: can a single tree be transformed to comfortably seat many people, and how to foster comfort and invitation in public seating.'

Ideas of inversion, movement and cultural reinterpretation are written into 'Edisni tuo', a furniture series by Japanese-Austrian designer Rio Kobayashi. One of his first projects to take shape in Japan, having spent more than half his life overseas, the pieces mark a reframing of his perspective of home; 'like inside-out sushi, a Western twist on a Japanese dish'. Added to the mix is an unexpected 'wobble' – inspired by the movement of treetops in the wind.

'The pieces invert what is expected,' he says. 'Bark is kept, cut surfaces are exposed and what’s usually discarded becomes essential.'

For Siin Siin, the starting point was creating a dialogue between material and technique – with traces of splitting wood by axe combined with stainless steel joints inspired by heavy machinery. Meanwhile, Kuo Duo dreamt up Kiri Kabu, a reinterpretation of tree stumps, balancing the material contrast of pale heartwood and rich sapwood. The tree was dissected into a puzzle of nine sections: four corner pieces reassembled to create a cylindrical base, before being turned on a lathe to form a conical form, while the remaining parts were used for structural elements such as seats and backrests.

And just like the life of a forest, the project will continue to evolve. The collections are displayed at Ginza Six until autumn, with a final, as yet undisclosed, phase due to unfold over the coming year.

British designer Faye Toogood chose a quote by Charlotte Perriand to introduce her latest project, a curation of Friedman Benda's booth at PAD London (until 19 October 2025).

'Pebbles, bits of shoes, lumps of wood riddled with holes, horsehair brushes – all smoothed and ennobled by the sea…' said the French master, listing a series of objects found on a beach and considered treasures by the inquisitive mind. The idea of finding beauty in mundane, even discarded objects lies at the heart of the British designer's work for the booth, which she describes as 'a tribute to curiosity, collecting and curating.'

The Magpie's Nest by Faye Toogood at PAD London

The installation includes works by Toogood, including pieces made for the occasion such as The Magpie Tapestries, featuring an ode to found objects, and the Maquette chairs in wire and paper, the latter also chosen as the winner of the PAD London Contemporary Design Prize. Alongside her work, she has curated a series of objects and furniture that offer different points of view on the natural world, created by the likes of Misha Kahn, Andrea Branzi and Fernando and Humberto Campana. 'The Magpie’s Nest is not a vitrine of trophies, it’s an uplifting and energetic choir of colliding collective voices,' she says.

The design curation is enriched by a series of found objects, foraged sticks, stones and broken bones from Toogood's own collections displayed amongst the artworks.

'My dad was a really big bird watcher, so we were always out walking and foraging. I didn't have a huge amount in the way of toys, instead I was encouraged to collect natural things,' she says. 'One day it might be sticks and so back to the house we would come with a bundle of sticks, tie them up, make something with them. Another day pebbles from the beach. It was this idea that you collect it, and then you do something with it.'

This habit of collecting found objects, arranging them and finding patterns in this collection has been a crucial influence on Toogood's work. 'Over the years lots has been given away, lost or sold, but the things that stay are those tiny treasures gathered from adventures in nature,' she reflects. 'I seem to have passed the obsession on to my daughter Indigo. Just like me she will know exactly what's important in there and what's not, where she got each piece. And then she'll endlessly rearrange it all into her own secret typologies.'

The Magpie's Nest by Faye Toogood for Friedman Benda is on view as part of PAD London until 19 October 2025

Berkeley Square, London W1

Faye Toogood is surrounded by a cacophony of roses. These are not the dozens of varieties of roses that she grows in her much-loved garden in the English countryside. Instead, the roses around her inhabit a different cosmos: they are swirling and dynamic, abstract and dripping, vividly layered in visceral pinks and infused with a wild-edged freedom – and she is spontaneously hand-painting them, one by one, on to porcelain in a ceramics studio in Nagoya, central Japan.

Toogood is among a handful of creatives, alongside Ed Ng of AB Concept, Marc Newson, Yabu Pushelberg and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, who are reimagining the heritage-steeped world of Noritake, one of Japan’s first modern ceramic tableware makers.

Noritake is something of a household name in Japan. Since launching in 1904 and unveiling the country’s first Western-style dinner service a decade later, it has become synonymous with the quality of its decorative white porcelain and bone china tableware. Today, however, the vast majority of its output has diversified into ceramics-related industrial technology, from sake to dentistry.

Noritake’s creative director Yuichiro Hori, the entrepreneurial Nagoya-born founder of Stellar Works furniture, is intent on shifting the world’s creative gaze back to its tableware – as reflected in the Noritake Design Collection.

This new series will cast the brand’s richly layered heritage of technology and craftsmanship in a sharp new light at Milan Design Week 2025, with a show at Alcova’s Villa Borsani in a space that has been art directed by Toogood. ‘Timeless and handcrafted are key words,’ says Hori. ‘Many processes are more than 100 years old. These designers are from different continents, but they all respect Noritake’s DNA.’

Highlighting Noritake’s qualities of ‘whiteness, uniformity and sharpness’, Tomoyuki Katada, head of tableware, adds, ‘By combining the technology we have developed with the sensibilities of world-renowned designers, we hope to create something new and valuable.’

The Noritake Design Collection includes Ed Ng’s round and stackable ‘Bangle’ series, in shades of white and blue; Yabu Pushelberg’s ‘Hoshikage’, a 19-piece set with intricately iridescent surface patterns, first showcased in New York last autumn; and a reinterpretation of Marc Newson’s clean-lined tableware originally made for Quantas.

There is also the ‘Peacock’ tableware collection, created with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and inspired by the architect’s peacock motifs for the interior of Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel. And, of course, Toogood’s ‘Rose’.

Her limited-edition series includes 14 hand-painted pieces in five different shapes, from decadent dinner platters to elegantly tapered pitchers, plus a limited run of 111 platters, with both decal and hand-painted rose motifs.

Playful, energetic and joyful, Toogood’s pieces feature strong brushstrokes of swirling pinks, from cloudy shades to deeper tones, and layered, coiled, forest green foliage, with a hint of postmodern fairytale. Balancing contemporary abstraction with heritage form, each piece was created using original shapes from century-old Noritake moulds.

Mid-process in Noritake’s historic HQ in Nagoya, Toogood sits surrounded by bright palettes of blended pigment paints. Pausing to explain her journey along the path of roses, she says, ‘When Noritake first got in touch, I looked through their museum book and I remember thinking that everything looked like it should be in the V&A. It was all so fine and beautiful and precise.

‘I wasn’t sure how my sculptural geometry or mark-making would fit into this world. But I wanted to find something that was a Venn diagram between Toogood and Noritake. So I asked if they had any original moulds and suggested I come and paint – which now feels ridiculous in a way because they’re master painters and I’m not a painter. But I wanted to get as close as possible to the way they do things here.’

All things roses quickly shifted into focus, the idea blossoming naturally from Toogood’s love of gardening. ‘Most people wouldn’t have me down as someone who clips roses at the weekend,’ she says. ‘But my garden is a big passion and I’m obsessed with rose varieties. I probably have more than 30 types. My mother is a florist and was always arranging roses. And my daughter’s name is Rose.

‘It was only when I went to Noritake’s museum that I realised how much of what they made a century earlier was connected to roses. I hadn’t consciously noted this before. Everything suddenly made sense.’

For Toogood – whose softly sculptural multidisciplinary work is typically shaped by intuitive ideas and creative self-expression – the notion of unwrapping the power and beauty (and stereotypes) of a rose felt perfectly at home.

‘There are obvious connections to the English rose,’ she says. ‘But the rose is powerful. It’s love. It’s kind of sexual. It’s passionate. It’s the fairytale, pricking fingers. There is a darkness. The connection with blood, too, although there are no thorns. It could be considered feminine in a refined, delicate way, but the way I paint them is full of energy and power.’

When it came to actually painting, there was a clear process of ‘unlearning’ on both sides. Drips, splashes and spontaneity are not words commonly featured in the vocabulary of master painter Masami Okada, who has worked at Noritake for more than 35 years.

‘It normally takes about five years to learn how to draw a gold line – and ten years to paint images. We only had three days with Faye,’ he says. ‘I was very worried at first about how to teach her. But then I saw her draw from her imagination – it was so spontaneous. I’m a craftsman – I’m very careful and precise, typically drawing to make a product to sell. But Faye has a boldness. I learnt that this is the difference, this is art.’

‘The golden rules were the ones I broke, such as not using too much oil and solvent with the pigment paint, otherwise it goes everywhere,’ says Toogood. ‘This is the antithesis of what they do – it’s got smudges, running drips, mixes of glazes. Like a badly behaved child, the things he taught me I was able to reverse in order to find my own language. But the outcome has benefited so much from his precision, sense of process and deliberation over the details.’

Drying nearby is the reimagined form of a square-based water pitcher, its surface a deep tangle of coiled greens (‘This one is waiting for the roses,’ says Toogood) and a large round platter, at its heart a single rose, swirling in cosmic chaos and abstraction (‘expressive, experimental, emotional’, she adds).

For Noritake, this is just the beginning. Further projects with contemporary designers are underway, including a tableware collection by Toogood, with new shapes and decorations rooted in heritage. As Toogood says, ‘Noritake hasn’t lost its connection
with history, unlike many British ceramic companies that seem very trends-based. There is a classicism and longevity here. You feel like you’re contributing to an archive.’  

The Noritake Design Collection is on show from 7-13 April during Milan Design Week at Alcova, Villa Borsani, noritakechina.com, t-o-o-g-o-o-d.com, alcova.xyz

This article appears in the May 2025 issue of Wallpaper* is available in print on newsstands from 3 April 2025, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Twice a year, Maison et Objet, design’s answer to Paris Fashion Week, sees the city flooded with industry insiders clamouring to unearth the latest trends in the world of interiors.

This year's first edition ran from 16th to 20th January, and Wallpaper* made its way to the Parc des Expositions near Charles de Gaulle airport to explore seven halls full of 1,800 brands exhibiting their latest collections, offering a vitrine into home and lifestyle trends. Although Maison et Objet has lost several key exhibitors over the last few years, it nonetheless attracts established brands and serves as a platform for young studios.

This edition was curated around the theme of Sur/Reality, drawing on the centennial of Surrealism last year. The programme explored how today’s designers glean ideas from the movement to create contemporary products.

Here are our correspondent's top takeaways from Maison et Objet.

Designer of the Year: Faye Toogood

British designer Faye Toogood has titled her presentation Womanifesto!, asserting her unconventional and category-defying ascent in the creative arena. Furniture, fashion, rugs, sculptures and objects intermingle in day-and-night areas recalling sunsets and rugged landscapes. Count in the iconic Roly Poly chair (2014) and Gummy collection (2024) in round, plumps forms among other pieces.

What’s New? In Hospitality by Uchronia

The Uchronia collective, founded by Julien Sebban and known for signing Sonia Rykiel boutiques as well several restaurants, proposes Hotel Uchronia – a vision of maximalist exuberance encompassing contrasting motifs, floral flourishes and Surrealist touches in collaboration with dozens of brands. This is epitomised in the bedroom, Uchronia’s chandelier with glass-blown flowers illuminating the circular bed surrounded by an abundance of velvet cushions.

What’s New? In Decor by Elizabeth Leriche

Trend forecaster Elizabeth Leriche invariably sets the tone for the fair’s overarching inspirations in her spaces. The Sur/Reality theme channels reflections on Surrealism through a maze, curiosity cabinet, chamber of dreams and fantastical forest. Greeting visitors at the entrance is Vetrofuso’s Eyes mirror – one of many pieces tapping into ideas about the unconscious.

Rising Talents Awards

South Korean design is spotlighted through the delicate and expressive craftsmanship of seven studios. On view are Dahye Jeong’s meticulously woven horsehair vessels that revisit a technique practiced on Jeju island; Minjae Kim’s anthropomorphic, carved wooden chairs, including a crying face backrest and raised fist armrest; and Sisan Lee’s interplay of stone and aluminum slabs supporting a triangular table alongside aluminum stools reminiscent of tree branches.

Serax

The Belgian brand has collaborated with Kris Van Assche, former creative director at Dior Homme and Berluti, on his first foray into interior objects. The Josephine Collection is inspired by his grandmother’s bowls and vases, and reinterprets those shapes by inserting squares into the crisp designs. Among other product launches are cute owl-shaped vases by Marni and black and white mussel-shaped objects by Wouters & Hendrix.

Tanama

During the Covid-19 pandemic, then office-designer Emeline Bosset noticed clients suffering with back ache whilst home-working under lockdown. She came up with an ergonomic, mural solution whose rounded shape opens into a sitting-and-standing desk, complete with an integrated space for a plant. At the end of the day, the desk – conceived in Troyes and entirely made in France – can be closed up, vanishing into a wall sculpture.

Sfera by Victoria Wilmotte for pulpo

Victoria Wilmotte bridges unique and industrial design with her new lighting collection, Sfera. Besides a limited edition made by hand at VW Factory in Paris, the French designer has teamed up with pulpo on a mass-produced version. Characterised by triangular steel frames punctuated by luminous glass globes, the geometric pieces come in “smoky grey, chrome, fango green and orange glaze”.

Hello Again for Seletti

The Hello Again collective drew inspiration from the radical postmodern design of the 1960s and 1970s for its Superfurniture collection for Seletti. That rule-breaking quest for freedom is expressed in a diversity of pieces, from bistro tables to beds, embracing bold eye-catching colours and playful, geometric compositions. Hello Again’s idea was about creating something that would be iconic, ironic and accessible.

Bluecycle

After being a winner of M&O’s Future on Stage launchpad for young companies in 2024, BlueCycle (founded in Greece by Suzanna Laskaridis) returns with its own booth. The display features a collection of robotic 3D-printed wavy furniture, Second Nature, and objects produced in BlueCycle’s laboratory in Piraeus, all made with recycled marine plastic waste from Greece's shipping and fishing industries.

Superlife

ECAL graduates Cyrille Verdon and Edrris Gaaloul took over Gaaloul’s father’s ironmaking forge to set up their studio in 2014. Designed and made in Switzerland, it puts functionality front and centre. The first-time exhibitors are presenting three families of objects: Mooma – a floor lamp made of luminous tubes inside a vertical vitrine; Romana – lighting based on Roman columns and Memphis, and Cady – a steel-and-wire-mesh shelf.

Formar

Interior architect and furniture designer Daniel Fintzi joined forces with marble specialist Erich Heilemann to found Formar in 2018 with the aim of repurposing marble offcuts. Based in Hong Kong, Formar sources the offcuts from European quarries, mainly in Carrara, Sicily and Portugal. On display are elegant small-scale furniture pieces by Fintzi, Adolfo Abejon and Ming Design Studio.

August Sandgren

Former McKinsey consultant Pia Kirkeskov Andersen acquired August Sandgren in 2019 to revive its legacy of impeccable handcrafted storage solutions. A bookbinder and box-maker, Sandgren (1893-1934) was a supplier to the Danish court. The reimagined brand builds on that heritage to “de-clutter” modern life through pieces such as jewellery boxes and notebooks, the latest offering being the Weekend Bag – a tote bag in the supplest leather.

Presque

With a background in making bespoke 3D-printed trophies, Antoine Crisias founded lighting brand Presque in Nantes last year after conceiving objects for his own interior. Made from PLA, a bio-sourced material made from corn starch, the transparent table lamps have a ribbed texture, denoting how they are developed layer by layer, eschewing any waste.

Studio Fragrances

Nathalie Rias left the world of contemporary art and performing arts to found Studio Fragrances last year. For the first collection, Sisyphe, she collaborated with French craftsmen to create a wavy-bordered table made from responsibly sourced oak with tapered green marble legs as well as chairs.

Conferences

The line-up of conferences delves into a wide range of subjects from how to counterbalance the impact of Artificial Intelligence on retail and hospitality to the use of sound for tailor-made experiences. Also debated is a century of decorative arts in France, the search for rare materials in luxury, the importance of personal stories, and merging tradition and innovation in furniture.

It can feel a little trite attempting to parse trends in design. Design is a slower industry than fashion, and developments tend to be more gradual, with incremental change from year-to-year. This is why we talk about decades having a readable personality as movements, rather than seasons. That said, design responds to the present and heralds the future, and it is always an interesting lens through which to view the forces and values that shape our lives and lifestyles at any given moment in time. In place of trends, it feels more appropriate to call these shifts.

Watch: global design director Hugo Macdonald and head of interiors Olly Mason on design worth celebrating

The shifts we’ve noticed in the past year stem from a combination of factors that are symbiotically connected. The world is a pretty scary place at the moment, and the sanctuary or sanctity of home is keenly felt. Comfort is hardly a trend, but we note the abundance of generously upholstered furniture entering the market. Examples that caught our eye include Hannes Peer’s ‘Pillow’ chair for Baxter, an outrageously cosy piece of furniture, as its name suggests. Faye Toogood’s ‘Squash’ collection for Poltrona Frau is playful, comfortable and utterly delightful.

Cassina returned Carlo Scarpa’s 1973 ‘Cornaro’ armchair to production – a beautifully bouncy padded room within a frame. We welcome this great ensoftening of seating; our busy minds and tired bodies deserve some plush pliability in place of the sharper forms and harder edges that we inherited from modernism and its offspring.

For all of their louche appeal, there is a resounding elegance to these pieces, and this handsome mood was prevalent in more structured furniture, too. Michael Anastassiades’ richly lacquered ‘123’ chair for Molteni & C has an almost liquid quality to it. The exquisite stone surface of Jean-Marie Massaud’s ‘Adrien’ table for Poliform is a strikingly smart, grown-up anchor for any space. Meanwhile, Giampiero Tagliaferri’s ‘Ethan’ coffee table for Minotti has an organically shaped surface that appears to float on its chrome-plated base. Jialun Xiong’s ‘Kaleidoscope’ side table, in tempered glass and aluminium, has an Eileen Gray-level of industrial sophistication.

To call these works ‘timeless’ would be lazy, but they definitely have a contemporary heirloom quality that rises above fashion or trend. They achieve that rare balance of quiet charm and archetypal confidence with vivid material expression. Clever, beautiful and eminently easy to live with for a lifetime or two.

Intriguing material developments and applications were in plentiful supply this year, as the quest continues with ever-more commitment from the design industry to find better, smarter, healthier solutions to replace our wanton ways.

The ‘Gathering’ lamp, by Faber Futures, is a beguilingly brutalist object made from biomanufactured materials. Sheyang Li’s spectacular ‘Aluminium Cast Connection’ chair is made from an industrial construction component, with joints forged by melting and forming the same material.

One of the more stellar discoveries of the year for us was Raphael Kadid’s ‘Philae AL’ modular bookshelf. In collaboration with surface technology firm BWB, each aluminium panel was hand-anodised to form a surface treatment that resembles abstract landscapes. Kadid was inspired by aerial photographs of bauxite mining sites. Bauxite is the world’s primary source of aluminium and the humble bookshelf thus becomes an ode to its mineral origins. Ingenious, poetic, ethereal, otherworldly.

A current seam in design that we are particularly enjoying is the celebration of analogue qualities, surely in response to the overcomplication of our increasingly digitised lives. There’s an empowering quality to living with furniture when you can read how it has been constructed and – deep breath – perhaps even assemble, fix or repair it yourself. If Ikea immediately springs to mind, think again – this low-fi movement is increasingly high spec. Anastassiades’ ‘Card’ bookcase for Molteni & C is effortlessly assemblable, while Formafantasma’s mesmerising ‘Superwire’ collection for Flos is a genius component system of glass tubes, each containing an LED light source, which can simply be clipped in and out to allow easy repair.

We could play all day with Jamie Wolfond’s aluminium ‘Set’ table lamp for Muuto; the shade reflects the light source and can be rotated up and down like a hefty corkscrew to manage your desired light intensity.

We were similarly tickled by the easy joy of Anna Karlin’s ‘Post’ floor lamp, which comprises just an illuminated tube strapped to a steel base. Complexity can be overrated.

Objects of a ritualistic function abound at the moment, which we understand as a consequence of paying closer attention to the quotidian domestic acts, turning mundane activities into moments of more ceremonial enjoyment.

We have chosen to highlight Barber Osgerby’s magnificent ‘Pilotis’ candlesticks for Puiforcat and Soft-Geometry’s steel vase, inspired by the fluid curves of the Malayalam alphabet. Both have a soothing serenity and, though we cringe to discuss mindfulness in the realm of lighting candles, there’s no denying they bring a meditative presence to any tabletop.

If it’s all getting a little earnest, take note of Tom Fereday’s sand-cast aluminium speaker for Pitt & Giblin, a veritable beast that puts the woof in subwoofer. Devin Wilde’s sculptural ceramics have a similarly powerful presence with their ancient cosmic forms and tactile glazes.

We round out our hoard of awards with Giles Tettey Nartey’s ‘Serwaa’ chair, a reinterpretation of the West African Lobi stool, here made from welded aluminium.

The surfacing of stories, ideas and voices that have gone unheard by our Western-centric design industry is an ongoing endeavour. With ‘Serwaa’, Nartey has reimagined the Lobi stool as an industrial creation, taking it out of its vernacular craft context and inserting it into the canon of idolised 20th-century furniture. An extraordinary sculptural object in its own right, it encapsulates the special power of design to bridge time and place, inviting us to ask questions about where we have come from and where we want to go.

A version of this article appears in the February 2025 issue of Wallpaper* , available in print on international newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.

Browse our Design and Interiors Award Winners for 2025

As always, the Wallpaper* team has been busy tracking the pulse on the design radar throughout the past year – through product and space launches, collaborations, exhibitions and fairs around the world. We’ve had the pleasure of speaking with designers and curators, from the esteemed to the emerging, giving their insight into the current design landscape. Here are just six of our favourite design quotes – and a chance to revisit the interviews they came from – to inspire us into 2025.

Six design quotes to take you into the new year

Faye Toogood

During Salone del Mobile 2024, Poltrona Frau unveiled 'Squash', a collaboration with Faye Toogood, as part of the Italian furniture company's 'Imagine' collection. Expression is a distinctive trait of Toogood’s. Her work is sculptural with soft edges, inspired by three-dimensional artworks and informed by nature, with a nod to ancient artefacts and folk. In this case, an exploration of the Poltrona Frau archives, paired with Toogood’s own universe, resulted in what she describes as ‘English Folk with Italian Horsepower’. She spoke with Wallpaper* about working with the Poltrona Frau and injecting a playful sense of naivety and folksy elements into the collection.

READ ‘English Folk with Italian Horsepower’: Faye Toogood and Poltrona Frau unveil their collaboration

Michael Bennett

NFL player-turned-designer Michael Bennett, the founder of Studio Kër, spoke with us in 2024 about the studio's debut furniture exhibition, ‘We Gotta Get Back to the Crib’, presented in Chicago by LA gallery Marta and Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation. Bennett had worked on the collection with industrial designer Imhotep Blot, who died before the project was presented. The pair drew from their shared upbringings in the coastal American south, and their African and Haitian roots, to create a collection of sculptural furniture with poignant references to Black history and African diasporic design.

Together they questioned the euro-centric nature of design, and dived deep into what African design is and what the future of design is for Black people. ‘The main thing that we always talked about,’ said Bennett of his partnership with Blot, ‘was how do we create something that outlives our physical beings and becomes a part of the universe.’

READ: Discover Super Bowl star-turned-designer Michael Bennett’s furniture

Luca Guadagnino and Nicolò Rosmarini

In September 2024 the 3rd edition of Homo Faber took over the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on San Maggiore. Across 11 spaces, visitors were introduced to ‘The Journey of Life’, where more than 800 crafted objects by around 400 individuals or studios from 75 countries were displayed. Beyond curation, creative direction was always going to be a vital part of bringing the experience to life in a coherent and compelling way. Hats off to the Michelangelo Foundation for selecting film director Luca Guadagnino and architect Nicolò Rosmarini to oversee proceedings. Wallpaper* sat down with the two men to hear more.

READ: ‘You should not take yourself too seriously or you risk becoming boring’: Luca Guadagnino and Nicolò Rosmarini on Homo Faber 2024

Omer Arbel

After almost two decades’ developing dazzling sculptural lighting and buildings, Omer Arbel discussed the ‘constructed discomfort’ that allows his studio to innovate. When he started his design company Bocci almost 20 years ago, his experimental approach to manipulating glass and other materials into novel forms, and then turning these into commercial products like lighting, catapulted the Canadian architect and designer to fast success. Ever since, Arbel and his team have never stopped experimenting, constantly finding new processes and materials, and applications for them at scales from table lamps to private residences – each a numbered entity in a growing archive.

Ahead of Bocci’s anniversary milestone, Wallpaper* spoke to Arbel about how his practice has – or hasn’t – changed during this time; being a ‘matchmaker’ between the company and external opportunities; and a surprising use for the doomed cedar trees in the Pacific Northwest.

READ: Omer Arbel reflects on 20 years of ‘making materials uncomfortable’ to generate novel forms

Miranda Keyes

For Wallpaper’s 2025 Next Generation issue, we scoured the globe to compile a hotlist of emerging designers to know now, spotlighting ten newcomers who are shaping the present and forging the future. The designers – from Adelaide, Tokyo, London, Lagos, Guatemala City, Mexico City, Loch Lomond, New York and Paris – are all stars ascending and their various viewpoints were refreshing, intriguing and inspiring. Among them, London-based Miranda Keyes, who specialises in glass, shared an infectious enthusiasm for her craft. ‘I feel lucky I’m able to make a living out of what I do. There are no pinnacles; the highlight is the thing itself. It’s a miracle being able to live off what you love.’

READ: ‘I began experimenting and haven’t really stopped,’ Miranda Keyes on working with glass

And meet all ten 2025 stars ascending

Ini Archibong

Designer Ini Archibong was invited by music legends Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg to design the packaging for their canned Gin & Juice drink, unveiled in August 2024. Archibong – with a back catalogue including furniture, lighting, and glass, as well as architectural spaces such as the Pavilion of the African Diaspora at London Design Biennale in 2021 – duly leapt into the world of 2D design. Archibong spoke with us about working with the musicians – ‘With Dre there’s a lot of technical intuitiveness, whereas Snoop is the spirit and energy of the brand. Snoop is Snoop’ – and his greatest takeaway from the project.

READ: Ini Archibong explores 2D design with Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg for new canned gin drink

Poltrona Frau unveils a new collaboration with British designer Faye Toogood; comprising furniture as well as interior accessories, the collection marks Toogood’s debut in leather and upholstered forms. The collaboration is part of Poltrona Frau’s Imagine collection, presented during Salone del Mobile 2024 at the company’s Milan showroom. 

‘We've dedicated this collection to the concept of imagination, a notion close to our hearts,’ says Poltrona Frau CEO, Nicola Coropulis. ‘Imagination serves as the driving force in our domain, breathing life into the nonexistent, transcending mere logic, and fostering the birth of fresh ideas and perspectives.’ Toogood’s work for Poltrona Frau exemplifies this ethos, ‘by seamlessly transforming objects into sculptural artefacts.’

Poltrona Frau and Faye Toogood: the ‘Squash’ collection

Toogood’s first visit to Poltrona Frau left a lasting impression on the designer, for the company’s rigorous approach to craftsmanship, but also for their incredible history. ‘Visiting the showroom shows you a kind of quality and craftsmanship that are out of this world,’ she says. ‘And then they have this beautiful museum [in Tolentino], where they keep an archive of the heritage pieces. I was just blown away by some of the 1970s designs, which were just really courageous in their form, their approach, their attitude.’ And so she set herself the challenge to bring that attitude back, ‘but also to add the female softness that I felt lacked from their collections. A lot of them felt quite angular, masculine in a traditional sense; fewer curves, less expression.’

Expression is a distinctive trait of Toogood’s. Her work is sculptural with soft edges, inspired by three-dimensional artworks and informed by nature, with a nod to ancient artefacts and folk. And the exploration of the archives, paired with Toogood’s own universe, resulted in what she describes as ‘English Folk with Italian Horsepower.’ She explains: ‘visiting the [Poltrona Frau] manufacturing facilities felt like walking into an Italian sports car factory.’ It’s a parallel that is not too far off, given that Poltrona Frau also works on the interiors of Ferrari sports cars. ‘And here I am, this English girl, who designed a lot of wooden chairs and has this slightly more folksy attitude.’ Improbably, it was precisely in folk art that she found some similarities between her and Poltrona Frau’s worlds, with many English folk pieces being made of leather, a narrative that helped her bridge the gap between their heritages.

The collection features mirrors (in sizes ranging from freestanding to pocket), which were informed by old English folk leather mirrors, and a rug referencing an early folk game. ‘I wanted to bring this naivete and human folksy element to the collection,’ she explains. The hero piece of this collaboration so far is undoubtedly the Squash chair. ‘To me, this piece encapsulates everything that characterises Toogood's refined and visionary art; an exuberant creation that transcends time, seemingly belonging to a future era that defies definition,’ says Coropulis. ‘It effortlessly evokes feelings of comfort, innovation, and forward-thinking creativity, all ensconced in a cocoon of leather, epitomising the essence of a Poltrona Frau armchair.’

The chair is defined by voluptuous, ballooning forms erupting from a rigid yet curved structure. Toogood’s first upholstered piece, it offered an opportunity for her to tinker with Poltrona Frau’s pristine leather manufacturing (what the company calls ‘Leathership’, drawing from a tradition dating back to the company’s founding in 1912). ‘They allowed me to be expressive, and to let myself loose in the factory,’ she says. ‘I wanted to create something that was really comfortable, really soft, retained all the sculptural nature of my own work, but had that immediate softness about it, which is one of the reasons why I called it “Squash”, I wanted to achieve that really squashy feel, which I saw a lot in early 70s Poltrona Frau designs.’

Among the collection’s colours (which include brown and blue) is a bold red hue, a shade that feels unusual across Toogood’s usually more composed palettes (and achieved through Poltrona Frau’s 21-step tanning process that dyes the leather through, maintaining the colour even if scratched). ‘Somehow, the attitude of the red combined with the shape just felt right. Maybe I just wanted to disturb the politeness of it all.’

Her presence at the Poltrona Frau’s manufacturing facilities must have certainly felt disruptive, as she tried to push her sculptural approach to the extreme for a result that is expressive, rather than rigorous. ‘With the first prototype, they wanted to reduce, clean up the design, if the leather was wrinkling a bit they wanted to fix that,’ she recalls. ‘But I insisted that I didn’t want the leather to be stretched and perfect, I want to give the feeling that you can sink into it, to look like it’s already been sat on, like it's already had a life. To me this is the beauty of this material.’

Having started her career as magazine editor and stylist, Toogood founded her studio in 2008, over time experimenting with a variety of creative disciplines, from furniture and interior design to fashion, also launching a fashion label and a furniture and accessories collection under her name. ‘Faye stands out as one of the most captivating figures in contemporary creativity, distinguished by her unparalleled and curious multidisciplinary approach to the art of design,’ says Coropulis. ‘And it was precisely this expansive perspective, also expressed in her works within fashion, that resonated with our vision at Poltrona Frau.’

Toogood feels that this collection might offer a turning point for her practice. ‘I'm at a very interesting moment in my career where I'm neither emerging nor fully [part of the] establishment, I would say I am in a sort of limbo,’ she observes. ‘And once you have a heavyweight Italian manufacturing company come to you, as a designer who essentially didn't train and design, who is female, who works in fashion and art, that does feel like I potentially pushed down a barrier. The world doesn't necessarily need any more chairs, but if I'm going to do something, then I hope that it will help push down barriers for myself, but also for others that are coming up behind me.’

Faye Toogood’s collaboration with Poltrona Frau, part of the company’s Imagine collection, will be presented during Salone del Mobile 2024, 16-21 April

Poltrona Frau
Via Alessandro Manzoni, 30
Milan

fayetoogood.com
poltronafrau.com

Toogood have created new interiors for Hato Studio, the offices of the London based creative consultancy and lifestyle store. A place 'for the crafted and the uncommon', Hato Store was established in 2020 by by Kenjiro and Emete Kirton, and is part of an ecosystem that includes a creative studio, store, and independent publishing house. 

Hato Studio by Toogood

'Having come out of [the pandemic], when everyone was discussing working from home as the future of the workplace, we felt a strong urge to create a communal space for our team that felt like home from home and helped us creatively,' say the founders. 'The space has worked to create a collaborative place for all team members, designers, programmers, and store members. As a collective, having a shared space full of reference books, projects, things we collect and love and our publications all around us is conducive to a more holistic outcome.'

The interior redesign of the workspace was entrusted to Faye Toogood's studio, with whom Hato began collaborating in 2017, and whose fashion brand is stocked at Hato Store. Toogood used the location (a space that is part of the Golden Lane Estate) as inspiration for the office's colour and material palette, while also considering the team's values of play, production, and community to create the interiors. Raw timber, stainless steel, fibreglass and canvas are the main materials used throughout the space for the bespoke furniture, which include a bar and display made with poured road paint, topped with stainless steel. 

'We think the outcome is a welcoming and relaxed space that contains highly considered details that we are proud of,' say the studio founders. The entrance serves as a public space dedicated to events, exhibitions and book launches. Here, bespoke pine shelving and furniture by Toogood (including a Roly Poly Chair) welcome visitors into the Hato universe. 

Meanwhile, the back is dedicated to team work and some of the studio's endeavours such as the printing press. The space develops around a large, organic desk featuring powder coated red legs, matched with vintage Eames EA117 Mesh Office Chairs. 

hato.co

At Chatsworth House, contemporary design and craft have always been placed in conversation with historical artefacts and interiors. The Peak District National Park mansion boasts a collection of pieces by global contemporary creatives, commissioned by the Cavendish family and strategically combined into the 16th-century interiors. 

Among the latest works created in response to the space is a collection by Faye Toogood that forms part of ‘Assemblages’, her ongoing exploration of domestic shapes that can be both abstract and functional. Placed in the house’s Chapel, the Purbeck Marble objects are reminiscent of Neolithic forms, featuring a mix of rough and polished edges. 

Dubbed ‘Standing Stones' (and joined in a second room by a series of similarly sculptural furniture pieces in bog oak), the designs were presented as sacred objects and complemented by the designer's bronze seating, inviting visitors to pause for a moment of contemplation, they reference a local history of stone circles in the area.

‘I wanted to retain the quiet, more spiritual feeling within the chapel,’ said Toogood. ‘For me it is a place to spend time and reflect.’ The starting point for the installation was Chatsworth house itself, but the British designer explored local history through her work. ‘Not far from Chatsworth you’ll find Stanton Moor and a 4,000-year-old stone circle known as the Nine Ladies,’ she explains. 

‘There’s a story that they were originally ladies who were turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath, along with the lone fiddler who provided the music. I love how [my installation] connected with the local history and the landscape that predates the estate by thousands of years.’

fayetoogood.com
chatsworth.org

A version of this article appears in the February 2024 issue of Wallpaper* – dedicated to the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2024 – available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Discover the Wallpaper* guide to Salone del Mobile 2023 and Milan Design Week

‘Joyful confidence’ and ‘legendary optimism’: these are the values that drive Maison Matisse, the design studio established by Henri Matisse’s great-grandson to celebrate the late artist’s ‘joie de vivre’. To build on that legacy, Maison Matisse has enlisted Faye Toogood to create a special collaboration for Milan Design Week 2023.

Faye Toogood Maison Matisse: a black and white painterly collaboration

While previous designers enlisted by Maison Matisse – Jaime Hayon, Formafantasma, and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec included – have focused on the riot of colour that characterised the French artist’s best-known works, Toogood has instead honed in on his form. More specifically, she has looked at his lesser-known black and white drawings, 1943’s Dessins: Thèmes et Variations most of all.

Using black Chinese ink on white paper, the drawings served as a study of the fluidity and momentum of Matisse’s gestures and the liberty of his lines. Toogood adopted the practice, filling sheets of concertina paper with her own ink experiments and improvisations to ‘create my own library of shapes,’ she explains.

Those shapes and freehand drawings were then taken off the page to create the ‘Esquisses’ collection: incorporating them as flat patterns on soft wool blankets and hand-knotted rugs, and into three-dimensional furniture, too. ‘I’m always fascinated by the play between two-dimensional and three-dimensional creation,’ says Toogood. 

The hand-upholstered bouclé armchair best evokes the equilibrium and elegance of still-life: the curved sides arching like Matisse’s balanced lines, while also creating voids that echo the negative space that give his life drawings space and scale. The wood and metal employed for the coffee table and stool are tempered and mattified respectively to instil in them a sense of easy comfort, just as the undyed yarn from Cc-tapis (a Maison Matisse collaborator since 2020) lends the thick, hand-tufted rugs. 

‘Far from stand-alone items, these are pieces that harness artisanal craftsmanship to gather value, history and design to bring joy to both present and future generations to come,’ comments Jean-Matthieu Matisse.

Though this collaboration marks a first formal collaboration between Toogood and Maison Matisse, the work of the artist has long been a source of inspiration for the London-based designer. In 2017, Toogood dedicated her ‘Assemblage 5’ collection to Matisse’s Chapelle du Rosaire in Vence, for which he famously created every last detail – from the stained glass and tiles, to the priest’s vestments. ‘The totality of the chapel informed a real spiritual connection in me, and I continue to have a long-term connection to Matisse’s legacy,’ explains the designer. It’s an enduring association which has now created heirloom-worthy objects, it would seem.

The ‘Esquisses’ collection by Faye Toogood for Maison Matisse is on show during Milan Design Week, from 17 – 22 April 2023

Maison Matisse showroom
Studio Nerino
Via Santa Marta, 21
5 Vie, 20123, Milan

maison-matisse.com
fayetoogood.com

Early in my career, I worked as a stylist at The World of Interiors, spending most of my days surrounded by artful chaos (mess), creating artful things out of paper and sticky tape; faxing analogue requests to foreign countries (we only had one computer); styling 17th-century teapots on photo shoots; and taking bits of floral fabrics to faded palaces in India.

One day, Tyler Brûlé summoned me to visit Wallpaper* HQ. I was transported into a world more modern and forward-thinking than I’d ever experienced: a wall of front covers presenting beautiful half-naked people sitting on low modernist chairs; line upon line of up-to-the-minute iMacs; beautiful people dressed in black; and sleek furniture made from blonde wood. I asked a gentleman (Scandinavian, of course), ‘Why is it so immaculate here?’ He explained that when Tyler came in each day, always the first to arrive, he’d go round the desks and throw away anything he thought to be neither beautiful nor useful. That has stuck with me; I have to admit I am guilty of doing a similar thing in my studio to this day.

Wallpaper* has always felt otherworldly to me. Before social media, Wallpaper* was the place to expose me and others to Asian cuisine, Scandinavian design, avant-garde fashion and global interiors. I have been lucky enough to work for it and be featured in it and, I have to say, design and interiors would not be what they are without it. Thank you, Wallpaper*, for actively reshaping the way we eat, dress and live today.

INFORMATION

A version of this article appears in the October 2021, 25th Anniversary Issue of Wallpaper* (W*270), on newsstands now and available to subscribers – 12 digital issues for $12/£12/€12.

A stylish pair of summer sandals will send your new season wardrobe soaring. We advocate investing in pared-back styles with minimalist might that will never lose their timeless appeal. Step into these styles now.

Summer sandals: Ancient Greek Sandals

Slip into Ancient Greek Sandals' pared-back Lyra sandals, which are sleek in their simplicity. If you're simply sunbathing in your back garden, they'll have you thinking of the sublime shores of the Aegean Sea.

ATP Atelier

The sunset tones of the Scandinavian label's Allai sandals will have you soaking up the holiday spirit even if you're at home. These styles were handmade in Italy, using vegetable-tanned leather.

Hereu

There's seaside-imbued chic behind Hereu's Pesca sandal, which nods to the uniform of fisherman. If you coveted craftsmanship too, the Spanish label's designs are handcrafted by skilled artisans, using local materials.

Jil Sander

Cocooning and cushioning textures bought a sense of comfort to S/S 2021 silhouettes. These delectably soft thong style sandals by Jil Sander have protective padded straps and a raised sole for added elegance.

Loewe

Fan of Loewe's signature Flamenco bag, which first launched in the Seventies? This chic sandal style nod to the accessory's drawstring pull, which curves sensually around the upper of the foot.

The Attico

Think of these chunky soled styles as an update on the gladiator sandal. These summer sandals tie elegantly around the ankle, well suited to the beaches of Ibiza, where The Attico founders love to holiday, or simply your local streets.

Neous

Architecturally-inclined accessories label Neous delivers on these elementally designed summer sandals. A trio of upper straps secure the foot in a pared-back sophistication, styles well suited to both the beach and a evening soirée.

The Row

Look no further for a lesson in modern minimalism. The Row's effortlessly elegant summer sandals nod to the classic thong style, which returns with more strength each season. Here imagined in a sophisticated two-tone colourway.

Birkenstock x Faye Toogood

One of three collaborative styles between Birkenstock and London designer Faye Toogood, ‘The Forager' subtly alludes to found objects and beachcombed artefacts, with sculptural strap details. 

Faye Toogood’s new homeware range began with the British designer experimenting with clay in her studio. Inspired by her collection of found rocks, pebbles and bones, she hand-sculpted a mug and a jug, whose forms also referenced her distinctive curved furniture designs.

Toogood Homeware is the studio’s first dedicated series of homeware designs and includes two capsule collections: Dough, featuring minimalist tableware such as mugs, plates, jugs, bowls, and a vase; and Plough, a textile range comprising two geometric decorative throws. The Dough collection recreates the forms of a Toogood chair in compact size. The softly silhouetted objects are defined by swollen forms and thick, doughnut-like details, as well as chunky handles that make the designs beautifully tactile. 

Each piece was hand-shaped in the studio and subsequently cast in earthenware, bringing the sculptural sensibility of the designer’s furniture collections into a more intimate domestic dimension. The tableware is available in two shades, cream and charcoal with a matte finish, while the more decorative objects (a centrepiece and a vase) feature a reactive glaze treatment that combines silky matte and shiny gloss textures on the surface.   

View textiles here

Toogood’s work has traditionally bridged the gap between craft and design, and extends into fashion too. Her furniture portfolio, including her standout ‘Roly Poly’ chair for Driade, is defined by calming tones and soft shapes. Alongside her work for her own brand, she also collaborates with international furniture and design companies such as Hem, Calico Wallpaper, CC-Tapis and more. The homeware launch adds a new element to the Toogood universe. 

‘This debut homeware collection has been over two years ago in the making,’ says Toogood. ‘The inspiration first came while I was exploring common items from the kitchen, such as the soft volumes of rising dough and hand-shaped leavened pastries. Being able to translate those experiences and forms into functional yet sculptural pieces has been thrilling, and represents an important moment for the studio, as we begin to bring our design pieces to new audiences, with no compromise on quality. We’re so excited to share them with the world.’

INFORMATION

t-o-o-g-o-o-d.com

‘I didn’t sit down and make a rug collection,’ announces London-based designer Faye Toogood, somewhat ironically considering the occasion. Despite the declaration, she’s in Italy to launch her latest collaboration with Milanese rug-maker cc-tapis. Entitled ‘Doodles’, the exuberant collection is based on a series of Toogood’s textile collages: watercolour-drenched assemblages of canvas, fabric scraps and string, which now hang pride-of-place in the brand’s showroom alongside their full-size simulacrums.

‘Over the last year and a half, I've been doing nothing but creating models, maquettes, drawings and paintings to generate new work,’ she clarifies, explaining that the collection is the wider result of the designer’s new line of artistic inquiry, ‘at the moment I'm quite obsessed with it, trying to find my new language in terms of geometry, colours and materials.’

Indeed, the colourful collages represent a departure from the earthy neutral tones Toogood has become known for, but process-wise they reveal glimpses into her newly percolating creative path. ‘I’ve just had loads of children and I wanted to capture some of that naivety,’ she jokes, referring to her six-year-old daughter and twin girls that were born in 2017, ‘to rid myself of references, which is almost impossible.’

‘Doodles’ is Toogood ‘trying to reach a state where it's as pure as you can make it in terms of creative language… to reach that stage where whatever's inside is coming out without a filter.’ Like the absented-minded marks we make while waiting on hold, ‘the doodle is almost like a distraction,’ she continues, ‘it’s taking yourself away from where you are in the present.’

As an added twist, Toogood named the rugs in the style of Impressionist paintings — ‘Interior With Table’, ‘Reclining Figure’, ‘Seated Nude’ — a nod to her days studying the history of art. ‘They’re doodles, so the title makes them sound more grandiose than they are,’ she points out.

The final products are curiously intimate gestures of colour and form. Vast fields of pale shades piled atop one another, slashed with squiggly dark lines and subtle stitching. Predictably, Toogood’s detailed models presented cc-tapis’ team with the complicated challenge of translating their soft gradations of colour and texture into hand-knotted wool. ‘Our intention was not to create photocopies of the original artworks,’ explains creative director Daniele Lora, ‘but rather, we wanted to try capture the materiality and richness of each piece, we wanted to translate Faye’s expression created through the delicate use of colour and shading.’

To achieve the diaphanous watercolour effect, Toogood’s maquettes were shipped from her London studio to cc-tapis’ Nepal atelier, where technicians hand-dyed yarn into a palette of over 70 shades. From pale peach to sun-bleached turquoise, raspberry, rose and what appears as a million variations of beige that ooze into one another like melting ice cream. From there, the team experimented with varying densities of yarn and pile height, which further enhances the rugs’ textural qualities. ‘I wanted to get out of the parameter of a rectangle,’ Toogood notes, recalling her previous, much simpler collaboration with the brand, ‘to get the kind of three-dimensional quality that I knew cc-tapis had started to develop.’

Going forward, Toogood will continue working in miniature, with plans to present an entirely new furniture collection based on the maquette concept in New York next May. Each piece, much like the ‘Doodles’ rugs, will be derived from a smaller model fashioned by hand in her studio, recreating every minuscule feature at an exploded scale. ‘It’s the idea of taking that very first moment of creation and being absolutely dogged in retaining it all the way through,’ she explains of the idea. ‘Every single little detail has to be translated.’

INFORMATION

fayetoogood.com; cc-tapis.com

Design-led estate agency The Modern House has teamed up with British designer Faye Toogood to curate a limited edition of 200 moving-in boxes for design conscious homebuyers.

Founded by Albert Hill and Matt Gibberd, The Modern House (after FRS Yorke’s book of the same name), has been selling contemporary homes throughout Britain since 2005. Its values are based on the central themes of modernism – space, light and materiality – which display the qualities of the homes represented by the agency, but are also embodied in each object chosen for the curated welcome collection.

Marking the company’s first foray into product development, the minimalist box comprises six objects, with each being exclusively designed and produced by UK-based designers. A white plain cotton apron made by Faye & Erica Toogood; Olivia Fiddes’ brown clay cup, and a cream plaster Malgorzata Bany bowl add texture. To keep the home organised, there is a shell cordovan leather key ring by Sebastian Tarek, litho-printed artwork cards created by Valeria Armeni and Tom Watt, while a bespoke London Honey Company candle uplifts surroundings.

Moving into a new home is traditionally celebrated with a bottle of champagne or a bouquet of flowers. The Modern House, however, encourages our fast-paced world to slow down and allows new homeowners to mark the moment in a more meaningful, modern and long-lasting manner. Co-founder Matt Gibberd explains this in more detail. ‘The project reflects our commitment to good design, and to the idea that an estate agency can have a cultural impact beyond the transactional element of selling houses. We want to inspire and educate people about how a well-designed home can have a positive effect on your day-to-day life.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit The Modern House website

British designer Faye Toogood is one of the five design stars launching leather hides with Bill Amberg’s new innovative digital printing method. Her artful design showcases rich patterns in the form of painterly brushstrokes and drawings, all inspired by her sketchpad.

In the above video, watch as Toogood methodcially draws, paints and shades the abstract details in her design. ‘I am always doodling, it helps me think and visualise things,' she says. ‘Random shapes and patterns often emerge on one side of my notebook whereas the other side is meticulously organised for project notes. From these sketches I developed shapes and added pigment test washes to these.’

Toogood explains that the intricacies in her design could only be bought to life by Amberg’s new high-quality printing technique – ‘previously printing on leather would’ve blurred out these finer details and made it look cartoon-ish and flat’. The distinct palette of peat brown, brick red, ochre yellow and flesh pink are close to Toogood as well – ‘I have been working a lot with these colours this year. It’s a very intuitive process for me and often derivative from the material I am working with at that moment.’

Find the leather range at Tom Dixon’s  ELECTROANALOGUE showcase during London Design Festival; 15-23 September; The Coal Office, Arches, Coal Drops Yard, 3-10 Bagley Walk, N1C 4DH

When he came up with a new way of digitally printing leather this January, British designer Bill Amberg realised he was on to something. ‘Printed leather is either niche and expensive or has a nasty finish that looks like paint and is not hard wearing. It struck me that no-one had been approaching its creation from the process point of view.’ Together with a tannery in Europe, Amberg spent three years developing a technique that results in the high quality, long-lasting print that had eluded him, and with 30 years’ experience of making bespoke leather products, interiors and furniture, behind him, he knew where to look.

His new technique is complex. ‘The leather has to accept each colour and allow it to penetrate properly, and dark blue and black are the hardest,’ he explains. Each five sq m hide, taken from European bulls, is then finished with a durable dressing that retains the grain and handle of the leather.

Amberg then chose five design pals to create a debut collection. Tom Dixon has created four patterns, and these, along with pieces from Faye Toogood, Timorous Beasties, Alexandra Champalimaud and Natasha Baradaran, will be launched at Dixon’s showroom during the London Design Festival. Dixon will strip down one of his iconic ‘Wingback’ chairs, convert it into a chaise and upholster it with the new leathers.

Others will display their hides on their own furniture. Toogood’s design, with its abstract and painterly brushstrokes is, says Amberg ‘almost a piece of art that works just as well as a wall hanging as it does on upholstery,’ while Baradaran’s pink and white lace pattern in two colourways could almost be mistaken for a textile.

Amberg plans to launch two collections a year, each time with different designers. With each hide costing around £850, leather interiors are about to get a whole lot sexier.

INFORMATION

The new collection will be on view at London Design Festival 15 – 23 September. For more information, visit the Bill Amberg Studio website

ADDRESS

Tom Dixon
The Coal Office
1 Bagley Walk
London
N1C 4PQ

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

A decade in business might seem a just occasion to look back on past successes and accomplishments, but New York design gallery Friedman Benda is gazing ahead. Instead of staging a retrospective to celebrate its tenth anniversary, the gallery has assembled 20 artists and designers from its past, present and future to articulate the guiding principles that continue to set it apart. Entitled ‘DNA10’, the commemorative show features multiple iconic sculptural pieces and a range of sketches, drawings, videos, mood boards and models that explore each artist’s practice, highlighting their place in the canon of sculptural design.

‘Ten years is not an eternity compared with a lot of galleries, but we joke that we want to do it while we’re still young and good-looking,’ says the gallery’s Zurich-born founder Marc Benda. ‘I wanted to do this in celebration of everyone who’s contributed and who, with the exception of Ettore Sottsass and Shiro Kuramata, is still very much alive and kicking.’

Established in 2007 by Benda and the veteran art dealer Barry Friedman (now retired), together with founding partner Jennifer Olshin, the Chelsea-based gallery has dedicated itself from the get-go to giving artists and designers a platform. Friedman Benda’s roster features influential talents such as Kuramata, Sottsass, Ron Arad, the Campana brothers and Wendell Castle.

In 2015, the gallery separated its visual art enterprises into a new entity, Albertz Benda (co-founded with the art dealer Thorsten Albertz). This allowed Friedman Benda to focus solely on design-art. The gallery also put a new emphasis on emerging designers, aided in part by the opening of an experimental project space. Adam Silverman and Misha Kahn are among the artists who have had the chance to transform that space.

See selfies taken for Wallpaper* by some of the designers whose work appears in the ‘DNA10’ show

Finding a way to showcase such a diverse design roster was a struggle. ‘We look more forward than back in this show,’ Benda says. ‘It’s an extremely complex undertaking because I’m trying to put together for the public all the reasons that make each designer so strong, and what fascinated us about them in the first place – whether it’s process, trains of thought [or] an approach to creation and realisation. Each designer is looked at in their own individual way. The show doesn’t try to press everyone into a pre-made square.’

‘These people are all part of the DNA from the last ten years,’ Olshin adds. ‘It’s not necessarily about the gallery exactly where it is now – it’s almost a culmination.’

‘It’s also to show the diversity of the programme that we’ve reached,’ Benda says. ‘Five continents, four to five generations, approaches ranging from the handmade to the highly industrial, or very cutting edge and high tech. There are people whose work is so far advanced and accomplished, and there are others who are still less known.’

‘DNA10’ opens with four iconic design pieces that the gallery refers to as ‘archetypes’: Gerrit Rietveld’s Red Blue chair (1919-21), Sottsass’ Large Aphrodisiac Vase [for Conserving Contraceptive Pills] (1966), Kuramata’s Miss Blanche chair (1989) and Joris Laarman’s Bone armchair (2006).

‘They are the first designers who greet you,’ Benda says. ‘[Rietveld is] an anchor point because he’s one of the grandfathers of all the things we do; applying the rigour of an art movement to creating a chair that completely bursts the mould of what a chair can be or should even represent. For us, he’s one of the people who threw open the gates.’

The exhibition also showcases creatives such as Andrea Branzi, Faye Toogood, Marcel Wanders, Paul Cocksedge, Front, Byung Hoon Choi and Forrest Myers, who have all shown with the gallery. ‘A few things are made specially for the show, but we didn’t want to put pressure on the designers to create something for this,’ Benda says. ‘There were a couple of people who specifically wanted to do this, and that’s great.’

Christopher Schanck, a Detroit-based sculptor, is debuting a tall cabinet from his recognisable Alufoil series, in which he covers discarded materials with coloured aluminium foil and seals them in clear resin for a heightened material effect. Schanck’s first ever solo show is currently scheduled at Friedman Benda for February 2018 – it will be more than a year in the making.

In the past ten years, Friedman Benda’s unassuming gallery space has been repeatedly transformed by the creative visions of its artists. It became an immersive environment for Nendo’s 2009 ‘Ghost Stories’ exhibition, with 6,800 threads suspended from the ceiling. It has presented momentous new work, such as Cocksedge’s 2015 Freeze furniture series, for which pieces of metal were cooled to freezing temperatures and then warmed up to forge a seamless bond between them. And it has staged unprecedented showcases, such as the 2007 survey of new works by Sottsass.

The gallery’s stagings have certainly not been conservative. ‘I feel like we never stood still,’ says Benda. ‘We’ve never allowed ourselves to sit down and reflect. It’s a really nice thing for me to know that we’ve always stayed on our toes, looked around, never taken things for granted.’

Above all, Friedman Benda prides itself on its integrity and commitment to quality. ‘We want to work with leaders in whatever direction they choose,’ Benda says. ‘We want to work with people who are or promise to become larger than life in many ways. It’s about the longevity, the long horizon.’

‘If the artists are good, they’re always producing something, always going forward,’ adds Olshin. ‘How we see our role is to say at some point, stop the camera right here, and we show that. That’s how we produce what we do – it’s a moment. All of these pieces will continue, hopefully, to evolve into other things and other bodies of work.’

As originally featured in the June 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*219)

INFORMATION

‘DNA10’ is on view until 10 June. For more information, visit the Friedman Benda website

ADDRESS

Friedman Benda
515 West 26th Street
New York, NY, 10001

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

New York gallery Friedman Benda presents a new exhibition of furniture by London-based designer Faye Toogood, opening tonight. Entitled ‘Assemblage 5’, the 23-piece collection is, as its name might suggest, the fifth chapter of the designer’s oeuvre, and her largest collection to date.

‘The very first time I did a collection of furniture, I didn’t feel brave enough to call it a collection,’ says Toogood, who began her career as an interior stylist, working for magazines, ‘I wanted to find a word that could sum up what I felt that was doing, which was assembling materials and shapes into narratives.’ The word assemblage, she notes, felt more appropriate to her way of working, and she has christened her collections as such since 2010.

The new show is based around three elements – water, earth and the moon. Here, Toogood’s recurring sinuous shapes are rendered in materials she has never used before, and which she has developed especially for this collection. ‘Everything I have done with furniture always starts with materials,’ she says, ‘I wanted to communicate that this was going to be very elemental, very primitive, getting back to the essence.’
 
For the tribute to water, the designer worked with a Czech artisan glassmaker to achieve an impressive pure crystal glass, which she applied to large-scale pieces such as chairs and tables. The process involved melting glass in a special mould, then waiting five months for it to cool down before extracting the piece inside.

Elsewhere, nodding to the moon, she used cast bronze patinated with a silver nitrate finish, ‘to give a dull quality to it that has the sort of alchemy of the moon’. Toogood herself developed the material that represents the final element: a composite mix of earth and resin with natural earth pigments. All of the pieces are mould-based and the same shapes are recurrent throughout the collection, the designer notes, but each material had a very unique process, which she followed closely.

Inspiration for this series struck when she visited Henri Matisse’s Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence (Chapel of the Rosary), a chapel that the artist created in 1949. ‘I felt completely overwhelmed by the fact that someone I usually associate with the two-dimensional image had created the most beautiful, spiritual three-dimensional space,’ she says.

Spiritual elements are tellingly evident throughout the collection, from ritual chalices to seats that mimic temple’s pews, and beads reminiscent of rosaries. ‘The elemental and the primitive is obvious in the elements and the materials, but I also think there is a lot of connection to identity and femininity,’ adds Toogood. This is also the first time that she has used textile outside of her fashion collections, creating tapestries that combine textures with paint and photographic images.

Toogood was given carte blanche by the gallery to develop this collection, and worked on an immersive set to present her works in. The designer covered the gallery walls in white canvas (a ‘humble, neutral’ material she often uses in her fashion work), while the pieces sit atop white-sprayed seaweed mats. The idea, she explains, is to offer a more domestic, textured environment to present the collection.

Last year, Toogood was included in the ‘Design Currents’ showcase at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but this is the first time she has exhibited in a solo show in the US. ‘[Here], patronage for contemporary design is really strong,’ she notes, adding that she hadn’t anticipated the freedom to produce such a large collection, afforded by a gallery like Friedman Benda. ‘Now I am excited to see these pieces in a new context,’ she says, thinking of where they could be displayed once they go to new owners. ‘I look forward to seeing their new life. I hope the raw, elemental ingredients of the pieces make their aesthetic last.’

INFORMATION

‘Assemblage 5’ is on view until 15 April. For more information, visit the Friedman Benda website

ADDRESS

Friedman Benda
515 W 26th Street
New York, NY 10001

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Following on from its inauguration last London Design Festival, Ace Hotel London and Modern Design Review are back for their second round of hotel design essentials in 'Ready Made Go 2', offering even more experimental undertakings to enhance experiences at the boutique hotel.

Initially employed to solve the many problems with hotel amenities and design, last year saw innovative forms from the likes of Tomas Alonso and Philippe Malouin. For 2016, the collaborators have invited Jochen Holz, Assemble, Patternity, Studio Silo and Faye Toogood.

Cladding the seventh floor bar are Assemble’s smokey 'BBQ' tiles made in collaboration with Granby Workshop. Realised using traditional smoke firing techniques to decorate each unique piece, the finish appears as an abstract artwork on the front of the bar. Meanwhile, bringing fun to the hotel gym is Patternity’s gradient ‘Ascension’ climbing wall that channels their pro-pattern aesthetics while giving the sport a graphic and refined new level of sophistication.

From the smaller items, Holz's ‘Amorph’ drinking vessels in borosilicate glass are set to go in the hotel’s new in-room cocktails service, while Studio Silo’s architectural aluminium 'Beam' soap dishes will flourish their bathrooms. Elsewhere, Faye Toogood’s ‘Doublet’ quilt is inspired by the gambeson technique in her fashion collections and challenges the traditional simplicity of bed linens with intricacy and armour in the padded style.

Running from 20-25 September, Ready Made Go 2 will certainly raise the bar for those Hotel perks we all dream of.

INFORMATION

Ready Made Go 2 runs till 25 September. For more information, visit the website

'Blackpepper' – Comme des Garçon’s most recent fragrance, which makes a hero of an ingredient more commonly used in a supporting role – is being introduced with a striking installation by Faye Toogood at London’s Selfridges. The fragrance, which true to Comme form professes to be devoid of gender and age profiles, comes in a black version of the classic recumbent Comme bottle. It is worked around five principle ingredients: black pepper, tonka bean, leather, cedar wood and Akigalawood (derived from patchouli). The star note, Madagascan black pepper oil, persists through the dry down phase, thus enduring while the scent evolves on the skin.

While the innovative structure gives originality to the famously unorthodox Japanese fashion and fragrance house's latest olfactory offering, Toogood’s involvement raises the quirk factor, by translating its notes into physical structures. Each of these bubbly monoliths represents one of the five key notes. They are designed to serve as a backdrop to the fragrance in-store – the installation begins in Selfridges, and goes on the road later this year to Moscow.

While the notion of fragrance being linked synesthetically to painting, poetry and music is familiar, translating scent into physical shape is new to us. Given the space, a height restriction of 1.2m to fit the beauty hall’s sight line and a bottle of the fragrance, Toogood had free reign to create what she wanted. 'The fragrance itself was the starting point,’ says the one-time interior stylist and set designer, who has successfully switched to furniture and fashion design over the past ten years. 'I took a big ball of clay and moulded the shapes I saw.'

These have been translated into a landscape of forms that carry the same language as the designer’s 'Roly Poly' range of furniture, and are made from a foam core and a hard coating of industrial rubber that usually coats roofs. It's up to the individual to identify the specific translations, though some are easier to relate than others; the conjoined balls, for example are unmistakably black pepper.

Space to display three bottles has been worked into the structure, in stark contrast to usual scent installations. ‘They usually involve MDF shelving, lightboxes and multiple bottles... we had to do something different,' says Toogood. And different it is. 

INFORMATION

’Blackpepper’, £83 for 100ml, by Comme des Garçons, from Selfridges. For more information, visit the Selfridges website

PAD, the unaffiliated design adjunct to the Frieze London art fair, is now a settled fixture. And it makes for a civilised diversion, made even more civilised this year by the restaurant and bar design from David Collins Studio. It doesn’t though offer much in the way of surprises. In fairness, PAD, unlike Design Miami, has never set itself up as champion of new design. It is built around the Parisian 20th century design galleries who continue to unearth pieces from Prouvé and Perriand when logic suggests the supply must be thoroughly exhausted.

But there is adventure at PAD this year if you look for it. Cologne’s Ammann Gallery has new pieces from Turin-based Nucleo, even if they come off ancient as much as contemporary. The young British designers Faye Toogood and Bethan Laura Wood, now enjoying almost pop star status, have works at Gallery Fumi and Nilufar respectively.

Hervé van der Straeten, meanwhile, is presenting his own new designs; the French contemporary ceramics specialist Sèvres, a PAD debutant, has typically beguiling designs from Aldo Bakker; Galerie Kreo, recently opened in London, has new pieces from Doshi Levien; Friedman Benda fields new works from Joris Laarman; and Carpenters Workshop Gallery has genitalia-inspired lamps from Atelier Van Lieshout. As you do.

This year’s standouts though are probably the Garrido siblings, Juan and Paloma, who sell their own designs through an eponymous gallery in Madrid. Second generation silversmiths, the pair craft sculptural metal furniture in elegant ellipses and shattered shards.

ADDRESS

PAD London
Berkeley Square
London W1

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The windows of Hermès' Bond street store are glowing red mahogany, or 'Rouge H', for the holiday season. Lit up by fluorescent tubes shaped like craftsmens' tools, they herald the arrival of 'Petit h' in London.

The Petit h project sees discarded Hermès materials 'upcycled' into new objects of desire, building on the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi – were imperfections of nature are viewed as assets of beauty.

Installed by British designer Faye Toogood, the selling exhibition sees the Bond street boutique's ground floor stripped of its Kelly bags and small leather goods ('for the first time', says managing director Bertrand Michaud with a smile), in exchange for the marvels of Petit h.

'The idea is to create exceptional objects that are unique in their spirit of invention and in the quality of their execution,' explains Pascale Mussard, the sixth-generation descendant of the Hermès family who spearheaded the project (profiled in our December issue - W*177). 'At Petit h, a laboratory of re-creation, we test our limits in terms of shapes, materials, colours and techniques. We recreate, resew, renovate, remake, reinvent.' As a result imperfect porcelain cups are refashioned into light fittings, just as mirrors are finished with silk ties. 'Rebirth is the underlying approach,' Mussard says.

Toogood has also been inspired by the spirit of reinvention, working with foam blocks to sculpt Rouge H-hued display cabinets that resemble red velvet cakes – although sealed with resin rather than icing. The window's neon tube lighting is continued on the ceiling, while staff uniforms have been updated with detachable sleeves made from scarf scraps, as well as artists' aprons, crafted from leather cast-offs.

Launched in late 2010, the project is now a métier activity in itself at Hermès; having already travelled to Tokyo and New York, Petit h finally found a permanent home at the house's rue de Sèvres Paris this June. 'Up to then, the ephemeral and nomadic side of Petit h suited us very well,' smiles Mussard, of the concept that was originally a manifestation of her dream to re-service the house's 'waste'.

'First, I had to convince my family,' she explains of its conception. 'I worked with the designer Gilles Jonemann on around 100 prototypes. I told my family: "Give me the opportunity to create an atelier with your odds and ends. I will turn them (with our great hands) into treasures." They were surprised and amused; they gave me six months to develop my idea.'

Next, Mussard had to approach the house's craftsmen: 'I gathered them and asked for their agreement to recreate their pieces into new objects. I respect very much a designer and so I understand if he refuses to let his silk scarf be transformed into a shopping net or a water carafe into a lampshade. Only two designers did not agree upon at first, all the others loved the idea.'

Practically speaking, the process begins with designers and artists being invited to what Mussard calls the 'Alibaba's cavern' at the Petit h workshop in Pantin, just outside Paris. Here, all of Hermès' discarded materials are gathered. 'They have free rein to explore and create keeping in mind that the objects need to be functional and have a certain understated style that is true to Hermès,' she says, adding proudly, 'The artists transform them using their eyes, their creativity and their hearts with the help of the expert hands of the house's artisans.'
 
On the theme of transformation, we caught up with Faye Toogood for a tour of the dramatic Bond street store reinvention...

W•: What was the most inspiring aspect of working with a brand such as Hermès?
Faye Toogood: It goes without saying that this brand is truly inspiring in the way it relentlessly pushes the boundaries of craftsmanship and materials. However, meeting Pascale was an inspiration in itself. Her creative and poetic take on the iconic Hermès brand resonated with me and soon after our initial meeting I travelled to Paris to visit the Petit h workshops. Stacks of dyed hides, horsehair, scarves, gloves and leather fittings were being turned around into playful art objects. The piece that caught my eye was a leather off-cut of a signature Hermès bag pattern - the hide was a skeleton of the negative shapes left after the pattern cutters had cut the intricate shapes. It was so inspiring to see a person working within such an established house, finding beauty in the unexpected.   

What was your approach to creating Bond street's 'exhibition' space?
I wanted to create a custom-designed interior that acts as an antidote to Bond street's sleek interiors by contrasting Hermès' unmatched heritage with something unexpected and bold. The overall space is lined in white plywood, blanking out the traditional wood cabinets and panelling. We used the distinctive cut-out shapes and templates of signature Hermès bags to create a series of sculptural forms, each fabricated from layers of foam cemented with red resin. For me this mimics the stacks and layers of hides found in the atelier.

What was your inspiration for the windows?
The windows are an homage to the workers, trades and craftsmen of Petit h. We took a tool from each of the trades - leather, silver, crystal etc – and scaled them up in linear neon. These are set against drapes assembled from off-cuts and remnants of the house's iconic silk scarves, each dipped in red dye and bound together with scarlet-pigmented resin.

Tell us about the new packaging. Were you given any parameters from Hermès?
Because we approach all our projects in a holistic way, we wanted not just to create an interior, but to consider all the details of the Petit h experience, so packaging became as important as the interior. We created a series of photogram artworks exposing Petit h tools and materials that were then transposed onto stacks of red tissue paper hung in the 'wrap' area. The classic orange Hermès carrier bags have also been graffitied with Petit h logos in deep red ink.

Having just designed your own debut fashion collection, what was your vision for Hermès' staff uniforms?
The uniform is a major starting point for the Toogood 001 collection and so, for this project, I wanted to create a sort of dressing up box for the workers in the shop. Hooks are placed in the space filled with aprons, arm protectors, headpieces and other accessories all fashioned from discarded Hermès scarves and leather goods. Again they have all been dyed red and dipped in resin.

ADDRESS

Hermès
155 New Bond Street
London W1

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British designer Faye Toogood leaped from furniture and objects to fashion this season, presenting a tightly-edited, magnificently crafted collection of coats in collaboration with her younger sister Erica. In a gallery space in the Marais during Paris Fashion Week, the Toogood girls showed what can combust when a focused idea is married to maniacal craft and creativity. 

Titled 'Toogood' the collection features just eight unisex, made in the UK canvas coats with engineered arms, silk linings and hidden industrial snaps. Inspired by workwear, each garment is named and cut according to the craft of specific trades people, from road sweepers and oil riggers to mechanics and chemists. Erica, a trained pattern cutter, cuts the clothes, while Faye transforms their surfaces by painting, industrial washing, rubberising or even heat-sealing plastic bags into them.

With their sculptural lines and slick, highly creative finishings, the sisters lit a fire in fashion's most tough-to-please town. Not only did they charm and then nab some of the industry's most exclusive retailers, they also piqued the interest of a certain Japanese designer (let's just say she's the Queen of Paris' avant garde) who graced the girls with a visit.

W*: Have you ever made clothes before?
Faye: No. Erica's a pattern cutter who makes bespoke suits. She's the one with the talent. Normally when I make something out of stone, we can just sculpt it. She's working with flat fabric to make three-dimensional shape. It's the coming together of both of us. And actually we've wanted to work together as sisters for a while.

Tell us about the concept?
It's a collection of outerwear pieces based on workwear. But it's done in a very futuristic strong, modern way. Workwear is not a new idea, but to try to bring a contemporary edge to it is. It's not a pastiche of retro workwear.

How did you transform those conventional notions of workwear?
I convinced Erica to drop her classic pattern cutting background and traditional mindset of tailoring and to really push the shape and form. And then I've pushed the finishes. On the hand-painted Oilrigger coat, for example, Erica cut it, I painted it in rubber when it was a flat pattern, then Erica assembled it. That is essentially a wearable work of art. 

How has your furniture design background informed this fashion project?
Over the years I've learned to be very clear and concise in the way that I communicate something. We wanted to just do one thing really well. Also I don't have a fear of looking back in order to create something for the future. A lot of designers are fearful of looking back.

Why work in canvas?
As young designers on your own trying to make it, you don't have access to cashmere. You have to order 100 meters of cashmere if you come to Italy. So we worked with the simplest material we could. My attitude in industrial design is the same. You don't always have to pick gold and marble. There's also something really beautiful in tin and wood. It's what you do with it. So the canvas was a test. Can we actually make it really beautiful and glamorous, but elegant and strong?

Tell us about the passport labels inside each coat.
We wanted to celebrate the individual and the worker. And how hard it is when you have your own trade. As a pattern cutter you never get talked about. So our labels list the name of the coat, our initials as designers and then all the initials of the people who worked on it, from the cutter to the seamstress.  

Who is your customer?
We've had Vogue girls in high heels trying on the long coats and they look like opera coats. And then we've got edgier men looking more hardcore. It was important to us that it was inclusive. Whether you dress yourself in head-to-toe Celine or Rick Owens, everyone is loving the coats.  

features just eight unisex, made in the UK canvas coats with engineered arms, silk linings and hidden industrial snaps
Read more at http://www.wallpaper.com/fashion/clever-coats-faye-toogoods-first-fashion-foray/6814#G7RgxusBPGDEO3so.99