Earlier this week on a small backstreet behind east London’s Haggerston Overground station, a new design gallery, Unit.d, opened its doors to the public for the first time. Its debut showcase, titled 'Wood Metal Plastic', features works by esteemed local designers Jasper Morrison and Michael Marriott. Its point of difference? The products on show are not limited-edition pieces with price tags stretching into the tens of thousands, but humble, everyday objects produced by local designers, all available to buy and take home immediately for less than £30.

‘No one under 35 can afford most of the design in shops,’ states Unit.d’s founder, design writer and strategist Duncan Riches, matter-of-factly. ‘People don’t go to a gallery on opening night expecting to buy something by a designer like Jasper Morrison unless they’re a collector.' Here, the idea is to present and sell work that is accessible, useful and well made.

Housed in a white-painted, garage-sized space with a roller-shutter frontage at the base of an old factory building, Unit.d will open for one week each month with a new exhibition of work by London- and UK-based designers producing objects in small- to medium-sized batches or larger production runs. The focus will be on items designed to function as part of daily life. ‘We could have called it a design store, but it’s housed in a gallery space – we’re trying to elevate everyday objects,’ he explains.

Having worked in the design sector for over 25 years, most recently as director of the Shoreditch Design Triangle (a position he still holds), Riches has observed a growing lack of spaces for independent designers and makers to showcase batch-produced work. It’s a role once fulfilled by local design and lifestyle shops, many of which disappeared during the pandemic or under the pressure of rising rents, while others now focus on accessories by established brands rather than independent makers.

By working with designers to keep prices and material footprints down and production volumes high, Riches hopes good design can reach a wider audience – and in the process spark a broader conversation with consumers about the cost of making. ‘We need greater transparency about the provenance of objects – where they’re made, how they’re made and how much they cost to produce.’

The response from the local design community, he says, has been overwhelmingly positive, proving that there is space for a design gallery that sits at the opposite end of the spectrum to collectible design. At Unit.d, design enthusiasts can pick up ‘Monza’, a stainless-steel shelf bracket by Michael Marriott that turns any flat surface into a shelf, for £12.50, or his solid brass wall-mounted bottle opener, ‘Homer’, for £30. Meanwhile Jasper Morrison has contributed ‘Omi’, a keyring made in brass or stainless steel originally designed in 1992, priced at just £20.

A six-month programme of exhibitions is already mapped out, featuring new work from other London-based designers including Travel Things Museum (opening 8 April), Andu Masebo (opening 6 May), Mentsen (opening 3 June), Alexandra Gerber (opening 1 July) and Studio Mama (opening 29 July).

For Riches, the gallery is not only about making design more accessible; it also provides a space for the local design community to come together. Each exhibition will launch with an event on a Wednesday evening, before the gallery opens daily for the following four days. ‘There are so many wonderful people in the design industry, particularly in and around east London, that there seems to be a pressing need for a space to gather – somewhere to celebrate work, celebrate each other and share ideas.’

Products will be available to purchase directly from the gallery and through an online store, which Riches hopes will gradually build up a permanent collection by selecting standout pieces from each show to continue selling online. He is candid about the experimental nature of Unit.d’s set-up. ‘Will it work? I have no idea. But we’re going to have a go – and we’ve got nothing to lose by trying.’

'Wood Metal Plastic' is open at Unit.d until Sunday 15 March 2026 at 4 Frederick Terrace, E8 4EW
unitd.co.uk

Danish company Hay’s latest collection is inspired by outdoor living at its most essential, simple form: camping, picnics and spontaneous outdoor gatherings are at the heart of a family of objects whose aesthetic is directly informed by functionality.

‘Outdoor living, at its core, is about simplicity, the uncomplicated,’ says company co-founder Rolf Hay. The new ‘Hay Outdoor Market’ was entrusted to British designer Jasper Morrison, who, for Mette Hay, was the obvious choice for his ability to ‘make familiar things feel necessary and considered’.

The collection features every outdoor living essential you can possibly think of, from a striped canvas hammock and folding seats to a stainless steel firepit and barbecue complete with matching accessories (tongs, a fish grill and a toaster pan, to name a few), with a particular focus on portability. 'For us, the starting point was designing and curating (or sampling) different objects around an activity and a way of living, rather than a fixed setting,' continues Mette Hay. 'Outdoor life looks different for everyone, depending on who you are and where you live – it might be a balcony in the city, a picnic in the park, or a spontaneous moment somewhere in nature.'

Jasper Morrison's portable Barbecue for Hay

‘I’ve always loved camping equipment and the constraints of lightness and efficiency which those things need to comply with,’ says Morrison, whose London shop features some exceptional examples of utilitarian design that is both functional and portable (including an earlier barbecue).

The pieces are inspired by those same objects Morrison has been championing through his practice and London shop, and the he was able to revisit some of his own designs while also adding some objects he sourced from places such as Japan, favoured for their essential aesthetic and extreme functionality. ‘The motivation was the same in both cases,’ he adds. ‘To provide useful things for outdoor living.’

Feast your eyes upon this surprising and delightful collaboration between British super normalist, Jasper Morrison, and the legendary French silver maison Puiforcat.

Your eyes do not deceive you; the utensils are not silver, but cherry wood (or Sakura) from Japan, where they are manufactured and finished with the fuki-urushi lacquering technique to protect and enhance the natural properties of the wood. The lacquer is applied with a cloth, and has the dual purpose of giving the material a protective, antibacterial layer, yet still allowing the wood to breathe.

If your gut response towards the idea of wooden cutlery is marred by the mealy mouthed sensation of bamboo disposable types, take it from us: this is a very different experience. The knife cuts properly, for a start. And why, you might well ask, would Puiforcat take this turn into a new material with its powerful heritage rooted in the precious metal of silver? The maison answers: ‘It reflects a judicious extension of our creative repertoire, putting forth a contemporary and durable aesthetic blend of form and function, design, and quality of use.’ Tuck in.

puiforcat.com

With its simple red-and-white striped awning and distinctive oval window set into its façade, this tiny bakery tucked away in Palma de Mallorca’s El Terreno neighbourhood has more than a touch of Wes Anderson charm about it. Named 'Can Pa' – meaning 'house of bread' – it is the result of a special collaboration between celebrated British designer Jasper Morrison and Mallorcan tile artisans Huguet, facilitated by the social organisation Esment.

The project for the bakery emerged as part of Gomila Mallorca – Spanish footwear brand Camper’s regeneration plan for the El Terreno neighbourhood, a once-vibrant nightlife area that had fallen into decline. Following the renovation of apartments with Dutch architects MVRDV, Camper turned its attention to local amenities, opening a café on Plaça Gomila designed by Michel Charlot and commissioning Morrison to design Can Pa. The bakery is run by Esment, a charitable foundation that provides employment and training for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

'Jasper Morrison is one of those fantastic personalities we are fortunate to welcome frequently to our island,' smiles Biel Huguet, third-generation owner of his eponymous, family-run tile company, which has been manufacturing hydraulic tiles on the island since 1933. 'From the very beginning of this project, a close collaboration was established, with each party bringing the best of their expertise to the table. His trust in the essence of what we do made this collaboration flow organically.'

Inside, visitors are greeted by rows of fresh bread and pastries, displayed behind timber-framed glass – 'a modern take on what you can find in old Mallorcan bakeries,' Morrison tells us. The counter is made from stone quarried in the local town of Binissalem, while wooden shelves are lined with jars of local jams and olive oil. Underfoot, Morrison specified a perfect grid of classic 25x25 centimetre brick red tiles, and overhead, the traditional vaulted ceiling is made up of curved clay tiles also produced by Huguet.

'The site was quite unappealing, being a low and narrow shop,' Morrison explains. 'But it had the advantage of being set back from the road with a courtyard in front of it, walled in by the neighbouring buildings. I realised it needed an expressive character to overcome its disadvantages, so we worked on giving it the loaf-shaped window with a door in the middle and having the small table and bench to sit at in the courtyard. Using the Huguet materials and techniques, we created characterful pieces that help to express the bakery as a destination, complementing the quality of Can Pa's baking. Overall, I wanted the bakery to feel local and like it had always been there.'

In his typical punctilious fashion, Morrison designed every last detail of the bakery's interior and exterior, including bespoke furniture for the terrace. The cement bench and table, made locally at Huguet's Campos factory, are designed for easy assembly and disassembly without the need for resins, silicones, or other chemical elements, making them 100 per cent recyclable. Meanwhile, the terrazzo sign, featuring a logotype designed by renowned Argentinian graphic designer Mario Eskenazi, is built into the wall outside in large lettering using a traditional technique.

'A hundred years ago, terrazzo was used to create lettering integrated directly into architecture, blending functionality and aesthetics in a lasting way,' explains Huguet, who is no stranger to collaborating with design royalty, having welcomed Pentagram, Herzog & de Meuron, David Chipperfield, and Patricia Urquiola to the island to create bespoke work. 'In our case, as we always strive to do, we decided to bring this technique up to date.'

Although it was Huguet's first time working with terrazzo lettering, the team embraced the opportunity and conducted numerous tests to refine the process. 'This was a challenge, not only because of the complexity of the lettering but also because it involved a large, self-supporting piece. We are very happy with the result; it's a sign that will last forever.'

Can Pa provides employment and training for 40 individuals with intellectual disabilities, supported by nine professional bakers. The intention is that the project will not only positively impact those working there but also help revitalise the El Terreno community and strengthen its social fabric.

Can Pa, Avinguda de Joan Miró, 37, Ponent, 07015 Palma, Ponent, Spain

jaspermorrison.com
huguetmallorca.com

Swooping into an apartment in a Financial District high-rise in Manhattan is a new interior showcase designed by Frenchcalifornia and Giulio Cappellini, creating a residence full of colour and design which is, quite simply, an artistic haven.

The penthouse suite, Residenza Cappellini, sees European living meet East Coast urban style, balanced in perfect harmony, much like the close partnership and collaboration between its creators: Guillaume Coutheillas, founder of interior design and branding studio Frenchcalifornia; and Cappellini, founder and art director of the eponymous Italian furniture company, whose guest editorship of Wallpaper’s October 2023 issue included his vision of tomorrow’s interiors. 

Residenza Cappellini: interiors for art lovers

Inside the residence, a backdrop of curved windows and a neutral foundational colour palette is offset with splashes of colour from an array of furnishings from across the decades, with Cappellini’s pieces taking centre stage.

While the aesthetic is eclectic, the carefully curated interiors are warm, welcoming and liveable, perfect for an art or design lover.

Cappellini pieces such as Giulio’s ‘Dolmen’ table and Marc Newson’s ‘Embryo’ chair sit comfortably with rugs from Kasthall – including an exclusive custom prototype of ‘The Edifice’ rug, a collaboration between Marc Thorpe and the brand – and lamps by Foscarini that overhang the seating space.

The interiors find balance with the building's New York roots, including fine art provided by Salomon Art Gallery, located in Tribeca, and bespoke wall coverings from the Colorwash and Lyric Doric collections by Calico Wallpaper in Brooklyn.

The penthouse apartment’s wide open archways lead onto a terrace overlooking the New York cityscape. Nonetheless, the curved design and earthy colour palette has an Italian flair, with a specifically Tuscan feel. Cappellini’s recent ‘Lido’ collection of outdoor furniture is set amid the greenery, and includes new products as well as outdoor versions of existing designs, such as the ‘Litos’ sofa, by Sebastian Herkner, and Jasper Morrison’s ‘Thinking Man’s Chair’.

Whether you imagine yourself relaxing on the terrace or settling down on a design classic indoors with a tome from the ‘Aliante’ bookshelf by Rodolfo Dordoni and Giulio Cappellini, Residenza Cappellini is the perfect showcase for beautifully crafted furniture in a home setting.

frenchca.com
cappellini.com

The origin of Jasper Morrison's ‘Thinking Man Chair’ dates back to the mid-1980s, when the British designer saw an antique chair from the collection of a friend, gallerist Danny Moynihan. 'I saw an antique chair with its seat cushion removed for repair. It looked more interesting without the cushion and I decided to try to design a chair which was all structure and no closed surfaces,' Morrison recalls. 

His interpretation of the design featured curved metal slats and tubular elements, and was equipped with two small round tables at the end of the sinuous arms. 'It was to be called ‘The Drinking Man’s Chair’. On my way back from a tobacconist’s shop with a packet of pipe cleaners to make a model with, I noticed the slogan ‘The Thinking Man Smokes’ on the packet, which I quickly adapted as a more sophisticated title,' he wrote in an essay looking back at the design's origin.

The chair was exhibited at Aram in 1987, where it was spotted by Giulio Cappellini. 'Morrison’s “Thinking Man’s Chair” immediately attracted my attention, and so I went to meet Jasper in his studio,' says Cappellini. 'That was the beginning of a friendship and collaboration that lasted for more than 30 years.' For Cappellini, Morrison has created several pieces that embody the designer's rational approach to furniture, from armchairs and beds to tables and office chairs. 'All his pieces are beautiful,' adds Cappellini. 'But I am particularly attached to the “Thinking Man’s Chair”, because it reminds me of the beginning of this extraordinary relationship.'

Here, as part of Giulio Cappellini’s guest editorship of Wallpaper* October 2023 (also including interviews with Barber Osgerby, Patricia Urquiola and Doshi Levien on Cappellini, and Cappellini’s vision for the interiors of tomorrow), the designer tell us about his collaboration with the design visionary, and how it has helped shape the studio's commercial success.

Jasper Morrison & Cappellini

Wallpaper*: How did you meet Giulio Cappellini?

Jasper Morrison: In 1987, some of my work was exhibited at Zeev Aram’s shop in Covent Garden. I think Giulio saw the ‘Thinking Man’s Chair’ there, or in a 1988 article in Domus magazine, and then came to visit my studio. 

W*: What did you most enjoy about working with him?

JM: I think we understand each other very well. Whenever we meet, there’s an atmosphere of possibility, and a shared aim to make something new. Thirty-five years later, it’s the same – we sit down and talk about new projects with the same enthusiasm.

W*: How has your collaboration with Cappellini helped shape your career?

JM: Early on, it made a huge difference to be working in Italy with Cappellini. Giulio was building the company into something very special and to be part of it was very valuable, it got me noticed and gave me the confidence and experience to work with other companies like Vitra, Alessi, Magis and Flos.

W*: What is your vision for future landscapes in private and public interiors?

JM: What’s going on now has a decadent air that reminds me of the Postmodern moment and later swings towards the decorative. Sooner or later, I expect people will get tired of the formalism and there will be a return to something less showy.

jaspermorrison.com

A version of this article appears in the October 2023 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

‘Infinite’. This is the word Jasper Morrison uses to describe the creative potential of bamboo.

This natural material – alongside its qualities of strength, versatility, beauty – is the under the spotlight at the exhibition Bamboo, currently taking place at Jasper Morrison Shop in east London.

Dozens of works designed, crafted and woven by mainly anonymous specialist artisans from across the archipelago are on display in the show, produced in collaboration with Japan Creative, an organising promoting the values of Japanese craftsmanship, as part of London Design Festivl 2023.

A quiet curation of bamboo items spans the spectrum of the quotidian, such as clean-lined cups, intricate baskets, hanging flower vases and delicate tea whisks. A film also depicts scenes of Japanese bamboo craftsmanship – from the material being harvesting in bamboo forests in southern Japan to the intricate weaving techniques of artisans.

Bamboo has long been a key material for making, designing, crafting and building in Japan, a country which is home to as many as 600 different types of bamboo, out of an estimated total of 1,300 species globally.

For Morrison, the material is synonymous with craftsmanship and versatility. 'It’s a poor material, easily grown without any effort and yet it can be used to make incredibly well crafted and beautiful objects,' he tells Wallpaper*. 'I mostly love it for that.'

A focus on the daily use of bamboo, created using an array of processing methods, connects the pieces selected for the exhibition, which is a specially edited version of Our Bamboo: Exploring Materials by Japan Creative, which was shown during Salone del Mobile 2023.

'In Japan, there are still two main types of bamboo crafts,' says Japanese designer Wataru Kumano, creative director of Japan Creative. 'One is bamboo crafts used as tools for daily life, and the other is basket weaving called hanakago, which is used in tea ceremonies. At Japan Creative, we chose bamboo crafts as tools for daily life from a design perspective.'

Threaded through the exhibition concept is also the timeless idea that bamboo, with its craftsmanship traditionally rooted in the rhythms of nature, is still a “relevant” material for modern life.

'Most bamboo crafts were created during the agricultural off-season,' Kumano adds. 'Such seasonal pieces are almost gone; they are made all year round, and with the advent of plastic and other substitutes, items with the same functionality are now available at lower prices. However, I think there is a need to reconsider bamboo, which has a very high contribution both culturally and environmentally, to discover new charms, and to continue using it.'

Bamboo is on view until 22 September 2023

Jasper Morrison Shop
24b Kingsland Road

jaspermorrisonshop.com

Jasper Morrison has launched a portable barbecue, inspired by Portuguese terracotta pots and available exclusively at his London shop on Kingsland road.

A contemporary portable barbecue

The small barbecue (only 316mm in diameter) is made of galvanised steel that has been rolled, swaged and spot welded, and is equipped with a purpose-made grille. It is handmade in a small run in a workshop in Portugal, in collaboration with designer Nuno Viola. 

The starting point for the portable barbecue design was a Portuguese terracotta barbecue featured in Morrison’s book The Hard Life, a collection of photographs of mundane objects from Portuguese rural tradition, first shown at the National Museum of Ethnology, Lisbon. ‘We like the idea that some of these old product masterpieces can be brought back to life and sold at the Jasper Morrison Shop,’ says Morrison. ‘When we couldn’t find any to buy with the requisite charm, we set about finding a Portuguese potter who could make one.’

The process, however, took Morrison and his team on a two-year exploration of the design; when a series of experiments with clay didn’t yield the expected results, they decided to try a tin version, adapting the terracotta original in metal. ‘We found a Portuguese tinsmith to work with. We sent him a drawing and we received back a barbecue that looked right, cooked well and stayed intact. The tin version has a lot of character, albeit a very different character to the terracotta original which inspired it, but it’s pleasing that it works just as well as the terracotta one without falling to pieces.’

Tin Barbecue, £120, currently available exclusively in-store at the Jasper Morrison Shop, 24b Kingsland Road, London E2 8DA

@jaspermorrisonshop

Billed as a tribute to lightness, Jasper Morrison’s ‘Tea’ chair for Molteni & C is the British designer’s second creation for the Italian luxury brand – the first being the ‘Ink’ home office, a cosy bureau made entirely of American walnut. Morrison’s predilection for wood is key to this latest design, presented at Salone del Mobile 2021: the ‘Tea’ chair’s frame is made entirely of solid eucalyptus, black oak or natural oak, a simplicity that outlines and reveals the profile of the chair in its entirety. 

‘My intention with the “Tea” chair has been to update the traditional wooden-framed, upholstered dining chair,’ explains the London-based designer. ‘The upholstery has been reduced to a surface rather than a volume, which is hidden within the frame. So the comfort is a slight surprise and the visual heaviness that upholstery usually brings has been eliminated.’

The chair’s backrest is also precisely thought through: ‘I chose to give it a more rounded backrest shape and to keep the backrest relatively low, because I dislike the way tall-backed dining chairs hide the table,’ says Morrison.

Blending elegance and ergonomics, the ‘Tea’ chair’s seat and backrest are clad in cold-moulded polyurethane foam and available in the entire Molteni & C textile and leather collection, in a choice of nearly 150 colours. These include Andromeda canvas fabric in sandy hues; Kupido linen in earthy tones; a range of bouclé fabric in dark blues and browns; bright green velvets; deep purple Sunniva wool and grey textured Luxor leather.

‘Working with Molteni has been very smooth, they gave me a completely free rein,’ says Morrison. ‘The development took quite a long time due to the pandemic, and the complicated part was integrating the upholstery into the frame and maintaining a good level of comfort, but I’m satisfied we achieved that.’

We’re inclined to agree – the elegant result, more of a light green tea than a builder’s cuppa, is certainly to our taste.

INFORMATION

From £1,258

molteni.it

The unique, durable nature of cork has long captivated the design world, but few as enduringly as the acclaimed product and furniture designer Jasper Morrison, who has dabbled in making pieces out of cork since 2004.

His first creations, a trio of stools for the first Vitra Home collection named Cork Family, highlighted the pleasing tactility and lightweight nature of cork. Over the years, Morrison has continued to add to the series, which now complete, is in focus at Kasmin gallery in New York. Entitled ‘Corks’, the exhibition also marks Morrison’s first solo gallery showing on US soil.

‘The material I've used for the pieces in this exhibition are made from the same material I used back then, so it's really formed cork block material, made from material left over from the wine bottle stopper production process,’ says Morrison. ‘You can see pieces of wine cork when it's machined. It's a great material for both its visual and tactile qualities, but above all, I love what it does for the atmosphere of interiors.’

‘We sourced a lot of different cork block material and most of it was made with a finer granular composition, but this one stood out for its more characteristic appearance,’ Morrison adds. ‘You might think waste material from making wine corks would be cheaper than the granular stuff, but it's a lot more expensive.’

Staged in a domestically styled setting, the cork’s natural beauty and the pieces’ simplicity cut a striking balance. The collection, which ranges from armchairs, a chaise lounge and side tables to bookshelves and even a fireplace, inadvertently casts Morrison’s typically industrially focused modus operandi in an artistic light.

Morrison explains, ‘[the design process] was very different as shapes have to be cut from the blocks so it's more sculptural, whereas in a more usual industrial process, materials are shaped and objects tend to be more structural.’

INFORMATION

‘Jasper Morrison: Corks’ is on view until 29 June. For more information, visit the Kasmin website

ADDRESS

509 W 27th St
New York
NY 10001

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As the rapturous applause dies down at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park, another mobile launches across the pond; albeit more understatedly. Punkt – a small Swiss technology company established by Petter Neby in 2008 – has released the second edition of its mindful mobile telephone at London Design Festival (where bells, whistles and livestreams are eschewed in favour of a quiet drink at The Rosewood).

If technologists are the rock stars of today, Petter Neby is the drummer. Rarely stage-diving, but always exuding a nonchalant brilliance (and making everything sound good), Neby's products reflect his attitude. Back in 2015, we heralded the Jasper Morrison-designed Punkt MP01 as ‘irresistibly compact and refined’. It was about as ‘un-smart' as a smartphone could get – all it did was call, text (on satisfying click-buttons), and look sharp. This was basic telephony at its deepest.

The Punkt MP02 has upped the complexity, but not the ethos. As Neby says, ‘Both editions are Ferrari's – we’ve just re-tuned the engine.’ Designed again by Morrison, with minimal aesthetic tweaks, the new MP02 benefits from 4G LTE, making it available for use all over the world; it has the ability to tether to another device (a laptop or tablet); and it features BlackBerry Secure Software – the first ever non-BlackBerry handset to have this.

‘People used to say, "Why on earth have you made an un-smart phone, in today's climate?"' Neby explains of the MP01. ‘Back in 2015, it was met with utter surprise – but the landscape has shifted fundamentally since then.' Customers are much more aware of the pitfalls of smartphones, Neby explains, no small thanks to the global eye trained on smartphone addiction, cyber-bullying, and privacy issues.

The Punkt MP01 was initially pitched towards conscious consumers after an alternative to the smartphone scrollathon lifestyle. It was picked up by a community of digital detox-ers, who celebrated it as the antidote to the echo chambers of contemporary communication. But Punkt was never intended to be retrogressive, or ‘anti-technology'; instead, it was intended to offer you a genuine choice. ‘Rather than just creating a new phone with a slightly new screen, or different ergonomics, we're asking people to question their fundamental relationship with technology,’ Neby explains. ‘We soon found that the MP01 would unlikely serve as a solo device, but a supplementary one that you would use on holidays, weekends or when the office was closed.’

The Punkt MP02 offers this sense of choice between connection and disconnection within one product. With the addition of internet tethering capabilities (that, it's important to note, can be switched off at will), the Punkt proposition has become less about digital detoxing, and more about digital balancing. Everything in moderation. The MP02 is designed to be used together with a tablet, giving the user an adequately-sized screen for writing texts, viewing websites, and using maps. It creates two separate devices that each do their job well, rather than a single ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ that’s only really good at one thing: distraction. The tablet stays in your bag until you decide to use it. Or it stays at home. And you get to live your life with your head up.

As such, it remains a phone geared around speaking, through great ergonomics with excellent audio quality. Unlike smartphones it won’t pester you with notifications during a conversation. It doesn’t roast the side of your face, either. ‘A lot of our customers are executives, lawyers, bankers. They know that to get something done you pick up the phone,’ says Neby. ‘I see it happening in my own company, and it’s how we like to work – by actually talking to each other.’

What Neby and his team have proven with the MP02 is quietly remarkable – which seems to be becoming quite the trademark. Even in the tomorrow-seeking world of mobile communication: ‘simplicity’ isn't the enemy of ‘futuristic’; and technology doesn't have to be newfangled to be revolutionary.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Punkt website

The British designer Margaret Howell is the maker of beautiful but discreet clothes, with a strong sense of purpose and sensible proportions. This April, Howell will bring that understated aesthetic to London’s Tate Modern, as she becomes the latest guest curator of the Tate Edit shop, a bright and tidy retail space tucked to the right of the museum’s riverside entrance, and designed by Jasper Morrison in collaboration with architects Herzog & de Meuron.

The store, which opened in November 2016, is stocked with limited editions, objects for the home, and artists’ products, as selected by an in-house team and temporary editors, including Morrison and, most recently, Momoko Mizutani, of Dalston homewares boutique Momosan. It is a merchandising dream, offering picture-perfect retailing with a view of the Thames, and soon a showcase of Howell’s favourite things, from an Irish linen tea towel and a simple wire tea strainer, to an Anglepoise desk lamp and Robert Welch serving spoons.

‘I was asked, quite simply, to choose pieces I loved,’ says Howell of the brief, ‘and the selection ended up being a lot of what I sell in my own shops, not out of principle, but because those are quite personal items that I have a strong relationship with.’

At Howell’s spacious Wigmore Street store in London’s Marylebone, the clothing and accessories for which she is best known are sold alongside a revolving selection of vintage stoneware and expertly restored Ercol furniture, iterations of which Howell grew up with. Other domestic titbits – many of them brought over from Japan, where Howell, now 71, has a significant cult following and more than 100 retail outposts – further underscore her affection for fine materials and impeccable craftsmanship.

‘We like well-designed and good-quality things, but they’ve got to be useful, and they have to work. It’s like the clothes, really: I design clothes to wear for a purpose, rather than an outfit to be seen in just one evening. My clothes are meant to last. And all that applies to objects, too,’ says Howell.

Across categories and price-points, Howell’s Tate Edit – which also includes a few of her own designs (sunglasses, an apron, and silk scarves among them) – presents a snapshot of the appealing pragmatism that, alongside rigorous quality control, have come to define her eponymous lifestyle brand. In a noisy retail landscape, Howell’s edit trains our attention on the appeal of quiet, tactile objects, and the simple pleasures that can be found in taking a moment to examine, appreciate, and maybe even covet them.

‘I just don’t know how people can buy without seeing something. To make a purchase, whether it’s furniture or clothing or a teacup, I have to see it and feel it,’ says Howell. ‘It must be inherent to the time I was brought up in: one had to be quite careful, and look after things, mend them, and make them last. The few things I do choose to buy, I want to be able to keep them for a very long time.’

As originally featured in the April 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*229)

Items from Howell’s Tate Edit collection, photographed in her London Wigmore Street store. From left, sunglasses, £195 each, by Margaret Howell. Half zip wallet, £125; hinged coin wallet, £65, both by Margaret Howell. ‘Concentric’ chopping boards, from £35 each, by Asaf Tolkovsky. Stackable glasses, £24 for four, by Toyo-Sasaki Glass. ‘Concentric’ trays, from £20 each, or £130 for five, by Asaf Tolkovsky. Tea strainer, £45, by Kanaami-Tsuji. Butter dish, £65, by Noda Horo. Salad servers, £40, by Robert Welch. Tea towel in Irish linen, £12. Glass bowls, small, £42 each; large, £80, all by Fresco. Tablemat, £22, by Mourne Textiles. Stoneware beakers, from £44 each, by Keiko Hasegawa. Glass vases, £120 each, by Fresco. Table brush, £35; keyboard brushes, £20 each, all by Geoffrey Fisher

INFORMATION
Margaret Howell’s Tate Edit collection will be available in store and online from 27 April to September 2018. For more information, visit the Tate website and Margaret Howell’s website

ADDRESS

Tate Modern
Bankside
London
SE1 9TG 

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This year saw Jasper Morrison launch the new menswear label Jijibaba, a tatami-inspired sandal for Camper and his first-ever eyewear collection for Japanese brand Jins. ‘I spent my life thinking of things to sit on, so it’s good to turn my attention onto things to wear,’ he says. Meanwhile our 2017 Designer of the Year continued to bring his delightfully minimal aesthetic to furniture designs for Emeco and Maruni, as well as a pen range for Lamy. He also trained his curatorial eye on a book of photographs of day-to-day objects from Portugal, titled The Hard Life.

Surveying our Judges’ Awards shortlist, Morrison was particularly drawn to Michael Anastassiades’ coffee mill, ‘I admire the boldness of this design. The offset of the cylinder, which serves as a handle, is done with perfect proportions between the two volumes.’

Elsewhere, Morrison’s geographically diverse selection of winners seemed to reflect his own periapetic nature. Stockholm’s Tak won his vote for Best New Restaurant due to ‘the contrast of the rather delicate interior, playing off against the brutalist structures which contain it’, he explains. ‘It also helped that they selected my Lightwood chair!’ For Best New Public Building, he chose Marrakech’s YSL Museum, praising its interweaving of textured brickwork and lighter, plainer materials. ‘It manages the needs of a modern museum, while appearing new and fresh and carrying the codes of Islamic architecture.’ 

And while it’s been a long time since Morrison visited Mexico City – winner of the Best City category – his memories of it remain strong. ‘The large and crowded cafés, the quieter residential areas with their exotic architectures, Frida Kahlo’s studio and [Luis] Barragán’s houses,’ he reminiscences. ‘I imagine there’s been a lot of change, but I’m also sure it’s kept its spirit.’

A version of this article originally appeared in the February 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*227)

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Jasper Morrison’s website

Left, having served on the jury for this year’s Judges Awards, architect Farshid Moussavi also designed our special, limited-edition cover (available to subscribers), featuring an original pattern for a wallpaper concept inspired by a Simone Rocha dress. Right, newsstand cover. One of two staircases designed by Gwenaël Nicolas for Dolce & Gabbana's Mayfair store, in which a multitude of marbles are patchworked together with millimetre precision, among them Indian Black Lightning; Brazilian Nordic White and Copacabana; French Nero Grand Baroque; and Chinese Panda White. 

Welcome to our annual Awards issue, where we honour the year’s highest achievements in design, architecture, fashion and beyond. This is our round-up of the best products and brightest talents that have raised our pulse and kept our pecker up.

Regular readers will be familiar with the format, but for the newcomers, I’ll explain. The issue is split into two perfect parts. Part one is essentially the Wallpaper* love list – a compilation of our favourite things, debated, deliberated upon and ultimately decided by Wallpaper* staffers together with our global network of editors, photographers, writers and stylists. Enjoy the fruits of a year’s worth of globetrotting, researching and polite bickering.

Part two is the Judges’ Awards. Eleven major award-winners have been selected (from a shortlist put together by Team Wallpaper*) by an international panel of judges – all experts in their fields. This year we were blessed with the sharp minds and sagacity of architectural force of nature Farshid Moussavi, culinary world champs René and Nadine Redzepi, the always rakish environmental artist Daan Roosegaarde, model, fashion entrepreneur and campaigner Liya Kebede, and the ultimate designers’ designer (and 2017 Designer of the Year), Jasper Morrison. A big thank-you for your time and impeccable judgment.

As seen at Design Miami, the Core Pavilion by Philippe Malouin, a contender for Wallpaper* Designer of the Year. Did he win? See the Judges' Award winners here

Also look out for our Next Generation Designer award. This particular prize honours a promising design tyro who has impressed us over the last year and looks set to make an impact in the future. Last year’s winner, Gustavo Martini, has had a fruitful 12 months and his furniture collection ‘The Grove’ even made our 2018 hit list.

Special thanks go to our sponsor, watch manufacturer Officine Panerai. Its design acumen, aesthetic heritage and skilled combination of technology and craftsmanship make it the perfect partner.

Finally, our annual celebration of the exemplary usually closes with the naughty page. A playful rummage through the year’s design stinkers. This issue, though, we have added an analytic edge and historical perspective to our list of misadventures. In the first of an ongoing series we are snappily tagging History’s Worst Design Decisions, we look at fatal, or at least commercially injurious, missteps in the tech sector, from the $400 Wi-Fi-enabled smoothie maker to Snapchat’s spooky specs. Next Generation designers: look and learn!

Tony Chambers, Brand & Content Director

As originally featured in the February 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*227)

What better way to kickstart the Design Awards celebrations than with Hussein Chalayan’s party popper-inspired fashion collection. 

Inspired by the latest mania for modern interiors, we settle down with superior sake. 

Catch some rays with this blast of coloured designs.

Wicker is slicker for the ins and outs of modern furnishings, scooping our award for Best Weaves.

The Best Descent award goes to the ‘Vidra’ slide, by Eckersley O'Callaghan and Cricursa. 

We celebrate Kengo Kuma & Associates’ undulating façade of the V&A Museum of Design in Dundee. 

Chanel clinches the shining prize for Best Metal Gurus, with its Gallery Collection. 

Our interior inspiration comes in waves, as we go deep-sea diving for design finds. 

Making its debut, we bring you the furniture of Christophe Delcourt, for Minotti. 

Both Dior and Dior Homme feature in our celebration of 2017’s best fashion collections. 

INFORMATION

The February 2018 issue of Wallpaper* is out now. Subscribe here

‘Kite’ armchair, from €1,733, by GamFratesi, for Porro. ‘Formakami’ lamps, from £133, by Jaime Hayon, for &Tradition. ‘Woodlines’ rug, from £652, by Naja Utzon Popov, for Carl Hansen & Søn. ‘Offset’ coffee table, £1,485; stool/side table, £308, both by Philippe Malouin, for Resident. ‘Pin’ bowls, from $27, by Jonas Wagell, for From the Bay. ‘Chrysalis Cocoon’ floor lamp, from £2,099, by Marcel Wanders, for Flos. ‘Bonsai’ sofa, from €3,676, by Claesson Koivisto Rune, for Arflex. ‘Fondale’ vase, £284, by Office for Product Design, for Rosenthal. ‘Jeu de Signes’ fabric panels, part of the Voyage à Kyõto-Shi collection, £161 per m, by Misia

‘Alfred’ table, price on request, by David Dolcini, for Porada. ‘Jens’ chairs, from £1,173 each, by Antonio Citterio, for B&B Italia. Pinch pot, £40, by Constantinos Hoursoglou, for Shibui. ‘Piippu’ pot with filter holder, €165, by Kaksikko, for Skagerak. ‘Ceramics’ pot, SEK3,320 (€340), by Carina Seth Andersson, for Fogia. ‘Taranto’ rug, part of the Fresco & Nimbus collection, £1,367 per sq m, by Luke Irwin. ‘Bankside’ sofa, from £1,888, by Jasper Morrison, for B&B Italia. ‘T’ lamp, £2,121, by Marcel Wanders, for Moooi. ‘Salix’ fabric, £135 per m, by Sahco

‘Sign Filo’ chair, €1,409, by Piergiorgio Cazzaniga, for MDF Italia. ‘Kanji’ lamps, from £430, by Denis Guidone, for Fontana Arte. ‘Blau’ low table, from €1,050, by Fran Silvestre, for Gandia Blasco. ‘Yixing’ ceramics (scattered throughout), from £40, by Christopher Jenner. ‘Ren’ magazine rack, £1,404; side table, £1,536, both by Neri & Hu, for Poltrona Frau. ‘Cato Blues’ rug, part of the Mosaic collection, from £15,783, by Luke Irwin. ‘Torii-S’ stool, £179, by Satoshi Seto, for Karimoku New Standard. ‘20.Venti’ desk, from €4,494, by 967Arch, for MDF Italia. ‘Hven’ armchair, DKK3,995 (€537), by Anton Björsing, for Skagerak. ‘Wander’ light, $250, by Jonas Wagell, for From the Bay. ‘Pensée Masaï’ fabric, part of the Rêve de Burchell collection, £147 per m, by Misia

‘SW’ sofa, from £2,597, by OeO, for Stellar Works. ‘Rift’ mirror, from €4,440, by Giancarlo Bosio and Centro Ricerche, for Giorgetti. ‘Grey Sari Silk’ rugs, part of the Sari Silk collection, price on request, by Luke Irwin. ‘Jens’ chair, from £1,173, by Antonio Citterio, for B&B Italia. ‘Georg’ stool, £239, by Chris Liljenberg Halstrøm, for Skagerak. Bureau, £3,080, by Patricio de Arkaia, for Arkaia. ‘Gaia’ pendant, €798, by Emiliana Martinelli, for Martinelli Luce. ‘Noah’ bed, from €3,785, by Philippe Allaeys, for E15. ‘Kosi Bank’ bench, €1,336, by Moritz von Schmeling, for Zeitraum. ‘Night Owl’ table lamp, £122, by Nicholai Wiig Hansen, for Republic of Fritz Hansen

‘Axy’ table, from €2,545, by Claudio Bellini, for MDF Italia. ‘Dash Dot’ desk set, $425, by Quentin de Coster, for Othr. ‘AP’ stool, £290, by Shin Azumi, for Lapalma. ‘Teorema’ stackable unit, £883, by Ron Gilad, for Molteni & C. ‘Splendido 1000’ rug, price on request, by Matteo Thun, for Object Carpet. ‘Float’ stool, €550, by Nendo, for Moroso. ‘Cutter’ bench, £639, by Niels Hvass, for Skagerak. ‘Tokyo’ chaise longue, from €4,750, by Charlotte Perriand, for Cassina. ‘Cupolone’ pendant, £389, by Elio Martinelli, for Martinelli Luce

Illustrator: Tishk Barzanji. Interiors: Amy Heffernan. As originally featured in the January 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*226)

Unravelling the ever-fraying seam between the worlds of fashion and industrial design, Jijibaba is the new ‘not-fashion’ menswear label from furniture designers Jaime Hayon and Jasper Morrison. To mark its mixed-medium identity, the collection has launched two times over, in different contexts – during London Fashion Week at Dover Street Market and again as part of the London Design Festival exhibition Design Frontiers at Somerset House.

‘I don’t really think of Jijibaba as fashion,’ says Morrison, listing the practical differences that set the brand apart from traditional fashion labels. Chiefly, rather than launching with seasonal collections, there will be one, evolving range of items. The opening gambit, aptly called ‘Items 1 - 38’, includes 19 items created by each designer. As time goes on, that number will rise as Jijibaba takes on new design collaborators. There’s also a lightheartedness to the range, emphasised by the name (which loosely means ‘grandmother/grandfather’ in Japanese, chosen purely for its ‘silliness’, says Morrison).

The salon-style presentation at Somerset House strengthens the label’s design orientation. Hung on a newly-designed modular rack designed by Hayon, the items are seen amid an array of the duo’s pre-exiting furniture, including Morrison’s 2016 range for Vitra, and Hayon’s ongoing collection of designs for Fritz Hansen. Visitors are invited to lounge, peruse and enjoy in what Morrison refers to as ‘the best room in the house’.

Morrison had his eye on Somerset House’s most impressive hall, complete with a sweeping, white archway, since visiting two years ago. He booked in the space even before he had a project to fill it. ‘We weren’t even sure if we would get the clothes made in time,’ he explains. But with the help of their partner, Phaidon’s Richard Schlagman, ‘who’s very much on the business side of things’, the ambitious project came together in a busy 18 months.

Both Morrison and Hayon have carried their existing aesthetics and design sensibilities into the new project. Hayon, no stranger to discipline-hopping, makes things ‘for people, to be used by people’ – an ideology folded into his highly wearable, functional pieces. Also featuring his signature sense of humour, Hayon’s designs feature snappy colours, patterned with smiling faces. Morrison, on the other hand, stays true to his steadfast ethos of ‘invisible design’, with a rich yet understated palette of burgundies, navies and creams. Though imagined separately, both offerings exude a quiet confidence and quality that makes them read as one, cohesive collection.

Fans of Morrison’s furniture needn’t fret – his feet remain firmly planted in that camp. ‘I have no ambition to become a fashion designer,’ he says, ‘though I have found it really interesting to deal with soft stuff instead of the usual wood, metal and plastic. I spend most of my life thinking of things to sit on so it’s good to turn my attention onto things to wear.’

Rather than thinking of Jijibaba as a new frontier, Morrison prefers to see it as a middle ground. ‘I think most people in the design world will see Jijibaba as a big jump across a wall, probably fashion people will too,’ says Morrison. ‘But it isn’t really – it’s something in-between.’

INFORMATION

Available exclusively from Dover Street Market. For more information, visit the Jijibaba website

Arclinea

Kitchen: Convivium
Designer: Antonio Citterio
Key features: Units by Maxalto, suspended glass cabinet, vintage steel worktops, flush-mounted hob, hood and sink that ‘disappear’
Contact: Arclinea

Valcucine

Kitchen: Artematica 30th Anniversary
Designer: Gabriele Centazzo
Key features: Created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Valcucine's first use of glass in its kitchens. The large sink is made from a single block of cardoso stone, while the tap is installed on the bridging framework above the sink, giving it the look of a fountain. The cabinet pattern is created using graphic vitrum, a new digital technique for customising glass
Contact: Valcucine

Armani/Dada

Kitchen: Slide
Key features: Light sassafras wood doors, bronze steel worktop and sink, champagne marble tops and black panel, monolithic C-shaped island with innovative sliding system that reveals hob and worktop
Contact: Armani/Dada

Modulnova

Kitchen: Twenty Royal Grey
Designer: Andrea Bassanello
Key features: Island constructed using multiple layers of marble to create a unique light and dark effect. Large suspended peninsula made of eucalyptus wood
Contact: Modulnova

Cesar

Kitchen: N_Elle
Key features: Worktop in brushed grey saint laurent marble, doors in rovere termocotto, and framework in rovere bruno and stainless steel. Sharp, clean-cut lines, 2.2cm thick doors, easy to mix and match with other Cesar systems
Contact: Cesar

As originally featured in the July 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*220)

The accolade for Best New Hotel in the 2017 Wallpaper* Design Awards went to Aman’s new hotel in Cabrera, with interiors by John Heah. So it was only appropriate for us to host our intimate Design Awards dinner in the Ballroom of The Berkeley, newly redesigned by the architect himself and two weeks off opening.

The Wallpaper* dinner was the first event to take place in the new space – still in the midst of its makeover – and we joined forces with French champagne house Veuve Clicquot for the soirée with notable guests including John Pawson, Liz Swig, Andrea Rosso and Hiroshi Sambuichi among others.

Ascending from drinks in the Motcomb Room, guests sat down on Designer of the Year Jasper Morrison’s ‘Alfi’ chairs for Emeco, while sipping on Veuve’s Vintage 2008 that was paired with the first course. Following the main course, Wallpaper* Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers set to hand out trophies with the help of architect Amanda Levete (who sat on this year’s six-strong judges panel). Design Awards partners Officine Panerai also presented a new award category – the Next Generation Designer of the Year – which went to Gustavo Martini.

The ambience was set by FlowerBx’s spiky chrysanthemums sat in refined Nude vases on the table, while candles flickered in holders by Patricia Urquiola for Georg Jensen.

Guests were sent off with a hefty gift bag too that included Best New Grooming Product winner Dyson’s ‘Supersonic’ hairdryer; a snazzy gift voucher for Best Outpost Aquavit London; an Iittala and Issey Miyake cup and saucer; a signed Fortnum & Mason cookbook; and a Wallpaper* City Guide to help plan their trip to Lisbon, this year’s Best City award winner.

Know any abstract artists who keep all their work in their apartment because nobody else will display it? Neither does Jasper Morrison.

But the London-based industrial designer – and recent Wallpaper* Designer of the Year winner – has created a fictional one. He lives on the first floor of the VitraHaus in Weil am Rhein, the Vitra brand's flagship, designed by Herzog & de Meuron. And he's got impeccable taste, by the way.

‘This is the apartment of Allard Pierson, an abstract artist who doesn’t exhibit his sculptures because nobody’s interested in abstract art anymore,’ says Morrison of the 150 sq m scene he's staged in the light-flooded upper level, ‘so he lives at home with them and occasionally invites people to dinner, to show them his new work.’

Morrison invented the character to inject personality into his presentation, part salon, part studio. Understated, utilitarian designs – like his ‘Place’ sofa and ‘HAL’ chair – live comfortably alongside items from other Vitra designers, providing a neutral foil for the bold upholsteries and accessories. ‘This was not done intentionally,’ he says. ‘The intention was to create good atmosphere in as natural a way possible. The balance of neutral and colourful shades is important. Too much colour and the balance would have been off, too little and it would have been boring.’

Morrison has used a deft and delicate hand in the layout, allowing the sculptural artworks place to breathe. The space joins a similar interior concept down the hall, by Italian designer Antonio Citterio, while Studioilse previously dressed the space for a fictional couple, Harri and Astrid.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Vitra website

ADDRESS

VitraHaus
Ray-Eames-Strasse 1
D-79576 Weil am Rhein

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

From her north London home, architect Amanda Levete discusses Design Awards winners Lisbon, Jasper Morrison and more...

‘After London, Lisbon is my favourite city  in the world,’ says British architect Amanda Levete. She has played a big part in ensuring Lisbon is crowned this year’s Best City. In October, her Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology opened on the banks of the Tagus river, an elegantly curvaceous 38,000 sq m addition to the city’s waterfront.

Look closely and there’s a bit of Lisbon in her living room, with subtle details such as a fireplace that appears like a slit along one wall. It’s a reference to the artist Lucio Fontana, but it’s hard not to see how its curvy form is echoed in her latest building.

For Designer of the Year, Levete selected Jasper Morrison. ‘His work is about celebrating the everyday, not grandiose gestures. Every move, every connection, is so thoughtful,’ she says. ‘Everything he designs functions beautifully… Jasper doesn’t know the meaning of “overdesign”.’

This year will see the realisation of one of Levete’s dream projects: a new entrance, courtyard and underground gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. ‘I’ve dreamt of working on a major public and cultural project ever since I started as  an architect, and it doesn’t get much better than this,’ she says.

As originally featured in the February 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*215)

INFORMATION

See the shortlist and the winners of Design Awards 2017 in full here, including our extra-special Judges’ Awards

From the very beginning we knew Jasper Morrison's deliberately 'unsmart' smart phone for Punkt would be a thing of beauty, but little did we know that the modest mobile would shed its fuss-free black visage in favour of two new colour ways.

Minimalists fear not though – this isn't an any-colour-in-the-rainbow situation, no. More like a Maison Margiela colour scheme: pure and simple. So simple, in fact, they don't even have convoluted names. They are simply 'MP 01 White' and 'MP 01 Brown'.

'Both of the new colours are low-key but intriguing, which is in keeping with Punkt,' explains founder Petter Neby. 'The white option brings a certain aesthetic delicateness, which contrasts neatly with the phone's rugged build quality and straightforward design lines, while "MP 01 Brown" is the low-key head-turner. Brown has too long been absent from the colour palette of the world of consumer electronics. We want to take that back,' he explains. And take it back they will.

Due to be unveiled during London Design Festival, the two new colourways will be on display alongside the existing Punkt family of products when the Swiss manufacturer takes over Morrison's shop on Kingsland Road. Shop-goers will be able to pick up one of 250 limited-edition posters by award-winning illustrator Anna Kövecses, celebrated for her ability to bring a humorous, human touch to a technology-based topic, much like the modest mobile does for the lives of its owners.

Punkt’s philosophy is as much about selling a mindset as it is a handset. Shortlisted for the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2016, the deliberately dumbed down mobile phone aimed to put technology back where it belongs: in our pockets, out of sight and out of mind. Taming technology through design, the 'MP 01' sees a definite nod to German product design of the 1960s and 70s, while making the most of modern robotics: a monochrome TFT screen and intuitive interface offers the bare essentials of calls, SMS, calendar and clock. Nothing more, nothing less.

INFORMATION

The Punkt takeover at Jasper Morrison’s Shop will take place from 19–24 September. For more information, visit the Punkt website

The ’MP 01’ mobile is also stocked at the Wallpaper*STORE

ADDRESS

The Jasper Morrison Shop
24b Kingsland Rd
London, E2 8DA

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

'Good design,' said Dieter Rams, 'is as little design as possible.' A good point well made, but one that perhaps belies the current state of affairs. Successful design is not simply about form and function; there are patents and trademarks, copyrights and rights proceedings to take into account.

In an unprecedented move, over 100 design luminaries – including Rams himself, Louis Vuitton artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière, Sir Terence Conran, Lord Norman Foster, Jasper Morrison and Sir Paul Smith – have come together to pledge their support to design and its protection.

Catalysed by the long-fought patent battle between Apple and Samsung, the document – or amici curiae, to be technical – was compiled by Charles Mauro, president and founder of MauroNewMedia and presented by legal firm Orrick. Those who have signed the 62-page document are in no way party to the litigations at hand, wherein the US Supreme Court has been asked to reject Samsung’s appeal in the Apple v. Samsung case. This document is only meant to advise proceedings. 

The crux of the argument is that, as industrial design has segued from a purely utilitarian to an aesthetic industry, form has become as important as function. And this, in the eyes of design's game changers, is what needs protecting.

To that end, the document includes a brief history of the ethics and aesthetics of industrial design, including a look back at Raymond Loewy, who would become the father of American industrial design. Loewy's lasting legacy was his ability to take existing products and redesign them with a fresh, appealing aesthetic. Sigmund Gestetner's 'duplicating machine' was the first to receive the Loewy treatment, a slick redesign which resulted in soaring sales. The Roebuck & Co 'Coldspot' refrigerator followed suit, as did many other appliances and objects not mentioned in the amicus.

The now iconic Coca-Cola bottle comes into consideration as an example of how a product's visual design becomes the product itself in the minds of consumers. So too do American automobiles, including Henry Ford's Model T and General Motors' bold and bright Chevrolet. 'History,' summarises Mauro, 'teaches that visual design is the way to package, market and sell technological innovation, manufacturing knowhow, product reliability and performance expectations. Appearance becomes identified with the underlying functional features and with a particular level of product quality and safety.'
 
Intellectual property and protecting design patent rights against infringement are increasingly important subjects. It is not without reason that 111 renown and respected names in the design world – including Konstantin Grcic, Calvin Klein and Alber Elbaz, as well as Sir John Sorrell, Microsoft's executive creative director Raymond Riley and Bentley's director of design Stefan Sielaff – have given their support to this cause.
 
Form might not always follow function, but it will always be the gateway to user experience. It's all very well shrugging our collective shoulders and hoping that the dark arts of branding and marketing will ultimately prevail. But for the legions of skilled designers – whatever their field – the need for greater protection against shameless aping, lazy copying and outright theft has never been more apparent.

Everyone is well aware of the mesmerising qualities of marble. Its decadence, its power, its weight, its sculptural qualities – the list goes on. In a unique Japanese-meets-Italian collaboration during Salone del Mobile, it was the intensity of its colour that was celebrated. Nendo presented Marsotto Edizioni’s marble inventory cut completely in half: Carrara on one side, Marquina on the other.

Titled ‘Light and Shadow’, the concept seemed relatively simple, but the effect was magnificent (and very Instagram-friendly). Upon entering the slightly off-piste Brera location, one visualised the almost illusionary monochromatic, symmetrical divide. The result was perfected thanks to Nendo’s new novelties for the Verona-based marble kings, half produced in each shade. In true Oki Sato style, he created a plethora of new products, each available in both black and white, some even split into both, including abstract tilted side tables called ‘Sway’ and ‘Split’ low tables.

Both sections were atmospherically enveloping. On the white side, a slightly illuminated, purist vibe was felt among David Chipperfield's grand dining table and James Irvine’s imaginative shelving. These were set against the blinding white walls, flowers and books that decorated the space. Alternatively, the dark side evoked a romantic sensuality through semi-matching pieces that the designers realised in both tones. Visibility was skewed as we focused on whimsical designs including Naoto Fukasawa's 'Marbelous' low table and Ross Lovegrove's bookends. Outdoors, the Italian brand showed off its Carrara with a garden set utilising alternative shapes created from the brand’s divine wares, including the mighty ‘Arena’ table by Wallpaper* Design Award winner Jasper Morrison.

'It is tinged with surprise, irony and delight – it is also however part of a universal language,' explains Mario Marsotto about the familiarity of all the natural material, elegantly set on a pedestal by Sato. 'And during its realisation all of us were captivated and spurred by a pleasantly harmonious energy.'

INFORMATION

For more information on the new collections, visit the Marsotto Edizioni website

Jasper Morrison's concept of 'Super Normal' has found new resonance at Stockholm Furniture Fair. 

The British designer has created two new tables and a sofa for the Danish furniture brand Fredericia, all three of which were presented on the stand he constructed and curated himself. 

Largely inspired by the brand's founding designer Børge Mogensen, Morrison's new designs are true to his 'Super Normal' concept, penned in conjunction with Naoto Fukasawa in 2007 as 'the the result of a long tradition of evolutionary advancement in the shape of everyday things, not attempting to break with the history of form but rather trying to summarise it'. (I.e. good design should aspire as much as possible to be invisible, serving their function so effortlessly that they become seamlessly, intuitively become part of our lives and world.)

'Mogensen, I now realise, is the quintessential Danish designer,' notes Morrison, 'capable of creating understated and beautifully proportioned furniture for living the good life – 'super normal' before the term existed.'

The tables are made with their corresponding environments in mind. Constructed from solid, knotless wood in Mogensen's tradition, the 'Taro' dining table comes in three different sizes, each robust and intended for everyday use.

Smaller in scale but equally sturdy, the 'Pon' side tables made of oak and ash can double up as stools too. Completing the trifecta of furniture is the 'Kile' sofa, built on a solid wooden frame and upholstered in cold-cured foam. 

To showcase Fredericia's new launches – including pieces by Space Copenhagen and Hugo Passos – Morrison's stand design lays forward his vision of how the collection could and should be presented in his spirit. 

'Jasper Morrison’s design appeals in particular to our inherited understanding of good design,' said Fredericia owner and design director Thomas Graversen. 'At the same time, he is one of the most forward-thinking of contemporary designers. On several occasions, Morrison has successfully developed what have come to be heralded as modern archetypes, all without undue aesthetic noise.'

INFORMATION

For more information visit Fredericia’s website

Photography courtesy Fredericia

He talks of all-night shoots, leaving Leavesden studios, in Hertfordshire, in the morning for the airport, hopping aboard a jet to LA, walking the red carpet, returning to the airport, reboarding the same plane and going straight back to Leavesden for another all-nighter. It’s a suspended version of reality, made more surreal by his time spent wielding a wand in the wizarding world.

When we sit down to discuss Wallpaper’s Design Awards – and Redmayne’s votes in our 11 Judges’ Awards categories – over a burger in London’s Soho, I begin by asking how he remains sane when so much of his time at the moment belongs to other people. He’s quick to acknowledge his luck: ‘For all of the mad hours, the travel and the tiredness, I remind myself constantly how fortunate I am to be working at this level,’ he says. ‘I put my all into it because I love it, and I’m a firm believer that the effort and time you put into something is rewarded by what you get out of it.’ 

However, Redmayne talks about his increasing appreciation of the moments when he can slow down. ‘I find life noisy,’ he says. ‘With the benefits of being more connected comes the danger of being sucked into a world of more noise, where we are constantly switched on. Living in the moment feels more difficult than ever, and more valuable.’

We talk about what design means in his life. He is cultured and thoughtful. He speaks of growing up in London in the early 1990s near the UK’s first Muji store and being fascinated by the compelling simplicity of the brand’s everyday objects. ‘I spent an unhealthy amount of money on stationery as a teenager,’ he says. ‘Today, I suppose I see good design as not being just about beautiful things, but about things that work; things that work well for me and how I live. Good design, in my opinion, is something that makes life easier, that reduces friction and brings pleasure at the same time.’

With this in mind, we turn to Redmayne’s take on the nominees for our Judges’ Awards and he singles out the Bouroullec brothers’ ‘Serif’ TV for Samsung (Best Domestic Design). ‘It’s a strange hangover of the digital age that so much technology still looks techie,’ he says. ‘As much as I love television, I’ve always hated how ugly TVs are. You spend so much time and effort making your living room beautiful only to throw a great black box in the corner. This is a thing of beauty in its own right, from every angle. It looks like something out of a Patrick Caulfield painting. I love the simplicity of the single flex. Wires and cables are not my friends.’

The Bouroullecs also get Redmayne’s nod in the Best Designers category. ‘There’s a pleasing combination of poetry and function,’ he says. ‘I like that drawing is such an important part of their process. You can see and feel the presence of the human hand in the finished designs. It gives their work a distinct character. These are things with personality and soul.’

Copenhagen as Best City is an easy win for Redmayne, and not just out of loyalty to Lili Elbe, his character in The Danish Girl. ‘It’s a city that feels good, and that’s not something you can say about many cities today,’ he says. ‘The Danes get it right on so many levels. Copenhagen has a vibrancy to it. The food culture is extraordinary and life seems easy, uncomplicated and fun. Who wouldn’t want to live in a city where you can swim in the harbour?’

Among our Best Fashion Collection A/W 2015 nominees, Redmayne favours Prada menswear and Gucci womenswear. ‘According to Hannah, my wife, Alessandro Michele has done an incredible job with Gucci in his first year [as creative director],’ he says, adding that for him, ‘the clean precision and wearability of Prada is impressively consistent.’

As for Life Enhancer of the Year, we debate the merits of Jasper Morrison’s ‘MP 01’ mobile phone for Punkt and come back to the topic of slowing down. ‘At the start of the year, I tried switching back to a simple, old-fashioned handset in place of a smartphone,’ Redmayne says. ‘It was a reaction against being glued permanently to my iPhone during waking hours. The deluge of emails was constant and I found myself trying to keep up in real time, at the expense of living in the moment. I love the idea of the more analogue phone in theory,’ he reflects. ‘During the day I felt far more alive. But it meant I was tied to my laptop answering emails for two hours first thing every morning and last thing at night instead, which was a different kind of intrusion. I wasn’t very popular with Hannah, so today I’m back on my iPhone and trying to master a healthier relationship with it.’

Still considering Life Enhancer nominees, Redmayne homes in on Ron Johnson’s Enjoy gadget-store concept, which has tech experts deliver and teach you how to use your purchases. ‘I need this in my life desperately,’ he says. ‘I am a severe manual-phobe and feel horribly inadequate when it comes to making my tech work. I’m also sure I’m not alone in feeling defeated by the knowledge that I use about one per cent of the capability of every gadget I own. I will be keeping my eyes peeled for Mr Johnson’s expansion [outside the US].’

We acknowledge that slowing down is not so much about opting out of the realities of modern life, but more about learning how to better deal with them. ‘We could all do with a lot more simplicity in our lives,’ Redmayne says. This is certainly the theme behind his award votes. ‘Indeed,’ he says, ‘if good design is about making life easier, then the simpler it is the better. I wonder if in 50 years’ time we’ll have come full circle and I’ll be sitting at home with nothing but a pad of paper and my Muji stationery?’

As originally featured in the February 2016 issue of Wallpaper* (W*203)

See the Design Awards 2016 in full – including our extra-special Judges' Awards - here

INFORMATION

Photography: Jan Lehner

But to the science. This year we have restricted the core top 100 list strictly to product designers. And employing complex algorithms, ‘big data’ and the purest subjectivity, we have ranked them according to influence, market value, quality and quantity of output, reputational shift and that more mysterious sense of momentum, of rightness for right now. Those who have had a good year will find themselves risen up the ranks; others may get that sinking feeling. We have also added extra lists: of architects who turn their pencils to product design; of CEOs and other corporate chiefs who have matched vision and ambition with surefootedness; of graphic designers who snap our grid; of interior designers who create and compose the most seductive of spaces; and of designers yet to hit 40 but already making an impact. Or course our rankings are a provocation, but they are also a mapping of power and influence, of larger shifts and forces.

Let the debate begin...

Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple’s chief design officer, has changed behaviours and created ‘needs’ we never knew we had, turning technology’s cult underdog into the world’s most valuable company. With Steve Jobs gone, and everyone alert to the slightest Apple miss-step, Ive is now facing greater public scrutiny. The many and various permutations of the Apple Watch and strap, and the offer of a high-end version – a shift from Apple’s usual policy of limiting choice and upgrades to under-the-bonnet performance enhancements – are seen as Ive’s innovations. And rumours and counter-rumours about the Apple Watch’s success, or lack of, continue to swirl. The latest chatter is that Apple is working on a self-driving car, currently being tested in California.  

Outside of Ive, Marc Newson is the world’s highest-profile industrial designer. The pair are also long time pals. Little surprise then that Ive recruited Newson to help out with the design of Apple Watch. He has no official title at Apple but Newson says that 60 per cent of his time is now spent on Apple business and he makes monthly trips to Cupertino. Newson already had watch experience, launching the Ikepod line in the 1990s. He has also designed concept cars for Ford so it seems a relatively safe bet that Newson is currently at work on the Apple Car. And if the last year wasn’t eventful enough for Newson, this May one of his ‘Lockheed Lounge’ chairs sold at auction at Phillips in London for £2.4m, the highest price yet paid for the work of a living designer.

London-based designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby have had a breathtaking year, capped by the publication of a monograph celebrating their work, and the award of the 2015 London Design Medal in September. This supremely versatile and gifted pair have been on an unstoppable tear ever since their universally lauded design for the Olympic torch in 2012 lifted them into truly rarified air. The pair now helm three studios, each founded to expand the range of projects they can take on, ranging this year from an understated shower control for Axor to the contract to design interiors, exteriors and livery for the new London Crossrail line.

An Eindhoven Design Academy alumnus, Jongerius’ career began with the Droog-infused Dutch design renaissance of the early 1990s. Always one of the most influential and intelligent voices in design, she made waves in 2015 with a call for restraint in the design world’s ceaseless quest for the novel. ‘It’s time to rid ourselves of the obsession with the new.’ She practised what she preached, too, finally unveiling the long-awaited fruits of a four-year process of revisions to her iconic ‘Polder’ sofa for Vitra, and revealing subtle tweaks to the design and scale of the collection, while remaining true to its groundbreaking aesthetic.

Oki Sato took Milan by storm in April with an audacious retrospective of his work over a single year, showcasing his impressive range and attention to detail in collaborations with companies ranging from Glas Italia and Moroso to Chocolatexture and Tod’s. In fact, he designed more than 100 different products over the year, and routinely works on more than 400 designs at any one time. This year, Sato, who initially set up Nendo ten years ago with five fellow architecture graduates, also received the crown for Maison & Objet’s Designer of the Year, opened a Milan office, and shifted into large scale architectural projects for the first time, winning commissions for a shopping centre in Bangkok and a station and leisure complex in Kyoto.

Ronan and Erwan’s stellar mid-career status was highlighted last year with the award of the 2014 London Design Medal. Subsequently, France’s most influential industrial designers revealed the ‘Kaari’ table collection, their first collaboration with Artek, and the ‘Palissade’ range of outdoor furniture for Hay, alongside strong new work for Vitra and Glas Italia. Next up is their first electronic product, the Serif TV for Samsung, which is intended to integrate the television completely into the sphere of domestic design.

A product launch seen by 4.8 billion TV viewers, a first solo retrospective at the V&A, commissions everywhere; to say Heatherwick has had a good few years is an understatement. The British designer’s King’s Cross atelier is a global creative hub, responsible for everything from London buses to gin distilleries. Heatherwick is the quintessential contemporary creator, an architect, engineer and designer rolled into one, with an obsessive attention to detail and a delight in materials.

From health-tracking wristbands to app-controlled thermostats, Béhar is the designer for our perma-connected age. Last year, Chinese conglomerate BlueFocus Communication Group acquired a majority stake in his firm Fuseproject. His XO laptops for One Laptop Per Child are now distributed in 60 countries.

This year Morrison, whose career began in the 1980s, curated the prestigious ‘80!Molteni’ exhibition in Milan and added a collection of mobile phones to his well-respected Punkt collaboration, but he will always be the ultimate Super Normal guy, with a cool shop, transforming the everyday into desirable objects, including this cafetiere for Rowenta from W*068

Our joint Wallpaper* Designer of the Year, the work of German design superstar Grcic combines analytical rigour, formal discipline and a twist of humour. Recent projects include chairs for Plank and Magis, sanitaryware for Laufen, and branding and interiors for the Hugo Boss IMOCA 60 racing yacht.

A graduate of Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and London’s Architectural Association, Arad is working on Tel Aviv’s tallest building, a show for the Royal Academy, and St Pancras’ sought-after Terrace Wires installation. He remains the design and architecture world’s great iconoclast

Despite his work for IDEO and the Muji CD player, Fukasawa’s sublime understanding of Japanese craft sensibility has few better expressions than last year’s ‘Cha’ tea kettle for Alessi, his ‘Roundish’ sofa for Maruni Wood Industries, this year’s kitchen appliances for Muji and his sleek smartphone model for KDDI.

Dixon remains one of Britain’s best-known design names, even outside the design community. His studio has been busy this year: working on apartments at Greenwich Peninsula and the Multiplex department store at Selfridges, and he has also just been secured by Caesarstone to work on a major collaboration

Hayon has long been revered for his radical embrace of colour, decoration and cartoon-figure curves. His recent highlights include a large ‘Urban Perspectives’ installation for Mini, sports-style pieces for Galerie Kreo, and a redesigned Room 506 at Arne Jacobsen’s SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen.

Collaborator Bruno Borrione finally got his name on the door last year as he and Starck formed a ‘new’ design agency, S++B. Since then, Stark has revealed a 2018 hotel design for Centre Pompidou Metz, created a prototype home for PATH and had various Milan launches with Kartell, Flos, Glas Italia, Axor, Magis and Tog

Humberto and Fernando’s creative upcycling and design improvisation – influenced by the street life of Santa Cecilia, the area of São Paulo where they have their studio – has been the basis of a string of bestsellers for Edra, as well as big-ticket edition pieces. The pair also work with local NGOs and workers’ co-ops.

The Spaniard is constantly proving she is at the top of her game with her hugely covetable creations. Not only is she our reigning Wallpaper* Designer of the Year, but she has formalised her ongoing collaboration with the Poltrona Frau group, heading up its design sector and becoming art director of Cassina.

Windows for Prada and a collection and installation for luxury leather maker Valextra helped demonstrate the versatility of Gamper, who made his name in 2007 with the found-object speed-design project ‘100 Chairs in 100 Days’. Milan gallery Nilufar then commissioned him to do similar with discarded Giò Ponti pieces.

Milan-based Giovannoni is as adept at futuristic furniture as at cartoonish homewares. His ‘Bombo’ stool for Magis, with its swivelling plastic seat and adjustable chrome-steel base, is widely copied, and his ‘Girotondo’ tableware for Alessi has sold over ten million units. He is now opening an office in Shenzhen.

Born in 1932, Munich-based designer Maurer designed his first light fitting in 1966 after a life-changing trip to New York, where he encountered the pop art movement. Simply called ‘Bulb’, his debut design was a brilliantly witty take on what a lamp could be and marked the start of a legendary career

This year, industrial designer Lovegrove - pictured here in W*101 - has applied his ergonomic forms to photorealistic rug designs for Moooi, while 2014 saw him produce 3D-printed gold jewellery for the Louisa Guinness Gallery. Material science, form and technology dominate, as with Liquidkristal, an architectural glass designed for Lasvit

Following Charpin’s takeover of Apartment 50 in Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse in Marseille last year, he has now commandeered the Robert Mallet-Stevens-designed Villa Noailles in Hyères for a new show. Last month also saw the opening of an exhibition of his tables and ceramic vases at Galerie Kreo’s London outpost.

This year’s Wallpaper* Design Awards judges, Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu combine city block-sized projects with more delicate small-scale work, garnering design awards and commissions from Camper, De La Espada and Le Méridien, as well as creating a clutch of boutique hotels, flagship offices and private dwellings

Häberli credits his motivation to his Argentine upbringing, and his problem-solving abilities to his Swiss heritage. He became a star for his ‘Origo’ dinner service for Iittala in 1999, and has gone on to work for brands such as Moroso and Georg Jensen. This year, he was chosen by BMW to design its annual Milan installation.

Hays is the driving force behind luxury American furniture label BDDW. Based in Philadelphia, he is as much an entrepreneur as he is a designer, having built the company up from a small Brooklyn start-up to a respected handmade furniture empire, with a Milan outpost and its own general store, within ten years

The soft, rounded forms of Dutch designer Bakker’s everyday objects are carefully crafted in metal, wood, glass and ceramic, often the result of painstaking production processes. His delicate forms found the limelight in Amsterdam this summer with a solo exhibition, ‘Containing Content’, focusing on his pourers (pictured)

Twins Nikolai and Simon began life as Texan builders with a Hollywood twist, but their skill and experimental approach saw them branch out into design at the turn of the decade. Now based in LA, the brothers’ new surrealist style graces spaces like the city’s Ace Hotel and the Guerlain store in Paris.

Pictured: Beast stool.

An alumnus of the Alchymia, Cavart and Memphis movements, De Lucchi is an Italian design legend whose work graces museums across the globe. He is responsible for bestsellers like the ‘Tolomeo’ lamp for Artemide, and the ‘First’ chair for Memphis. His new coffee maker for Alessi looks set to join that pantheon

From Peckham bottle recycler to Design Miami jury member, designer Boontje, known for his craft-inspired ideas, has come a long way, and his ‘Garland’ light shades are now a modern classic. He recently developed a jewellery collection for the Van Gogh Museum. Next up is an exciting commission for PostNL.

Pictured: Boontje's 'Chamber of Wonder' exhibition, at Swarovski Crystal World in Wattens, Austria

British artist Anthea Hamilton made international news last month with an installation inspired by a 1972 model by Pesce. Now 75, the Venetian designer’s career spans over half a century, and he has always ensured that his colourful, often otherworldly designs go beyond function and aesthetics

Milanese architect Dordoni has spent his career designing and providing art direction for some of the biggest players in Italian design – Artemide, Cappellini, Minotti and Foscarini have all benefited from his creative input. More recently, he set up Dordoni Architetti to focus on his architectural projects.

London-based design duo Luke Pearson and Tom Lloyd have become the go-to practice for public-realm design, with past projects including innovative healthcare furniture for the NHS and street furniture for the city of Bath. Recent projects include a contemporary workplace furniture collection for Teknion

Renowned for his refined designs and forthright opinions, the godfather of Italian design has had a consistent and influential presence in the industry for over 50 years. A steadfast supporter of sustainable, open-source design and small-scale, local production, Mari’s principles have always been years ahead of their time.

Pictured: W*090

Belgian-Dutch duo Nynke Tynagel and Job Smeets continue to explore the boundaries between art and design. From a roller disco inside Buenos Aires’ Faena Art Centre (pictured) to the irreverent ‘Banana Show’ lights at Belgium’s Samuel Vanhoegaerden Gallery, the pair’s refreshing maximalism was prominently on display

Last year, Lissoni secured a major commission from Ritz-Carlton to create a waterfront complex in Miami and a minimalist setting for a Renaissance art show in Milan. This year, he presented ‘1:1 Piero Lissoni’, an exhibition held in a vast New York loft in collaboration with a host of Brooklyn design studios

Branzi’s ‘Heretical Design’ show at Italy’s MARCA museum reminded commentators of the designer’s astonishing breadth and fecundity. He is a frequent collaborator with architectural magazines such as Domus and Casabella, and his shelving systems continue to attract the plaudits of a younger generation

De Cotiis’ work ranges from interiors for T’a bistrot in Milan, and the Upper Hills development in Shenzhen, to furniture for Ceccotti and his own label Progetto Domestico. Last year, he opened a gallery in Milan, and launched a limited-edition series inspired by Beirut in collaboration with Carwan Gallery

Conny Freyer, Eva Rucki and Sebastien Noel formed Troika in 2003. Their installations blend techno-longing with video and interactive elements, and grace spaces from Heathrow’s T5 to major galleries. Recent work, like Dark Matter and Limits of a Known Territory (pictured), show a more brooding, sculptural side

The London-based Cypriot has taken his first proper dip into furniture this year, designing a sofa for SCP. Boasting a similar geometrical characteristic to his captivating lighting objects for Flos, the long-time Wallpaper* collaborator has shown he can master both delicate precision and a sturdy framework.

Woodgate has brought his pared-down sophistication to the likes of Cappellini and SCP. He drew international attention in 2008 with his ‘Surface’ table for Established & Sons, and in 2014 he crowdfunded his lighting brand to produce a collection optimised for LEDs, including the ‘Core’ pendant in translucent marble

Stefan Scholten and Carole Baijings epitomise Dutch design diversity, creating fabrics and furnishings in an eclectic array of forms and colours for the likes of Hay and Moooi. This year they have released their first book, Reproducing Scholten & Baijings (pictured), which takes us on a journey of their creative development

A graduate of Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Gilad is one of those rare designers able to work with ease across varying scales of output, from limited editions to mass production. He even managed to reinvent the showroom with an inspired and witty conversion for Molteni & C in Brianza.

Sam Hecht and Kim Colin founded their London studio in 2002 and have since turned conceiving the beautifully useful into an art form. Their reputation rests on creating a few simple product designs, with a twist, each year for the likes of Muji, Droog, Herman Miller, Issey Miyake, and Established & Sons

Tokyo-based interior designer Katayama is head of Japanese firm Wonderwall, which strides across the globe from one hi-tech Uniqlo store to another, creating art-cum-retail projects like Ginza’s Comme des Garçons store, and a chocolate-bar ceiling for the café at Meiji, Japan’s largest chocolate company, along the way

The enfant terrible of Italian product design is never happier than when he is pushing the boundaries of taste. Recent work includes a hyper-masculine headquarters for his beloved AC Milan football team (pictured) and a much instagrammed, model-kit installation for Tommy Hilfiger at Milan’s La Rinascente store.

Wanders’ work ranges from breakfast pieces for Alessi to upscale interiors for the Mondrian South Beach hotel. The studio recently opened an appointment-only gallery space at its HQ in Westerstraat, housing the Dutchman’s collectable designs (which will set you back the best part of $40,000 at auction)

Baas has parlayed a winning way with colour-impregnated clay into a design empire, under his own name and, since 2012, as part of the entity DH PH. Despite this, he’s not too kooky to win awards, create iPhone apps or see his ‘Grandfather Clock Veneer’ sold by Phillips de Pury & Company New York for over $134,000

Focusing on sustainability, and characterised by robust raw materials and expressive lines, Motta’s furniture celebrates the exuberant energy of his native Brazil, and speaks to his passion for surfing, yoga and nature. This autumn he marks the 40th year of his career with a retrospective at New York gallery Espasso.

Pictured with Leandro Massarelli, June 2010, W*135. 

Tokyo-based designer Yoshioka creates installations exploring balance and transparency for clients like Swarovski and Cartier, while products for Glas Italia and boutiques for Issey Miyake (pictured) take more substantial forms. This year he held his first solo exhibition in Kyushu, at the newly renovated Saga Prefectural Museum

Born in Israel, educated in Switzerland and based in Paris, Levy’s vast resumé of work spans lighting, jewellery, graphic design, furniture and packaging. This year he added something new to the list, working with bentwood for the first time in a collection produced for Salone for the Czech company TON. 

Pictured: W*109

An apprentice of Michele De Lucchi for more than 11 years, Nigro is barely 40 but has already won the Designer of the Year award at Maison & Objet and designed collections for the likes of Ligne Roset, De Padova and Hermès (pictured). For this year’s Salone he created the scenography for Japanese car company Lexus

From traditional cabinetmaker to sought-after product designer, Diez’s career ranges from hi-tech manufacturing all the way through to contemporary kit furniture. The German designer - pictured W*158 -  has created products for Thonet, Moroso, Established & Sons, Hay and Emu, all of which share his trademark pared-down precision

Italian architect and designer Thun’s progressive, sustainably luxurious interiors are taking over the civilised world. This year saw the launch of Matteo Thun Atelier, devoted to handcrafted design, with a collection in glass and ceramic, as well as an island resort in Venice for Marriott, designed inside and out by Thun, pictured here

For more than a decade, New York-based designer Burks has pursued his ongoing fascination with the transformative potential of design in emerging economies. This plus stellar work with brands such as Roche Bobois, Dedon, Ligne Roset, Boffi and Swarovski saw him rewarded with a prestigious Cooper Hewitt National Design Award this year

Navone spent her early career working with Italian design doyens such as Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendini. Her dedication to the craft of design is reflected in her lively work for brands ranging from Gervasoni and Crate & Barrel to Ercol, with whom she launched a seating collection this year, pictured here

A graduate of industrial design school ENSCI, Sempé - pictured here W*151 - is known for her versatility and lightness of touch. Since opening her studio in 2000, she has established long-term relationships with firms such as Ligne Roset and Wästberg. Her first cutlery collection, Collo-alto for Alessi, launched in Paris this year to rave reviews

Since his breakthrough in 2002 with the outlandish interiors for London restaurant Sketch, Duchaufour-Lawrance’s work has included identities for Air France and Yves Saint Laurent cosmetics, as well as furniture for Bernhardt Design and Ceccotti Collezioni, and lighting for Baccarat and Gaia & Gino.

Wired from the outset thanks to early chandelier collaborations with Ron Arad, Hussein Chalayan and Zaha Hadid, Waldemeyer’s work has tracked the LED’s rise as a source of entertainment. His technical background helps keep him on the cutting edge, with installations ranging from the wearable to the truly immersive

His latest monograph features a preface by Tom Ford and a forward by Zaha Hadid, but with a career that spans more than 60 years, the German-born Kagan has plenty of famous admirers to call upon. A prolific midcentury furniture designer with a sinuous style, this year he added a must-read blog to his many talents

Kitchen-design genius Wangen first turned heads with Boffi’s ‘K2’ monoblock, with a steel top that concealed the cooking system and slid out to become a dining table. He is currently reviving this own line with the minimalist ‘Forever’ kitchen, and he co-designed The Flushing Meadows Hotel & Bar, opened in Munich last year.

Hong Kong-based since 2006, Young has successfully married Chinese manufacturing capacity to his refined Old World design aesthetic. This combination is seen to best effect in his watch ranges, in his re-engineered Moke beach buggy and this year’s James Irvine-inspired ‘Chelsea Boy’ glass for WonderGlass.

Increasingly, the success of Jouin’s interior design agency JouinMankin is pulling him away from product design. His two-year refurbishment of a Saint-Lazare priory was shortlisted for a Wallpaper* Design Award, while the latest incarnation of his Rivea restaurant for Alain Ducasse opens in Las Vegas next month

Another year, another Red Dot award for Massaud, for a work chair and ottoman series for Coalesse. In recent years, the French designer has also completed some ambitious architectural projects and, for this year’s Salone, his first perfume as part of Brera’s Garden of Wonders exhibition (pictured)

The designs of Patrik Fredrikson and Ian Stallard sit in foyers, museums, stores, restaurants, hotels and private collections around the world, a sensuous fusion of form and rigour. At this year’s London Design Festival, the duo marked ten years since their first major collection with new pieces for David Gill Gallery, pictured here

The husband-and-wife team celebrated 21 years of their design partnership Palomba Serafini this year. The pair turn their hand to everything from lamps and bathtubs to super yachts, and recently completed the first standalone Kartell by Laufen showroom, in Milan, in part to showcase their own collection

Texan designer Hunt founded her eponymous company in 1984, and it went on to become one of America’s finest design brands, collaborating with the likes of Lindsey Adelman and Christian Astuguevieille. In 2014, Knoll acquired Holly Hunt enterprises for $95m, starting a new chapter in the history of the brand.

Pictured: 'Angelika’ sofa

Hutten set up his studio in 1991, joining the Droog collective two years later. His work follows a ‘no sign of design’ notion, making for functional objects permeated by a playful, conceptual attitude, and features in the permanent collections of museums such as the Stedelijk in Amsterdam and the Vitra Design Museum

Having worked as a model and bag designer for Raf Simons, Verheyden veered into home accessories in 2009 with his wife, Saartje Vereecke. His simple forms allow his rich materials to speak for themselves, and encourage users to appreciate the rituals of daily life. Collaborators include Joseph Dirand and Rick Owens.

Anglo-Indian duo Jonathan Levien and Nipa Doshi draw inspiration globally. Standout pieces include a cabinet for BD Barcelona that nods to the corrugated roofs of shanty dwellings and an armchair for Hay structured like a Japanese hand fan. They also rebranded cosmetics label Madina.

Pillet honed his skills with Michele de Lucchi and Philippe Starck before setting up his own studio. Along with curvaceous furnishings for the likes of Modus, Porro and Tacchini, he has also created sumptuous spaces for hotels in France (pictured is his makeover of Hotel Pullman Paris Eiffel Tower) and Morocco, and transformed Lancel’s retail presence around the world

Industrial designer Rasmussen is brand director at Neal Feay, which specialises in anodised aluminium creations. The firm has collaborated with the likes of Louis Vuitton, Dior and Design Miami, and most recently produced a digitalised ocean wave for this year’s London Design Festival at Somerset House, pictured

Working under the studio name Ora ïto, Ito Morabito has amassed a portfolio as substantive as that of any French designer. His re-imagining of the rooftop gym of Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse into art space MAMO made him the natural choice to design Cassina’s beautiful LC50 tribute to the architect for D’Days 2015 in Paris.

Having given Dutch Design capital letters, Droog has grown into a mini-empire. Co-founder Renny Ramakers opened the one-bedroom Hotel Droog concept in Amsterdam in 2012, a store and gallery in Hong Kong in 2013 and published an anthology last year. In 2015, her mini hardware store concept turned heads at Salone

Furniture is rarely as refined as that created by Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen, with their rigorously austere pieces evolving naturally out of their creative backgrounds (his in sculpture, hers in photography). A colourful furniture and lighting collection for London’s Viaduct gallery this year hinted at a future direction.

Grawunder worked with Ettore Sottsass before going solo in 2001. She designs installations, interiors and objects, as well as pieces for the likes of Glas Italia and Boffi. She has a light installation at Robert, at the Museum of Art and Design in New York, and has had solo shows at Paris’ Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

Gitta Gschwendtner’s ‘Chair Bench’, which unites six iconic chairs from different eras and matches up their tops and bottoms randomly, is emblematic of her experimental approach to furniture. She has also designed exhibitions and is contributing to a new cancer centre for Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London

Parisian legend Pergay (sitting on the far left) continues to create in her eighties. She defined hi-luxe design before the current generation was even born (Dior, Hermès, Pierre Cardin and Fendi were all early adopters), and her vast back catalogue of curvaceous stainless steel designs has never been more coveted on the international auction circuit

Founded in 2006, the studio of Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn creates poetic works that tap into technology and nature. The duo’s Shylight installation at the Rijksmuseum, pictured, is shortlisted for a Dutch Design Award, while their kinetic glass installation for this year’s Venice Art Biennale explored human’s desire to fly

A furniture collection for Arflex Japan saw the quintessentially luxe designer experimenting with high-tech modelling systems to elegant effect. A former head of visual communications for Louis Vuitton, he set up his studio in 2000, creating crisply detailed interiors for the likes of Tacchini, Glas Italia and Ethimo

The line-up might change more often than a 1970s prog rock band (the studio started as a foursome in 2004, became a trio in 2009, and turned duo in 2014) but the work continues to intrigue. They bring a strong playful sensibility to their designs, creating products for the likes of Moooi, Thonet, Kartell, Moroso and Porro

The radical oeuvre of Israeli-born Benshetrit includes the shattered and reassembled ‘Vase of Phases’ for Rosenthal, and the brilliantly plumed ‘Peacock Chair’ for Cappellini. He also created an island of luxury residences in Abu Dhabi, the chic SoHo Synagogue in Manhattan, and is venturing into skyscraper design

Craig Bassam and Scott Fellows are masters of understated luxury. Their eponymous furniture line unites modernist architectural principles and artisanal production, and they have also collaborated with Bally, Herman Miller and Geiger. The duo launched a lifestyle gallery in Milan last year, and recently introduced a clothing collection, pictured

Stylist and designer Toogood imagined two opposite set-ups at this year’s London Design Festival – a cloakroom containing 150 compressed foam coats at the V&A, pictured, and a redrafted drawing room at Somerset House. Her client list includes Hermès, Tom Dixon and Comme des Garçons

Crafted in copper, hand-blown glass, brass and knotted rope, Adelman’s lighting designs have evoked everything from celestial bodies to sea creatures. The Manhattanite takes a hands-on approach and this summer created a music video to showcase her latest collection

The Brazilian designer spent his formative years working with Sergio Rodrigues before opening his studio in 2011. Recently named Maison & Objet Americas Designer of the Year 2015, he works mainly in wood and metal, producing furniture for his eponymous brand. This year saw new pieces in wood for Espasso (pictured) and his first monograph

Chan set up lighting design studio Isometrix in 1984. With a rare grasp of lighting technology, he has enhanced spaces such as Georges at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, The Wolseley in London, The Gramercy Park Hotel in New York, pictured, and The Upper House in Hong Kong. Among his collaborators are Jean Nouvel and Zaha Hadid.

Borrowing from a medieval armour-making technique, RCA graduate Hasan developed an acclaimed furniture range in hardened leather, which then translated into a Wallpaper* Handmade project with Poltrona Frau and a mannequin project for Fendi. He has also collaborated with Kvadrat and British interiors brand Linley

French designer Matali Crasset’s showstopping offering at this year’s Salone was the mobile ‘Self-made’ seat for Campeggi, which reimagined the sofa as a series of individual modules that could be carried like suitcases. She followed that up with a tabletop set that included impossibly understated, sycamore plates

A pioneer in the integration of technology and domestic design, French designer Lehanneur was this year appointed head of the Paris-based Aesthetics Research Centre of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, the world’s third largest smartphone manufacturer. A 20-sided wireless speaker for Binauric was another 2015 coup.

Pictured: an otherworldly set for Audemars Piguet at Art Basel 2014

Making everyday objects special, Bergne’s hits include his ‘Dizzy’ glass, with a conical base that gives a spinning effect, and the stackable and infinitely adaptable ‘Square’ chair for Tog. His broad output also includes a hot milk service for culinary think-tank Milk Factory, and the torch for 2015’s first ever European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan

Alonso’s work (stackable steel cutlery for Italesse, reclaimed wood chairs for the V&A and folding tables for Cos and Hay) belie his intellectual design process. He creates products that are understated, poetic and functional, and was one of the winners of this year’s Swarovski Designers of the Future Award.

Midwesterner Bernett’s foray into design began with a chance encounter with Le Corbusier’s ‘LC4’. His ‘Metropolitan’ and ‘Tulip’ for B&B Italia, pictured, which pay homage to Ejnar Larsen and Eero Saarinen, are among the best selling chairs in the US. He has also worked for Cappellini, Ligne Roset and Design Within Reach

Marigold is best known for artfully awry shelves assembled from branches and crates, and metal homewares that take on wooden patterns. His eclectic client list ranges from Oyuna to Paul Smith and Sony, and recent work includes bowls and cups for Meissen, and galvanised steel shelving for SCP.

Pictured: Split series, 2007

Azambourg has put himself at the forefront of material technology with fibre-optic lamps for Galerie Kreo, a leather-and-foam briefcase for Hermès weighing only 700g, and seating for Cappellini created with the same techniques as Bugatti racing cars. He recently launched his own label, Auto-Edition

Bracher trained in New York and Copenhagen, led Tom Dixon’s design studio and was then creative director for Georg Jensen. Cindy Crawford’s beauty mark informed his ‘Tod’ table for Zanotta. Having lent his talents to Herman Miller, Humanscale and 3M, he is now lauded as the future of American design

Slovenian product and interior designer Zupanc’s work is witty, visually delightful and pristine. Her commissions include Moooi and Moroso, and her ongoing collaboration with Sè was unveiled in Milan last year and expanded with new pieces in 2015. She also has her own brand of precious and whimsical furniture

Willenz, who founded his Brussels studio in 2004, has an industrial, minimalist style, making him a favourite of Established & Sons, Cappellini and Hay. This year he worked with marble brand Retegui on a series of mirrors (pictured), shelves and accessories, and created bold, geometric rugs for Ligne Roset, Menu and Nodus

Vivid colour is the signature of Italian designer Lenti, who founded her eponymous company in 1994 after training in graphics. Cheerful forms and high-tech fabrics (often designed in-house) have made her one of the most sought-after names in garden furniture. She has just released a line of rugs with Maharam

De la Fontaine trained with Richard Sapper and worked with Piero Lissoni and Patricia Urquiola before founding design collective Dante-Goods and Bads with his wife Aylin Langreuter in 2012 (pictured is a table from the brand). He has also worked for Rosenthal, among others, for whom his timeless ‘Format’ collection remains a best seller

Stockholm-based Italian designer Nichetto has worked for a host of major brands. His impressive 2015 output includes the ‘Nick’ bed for Molteni & C (pictured), the ‘Plass’ light for Foscarini and silvered-glass side tables for Verreum, all shown in Milan, plus an installation of new lamps for Swedish company Hem at the London Design Festival

Park’s poetic pieces are crafted from slabs of translucent resin, tinged in block colours and seamlessly joined, providing a thoughtful meditation on purity and ambiguity. The South Korean designer splits his time between Rotterdam and Paris, where he recently had a solo show at Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery, pictured

Precisely 90 years ago, Le Corbusier debuted his ground-breaking Pavillon de L'Espirit Nouveau at the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs, best known for Art Deco masters such as Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann. At the time, the architect’s cube-shaped housing unit distinguished by stark white walls and an open floor plan sparked considerable outrage. Now, in tribute to Corb’s visionary project, the Swiss Institute is staging 'PAVILLON de l'Espirit Nouveau: a 21st century show home', referencing his revolutionary approach through the eyes of more than 30 cutting-edge global architects and designers.

The show is curated by architect Felix Burrichter, the founder of Pin-Up magazine, who anchored the project within the Soho Swiss Institute’s stylish two-storey quarters, once the home of Jeffrey Deitch’s gallery.

‘I’ve created an environment that expands on Le Corbusier’s setting but rather speaks of our age with a pronounced emphasis on both escapism and surveillance,’ explains Burrichter. Architect Shawn Maximo designed the exhibition, bringing in 12 surveillance cameras that capture the gallery visitor walking through the show. They can even be found perching on actual pieces of design: from Max Lamb’s coffee table composed of marble scraps set in resin; to Piero Lissoni and Paul Kopkau's Carbon Frog Chair; and Ifeanyi Oganwu's sleek stainless steel shelving.

‘As to the design, all it was produced in the past 15 years,’ notes Burrichter who commissioned work by Josh Bitelli and Bethan Laura Wood. Other designers include Jasper Morrison and Joris Laarman, plus a host of new names.

Yes, standard domestic spaces like the bedroom and kitchen fill the gallery but Maximo ramped up the stakes when he created a ‘Power Room’ complete with a climbing wall made up of Josh Bitelli’s silvery mirrored glass chunks.

The Swiss Institute director Simon Castets best sums up this creative endeavor. ‘As to totality, Felix’s creation is about stepping into the future while blurring the lines of reality and fantasy,’ he says. So if you’re hankering to take in an immersive experience with interiors and design of the moment, the Institute is place to go.

INFORMATION

‘PAVILLON de l’Espirit Nouveau: a 21st century show home’ is on view until 8 November

Photography courtesy of l'Espirit Nouveau

ADDRESS

Swiss Institute
18 Wooster Street
New York, NY 10013

TELEPHONE

1212 925 2035

As we share, like, tweet, read and occasionally call from our mobile devices, Petter Neby, the enthusiastic Norwegian founder of Punkt – a small, design-led electronics company based in Switzerland – wants us to try to remember life before smartphones. Back when a mobile phone was used for calling and texting, not checking emails, bank balances or Instagram feeds. A time before unplugging and digital detoxes became buzzwords for something hugely needed but a little bit naughty – something we only really do on holiday. A time before unavailability became a luxury. ‘It wasn’t that bloody long ago,’ says Neby, ‘and it was bloody nice.’

Enters Punkt’s latest product, the ‘MP 01’, which hopes to offer conscious consumers an alternative to the relentless smartphone way of life. Due to be released in September, it is a mobile phone in the simplest sense of the term, with an irresistibly compact and refined design imagined by Punkt’s artistic director, Jasper Morrison. Think basic telephony, SMS and contact capabilities, and little else. No internet, no touchscreen, no camera, no frills.

‘As you can see, the ‘MP 01’ is very un-smartphone,’ notes Morrison, whose commentary is known to be as succinct as his designs. ‘Petter’s thinking is very much that the world has enough confusing products, and we should concentrate on these very simple ones. I think that’s not a bad line to take – to refer back to slightly older objects and give them a new life.’

Neby is quick to underscore that the ambition, however, is hardly to create something nostalgic. Rather, Punkt’s aim is to solve a very modern problem, and ‘tame technology’. Previously, Morrison worked with Punkt on a cordless phone and an analogue alarm clock, which have both enjoyed success, confirming Neby’s suspicion that there are still consumers who, like him, appreciate single-function objects that serve distinct purposes and believe that our smartphones don’t need to come to bed with us.

And yet, by and large, they do. According to Deloitte’s Mobile Consumer 2014 report, more than two in three UK adults have a smartphone. Roughly a third of them look at their phone within five minutes of waking and almost half within 15 minutes. Today, about one in six UK adults who owns a smartphone looks at their phone more than 50 times a day. Statistics across Europe and beyond aren’t dissimilar.

Neby hopes to help consumers make a change. The ‘MP 01’ will have excellent call quality and reception, and an extended battery life that lasts for days. The idea is not to create another disposable device, but to offer an enduring design that Neby estimates, could last some seven years before it needs a simple battery change. Punkt’s philosophy is about being contactable on your own terms, about having the option to have a conversation when needed, rather than having it pushed on you. Neby explains, ‘The smartphone is a fantastic, incredible computer, and the phone is just an accidental part of that today, and is only becoming more so,’ he says. When he takes along a simple phone like the ‘MP 01’, however, distractions are minimised, obligations put in perspective, and focus restored. ‘What we are really trying to do here is to make the mobile phone a product that captures a set of beliefs about switching off and considers privacy concerns.’ Indeed, it becomes clear that Punkt’s philosophy is as much about selling a mindset as it is a handset.

The phone’s added value comes from subtracting features. In effect, Punkt is asking customers to spend more (the phone will retail for around £249) on simplicity – which might feel counter-intuitive to many in a forward-looking technology marketplace. Neby compares it to buying a sandwich. If a low-cost mobile phone is a supermarket ham and cheese sandwich on white bread, the ‘MP 01’ is a prosciutto, mozzarella and rocket panino from the organic deli. The Punkt customer doesn’t buy without consideration – they are after something more specific that appeals to their values, and captures their way of life.

To be sure, Punkt plays to a niche, design-focused audience. Its main target groups are divided into three: secondary mobile phone users; the ‘hardcore switch-off community’; and the majority of users, those who are slowly realising that they spend way too much time on their smartphones.

‘To date, we have operated in a niche world, but this project wants to be a little bit broader,’ says Neby. ‘We would love to engage in a wider dialogue here, and transmit a message about taking back ownership of how you spend your time and energy. There is an absolute certainty in my mind that we need to change.’ Neby compares us all to hyperactive kids in a candy shop, overindulging and not knowing when to stop. ‘Technology is an incredible thing,’ he says, ‘but we need to be more conscious of how we bring it into our private lives; we need to learn when to stop.’ To learn to switch off, and enjoy just how bloody good it feels.

As originally featured in the June 2015 edition of Wallpaper* (W*195)

Keen to showcase the marvellous marriage of craftsmanship and design that is Jasper Morrison’s new ‘Alfi’ seating range for Emeco, we not only teamed them up again to produce a special version of the ‘Alfi’ chair for Wallpaper* Handmade, we also invited the American furniture manufacturer’s stellar metal worker, Josh Fisher, to manufacture it live at our exhibition in Milan during Salone del Mobile this April.

The ‘Alfi’ collection – a chair, two stools and a three-seater bench – is based around Emeco and Morrison’s shared belief that what you don’t see is as important as what you do see. It embodies the hidden qualities of comfort, responsible materials and humble design. Strengthening Emeco’s commitment to sustainability, the seats – available in a restrained palette of brown, green, sand, red and grey – are made of reclaimed industrial waste (a combination of polypropylene and wood fibre), while the bases are crafted from ash wood. An elliptical hole makes for easy carrying.

For our Wallpaper* one-off, Fisher was to produce a 100 per cent handmade ‘Alfi’ chair with a seat in recycled aluminium – a perfect example of Emeco’s craft capabilities and the design’s adaptability. The metalworker’s manufacturing nous, combined with his passion for everything handmade (as evidenced by the tattoo spelling the word on his knuckles) made him a fitting ambassador for Wallpaper* Handmade. It was the first time in Emeco’s 70-year history that one of its craftsmen had travelled from its Hanover, Pennsylvania, factory to demonstrate the fine art of Emeco chair-making. The metalwork processes on show included cutting metal sheets, bending and curving them, panel beating, welding, grinding down the welds to perfection, sanding the metal surface, hand polishing the surface and heat treating – all demonstrated at a daily performance during the Wallpaper* Handmade exhibition that made the chair come to life before our visitors’ eyes.

Now, precision-panel-beating a piece of aluminium into a Handmade masterpiece in front of a demanding and informed audience is no picnic. So we thought it only fair – and fitting, given the gastronomic theme of this year’s exhibition – to extend the reach of this collaboration and feed Mr Fisher. To create a Panel Beater’s Picnic, we turned to London’s St John, Morrison’s favourite restaurant, home of nose-to-tail eating and an institution that shares Emeco and Handmade’s values of considered materials and production. St John’s founder, chef Fergus Henderson, concocted a suitable meal. His recipe featured the restaurant’s signature ingredient, bone marrow, as the topping for a classic pizza. And while Fisher was hard at work hand-producing the chair, Arnold Hoeksma, sous chef at St John’s original Smithfield base, cooked the pizza for our team, visitors, passers-by and, of course, for Fisher himself.

As originally featured in the August 2015 edition of Wallpaper* (W*197)

His recipe featured the restaurant’s signature ingredient, bone marrow, as the topping for a classic pizza; while Fisher was working hard on the chair, Arnold Hoeksma, sous chef at St John’s, cooked the pizza for our team, visitors, and, of course, for Fisher himself. 

Ever restless, Wallpaper* Handmade upped its perfectly proportioned sticks again this year, installing itself (well, we helped) in a semi-retired stretch of Milanese store fronts to create the Wallpaper* Arcade. We were determined that this year's Handmade event be the biggest, best and most bountiful yet. And so it was; not least our opening bash, now well established as Salone's swingingest party.

This year we were joined by Tom Dixon, Patricia Urquiola, Konstantin Grcic, Philippe Malouin, Maurizio Cattelan and many other luminaries who enjoyed the more interactive elements of this year's exhibition: including the Wallpaper* nail bar; live hair styling by the legendary Jimo Salako; and the remarkable 'Rotunda Seronita' snack bar, dispensing not only savoury treats but their own handmade cherry wood trays.

Of course, such scale and ambition does not come easy and we again have to thank the many friends, old and new, who provided invaluable assistance and supplies. The champagne flowed freely thanks to Veuve Clicquot, whose Re-creation Awards installation of re-imagined mail boxes proved a particular favourite, while Royal Salute served wonderful whisky at their remarkable 'Neolithic' bar, designed by Studio Mackereth and crafted by Jack Badger. The highest-grade grappa came courtesy of Nonino (try saying that after a few glasses) whilst beer was supplied by San Miguel (summer in a bottle as far we're concerned).

Given this year's culinary theme, the catering had to impress and we served up a monumental stretch of Italian favourites, including generous dollops of organic panettone gelato from local favourites, Grom. We also flew in St John sous chef Arnold Hoeksma who cooked up bone marrow pizza at the Emeco space while the young craftsmen Josh Fisher bent, beat and shaped metal into unique editions of Jasper Morrison's 'Alfi' chair.

The Wallpaper* Arcade – a collaborative effort in the best tradition of Handmade – was brightened by Kvadrat's spectacular multi-colour colonnade as well as the multidisciplinary delights of d3 Dubai Design District; the contemporary crafted carpets of AfghanMade; and Gufram's prickly pop-up lounge.

Finally, a huge thank you to the event sponsors, Veuve Clicquot, Hästens and Monoqi Business, and, of course, Leclettico's Claudio Loria, whose ambition and drive matches our own.

Michelin-starred chef Carlo Cracco and art director Tanja Solci have joined forces to create Carlo e Camilla in Segheria, the latest addition to Milan's fertile restaurant scene, housed in a defunct sawmill acquired by Solci's grandparents in the 1930s. The soaring structure's brick and raw cement bones give the space a pared back, industrial look - a foil for the otherwise super-polished dining experience. Designed by Solci, the interior features two long cross-configuration tables that seat 65 in a communal arrangement, plus antique chandeliers, Richard Ginori tableware and Cappellini chairs (including Jasper Morrison's 'Tate Colour' and AG Fronzoni's 'Fronzoni 1964'). Pieces by Ron Arad and Ross Lovegrove - part of Solci's personal collection - animate the indoor space as well as the garden. The food is top tier, but wrung of the pretension that swirls around Cracco's other Milanese establishment. Here, the mood is cool, and there is just as much reason to come for an excellent aperetif or dopocena as there is for the delicious dinners.

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

Via Giuseppe Meda
24
20136
Milan

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Raw-Edges
Israeli product designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay (partners in life as well as work) launched their studio Raw-Edges in 2007 having met at London’s Royal College of Art. Established as part of OKAY Studio, a collective of nine designers in Stoke Newington, Raw-Edges recently moved to Stuttgart, where they continue to attract phenomenal attention worldwide with their experimental, playful approach to the design of furniture, systems and things

What are you doing in Milan this year?
We will be showing Jaws - a new, very exciting project with Established & Sons; Box - a collapsible laptop desk with Dutch manufacturer Arco; Tex, for Mutina, which is a new tile collection with a texture stolen from a textile we found; and finally Selvedge - an armchair prototype for Kvadrat’s Hallingdal 65 exhibition

What are you most looking forward to seeing?
To be truly honest, and without wanting to seem too self-centred we are really looking forward to seeing our own projects finished. We worked on all of them for long time and we won’t see the final versions before Salone. And then of course we are looking forward to meeting our friends that we haven’t seen so much of since moving to Stuttgart

What would be your top tip of where to eat/drink/stay in Milan during Salone week?
Grom Ice Cream (try the Fior de Latte), Corso Buenos Aires, 13

And your top Milanese souvenir to bring back?
There is a fantastic small electric shop for lighting in Corso Como with a great selection of coloured electric cables. We try to pass by and get few meters even if we don’t have specific project in mind

What’s the most useful Italian phrase during Salone week?
Scusate, dove si trova la più gustosa pizza in città? (Excuse me, where can I find the most delicious pizza in town?)

Interview: Henrietta Thompson

Jasper Morrison
Jasper Morrison has been on the Salone circuit for longer than we can remember. The granddaddy of soulful minimalism, Morrison is the designer every other designer name checks. He has worked for all the big guns, from Vitra and Alessi to the Tate Modern.

What are you doing in Milan this year?
The biggest new project is for Kettal, the Spanish outdoor furniture company. It's a complete outdoor collection, which has been three years in the making. Then I have some continuation projects for Vitra, Alias and Maruni; a new project of cast iron cookware for the Japanese company Oigen; new pieces for Glas Italia and a sofa system for Cappellini.

What are you most looking forward to seeing?
The finished pieces!

What would be your top tip of where to eat/drink/stay in Milan during Salone week?
I like La Collina Pistoiese on Via Amedei very much and Bar Basso [Via Plinio] of course. Hotels are more difficult, I gave up looking some years ago and found a small studio to rent.

And your top Milanese souvenir to bring back?
A photo on the roof of the duomo?

What's the most useful Italian phrase during Salone week?
Scusami (sorry).....

Interview: Malaika Byng

Inga Sempé
One of France’s most wanted designers, Inga Sempé set up her own studio in Paris in 2000, from where she now effortlessly juggles an international client list that includes Baccarat, Cappellini, Edra, Ligne Roset, Magis, Moustache and Wästberg, among many others

What are you doing in Milan this year?
I’m not showing a lot: some ceramics made with an historical Japanese ceramic company, Koubei-Gama, for a project called Japan Creative; and some small objects to be screwed directly onto the wall, made in Corian with Moustache - including small round shelves, a vase and a bowl

What are you most looking forward to seeing?
I look forward seeing the new lamp by Daniel Rybakken for LucePlan

What would be your top tip of where to eat/drink/stay in Milan during Salone week?
I think in Milan, in Italy, it is quite simple - eating a simple sandwich is almost always good, it can be filled with good ingredients yet won’t be expensive. And then eating an ice cream is not expensive either, and it’s delicious

And your top Milanese souvenir to bring back?
I love the boxes with integrated spoons for the powder sugar in every bar

What’s the most useful Italian phrase during Salone week?
Quando entrerà in produzione? (When is this going into production?)

HT
Photograph: Kristina Hrabetova

Philippe Malouin
The fact that you can find the designs of London-based Canadian designer Philippe Malouin in such hallowed spaces as Gallery Fumi (London), Spazio Rossana Orlandi (Milan), Commissaires (Montreal), NextLevel (Paris) and Carwan (Beirut) would suggest that he is doing something very right. A glance at his sensitive, sophisticated portfolio of products and furniture would confirm the fact

What are you doing in Milan this year?
I am showing a project called ‘Intarsia & Lathe’ for Carwan gallery, in which wood is sliced into very thin baguettes, glued and assembled into intarsia patterns, then lathe-turned to create bowls, stools and tables. Everything was made in Beirut, working with local craftsmen. I am also showing a wall hanging at Plus Design Gallery for a group exhibit called ‘The Threads That Bind Us’; and a sundial at the exhibit ‘Another Terra’. I’m also showing in Kvadrat’s Hallingdal 65 exhibition

What are you most looking forward to seeing?
I’m looking forward to seeing Lake Como when I take a little time off from appointments and seeing new bits of furniture

What would be your top tip of where to eat/drink/stay in Milan during Salone week?
I’ve rented a nice flat this year, all to myself. It’s pretty neat as it’s the first time. All the years in the past I would sleep on my friend’s places, floors and bathtubs... As for where to have a drink, I really like the garden at 10 Corso Como... And to eat, I like any traditional unfancy trattorias you can find pretty much anywhere

And your top Milanese souvenir to bring back?
Definitely food. Olive oil, parmesan cheese and salami. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it’s so much better than anything you can find here

What’s the most useful Italian phrase during Salone week?
Dove posso trovare il bar? (Where can I find the bar?)

HT

Kiki Van Eijk
Kiki van Eijk graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2001, and in the decade that has followed, she has presented and sold her thoughtful, beautiful collections all over the world. Sharing a studio and often collaborating with her husband Joost Van Bleiswijk, her clients include Studio Edelkoort Paris, Verardo, Swarovski, MOOOI, Ahrend, HAANS and Woonic

What are you doing in Milan this year?
I have five different presentations, which I’m really looking forward to. One is eight exceptional windows for the Hermès shop at via Sant’andrea/ della Spiga. It is all inspired by their theme for this year: ‘The Gift of Time’. I’m also really curious to see the presentation of Nodus (in a beautiful building), were I am showing three new carpets. They are handknotted and made of only natural materials, representing a very natural idea - wild flowers. This type of flower, which grows in the gaps between concrete, is often underappreciated. At Superstudio Piu I have a presentation of designs for industrial glass panels by Omnidecor. At Ventura Lambrate I’m showing a kinetic object which is a collaboration with Joost for Laikingland. And last but not least there will be a small intimate presentation of my works at the Dutch consulate. So my work is spread all over the city!

What are you most looking forward to seeing?
I’m really curious to see the Nodus presentation; the carpets will be shown in a stunning religious building. I feel this must be very special

What would be your top tip of where to eat/drink/stay in Milan during Salone week?
I guess the bar of Maarten Baas and Bas den Herder on Via Ventura 6, Ventura Lambrate!

And your top Milanese souvenir to bring back?
Burrata! The most delicious cheese in the world. This cheese really makes your day…or even your life

What’s the most useful Italian phrase during Salone week?
Una caffe doppio per favor! (A double coffee please!)

HT

Peter Marigold
We've long been fans of London-based Peter Marigold's sculptural approach to design - a sentiment that even a rather lively exchange with Wallpaper* staff at the 2010 Salone hasn't dimmed. The RCA graduate (tutored by Ron Arad, no less) is a man in demand. His work has been shown every from London's V&A Museum, to the Design Musuem Holon.

What are you doing at Salone this year?
For Wallpaper* Handmade, I have been teamed up with the Danish company Lindberg, who make titanium glasses. After visiting their factory I decided to make a large titanium clip-together lighting system. It’s been really great working with them. For the Japan Creative exhibition at Museo Minguzzi, I have been teamed up with the highly respected furniture company Hinoki-Kogei, who have made a beautiful interpretation of one of my designs by splitting huge logs into two. These form a large bench that has an intricate grass and wood seating cover

What are you most looking forward to seeing?
My lovely elderly aunty who I stay with. Thereafter I just want to get home to my new baby boy as soon as possible. God that’s a bit tame isn’t it?
 Oh, and the big machine installation at Gap next to the Duomo should be pretty cool...

What would be your top tip of where to eat/drink/stay in Milan during Salone week?
After getting into a brawl in Bar Basso with [insert names] a couple of years ago, I’m not really on the drinking circuit so much anymore, though the pizza place opposite usually has a fine selection of canned beers at a fraction of the price of its packed neighbour (sorry Maurizio). To stay? Well I stay with my lovely Aunty Ruth, handily next to the Trienalle. But for anyone else I would suggest trying out Couchsurfing.org, if only for the experience. There’s all sorts of people offering spaces all over the world

And your top Milanese souvenir to bring back?
The most incredibly beautiful, handmade fishing flies from the small fishing store next to Lambrate station. Way too beautiful to be fed to a fish for sure! I collect more and more of them each year. There’s also a really amazing electrical shop opposite Corso Como Diece. I buy ceramic insulation knobs from there, just because they are sweet

What's the most useful Italian phrase during Salone week?
Sai chi sono io? (Do you know who I am?) To be spoken with forceful confidence when addressing to the doorman

MB

Piero Lissoni
Piero Lissoni is on a sure-shot path to being named the most prolific designer during the Salone del Mobile. This year, the Milan-based architect has designed new products for 11 separate companies, created five different installations, and is taking part in three exhibitions, and one book launch. Frankly, we’re not sure how he’s going to manage to show up to his own events. Certainly, his favourite phrase of the week comes as no surprise...

What are you doing at Salone this year?
[Lissoni provided us such a mega list, we have condensed it for you.]
I have new products and installations for Boffi, Cassina, Living Divani, Nespresso and Porro; new products for Matteograssi, Pierantonio Bonacina, Lema, Kartell, Glas Italia, Salvatori.  Then there is the ‘Piero Lissoni Behind the Scenes’ exhibition at the Teatro Nazionale, plus I am participating in Flos’ 50th anniversary, the photography show ‘Future Roots’ and I have contributed drawings for the book ‘Chef Meets Design’.

What are you most looking forward to seeing?
The last day of it

What would be your top tip of where to eat/drink/stay/ shop in Milan during Salone week?
Davide Oldani D’O Restaurant: A beautifully calm environment, with elegant country food. Via Magenta 18, Cornaredo, (near Milan)

La Latteria: A very small, family restaurant where it’s not possible to book in advance and – no matter who you are – you have to queue! They serve traditional Italian food, cooked correctly: it’s like eating in your mother’s kitchen
Via San Marco, 24

Pinacoteca Ambrosiana: Leonardo da Vinci drawings collection
Piazza Pio XI 2

Prada Shop: It’s much more traditional than the other Prada shops - and very Milanese.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele

Radetzky: My favourite bar, for a really Italian breakfast: cappuccino, sparkling water, fresh croissants, carrot or apple tart. I enjoy reading the newspapers here, and meeting friends
Largo La Foppa, 5

120% Lino: It’s full of inspiration in terms of colour, materials and decoration
Corso Garibaldi angolo Via Marsala, 13

Libreria Utopia: The extremist and anarchic bookstore, where you can find little treasures for your mind
Via Moscova, 52

Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli:
I go to the park from my office with my three golden retrievers. There is a beautiful old Natural History Museum that is worth a visit
da corso Venezia a Via Palestro

And your top Milanese souvenir to bring back?
One kilo of carnaroli rice and a pack of Italian saffron to prepare the perfect Risotto alla Milanese

What's the most useful Italian phrase during Salone week?
Ci vediamo fra dieci minuti ( I’ll see you in 10 minutes). But it ends up with seeing each other the following day

Interview: J.J. Martin

Luca Nichetto
One of Italy’s most sought after new designers, Venetian Luca Nichetto cut his professional teeth designing glass for Murano as soon as he graduated, and it was only a few years later that he founded his own industrial and product design studio in 2006. Nichetto can also regularly be found teaching and lecturing at universities both in Italy and abroad

What are you doing in Milan this year?
This year I am presenting a wide range of different projects like furniture, lamps, wellness space and home/office accessories. Some are the result of new international collaborations with Cassina, De Padova, Petite Friture, La Chance, Discipline, Glass Idromassaggio and David Design, and some projects reaffirm previous collaborations with Foscarini, Established & Sons, Casamania, MG Lab, Gallotti & Radice and Fornasarig. There are about 20 new products - a lot of work! I have also curated the exhibition for Fornasarig, MG Lab, and the Meet in Milan Franke Kitchen Story

What are you most looking forward to seeing?
I’d like to see a bit less ‘smoke’ than last year. I mean: last year I felt that everything was fake, I had the feeling that every company was in Milan but showing nothing really new, only there because you can’t miss Milan Design week. So I saw a lot of things, but only very few were interesting. I hope to see maybe less products, but more real design and good design

What would be your top tip of where to eat/drink/stay in Milan during Salone week?
When I’m in Milan I rent a flat for me and my team, both the Venetian and the Swedish parts of it. So I move the Studio to Milan for about 10 days. I think this is the best way to live the Salone. I have lunch wherever I am for my meetings, but during the night it’s Bar Basso. I know that every night I can find a lot of my friends/collegues there and relax after a working day with a Negroni in may hand

And your top Milanese souvenir to bring back?
A friend of mine, Giulio Lacchetti, designed a funny object for Pandora: it’s the BYEBYEFLY fly-swatter. It’s funny because the net is the roadmap of Milan. I think this is a good souvenir of the city

What’s the most useful Italian phrase during Salone week?
Hey, non sono un turista: non fare il giro della città per guadagnare di più! (Hey, I’m not a tourist: don’t make a tour of the city to earn more!) Use this with Milan taxi drivers during the Salone week

HT

Matali Crasset
The bob-haired French industrial designer, and former protégé of Philippe Starck, opened her own studio in 1998. Her colourful oeuvre spans everything from furniture and graphics to scenography and interior architecture.

What are you doing at Salone this year?
'Ondulations', an outdoor furniture collection in stone for Pimar; 'Doublesize', a flexible table that was designed to accompany the 'Doublesize' chairs for Danese; 'Sweet Talk and Dream', a modular piece that can be used as a small reading chair, play area or spare bed, and was designed for Campeggi; and 'Parabola', a writing desk for Galleria Luisa delle Piane, a gallery that will also present the Matali Crasset Works monograph published by Rizzoli

What would be your top tip of where to eat/drink/stay in Milan during Salone week?
The Bistro' on via Tortona, Antica Locanda Solferino on Via Castelfidardo and the Trattoria Alla Cucina Economica on Via Francesco Guicciardini

And your top Milanese souvenir to bring back?
Anything from the Cibo and Speck delicatessens.

What's the most useful Italian phrase during Salone week?
Ciao (Hello)

MB

Martin Azua
Barcelona based Martin Azua is perhaps best known for his inflatable, foldable gold house, a product that spread across the internet like wild fire as soon as he launched it, and which was recently acquired for the MOMA collection in New York. But Azua’s remit extends a little further than spangly tents: he also designed medals for Barcelona’s World Swimming Championships and packaged Madrid’s recent Olympic bid too

What are you doing in Milan this year?
I will take part in the exhibition Kvadrat Hallingdal 65 exhibition, with The Puppet Chair. Also I will be presenting a collection of bentwood chairs for the Spanish firm Tagar

What are you most looking forward to seeing?
I hope to see designs that respond to a range of issues arising from the crisis. These will likely come from young designers who often provide the most interesting ideas

What would be your top tip of where to eat/drink/stay in Milan during Salone week?
I like to eat a salad in the garden of the Triennale, on via Emilio Alemagna, 6

And your top Milanese souvenir to bring back?
Some years ago I started to collect bowls, a common item to all cultures. I’ll be looking for a bowl that expresses our present time

What’s the most useful Italian phrase during Salone week?
Se non è vero, è ben trovato (Even if it’s not true, it’s well conceived). An Italian proverb

HT