Light filters softly into the stone entrance of an old Kyoto townhouse where Michael Anastassiades stands in front of his new creation: five thin glass tubes rise from a narrow wood base, their illuminated filaments forming a circle – just like the sun above the horizon.

'Light is the base of everything,' says Anastassiades, the Cypriot-born, London-based designer. 'Everything starts from a glow. It’s the first thing I think about before I make or design. It's always the starting point.'

This philosophy shapes 'From Warm Yellow to Saturated Red', Anastassiades’ exhibition at Taka Ishii Gallery Kyoto, where his new works – lighting, sculptural objects, seating – are harmonised with the stillness of a 150-year-old machiya, or townhouse.

Sunset – the fleeting intensity of its scattered light, the precision of its deepening shades – is the creative inspiration behind his first solo exhibition in Kyoto. Anastassiades’ objects glow quietly in a play of light and shadows inside the traditional interior – among tatami-lined spaces, paper screens, textured soil walls, high timber rafters, an old storehouse and courtyard gardens framing patches of sky.

Elemental, light and pared-back in form, his works balance precision with poetry, through a mix of cultural influences – Japanese bamboo, Greek island stones, Icelandic fishing knots, Egyptian stools, Cypriot textiles.

A key protagonist in the exhibition is his series of ‘Sunset’ lamps. The first, with a fully lit ‘sun’, is positioned in the stone entrance – and as the exhibition deepens inside the machiya, the 'sun' in each work is positioned a little lower, mirroring its descent into the horizon.

Dynamic vertical lights are also crafted from Japanese bamboo, knotted with linen thread used by Icelandic fishermen; alongside two triangular wood stools with clean curves and pointed edges; and hand-patinated bronze objects, from thorns to stones, laid on handwoven textiles by Cypriot artist Joanna Louca.

The exhibition marks something of a new creative chapter for Anastassiades, opening shortly after he announced plans to close his eponymous lighting brand after nearly 20 years, to focus more deeply on creative projects.

Here, Anastassiades shares his thoughts on sunsets and stones, fishermen’s knots and filters, while taking Wallpaper* on a private tour of his new exhibition.

Michael Anastassiades in Kyoto: interview

W*: Tell me about the sun.

MA: This exhibition is about a very specific time of day, when the sun is setting. Interesting, intense moments. I’ve made a series of sunset light pieces. This one at the entrance is a whole circle of lights – and as you progress through the gallery spaces, the light goes down to the middle of the horizon, like the sun setting. The lights are super-thin – maybe 4mm with a very, very fine LED. These are one-off pieces. To me, these objects are sketches. Drawings. Improvisations.

W*: Standing inside the machiya entrance, I can see a row of stones in a tatami space. Tell me about these.

MA: I’ve always been fascinated with natural stones. These are 25 bronze casts from my collection of stones, which I’ve collected since I was a teenager. I have a huge collection of stones. These are from the Greek island of Kefalonia. I collected them when I was 20 or 21, from a cove in a special bay. I revisited that bay 30 years later – I asked a fisherman to take me to this cove. There were probably 30 different coves, but we got there – and found more stones.

W*: Why stones – and why casts?

MA: These are not the found objects: it’s the whole idea of creating something. I’m fascinated with the role of nature as a designer. They look almost perfectly spherical, like eggs. They were found that way. It’s the idea that nature is able to create this perfect shape.

W*: What about this ‘Bamboo’ light upstairs?

MA: I used Japanese bamboo and black linen thread with a knotting technique used by Icelandic fishermen, holding the metal brackets. The bulbs are the only technological bit. For my brand, I have a lamp called ‘Take’, made of bamboo. It’s interesting to see the evolution here: the other one is very much an industrial product – but this has a handmade feel. The cables on the floor are part of the piece.

W*: What inspires the verticality in your work?

MA: It is part of the language that I’ve used for a very long time. I have been completely fascinated with linear sources of light, ever since the first pieces I made commercially – the ‘Tube’ chandelier. That was very much based on the incandescent bulb. Of course, many people used this in the past, especially the famous Eileen Gray [for her] floor lamp – I was fascinated with these bulbs for a long time. And then, as soon as I started using them, they stopped making them. About 15 years down the line, I decided to make my own bulbs – so I had these made specifically.

W*: There’s such a softness in the light.

MA: The temperature, the colour – everything about it is so carefully chosen. It is not a random piece. It is very much a warm light. The glow is so fundamental, as part of the design of the fixture. It can completely transform how something is perceived.

W*: Why lights – what’s the seed of your desire to express light?

MA: I think we’re all drawn to light in some way or another. I’ve been attracted to light for a very long time. It’s part of the human instinct. From very early civilisations, people worshipped glowing things – the sun, the moon, meteorites, fire. Why did I decide to focus on light? Because I decided I needed to focus on something when I started my brand. I found myself making more and more lights and then eventually working with companies, especially Flos.

W*: In this space, the lights feel almost sacred.

MA: They are meditative objects for sure. If you put things in a certain brightness, you have to be really sensitive with how you want things to be seen. In this context, the house, it had to be this way, it could not be different. Even the choice of materials and selections – it’s all designed around these intimate spaces.

W*: Tell me about the stools.

MA: They’re made from Oregon pine – it’s the first time I’ve used this material. I made three stools before with the same scale, using basalt, so they had a very different energy. I thought wood would be more suitable for this house.

W*: Such clean curves and points. Why this shape?

MA: I’m very much inspired by Egyptian stools, where the corners are elevated, although they’re normally square. This is triangular because I wanted to make a dialogue with the two bronze ‘Thorn’ pieces, on the walls. The stools are quite welcoming, even though they have a presence that says don’t sit.

W*: And another ‘Sunset’ lamp in an alcove?

MA: Here, the sun is almost disappearing – the time between the bottom of the sun touching the horizon and the sun disappearing. All these sunsets are familiar in a sense. We have all watched so many sunsets. Somehow, you can relate to them.

W*: Tell me about the bamboo light screen in the kura storehouse.

MA: To me, it is about filter. The sensation of when something catches your eye without necessarily looking at it directly – from the tip of your eye, you catch a movement. This is what these screens are for me. They are filtering this idea, this play of light, this linear thing that we pass through. This light is part of a series of two screens, designed for this space. It just fitted.

W*: Do you see the sun as a metaphor?

MA: To me, it’s not really a metaphor: it is something that no matter how many times you see it or experience it, every time is unique. Plus it is responsible for how we experience life, the way we experience light.

W*: Was the exhibition inspired by a particular sunset moment?

MA: Not one particular sunset. You know, when you work so much, it is so rare when you can catch the light, catch the sunset. In recent years, I’ve been going to a small Greek island between Rhodes and Cyprus. Now I’m building a house to spend more time there. It’s a place where I can pause. Every evening, we go on hikes up on the rocks on the mountain, not very high – there is one spot which is an incredible place to watch the sunset.

W*: And how about your relationship with Japan?

MA: The first time I came here was 1991. I was a student at the Royal College [of Art]. I didn’t want to come as a tourist so I applied for an internship and came here in the summer, to Tokyo, to work for Toshiba. I spent three months here – it was fascinating, a very different Japan. I next came back 25 years later, with Flos.

W*: Has Japan left an imprint in you creatively?

MA: As a creative, as an artist, when you commit to something, it completely changes the result in your approach to your creative process. That level of commitment – I don’t think you can experience it in any other country.

W*: How do you feel about the light in Japan? Particularly Kyoto, where light is often filtered by paper and nature.

MA: I’m shocked at how soft the light is here at the moment. The humidity makes the light softer at this time of year. The light in the summer in Cyprus flattens everything out. In the Greek islands, it’s the same. In London too, the sun is very different. Coming here suddenly – the way you experience the sun, the light, is different.

W*: And how do you feel about your show opening now in Kyoto?

MA: This is the longest time I’ve spent in Japan. This is an important time for me. I wouldn’t have chosen a different moment. In this context especially, this is perfect.

'From Warm Yellow to Saturated Red' by Michael Anastassiades, at Taka Ishii Gallery Kyoto, until 4 July 2026

On 8 May 2026, Michael Anastassiades announced that he is closing his eponymous lighting brand. 'After 20 inspiring years, the time has come to close the chapter of my lighting company, Michael Anastassiades, a platform for communicating my personal vision in lighting and introducing innovative ideas to the market,' he wrote in a note shared to his network.

The brand made its debut in 2006, as Anastassiades had started creating objects and lighting for his London home, and quickly became known as the master of lighting design. He has since expanded his lighting output, through a long-term collaboration with Italian lighting company Flos.

'What began as an open-ended experiment grew organically into a body of work that reflects a deeply personal journey,' continues the designer. 'Through this broad exploration of ideas, I created an eclectic brand, a model inspired by creative visionaries in history who committed themselves to the exceptional fabrication of objects. Over the years, it became a space where ideas could evolve freely, shaped by curiosity, experimentation, and rigorous practice, and led to invitations for meaningful collaborations across the design industry.'

Among the company's best known pieces is the Tube Chandelier, which also marked the brand's debut, the Mobile Chandeliers, and the Tip of the Tongue collection, where an illuminated sphere effortlessly sits on the cusp of a brass base.

'I am proud to see how these designs have found their place in both private and public spaces around the world,' he says. 'What comes next for me as a designer is a deeper focus on the creative process, and the freedom to explore new directions in design, in all its forms.'

The studio's operations, including the production of limited edition furniture and lighting, as well as design collaborations, will continue as normal.

A sample sale is planned in London between 14-16 May 2026, 115 Old Street, London EC1V 9RT.

michaelanastassiades.com

Watch: at home with Michael Anastassiades

Last year we visited Michael Anastassiades' home as part of our 'Stuff That Surrounds You' series. Watch the film below

London-based Michael Anastassiades makes objects that feel built to outlast the moment, anchored in mechanical logic, as if each piece has been engineered for calm permanence. Yet within that rigour, something quietly lyrical takes hold, turning precision into poetry. Take the ‘Mobile Chandelier’, conceived in 2008, for instance,the longest-running and most celebrated design in the Michael Anastassiades collection. The design’s enduring success, year after year, has inspired the studio to commission a new film and photographic shoot by Alexandros Pissourios, exploring the remarkable craftsmanship and handmade precision behind each piece.

Watch: the making of Michael Anastassiades' ‘Mobile Chandelier’

Film by Alexandros Pissourios

‘The Mobile Chandelier started as an idea to create a light structure with multiple sources of light, which could be moved around freely, creating different arrangements,’ shares the designer on what gives the piece its rare longevity. ‘I wanted the arms holding the various elements to balance perfectly and to be able to experience this delicate sense of equilibrium. I was imagining a chandelier with a gesture similar to the mobile sculptures by Alexander Calder, only where individual arms would carry electricity and the balancing elements at the ends of each arm would glow. The experience would start at the place of assembly, with the idea that the customer could feel the delicate balance when installing the light.’

The piece also carries a reference to nature, as if glowing planets or satellites are quietly orbiting on different axes.

Filmmaker Pissourios, who lives and works between London and Cyprus, explores the possibilities inherent in 16mm film and analogue cameras, blending ethnographic approaches with experimental cinema. Here, he turns his lens to the tiniest processes and technicalities behind the making of the iconic chandelier, showing how even its design and assembly feel, in their own quiet way, are nothing short of magical.

The film showcases a conversation between the strength of materials and human precision that coaxes the chandelier into life. Each ‘Mobile Chandelier’ is composed as its own entity, made of roughly 200 handcrafted components in patinated brass. In a Devon workshop, a highly trained team assembles every piece by hand, adjusting and re-adjusting until the whole settles into harmony, made more delicate still by the minute weight differences inherent to mouth-blown opaline glass. ‘The idea behind mouth-blown glass is that it can never be replicated perfectly, neither its exact diameter nor its weight,’ explains Anastassiades. ‘So the maker requires a jeweller’s or a watchmaker’s precision in [their] process. There could have been other materials where an exact match was achieved to the milligram, but I like the idea that these elements could have been given or found objects.’

The film also lingers on the final act: we watch the brass being hand-patinated, in the signature faded black, and the more expressive earthy red developed as a deeper, warmer counterpoint. These surfaces, along with a spectrum of other colours are brought to completion by a specialist in a south London workshop, where colour is treated not as coating, but as character. In these moments, the film reveals the ‘Mobile Chandelier’s quiet complexity: the slow labour behind its lightness, and lasting elegance that has secured its place as a modern design icon.

‘Through this film I wanted to communicate the idea that even if an “exact” multiple, this is an entirely handcrafted object that is put together by a small team of highly skilful artisans,’ says Anastassiades. ‘That each piece is unique as the balancing act of putting one together is never the same, the precision in its making is one closer to jewellery rather than a large-scale sculpture and the customer will be able to appreciate the unique way these pieces are made.’

Welcome to the fourth instalment of the new Wallpaper* video series, The Stuff That Surrounds You. Watch as we're invited into the intriguing and idiosyncratic homes of creatives and makers (such as Veronica Ditting, Yasmin Sewell and Glenn Sestig), catching a glimpse of their interior lives via the objects with which they surround themselves, all of which tell a story.

What is the role of a designer? For Cypriot-born, London-based Michael Anastassiades, it is the pursuit of creating things that engage with diverse sensibilities. ‘You have the responsibility to allow an object to speak to many different people with many different opinions,’ he says.

This sensitivity is evident in the designer’s poetic, minimalist lighting and objects, where clarity meets a quiet sense of drama. Iconic pieces like the IC Lights and String Lights that Anastassiades created for Flos, his Mobile Chandeliers, and his Frame collection – launched in April 2025 during Milan Design Week – reveal a practice grounded in observation: ‘I always ask the question: why does something exist, why is it there, and what is the thinking behind it?’ he says. This mindset, shaped by Anastassiades’ training in engineering and industrial design, has carried through since he founded his studio in 1994.

Anastassiades’ belief in designing openly and accessibly is mirrored in his home, where he has lived since 1998. He doesn’t associate the space with a particular style, keeps few belongings, and doesn’t see himself as ‘the typical consumer.’ There are no unnecessary objects here: ‘Everything is very carefully chosen, and unless something is perfectly suitable, I prefer to live without it.’

A painting by Palestinian artist Rosalind Nashashibi speaks to Anastassiades’ connection to water, while a chair by architect and friend Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai stands out for its lightness and strength, despite its incredible detail. A Carl Auböck object entered the designer’s home after he visited the artist’s Vienna workshop, and a piano stool by Marc Camille Chaimowicz appeals precisely because ‘it’s so far away from anything that [Anastassiades] would ever design [himself].’

That said, the designer considers it important to surround himself with his own creations. ‘It's a responsibility,’ he says. ‘You can't expect somebody else to go through something without even having a personal experience of your own products.’

One of his lights from the Fontana Amorosa series, for instance, places its source at the bottom of the fixture rather than the top – an intriguing inversion. Anastassiades’ living room is home to the Bird Cage Cabinet, designed as an homage to architect Josef Frank. The house also contains a Tube Chandelier – Anastassiades’ earliest lighting design, described as ‘a simple exercise in trying to suspend three light tubes in the most minimal way’; prototypes from his Floor Composition, including the Spot Stool created for Herman Miller; and a Copper Mirror, echoing the designer’s belief that ‘mirrors speak as much about light as light objects or light sculptures do.’

In many ways, Anastassiades' career started by ‘testing’ his own creations. Unable to find objects that felt right for his space, he realised that, as a designer, he could create them himself. ‘This marked the moment I shifted some focus from conceptual work to addressing my own environment,’ he says. ‘The first pieces I created for the house, which were later industrially produced, originated from this process.’

Elsewhere in Anastassiades' home: lingam stones naturally shaped in India’s Narmada River, reflecting his fascination ‘with the relationship of nature’; Poul Kjærholm’s PK12 chair, admired for the fact that ‘it doesn't have angles, but somehow all the curves communicate with each other’; and an egg bowl by Greek potter Eleni Vernadaki, whose work Anastassiades first encountered as a teenager.

In this space – free of excess and governed by clarity – Anastassiades’ belief in deliberate, functional design becomes tangible. That said, his objects have garnered a ‘psychological layer’ that ‘enhances [his] relationship with [them]’. ‘The object stops being just there to serve you,’ he says, ‘and becomes almost like a companion.’

Director of photography: Peter Butterworth
Camera operator: Mark James
Focus puller and camera assistant: Curtis Blair
Gaffer: Alex Verber
Sound design: Indústries Sòniques
Colour: DOMA Works
Colourist: Thomas Kumeling
Head of Video: Sebastian Jordahn

If you look up or around you in some of the world's most sophisticated spaces, chances are you'll see some of Michael Anastassiades' lighting designs. Created with intense precision and a sense of visual poetry that is perhaps closer to magic, his pieces combine precise proportions and a sense of balance that have made him a design icon in the 30 years since he founded his studio.

In September 2025, Anastassiades was announced as the recipient of the London Design Medal, celebrating excellence in the field of design and remarkable contributions to the city's designscape.

Who is Michael Anastassiades?

Born in Cyprus, Anastassiades studied civil engineering at the Imperial College in London, and the MA in industrial design at the Royal College of Art. These two elements of his background complement each other in his work, merging an engineer's mind with a design language that writes its own rules. ‘I’m sure the engineer is still in me when I design,’ he says. ‘I always strive for precision even if there’s a last layer of unpredictability in the end product.’

Early works

Anastassiades' early works demonstrated an interest in experimental designs and how objects can help shape behaviours. The Message Cup and Antisocial Light, two designs from 1993, were based on simple technology that gave a glimpse into the future, and was meant to explore communication and our relationship with objects.

Both ideas were based on user interaction. The Message Cup featured voice recording and playback so that the people in a home could use it to record a message (by turning the cup upside down). The Antisocial Light was based on the concept of silence and conversation, only lighting up when there is silence in a room, while voices and background noise would make it dim, and eventually switch off.

During this time, Anastassiades' work decidedly leaned towards the theoretical and conceptual, also working closely with speculative design studio Dunne and Raby to create objects that offered an emotional point of view to mundane gestures and rituals – including household plants and nuclear anxiety.

Lighting design

The first lighting design that debuted the Michael Anastassiades brand (as the designer had started creating objects and lighting for his London home), was created in 2006: the Tube Chandelier was made of three tubes of light arranged around a central brass element. ‘The design for this fixture began as an exercise of subtraction,’ he says of this design. ‘The challenge was to suspend the minimum number of incandescent light tubes in a sculptural configuration to form a vertical chandelier. The supports needed to be discreet so when lit, only three glowing lines would be seen.’

No other designer has been able to achieve the same balance of poetry, perfection and perfect illumination. Over the past two decades, his collection has grown with lighting objects that are as iconic as they are essential. Although all belonging to a language that is clearly Anastassiades, each design is unique and surprising in its way to interpret light and space.

Examples of this are almost too many to name: his Mobile Chandeliers, for instance, are a series of lighting structures featuring both straight and curved elements. 'Constructed following the principles of a mobile, these are arrangements of linear tubes, geometric light sources, reflective surfaces and counterbalancing weights,' he explains.

The Tip of the Tongue collection, meanwhile, is characterised by an illuminated sphere that sits on the cusp of a brass base. He called this design 'a delicate gesture' that 'evokes the familiar phenomenon of failing to retrieve a word from memory, expressing a moment of tension in the form of the design.’

Designs such as the Peaks series and the Arrangements elements (the latter designed for Italian company Flos) show Anastassiades' brilliance at multiplying a design to illuminate an architectural space.

Furniture design and more

But Anastassiades' oeuvre extends way beyond lighting, with a portfolio that brings his design language to a diverse variety of objects and genres. He has designed furniture for Spanish outdoor specialist Kettal, and, curiously, a ceiling fan that blends the restrained aesthetic he is known for with extreme functionality.

His designs of tables and chairs for companies such as Cassina, Molteni & C, Tacchini and Fritz Hansen (just to name a few) combine corners and folds that make the pieces both essential and intriguing to look at (and use in a space). 'I have a belief that great projects can only develop with great relationships,' he once told Wallpaper*.

'I love to live with the designs that I created,' he continued. 'I think that's really the ultimate test: that moment when you walk into a space and the piece is there. Design is a learning process, and you learn from experience. Sometimes all you need is to see it, to confirm all the things that you wanted to achieve.'

Despite his close links to the design industry and the entrepreneurial nature of his work, Anastassiades is very connected to craftsmanship and culture. Alongside his practice, he regularly works with institutions and historical companies in ways that expand the scope of his design works. Notable examples include 'To be Perfectly Frank', a 2013 collaboration with Swedish company Svenskt Tenn was a homage to Josef Frank's work for which Anastassiades reinterpreted notable works by the Austrian architect.

'Cheerfully Optimistic about the Future', a 2021 project shown at ICA Milano, featured lighting objects made of bamboo precisely held together with tied strings, and inspired by 19th century artifacts.

10 Michael Anastassiades designs to know (and own)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Browse our Design and Interiors Award Winners for 2025

The industrial suburb of Sassuolo in Italy’s Emilia Romagna region, a ten-minute drive from the culinary hub, Modena, is not what comes to mind when you imagine the spoils of Italy. Miles of grey, characterless warehouses line roads heaving with lorries piled high with heavy palettes. Though it may appear unassuming, the region is in fact an important centre in the landscape of Made in Italy design, as one of the county’s leading producers of ceramic tiles. But among the Goliath industries and small-scale producers, Mutina, founded in 1973, has singled itself out as an innovator, turning simple surface coverings into a veritable artform alongside past collaborators like the artist Nathalie du Pasquier and the designer and researcher Hella Jongerius. This fact is only confirmed by its latest collaboration with the lighting designer Michael Anastassiades – on a newly debuted tile made entirely in wood.

First look: Michael Anastassiades for Mutina

At an intimate Monday-night dinner at Mutina’s Patricia Urquiola-designed headquarters in Fiorano Modenese, a small suburb of Sassuolo that rises towards rolling grassy hills, whose clay-rich soil sparked the tradition of ceramics-making centuries ago, Mutina unveiled Anastassiades’s new exhibition, 'Good Days'. The show comprises several pieces originally debuted at his 2021 show at Milan’s ICA gallery – among them, the standing ‘Bamboo’ light, composed of polished canes and LED tubes lashed together by waxed linen thread – as well an entirely new oak wood tile, ‘Rings’.

'The idea at the beginning was to work with a wooden surface,’ the designer told Wallpaper*. 'So I came up with the idea to use the end grain of the wood to simulate industrial flooring.'

The 17.5 x 17.5 cm tiles resemble the cross-section of a tree trunk, highlighting the wood’s brush stroke-like natural grain. Anastassiades wanted to emulate the cast-off nails and other detritus that become embedded into wooden shop floors after decades of use, so he inserted small pieces of aged délabré brass into the wood. 'We wanted something that would catch the light,' he explains. 'The brass isn’t lacquered, so it will tarnish with time and eventually change.' When placed in a grid, the tiles resemble a collage or pointillist painting due to the diversity of shades, ranging from chocolate brown to honey blonde. To display this effect, Anastassiades clad several rectangular columns with the tiles and placed them in the gallery's centre like totems, or laid them on their sides as if they were benches.

He didn’t, however, abandon ceramics entirely. He also debuted two additional works for Mutina: the porcelain ‘Equinox’ vase, which resembles a cracked ostrich egg, and ‘Continental’, a play on the term continental shelf, a floating white ledge with rough edges made via the process of slip-casting. 'I wanted to make something with a broken edge,' he says, referring to the collection’s underlying theme of exposing industrial flaws. 'Each one is different.'

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Three years ago when Piero Gandini walked away abruptly from Flos, the inventive Italian lighting company founded by his father Sergio in 1962 that he had built into a commercial powerhouse, the shock was quickly followed by speculation. What would one of the design world’s most creative and astute CEOs do next? Gandini kept a low profile and joked about two dreams to make a movie and open a nightclub. 

But he is hard-wired for lighting. And this week, during 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen, Gandini revealed that he had indeed returned to the lighting business backing Michael Anastassiades, in the latter's personal brand. Gandini had signed the London-based designer, who is renowned for sculptural lights reduced to their poetic essence to Flos in 2011, agreeing at the time that Anastassiades would also run his eponymous brand where he is able to express his ideas in their purest form.

‘It is a perfect match,’ Anastassiades declared of his partnership with Gandini after launching two families of lights, hosted by Danish lighting company Anker & Co during 3 Days of Design. ‘I started this brand as a passion 15 years ago and I want to put all my energy into things that I can control in the best possible way,’ he said. Having a supporter with the knowledge and expertise of Gandini meant he could focus on what motivates him. ‘It is important to create things out of passion and love and without having to think too much about all the complexities.’

Gandini was equally effusive saying he was ‘very very excited' when Anastassiades asked him to join his private company as a backer. ‘Coming from a long history of lighting in my life, I rarely found somebody as passionate and talented as Michael,' he said. ‘That we will now work together makes me so happy and so proud, this is the beginning of a new common adventure.’

During his time running Flos, Gandini gave some of the most exciting design talents their first commercial break, starting with Philippe Starck in the 1980s through to Formafantasma in 2018. He discovered Anastassiades after seeing a self-made light in Murray Moss’s design gallery in New York, famously striking a deal for what became a fruitful partnership in the back of a London cab. Working with Flos allowed Anastassiades to engage with more technological products such as his String Lights and Arrangements but also retain his autonomy through his personal brand.

Gandini quit Flos in 2019, after disagreements over strategy and management with the private equity investors who own the lighting group, now part of the Design Holding conglomerate. In an interview last year he said of life after Flos that it was ‘time to find another pool, a different shape, different water.’

On site for the Anastassiades launch, Gandini said what was important to him was to ‘work with true innovation and true talent. Piece by piece, year by year, Michael devoted his life to this with an incredible discipline and rigour and his company is testament to this.’

The lights Anastassiades unveiled in the atmospheric Smedjen, a former turbine workshop, exemplify his approach. Both series use a new custom LED bulb, which he developed himself because he could not find a linear diffuser with the right sort of light. The hand-built bulb produces ‘the perfect illumination, uniform in a very slim tube with a warm light’ and is self-powered so it can be used in spontaneous configurations. 

The Ta-ke series, which originated as exhibition pieces in Milan in 2021, uses bamboo poles placed on a metal base, to create a simple structure to hold the bulb. Anastassiades says he has always been intrigued by bamboo and the way it grows almost straight. Working with it involved no processing, the bamboo is simply cut at the right diameter and length and finished by hand. ‘It was an incredible exercise of working with a natural element that is quite unpredictable – what is nice about it is these surprise elements that you can't control that make the lamp so beautiful and real,’ says Anastassiades.

The Relay family is even more simplified, using a block of marble as a base with an invisible magnetic connection for the tube. ‘The result is a distilled composition of basic elements. An attempt to stretch the delicate nature of the light, in contrast with the grounded marble base,’ says Anastassiades.

INFORMATION

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Best known for his pared-back lighting creations, Cyprus-born, London-based designer  Michael Anastassiades has turned his hand to minimalist jewellery, partnering with Japanese brand Shihara. ‘The most important thing to consider when designing jewellery is its relation to the human body and the space it occupies when worn,’ he says. ‘I love the improvisation behind an abstract piece and the challenge it presents when it comes to wearing it. A strong design can exist in multiple ways. Shihara jewellery has that quality.’

A shared focus on clean, minimalist silhouettes meant the brand was a natural fit for Anastassiades, whose streamlined aesthetic is reflected in a bracelet and necklaces in 18ct gold, with disrupted loops inspired by the construction lines on architectural drawings. For Shihara founder Yuta Ishihara, the collaboration was an organic one. ‘I have been a fan of Michael’s work for some time now, but it was after I saw him speak in Tokyo in 2018 that we got to know each other well, and the idea of creating a collection together was born. Our work, although very different, shares many similarities, with a minimal aesthetic and a focus on functional design.’

Adds Anastassiades, ‘Yuta’s work seems to evolve from a mathematical sequence and everything is made with incredible precision. It was so similar to my own way of thinking.’

The pair have built jewellery pieces on structural foundations, stringing short and long slender 18ct gold pipes into a pattern of interrupted lines. ‘The chains are like the construction lines used by an architectural draughtsman. They are guides with which the user can build their own ideas,’ Anastassiades says. ‘I have enjoyed exchanging ideas with Yuta. I am always surprised by how ingenious his mind is technically.’

Ishihara’s jewellery integrates hardware into the design itself, with screws and springs creating imperceptible metal fittings and rendering the clasps invisible. ‘I like to come up with designs reimagining the functionality, and honing in on how functionality can be incorporated into the overall design,’ he says. ‘Good design to me is when the form and design best suit the intended use. Even if a design is aesthetically unfamiliar to us, it should be functional,’ he says, adding that those who see his work for the first time can be puzzled as to how to wear it.

The collection also encompasses a mirror, floor lamps of varying heights, and a tray. The last is crafted from wood sourced from Japan and treated with Japanese shiro-urushi lacquer, resulting in a glossy brown colour that will naturally fade over time. The lighting is an extension of Anastassiades’ ‘One Well-Known Sequence’ collection, teasing elongated metal tubes and LED bulbs into the same repeating pattern as the jewellery. His brass ‘Beauty’ mirror has also been rethought in a handheld size and shaped into a convex circle shape, a suspended liquid droplet of metal. ‘The homeware pieces were designed as props around the jewellery,’ says Anastassiades. ‘They are simple designs to present and reflect these ideas.’  

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This article originally appeared in the July 2022 issue of Wallpaper*, now on sale and available to subscribers. 

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Watch Maison et Objet Designer of the Year Michael Anastassiades tour us through his practice

It’s a new decade, but true to form, Paris’ winter cultural offerings roll on in. While the deep dive of Charlotte Perriand’s work stays strong at Foundation Louis Vuitton and fashion troops flocked in for menswear A/W, three new solo shows empower the limelight. Virgil Abloh brings street culture to Galerie Kreo, Herve Van der Straeten invites us onto his fun ride and Daniel Arsham takes us to 3020 at Galerie Perrotin in an exploration of historic sculpture. Inside the Maison et Objet (17-21 January) halls, Michael Anastassides presents his refined mobile lighting, while fresh talent on the French design scene get in the frame.

Explore our highlights from Maison et Objet and beyond

Fun Ride by Hervé Van der Straeten

Over in the Marais district, the French artist-designer brings the whimsical essence of funfairs to his tenth solo show. Zappy (pictured) and Looping are among the names of the new consoles that will entertain viewers – products in lacquered wood and bronze. 35 pieces in total come together in Van der Straeten’s pleasure ground, including the Spider cabinet and Crystalline chandelier, and for added play, he shares the dialogue with the interdisciplinary work of artist duo Arotin & Serghei too – extending the visual treat through colour and light.

Rising Talents Awards

The gaze remains on home turf for the January 2020 edition of the Rising Talents Awards, as six French emerging names, Wendy Andreu, Mathieu Peyroulet Ghilini, Laureline Galliot, Julie Richoz, Adrien Garci (pictured) and Natacha & Sasha, have been chosen by a jury that includes Pierre Charpin, Didier Krzentowski, Guillaume Houzé, Pierre Yovanovitch, René-Jacques Mayer and Françoise Seince. True to the Parisian spirit, many of the designers have had a stint at local institution ENSCI Les Ateliers, while an eclectic range of techniques filter through the work, including cartoon software, hand craft, laser cutting and ecological solutions.

Trame

It may be cooler climes, but new brand Trame is sending us energy from the Mediterranean with its launch of homeware and accessories created with historic stories in mind. The first range travels to Morocco, with hand crafted pieces inspired by stories of Madame de Blois, King Louis XIV’s favourite daughter. Italian designer Maddalena Casadei, London and Warsaw-based Maria Jeglinska and Julie Richoz from Paris have devised this inaugural collection, titled ‘A voyage to Meknes,’ that includes ceramics, rugs, curtains and blankets that are embedded with the artisanal culture of Morocco. Milan-based Studio Vedet have been tapped for the brand’s art director, and the collection will also travel to Salone del Mobile later in the year.

Michael Anastassiades Designer of the Year 2020

One of our shortlisted Designers of the Year, London-based Anastassiades goes full circle for Maison et Objet – the location where he first showed wares from his eponymous studio back in 2007. Over ten years on, he has been very busy, and 2019 marked his first retrospective in his home country of Cyprus. For this special showcase, he brings together all 16 of his Mobile Chandeliers (including some new iterations) with the poetic mastery his studio has become known for. ‘For me, it is important to always show something different, make sure that what I design explores a new idea.’

‘Efflorescence’ by Virgil Abloh at Galerie Kreo

Following two major design launches with both Vitra and Carpenters Workshop Gallery last year, Abloh has been tapped by Galerie Kreo for a street culture range. Architectural concrete forms have been emblazoned with the Chicago-born creative’s graffiti in a merging of eras, from brutalism to street culture. Read more here.

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Ask anyone in town for Salone del Mobile, and they will tell you that Nina Yashar’s Nilufar Gallery is a must-see stop on the design week trail. Whether your visit provides much-needed respite from the constant slew of furniture launches, or a conceptual moment in the midst of a product-heavy week, the gallery’s shows always stand out from the rest of the week’s events.

Not to be confused with the Nilufar Depot, which houses Yashar’s extensive collection and was made open to the public in 2015, Nilufar Gallery is located in the Quadrilatero della Moda – an area of Milan mostly populated by luxury fashion boutiques and upmarket restaurants. The success of both Nilufar outposts lies within the difference between them. While the Nilufar Depot staged an ambitious exhibition of emerging designers, curated Valentina Ciuffi/Studio Vedèt, the inner-city gallery has an undeniable air of refinement.

On the occasion of this year’s Milan Design Week, the gallery played host works by Bethan Laura Wood and Osvaldo Borsani, and provided a late-night spot by India Mahdavi, Chez Nina II (following the success of its first edition last year). But most impressive was its windowed facades, filled with a collaborative installation by designers Michael Anastassiades and Martino Gamper, and artist Brigitte Niedermair, titled ‘Piano Nobile’.

Technically, the project is a continuation of Gamper and Niedermair’s Screenshot piece – originally completed in 2017 as a contemplation on ‘art through the medium of digital technologies’. But having caught Yashar’s eye back then, she proposed to the pair that they create a ‘total Screenshot’ for this year’s Salone, whereby the artwork becomes design and presents itself as a full interior, rather than a wall-mounted work.

To enhance the multilayered experience, Anastassiades was brought on board as the third puzzle piece – crafting five lamps to illuminate the sets. As with the original Screenshot piece, the Piano Nobile installation made use of Dedar fabric. Works by the likes of Sol LeWitt, Otto Dix and Paul Klee were reinterpreted through abstract patterns crafted from panels of the cotton satin. The result looked similar to a colour chart, with key tones and shades represented through the reams of cloth.

‘I thought about historic Venetian buildings and how in the past artists were the absolute protagonists of the space for living in,’ said Niedermair. ‘Today, we can recreate that same vision brimming with cultural references, in a contemporary way.’ These colour charts were complimented by new furniture designed by Gamper, and lighting fixtures by Anasstassiades. Gamper’s ‘Post Re’ collection saw the London-based designer repurpose consumer waste in order to profess the ‘beauty in scrap’.

Elsewhere in the gallery, a room was dedicated to the work of Bethan Laura Wood, including a new Bauhaus-inspired tea set for Rosenthal, among other new designs; India Madhavi’s Chez Nina space from last year was refreshed with new lighting projects by Vibeke Fonnesberg Schmidt, and tribute was paid to Osvaldo Borsani. An eclectic, yet epic, curatorial feat made possible by Ms Yashar’s unwavering eye.

INFORMATION

For more information visit the Nilufar website

ADDRESS

Nilufar Gallery
Via della Spiga, 32
Milan
20121

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There is no doubt that designer Michael Anastassiades has influenced contemporary design on a major scale. In 2007, he founded his own brand Michael Anastassiades Ltd in London, focusing on lighting design. His minimalist yet decorative pieces became very popular, turning him into a contemporary powerhouse on the global design scene.

Anastassiades trained as a civil engineer at London’s Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine and then attended the Royal College of Art to study a masters degree in Industrial Design. His use of precious materials and elementary geometry led him to create timeless designs. His work is minimalist, but still always distinctively Anastassiades. ‘I have practised design since 1994, but I decided to showcase work from the last 12 years, when I have focused mainly on lighting,’ he says about his show ‘Things That Go Together’ that opens at NiMAC in Nicosia, Cyprus.

The show surveys not only lighting, but also furniture, accessories and objects. ‘It is very important for me that the exhibition is in Nicosia and that I could curate it in my own way,’ explains Anastassiades, who was born in Cyprus in 1967.

Not long before the show started, Anastassiades abandoned all of his previous exhibition ideas and decided to place all of the objects on the plain marble floor. The natural scenography features no plinths or vitrines – instead the objects speak for themselves and are shown in their purest form. ‘I like the idea of presenting objects that almost look like they were just [taken] out of [their] boxes and left there,’ he says.

After Anastassiades became a household name for his refined handmade lighting, his career catapulted when he started to collaborate with Italian lighting company Flos, which is the main partner of the show. His famous Flos-produced lighting series ‘String’ and ‘Arrangements’ are exhibited in individual rooms and custom-designed configurations here. Other projects for leading global brands B&B Italia, Herman Miller, Cassina, Bang & Olufsen, Puiforcat, Svenskt Tenn, Carl Auböck/Sigmar, Coedition and SCP are also on display.

Anastassiades also reveals his lifelong obsession of stone collecting, displaying an extensive collection on a long table, ‘I have collected stones since my childhood. I was always looking for perfect shapes in nature. Observing nature is very important for my work.’

This is the first show of its kind at NiMAC, dedicated to one designer. The exhibition is democratic, with no hierarchy or special highlights. All objects are presented on the same level, whether industrially produced or handmade.

‘I like the fact that the exhibition concept is very straightforward,’ says Anastassiades, ‘Each visitor can also choose any direction or path throughout the exposition. So it offers an ever-changing perspective.’ And one as illuminating as it is enlightening.

INFORMATION

‘Things That Go Together – A Survey Exhibition by Michael Anastassiades’ is on view until 20 July 2019. For more information, visit the NiMAC website and the Michael Anastassiades website

ADDRESS

Παλιάς Ηλεκτρικής
Nicosia
Cyprus

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Curator Jane Withers and collector Charles Asprey have joined forces to launch the London Fountain Co, which is set to unveil a contemporary public drinking fountain during London Design Festival next month designed for modern day life by Michael Anastassiades.

Free public drinking fountains have been in use across England since the mid-19th century – a time when fresh drinking water was scarce and beer, more often than not, was the only alternative. However in recent decades these stone fountains have been slowly disappearing from the country's city streets or falling into disrepair. It's a fact that few will have noticed, as they were quietly usurped by the now ubiquitous and environmentally damaging plastic water bottle.

For Withers and Asprey however, their disappearance has become the focus of this new and particularly pressing project to reinvent and reinstate the drinking fountain into the urban streetscape. ‘We have both loved fountains for years and spot them wherever we travel,’ explains Withers. ‘It seemed a pity that in the UK despite such an illustrious fountain tradition the ones installed recently are mainly rather basic utilitarian models. We wanted to see if we could commission a beautiful and functional fountain that could become a loved feature of the city in the tradition of the Wallace Fountains in Paris or Rome’s Nasone.’

Cypriot-born London-based Anastassiades, who is more commonly known for his ethereal lighting designs, has realised a new cast bronze fountain that will be installed outside of the V&A Museum with another close to South Kensington tube station. ‘Michael combines an extraordinary ability as a form-maker with a strong focus on technical aspects which is essential for drinking fountain design,’ praises Asprey. ‘We wanted a contemporary fountain in the tradition of British street designs like the letterbox and telephone box that has a strong character but is not adding unnecessary noise to already crowded streets. He has done this beautifully with The Fleet Drinking Fountain.’

Made from polished cast bronze – which references historical fountains and other street furniture but is also hygienic – the faceted form, Anastassiades says, is an abstraction of a classical column with a scooped top to imply drinking from a bowl. ‘It needed to be more of an experience than just a place to stop and fill a bottle,’ says Anastassiades. ‘It needed to blend into the environment and not to scream for attention.’

The footprint has been kept deliberately small, while the scale allows for a wide variety of people to use it and also facilitates filling a bottle. A shadow gap runs the fountain's length, providing drainage while also concealing the spout, nozzles and pipes so that, like Anastassiades’ gravity-defying lighting, it divulges nothing about its inner workings.

‘It is my first public-space project, on this kind of scale and of this nature. Especially here in the UK,’ says Anastassiades. ‘In terms of process, I didn’t treat this any differently to anything else that I’ve designed; it’s a design object, the requirements are different when you are dealing with the public domain, but once you understand the limitations you work around them. It has a great potential to grow into something very interesting.’

By making drinking water freely available, the trio hope to persuade people to stop using single-use plastic bottles and make the shift to a refill culture. They are working in collaboration with the Blue Marine Foundation and #OneLess, with the goal of implementing the fountains on a larger scale in the capital and beyond.

‘There are challenges in terms of planning and permissions largely because we have lost the habit of drinking fountains in the public realm,’ explains Withers, ‘but hopefully this is being reviewed and streamlined. It also takes time to change behaviour as people are so used to the convenience of plastic bottles but as fountains become more common this will change.’

INFORMATION

London Design Festival is on view 15 – 23 September. For more information, visit Michael Anastassiades’ website and the London Design Festival website

ADDRESS

V&A Museum
Cromwell Rd
Knightsbridge
SW7 2RL

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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

Michael Anastassiades, Carl Auböck and Sigmar London have joined forced on a new collaboration, recently launched at Zola Auböck Café in Vienna.

London-based designer and master of contemporary minimalism, Anastassiades drinks freshly-milled coffee every day. For many years, he was thinking about creating a coffee mill that would enhance his daily ritual. When he eventually thought up a design for the perfectly engineered mill, he called his old friend Carl Auböck from the legendary Vienna-based workshop, known for producing decorative and functional brass objects for four generations.

The pair launched their first series of brass and copper mills at the cafe of Auböck‘s daughter – Zola Auböck café – with the help of Nina Hertig of Sigmar London (a company that distributes and collects rare Auböck‘s pieces). This was the first time the group of friends had the opportunity to explore the world of coffee, launching the mill in a friendly, sweets-filled presentation that was followed by the tour of Auböck‘s studio and historical archive.

'I was not very satisfied when I received the first prototype of our mill from Carl Auböck', says Anastassiades, who already collaborated with the workshop on a salt and pepper mill set a few years back. But after a few months, he looked at the model again and realised it was actually exquisite, and decided to produce it.

The silhouette of the mill references Anastassiades‘s iconic lighting design. Carved from solid pieces of brass and copper, the massive cylindrical shape niftily hides the elaborate mechanism inside. 'It is the first coffee mill with a gear', mentions Auböck. Anastassiades decided against a classic handle and instead created smaller ratio cylinder as a holder for the piece, and because of this, he had to use a gear to get a smoother, more seamless movement for the milling.

The result is a sculptural statement that adds a little poetry and elegance to a daily routine. The copper and brass versions have been made in a limited edition of 10 pieces, and will be available at the Sigmar shop in London.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Sigmar London website

Influential textile designer Lucienne Day was known for her love of patterns based on plant forms. A passionate gardener, her work drew flowers, grasses and shoots from nature, and transformed them into abstract designs for wallpapers, textiles, carpets and ceramics.

To celebrate the designer’s centenary year and to mark the relaunch of Day’s ‘Flower Brick’, London furniture showroom Twentytwentyone conceived an exhibition entitled ‘Day for Flowers’.

The ‘Flower Brick’, originally introduced by Day in 1966, is a contemporary interpretation of the decorative Delftware produced during the 18th century to hold ornate floral displays. While the originals were produced in England by Bristol Potteries, Twentytwentyone has teamed with British-made ceramics brand 1882 Ltd to produce a limited edition of 100.

‘Lucienne Day responded to the decorative potential of a rectangular ceramic form by designing three quite different surface patterns for two sizes of flower brick,’ explains Twentytwentyone, which invited ten creative individuals from the worlds of fashion, design, interiors, architecture and journalism to design a floral display using a ‘Flower Brick’.

The floral displays, created by Michael Anastassiades, Barber & Osgerby, Paula Day, Max Fraser, Suzy Hoodless, Margaret Howell, Philippe Malouin, Alex Mowat, Nikki Tibbles and Faye Toogood were showcased at the ‘Day for Flowers’ exhibition.

While some went for crisp architectural statements – à la Barber & Osgerby, who filled Day’s black-and-white ‘Triangles Flower Brick’ with a regimented arrangement of dried bulrushes – others chose more wild and natural compositions, such as Margaret Howell, who created an arrangement of meadow flowers and grasses in the ‘Papercut Flower Brick’.

Paula Day’s arrangement included buds from her mother Lucienne’s favourite rose, New Dawn, while Max Fraser’s explosive arrangement of grasses, aliums, craspedia globosa and poppy heads was inspired by fireworks.

‘The arrangements illustrate the versatility and enduring appeal of the Lucienne Day’s design,’ said Twentytwentyone. ‘We are certain that the creative wealth and spirit of those involved will provide a dramatic and inspiring summer show of floral creations – and a fitting tribute to Lucienne Day.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Twentytwentyone website

ADDRESS

twentytwentyone
18c River Street
London EC1R 1XN

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New Yorkers find it hard to understand Los Angeles. They extol the beach and weather, but sneer at the traffic and cheesy Hollywood Boulevard. Intrepid visitors might find nirvana on Mulholland Drive or in an order of tacos al pastor, but few get the, to use a very LA word, vibe. Writing in the 1970s, Eve Babitz – artist, author, party girl, Angeleno – once chided a visitor from the East Coast for being so at odds with the city’s pace. ‘And he wore ties, even on weekends,’ she scoffed.

Which is why it’s such a surprise to find David Alhadeff – quintessential New Yorker, founder of Manhattan design gallery and store The Future Perfect, and described by The New York Times as the original ‘fulcrum’ of the Brooklyn design movement — sitting tieless in the kitchen of his midcentury modern Hollywood home. His laptop is open; he’s on the phone. Still, he seems relaxed. The breakfast nook of Casa Perfect is his West Coast office. It overlooks the pool, a David Hockney painting waiting to happen.

Perched on a slope above Sunset Boulevard, Casa Perfect is both a home and a 3,000 sq ft showroom for The Future Perfect. The 1957 residence was designed by Korean-American architect David Hyun, an eclectic designer who worked with modernists A Quincy Jones and Richard Neutra but is better known for his Japanese Village Plaza in the Los Angeles district of Little Tokyo. Alhadeff lives in the house whenever he’s in town and he has filled the place with works by some of the best artists and designers from LA, New York and around the globe. Everything in the house is for sale, and this tension between domesticity and retail is central to the experience.

From the breakfast table, the view of an inflatable watermelon drifting back and forth on the aquamarine surface of the pool is mesmerising. ‘There’s an energy here,’ says Alhadeff. ‘In New York, everyone is obsessed with hard work. And hard work means all these things: stress, intensity, anxiety. In LA, people are hard workers but there’s no obsession surrounding hard work.’

Born in Seattle, he could stake a West Coast claim. ‘I’m really too stressed out for West Coast cred,’ he jokes. He’s the first to admit that the Pacific Northwest bears little resemblance to Southern California. Still, his mother is from the area and his family would visit frequently when he was a child. ‘I always loved LA,’ he recalls, and adds a bit sheepishly. ‘My mom actually reminded me, “You wanted to go to UCLA.” I didn’t remember that.’ Leaving the glam of 1980s LA – cut to Spago and Melrose Avenue – he chose the East Coast.

Flying in and out of LAX over the past decade, Alhadeff has watched the design scene here grow from a vintage-oriented outpost, dominated by the icons of the last century, to a metropolis with a sophisticated taste for the contemporary. He sensed a creative zeitgeist percolating around art, fashion and design that reminded him of the dynamic he saw in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 2003.

Sipping from a mug from BDDW’s ceramics line, Alhadeff plays host and insists on offering coffee, juice and mineral water. ‘You don’t just come over and find us doing laundry,’ he laughs. ‘You come over and you’re here to be served and to be ingratiated into our home.’ Guests arriving later in the day might be served Moon Juice snacks or Yola Mezcal.

The Casa Perfect staff are serious about hospitality, fostering an intimacy that could never be found in a conventional store on a busy boulevard or a white-walled gallery space downtown. ‘This is totally real,’ he stresses. ‘This is an actual residence – a live/work situation. There’s an honesty to that that you can’t put on a commercial strip. It would make no sense at all.’

Design and lifestyle get blurred here: people, food, furniture and art are all part of the atmosphere. ‘It’s literally the sunshine, the smell of flowers, and the food – the things you put in your body as much as what you put on your body,’ explains LA-based artist and designer Kelly Lamb. ‘He’s trying to curate that.’

True to The Future Perfect’s mission, the curation is impeccable yet unexpected. A stoneware mask by local artist Eric Roinestad is hung over a console by Georgian design duo Rooms, while a stainless steel ‘Zigzag’ bench by Indiana-based artist and designer Christopher Stuart takes the traditional place of the dining room table. Nearby sits a package of Zig-Zag rolling papers, suggesting that hosting takes on a particular SoCal haze later in the evening.

‘People are so used to seeing Eames and George Nelson in all the midcentury homes,’ says Roinestad, who’s lived in Los Angeles since 1990 and first met Alhadeff via Instagram. ‘Casa Perfect is more unique – it’s kind of a mash-up, more worldly than Brooklyn. David is bringing a higher end of design that we don’t have a lot of here.’ Designer Kristin Victoria Barron echoes the sentiment. Her studio is in Idyllwild, a mountain town outside the city, but her dream-inspired brass and bronze pieces are produced in Los Angeles. She spends her time shuttling between the two. ‘There is a certain irreverence about the Casa, because it is an outsider’s take on design in LA,’ she says. ‘How others see us can be so different from the way we see ourselves sometimes, and this can be a very fertile place to begin a meaningful conversation.’

Alhadeff embraces this idea of insider versus outsider and adds a little dark intrigue to his sunny, non-traditional retail environment. ‘I love peering in. It’s at the root of what we’re doing here,’ he explains. ‘We’ve broken the rules sociologically.’ Casa Perfect is an exercise in voyeurism, an extension of the cinematic experience of looking into windows at night, where whole lives play out behind glass. The house provokes desires for domesticity and intimacy that Angelenos may not have known they had. Here, you can peep, you can shop, you can soak up the vibe.

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

‘Tube’ chandelier, $4,550, by Michael Anastassiades; ‘Laurel’ side table, from $1,385, by Luca Nichetto, for De La Espada; planters, price on request, by Jonathan Cross; ‘Lavinia’ chair, from $6,680; ‘Elisabeth’ sofa, from $11,410, both by Lazzarini & Pickering, for Marta Sala Éditions; ‘Mitch’ cabinet, from $8,070, by Luca Nichetto, for De La Espada; ‘Lampada 036’, price on request, by Dimore Studio; ‘Chamfer’ table, price on request, by Christopher Stuart; sculptures, from $825, by Phillip Low; ‘Wanda’ armchair, from $2,645, by Lazzarini & Pickering, for Marta Sala Éditions; ‘XL’ ceramic vessels, price on request, by Eric Roinestad; ‘Nugget’ knobs, from $140, by Lisa Eisner for Commune, all from The Future Perfect

‘Hepburn’ sofa, from $8,720, by Matthew Hilton, for De La Espada; ‘Nim’ coffee table, $10,080, by Pinch; glass sculptures, price on request, by John Hogan; ‘Sidekicks’ table, $3,395, by Studioilse, for De La Espada; lamp, price on request, by Eric Roinestad; ‘Elysia’ chair, from $4,940, by Luca Nichetto, for De La Espada; ‘Hagga Bloom’ rug, $4,027, by Kasthall; ‘Masculo’ chair, from $1,845, by GamFratesi, for Gubi; ‘KiloBL’ lamp, $1,465, by Kalmar Werkstätten; ‘Gubi 2.0’ table, from $6,120, by Gubi; ‘XL’vessel, as before; ‘Trio’ table, from $1,425, by Neri & Hu, for De La Espada; Matisse, 2016, price on request, by Lauren Coleman; ‘Tip of the Tongue’ light, from $1,050, by Michael Anastassiades; ‘Aurora Ray’ wallpaper, $32 per sq ft, by Calico Wallpaper, all from The Future Perfect

‘Stay’ chair, from $3,715, by Space Copenhagen, for Gubi; ‘Marlon’ table, as before; ‘Beetle’ chairs, from $1,150, by GamFratesi, for Gubi; ‘Aloe’ sculpture, price on request, by Eric Roinestad; ‘Double Loop’ lamp, price on request, by Michael Anastassiades; ‘Clamp’ pendant, price on request, by Lindsey Adelman; ‘Kent’ sofa, from $11,800, by Jason Miller; ‘Magic Stone’ coffee table, $7,500, by Rooms; bowl, $1,250, by Katherine Gray; ‘Glitch’ bookends, price on request, by Christopher Stuart; ‘Fragments’ tables, price on request, by Lex Pott; ‘Ambrosia’ vessel, price on request, by Lindsey Adelman; ‘Fragments’ wallpaper, as before, all from The Future Perfect

INFORMATION
Visits to Casa Perfect, in the West Hollywood Hills, are by appointment only. For more information, visit The Future Perfect website

From Michael Beutler’s floating boathouse to Loris Gréaud’s immersive Venetian glass installation, crossovers between the spheres of art and design are not unheard of at the Venice Biennale. Case in point: the Cyprus pavilion, which is presenting art by Polys Peslikas, in a setting devised by London-based designer Michael Anastassiades.

Curated by contemporary art critic Jan Verwoert, the exhibition takes the history of colour as the starting point, analysing Cyprus’ central role in pigment exchanges throughout Asia and the Mediterranean. Verwoert hones in on this East/West notion, an increasingly important political topic in modern times.

‘Rejecting the false securities of catastrophic thought,’ explains the curator, ‘the show pays homage to the vibrant insecurities of life and the trade of ideas, via painting and its sister arts.’

Installation view of ‘The Future of Colour’ at the Cyprus pavilion

Housed in Venice’s Associazione Culturale Spiazzi, the Pavilion features Pselikas’s paintings (alongside works by artist collective Neoterismoi Toumazou and ceramicist Valentinos Charalambous), large canvases depicting semi-abstract anthropomorphic figures in a pastel palette.

Cyprus-born Anastassiades was called in to oversee the exhibition design, as well as contribute furniture to the space. Facing a Venetian canal, the pared-back space acted as a blank canvas for the designer, who added a series of white walls to punctuate the original raw elements of the building.

‘I designed the pavilion to optimise the experience of viewing the paintings,’ says the designer. ‘In minimising the architectural noise, I wanted to provide a space to contemplate in this unique location by the canal.’

Anastassiades also designed a low-key series of stone benches, dotted around the venue. The designer notes, ‘The result is a very meditative environment reflecting the depth of the works.’

INFORMATION

The 57th Venice Biennale continues until 26 November. For more information, visit the Cyprus Pavilion website and the Venice Biennale website

ADDRESS

Associazione Culturale Spiazzi
Castello 3865
30122 Venice

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If Cologne kicks off the design year showing the shape of furniture to come, Maison et Objet follows quickly on its heels with a taste of the tabletop to come. Of course there’s furniture too, but it’s typically the multi-platform brands that dominate in Paris, guiding us to the more general household and lifestyle trends. Brands and buyers come from across Europe and the wider world. Lately it’s the Scandinavians and the Japanese who seem to make the most of the show.

One material often jumps out as particularly popular – and this season it seems that many of our esteemed designers have been getting busy with glass. Granted, there are many glass specialists who regularly show and the usual suspects were there, but there were new turns by Tomas Kral and Joe Doucet at Nude; Michael Anastassiades, David/Nicolas and Sebastian Herkner at Verreum; and Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance at St Louis.

Now that brass, marble and wood (alone and combined) have become popular shorthand for quality across the mainstream as well as luxury markets, designers are looking for new substances and surface decorations with which to break up the material monotony. A couple of years ago terrazzo prevailed, and last year splattering seemed to take hold. This year it’s confetti that’s fallen on walls and flooring, tables and tops. Fine examples were on show at CC-Tapis and Ferm Living, where wallpapers and fabrics got the treatment.

In addition, oil-spill iridescence and antique mirroring were inspiring surfaces at Llot Llov, Ferm Living and Pulpo. Young designers in the Rising Talents section showed unique treatments of resin – UK-based Zuza Mengham exhibited a particularly fine vase in her signature colourful resin composite and Marcin Rusak showcased his flower and resin compositions.

Pierre Charpin was the fair’s Designer of the Year, and an exhibition of his work set the tone for some of other French designs on show; the likes of Petite Friture and Pool at Gallery Bensimon proved Memphis Mach II to be alive and well.

Among the newcomers taking the stage here was Maison Dada, a Shanghai-based brand with a whimsical selection of lighting and furnishings designed by French nationals Thomas Dariel and Delphine Moreau. Evolution, created by Vincent Le Guern (brother of Valérie, who heads up the family firm Mauviel) and designed by Alain Gilles, featured tabletop and kitchen pieces in mixed materials that complement Mauviel’s essential kitchenware. And Sebastian Conran introduced a design collaboration with the traditional craftsmen of Japan’s Gifu region.

Watch the Bouroullec brothers’ hand-drawing process

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Maison et Objet website

The Copenhagen-based Chart Art Fair has been championing Nordic contemporary art and galleries through its neatly curated programme for four years now. This year, the fair is doubling in size, introducing Chart Design, a new venture that expands the network and scope of the event, offering a new level to its celebration of the region's culture.

Chart Art Fair was launched in 2013 by Galleri Susanne Ottesen, Galleri Bo Bjerggard, V1 Gallery, Andersen’s Contemporary and David Risley Gallery. The quintet got together with a view to changing the contemporary art fair scene, offering a new experience to visitors, gallerists and buyers.

The event has since expanded to include 28 participating galleries, which every year get together in the charming environs of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen. Eschewing a traditional booth format, Chart has been developed as an exhibition, with the founding galleries acting as curatorial figures to present a harmonious selection of works.

A similar format will be applied to the Design fair, which launches with the next edition this coming August. Six leading gallerists will come together to present the best in contemporary and classic Nordic design. Participating galleries to the debut edition will be Denmark’s The Apartment, Dansk Møbelkunst and Etage Projects, Swedish gallery Jacksons, Finland-based Juhani Lemmetti and Parisian gallery Galerie Maria Wettergren, which specialises in Nordic design. The compact but varied design branch of Chart will pay tribute to regional design heroes such as Alvar Aalto and Tapio Wirkkala, as well as contemporary names on the international design scene – from Michael Anastassiades to Fredrik Paulsen and Muller Van Severen.

Breathing new life into the fair scene, this combination of art and design will introduce a fresh chapter for Chart and strengthen the platform for art and design across the region. 

INFORMATION

Chart Art Fair will run from 26–28 August. For more information, visit the Chart Art Fair website

ADDRESS

Chart Art Fair
Kunsthal Charlottenborg
Nyhavn 2
1051 Copenhagen

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The Flos stand at Milan's Salone del Mobile is always packed with cutting edge lighting by the design world's hottest talent. At the centre of the swirl is Piero Gandini - a creative minded businessman who hand-plucks every designer he works with (including this season's Philippe Starck, Jasper Morrison, Michael Anastassiades and the Bouroullec brothers) with meticulous care. Gandini sold the majority of his family's lighting company to a private equity firm in January, but he has maintained his role as CEO and has just launched Flos' first outdoor lighting range. Gandini insists that the creativity is as sizzling as ever and he tapped Ron Gilad to design an art gallery for Flos, complete with a special piece of video art and a sculpture garden inside Milan's Fiera, to prove it.

Wallpaper*: Why did you pick Ron Gilad to design your booth?
Piero Gandini: We were very behind in January, so I thought: 'Who is the man who can help?' Ron sent us the art gallery project in just 10 days. It was beautiful, poetic really. Then he came to the company and worked like crazy, day and night! He was sending me text messages at 2am, leaving the studio at 3am and he was back the next morning at 6am.

W*: Wow! He's as crazy as you.
PG: It's a good challenge, yes! But everybody loved the project from the beginning - it was like an incredible tsunami of energy that submerged us all.

W*: Was the short timeframe the most complicated aspect of the project?
PG: The construction itself was very challenging because we have ceilings everywhere. We basically built a house, and then Ron created this unbelievable artificial garden to show our outdoor lights.

W*: What were the trees made out of?
PG: The poles were made of wood and the branches were made of either aluminum or flexible fibre-reinforced plastic.

W*: Tell us about your special art project - the video of the ladies and lamps getting dressed together - created for the gallery. It was pretty racy, Piero!
PG: Really? You think it's provocative?

W*: Well, it's just fun to see naked ladies at a light show - it's a first.
PG: I didn't find them very sexy [laughing]! Maybe I have to check my testosterone levels. Seriously though, the idea was to show what the products do and how they are built. We kept referring to Philippe [Starck's] lamps as naked and dressed, so Ron said 'I know what we're going to do! We are going to do a video where we have a naked lady and a floor lamp naked and somebody dressing them both up!' So he called Francesca Molteni and they shot the whole video in one night. The guy that's dressing the girl and the lamp is my driver. He drove them to the studio.

W*: One of the most impressive things about you is the way you inspire such creativity with the designers you work with. What's the secret with working with them?
PG: The only secret is that I'm a ballbreaker.

W*: You're a ballbreaker? And that works?
PG: Look, if you are working with talent like Philippe Starck, Michael Anastassiades, Ron Gilad, you really need to go deep into their souls and see what we can all get together from our qualities. Once you have a sense that you've got the right person with real talent - it doesn't happen that often - you share with them the idea of challenging each other. This is what gives you a real reason to be out there in life, to share and to improve.

W*: What changes do you see for Flos now that you have a new investor?
PG: Nothing. We sold the majority of the company to Investindustrial for two main reasons. One; I didn't want a third generation of my family to be hostages of this profession. Two; we were doing our job a little bit on autopilot. You can't continue to walk on a path that you've already trodden ten thousand times.

W*: Will you remain?
PG: Absolutely. Today the company is the same, the team is the same [as before]. They haven't put one person in the organisation. I still make all of the decisions.

ADDRESS

Flos
Corso Monforte 9
20122 Milano

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Brioni's latest store opening - a magnificent new Milanese flagship that sits in the luxury brand's historical home in Via Gesù - was celebrated over the weekend with an installation created by Greek designer Michael Anastassiades in conjunction with Brioni creative director Brendan Mullane.

Wallpaper* acted as matchmaker for the pair, fusing the two creatives for the magazine's annual Handmade project during the Salone del Mobile. The fruits of that teaser project are now revealed on the ground floor of the store (until 12 July), housed inside the very same building that hosted our Handmade exhibition three years in a row.

Entitled 'Blue Hour', the installation (also documented in our July issue, W* 184) features two chairs, a table and lamp contained inside a 3.2 metre tall, 2.5 metre wide cube. Every square inch of the walls, ceiling, floors and the furniture is covered in Brioni's hand-brushed 150 super fine wool flannel in midnight blue.
 
'The fabric is very dark, very light-absorbing, and very matte,' remarks Anastassiades, who flew in for the opening of the store.  'There is no sheen or reflective surfaces to it so when you first look at it, you can hardly understand what is going on.'

Indeed, a quick first glance at 'Blue Hour' registers nothing more than a two dimensional flat black sheet. Then slowly, as the eye adjusts, one begins to make out the sharp lines of the furniture and the three dimensionality of the space. 'And when the layers start unveiling themselves, you notice how beautifully tailored each object is,' Anastassiades adds.

The entire installation was painstakingly upholstered in fine suiting wool inside Brioni's factory in Penne, Italy - a high-end laboratory that has only, up until now, produced clothing. The cone shaped lamp is covered in a cotton normally reserved for men's shirting. 'We've given a su misura experience to the [installation] and tailored a beautiful, almost second-skin suit to its realisation,' says Mullane.
 
In line with Wallpaper's Handmade mission, the project reveals what can happen when talent and know-how is cross-pollinated across various disciplines. 'What was most interesting was that both Brendan and I share the same philosophy and approach even though he comes from fashion and I from design,' says Anastassiades. 'We both have the same appreciation for high quality.'

An obsession for high quality dominates the 1,200 sq m store. Designed by local architectural firm Studio Park Associati, all three floors of the space are wrapped in bronzed brass trimmings, 'cannucciato' ribbed Bahia wood, Eramosa marble and Navona travertine floors. Furniture includes Poltrona Frau armchairs and Ruckstuhl rugs, along with chairs and lamps designed by Studio Park and produced exclusively by Driade.

Six full-time tailors are employed inside the space to offer bespoke services using traditional, hand-crafted techniques. At the same time, Brioni has jumped into the high-speed digital world by launching Virtual Mirror, a technology system that allows Brioni clients to simulate and visualise suits in thousands of fabric and colour variations on a virtual mannequin. Rolling out in three phases, the platform will eventually allow clients to actually view their own image in a 3D mirror, wearing the clothes themselves.

ADDRESS

Brioni
Via Gesù, 2-4
 20121, Milan, Italy

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Brioni's latest store opening takes the form of a magnificent new Milanese flagship that sits in the luxury brand's historical home in Via Gesu. Inside, creative director Brendan Mullane's obsession with quality dominates the 1,200 sq m space. Designed by local architectural firm Studio Park Associati, all three floors of the space are wrapped in bronzed brass trimmings, 'cannucciato' ribbed Bahia wood, Eramosa marble and Navona travertine floors. Furniture includes Poltrona Frau armchairs and Ruckstuhl rugs, along with chairs and lamps designed by Studio Park and produced exclusively by Driade.

Six full time tailors are employed inside the space to offer bespoke services using traditional, painstaking, hand-crafted techniques. At the same time, Brioni has jumped into the high-speed digital world by launching Virtual Mirror, a virtual technology system that allows Brioni clients to simulate and visualise suits in thousands of fabric and colour variations on a virtual mannequin. Rolling out in three phases, the platform will eventually allow clients to actually view his own image in a 3D mirror, wearing the clothes himself. The launch of the new store was celebrated with a special temporary installation by designer Michael Anastassiades, in conjunction with Mullane, originally conceived as part of Wallpaper* Handmade.

ADDRESS

Brioni
Via Gesù, 2-4
20121, Milan
Italy

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As a teenager, the industrial designer Michael Anastassiades was obsessed with finding the perfect forms in nature, and his career in London has reflected this. His sculptural designs employ refined materials like brass, glass and marble, buffed to unblemished perfection.

How curious, then, that 'Small Zap', the most personal piece in his latest exhibition - 'Reload the Current Page' - was something Anastassiades already owned his entire adult life: a spherical ball of Cypriot stone found by his friend and mentor Neoptolemos Michaelides. Anastassiades - who collaborated on our 2013 Handmade issue - did a 3D scan of the stone and produced an outsized version, called 'Large Zap'. 'When it becomes significantly larger,' says Anastassiades, 'the imperfections suddenly become more obvious.' The smaller version 'looks absolutely perfect'; the larger one hardly at all.

'Reload the Current Page', on now at the Point Center Gallery in Anastassiades' hometown of Nicosia, Cyprus, is all about this experimentation with scale. The point being: only when an idea is reduced in size can an artist have total control over its appearance. By contrast, when an object is magnified, its true complexity emerges.

While the Zaps ramp up to a more elaborate scale, Anastassiades' other works take vast forms from landscape and scale them down in size. The designer gives a Cypriot perspective to the Japanese concept of the 'suiseki', a naturally occurring rock that happens to resemble an existing idea or image. Here, though, he's crafted pseudo-suisekis from sandstone and basalt and used them to represent politically charged points in the Cypriot landscape - like the Pentadaktylos mountain, now in Turkish Cyprus but visible from the Greek side, rendered in his piece 'Jimbutsu-seki'.

Like many great works, this series was spontaneous and almost never came to be. The gallery had approached the designer about building a retrospective of his work. 'I realised that would be totally insensitive considering the current economic climate,' he says. 'To inject these luxurious materials and super-refined forms into an environment in a time of crisis would not have been a nice gesture.' So in November he embarked on 'Reload' from scratch, and emerged with a body of work that carries the weight of history - not only his own, but that of his country.

ADDRESS
Point Centre for Contemporary Art

Megaro Hadjisavva
2, Evagorou Avenue
1097, Nicosia
Cyprus

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