Each May, the Liechtenstein family opens the doors of its medieval Austrian castle, Schloss Hollenegg, to the public. Inside, nestled among layered period interiors – including a Renaissance courtyard and a Baroque church – visitors encounter contemporary works by established and emerging designers alongside historical objects from the castle’s own collection, all united by a shared theme.

‘This is the last of a series of exhibitions dedicated to materials,’ explains Italian-born curator and the event’s founder Alice Stori Liechtenstein. ‘After exploring glass, ceramics, wood and textiles, metal seemed the perfect choice. Metals are the building blocks of our planet and literally hold our world together.'

For ‘Element: Metal’, Stori Liechtenstein has pulled an array of metal objects from the castle’s historic collections – from silver tableware and ornamental pieces to weaponry and architectural fittings – offering insight into the material culture of past centuries. Alongside these storied objects are contemporary works by designers and artists selected for their ‘exceptional craftsmanship, original conceptual approaches, and responsible engagement with the material’. It's hard to imagine a more romantic setting.

Schloss Hollenegg: design's most poetic experimental residence

Born in Milan and raised in Bologna, Stori Liechtenstein founded Schloss Hollenegg for Design in 2015. Each May, the non-profit cultural institution transforms the 21,500 sq ft, 52-room castle – which has belonged to her husband Alfred Liechtenstein’s family for two centuries – into a space for design research, critical thinking and experimentation. Alongside the annual exhibition, the institution runs a residency programme that provides emerging designers with the opportunity to develop new work within this unique historic context.

Of the 18 designers and artists featured in the exhibition, 12 spent time at Schloss Hollenegg during the summer and autumn of 2025, developing site-specific pieces. Finnish jewellery designer Ildar Wafin, sponsored by the Finnland Institut in Germany, collaborated with historic Viennese silversmith Jarosinski & Vaugoin to produce an unusual silver table bell that pays homage to the bells in the castle’s church tower. Its sinuous shape nods to the centuries-old Canadian vine that climbs the courtyard walls.

Elsewhere, Japanese artist Junko Mori, supported by her gallery Adrian Sassoon, has been developing the concept of the frame; American fine artist Elliott Hundley, with support from Friedman Benda, has created a chandelier and mirror for Henriette’s bedroom; while Lithuanian designer Mantas Lesauskas has created a chess board.

Meanwhile, designers Hannah Kuhlmann, Anna Zimmermann and Soft Baroque, supported by Copenhagen-based art and design gallery Etage Projects, have brought recent metal works to the exhibition.

For the first time, the institution has partnered with aluminium and energy company Hydro, which is presenting three projects, by Max Lamb, Philippe Malouin and Sabine Marcelis – works developed to showcase Hydro’s Circal 100R recycled aluminium made from post-consumer scrap. At a time when designers are increasingly reconsidering how materials are sourced, reused and preserved, metal offers a particularly rich lens through which to explore ideas of permanence, repair and transformation.

‘Today we frame recycling as an environmental necessity, but in the past reuse was simply part of everyday life,’ reflects Stori Liechtenstein. ‘Materials were expensive, labour-intensive and difficult to source, so objects were rarely discarded. They were repaired, adapted, melted down or repurposed over generations. This creates a natural dialogue between the contemporary aluminium works and the historic interiors of Schloss Hollenegg. While the new projects openly address sustainability and circularity, the historical objects reveal a long tradition of material care and longevity.’

In another first, Schloss Hollenegg has also partnered with the TransArts department of the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Die Angewandte), offering seven students – Jordi Albers, Klemens Hegen, Lea Liebl, Elena Riener, Luise Lutz & Michels Strümpf, and Lorenzo Zerbini – the opportunity to develop work for the exhibition.

‘I see much more overlap and, for me, the boundaries between design, applied arts, collectible design and art have been slowly dissolving,’ says Stori Lichtenstein, reflecting on how the design landscape has shifted since the institution’s founding 11 years ago. ‘I think categorisations are useful to understand what we are talking about, but ultimately these disciplines are all part of the same cultural ecosystem.

‘I have always been interested in the narrative potential of objects and, in recent years, I have concentrated more on how to present them in engaging ways for the public,’ she continues. ‘Collectible and experimental design are, more than ever, wonderful vehicles for engaging with contemporary material culture.’

'Element: Metal' runs at Schloss Hollenegg Castle until 31 May 2026

schlosshollenegg.at

In the small-but-mighty universe of stovetop coffee makers (also known as the moka), Alessi is the undisputed king. Since the 1970s, the Italian company's catalogue of moka pots has grown into a collection of imaginative designs by some of the world's most celebrated architects and designers, from Aldo Rossi and Michele De Lucchi to David Chipperfield. It also helps that Alberto Alessi, the Piedmont-based company's president, is the grandson of Alfonso Bialetti, who, in the 1930s, popularised the coffee maker as we know it.

Next up in the roster of creatives invited to leave their mark on the popular coffeemaking tool is Philippe Malouin, whose coffee pot, Vite, is unveiled at Milan Design Week. The London-based Canadian designer had long been an admirer of spirit into everyday objects.

‘In my first year at university, we had to choose a design object and write a dissertation about it. I chose the Spirale ashtray, designed in 1970 by Achille Castiglioni,' he recalls. ‘In my dissertation, I wrote about the clever use of materials, the ease of cleaning, and the use of a spring – welded at both ends and pushed into a cavity – where the cigarettes rest. For me, an object becomes iconic when it works very well, is constructed properly, and lasts for a long time.'

For his Alessi debut, Malouin convinced the company to let him roam around a scrapyard in Ossola, near the company's Lake Orta headquarters, to look for inspiration. It's an approach that is not uncommon in his work: in 2022, he created a collection for Athens gallery The Breeder using found objects, assembled and spray-painted into bold furniture and lighting designs. ‘I'm interested in copying and pasting objects found in a scrapyard to discover new functions, new objects, and sometimes entirely new directions,' he says.

In that collection, the bracket from a park bench was joined with a bodybuilding plate to form a chair, while a bent steel plate on top of an I-beam served as a table lamp.

Vite Coffee Pot by Philippe Malo

Similarly, the starting point for the moka pot was scraps of metal that helped Malouin shape the vision of the product he wanted to design. ‘I wasn't looking for anything very specific. I was mostly observing mechanical parts and connections,' he says. ‘At some point, I noticed a simple metal screw that immediately reminded me of the way a moka pot is assembled. The moka already has this threaded connection between the top and the base, and seeing that piece made me realise that the screw itself could become the base of the object. That observation eventually became the central idea of the design.'

From that point, refining the moka pot took several years, during which Malouin worked closely with design director Carlo Gasparini. ‘Our discussions were often about manufacturing details and the meaning of objects,' recalls Malouin. The process involved rough prototypes and experiments, to understand how the screw could become an element of the moka pot's structure.

‘There was a lot of work around the proportions of the object, particularly the relationship between the size of the water chamber and the size of the upper container,' explains Malouin, who, prior to the collaboration, had never designed a cooking object before. ‘We also had to carefully design the material assembly so the moka pot would work on both flame and induction cooktops. From there, we refined the proportions, ergonomics and details until the object felt simple and intuitive to use.'

When asked about his favourite Alessi coffee pots, Malouin cites another design guided by functionality and intuition: ‘Richard Sapper's ‘9090' moka pot, hands down. The movement of the handle and the little click it makes is incredibly satisfying. The handle has the size it does because of the leverage it needs to open and close access to the inside of the moka pot, which makes it a great example of form following function.'

The final object features a die-cast aluminium base with a top available in three colours, with complementary hues on the handles. A fourth version completes the collection, with a full aluminium body and dark green handle.

It represents both the spirit of the company and of Malouin's work, on the cusp of industrial functionality, unapologetic use of colour and experimental forms. ‘From Alessi, I learned that an object needs to breathe a bit of magic while fully incorporating manufacturing clarity and honesty in order to be successful.'

The clue is in the name, of course, but Philippe Malouin’s new sofa for Swedish manufacturer Hem is indeed wonderful. Three years in development, the modular sofa is supremely comfortable (unlike many of its ilk), achieving just the right balance of squashy and firm to sink and support a weary body and soul, simultaneously.

Beyond the generosity of its proportions, which would sit well in big and small spaces, the ingenuity here lies in the padded Kvadrat upholstery, which the designer describes as a ‘hoodie feature’. This is a clever cover, essentially, with elasticated corners and button fastenings that secure both upholstery and modules together; there is room for a bit of give, but you won’t spend your life shifting the blocks back together and retucking the topper back in.

A relaxed aesthetic and a lived-in patina were important for the designer, and we’re calling it early: the ‘Great’ sofa will surely enter the canon of contemporary classics. Look out for it at Milan Design Week 2025 in April.

Hem.com

At Euroluce 2023, Flos unveils ‘Bilboquet’ by Philippe Malouin, a new table lamp that marks the London-based designer’s debut with the lighting brand. The lamp is conceived as a multifunctional lighting tool for the modern home, and its design comes from Malouin’s own experimentations as well as Flos’ thorough development process. 

Malouin’s work often comes from experimenting with materials and mechanical parts, a process that starts with an abstract object and results in well-considered industrial designs. The concept for ‘Bilboquet’ emerged from Malouin playing around with magnetic elements, a process that resulted in the final, dynamic design. 

Philippe Malouoin's ‘Bilboquet’ lamp for Flos

The lamp’s form and function is characterised by two coloured cylinders connected through a sleek magnetic sphere, a connector that allows the lamp to be oriented to direct the light as required while also serving as a poetic decorative element defining the design. Furthering the lamp's transformative abilities, the base cylinder can also be used to hold the cable in place, locking into a loop shape to one side. 

The design takes its name from the bilboquet, a French game from the 16th century consisting of popping a ball tied to a stick, then catching it with the concave plate at the other end of the stick itself. 

‘The design is about changing your lighting needs throughout the day,’ says Malouin. ‘It can be used as a desk lamp, but if you have guests and just want to have drinks in your living room, you can bounce the light off of the wall to create a soft glow, or up on the ceiling. You can mount it on a wall and direct it to a book. I have always admired “Parentesi” by Castiglioni and the lamp’s way to change the light to achieve different moods – and this is very much what this light does. I’ve designed it thinking of the lifestyle of people my age, Millennials and Gen Z.’

Francesco Rodrigues and Andrea Gregis from Flos’ R&D department contributed to bringing this synthesis of form and function to life. ‘There was a lot of development required to make it work; from the actual size of the ball to the neodymium magnet to have the right amount of tension, and then the right amount of magnetism.’ continues Malouin. ‘All of these things appear extremely easy to solve, but they are actually the result of extraordinary advancement by the r&d development team at Flos.’ Some of the lamp’s design details are the result of this process, such as the ridged texture of the bioplastic base and head connecting via the magnet, which comes from concealing the marks after removing it from the mould.

Malouin's modern approach to lighting design is enhanced by the fresh colour palette of sage, tomato and linen that contribute to the design's expressive aesthetic.

Bilboquet by Philippe Malouin for Flos is available from autumn 2023 

flos.com
philippemalouin.com

During Milan Design Week 2022, London-based designer Philippe Malouin unveils his latest design for SCP, a chair inspired by military camp beds made of solid wood and cotton upholstery. The simple design evokes the spirit of camping, and the aptly named ‘Camp’ chair features a cubic frame with a generous cushioned seat and back. 

The piece emerged from conversations between Malouin and SCP founder, Sheridan Coakley, who asked the designer for ‘a natural, comfortable armchair that had a simple construction’. For Coakley, it was important that the chair could be made at the brand’s Norfolk facility without outsourcing any parts, so simplicity was key. 

‘I tried to design something that was cosy and comfortable,’ says Malouin. ‘It’s more sober than some of the stuff I have done.’ The chair, he explains, has stylistic references to camp gear from the 1940s and 1950s and its design is incredibly simple: ‘nothing is attached, so if you ever wanted to change the jacket you could, if you wanted to have it dry-cleaned, you could. All of the cushion covers are zip-up ones, so they can be removed.’

Made of a solid ash frame, the chair is then dressed by cotton upholstery (with a colour palette chosen to fit the military inspiration).

Manufacturing the chair in Norfolk was key for SCP: for over a decade, the team has been developing sustainable upholstery techniques using alternatives to petrochemical-based foams, replacing them with natural materials, and the wood used for production has been rigorously selected from FSC-approved partners across the EU. 

The ‘Camp’ chair by Malouin is presented among new launches by the brand, shown in the picturesque cloisters of Milan’s San Simpliciano basilica. SCP’s collection includes new furniture pieces by the likes of Matthew Hilton, Ilse Crawford and Oscar Peña, as well as small-scale accessories by Floris Wubben, Jochen Holz and Reiko Kaneko.

INFORMATION

The ‘Camp’ chair is on view alongside the new SCP furniture and accessories collections at the Padiglione Brera from 7 – 12 June 2022
scp.co.uk

philippemalouin.com

ADDRESS

Via Cavalieri del Santo Sepolcro, 3
Milan

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Athens’ The Breeder gallery presents a series of steel furniture works by Philippe Malouin. Titled ‘Steel Works’, the exhibition marks the Canadian, London-based designer’s solo debut in Athens, and merges an industrial design language with a bright palette of saturated hues. The collection was previewed at the gallery's booths at Frieze London 2021 and Fiac, before being shown in its entirety in Athens.

Featuring sculptural steel furniture and lighting design, the collection merges Malouin’s focus on craft and industrial design. The pieces’ forms are achieved through compositions of basic components, objects found by the designer in scrapyards in Greece and the UK. 

Steel furniture by Philippe Malouin

Manufactured between Brighton and Athens, the process is inspired by the Dadaist découpé tradition, which involves cutting up and rearranging parts (usually text). ‘Sourcing steel objects instinctively and rearranging them ad hoc, Malouin’s intention is to create new meaning and value,’ reads a text introducing the works. The results are multifunctional ‘hybrid objects’ that create an interplay between two- and three-dimensional forms and challenge our perception. 

The collection includes a chair made from a bench bracket from an Athens park and a 20kg bodybuilding plate, a lamp made with an I-beam, and a mobile workstation based on a lawn bowling roller and seat. These found objects are combined with standard construction elements such as pipes, plates, brackets, and rebars. The collection’s vivid colours represent the manufacturing location, with red and green for the UK, and blue and light blue for Greece.

An ongoing fascination of Malouin’s is finding everyday materials and repurposing them as the base of his desirable designs – case in point his ‘Press’ mirror for Umbra Shift, an intuitive design object made by simply pressing and polishing a steel tube, or the more intricate design of the series of ‘Turntables’ he created for the Museum of Santa Barbara, whose design is based on a standard circular groove, which had intrigued the studio’s team. 

‘They are ultimately artistic manifestations where their functionality is not always delineated,’ states The Breeder gallery introduction to Malouin’s new works. ‘By probing its boundaries to and beyond the limits, Malouin creates here a rather surprising language of form.’

INFORMATION

‘Steel Works’ by Philippe Malouin is on view at The Breeder gallery, 4 November – 31 December 2021

philippemalouin.com

thebreedersystem.com

ADDRESS

Iasonos 45
Athens 104 36
Greece

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When designer Philippe Malouin got the call to collaborate with Swiss furniture brand de Sede, his first reaction was surprise, followed by excitement. And then, he freely admits, he began to feel the pressure.

De Sede and Philippe Malouin

De Sede began life in 1962 as a small family-run saddler’s workshop, but rapidly grew into a world-class producer of handcrafted leather furniture with a track record for producing coveted modernist design classics, such as the iconic, accordion-like ‘DS-600’ sofa system, Ubald Klug’s terraced ‘DS-1025’ sectional, and the imposing ‘S231’ swivel chair, used as a prop in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Meanwhile, Malouin’s eponymous studio has racked up an impressive client roster since its founding 12 years ago. Named Wallpaper’s designer of the year in 2018, he has created products for the likes of Iittala, SCP, Kvadrat, Established & Sons, Hem, Ace Hotel and Roll & Hill, to name a few. His interiors studio, Post-Office, has completed spaces for brands such as Aesop, Everlane and Valextra. ‘It takes a long time to be taken seriously,’ he reflects. ‘In the beginning, brands would tell us to jump and we’d ask, “How high?” Now we’re really lucky because we can choose who we work with. De Sede were very willing to let me take the lead, which was great because I had some strong feelings about what we were working on, and they listened.’

A modular sofa born from intuitive material experiments

The brief was straightforward: to create a modular sofa system with a traditional yet contemporary aesthetic. The process began with folded foam experiments, and the resulting form, the ‘DS-707’, was created by taking a square piece of foam and folding it in half and then in half again, which according to Malouin, was the simplest of all of the experiments the studio carried out during the design process.

‘I trained at the Design Academy Eindhoven, so a lot of our work was about experimentation and process, but I also have an industrial design background, so I’m not about making things that can’t be produced,’ he says. ‘I like this method of using foam and I use it a lot when creating upholstery as it produces shapes that a computer can’t give you.’

The tension that makes the chair’s squeezed form so enticing was, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most challenging aspect of its manufacture. De Sede’s craftspeople are more accustomed to avoiding this type of stretch in the leather, so to create it intentionally went against decades of experience. Initially, the team thought it might be impossible to produce as de Sede works with 5mm-thick aniline neck leather, which is very heavy, very solid and virtually bulletproof.

Manufacturing Philipe Malouin's DS-707 sofa and armchair

‘Neck leather is very hard to manufacture,’ says de Sede designer and product developer Joe Griesbach, who led the project. ‘When I first showed our team of upholsterers Philippe’s prototype, they thought it was never going to work. When you develop a sofa in upholstery, you try not to bend the material, because when you bend it, you lose softness. This project helped to push us out of our comfort zone, to go beyond our knowledge and try unconventional things.’

The ‘DS-707’ system includes an armchair and a modular sofa that can be infinitely extended to create custom configurations. Like much of Malouin’s work, the design appears simple yet mysterious. ‘It has as little design as possible, because if it’s too “designed”, it becomes “trendy”’, he says, ‘and trend is the enemy.’ The armchair’s rounded form possesses an inner construction that allows you to recline, enveloped within its arms; and, when stretched into a sofa, it has shades of de Sede’s classic models.

In addition to the sofa and armchair, the system can be configured so it forms a completely enclosed conversation pit – a distinctly 1970s typology. ‘You have to climb into it, and that’s a totally different experience,’ says Malouin. The system is available in all of the brand’s leather options, as well as a Raf Simons-designed wool upholstery by Kvadrat.

Says Griesbach, ‘Philippe’s work is reminiscent of the Swiss postmodern era. When I first saw it, it was like seeing de Sede’s old design models but translated into a new time.’

INFORMATION

philippemalouin.com
desede.ch

‘I draw badly, and I used that as my initial starting point.’ London-based Philippe Malouin has turned his weakness into a rug pattern for cc-tapis – his first two-dimensional product design. ‘I actually had a very functional approach when it came to my requirements for a rug. I wanted it to be comfortable like a pile rug, yet, be architecturally sound like a flat weave.’

Malouin’s idiosyncrasies is was what drew cc-tapis’ art director Daniele Lora to his work, especially when she was planning for the Milan-based brand’s 2020 collection. ‘I immediately thought that his style could play a strong part of what we had in mind.’ For the Lines rug, Malouin took this wobbly sketching of straight lines further by using wax crayons to accentuate the flaws – ‘it also left an irregular deposition of pigment onto a clean page of paper’.

When taken off paper, the artwork is identifiable through the distorted pattern and colours that fluctuate in tone – an effect which Malouin says was hard to achieve when translated to wool. ‘This was ingeniously solved by Daniele Lora by coming up with the idea of dip-dying bunched wool yarn before knotting it,’ he says.

This nifty dying technique for the Himalayan wool was paired with Tibetan craftsmanship that takes place in the production facility in Nepal in a performance of trial and error – ‘rather than printing lines we wanted to have a more natural and imprecise effect that came after many trials of dyeing the raw material and that could only be achieved through hand-knotting.’

The Lines rug is part of cc-tapis’ digital launch of Gesture – a project that looks at ‘how the motion of hands and tools can quietly lead the creative process, creating entirely new aesthetic languages.’ In addition to Malouin, Lora and the team invited Sabine Marcelis, Mae Engelgeer, Yuri Himuro and Patricia Urquiola to realise designs too.

‘We always start by making things,’ Malouin explains of his creative operations. Lines has a process full of glitches and abnormalities, which would usually be tossed away, but here they were turned into something beautiful and functional.

Watch Philippe Malouin take us through the process

INFORMATION

cc-tapis.com

‘My mantra is that design is about people, not about chairs,’ says Milan-based design curator and journalist Maria Cristina Didero. A fitting credo, considering Didero’s new book, People of Maria Cristina Didero, shifts objects to the edge of the spotlight and instead focuses its gaze on the characters behind them — and the interviewer herself.

Conceived by the Prague-based creative collective OKOLO — made up of curator Adam Štěch and graphic designers Matěj Činčera and Jan Kloss — the book compiles interviews and exhibition texts written by Didero over an eventful 15 years as an independent curator and design journalist. Each section is dedicated to a different designer, artist or curator and features the likes of Oki Sato, Maurizio Cattelan, Philippe Malouin and Studio 65. Though the book was launched last month in Milan at graphic design festival Mostro, the project originated as a pop-up exhibition during Prague Design Week last year.

In researching the project, Didero and Štěch dug deep into her archive and extracted the snippets of conversation that best defined her oeuvre. OKOLO’s design wizards then interpreted each text into a playful line drawing, creating a unique visual response to the designer’s work and Didero’s words. ‘This was really something that enriched me so much,’ she says of the opportunity to reflect on a life of writing about design and the relationships that have sprung from or been cemented by those chats, ‘my approach has always been about the intersection and the reciprocity of design, people and communication.’

But how does she feel about finally being the subject of her own show? ‘I had never been on the other side of the fence before,’ Didero admits of the experience, which turned the tables on the prolific curator, who, alongside holding the position of co-editor of Italy’s Icon Design magazine, has been at the helm of projects like SuperDesign, a book, exhibition and film on the Italian radical design movement, Vegan Design by Erez Nevi Pana presented in Milan in 2018 and Snarkitecture’s blockbuster Fun House retrospective at the National Building Museum that same year. ‘So I thought, now I can be demanding, just like my designers!’ she laughs at the idea of taking on the persona of a design diva, ‘but in the end, I wasn’t — I was very well behaved.’

When you think of Philippe Malouin and his portfolio of work, a strong yet simple use of shape is something that springs to mind immediately. Over the years, the designer has become recognised for this ability, honing his silhouette skills when creating collections for the likes of SCP and Established & Sons. Now, Malouin has masterfully applied his eye for a good curve to a range of home objects for Finnish brand Iittala.

Named Kuru, the collection is made up of ceramic bowls, a small glass bowl, and a glass vase. Most are circular in shape, while a shallow tray takes on more of a lozenge form. However, each piece is intended to provide a sort of organisational pedestal for your very best belongings – somewhere to show them off while also ensuring they are kept neat and tidy.

‘The initial brief required us to create a set of “home displays” – objects that are both sculptural and functional,’ says Malouin, who joins a long list of design heavyweights to have worked with Iittala since its beginnings in 1881. ‘The home displays can be experienced as a sculptural item or used in order to collect your personal effects.’

‘Elevating the items from the surface adds value to these objects and gives them the respect they deserve. I wanted to design a collection that helps people create centres of gravity in their homes and provides a place for precious objects and memories, regardless of the size of their living space,’ he added.

Malouin named the pieces in reference to the Finnish word for ‘gorge’, as ‘it represented the empty geometric space in the Kuru pieces,’ he explained. He spent months working alongside the brand’s craftspeople to develop this correct silhouette, and at the same time spending time experimenting with textured glazes, as seen on the outside of the ceramic bowls.

‘It was important to develop a design language that was our own as well as matching Iittala’s,’ he said. ‘The important thing to keep in mind was the quality and colours of the materials used by Iittala over the years.’

According to Malouin, this is most evident through the glass pieces – however, for the ceramics, they opted to take a more experimental approach, developing a textural glaze that was applied to the design after the slipcasting phase.

‘The textured glaze is new to the brand, yet I believe it adheres to its design ethos,’ he says. ‘It is such a challenge to design something new for such a strong and big design company. We are pleased it was possible to do.’

INFORMATION

iittala.com

Reflecting on modern relationships and their many, many forms for her Design Academy Eindhoven graduation project, interdisciplinary designer Orlando Lovell coined the term ‘polycreative’, which, in layman’s terms, is essentially polyamory, but with less kissing and more designing.

To represent the concept, she enlisted five designers – Philippe Malouin, Matylda Krzykowski, Bertille Laguet, Koos Buster and Anne Dessing – to create cake stands. The shape and form of each then influenced the five cakes she baked. For the icing on the cake, she asked Sarah Illenberger, Alice Wong, Marisa Miller, Arvid & Marie and Giulia Soldati to create rituals for consuming each of the baked goods, resulting in a truly collaborative project with an outcome good enough to eat.

As originally featured in the November 2019 issue of Wallpaper* (W*248) – on newsstands now

INFORMATION

All five examples will be on show at this year’s Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven from 19-27 October. orlandolovell.com/polycreative

Steel wire rings, rubber and nylon are just some of the raw materials designer Philippe Malouin has been working with lately. He’s not uprooting his design career and turning to factory work, instead he has been rustling up his first collection of office furniture for Salon 94 Design, all made with industrial materials, that will launch at Design Miami/Basel next week (11-16 June).

This collaboration follows on from Design Miami 2017. Salon 94 Design co-founder Paul Johnson spotted the brutalist concrete Core bench by Malouin (Wallpaper* Designer of the Year in 2018, and a 2019 judge) that was created for the Kalejdohill project in Sweden. Johnson was swiftly keen to create a version for the gallery, which showcased at the Floridian fair. There is a similar type of robust energy in this vibrant collection, which uses an assortment of techniques: from welding to casting, to develop the modern workplace pieces.

‘We were interested in studying office archetypes and reinterpreting them using industrial materials and processes,’ says Malouin. Taking into consideration the pacy evolution of office environments, from executive spaces in skyscrapers to the hyper-networking co-working culture, the London-based designer has realised experimental forms including a translucent sculptural seat in rubber and a chair in steel that riffs off the classic executive office chair in its structure, with its nuts and bolts exposed. A monolithic cargo container-style sideboard packs a punch too, but the fact that it exists in a bright, sunny yellow tone, and is made out of nylon, adds a playful slant.

‘So many offices are grey and plain. Some vibrancy is very important,’ Malouin explains. But these colours were not artificially injected into the collection, they are indicative of the process. ‘The colours are a direct result from working with these specific industrial materials as they are standard colours. I thought it was important to use the standard colours materials come in in order to communicate process’.

The collection could deck out an entire office; smaller tools come in the form of sturdy pen pots and bookends in steel, wall hooks and even a 1970s-esque nylon telephone. Malouin’s vision for the office offers a fresh take on archetypes, edging these away from grayscale and corporate.

As for his own office? ‘[It's] a jumble of materials and samples, and experiments, and it is packed to the brim! It has lots of plants and nice daylight’. Hopefully more modern masterpieces we get to experience soon.

INFORMATION

Industrial Office is on view 11–16 June. For more information, visit the Salon 94 Design website

ADDRESS

Hall 1 Süd
Messe Basel
Switzerland

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When Philippe Malouin was crowned Designer of the Year in 2018, we were impressed by how prolific the Canadian designer had been for the previous 12 months. Post-accolade, Malouin had a similarly busy year, with new projects for international brands such as Resident, ZaoZuo and SCP, but most importantly, with an exhibition chronicling the ten years since he opened his studio, shown in Hyères’ Villa Noailles as part of the annual Design Parade festival.

Seen together, the works demonstrated the designer’s versatility with materials and craft, and his experimentation with shapes and concepts, turning an intuition into a design object. Coincidentally, Malouin’s Designer of the Year successor, Pierre Yovanovich, also took part in the southern French design festival, with an exhibition in nearby Toulon. ‘Pierre’s work manages to transport someone to a different world whilst retaining a minimal and understated aesthetic,’ explains Malouin. ‘His projects are always refined and utilise texture, light and colour intelligently. Pierre does more with less, because less is more.’

Malouin is also an advocate for Milan, the judges’ City of the Year. ‘I’ve been going to Milan since my graduation from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2008, and I have witnessed it change,’ he says. ‘Ten years ago, Milan seemed quite dormant, and slightly forgotten. In the last decade, it seems to have transformed itself in a vibrant, yet classical destination, with improvements in infrastructure, residential projects and restaurants.’

View the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2019 here

As originally featured in the February 2019 issue of Wallpaper* (W*239)

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

Even by the standards of the culinary elite, 2017 has been an adventurous year for René and Nadine Redzepi.

A seven-week pop-up in Tulum, underneath the verdant fronds of the Yucatán Jungle, raised Noma’s profile to new heights. Thereafter René journeyed through the Nordics in preparation for the restaurant’s much-anticipated relaunch in February 2018 – encouraging foragers, farmers and fishermen to step up their game, seeking out designers and craftspeople to complement the offering, and witnessing the wonders of nature. ‘It’s a once in a lifetime feeling,’ he declares, ‘to be in an ice fjord, somewhere in northern Greenland, seeing 20 whales per hour.’ Back in the Danish capital, René has relocated the Noma test kitchen to the Redzepi home in Christianshavn (a temporary plywood structure stands in their backyard, though operations often spill into Nadine’s kitchen), and spends his days experimenting on a seafood menu for the inaugural season.

Nadine, on the other hand, fulfilled a longtime dream in publishing Downtime: Deliciousness at Home. It’s the culmination a nine-year recipe collecting project, which started when she and René had their first child. For her, the distinction between restaurant and home cooking lies in the latter’s flexibility. ‘The dishes [in my book] are very forgiving, so it’s easy to change things up,’ she says. But this is no ordinary home cookbook. It’s also a document of the Redzepis’ life together – there’s the fusilli with spicy chicken liver sauce from the first time she cooked for René, recipes inspired by the likes of Juan Mari Arzak and Alain Ducasse, and of course, Japanese and Mexican-inflected dishes picked up during Noma’s international sojourns. ‘When we cook the dishes, we are immediately taken to these places again.’

The Redzepis spend about a month in Mexico each year, so their fondness for its capital comes as no surprise. René in particular likes that certain pockets of the city still feel like a village. ‘Mexico City has quaint, beautiful market spaces the size of Copenhagen neighbourhoods, and food is everywhere,’ he remarks. ‘You can go to museums, find beautiful art, but you can also see the pyramids. It’s just incredible.’ Judging the Best City category, they were torn between this and Singapore, where they spent a week after Noma’s Australian pop-up. ‘They have all these huge glass buildings, with gigantic trees reflected off them. You feel like you’re in a city that’s grown out of a park,’ recalls Nadine. She grew up in Portugal, and was immediately taken with the understated aesthetic of our Best New Hotel, Lisbon's Santa Clara 1728. ‘The use of concrete reminds me of a hacienda in Mexico.’

Meanwhile, Max Nuñes’ Ghat House, winner of the Best New Private House award, charmed the Redzepis with its simplicity. ‘I like that there’s lots of light from above, coming into all the nooks and crannies,’ says René. Likewise, he calls the Core Pavilion, created by Designer of the Year Philippe Malouin, ‘simply stunning’. ‘I love things that have practical use but also take the shape of art in public spaces,’ he concludes. ‘Art should not just be reserved for museums.’

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

INFORMATION

Downtime: Deliciousness at Home, £27, published by Ebury Press. For more information, visit the Penguin Random House UK website and the Noma 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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‘Who’s the skinhead with the beard, tight suit and tattoos?’ A few years ago, a distinctive looking chap appeared on the front row of the fashion shows and caught the attention of other regular attendees. ‘He’s the buying director for MyTheresa,’ replied one sage. This particular tattooed gentleman was Justin O’Shea and he was definitely rocking a ‘Thing’. And he was getting noticed. O’Shea came from a humble background. Prior to his Thingness, young Justin grew up in a remote village in Queensland, Australia, working in mines with his dad and shifting boxes at supermarkets. Now he was an unmistakeable feature on the fashion circuit with an exploding social media profile boosted by numerous half naked selfies. Some dismissed him as a bit of a joke. Others said he was a smart guy who knew his fashion retail and also knew how to project himself as a brand – as a Thing.

Fast forward to July 2016 and O’Shea is no longer on the front row but on the catwalk, taking a John Galliano-style bow for his debut collection for Brioni. His appointment as creative director a few months earlier raised eyebrows as he had no formal training or experience as a designer. But it was a reflection of the changing responsibilities of such a role and of the industry and society more widely. It’s no longer just about being able to design or oversee a collection, it’s about communicating a style and a vision. It’s about being an ambassador who projects that vision. It’s about being noticed and talked about. It’s about having a Thing!

I wish I had a Thing. I realised some years ago that anybody who is really successful, who has really made it, has a Thing. I’m doing all right, but if I had a Thing I’d be big. I’d be someone. A Thing gets you noticed and remembered. ‘Do you know Tony Chambers, the editor of Wallpaper*?’ ‘I don’t think I do… oh, hang on, is he the xxx guy with the xxx? Yes, sure I know him.’ Being noticed and  remembered seems to make you better.

Think of Le Corbusier. Would he have been as successful without those black, thick-framed round spectacles? Richard Rogers has his brightly coloured collarless shirts, while Jean Nouvel keeps it monochrome. Peter Marino’s career took off after he adopted the Tom of Finland look. John Pawson keeps it minimal, of course – he has his NOthing.

Steve Jobs had his black polo-neck and 
dad jeans – the low-key thing. While Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli always wore his wristwatch over his shirt cuff. A bling thing!

Fashion designers are undoubtedly kings of the Thing. Alber Elbaz ‘owns’ the big bow tie and Rick Owens ‘owns’ elegant goth, while John Galliano has borrowed just about everything – currently settling on a sober Savile Row gent Thing. Karl Lagerfeld has about five Things. The greedy Kaiser has his powdered ponytail, his high-necked starched shirts, ever-present dark glasses and fingerless gloves, and his celebrity pussy, Choupette.

Although copper is his big Thing, designer Tom Dixon also had a pet Thing. Until her recent sad passing, Dixon would always be seen at cocktail events with his pet poodle, Molly. Even Molly had a Thing – she had to be carried as she was deaf, blind and 120 in dog years. Dixon also proudly sports artfully dishevelled curly hair, rides a vintage motorbike, and was apparently the first person in London to go sockless.

Ron Arad has his ever-present trademark hat, gallerist Rossana Orlandi her oversized eyewear, and Marcel Wanders has his 1970s playboy Thing. Karim Rashid, Jack Mama and Nina Tolstrup are the undisputed bright things. And the younger generation of designers are not to be outdone. Bethan Laura Wood does her Boy George Thing, while Philippe Malouin and the Formafantasma boys have made facial topiary their favoured chin Thing.

Photographers naturally understand the power of image. Terry Richardson has his retro porn star Thing and thumbs-up Thing. Juergen Teller is unvaryingly in the shortest of short, sporty, short shorts. And the late, great Bill Cunningham was never without his bright blue French worker’s jacket.

Successful magazine editors are inveterate thingsters. Graydon Carter’s sweeping patrician pelt, Anna Wintour’s bob, Suzy Menkes’ pompadour and Grace Coddington’s fiery red locks are their mane Things. The follicly challenged have to take another tack. British GQ’s Dylan Jones resorted to wearing comically large shirt collars. It may look preposterous, but at least it’s his Thing. He’s got a Thing. I haven’t. Even our Bespoke art director Aneel has developed a personal way of wrapping his shoelaces behind his ankle. ‘It’s my Thing,’ he answered proudly when quizzed by puzzled colleagues.

What could be my Thing? A monocle? Nah – too old fogey. A single bright, block-coloured outfit? Nah – too Rashid. A hat? A cane? A polka-dot bow tie? Deerstalker and pipe? Pants outside my trousers? Not right! I was about to give up when, lo and behold, I had a Thing bestowed upon me. Last year I contracted vertigo, an inner ear condition resulting in room-spinning, nausea, loss of balance and, subsequently, deafness in my right ear. All rather unpleasant and irritating, but at least I now have my Thing. ‘Tony Chambers? Oh, is he the wobbly guy with the ear trumpet who vomits involuntarily? I know him, he’s a legend!’

As originally featured in the October 2016 issue of Wallpaper* (W*211)

The setting: an undistinguished Swedish town park outside Stockholm. The project: to create an installation of ‘Superbenches’ by tend leading designers as part of a wider urban development programme in the area of Järfälla, one of the country's fastest growing municipalities.

The idea behind Superbenches – curated by Felix Burrichter, the New York-based German creative director and founder of architectural magazine PIN–UP – is to involve the local people through the installations and give them a voice in the plans for the area’s future housing and landscaping programme. In doing so, he has made an eclectic mix of design practices reconsider the concept of the traditional park bench while retaining its basic function of providing an urban setting to meet, relax and be inspired.

The benches could either be upgraded existing versions or entirely new ones. ‘I wanted the group of designers to be varied in how they approach the idea of what a bench is – and what it could be. They’re a pretty heterogeneous group, with different cultural backgrounds, and I think that is reflected in the different bench designs,’ says Burrichter. ‘These benches are also thought of as mini social incubators, allowing people to come together, and develop a sense of community and pride in a park that up until recently was kind of forgotten and neglected.’

Italian architect Luca Cipelletti’s ’Primordial’ bench employs the Giga Bricks concept he created for The Shit Museum – think a sustainable clay-composite of processed, odourless cow dung. ‘The idea is to build a new archaeological find, a ruined architecture formed with a primordial material which brings together the principles of transformation and environmental sustainability, introducing a new relationship between objects and users,’ he explains.

The London-based design practice Soft Baroque – helmed by Saša Štucin and Nicholas Gardner – has created a polished stainless-steel bench mounted on spring feet, a slick grown-up version of a playground toy. ‘We wanted to create something that can physically communicate with the visitors,’ they say.

Other names include Dutch duo Scholten & Baijings, who redesigned five existing benches on site to create a dialogue with the colours of the surrounding area; Philippe Malouin’s offering aims to revitalise the interaction between the people and the neighbourhood; Max Lamb continues his site-specific approach with a chair using materials found on location. They are joined by the likes of Chinese designer Naihan Li; Märta Hägglund and Sanna Gripner from Sweden; New Yorker Leon Ransmeier; Jonathan Olivares from Boston; and Nigerian designer Ifeanyi Oganwu.

Next year, locals will vote for their favourite designs to be made permanent fixtures as a true testimonial to the designers’ concepts.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Kalejdohill website

ADDRESS

Kvarnbacken
Jakobsberg
177 64 Järfälla

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Opening its doors this week on London’s Mount Street, a new Valextra store marks the brand’s flagship debut in the city. For the project, the Italian leather goods company enlisted POST-OFFICE, the London-based studio of Canadian designer Philippe Malouin, who created the look for its new home.

‘We have been admiring Philippe’s work for a while,’ says Sara Ferrero, the brand’s CEO, who together with art director Susanna Cucco, has worked closely with the designer on the project. ‘We like the way he works with materials, his pure and graphic approach to design, but also the sophisticated way he combines texture and colours.’ Malouin approached the space as a domestic environment, creating an intimate language that combines materials and colours to celebrate the exquisite Valextra product.

Architectural elements and motifs from his ongoing design research become integral parts of the store – such as the axonometric MDF wall, a ‘landscape’, as Malouin calls it, which forms a sculptural backdrop for the collection. On the other side, brushed brass shelves serve as a display for suitcases and larger bags, with a pink padded wall as the background. In the centre of the space, small leather goods are displayed on powder pink concrete modules, an oversized version of smaller objects the designer had developed when researching the material. More domestic touches populate the store – such as his 'Gridlock' chandelier, designed for Roll & Hill – or the small sitting room at the back of the space, furnished with vintage Giò Ponti chairs, Max Lamb’s 'Marmoreal' coffee table and Malouin’s 'Mollo' sofa for Established & Sons.

‘I think that Valextra is a very architectural, minimal brand, and the shop needed to reflect those qualities,’ says Malouin. The colour scheme in the boutique is at the same time muted and diverse, with a light blue mohair carpet uniting the space, populated with a palette of pink, green and gray that enhances and complements the textured leather of the collection. It's a collection that Malouin himself is very fond of. ‘I am very much a fan of the edges being shown,’ he explains, hinting to the signature black edges (or 'Costa') that identify the Valextra products. ‘The china finish on the edges look like architectural sketches that draw and outline the bags.’

Malouin is the last of a series of creatives that Valextra has collaborated with in the past two years, mixing its classic, modernist product with the work of designers and architects. ‘We always work with designers who have an aesthetic similar to ours, but that at the same time can enrich our brand: for us it’s a two-way conversation,’ explains Ferrero. The brand worked with Martino Gamper on a pop-up installation in the Milan boutique, for which the designer got rid of all shelves and supports and used magnets instead to give the space a more graphic treatment. ‘The reason we started working with Martino is his ability to think outside the box,’ continues Ferrero. ‘He sees spaces in a non-traditional way, and expresses an extreme graphic thought: he is our magician, his lateral thinking is very interesting for us.’

After Gamper, the brand worked on further collaborations with the likes of art director and graphic designer Peter Saville, who created a display for the brand's spring/summer presentation earlier this year; and architect Bernard Dubois, who gave a minimal sensuality to the Milan store. Artist Lorenzo Vitturi worked with colour and shapes inspired by the leather cuts to create a series of sculptures shown at this year’s Salone del Mobile; and more recently, architect David Adjaye collaborated with Valextra on an asymmetrical, textured shop-in-shop inside Harrods.

‘The people we work with become part of our community,’ says Ferrero, who recently gathered these collaborators as well as names from the art and design world (from gallerist Nina Yashar to designer Ilse Crawford) for a dinner to celebrate the new London opening.

‘We always work with creatives whose aesthetic is close to ours, but that at the same time can enrich us,’ she concludes. ‘For us, these collaborations are part of an ongoing creative dialogue.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Valextra website

ADDRESS

Valextra
129 Mount Street
London W1K 3NX

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The design world is a funny one. Each year the international community descends on Milan for the annual furniture festival of Salone del Mobile to unleash, seek out and celebrate the latest innovations and talent. There are a few collaborations here and there, sure, but often it is the success of the individual that is the toast of the town. While the spirit is a happy one, the competitive element is never far off.

Choosing to focus on the friendships behind the hullabaloo are curators Tulga Beyerle and Maria Cristina Didero, who have invited seven designers to visually demonstrate their bonds through projects created especially for 'Friends + Design', at the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) at Pillnitz Palace, Dresden.

‘"Friends [+ Design"] challenges the ultra competitive system of the design world today; it is an honest, anti-sceptical exhibition that shows how another world is possible,’ says Didero defiantly. ‘It is an antidote to the cynicism of commerce, making friendship a creative engine just for the pleasure of working together.’

The seven designers chosen by Didero and Beyerle were grouped off, friends at heart but had crucially never collaborated before. 'We have invited a combination of friends – three groups of people we know are close to each other – to work together on three different commissions,' explain the co-curators. Having to reconcile quite different approaches to work and design, the idea was that this type of collaboration, rather than feeling like a committed work endeavour, would be more akin to a game.

Thus, Dutch designer Richard Hutten, Berlin-born Jerszy Seymour and British industrial designer Michael Young were asked: What would an installation or a collection of pieces look like if it was designed by the three of you together? Says Beyerle, ‘This has originated a piece made with three brains and six hands; the "Together" collection.’

Philippe Malouin and Bethan Laura Wood – both Wallpaper* Power Listers – were asked what would a design would look like if they were in each other's heads. ‘This was a big challenge because they have two totally different languages of expression,’ explains Didero. The result is a rather intimate and special piece: designer beds, titled ‘I’m here for you’.

Last but not least, Swarovski’s 2015 Designer of the Future Tomás Alonso and German-born Mathias Hahn were asked: What would a design look like if it was conceived to be a gift for your friend? ‘We were very touched by their choice, which is the gift of time; they decided to spend time together, which seems the best gift ever in the hectic world we live in today,’ says Didero. For ‘The Tailor-made Gift’, the duo have bought a Mini Cooper, which they will drive from London to Dresden, stopping off at interesting workshops and companies along the way. 

In a time of uncertainty and 'cynical consumerism', as Didero puts it, it is refreshing – dare we say encouraging? – to see something being done simply for the pleasure of it.

INFORMATION

’Friends + Design’ is on view until 1 November. For more information, visit the Museum of Decorative Arts, Dresden’s website

ADDRESS

Museum of Decorative Arts
Schloss Pillnitz
Wasserpalais August-Böckstiegel-Straße 2
Dresden

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To mark the not insignificant occasion of our 200th issue, we at Wallpaper* have expanded our Power 100 list of the world's pre-eminent design talent into a leviathan and (even more) comprehensive Power 200.

Inevitably, our list is stuffed with consistent old-hands and longstanding design royalty. But as part of this exploded approach, we've also curated a concise selection of the finest practitioners under 40 – not so much the stars of tomorrow as precocious dazzlers. Some have nudged and shunted design in new directions, others have laid claim to tropes and traditions, refining and redefining as they go.

Among the ranks are familiar faces such as (Wallpaper* award winner) Philippe Malouin, Paul Cocksedge, Fabien Cappello and Daniel Rybakken, as well as the cutting edge likes of Studio Glithero (who revel in reimagining design as performance art), Formafantasma, mischer'traxler and Alexis Georgacopoulos, the director of ECAL – Europe's most innovative design school.

Unsurprisingly for a generation so imbued with an appreciation for natural asceticism, minimalism and sustainable practice are a common theme here, from the artisanal excavations of Max Lamb, Anglo-Japanese duo Studio Swine's found-object product design, the recycled wooden birds of Lars Beller Fjetland and the deceptively simple designs of Nicolas Le Moigne, Nao Tamura and Konstanin Grcic alumnus-turned-accessory designer Pauline Deltour.

There's playful decadence here too, though, be it in Bethan Laura Wood's flamboyant work with pattern and marquetry, the midcentury-leaning designs of Beirut duo David & Nicolas, the unabashed modern glam of Lee Broom, Sebastian Herkner's elegant technicolour creations or the reliably skewed designs of London's Raw-Edges, designers of the iconic 'Stack' drawer.

Finally, Gesa Hansen – founder of The Hansen Family – tops off the pile with a smattering of warm Nordic modernism.

Our 20 under 40 are already designers on the top of their game – where they'll go from here (and where they'll end up in next year's list) is anyone's guess.

See the Power 200 in full here

INFORMATION 
See the Power 200 in full

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

It might have been the only time Milan’s well-heeled design circle has witnessed a flock of men so eager for a (painted!) manicure, but such was the finger frenzy evoked by the debut of our ‘Nail me!’ bar at this year’s Wallpaper* Handmade exhibition.

But if you didn’t make it to the Salone del Mobile, we’re offering the chance to indulge in the ultimate nail at skincare and fragrance brand Haeckels' pop-up store at the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch, where our marble nail salon has found a fleeting home during the London Design Festival.

One year in the making, the project stems from a conversation with artist Lexi Shu and designer Sacha Leong. The idea was to make a nail-salon counter inspired by a bar, tapering it back to the essentials and introducing bold new materials and aesthetics to the beauty salon desk.

To wit, we tasked Swedish architect Andreas Bozarth Fornell to bring the concept to life, developing a monolithic bar in duke white marble, complete with a set of traditional stools, all carved by marble manufacturer Testi.

The more the merrier at this grooming fest, so we enlisted the help of a few friends. Our latest nail menu dishes up creations by Philippe Malouin (a striking terrazzo print) and Fabien Cappello (a stylised two-tone woodgrain composition), delivered by nail technicians Dry By London and polish from Nails Inc. An ombré combination of Wallpaper* Blue - our very own signature shade developed with paper experts James Cropper - and a bottle green hue inspired by Margate-based Haeckels' links to the sea, is also in the mix. Now that’s what we call lending a helping hand.

INFORMATION

The Wallpaper* Handmade Nail Bar runs until 23 September and is open 2-6pm

ADDRESS

Ace Hotel
Haeckels store
100 Shoreditch High Street
London E1 6JQ

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London’s Ace hotel has enlisted a team of designers to reimagine the hotel essentials. Designers Philippe Malouin, Tomás Alonso, Studio Vit, Marcin Rusak, Parsha Gerayesh and Hilda Hellström were commissioned by Modern Design Reviewto produce objects that offer a solution to the small challenges faced by the hospitality business.

Unveiled during the London Design Festival, the collection will then become an integral part of Ace Hotel Shoreditch, with items ranging from small essentials to more conceptual pieces. Some of the projects will also be available to buy from the hotel as part of its retail enterprise.

Objects range from the cool and whimsical – such as Parsha Gerayesh’s sunglasses made from a single coiled wire – to more fundamental hotel room staples, like the pair of lamps designed by the Swedish duo behind Studio Vit, or Tomas Alonso’s metal ashtray. Philippe Malouin’s double contribution includes a stacking stool conceived for Ace’s public areas and a minimal door handle, manufactured out of ready-made industrial parts. Hilda Hellström created an impactful rock installation installed at the entrance of the hotel's restaurant Hoi Polloi, and Polish creator Marcin Rusack used his flower-infused resin to create a collection of jewellery. 

To combine a gastronomic element with the design project, the hotel will also offer a specially-designed cake, dedicated to Swedish designer Hilda Hellström’s textural creations. 

INFORMATION

’Ready Made Go’ runs from 22–30 September

ADDRESS

Ace Hotel Shoreditch
100 Shoreditch High St
London, E1 6JQ

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The work of London-based Polish designer Marcin Rusak treads a fine line between disposable commodity and art, a duality he explores through the use of flowers in sculpture, products and conceptual artworks. 

His works gained the consensus of the Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon, a group of creative influencers who, since 2013, have gathered to explore and award the application of Art Nouveau principles in contemporary art and design. For this third year, the commission (which includes designer Tord Boontje, milliner Stephen Jones and artists such as Claire Brewster, Kate MccGwire and inaugural recipient Hitomi Hosono) considered a group of ten creatives, selecting Rusak’s work as the most fitting embodiment of the 19th century movement's heritage, with pieces inspired by natural forms and organic structures.

Rusak’s work, now on display at London’s Contemporary Applied Arts gallery, is a perfect interpretation of this heritage, combining an aesthetic exercise with a comment on industrial and technological advancements. 

The show – entitled 'Inflorescence and Other Artefacts' – includes a number of his earlier pieces (initially presented during his Royal College of Art graduate show 'Flowering Transition' last year), and some new works, which further develop his research. Inspired by his family’s heritage of flower growing (an enterprise started in 1900), Rusak explored modern flower production, finding himself in the middle of a fully industrialised and engineered market. His response is a collection of pieces which play with and comment on the ephemeral and disposable nature of flowers.

The subsequent core of his exploration is 'Flower Monster', a hybrid creation engineered after extensive research in the Netherlands, where Rusak learned about the vast commercial market for flowers (a business which moves $40bn yearly, he explains). 'Flowers today are completely engineered,' he says. 'You can control colour, the size of their stem, whether they have leaves, the intensity of their scent.' 'Flower Monster' is a combination of the most 'marketable' elements, all worked into a three-dimensional print, of which he developed a translucent resin version for the exhibition.

Other chapters of his work include a textile printed with pollen and stained with the petals of discarded flowers collected from flower markets. 'We are often inspired by nature to create decorations, but rarely we use nature to actually make the decoration,' he says. His silk piece is intended to extend the life of the discarded flowers by a few months or years, by slowly fading as the pigments naturally dissolve. 

A similarly transient project is his 'Perishable Vase' series, made of dried flowers bound with shellac, resin and beeswax, and fashioned into a traditional vase shape. 'These vases are a metaphor for objects we have in our lives which we know are not going to last, and that we don’t want to keep – but we are stuck with their materiality,' he explains, using iPhone cases and inkjet printers as examples. The newest vase, made for this commission, contains three-dimensional printed metal flowers, a permanent element juxtaposed with the degrading vessel. The idea is that when the vase decays, the metal flowers topple – a poetic reminiscence of what happens when the petals of a flower begin to break off. 

The display also includes Rusak’s earlier 'Fragrance' collection: a series of distilled rose petal scents highlighting the differences in the smell of flowers from a supermarket, a florist and a garden. The fragrances are enclosed in cases made of resin and dried flowers, each depicting the intensity of the scent within. 

Rusak's three-dimensional works are illustrated with etchings and prints of the 'Flower Monster', as well as vintage photos of his family’s flower business, which was shut before he was born but is still influential to his practice. 'I grew up in the reminiscence of this industry,' he recalls. 'I played in the empty glasshouses; those dry, intensely warm spaces were my playrooms. Even if the flowers weren’t there anymore, their history was still present.' These memories inspired him when looking at materials during his studies at the Royal College of Art (under the designers Philippe Malouin and Glithero's Sarah van Gameren), where he embellished them with further historical, technological and aesthetic research. Rusak also worked with a large network of people – plant geneticists, engineers, sculptors and engravers among them – all of whom contributed to bringing his works to life.

'Marcin’s works are truly representative of the Art Nouveau ethos [of Perrier-Joüet], which interpret the beauty of nature in a thoughtful and engaging way,' said Perrier-Joüet style director Axelle de Buffevent, recalling the iconic Belle Epoque anemone motif designed in 1902 by Emile Gallé – an inspiration for the champagne house for over a century. 

Chosen as a next aesththetic chapter for the company, Rusak’s poetic approach to the mundane issues of waste and consumption add a truly meaningful layer to this enchanting visual history. 

ADDRESS

Contemporary Applied Arts
89 Southwark Street
London, SE1 0HX
SE1 0HX

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Over the past twelve years, hundreds of designers have passed through the doors of New York design stalwart Jamie Gray's SoHo showroom, Matter. Since launching the space in 2003, Gray has hosted over 50 shows, exhibiting the work of everyone from local emerging talents to international design superstars. In 2008 he introduced Matter Made, an eponymous in-house collection designed, developed and manufactured at the brand's Brooklyn workshop, which has grown year on year.

During last week's NYCxDesign the New York brand presented its 2015 collection, which comprises the work of five North American designers as well as new lighting from Gray himself. 'I've wanted to collaborate with all of them for a while,' says Gray, 'but it takes a while to land on something that resonates.' The resulting pieces include a maple coffee table by London-based, Canadian-born Philippe Malouin as well as a lightweight maple chair that was previously produced in 2013 by the designer as a limited edition in sand-cast aluminium.

NYC-based Serbian designer Ana Kras makes her debut at the brand with a collection of tables named 'Slon' - meaning elephant in Czech. With round wooden tops set onto wide cylindrical bases, the pieces are arranged across the showroom to create a landscape of warm terracotta, pale grey and blue paired with bold black and white stripes. 'Ana wanted to do something with color,' explains Gray, 'so I told her to go crazy. I never in a million years would have thought of or picked these colours and so when she came with this it was perfect.'

Also making their debut at the SoHo showroom are Brooklyn duo Vonnegut Kraft who have produced a multi dimensional blown glass pendant called 'Origin', while Joseph Guerra and Sina Sohrab of New York studio Visibility have crafted a line of round-edged desk accessories in marble and cast iron. Gray's own studio has also been hard at work on two new sculptural lighting designs - 'Landscape'  - a pendant with a low sloped cast aluminium shade and 'Pyramid' - a more elaborate inverted pyramid piece that, when lit, produces a dazzling prism effect.

ADDRESS

405 Broome St
New York
NY 10013

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Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. 'It is the opposite of vulgarity,' said Coco Chanel. According to a report by PSFK, luxury is neither of those, but rather 'knowing where your product comes from'. For the ever switched-on entrepreneur, luxury means time; for the terminally ill, it might mean health; for the 21st-century urbanite it could be as simple as an expansive view of nature. Much has been written about how, as the use of the word 'luxury' has become so overused by marketeers, the whole industry has lost its lustre, but is that really true? Or do we just value different things these days?

The V&A's newly-opened 'What is Luxury?' exhibition attempts to answer its own question with a series of interesting examples of contemporary design and exceptional craftsmanship alongside conceptual projects that provoke new ideas of where we might be heading in years to come. From a laser-cut couture dress by Iris van Herpen to a dandelion chandelier by Studio Drift, by way of a DNA vending machine, the exhibition tells stories of what it means for a product to offer privilege.

'What is Luxury?' is the third exhibition in a trio organised by the V&A in collaboration with the Crafts Council, following 'Out of the Ordinary' in 2007 and the fantastically popular 'The Power of Making' in 2011. With these successful precedents, as well as an influential group of commercial power players to satisfy, expectations for the show are high. The approach taken to the subject has cleverly avoided playing to the industry at all, instead taking a more philosophical view. 'Essentially, the question of luxury is a personal one,' says V&A curator of contemporary furniture and co-curator of 'What is Luxury?' Jana Scholze. 'As its title suggests, the exhibition questions the very idea of luxury today. It will challenge common interpretations of luxury, invite close examination of luxury production and extend ideas of what luxury can be.' Present and future ideas of luxury could be determined as much by issues such as privacy, resources and access as by aesthetics, intellect and craftsmanship.

More than 100 objects take visitors on a journey that addresses how luxury is made and understood in a physical, conceptual and cultural capacity.

A central feature of the show is 'Time Elapsed', a large spirograph designed by Philippe Malouin for glassware company Lobmeyr. The piece, which rotates to draw patterns made of sand, comments on the time-intensive process of making fine crystal, making for a hypnotic start to the exhibition.

'Hair Highway' by Studio Swine is a stunning exhibit at the back of the show. For the project, the duo completed a residency in China where they set human hair in resin to create highly decorative pieces of furniture and accessories. Reminiscent of luxury materials such as tortoiseshell, horn and exotic wood, instead these pieces are made of one of the few natural resources that increases proportionally with the world's population.

Also on display is Aram Mooradian's 'A Comprehensive Atlas of Gold Fictions', a piece which questions our relationship with gold - the archetypal luxury material. Everyday objects made from gold mined in Australia, including a headphone jack and a pendant, are engraved with personal local histories giving them new cultural values.

'What Is Luxury?' certainly manages to surprise and delight on several levels. Would Coco have approved? We'll never know. But one thing about this exhibition is noticeable: handbags - Chanel or otherwise - are in (luxuriously) short supply.

ADDRESS

The Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London
SW7 2RL

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The convenience of internet shopping is often blamed for the demise of the small shopkeeper and the downfall of the high street, but perhaps this charmingly antediluvian premise of this wristwatch boutique, opened recently by design and architecture webzine Dezeen, will start a trend for boutiques originating on the web.

With trade in their keenly edited selection of design-centric wristwatches growing online - Dezeen sells architectural timepieces by the likes of Alessi, Braun, Hygge, Lexon, Lorenz and Mondaine - proprietors Marcus Fairs and Rupinder Bhogal decided that they needed an extended office for specialist horology staff. 'The office space became a display and storage area before mutating into a shop,' says designer Philippe Malouin, director of the London-based architectural and interiors practice Post Office, who was called in to transform the former Stoke Newington doctors' surgery into an interior that would serve as both online admin office and face-to-face sales facility for the Dezeen Watch Store.

Working with studio colleague Will Yates and an industrial supplier that makes wire shopping trolleys and gymnasium changing-room furniture, Malouin commissioned a grid of welded-wire, back-lit lockers in surrounds of his beloved ply material, intended to dual-function as display and security. 'The store and its watches appeal to Dezeen buyers,' he says. 'They are design-conscious but not super-rich residents with flash gold watches. This isn't Mayfair.'

ADDRESS

Dezeen Limited
The Surgery
100a Stoke Newington Church Street
London N16

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We backed a good horse when choosing to single out Philippe Malouin during our Salone coverage last year. The London-based Canadian designer has experienced a steep career trajectory since and ended 2012 on a high with W Hotels' 'Designer of the Future Award'. This week, he opens his first Italian solo exhibition, 'Simple', at Milan's Project B gallery, an impressive effort showcasing his unique design approach.

Curated by Maria Cristina Didero and taking a dynamic installation format, Simple presents several new works that have been developed over the course of two years. 'It takes a lot more work to do something simple,' reflected Malouin, who spoke to us during a time-out from the show's technical installation. 'These are all fully-cooked ideas that have really had time to develop. The chair has been redone over 20 times. We made over 50 1:1 models to get it right.'

Spanning furniture and tabletop objects to decorative MDF wall pieces - the latter were inspired by the Brutalist architecture of Juliaan Lampens - every object in the exhibition is a testament to Malouin's sophisticated perspective, which sees basic shapes and an austere treatment of materials forming the guiding principles.

The main focus in the exhibition is a series of furniture pieces called 'Slat', which are comprised of tessellated strips of timber to form large table tops, benches and shelves. Meanwhile the aforementioned 'Type Cast' chair, constructed from sand-cast aluminum frames, is Malouin's second wafer-thin chair. It possesses a new elevated quality, in spite of its humble beginnings.

'I've always been interested in the process of making things by hand, especially when they don't look handmade,' Malouin explained. 'I am obsessed with working with materials that are overlooked because they are too readily available.'  

As if all that wasn't enough, Malouin has even managed to squeeze out a contribution to our own Handmade 2013 project. A collection of concrete vessels, which use everyday Tupperware as moulds, are further proof of a designer who has truly hit his stride.

ADDRESS

Project B Gallery
Via Maroncelli 7
Milan

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Who's Vera? Nobody really knows - not even Kirsty Minns and Érika Muller, formerly of Established & Sons, who discovered her in a collection of anonymous photographs at a Brighton vintage shop. The girl in the photos had no provenance; her name and age were both ascribed to her by the two design impresarios.

Last year Minns and Muller - who call themselves KM and ÉM - distributed some of the 'Vera' photos to ten industry friends, along with a mandate to tell her life story through the design of an original object. The products were exhibited alongside the images during the 2011 London Design Festival.

This year some of those same designers, and others, were asked to expand Vera's narrative by responding to a single image of the girl - one showing Vera at an assigned age of seven in a floral-print dress, holding a stick of candy floss in the sunshine. And though the participants were given a common launching point, they submitted wildly varied interpretations.

Printmaker Arlette Ess, for instance, responded with a fabric printed with a seascape infiltrated by gulls. The Mexican-born industrial designer Liliana Ovalle designed three oak and Corian boxes with hidden compartments inspired by visions of boardwalk shell games. Philippe Malouin, who last year designed a series of concrete 'vide poches' to honour Vera, this year constructed four miniature wood and copper boat-shaped tealight holders, washed in coastal pastels.

Minns herself came up with a little milk jug, its handle painted in the coloured stripes of the giant swirly lollipops found on the pier.

'Vera: Chapter 2' runs between 17 and 23 September, exhibited is this year's Brompton Design District hub at 4 Cromwell Place. And down the road at the chocolatier Cocomaya, you can sit at the 'Vera' table while refueling between shows.

ADDRESS

Brompton Design District
4 Cromwell Place
London, SW7 2JE

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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

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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