A few years ago, British artist Ryan Gander was looking to install a new kitchen at his home in Suffolk when he realised how uninspiring the kitchen sinks on offer were. ‘Why doesn’t someone make one that’s really good?’ he wondered – and that’s exactly what he’s set to do now, with the help of creative director and former Wallpaper* editor-in-chief Tony Chambers.

The result is the OTOMOTO kitchen sink system, which embodies key principles that appeal to both collaborators: utility, luxury, ergonomics and sustainability. It’s a passion project for Gander, who has established an international reputation for his creative output, which includes sculpture, graphic design, performance and film-making.

Wallpaper* Handmade X

The design of the kitchen sink system is informed by ideas and philosophies Gander encountered during his regular visits to Japan, where he exhibits with Tokyo gallery Taro Nasu. The name OTOMOTO is derived from a Japanese word that roughly translates as ‘close at hand’, and its creators sought to develop a product that ‘moves around the chef rather than the chef needing to move around the kitchen’. As Chambers explains, ‘the current trend for kitchens that are the size of a ballroom is ridiculous. Cooking should be a pleasure, it should be very functional and ergonomic, and if things are close at hand, it becomes a much easier task.’

The OTOMOTO system condenses several functions into a single multipurpose unit. The full-length sink has an upper lip that holds up to six chopping boards, while a lower inset lip supports a series of modular Gastronorm containers, a staple of industrial kitchens. According to Gander, who uses an early stainless-steel prototype, it encourages the user to behave more efficiently. ‘The idea that the kitchen is the kitchen sink means that washing up just becomes part of the process of preparing food,’ he says. ‘You no longer notice you are doing it.’

The version shown here was developed in collaboration with London architecture office Matheson Whiteley, using Cosentino’s quartz-based Silestone. The sink’s dimensions are informed by the standardised Gastronorm containers, which are easy to purchase and replace. There are also plans to develop an even more premium version in collaboration with a renowned Danish cabinetmaker.

OTOMOTO’s founders are preparing for the system’s official launch next year. The date they have chosen, 02.02.2020, is the only day in the 21st century that will work as a palindrome in both English and American date formats. The brand’s name is also a palindrome, which appealed to Chambers’ aesthetic sensibilities as a graphic designer.

The system, which was several years in development, is the starting point for a larger project: there are plans for the OTOMOTO concept to include other objects, as well as events, books, films and anything else that follows ‘the same “close at hand” principles of utility, ergonomics, luxury, sustainability and making mundane tasks more pleasurable’, says Chambers. What started out as a simple quest to create a better kitchen looks set to evolve into a world of creative opportunity that Chambers and Gander already refer to as ‘everything and the kitchen sink’.

As originally featured in the August 2019 issue of Wallpaper* (W*245)

INFORMATION

otomoto-life.com; cosentino.com; mathesonwhiteley.com

Tony Chambers started wearing an Apple Watch in 2015. Seduced, as many were, by its marriage of elegant form, function and fun – it was the Mickey Mouse face that gave it extra appeal. ‘It adds an element of irreverence, preventing all the other design perfection becoming too, well, perfect,’ Chambers told The Telegraph at the time. ‘Mickey takes the edge off.’

Chambers, creative consultant and Wallpaper* former editor-in-chief, has monitored the iteration-by-iteration evolution of the world's most popular timepiece with interest ever since. Impossibly, each new series seems to get better, through subtle design tweaks, and system upgrades (not to mention improved Mickey graphics). It was with great curiosity, then, that Chambers learnt that the new Apple Watch – alongside the three new iPhones that launched yesterday via livestream at Apple Park in California – applies a more significant redesign than ever.

The livestream, which fizzed across the fourth wall and onto Apple screens worldwide, revealed that the Apple Watch Series 4 features the greatest leaps forward, in both hardware and software terms, since Apple Time began. After the launch, Chambers called upon chief design officer Sir Jony Ive via phone to Apple HQ – resuming a conversation they began at London's Royal College of Art earlier this year – to discover just how profound these shifts are, and why they've happened to products that, at the time of launch, seem difficult to improve upon. 

‘You’d be reckless to move away from the fundamental icon,' Ive says of the new Apple Watch, which, on first impression, maintains a similar footprint and profile as the Series 3 iteration. ‘Our aim was to develop it and evolve it as dramatically as possible.' The key visual difference is the 30 per cent greater display area, which seamlessly integrates into the thinner case, achieved by eradicating the void frame around the edge of the face (available in 40mm and 44mm). ‘When you see each watch series in isolation you can't comprehend how different they are. But when you look at them side by side, the change is extremely dramatic.’

Further crucial design advances come when you look behind the screen. A re-engineered interface ushers in easier to read, larger fonts; a watch-to-watch Walkie Talkie comms system (with watch0S5), 50 per cent louder speaker, and a more customisable homescreen, which you can even add a photo of your loved one's face to (if that's your thing).

The new health features boast some of the most compelling progressions, and, in Ive's words, are ‘absolutely insane'. Updates include a Fall Detector, which uses the Apple Watch's accelerometer and gyroscope to identify when a hard fall occurs, initiating a call to emergency services, then sending a message with your location to your emergency contacts (unless of course you confirm you're okay). Perhaps even more astounding, an FDA-approved electrocardiogram app can analyse your heart rate, alert you if it exceeds or falls below a specified threshold, and detect abnormalities like AFib, right from the wrist, via a new electrical heart rate sensor in the back crystal, built into the Digital Crown. ‘It's a real privilege to be part of a team developing products like this,' Ive impresses. ‘We’ve come to learn we’re able to get a sense of how the body is functioning in the broadest of contexts – not just in the doctor's office.'

When we looked around Apple Park last year, Ive told us that his team's goal has been, ‘in some ways, to get design out of the way.’ He said, ‘We try to define a solution that seems so inevitable that it does recede.’ The new watch unifies each of its design elements in complete harmony, from the curved corners of the larger, all‑new display to the architecture of the S4 chip, every detail has been thoughtfully moulded. Ive puts some of these successes down to the design team working ‘under one roof'. ‘The same designers have been working on this product for a few years, but until we arrived in Apple Park earlier this year, we didn’t enjoy a singular studio.' Now, haptic designers, font designers, material designers, and interface designers work in close proximity; creating product in a way that Apple Park was built for: collaboratively. The result is, in Ive's eyes, the most beautiful Apple Watch yet.

The Hermès iteration of the Series 4 watch, designed by Ive and Hermès creative director Pierre-Alexis Dumas, continues their collaboration. Disparate design elements (form, function, finish) tick together in unison; a testament to the complementary working attitudes of the two individuals. ‘I’m really proud of what we’ve managed to achieve together,' says Ive, stressing the high regard to which he holds Dumas. ‘We both derive a tremendous satisfaction in our work together.' In the singularly beautiful Hermès edition, a two-tone strap is complemented by a gradient face design, which, like a digital sundial, changes colour with the passing of minutes, measuring the hours with meditative simplicity.

Five years ago, Apple didn’t make watches. Today, the Apple Watch is the bestselling watch in the world. With such groundbreaking, and popular design – where can it go next? ‘I assume this is always a journey,' Ive explains. ‘Partly, it's because I’m working on the next thing – I’m always aware of the opportunities to do better.’

But a better object doesn't necessarily equate to a perfect object. Instead, it seems the Apple aim is to create a person object. An object with life, flexibility, relatability, personality. Something that works for you, and, as the voiceover said at the start of the livestream, an object that has ‘the ability to change your life everyday'. Just as the Mickey Mouse face on Tony Chambers' first Apple watch encouraged him to wear it daily, the watch's ability to reflect your personality is what makes it such a seamless addition to your arm. It might be Hermès' mindful sundial, or the reassurance you feel from knowing Fall Detector is running in the background, or perhaps by wearing your loved one's image on your wrist. Apple's real design success? Giving you the ability to find your Mickey.

INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Apple website

Writing the letter for our May issue always feels like a very special moment. It’s the last page to go, signifying the closing of one of our biggest and best editions, the Salone del Mobile preview issue. There is a sense of slightly exhausted celebration at Wallpaper’s London HQ as we press print and prepare to pack our bags for Milan. But just as special is that it coincides with the first shoots of spring. The dark cold winter is behind us and there is a surging feeling of optimism, renewal and wellbeing. This promise of mental and physical buoyancy, the returned spring in our step, was the inspiration for the theme of this year’s Wallpaper* Handmade exhibition: Wellness + Wonder.

Our legendary annual design showcase (now in its ninth year!) sees us invite designers and artists to collaborate with craftspeople, makers and manufacturers from around the world in the creation of extraordinary, beautiful and unique pieces. The 2018 edition tackles the cult of self-improvement – the quest for mental and corporeal wellbeing, the long and winding journey towards a better you.

We have commissioned pieces that exercise the cerebellum and work out the glutes, products that replenish the body, jet-wash the life force and restore inner harmony. You can’t accuse us of a lack of ambition.

Wallpaper’s design spa for self-renewal and sanctuary of contemporary craft is once again being held at the Mediateca Santa Teresa, Brera, so if you’re in Milan between 17 and 21 April, don’t miss out. You’ll get to experience our bristle-covered massage seating by Xavier Lust and Kent Brushes, a hugging column by Mae Engelgeer and Savoir Beds, an Indo-Roman post-gym dispensary by Federica Biasi and Antolini, and our mind-and-body playground by Maarten Baas and Henge, among other restorative mechanisms.

Also look out for some special guests. This year, as part of an initiative with the DesignSingapore Council, we’ve invited seven Singapore-based creatives to join the Handmade gang. Studio Juju, Theseus Chan, Olivia Lee, Stolen, Gabriel Tan Studio, WOHAbeing and Edmund Zhang have all transported their talents 6,400 miles to Milan. Their contemplative contributions include: a ritualistic cleansing plinth made with Fox Marble, healing bookends with Riva 1920, a wellness cabinet with Nature Squared, a reflexology wall and path with Villeroy & Boch, fruit altars with Ton, a hybrid shower-bath with Apaiser and a therapeutic squeezing lamp.

Singapore is very much on our radar as one of the world’s fastest-developing design destinations, so it’s been a delight to spend some time there (also see our Brainstorm Design Conference) discovering and now showcasing and celebrating its dynamic and creative spirit. The city-state has a great deal going for it, but its equator-hugging geographical position leaves it with no true, distinct seasons. A bit of a drawback for this lover of spring. Still, Singaporeans are renowned for their strategic problem solving and I’m sure they’re working on this one.

Tony Chambers, Brand & Content Director

As originally featured in the May 2018 issue of Wallpaper (W*230)

INFORMATION

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

Almost five decades ago, the cabinetmaker, designer, poet, educator and political dissident Norman Potter set out to write What is a designer, a definitive guide for students and teachers of all design disciplines. Noted for the lack of question mark in its title, his book advanced a radical vision of what design should be – an activity rather than an end result, a verb rather than a noun. Lofty ideas were followed with down-to-earth advice, all presented in an accessible format. What is a designer became a staple of creative training, especially during my time at London’s Central School of Art and Design, studying graphic design and typography. It made an instant impact on me, and has been a constant source of inspiration ever since.

In the past months, I have found myself revisiting Potter’s book as we at Wallpaper* gear up for our inaugural Brainstorm Design conference in Singapore. Alongside two of our sister titles, Time and Fortune, we have put together a conference like no other. One that brings together the world’s top creative minds with the world’s best business brains with a proposition that today, the world’s most innovative operations, from Fortune 500 giants to disruptive start-ups, must embrace design as a key component of corporate strategy.

Currently, for the most part, business executives and designers still speak different languages. At many Fortune 500 firms, the principles of design thinking aren’t well understood. And too often designers view large firms with suspicion and chafe at executives’ constant carping about measurable results and ROI. The global conference scene does little to bridge this cultural divide. There are innumerable opportunities for designers to talk to other designers, and still more for business executives to talk to other business executives – the dreaded echo chamber!

Brainstorm Design seeks to fill this void and open a dialogue between those two tribes, exploring the nexus of business and design in the far-reaching manner the subject deserves. We’re bringing together design stars that already shine brightly in the Wallpaper* world – among them Thomas Heatherwick, Patricia Urquiola, Tom Dixon, Paola Antonelli, Ole Scheeren, Beatrix Ong and Daan Roosegaarde – together with trailblazers of the sharing economy such as Joe Gebbia of Airbnb and Miguel McKelvey of WeWork, and captains of the bluest of blue chips such as IBM, PepsiCo and Johnson & Johnson. They are joined by champions of design for social good (among them Parley for the Oceans’ Cyrill Gutsch and author John Cary), the CEOs of Singapore’s Changi Airport and Denmark’s Design Centre, and leaders of design education from the likes of RISD and Stanford.

To give a taste of the conference’s breadth and ambition, we asked one of our speakers, and one of the most authoritative voices in our industry, Alice Rawsthorn, to consider the expanding role of design in this issue. As she writes on page 137, ‘it is an agent of change that can be used to interpret changes of any type – social, political, cultural, economic, scientific, environmental, technological or personal – to help ensure that they will affect us positively’. In the same way Norman Potter established the relevance of design to the world of the 1960s, Brainstorm Design will stake out design’s claim to being a dominant force in the 21st century. In Singapore we’ll be hearing from and listening to all sides, all tribes. Welcome to the anti-echo chamber.

Tony Chambers, Brand & Content Director

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

INFORMATION

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

We hear more and more that the younger generations are less interested in purchasing and owning things. They prefer to spend their money on experiences. Self-improving holidays, culture, live performances, eating out, eating in, yoga retreats, hiking Machu Picchu. While forensically documenting it all on social media of course. This naturally has been sending shock waves through the luxury industries. If this continues, soon nobody will be buying their products – no matter how good they are or how seductive their marketing campaigns.

But I beg to differ. I really don’t see that the love of experiences is at odds with the appreciation of well-designed, well-made goods. They are far from mutually exclusive. The stuff that surrounds the experience is still significant, if not more so. The enjoyment of a good wine is enhanced by the experience of drinking it from fine glassware. The rustle of tissue paper when you take out a new pair of socks is a pleasurable experience. Quality luggage – that should last a lifetime – makes your journey that much more pleasurable and, like your favourite watch or piece of jewellery, with time will be imbued with meaningful memories.

The best stores, the bricks and mortar sort, now offer their own sort of experiential high; part art gallery, lecture hall, social space but always dedicated to enhancing the act of retail consummation.

Of course, we all now understand the endorphin surge, the quick chemical hit, of buying stuff. ‘Unboxing’ videos go viral as we enjoy the vicarious thrill of watching other people unpeel the packaging off buried treasures. And Apple and others have redefined the art and science of cellophane and cardboard boxes, given them extraordinary levels of care and attention. But the best brands, their designers, makers and craftsmen, know that a great product has to keep delivering on an experiential level, to become part of the way we do things and enjoy things, change our behaviours and enhance our experiences.

I’m optimistic about the future of the businesses and industries that we continue to champion in Wallpaper*. This more thoughtful, well-educated and conscientious consumer is a good thing. They may well buy a little less, but they’ll be buying better. Less but better, to quote Dieter Rams, is the way forward.

Tony Chambers, Brand & Content Director

As originally featured in the March 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*228)

INFORMATION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tony Chambers, Brand & Content Director

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

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

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

Catch some rays with this blast of coloured designs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

INFORMATION

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

Welcome to our Next Generation and Graduate Directory issue, our annual scan and swoop for tomorrow’s headline acts, the emerging stars in the Wallpaper* universe. From a young architect reimagining Hong Kong and the duo designing sustainable uniforms for the world’s more responsible restaurants to designers de-gendering gym equipment and bringing parent and child closer together in doctors’ waiting rooms.

It is, then, an apt time to announce an exciting new Wallpaper* venture. As we turn the page on one year and stare optimistically ahead, thoughts of self-improvement are never far away. Physical wellbeing is usually paramount and gym membership cards (unused since last January?) will be rescued from the back of a drawer. But what about the mind? What about education? There’s always room for improvement there too. That’s why we have partnered with London’s Royal College of Art (RCA) to offer a series of design masterclasses to share our insight, expertise and hard-earned know-how.

Sign up for news and information on the Royal College of Art design masterclass

We are never quick to blow our own trumpets, but team Wallpaper* boasts the sharpest minds and keenest eyes covering the fields of interior design, product design, architecture, fashion, graphics, travel, beauty and lifestyle and beyond. Add to this the enviable list of design and architecture heavyweights we have on speed dial and the potential for a 21st century Bauhaus is there to see.

The first masterclass is in March and will be held in the hallowed halls of the RCA’s Kensington Gore studios. A combination of A-list speakers, workshops, creative dialogue and convivial card-swapping – plus fine food and wine of course – the two-day course will offer the perfect introduction to how design and design thinking is shaping our world and will give those who attend a thorough grounding in how to be a part of it. Sign up now and we expect to see you in the pages of Wallpaper’s 2019 Next Generation issue.

Tony Chambers, Brand & Content Director

As originally featured in the January 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*226)

INFORMATION

The January 2018 issue of Wallpaper* is out now. Subscribe here, and sign up to the Wallpaper* Royal College of Art Masterclass here

What does your desk say about you? According to a new photographic exhibition at the showroom of German furniture manufacturer Walter Knoll, examining the way in which we work today could help us explore how we might work better tomorrow.

Called ‘DeskTop’, the exhibition offers a glimpse of the workspaces of some of London’s most inspirational minds including Serpentine Galleries director Yana Peel, architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, curator Johanna Agerman-Ross, designer Luke Pearson of Pearson Lloyd, architect Matthew Blain of Hassell, architect and designer Sevil Peach, designer Mike Holland of Foster + Partners and our very own Tony Chambers, Wallpaper* brand and content director.

Curated by writer and editor Jonathan Openshaw, the eight workspaces are presented through photographs taken by Anton Rodriguez – the photographer behind the 2016 book Residents: Inside the Iconic Barbican Estate.

‘We were interested in what kind of spaces London’s creative community work in and what they require from a physical environment,’ says Openshaw, who writes a monthly column for Mr Porter on the future of the workplace. ‘We had a list of around 20 names for this, spread across design, architecture, curation, journalism etc, and were really please with the eight who said yes the quickest!’

Openshaw and Walter Knoll CEO Markus Benz hope that the show will generate questions about how the office space needs to innovate in order to remain relevant, and the role that office furniture can play in these changes.

‘I think a lot of people are grappling with the future of the workplace at the moment, and as business and leisure merge into each other more and more, design brands are looking at how they can apply their expertise from the home to the office,’ says Openshaw, who leapt at the chance to work with Walter Knoll on the brief. ‘DeskTop asks questions about the way we work today and how we might work better tomorrow.’

As well as revealing their desks, each participant was asked to choose one object that captures an element of their way of working, which is displayed beside their corresponding photograph. For example, Johanna Agerman Ross chose a thesaurus and dictionary because she loves browsing the ‘many possibilities of vocabulary’ rather than just searching for words online. Tony Chambers makes reference to his training in graphic design and work as an editor with a magnifying lens and loupe; while Sevil Peach chose a tape measure that she got in a Christmas cracker and always carries with her because it helps her to orient herself in a new space.

‘What I found most interesting is trying to decipher the clues to the personality or modus operandi of each person, through their desks as well as through the objects they chose to display,’ reflects Openshaw. ‘Sir Nicholas Grimshaw’s desk was in a conference room for example, where he meets with his team and oversees multiple projects. Yana Peel’s was also a communal table where she meets artists and curators – it was all about conversation rather than screen time.’

‘The exhibition feels a bit like playing detective as each image is anchored with the back of an empty chair in the centre,’ he continues. ‘So hopefully the viewer is encouraged to imagine the person who’s just stepped out of the frame and think about what this space says about them.’

With statistics from the Bank of England estimating that AI will replace anything up to 48 per cent of existing jobs by 2025, ‘DeskTop’ serves as reassurance that our attachment to the physical is in no danger of disappearing.

‘At the end of the day, humans are physical animals,’ concludes Openshaw. ‘We’re tactile, we need to relate to each other. We cannot exist in VR enhanced digital bubbles. Digital tools are wonderful things and technology advances our potential and output massively, but I think there will always be a place for wood, paper and ink in how we work through ideas and make imaginative leaps.’

INFORMATION

‘DeskTop’ is on view until 30 November. For more information, visit the Walter Knoll website

ADDRESS

Walter Knoll
42 Charterhouse Square
London
EC1M 6EA

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Sotheby’s 20th century design specialists Cécile Verdier, senior director, and Laetitia Contat-Desfontaines, deputy director and head of sale, with Wallpaper* brand and content director Tony Chambers, at Sotheby’s warehouse in West London. From left to right; ‘Floris’ chair in moulded fibreglass-reinforced polyester, 1967, by Günter Beltzig; ‘Wing-Nut’ chair in hardboard, piano hinges and wing-nut connectors, 1985, by Jasper Morrison; ‘All Night Long’ table in coated carbon fibre and Nomex honeycomb paper, 2002, by Ron Arad; ‘Fragments’ wall lamp in reclaimed Venini glass and steel, 2010, by Fernando & Humberto Campana, for Venini; ‘SQN5-T’ table in stainless steel, 2012, by Zhang Zhoujie; ‘Bone’ rocker in cast black marble resin, 2009, by Joris Laarman; ‘Flora’ bureau, model No. 2131, in mahogany-veneered wood, mahogany, brass and printed paper, designed C1950-51, by Josef Frank, for Svenskt Tenn.

‘Living in a Material World.’ It’s a brave title for an auction, perhaps. Yet for Sotheby’s design auction on 17 October, curated by our own brand and content director Tony Chambers, the title has a very literal intent: the 150-odd pieces included have been selected for their material expression. ‘It’s interesting how our perception of the word “material” has changed in the three decades since Madonna’s anthem,’ Chambers says. ‘It was a crass and fairly derogatory term not so long ago that spoke of greed, but today we think of the word as having more noble, fine and pure connotations.’ To be clear: this is an auction exploring materiality, not materialism.

Standing in Sotheby’s storage facility in the outer reaches of West London is a surreal experience. After wending one’s way through warehouses filled with canned drinks and mass-market furniture (a stark reminder that we do still live in Madonna’s material world), you find yourself surrounded by goods of a much higher order. Out of context, away from the workshop, gallery, hotel lobby or home, it’s curiously humbling to see these spectacular works of design for what they are. They were not intended to be lots or price tags, but ideas brought to life through craft and technology as functional objects. Jasper Morrison’s ‘Wing-Nut’ chair is in one corner, its expressive utility fitting right into the warehouse. A ‘Cake’ stool by the Campana brothers is being carried in a grey industrial laundry bag, while their ‘Broken Dreams’ chandelier for Venini sails past on a trolley. Everything feels off duty and all the more fascinating and spectacular for it.

Cécile Verdier, senior director and coworldwide head of 20th century design at Sotheby’s, is leaning against Marc Newson’s ‘Extruded Table 3’, a seemingly impossible piece of furniture laser-cut from a single block of Striato Olimpico marble. You can’t help but touch it. It requires no small amount of willpower not to lick it. ‘A consignment arrived last year with a group of six pieces from a European private collector,’ Verdier explains. ‘They were an interesting mixture of contemporary pieces – Hadid, Newson, Arad – and we were struck by the collective narrative of material expression. Wallpaper* was the obvious partner to help us tell this story. Tony and his team have helped cross the boundaries of different industries, introducing us to the pioneering and the common elements in design that shape modern life.’

This was the seed from which the auction has grown. It is a collection that traces the evolution of how designers master and manipulate materials, from the politeness of post-war furniture to the use of the most advanced technologies to achieve something more akin to alchemy. As such, there’s an anthropological thread to the hoard. The collection tells the story of modern design through the lens of materials, encompassing the evolution not just of technology, but of skill, taste, trend and wider social values, too.

Materiality is more than just a handy hook for bringing the collection together. It’s also a response to where we find ourselves today, reflecting our growing appreciation of materials. As daily life is increasingly spent in virtual worlds or on digital desktops, we yearn for analogue, physical experiences to act as a counterbalance. Materials summon up primal urges – hence the desire to lick the marble. ‘Across contemporary life we are witnessing profound appreciation for experiences and sensations that ground us,’ Chambers explains. ‘We respond to things that engage our senses and make us feel human.’ Bearing testament to this, in the warehouse there’s a lot of stroking going on.

Laetitia Contat-Desfontaines, Sotheby’s 20th century design head of sale, elaborates, keeping one hand on Ron Arad’s ‘All Night Long’ table: ‘It’s almost like an antidote to our obsession with social media. We crave the materiality and texture that design offers. Craftsmanship is a tangible link to reality. It speaks of skill, tradition, quality and time – when we feel these qualities we build a relationship with the pieces.’

‘People buy design at auction because they love the piece,’ adds Verdier. ‘They don’t buy to sell, in the same way as they do with art. Generally, they live with the designs they buy, and use them, and so they have an intimate relationship with them – it’s a commitment.’

Surveying the diverse lots that will be up for auction in October, it’s a powerful concept. Taking materials as a starting point encourages a new appreciation of older, familiar pieces and a fuller interrogation of more contemporary designs. Joris Laarman’s extraordinary ‘Bone’ rocker, 3D-printed using powdered Belge Noir marble and resin, sits beside a mahogany bureau by Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn, bedecked in botanicals. Both are exquisite examples of their period’s craftsmanship and material expression, six decades apart. Elsewhere, Pierre Jeanneret’s armchairs sit beside the Campana brothers’ ‘Cake’ stool; the elegant utility of wood and leather designed for civic duties in Chandigarh is juxtaposed with the synthetic fluffy toys found on São Paulo street stalls – kitsch commerce elevated into something valuable.

The breadth and depth of this collection makes clear how design has evolved over time in the minds and hands of different people. It is a positive story of progress. ‘Each piece is a story brought to life through materials,’ Chambers summarises. ‘Any new technology presents an opportunity for reinventing or developing a material into a new form. The story of design is effectively the combination of human ideas, material expression and technological development.’

INFORMATION

‘Living in a Material World’, pre-sale exhibition: Friday 13 – Monday 16 October; auction: Tuesday 17 October, For more information, visit the Sotheby’s website

‘The Rise of Design and its Importance in our Digital World’ talk will take place on Saturday 14 October. The event is free, register for tickets here

ADDRESS

Sotheby’s
34–35 New Bond Street
London W1A 2AA

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

This month marks Wallpaper’s coming of age: our 21st anniversary. It’s also my tenth year as editor-in-chief, having switched from being creative director in April 2007. I must confess that my coming of age came a number of years earlier. Time flies.

One of the earliest projects I worked on in my new role was our inaugural October Guest Editors’ Issue. Now, many media outlets have given over their editorial reins to appropriate talents in order to bring a fresh perspective and generate some PR buzz. But because of Wallpaper’s multi-faceted editorial remit, we felt our spin on the concept should be equally all-encompassing – we would invite not just one, but up to three diverse creatives each year who would reflect our offering, but also push us to try new things.

So year one saw a purist industrial designer, Dieter Rams, an iconoclastic artist, Jeff Koons, and a much-more-than-a-fashion-designer fashion designer, Hedi Slimane. To rebalance the unintentional male bias for 2007, the next year saw Louise Bourgeois, Zaha Hadid and Rei Kawakubo bring art, architecture, and fashion girl power to our pages. Subsequent editions have seen Karl Lagerfeld, Philippe Starck, David Lynch, Robert Wilson, Kraftwerk, Christian Marclay, Lang Lang, Ole Scheeren, Taryn Simon, Laurie Simmons, Elmgreen & Dragset, Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, William Wegman and Liz Diller have fun at our expense. That makes 21 in total, and therefore a convenient excuse to take a retrospective look, as well as request some updates for our latest issue. (Our thickest issue yet, the spine also happens to measure a serendipitous 21mm)

In addition to a 20-plus page section within the magazine, each of our Guest Editors was also invited to design a cover. Many called for unusual paper technologies – Hedi used specialist printing inks to simulate glitter, whereas Karl invited readers to strip the Dior Homme suit off his muse by means of a peelable layer. Starck constructed a transparent front cover using three layers of tracing paper. And Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hütter tacked on a pair of 3D specs, to go with his 3D cover portrait and portfolio of exclusive images tied to key Kraftwerk compositions.

If I had to pick one favourite project it would be Zaha’s. Her cover was a gatefold construction using multiple die-cuts, while inside she produced a 16-page die-cut sculpture, which was a take on her ‘Lotus’ room installation at that year’s Venice Biennale. ‘I want to put a big hole in the magazine’, she told us. We dutifully obliged.

Zaha was profiled by art critic Matthew Collings, who visited her at her London offices and provided a pleasant distraction from discussions about cement. Collings and ‘Big Z’, as he affectionately called her, hit it off immediately. ‘Her architecture is the greatest art of the moment,’ he said.

So it’s a huge pleasure for me and I think a fitting tribute to Zaha (who tragically passed away 18 months ago) that this anniversary issue’s cover was created by Zaha Hadid Architects and its principal and torchbearer, Patrik Schumacher.

Enjoy this special issue and raise a glass to Big Z.

Tony Chambers, Editor-in-Chief

As originally featured in the October 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*223)

Our thickest issue yet, the spine also happens to measure a serendipitous 21mm, in keeping with our celebration of 21 years, and 21 guest editors

INFORMATION

The October 2017 issue of Wallpaper* is out now. Subscribe here

One of the reasons that the Japanese have led the charge in robot development and adoption is that there is no modern Promethean myth in Japanese culture, no Frankenstein’s monster (that, and an ageing population who require robo-care).

In the West, we still suspect that generating electro-charged life is against nature and will create existential threat; that, Terminator-like, the robot legions will eventually turn against us and pull the plug on their masters. More immediately, we worry that they will take our jobs.

This summer I attended the Norman Foster Foundation’s inaugural ‘Future is Now’ conference in Madrid, joining the likes of Marc Newson, Patricia Urquiola, Jonathan Ive, Alejandro Aravena, Michael Bloomberg, Maya Lin and more. The Stanford-based historian Niall Ferguson saw trouble ahead, warning of a push back against disruptive technological change (his transport to the conference, a Tesla, had been pelted with eggs by anti-Uber demonstrators, so perhaps he was more than usually alert to the technotrauma being felt in certain sectors). Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder of the MIT Media Lab, meanwhile played the ultimate techno-evangelist, arguing that technology is allowing us to ‘do as well as nature’. Ultimately, he insisted, ‘we will do better’. (We will soon be ‘growing’ buildings from seeds, he suggested.)

Technology is, of course, causing massive upheaval across many industries, print media included. For the moment, though, there is still a range of creative acts that robots can’t really handle, that require the human hand and eye, the human imagination, and a personal history, of good things and bad. The robot fashion stylist is a way off. A robot cannot replicate the touch and timing of a great musician, the particular phrasing of a fine novelist or playwright, or understand how and why those phrases and phrasing connect.

For the moment, robots are good at doing precise tasks over and over again without getting bored or asking for holiday pay (not picking fruit just yet, but robo-pickers are on their way). As Jonathan Bell explains in his piece that accompanies our robot fashion shoot, robots will become ever more useful, but we should not fear that usefulness. We are better than useful.

There are things to worry about. We are handing far too much of our decision making to algorithms (as wondrous as Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist is, we need to do our own discovering). Artificial intelligence will advance in ways we cannot predict (a particular concern for bright sparks such as Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, among others). But for the moment, we remain the most remarkable of creations.

Tony Chambers, Editor-in-Chief

INFORMATION
The September 2017 issue of Wallpaper* is out now. Subscribe here

At this year’s Salone del Mobile, that most sacred of design gatherings, we called the Wallpaper* flock to the Mediateca Santa Teresa, a deconsecrated church on Via della Moscova. And there did true believers, as well as the odd agnostic, enjoy intimate communion with spirit-lifting design and craft at its most transcendent.

This issue bears witness to the divine efforts of our various dynamic design duos and hastily assembled bands of brothers and sisters. From genesis to revelation, we pull back the veil on projects from the Bouroullecs, Tom Dixon, Kostas Murkudis, Sabine Marcelis, Conrad Shawcross, Matteo Thun, Doshi Levien and a multitude more. Here are fonts and sarcophagi, tools for meditation and mindfulness, settings for blessed beginnings and suitable send-offs, devotional fixtures and fittings, and simple, elegantly austere sanctuaries for the modern soul.

In all, and rare, seriousness, we hope the spirit of this year’s Handmade exhibition, and this issue, is one of calm reflection and communion, entirely inclusive and strictly non-denominational. Salone and Handmade are truly global events, celebrations of cross-border collaboration and friendships forged in the creative act. They recognise that we can still at least hope to make the world, in small ways perhaps, a more civilised and lovely place to be.

Onwards and upwards!

Tony Chambers, Editor-in-Chief

As originally featured in the August 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*221)

INFORMATION

The August 2017 issue of Wallpaper* is out now. Subscribe here

‘The camera never lies’. This overused phrase – dating back to the mid-19th century and the earliest days of photography – seems rather naïve today. Then, a photograph, especially when compared to the subjectivity of painting, was seen as the faithful representation of a scene. The image that fell on the photographic plate was precisely what the camera was pointing at. But even back then, darkroom manipulation could alter the mood and content of the original image significantly.

Today – with sophisticated computer retouching and all manner of digital doctoring – it’s hard to know what to trust. And in this post-truth era, trust is more important than ever. And that brings me to a man who has had a profound influence on me and, I would imagine, millions of others – the photojournalist Don McCullin. Or, I should say, Sir Don McCullin, as he was recently (rather belatedly in my opinion) knighted for his services to photography.

See more of our Design Directory special – out now

To celebrate this achievement, and his 60-year-long career, it was suggested by a colleague that I should arrange a dinner in his honour and bring together the great and the good of the photography and art world.

We chose Mark’s Club in Mayfair, as it had recently undergone a thoughtful overhaul. Under the leadership of a dynamic duo, the Birley Group’s executive director Guillaume Glipa and club director Darius Namdar, Mark’s has regained its footing as the favoured romping ground of London’s bold and beautiful.

Collaborators and admirers came out in full force to celebrate the Don, among them William Klein, David and Catherine Bailey, Sarah and David Burton, Martin Parr, Sølve Sundsbø, Mat Collishaw and Polly Morgan. Drinks on the covered terrace were followed by dinner in the Garden Room, during which Don revealed, serendipitously, that Mark’s Club is one of his all-time favourite restaurants. More importantly, it was just a couple of doors away from the building in which he printed his first published photograph, The Guvnors, which appeared in The Observer, 15 February 1959.

For bringing us images of such power  and veracity with unfeasible courage from war-torn Vietnam, Biafra, Northern Ireland, Uganda, Lebanon, Afghanistan and El Salvador, I think Don’s knighthood should also be for services to telling the truth.

Wallpaper’s front-line reporting calls for less in the way of raw valour, though some grace under pressure is required. And in this issue, our annual Design Directory precisely frames the best of this year’s Salone del Mobile. The truth is out there and we’ll always need people to bring it back.

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

INFORMATION

The July 2017 issue of Wallpaper* is out now. Subscribe here

‘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)

'Use our art to create new art.' This is the all-inclusive mantra of the Rijksstudio Award. Now in its third iteration, the Award tasks members of the public to devise a new creation, in what ever medium they like, that draws from the Rijksmuseum collection. As always, the competition was open to all, with 250,000 images free to download from the Rijksstudio - an interactive, digital archive of the museum's collection - free of charge. Inspiration abound.

Famously home to Rembrandt and Vermeer, the collection also features ancient artifacts, historical fashion, decorative arts and photography, so possibilities are endless - as the 2015 winners established with their take on a collection of Rembrandt's sketches of hands. Designers Lyske Gais and Lia Duinker transformed these storied notations into a miniature flick-book, worn as a satisfyingly chunky piece of art-jewellery, around the wrist.

'Eden' Condoms, by Esther Pi & Timo Waag

This year, entries were as innovative and diverse as ever. A record 2,600 designers applied, which has been whittled down to a group of ten outstanding finalists. The shortlist includes an extravagant Pop Up Birds book by Italian designer Chiara Bianchini; a one-legged 'Heron' Lamp by Sergii Lysyi from Ukraine, and artfully decorated condom rappers by Spanish designers Esther Pi & Timo Waag, themed on the Garden of Eden (naturally).

The vast and varied array of works will be judged by an international panel that includes graphic design guru Irma Boom and Wallpaper* Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers. For the first time, there's an additional judge - you. The new 'Public Award' can be voted for easily on the Rijksmuseum website, and all finalists will be announced on Friday evening.

INFORMATION

For more information, and to vote, visit the Rijksmuseum website

ADDRESS

Rijksmuseum
Museumstraat 1
1071 XX Amsterdam

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

Over the past few seasons, Sotheby’s has garnered much publicity and financial success with a series of art sales curated by public figures. Creatives who have lent their discerning eye include fashion designers Erdem Moralıoğlu and Anya Hindmarch, comedian Jill Kargman (together with her brother, art advisor Will Kopelman), and most recently choreographer Michael Clark. Now for the first time, the auction house has brought this guest curator model to its design arm. The next post-war and contemporary design sale, held in London on 17 October will be curated by Wallpaper* Editor-in-Chief, Tony Chambers.

Titled ‘Design: Living in a Material World,’ the auction will explore the ways in which leading designers past and present have engaged their materials. The selection covers a broad chronological spectrum, varying from a pair of stools from Swedish designer Axel Einar Hjorth’s ‘Utö’ series, 1932, to recent creations by the likes of Marc Newson and Studio Job. The materials themselves range from the traditional (wood, stone and marble), to modern and perhaps unconventional (concrete, plastic, even organic matter).

For Chambers, the theme of the sale reflects a recent, collective revelation that our heavy reliance on the internet has left us yearning for the tactile experiences. ‘As our lives become increasingly governed by the digital world, we have subsequently become more appreciative and sensitive to the analogue,’ he explains. ‘We now crave the touch, the feel, even the smell of the material world.’

Laetitia Contat Desfontaines, 20th century design specialist and head of sale at Sotheby’s, pointed out that the exhibition will consider the use of materials not only for aesthetic properties, but also structural strengths. She notes the diversity of the works on offer: ‘It’s fascinating to see how designers might have been using the same materials at exactly the same period, but achieving radically different results’.

A preliminary list of highlights, released this morning, reveal a 3D-printed armchair by Joris Laarman, a Newson table extracted from a single block of marble, a Thomas Heatherwick chair rendered in Murano glass, a Ron Arad table in honeycomb paper and carbon fibre, as well as a Studio Job cabinet that combines 17th century marquetry with 21st century laster-cutting technology.

The sale will be preceded by a public exhibition and a series of gallery talks, details of which will be announced imminently. The auction house continues to accept consignments.

INFORMATION

‘Design: Living in a Material World’ pre-sale exhibition will run 13-16 October, with auction on 17 October at Sotheby’s London. For more information, visit the Sotheby’s website

ADDRESS

Sotheby's
34–35 New Bond Street
London W1A 2AA

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

It was nine years ago to the day that I first visited Abu Dhabi. I was there for the launch party of the island of Nurai, a tadpole-shaped sand mass about 20km off the coast of Abu Dhabi, which local developer Zaya and luxury real estate marketer Michael Shvo were planning to turn into an off-shore paradise. New York based industrial designer Dror Benshetrit, who was tasked with creating the overall scheme, drew up plans for 36,500 sq m of over-water villas and 31 meticulously landscaped beachfront estates. Nurai would be the height of luxury but the developers’ commitment to innovative architecture and design would set it apart from previous Emirati developments aimed at the extremely well-heeled.

Curator Jean-Luc Martinez opens up about the Louvre Abu Dhabi in our April issue – see a preview here

These were the heady days before the financial crisis hit, and Shvo was a swashbuckling figure with a flair for theatrics. He constructed a multi-million dollar sales centre replete with an elevated boardwalk above actual water and virtual reality fly-throughs on floor-to-ceiling screens. He ferried in 300 potential buyers by helicopter, orchestrated a fireworks display, and enlisted Lionel Ritchie for a private performance. Over $750m worth of real estate was bought within the next two days, prompting Shvo to declare that he’d ‘made gold from sand’. But just a few weeks later, markets plunged. Construction on Nurai continued, though its plans had to be scaled down. Other less fortunate projects never left the drawing board.

On the same trip, I also visited Saadiyat Island and saw the ambitious plans to make Abu Dhabi a cultural capital, a highbrow rival to noisy neighbour Dubai’s flashier developments such as The Palm and The World. It would be the largest new artistic cluster on the planet, with monumental contributions from architectural titans Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando and Norman Foster. Beset with inevitable post-crash complications, only one of the five grand projects is now close to completion – Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi, a 600ft-wide dome raised above waterways, plazas and galleries. Read John Arlidge’s exclusive interview with Louvre president director Jean-Luc Martinez, the man charged with making a success of the project, who admits he’s ‘just a little bit terrified’. We’ll be back there later in the year and be the first to reveal the interiors of a remarkable monument to Abu Dhabi’s ambitions, architectural and otherwise. It’s been a long time coming, but some things are worth waiting for.

As originally featured in the April 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*217)

INFORMATION

The April 2017 issue of Wallpaper* is out now. Subscribe here

In last month’s letter, I chronicled Wallpaper’s 20th anniversary dinner with Dom Pérignon – an elegant, dignified affair at London’s Claridge’s. What I forgot to mention, however, was how the rest of the night and the subsequent weekend unravelled. It was a night I’ll never remember.

As is customary at the conclusion of such a joyful soirée, a number of guests (not egged on by me... honest) fancied another beverage. This has become known in our circle as ‘a cheeky one’. So the hardy few headed downstairs to the legendary Fumoir Bar. My wife Georgia and I were joined by architect Amanda Levete, London Design Festival director Ben Evans, artist Joseph Kosuth, designers Peter Saville and Jay Osgerby, and Dom Pérignon’s chef de cave Richard Geoffroy. Wallpaper* stalwarts Malcolm Young, Sarah Douglas, Gabriella Karie and Lloyd Lindo ensured the conversations were lively and the drinks flowed freely.

The bar closed as the clock struck one, but the world had not yet been set to rights, so off we went to Amanda and Ben’s place in Islington, a former dress factory renovated in the sleek, futuristic style for which Amanda is known. Their first-rate wine cellar kept us hydrated and happy for a further few hours. Discussions swung from architecture to economics and politics to, of course, soft furnishings. We even managed to cajole Amanda into being a judge for our 2017 Design Awards. Unfortunately, such excitement made me completely lose track of the time.

It had been a long time since I’d done a straight-to-plane. But Georgia and I had a 7am flight for an unmissable appointment in France, so at around 4.30am we dashed home, grabbed our passports and headed straight to Heathrow. A hazy flight to Marseille later, we were whisked to Château La Coste, an extraordinary organic winery and expansive art and architecture park in the heart of the Luberon, Provence. We’d come for an exclusive preview of a new luxury hotel opening on the estate, Villa La Coste – the perfect material for the wine- and design-obsessed Wallpaper* reader.

We did our best to style out our lack of sleep, but the bleary eyes, groggy demeanour and slight whiff of eau de DomPom was too much of a giveaway, so we had no choice but to confess to our night of shame. Fortunately, our hosts Paddy and Mara McKillen and their team could not have been more gracious or welcoming. The stunning accommodation at the Villa, the breathtaking landscape and the exceptional art and architecture of the estate soon had us feeling tip-top. Oh, and a cheeky glass of Château La Coste Grand Vin Rosé didn’t hurt either.

INFORMATION
The January 2017 issue of Wallpaper* is out now! Subscribe here

Many of us can remember our first encounter with an Apple product. For a rare few, it may have been the Apple 1 (1976). For some, the turning point was the iMac (1998). And who can forget the frenzy surrounding the iPod’s debut some 15 years ago, or the iPhone (2007), the iPad (2010), and most recently the Apple Watch and Apple Pencil (both 2015).

Launching today, a new book gathers Apple's most memorable projects in a visual compendium engineered with the same precision and scrupulous attention to detail as one of its products.

This is a comprehensive and objective portrait of Apple products produced over the past 20 years. ‘It is a book with very few words,’ writes Sir Jony Ive in the foreword. ‘It is about our products, their physical nature and how they were made.’ The pages that follow trace two stratospheric decades of product design with the effortlessness that’s become synonymous with the company.

It is a quiet and elegant work, a high-quality piece of book design, typography and production. It is far from a show-off vanity project. Great care, time – and money – has been spent on making it a paean to good, useful design and manufacturing. It is also of course a paean to Steve Jobs. In the five years since his death, Apple has forged on without him. Designed by Apple in California is a tribute both to him, and to the products that have shaped our future.

The tome is Apple at its purest: the products. We caught up with Ive to find out more...

Wallpaper*: The new book, quite unusually for Apple, is a look back.
Jony Ive: The biggest challenge for us was the fact that our focus and preoccupation is always on the future. So that tends to exclude much time to look back at the work we have previously done. Sometimes if we are struggling with a particular issue then that gives us reason to go back and look at the way we have solved problems in the past. But because we've been so consumed by our current and future work we came to realise we didn't have a catalogue of the physical products. So about eight years ago we felt an obligation to address this and build an objective archive. Many of the products that you see, we actually had to go out and purchase [laughs]. It's a rather shameful admission, but it's just not an area that we really invested much time or energy in, so we started to build an archive of the physical products.

W*: Objectivity seems to be the key goal?
JI: We were intrigued how we could objectively describe, define and catalogue the objects and try to give people a sense of how they were made. Not how they were designed, but how they came to be. How they were manufactured and how you can transform these often-anonymous materials into something that is valuable and useful.

W*: By looking back, did it trigger memories?
JI: You know, I've spent half my life at Apple – so many of us associate different projects with different parts of our lives. It was curious and interesting. For each project there are multiple stories.

Interestingly, the only way we realised we would finish the project was to treat it like one of the projects in the studio. There were a few things we needed to do to accurately and objectively portray these products. Of course, many of these products are white, so the off-the-shelf printing processes really didn't do an adequate job in describing the colour and surface of those products. So, unsurprisingly we ended up developing custom forms of paper [from British papermaker James Cropper] and custom inks.

W*: Did you and the team in turn learn anything from the process of making the book?
JI: The products we're working on at the moment, and have been for a while, are the beneficiaries of all the learning we gained from the book – so of course to us they are the very best things we have ever done. Therefore the frustration, the absolute frustration, of not being able to include that work was sometimes enough to make us think this is something we're not going to be able to finish. It's around 20 years of work and it certainly isn't everything we've done – it's the things that we think were salient in our learning or that we just had an affection for. That part [the selection process] wasn't too hard or challenging – we generally all felt the same way about the same products. But certainly to draw a line and say this will be the end of this first catalogue, first book, that was exquisitely painful.

W*: Quite typically for Apple, the book comes beautifully packaged.
JI: We're so used to packaging 3D objects, so that was part of the project we really enjoyed – trying to create a very simple way of protecting the book and not having to force people to deal with a myriad of sticky labels – hopefully it helped the unwrapping and made it enjoyable. So often you can put all of your energy into the primary product that you forget that your actual experience is an aggregation of the product plus all of these peripheral objects like the packaging and shipping box. We really wanted to treat each of them with the care they deserve, or rather, the care that people [the customer] deserves, such as with the draw tab on the cardboard box and the simple tuck on the envelope.

W*: What were your key objectives for the book?
JI: We asked ourselves, 'What is the value of a book like this, when most people know these objects so intimately already?' First, to see the objects out of their functional context. Next, to see them in a context of the subsequent products and hopefully how we have learned as a team how technology shifts, moves and evolves. And the other reason was to do with the fact that many people don't really have much of a sense of how their manufactured environment came to be. Most people wouldn't understand how the chair they are sat on is made. One of the things we wanted to do was try and explain as clearly as we can – through photography – how you transform a raw material into a product that you recognise and hopefully use as a daily tool.

We decided to be fairly explicit about some of the processes we used. I guess we feel a strong sense of ownership of these processes because they really do aid our understanding and learning and transfer from one product to the next. We feel that more than ever there has been a disconnect between designing and making and really, you can't disconnect them. In the 90s, as manufacturing was outsourced, this chasm developed between where something was made and where it was designed. But designing and making are inseparable if you want the ultimate product to have integrity. Another key point is that the book is being sent to all the major design colleges in the world. We are keen to get it into the hands of young people who are studying design disciplines. It's very important that it’s an educational resource as well.

W*: I presume all the photographs (by Andrew Zuckerman) were shot specifically for the book. But there's one incredible image of a Nasa space shuttle?
JI: Yes, they were – with the exception of that Space Shuttle image (above). The first image in the book is of the very first iMac. We used the same composition as the launch shot in the 1990s. But we reshot every single product [for the book]. As the project has taken so long we actually had to go back and re-photograph some of earlier products because of how photographic technology had changed and improved. The images of the later products were superior to the earlier ones, so we had to go back to the beginning to keep that perfect consistency throughout the book. Nasa images are quite extraordinary. We were poring over these one day and noticed an iPod on the dashboard, resting up there. I thought that was so funny – it was both humbling and humorous.

INFORMATION
Designed by Apple in California, from $199. For more information, visit the Apple website

The 20th anniversary of Wallpaper* this year has called for celebrations of all kinds – among them a staff knees-up for everyone who had ever worked for the brand, a pop-up gallery on Mayfair’s Cork Street, and a panel discussion at the V&A. But best of all was an intimate dinner at Claridge’s recently. Joining forces with Dom Pérignon and its chef de cave Richard Geoffroy, we gathered some of our closest friends, representing all the creative disciplines we cover – design, architecture, art, fashion, food and, of course, fine wine.

Wallpaper* was founded in 1996. And as we washed down food by chef Simon Rogan with successive glasses of Dom ’96, we realised that, as Francis Albert Sinatra would say, it was a very good year – for all present.

Barber & Osgerby founded their studio in 1996 and created the ‘Loop’ table, which would attract the attention of their first major patron, Giulio Cappellini. John Pawson, who designed our subscribers’ cover this month, published his seminal book Minimum in 1996. And Amanda Levete, then at Future Systems, brought architectural finesse to London’s Docklands with her West India Quay Bridge.

1996 also saw Ron Arad reinvent the wheel. Not literally, but with his rolling circular bookcase, while Tom Dixon conceived his iconic ‘Jack’ light. Peter Saville, being Peter Saville, moved into his outlandishly louche Mayfair flat. ‘The Apartment’, as it was known, was perhaps a prototype for the Wallpaper* aesthetic. ‘I should have bought it,’ he quipped.

A young Ben Evans, now director of LDF, was working behind the scenes in 1996 to propel a similarly young Tony Blair to 10 Downing Street. Gregor Muir, now director of Tate’s international art collection, was laying the groundwork for his book of record on the YBAs. Lucky Kunst! That’s the title of the book – not a comment on Gregor’s fortunate double decade. Conceptualist artist Joseph Kosuth put the finishing touches on The Boundaries of the Limitless, which remains one of Japan’s largest works of public art.

Our younger friends were well on their way to success in 1996. Artist Conrad Shawcross finished his foundation course at the Chelsea School of Art. Simon Fujiwara was a boarder at Harrow, where he would be mentored by his eventual muse Joanne Salley – now the subject of his video installation at London’s Photographers’ Gallery. Designer Beatrix Ong was interning at Harper’s Bazaar and hot British fashion talent Simone Rocha was just celebrating her tenth birthday.

Finally, 1996 was also a very good year for Dom Pérignon. It was the year that Richard Geoffroy took the helm, and produced one of the brand’s best vintages. So it was fitting that we toasted its newest release, the P2, an exceptional champagne in its second Plénitude (stage of maturation).

It’s hard to improve on a classic, but whether among champagnes or creatives, maturity clearly has its perks.

As originally featured in the December 2016 issue of Wallpaper* (W*213)

INFORMATION
The December 2016 issue of Wallpaper* is out now! Subscribe here

Wallpaper* Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers will be joined by British designer Paul Cocksedge for a talk at the V&A next week, covering the highlights of our landmark 20th birthday issue. Watch Thomas Heatherwick's Friction Cover come to life...

This year, Wallpaper* celebrates two decades at the apex of design journalism. To mark this era-defining occasion, we’ve been invited into the auspicious enclaves of the V&A in London, to host a talk on the evening of Wednesday 19 October. Taking place in the magnificent Lydia and Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre, the event will see Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers in conversation with Paul Cocksedge.

Cocksedge – a creator of bold lighting and spectacular staircases – is a young British designer whose career has grown with Wallpaper*, garnering international acclaim with his simple, articulate works that often embrace cutting-edge technology.

Notably, he was behind two of our favourite Handmade projects – a marble bookmark in 2012 and a sculptural shoe heel in 2013 – and ranked among the top designers in both editions of our Power List (not least as one of our hotshot 20 under 40 designers). His beautifully reflective ‘Freeze’ desk, constructed from frozen copper and aluminium without gluing or welding, also won him a Wallpaper* Design Award this year.

We invite you to join Chambers and Cocksedge for their discussion, which will cover the highlights of our landmark 20th birthday issue as well as Wallpaper’s essential role in discovering and championing design talent. Looking to the future, they will also share their thoughts on how design can change the world.
 
The event will be followed by a drinks reception in the V&A’s Silver Galleries. Tickets are available now through the museum.

INFORMATION
’Today’s Design – Tomorrow’s Reality’ takes place on Wednesday 19 October, 7pm–8.45pm. To purchase tickets, visit the V&A website

ADDRESS

Victoria and Albert Museum
The Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre
Cromwell Rd
London SW7 2RL

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As the creator of beautiful timepieces with a long-standing association with design and architecture, Panerai was Wallpaper’s ideal partner for our annual Design Awards celebration event.

Notable guests – including Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec (our Designers of the Year), David Chipperfield, Albert Kriemler and Ilse Crawford – were invited to an intimate dinner hosted by Wallpaper* Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers and Panerai’s Philippe De Saint Lager in the spectacular home of artist Sue Webster. Designed by Design Awards judge David Adjaye, the converted textile factory in the heart of London’s Shoreditch offered guests spectacular city views from the studio's wraparound balcony, as they enjoyed champagne and 'clever' canapés prepared by chef Bo Lindegaard of the Copenhagen-based I’m a Kombo catering specialists.

Once the party was seated (on Bouroullec-designed 'Officina' chairs for Magis, no less) Lindegaard presented elegantly carnivorous dishes inspired by the Best Cuts category from our Design Awards issue on yet another Bouroullec design – Alessi 'Ovale' crockery, which was itself decorated with stencilled-on spice-emulsions. Inga Sempé's award-winning 'Collo-Alto' cutlery and Spanish vineyard Ramón Bilbao Vinos y Viñedos' delicious Riojas, poured into Saint-Louis 'Twist 1586' glasses, completed the tablescape.  

Long before the prize winners and guests arrived, Wallpaper’s Composed team furnished Webster's home with the help of some of our favourite marques: 'Inari' console tables by Living Divani, Samsung’s award-winning 'Serif' TV (also by Designers of the Year, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec) and Retegui’s folding marble-topped ‘Bistro’ tables. Vases by Georg Jensen, Michael Anastassiades and Lingby among others, were filled with arrangements by Best Delivery winners Flowerbx, who donated the still-fresh blooms to charity after the event.

After being wined and dined, guests went home with a gift bag showcasing the work of a plethora of other winners and nominees from the 2016 Design Awards portfolio including Punkt’s 'MP01' Jasper Morrison-designed mobile phone, a Misoka toothbrush, Susanne Kaufmann’s hair elixir and Alfredo Häberli's 'Alfredo' vase for Georg Jensen. Copenhagen, our city of the year, was represented with a newly updated Wallpaper* City Guide, naturally.

INFORMATION

Photography: Jamie McGregor Smith

The Spanish Art Directors & Graphic Designers Association (ADG) has kicked off a star-studded campaign to promote its annual honour roll, the Laus Awards. 

Titled 'Laus &', the campaign has called upon a dazzling roster of international designers and creative directors to each devise a poster that interprets the word 'Connections'. 

There are 46 contributors in total, in numeric harmony with the 46th anniversary of the awards. Among them are legends from an older generation (including Milton Glaser, Ivan Chermayeff), of-the-moment design outfits (Bibliothèque, APFEL) and celebrated editorial talents (Simon Esterson and our own Editor-in-Chief, Tony Chambers).

'Some are personal friends and acquaintances, others were contacted "out of the blue",' explains curator Astrid Stavro. 'The responses have been heartfelt and enthusiastic throughout.'

They have also been incredibly varied, comprising typographic treatments, symbolic designs involving light switches and the international on/off symbol, cartographic references, allusions to reproduction, and satirical, occasionally explicit takes on the banality of internet communication.

Stavro explains that the aim of the campaign is to encourage and challenge Spanish designers to aspire to the talent of these contributors. At the same time, she also welcomes the attention at the campaign has garnered around the world – especially as this iteration of the Laus Awards is the first to be open to international entry.

The full collection of one-off posters will be exhibited during the Laus Awards ceremony in Barcelona's Design Museum, and remain part of the museum's permanent collection thereafter.

INFORMATION

The Laus Awards are now open for entries. For more information visit the Laus Awards website

The festive party season may, for better or worse, be over – but before we let the champagne flutes start gathering dust again, it feels like a good time to look back over the myriad wonderful events hosted by Wallpaper* in 2015.

Back in November, and following a more intimate gathering, we decided it was time to launch our first ever Wallpaper* US Bespoke Edition with a splash. And if there was anyone who could tell us what hopping the pond in style is about, it was Spring Studios – a multidisciplinary London space recently expanded to New York City’s Tribeca.

Gathering in the lofty Aldo Andreoli-designed space, we reclined on furniture from Design Within Reach, Blu Dot and Herman Miller while our glasses were kept full of Veuve Clicquot’s finest bubbles. Charlie Bird served up classic seafood bites with a twist – smooth ceviche with crunchy pistachios and razor clams came with a chili kick.

Our multidisciplinary guest list drew on Wallpaper’s interest in great design across all industries, and included our friends Paperless Post CEO James Hirschfeld, Espasso Gallery owner Carlos Junqueira, Museum of Arts and Design director Glenn Adamson and Wallpaper* cover artist William Wegman himself. 

Having just celebrated our 200th issue, it was fitting that American furniture legend Vladimir Kagan was in attendance. Kagan, one of our first collaborators, has lived a classic New York tale – from humble immigrant beginnings, to Industrial Design Hall of Famer. Now, you can see his midcentury modern designs in the Brooklyn Museum.

More than just an opportunity to eat, drink and be merry, the event was a moment to re-assert our values as a truly global brand. Under the watchful eyes of one of Wegman’s weimaraners we toasted to the fresh possibilities our Wallpaper* US Bespoke Edition accords: an embrace of the digital age, experimentation, and the new faces of design – wherever they may herald from.

For the January 2016 issue, our annual Graduate Directory, Team Wallpaper* has been in search of the next big thing. Me? I’ve just been in search of 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. He was a pretty good architect, but would he have been as successful without those black, thick-framed round spectacles? Richard Rogers has his brightly coloured collarless shirts. And John Pawson has his NOthing.

Why is Karl Lagerfeld a fashion god? It’s not just because he designs a great frock, it’s because he has about FIVE ‘things’. The greedy Kaiser has his powdered pony tail, his high-necked starched shirts, ever-present dark glasses and fingerless gloves, and his celebrity pussy, Choupette. 

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

Successful magazine editors are definitely at it. Graydon Carter’s sweeping patrician hair, 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, an attentive aesthete, 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? Wearing a monocle? Nah – too old fogey. Always wear a single bright, block-coloured outfit? Nah – too Rashid. A hat? A cane? A polka-dot bow tie? Deerstalker and pipe? Braces and stogie? Pants outside my trousers? Not right!

I was about to give up when, lo and behold, I had a ‘thing’ bestowed upon me. During the summer I contracted vertigo – a bizarre inner ear condition resulting in room-spinning, nausea, loss of balance and deafness in my right ear. All rather unpleasant and irritating but at least I have my ‘thing’. ‘Tony Chambers? Oh, is he the wobbly guy with the ear trumpet who vomits involuntarily? He’s a legend!’

We don't usually like to toot our own horn, (well, we don't like to be seen to be doing it) but this week held an especially proud moment for Wallpaper* magazine when Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers was honoured with the most prestigious award possible in British publishing: the BSME Mark Boxer Award. It recognises an outstanding contribution to magazines and isn't something that is handed out easily - previous recipients include Private Eye's Richard Ingrams, Condé Nast's Nicholas Coleridge and Harper's Bazaar's
Liz Tilberis.

At the glittering gala dinner – the magazine equivalent of the Oscars – British comedian Alexander Armstrong presented Tony Chambers with the giant crystal trophy which (following a brief stint as a receptacle for champagne on the night) now takes pride of place at Wallpaper* HQ. The BSME committee said it best on the night, so we leave you with their words, feeling humbled and extraordinarily honoured...

'It seems somehow inadequate to call the winner of this award simply an Editor-in-Chief. He's more of a one man, global tour-de-force, who has turned a magazine into a prestigious international brand. He is the definition of a game changer - someone who realised many years ago that publishing would undergo a revolution - and who had the vision to expand his publication from a glossy design bible, into a lucrative multi-platform business that boasts a highly sought after creative agency, a celebrated iPad edition, a renowned series of city guides, an interior design service, an events department and a luxury online store.

When he began his career as a designer at the Sunday Times Magazine in the early 90’s, under Michael Rand - a former recipient of this award – he became known for a bizarre trait – being an art department person who enjoyed reading copy! He understood that words were as important as pictures; that features had to have visual impact but also create a journalistically credible narrative. His uniquely original vision and beautiful layouts, notably showcasing an ambitious parliamentary hopeful called Tony Blair, soon saw him progress to art editor and then being lured over to GQ as art director. Whilst there, he helped change the face of men's magazines, adding a visual polish that imbued the content with class.

When he joined his current title as creative director, the magazine was a highly regarded brand but he took it into new visually daring areas, giving it major credibility. In an audacious move, encouraged by then publishing director Fiona Dent, in 2003 he took over as Editor-in-Chief, as a sort of publishing auteur whose individual style, tastes and complete control over all elements gave the magazine a personal and unique stamp... which soon won the approval of the global design fraternity. He made a magazine in his own image – immaculate, highbrow, but also modern and pop culture savvy.

This year’s recipient has garnered the respect and devotion of some of the most high profile names in fashion and design - from Hedi Slimane to Phillipe Starck. Partly because of his infectious enthusiasm, but also because he's simply hilarious company. Someone who can discuss Zaha Hadid and Everton FC with equally informed passion. And he's one of the few people in the world whose managed to win over Karl Lagerfeld, whom he once persuaded to guest edit his magazine resulting in an extortionately expensive to produce peel off cover. When he told Karl the costs would make it impossible Karl replied, "How MUCH is impossible?" And, once this Editor-in-Chief had sweet talked Karl into emptying his bank account, the two of them did pull off the seemingly impossible.

Karl wasn’t the only name he got on board as guest editor, everyone from Louise Bourgeois, to Kraftwerk have had stints helming his magazine – whilst the likes of Pharrell Williams and Victoria Beckham agreed to judge its annual design awards. With 100 issues under his editorship, he continues to extend the brand; he recently masterminded the launch of his magazine’s inaugural US bespoke edition – which is already being hailed as a publishing triumph.

His reputation as a cultural architect extends to every aspect of his life – like Mark Boxer, after whom this award is named, he's one of the rare people to have made the transition from art director to Editor-in-Chief creating his own title of 'visual journalist'. As well as editing the magazine, he is also the archetypal Wallpaper* reader – one of the decisions he's most proud of is buying a flat in the Barbican back in 1993 when the rest of us were still referring to London’s finest example of brutalist architecture as 'a hulking monstrosity'. The flat, as you might guess is full of elegantly selected examples of 20th and 21st century furniture. Even his young baby daughter Olive has rejected Disney princess dolls in favour of soft toy versions of Pablo Picasso and Frank Lloyd Wright. He prides himself on his belief that function should never come at the expense of beauty, which probably explains why he is famously said to own one of the most beautiful but uncomfortable sofas in the world.

Known for his immaculate taste, his fierce attention to detail and perfectionism, but also his ability to inspire passion, loyalty and dedication from his team – the recipient of the 2015 Mark Boxer award is the exceptionally talented and utterly unique Tony Chambers.'

Sir Jony Ive was in London last week and was keen to catch up. There was something he wanted to show me, as he was pretty sure it was right up my street. The Apple Pencil. Yes – a pencil. Could we meet at a favourite haunt – Claridge’s, Mayfair? It sounded perfect. But as fate would have it, I was in San Francisco – an Uber ride away from Ive and Apple’s HQ in Cupertino, California while he was a mere black taxi fare away from Wallpaper* HQ on the River Thames. We had to settle for a trans-Atlantic chat, via iPhone 6s, on Monday 4:30pm GMT, 8:30am… Apple time.

Tony Chambers: I had a great demonstration this morning of the iPad Pro, and more importantly for me, the Pencil. It’s the thing that I do miss when working with screens. Is this something that’s been on your mind for some time, that perhaps we still need this funny little oblong to make things complete?
Sir Jony Ive: It’s a curious thing. It was fundamentally important originally not to develop a user interface that required another instrument. It was important that we develop the UI based upon multi-touch, based on our fingers. The reasons are obvious. I think it is equally obvious that you’re just not as dexterous as you are with a pen or a pencil for certain things.

What we found is that there’s clearly a group of people that would value an instrument that would enable them to paint or draw in ways that you just can’t with your finger. And I suspect that this isn’t a small group of people. I don’t think it’s confined to those of us who went to art school.

Often, when we develop a product in the hope of solving a specific problem, we end up having to try to solve multiple problems not confined to a single area. This is a classic case. This was a problem that wouldn’t be solved by just developing the very sophisticated technology that eventually became the Apple Pencil. We had to develop new technologies for the actual iPad Pro too.

You saw just how low the latency was, how quickly we can draw and how quickly we can render video. There was some substantial, deep technology to develop to make the pencil work as intuitively and naturally as hopefully you saw.

That was the thing that really, genuinely impressed and warmed me the most. It felt so close to the experience of using a traditional pencil. Is that why you used the word ‘Pencil’ rather than ‘Pen’ or stylus? Is it because the sensation is more HB than ballpoint?
I like the name Pencil much more than stylus because stylus seems a product that’s about technology. Pencil, to me, seems very analogue in its association. But what is challenging is that it will become many things. There’s an incredible painting app and very powerful drawing apps. For some people it will be a graphic instrument and to others it will be a fountain pen. One of the technologies within the Pencil means that as well as detecting pressure, we are also detecting the angle of the pencil. All of which is particularly relevant for being able to create a very natural experience. As an object it needed to be relatively neutral as it can take on the identity of a pencil or ink pen or paintbrush or charcoal...

A pencil drawing suggests sketching as well, which is something that’s important. You use a pencil when you are sketching ideas, when you are thinking. There is an impermanence too, which I suppose relates to the advantages of this – that you can erase. It’s also an emotive thing. I always feel that the marriage of technology and the hand is the future, and this is the closest I’ve come to experiencing it. It’s an authentic and honest marrying of the two worlds. Would you agree with that?
Yes, and not surprisingly we had a great deal of analysis to do of our traditional experience of the analogue world to begin to understand the problem. Before we even got into thinking about how we could create a natural experience, it took a long time to really understand the fundamentals that were at play, that ultimately define your experience of writing or drawing naturally with a pencil. And I think that process feels to me like a very good discipline for technology groups to understand, because that process leads you to observe the tiniest details in terms of what we do and how we do it, and why we do it.

I think this is certainly one of those occasions where at the end of this design and product development exercise, it really did yield two things. One was the Apple Pencil. But the other was a more significant understanding of how we do everyday things. We’ve learned a lot, which is actually useful beyond this project.

Yes, learning, relearning how you do everyday things, is a good discipline sometimes – or just thinking about it.
I think it really is. We do this a lot when we are working on things like the trackpad or new keyboard on the MacBook. To develop those sorts of devices requires an incredible amount of observation and measurement and it means that you need to ask the right questions and know what to focus on. This is part of the value of being a design team that’s been together for many years. We’ve been working on these problems for 20-plus years, so it’s an interesting area. And I think we are gaining experience, we are learning.

• Inside Apple Park: first look at the design team shaping the future of tech

The ability to continually evolve is something that the company is renowned for, but this is quite a big step – and it’s a brave step. To have the confidence to do something that is perhaps not what one would expect. Having the confidence to say, 'hang on a minute, maybe we do need this extra tool'. Perhaps this seemingly ancient tool will be, with the right skill and technology behind it – and the right designers using it –a positive addition. Because there’s bound to be some criticism that it’s anachronistic, or it’s something that Apple said they’d never do. I think a ‘stylus’ does seem wrong, yet the Apple Pencil seems so right.
I think there’s a potential to confuse the role of the Pencil with the role of your finger in iOS, and I actually think it’s very clear the Pencil is for making marks, and the finger is a fundamental point of interface for everything within the operating system. And those are two very different activities with two very different goals.

So we are very clear in our own minds that this will absolutely not replace the finger as a point of interface. But it is, and I don’t think anybody would argue, a far better tool than your finger when your focus becomes exclusively making marks. The traditional pencil could have been replaced by a dish of powdered charcoal, which you dipped your finger into to make marks with. And that didn’t happen. 

This is core to good design. It’s adding or changing something to make it better, so it’s not just a thing that does another job in a different way. It’s actually adding something to the whole repertoire of what you have. It’s mark making, whether that be a drawing or painting or making notes. I think it will be a great addition to proofreading, for our kind of business, for instance – just scribbling over things.
I was excited that you got to see it, and I thought you would like it.

You have young children. Did their pen-to-paper, finger-to-screen interaction prove useful during the development of the Apple Pencil?
So far, anecdotally – you know we don’t do focus groups – but anecdotally, certainly from what I’ve seen, with my children and friends’ children, they are captivated. And they don’t for one second see them (multi-touch and Pencil) as mutually exclusive directions of technologies. It’s quite refreshing actually.

They embrace both. It is extraordinary. Children will just pick up an iPhone or iPad, and they know what to do. Flick flick flick. But likewise, they are still using pens and pencils and they love reading books. There’s no problem, they don’t see any kind of dichotomy there, they just get on with stuff…
I really like that. I really like how simple that is. I think a lot of these objects live very happily together and are very complimentary alongside each other.

And it’s $99! A beautiful piece of Jony Ive Apple kit in your pocket for less than a hundred dollars. Is that something that was in your mind? Or is it a more a natural consequence of Apple’s ‘do things well and people will like it’ policy?
I think you’re right. It was a consequence of trying to make the very best thing we can. And I think it is surprising how sophisticated the technology and the sensors in the Pencil actually needed to be. When we started, we didn’t think that it would need to be quite so powerful and sophisticated as a product. Certainly that’s not something that’s communicated in its design.

No, it looks the simplest and most basic, primitive oblong. But there is a lot going on inside there, I presume, to make it work as well as it does.
There certainly is. And one thing that I was excited about is the ease of charging. If you are in the middle of drawing something, you can easily just plug it into the iPad Pro and it recharges extremely fast. Just that alone, having the very fast recharge, was an important attribute so that you could work with confidence and not feel that you would have to manage a number of battery lives. I think you relax knowing whatever happens, you can very quickly recharge it.

Fifteen seconds for 30 minutes, I think? Which is fantastic. Then again the charger on the Apple Watch is beautiful. It’s a pleasure to charge the watch at night – that gorgeous sculptural disc with the satisfying magnetic connection.
It is an area we are working really hard on.

Was there a particular pencil in the back of your mind that you had? To me it feels a little like a chinagraph – used for marking up transparencies – just in terms of the width and it being white. Did you use a chinagraph?
I have done but we didn’t want to be overly specific because it will assume the identity of so many different instruments. So I think one of the challenges we often have – and is actually one of the powers of the products we make – is that they have multiple functions. If you’re too specific in your references, I think you can do a disservice to the breadth of capability that the product has, if that makes sense. We wanted it to be developed as very much an analogue tool, but not so specific that it couldn’t comfortably represent a metallic ink pen or a paintbrush.

And at college were you a Caran d’Ache man, or Faber-Castell, or Rotring? Do you have any favourites?
I used to use Rotring for drafting. It’s so long ago I can’t remember what pencils I used – I would guess whatever was handy.

And when you draw now, are you a 4H, or a 4B, or an HB in the middle?
Actually, you know I have been drawing a lot recently with the Hermès pen, the ink pen that Marc (Newson) designed. I really enjoy drawing with that and it comes with a range of different nib thicknesses. I am drawing with just the finest nib.

And you still start a design with a sketch or a scribble?
Yes, we all do. The whole team use sketchbooks. I think it’s a mixture of drawing either by yourself or when you’re with people flitting between conversation and drawing.

Sometimes scribbling things out and sketching is part of communicating isn’t it? It helps the conversation and aids the thought process. I find that I need to have a pen in my hand if I’m even reading, certainly when reading a proof. There’s something about the finger, to pen/pencil, to the brain, that feels inherent. It seems very natural.
I completely agree. I don’t see it as being a disconnected part of the design process, but I think in communicating ideas you’re moving very seamlessly, between words and drawing. And I think often, marks would be fairly abstract if you didn’t have the words that accompanied them. So I think sometimes, when we look in our sketchbooks, there are literal drawings of what we are working on, and there can be pages and pages of what are quite abstract details, or marks that are augmented by conversation. I think it’s all part of the process.

The London-based illustrator Patrick Vale – known for kinetic, intricate drawings of social and urban scenes – was drafted in by Apple to demonstrate the raw creative potential of the Apple Pencil, as seen in the video above

INFORMATION

Apple Pencil for iPad Pro, £79. For more information, visit Apple's website

Despite our famous passion for modernisms, Nordic and tropical, our groundbreaking BRIC special issues, our hub-hopping internationalism and dedication to truly global coverage, Wallpaper* has always had a special interest, a special relationship you might say, with the US. We are, after all, US-owned. And a full 30 per cent of our readership is in the US. American design and architecture – from California’s Case Study Houses to Chicago’s Miesian towers, from the midcentury optimism of Charles and Ray Eames to the techno-optimism of Yves Béhar today – are our touchstones.

As we hit the 200th issue mark, a milestone of which we are inordinately proud, we thought it was time to take that special relationship a stage further and launch a just-for-you US edition. This first issue beautifully packages three months’ worth of US-angled coverage – from a guided tour of Tommy Hilfiger’s art-crammed New York eyrie and an interview with Seattle architect Tom Kundig, to a collection of dog-meets-design images from William Wegman (see the full portfolio here) and a look at Restoration Hardware’s contemporary turn – with despatches from further afield, including David Adjaye’s mall and museum complex in Beirut and the shortlist for this year’s Best Urban Hotels gongs.

There is also our usual sharp-eyed, market-leading mix of the latest in fashion, food, beauty, technology and travel.

We did it all for you and we hope you like it. 

Tell us what you think of the first Wallpaper* US Bespoke Edition using #WallpaperUS via Twitter  and Facebook, and sign up for our Bespoke American newsletter here

INFORMATION

The Wallpaper* US Bespoke Edition is available solely in the USA

As we put the finishing touches to this 308-page bumper October issue our minds are already focused on our next significant number. November is the 200th issue of Wallpaper*. We'll be celebrating this milestone in a variety of ways ‚ most importantly with the second iteration of our annual Design Power List. Purely for the purposes of numerical harmony, the 2014 Power 100 will grow to become the 2015 Power 200, illustrated with portraits from our unique archive. While flicking through our hefty back catalogue we realised that many of our Power Listers had been profiled and photographed by us at the beginning of their careers. A reassuringly positive refection on Wallpaper's prescience, authority and influence over the years. So look out for rather revealing images of a very young Michael Young, a fresh-faced Fukasawa and some baby-faced Bouroullecs.

As predicted, the inaugural list proved to be somewhat provocative. Designers are sensitive souls and they can get a bit feisty when egos are damaged. There have been a few upset emails, some combative conversations, even the odd alcohol-fuelled threat. But the Kanye West Award for overreaction has to go to Mr Perma-Pink, Karim Rashid. Taking to Facebook in response to his omission from our inaugural 100 list, the Rashid Rant went as far as calling on his 'fans and friends' to boycott Wallpaper* and for his clients to withdraw advertising. But perhaps he should have been on the list? After all, we made it clear that the criteria was influence, authority, cash and credibility, and by his own humble admission, 'KARIM RASHID has influenced many designers, consumers, developers, industry, and helped shape our democratic landscape. He has designed products that have sold in the millions & has won more awards than one can imagine. He has four doctorate degrees and countless successes in his 30 years of experience'.

Earning a place on the list certainly shouldn't just depend on the personal taste of our editors or panel of advisors, even if they have an aversion to blobjects, fuschia pink or designers who dress like children's TV presenters to attract attention. I don't know Rashid personally, but I hear from friends that he is a sweet guy, very talented, and certainly extremely successful. So I think we should take Karim up on his idea to 'make a GLOBAL public poll to see who is the most influential' of contemporary designers. Join the debate using #Power200 on Facebook and @wallpapermag on Twitter and Instagram. Vote Rashid!

As originally featured in the October 2015 edition of Wallpaper* (W*199)

The ‘thoughtful home’ was the theme of the inaugural Nest Supper club, held on an atypically tropical London evening earlier this summer. Set on launching high-powered, but pleasantly so, evening pow wows, the Google-owned pioneer of smart and sharp-looking thermostats, smoke detectors and more, turned to Wallpaper* as the suitable partner. (As they would. After all, who has thunk domestic more deeply than us?)

Given the theme, and the credentials of our co-hosts, we needed the smartest of spaces as a venue. And found it in the Hampstead Heath home of Medhi and Elli Norowzian; the most elegant of glass boxes designed, by architects Stanton Williams, in an almost arcadian situation.

Co-hosted by Wallpaper* editor-in-chief Tony Chambers and Nest founder and CEO (and frankly, Silicon Valley royalty) Tony Fadell, the evening was the first of what we hope will be an on-going series of informal summits in remarkable settings.  Among the guests were architects David Adjaye, John Pawson, Kevin Carmody and Stanton Williams’ own Paul Williams, designers Ilse Crawford, Edward Barber, Martino Gamper, Tom Dixon, Ron Arad, Ian Callum and the artist Francis Upritchard.

All gathered, guests mingled in the Norowzian’s well-tended outside spaces while supper was prepared by the Michelin-starred Skye Gyngell, taking a night off duties at her new Somerset House-set restaurant, Spring. (The menu included fresh salad of Fern Verrow leaves, heirloom beetroots and a verjuice and honey dressing, followed by a summery salt-baked wild salmon, served with chard, crushed broad beans, nasturtium and lemon aioli. Heating things up was a chickpea, carrot and chard curry, served with cooling yoghurt with pickled lime. Sweet closure came with a blackcurrant summer pudding with crème fraîche and a lemon verbena tea. And miniature parcels of Gyngell's signature white chocolate, pistachio and rosemary nougat were packed up as midnight treats. Just in case you’re interested). Meanwhile, illustrator Charlotte Trounce recorded events in a painterly - and pleasingly analogue - way.

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

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

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

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

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

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

An invitation from gallerist Patrick Seguin to attend a design workshop with architect Richard Rogers is not one to be snifed at. Seguin – collector, dealer and world authority on Jean Prouvé – thought I may be interested to witness the final stages of a personal project he’d been working on with Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. A project that would revitalise and give a second life to one of his Prouvé demountable houses.

So last September I made my way to RSHP’s studios in Hammersmith, London, to watch Seguin, Rogers, Ivan Harbour and Tadashi Arai wrestle with the finer details of form and function. The house in question, a humble six-metre-square structure of wood and steel, was one of a series created by Prouvé in 1944 to rehouse war victims in France. Similar ones are most often seen these days in museums or galleries, but the challenge for RSHP was to introduce contemporary comforts, adding plumbing and electricity, to make it usable as a modern holiday home while staying true to the pragmatic spirit of the original.

And there could be no one better than Rogers for this challenge. The similarities between his philosophy and Prouvé’s are clear. Both are champions of functionality and innovation, but more importantly, they share an undeniable sense of optimism for the power of architecture to bring about social change. I learned on my visit that their paths had, in fact, crossed back in 1971, when Rogers, together with Renzo Piano, had pitched for the Centre Pompidou in Paris. As president of the selection panel, Prouvé played an instrumental role in commissioning the building that came to revolutionise contemporary architecture. To see Rogers come full circle, transforming and breathing new life into the work of Prouvé was a special treat.

For the full story, pick up the July 2015 issue (W*196) - out now - or click here

'Everyone I wanted to see in Milan is in this room right now,' beamed Rossana Orlandi behind her oversized white sunglasses as she mingled among the architects and designers who gathered at a special dinner to toast this year's Wallpaper* Design Award winners; and we couldn’t have agreed with the design doyenne more.

High-profile creatives such as Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci of Dimore Studio (whose 'Lamp 061' won for Best Space Race), Rodolfo Dordoni (winner of Best Executive Office), mingled happily with high-powered CEOs including B&B Italia’s Giorgio Busnelli and Poltrona Frau Group’s Dario Rinero, together with local hotshots such as chef Carlo Cracco and art director Tanja Solci.

The setting was the dramatically-lit Carlo e Camilla in Segheria, which is not only Milan’s current top dining destination - and run by Solci and Cracco - but also the winner of the Best New Restaurant award, crowned from a shortlist chosen by Wallpaper’s pernickety staff. Other winners including Designer of the Year Patricia Urquiola (who joint-scooped it with Konstantin Grcic) and architect Vincenzo de Cotiis (Best Grid for his ʻDC 1406Aʼ brass chandelier) were caught at home with a nasty bug that had half of the city bedridden last week - although Urquiola's partner in business and life, Alberto Zontone, was there to accept the award on her behalf.

But the crowd nonetheless swelled with some of our favourite Milan-based talent including art director Giulio Cappellini, architect Fabio Novembre, Gufram owner Charley Vezza, Molteni’s Francesca Molteni, curator Caroline Corbetta and Salone Satellite founder Marva Griffin Wilshire. They were joined by Vogue Italia editor-at-large Cesare Cunaccia, art director Roberto da Pozzo, Philipp Plein head of marketing and PR Ludivine Pont, Seletti owner Stefano Seletti, Henraux president Paolo Carli and Leclettico owner Claudio Loria.

The awards were handed out in a rowdy, rambunctious way by our own fearless Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers who kept spirits high, while guests feasted on a sumptuous meal of lime-zested risotto and lamb shanks, staying in the glorious setting into the wee hours of the morning - which is exactly our kind of awards evening.

W Hotels has unveiled the winners of its Designers of the Future Award: an annual indicator of the 'ones to watch' in the industry. Announced during the Salone del Mobile in Milan, this year's golden trio includes Seung-Yong Song from Korea, Canadian Jon Stam and Bethan Laura Wood.

Selected by an international jury including our own Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers; Jan Boelen of the Design Academy Eindhoven and Z33; Aric Chen of M+ Museum Hong Kong; and Alexis Georgacopoulos of Ecole Cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ECAL); among others, the line up for 2013 was always going to exciting one, given the design year we have just witnessed.

While qualifying candidates must have produced a body of work that demonstrates originality and proven competence, they must also have not been practicing for longer than 15 years. Previous winners have included Philippe Malouin, Asif Khan and Tom Foulsham, to give just three examples.

In recent months the candidates were all sent to a new or renovating W Hotel in order to solve a particular design challenge. Entitled 'Making Connections', their brief was to create a site-specific installation that could deepen the appreciation for the distinct regional characteristics found in each destination. Jon Stam spent time in Verbier, where the W brand's first ski retreat will open later this year, Seung-Yong Song visited W Bangkok, which opened December 2012, and Bethan Laura Wood travelled to W Mexico City, which will undergo renovations.

The works that have resulted will be unveiled at Design Miami/ Basel (11-16 June 2013) and later installed in the hotels' Living Rooms (or lobby areas) with a view to bringing together local communities and international visitors.

According to Marianne Goebl, director of Design Miami/, and one of the judges: 'This is a meaningful platform for talented emerging designers. With the introduction of the design residencies abroad, the designers get the opportunity to dive into the local culture and develop new work.' With the benefits afforded by showcasing that work at Design Miami/ and in W Hotels, furthermore, the award is a covetable springboard to success.

You must be brave to dare to tinker with an established brand's logo. To alter the actual name, not just the logo, requires steely courage. And in the fashion world, you don't get a more established name or brand than Yves Saint Laurent.

So when it was announced in June 2012 that newly appointed creative director Hedi Slimane was to alter not only the graphic language, but also the actual nomenclature of the house, the tremors of disapproval were felt all the way from Madison Avenue to Avenue Montaigne. When the new logo made its first appearance a month later, the shrieks of disapprobation went up a notch. To drop 'Yves' was disrespectful enough, but to replace painter Cassandre's mythical 1961 YSL logotype altogether was utter lunacy, surely?

But we beg to differ. Why? Primarily because most of these knee-jerk, social media-fuelled reactions were misinformed and ignorant. So we'd like to set the record straight.

By calling the new line Saint Laurent, Slimane has, in fact, shown intelligence and great respect to Mr Yves Saint Laurent. The new logo design gives a reverent nod to the very beginnings of his game-changing, ready-to-wear collection in 1966, adopting a similar appellation to the original 'Saint Laurent Rive Gauche', as well as utilising the Helvetica font styles chosen during that revolutionary era.

This smart trick of 'retro-branding' returns the ready-to-wear to the spirit of the origins of the line, but marks a new era.

'It made sense today to transpose these principles and recover the original name and typeface,' Slimane explained in a rare interview. 'The name Rive Gauche disappeared in the past then resurfaced several times. It seems intrinsic to the universe of Yves Saint Laurent, without it being useful to refer to it literally today. We thus went to the essential, a name
that is written as it is spoken every day: Saint Laurent, unequivocally.'

This sensitivity and respect for the Parisian house is not at all surprising as Slimane's early career highlight was at YSL as ready-to-wear director of men's collections under the stewardship of Mr Laurent himself. Famously, he then went on to revolutionise the male silhouette at Dior Homme before taking a five-year hiatus from fashion design, moving to Los Angeles (where he continues to live and work) to hone his photographic skills and develop as an artist.

It was at the beginning of this fashion sabbatical that Wallpaper* got to know and like Hedi - and why we must disclose a certain positive bias. As one of our first trio of Guest Editors in 2007 (W*103), we experienced and got to understand his philosophies, working methods and to-the-millimetre approach first-hand.

Meetings in New York, London and Paris were always pleasant, productive and illuminating. Slimane came across as a highly intelligent, deeply curious man who knew that in the turbulent world of fashion, total creative control and strong financial support was essential. But Slimane's interests beyond the narrow confines of fashion were clear, abundant and very refreshing. Music is, of course, a huge influence, but his awareness and passion for typography, architecture and intelligent industrial design (Dieter Rams, in particular) was more of a surprise.

But it was no surprise to us that Slimane's attention during those first months in the new job would be paid to the often neglected areas of visual communication: 'Concentrating on the base before approaching the form. The fundamentals, the signs, the language, before the fashion,' he will tell you.

Old-school graphic design fans will be relieved to hear that the classic YSL has not, of course, been entirely deleted. The new stripped-back and minimal Helvetica will sit perfectly (as it originally did) with the rhythmic charm of Cassandre's monogram. Yves may be absent, but we feel certain he would approve. 

The new logo design gives a reverent nod to the very beginnings of Mr Yves Saint Laurent game-changing, ready-to-wear collection in 1966, adopting a similar appellation to the original 'Saint Laurent Rive Gauche', as well as utilising the Helvetica font styles chosen during that revolutionary era