A new addition to the Vitra Campus, 'Water Garden' by Bas Smets, marks the start of summer for the celebrated furniture manufacturer and its famous headquarters on the Swiss-German border. Launched today (17 June 2026), during Art Basel, the design is a highly site-specific piece by the Belgian landscape architect – and one that is more than it might initially seem.

It's been a tradition for the Vitra home in Weil am Rhein to unveil an exciting new project on its campus every summer. Water Garden follows Vitra's reveal last year of Doshi Retreat, 2024's Khudi Bari, and 2023's Tane Garden House. This time, the offering is the result of a long and ongoing collaboration between Smets and the manufacturer. The aim? To make the latter's large campus, full of landmark architecture, more climate resilient.

Explore Bas Smets’ Water Garden at the Vitra Campus

The patch of land that is now transformed, in true Smets-style, into the fresh, living, breathing ecosystem that is the Water Garden, sits right by Frank Gehry’s Vitra Design Museum. It all started in 2023, when Smets proposed planting 8,000 young trees across the site in order to establish 'micro-forests' based on the principles of Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, who argued for the restoration of ecosystems by mimicking the way natural forests grow and evolve. It formed a thoughtful response to Vitra's mission to rewild its home.

'The first building on the campus was a factory and office building completed in 1954. It was built on what had previously been a garden. So, the campus began with the destruction of a beautiful natural site. And over the following decades, with the expansion of factory space, many cherry trees disappeared without anyone questioning the loss,' says Rolf Fehlbaum, chairman emeritus at Vitra.

'A shift in thinking began in 1994 with Tadao Ando’s conference building, which was placed within a cherry orchard so carefully that only three trees had to be removed. This marked the first moment when the relationship between architecture and nature was reconsidered on the campus. Tree planting began in front of the VitraHaus by Herzog & de Meuron in 2010, followed by the first comprehensive landscape plan developed with Günther Vogt around 2015. But the true breakthrough came with the Oudolf Garden in 2021 – a project that felt like a reconciliation with the earlier decades of destruction. With the garden as a new point of reference, every aspect of the campus was re-examined through a different lens.'

The Water Garden plot is centred on a large pond. It is wrapped in trees and aquatic vegetation, with an emphasis on biodiversity and resilience, as the species were carefully positioned and selected to attract birds and support fish, allowing wildlife to thrive within the campus. Some 500 cubic metres of earth were dug out to make the pond, and were then used to make the berm surrounding it.

'It is this beautiful combination of landscape architecture and art,' Smets says, highlighting the way he hopes his work will grow to play a role within the wider campus, amid the classic works by the likes of Gehry, Ando, Balkrishna Doshi, Zaha Hadid and more. Smets continues to explain: 'The landscape is also something that connects all these objects, which changes the relationship [between them].'

Working with Vitra was an exciting challenge and fruitful collaboration for Smets. 'I love the idea that they're so used to testing a chair before it goes into the market [and] I thought, “OK, let's prototype a landscape”, and they wanted me to do it,' he says. 'No city would want you to prototype. They want the real thing now, right?'

More is yet to come. Beyond the growth and care of the wider project across the site, at Water Garden, three large-scale ceramic sculptures by designer Hella Jongerius – part of her Angry Animals series – are set to be installed as fountains. Plans won't stop there, Fehlbaum explains. Right now, a fish-shaped bench by Doshi and a small, original demountable 4x4 prefabricated house by Jean Prouvé are also positioned by the pond.

'With the Oudolf Garden in mind, we looked at all aspects of the campus with new eyes,’ says Fehlbaum. ‘It was at this moment that Bas entered the picture. He analysed the entire site and proposed a long-term ecological strategy that would gradually transform the campus biosphere. The first visible result is the Miyawaki Forest, followed by the Water Garden. More steps will follow: reducing paved surfaces, planting additional Miyawaki forests, and continuing to restore biodiversity across the grounds.'

The Water Garden opens to the public on 17 June 2026 at Vitra Campus, Charles-Eames-Straße 2, 79576 Weil am Rhein, Germany

bassmets.be

vitra.com

There has been a loosening up of upholstery in recent years. Where tightly tailored forms once dominated, furniture with ruffles, skirts and softer silhouettes has become increasingly common. At this year's 3 Days of Design, Vitra offers its own interpretation with 'Bascule', an easy chair by Berlin-based Studio Πthat combines fashion-inspired upholstery with an adjustable suspension system hidden beneath its surface.

Named after the French word for 'seesaw', ‘Bascule’ features a generous seat wrapped in a loosely cut textile cover that drapes around the frame like a jacket. Beneath the upholstery, however, lies a mechanism developed by Vitra's engineers that automatically adapts to the sitter's weight, allowing the chair to move smoothly from an upright position to a near-horizontal recline.

'Like a cross between a swing and a seesaw,' explain designers Lisa Ertel and Anne-Sophie Oberkrome, who took the new mechanism as the starting point for the design. Concealed within the armrests, it responds to subtle shifts in body weight with a gentle rocking movement supporting a range of sitting positions, regardless of the user's size.

When it came to upholstery, Ertel and Oberkrome looked to tailoring techniques from the world of fashion – originally developed for ease of dressing and freedom of movement – and translated them into the chair's design. During development, fabric was draped directly onto working prototypes to observe how it responded as the chair reclined and returned upright. Different textiles produced distinct fold patterns and surface textures, emphasising the chair's changing form.

'It always got exciting when movement came into play,' say the designers. 'As soon as “Bascule” moved, you could see how the fabrics responded – where they stretched taut, where they fell loosely and where folds formed.'

The result is a chair whose appearance shifts with use, lending it an air of effortless nonchalance.

‘Bascule’ can be customised with fabrics chosen in a single colour or in combinations of two different hues for the inner and outer faces. It comes in a high-back version with an integrated height-adjustable neck cushion that adds to its anthropomorphic appearance, or as a low-back model. Bases are available in aluminium swivel and wooden versions.

The comparison to clothing extends beyond appearance. Conventional polyurethane foams and permanently bonded components have been replaced with materials and construction methods designed for repair, replacement and eventual recycling. Cushions are made from recycled fibres or V-Foam, a material developed by Vitra and BASF that the company describes as the world's first economically recyclable polyurethane foam.

The approach reflects Studio Œ's broader interest in honest, long-lasting design, with components that can be separated and returned to the circular economy rather than discarded.

Vitra sees Bascule as a design equally suited to domestic interiors and workplace lounges. For Studio Œ, meanwhile, it continues an approach focused on repairability, material honesty and longevity.

'For us, the comparison with a jacket couldn't be more fitting,' says Oberkrome. 'A favourite jacket you love to slip on, one that is soft, familiar and simply comfortable.'

‘Bascule’ will officially launch in September 2026, but a preview is on show at Vitra's Copenhagen showroom during 3 Days of Design (10-12 June). There, the chair is presented beneath a tent-like canopy of soft fabric within what the brand describes as an immersive sensory setting.

Vitra, Klubiensvej 22, Pakhus 48 2150 Nordhavn Copenhagen

vitra.com

There’s a sense that we’re tiring of design taking itself quite so seriously. Recent fairs and launches suggest a palpable pushback against the algorithmic sameness of pixel-perfect, beige interiors, alongside a renewed appetite for decoration that’s playful, satirical and a little subversive. It makes this year’s Verner Panton centenary feel perfectly timed. Best known for his exuberant use of colour and pattern, and for swooping, futuristic forms, Panton approached interiors as complete environments: spaces to inhabit, not simply admire.

'The main purpose of my work is to provoke people into using their imagination,' said Panton. 'Most people spend their lives in dreary, grey-beige conformity, mortally afraid of using colours. By experimenting with lighting, colours, textiles and furniture and utilizing the latest technologies, I try to show new ways to encourage people to use their phantasy and make their surroundings more exciting.'

The centenary is being marked in 2026 by a major exhibition and year-long programme of events at the Vitra Design Museum in collaboration with Verner Panton Design AG. But it also feels like a timely reminder of just how radical – and how unapologetically fun – Panton’s vision really was. Long before ‘immersive’ became a marketing buzzword, he was building total environments: rooms where colour, light, furniture and textiles fused into a single sensorial experience, designed to be lived in as much as looked at. Here's everything you need to know about this design legend.

Who was Verner Panton?

Born on the Danish island of Funen in 1926, Panton trained as an architect at Copenhagen’s Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, coming of age in a culture that revered restraint. Even then, he was drawn less to Danish modernism’s quiet discipline than to the new possibilities emerging through industry: moulded plastics, synthetic textiles, mass production.

In the early 1950s he worked briefly in the studio of Arne Jacobsen (who became a lifelong friend and mentor), contributing to the era’s defining experiments in furniture – but his own instincts were already pulling him in a different, altogether more animated direction.

Verner Panton, Key Projects

Kom Igen restaurant

Panton's breakthrough came not through a showroom, but a restaurant. In 1958, Panton was asked by his father to redesign and extend the family inn, Kom Igen. It was an early glimpse of what would become his modus operandi: a project approached not as an interior, but as a complete world.

The result was theatrical and all-encompassing. Drenched in five shades of red, it encompassed lighting, textiles, furniture and graphics. Among the pieces developed for the project was the Cone Chair, an inverted upholstered funnel perched on a slender base: a design that signalled his emerging language of geometry, sensuality and provocation. The chair caught the eye of Percy von Halling-Koch, who established the company Plus-linje in order to put it into production. Soon after came the Heart Cone Chair, and a whole series of cone-shaped furniture.

The Panton chair

If Kom Igen was the start of Panton’s world-building, the Panton chair would become his emblem. In 1956, he produced an earlier S-shaped bent plywood design – the S Chair – for German manufacturer Thonet. Over the following decade, Panton continued refining the concept, eventually realising it for serial production in collaboration with Vitra, which launched the Panton Chair in 1967. A single, continuous S-curve, moulded in one piece, it was a technical feat as much as a piece of furniture – and one that quickly came to symbolise a new era of design optimism. It was also a landmark for Vitra itself: the first product the company developed independently, born from a partnership willing to embrace risk, time and industrial trial-and-error.

Visiona

Panton's true ambition lay not in isolated objects, but in atmospheres – environments where furniture became part of a larger landscape. That approach reached its fullest expression in Visiona, the series of experimental interiors he created on a Rhine excursion steamer in 1968 and 1970 during the annual Cologne furniture fair. Commissioned by Bayer as a showcase for the company’s latest synthetic materials, the exhibitions felt like alternate realities: saturated landscapes of colour, soft sculptural forms and synthetic surfaces, where visitors could lounge, recline and drift through light.

The most famous of these installations, 'Fantasy Landscape' (Part of the Visiona II, 1970), remains one of the 20th century’s defining statements on interior as experience – a psychedelic topography of upholstered forms that blurred floor, wall and ceiling into a continuous domestic terrain. It encapsulated Panton’s belief that design should be felt physically, not merely appreciated intellectually: an insistence that the home could be a space of play, sensuality and even escapism. Vitra, among other licensees of Verner Panton Design AG, continues to produce designs developed for Visiona, including Amoebe seating and the Living Tower, a vertical upholstered structure that turns furniture into a kind of inhabitable sculpture.

Der Spiegel Headquarters

From there, Panton’s work moved into an unlikely arena: the corporate office. In 1969, he was invited to redesign the Hamburg headquarters of Der Spiegel. The brief demanded seriousness and dignity, but Panton delivered something far stranger and more ambitious – a total interior of integrated lighting, coloured panels, reflective surfaces and boldly zoned floors, including an otherworldly fitness facility and swimming pool. It was a reminder that his approach was not merely decorative, but psychological: colour as a tool to shape behaviour, mood and attention.

‘Choosing colours should not be a gamble,’ he once said. ‘It should be a conscious decision. Colours have a meaning and a function.’ Even comfort, for Panton, was inseparable from atmosphere: ‘One sits more comfortably on a colour that one likes.’

Restaurant Varna

A similar spirit animated his redesign of Restaurant Varna in Aarhus in the early 1970s, another landmark in his lifelong pursuit of the gesamtkunstwerk – the total work of art. Here again, Panton treated interiors as a kind of immersive theatre, layering textiles, lighting and furniture into a choreographed whole. The aim was not subtlety but transformation: to walk through the door was to enter a new world.

Private House at Binningen

That world was not limited to public commissions. In Basel, where Panton settled in the 1960s, his Binningen townhouse became a living laboratory for his ideas – a domestic environment that doubled as a showroom, blurring daily life with design experiment.

His daughter, Carin Panton von Halem, has described growing up ‘inside a world of colour and imagination’, in a house that felt like ‘its own universe… an unusual landscape of forms, colours, lights and unexpected details.’ As a child, she recalls, it was ‘the perfect playground, a place where your imagination could roam freely and where creativity felt as natural as breathing.’

Death and legacy

Panton passed away following a heart attack in 1998, aged 72. By then, he had partly returned to Denmark, having spent much of his career based in Switzerland, and was preparing to open the first major retrospective of his work, 'Verner Panton: Light and Colour,' at Trapholt Museum in Kolding, Denmark.

It is perhaps the sense of imaginative freedom that best defines Panton's enduring appeal. His work was futuristic, certainly, but never cold. It emerged from the postwar decades of optimism and experimentation, but it continues to speak to the present because it offers something increasingly rare. In an era of visual fatigue and algorithmic repetition, his interiors are a reminder that design can still be mischievous, immersive and unapologetically fun.

Shop Verner Panton's most famous designs

Once a niche corner of the internet, the furniture resale market has surged over the past decade. Part of its appeal lies in a growing awareness that we need to consume less and value longevity over novelty. But there’s also something magnetic about a vintage Knoll credenza or Le Corbusier sofa – objects that carry the patina of time. There’s a particular appetite for modernist icons: the interior-sphere is positively brimming with Togo sofas, Eames lounge chairs and Arco floor lamps. Thankfully, a crop of online platforms has emerged to satiate the hunger for, perhaps, authenticity in an increasingly mass-produced world. As lovers of all things 20th century, we’ve compiled the best places to shop for vintage furniture online – marketplaces where interior designers and homeowners alike source second hand treasures that combine aesthetics with sustainability.

The best places to shop for second hand furniture online

1stDibs

One of the largest global marketplaces connecting collectors, designers and dealers with rare pieces, 1stDibs offers everything from mid-century modern furniture to designer decor and museum-quality antiques. The platform places a strong focus on provenance, partnering with galleries and experts to ensure authenticity, making it the go-to destination for investment-grade design rather than casual resale.

Chairish

Shoppers can browse everything from Hollywood Regency dressers and mid-century sideboards to art prints, mirrors, rugs and lighting on this curated resale marketplace. Chairish caters to both design professionals and design-loving consumers, positioning resale as a sustainable and stylish alternative to new production.

Etsy

Always a reliable resource for, well, almost anything, Etsy connects independent makers, collectors and vintage sellers with buyers worldwide. Among its vast inventory of decor, art, furniture, textiles and more, you can find everything from retro lamps to handmade ceramics – a marketplace that blends creative craftsmanship with accessible vintage resale.

Pamono

This Berlin-based platform Pamono specialises in vintage and contemporary design furniture, lighting and art, with a catalogue spanning iconic 20th-century designers, studios and decor. It’s a veritable treasure trove for quality-curated classics like Eames chairs, Murano glass lamps, Bauhaus-inspired desks and Scandinavian teak tables.

Curiouz

A contemporary resale platform for pre-owned design furniture, Curiouz offers listings of modern classics – think Knoll tables, Vitra chairs and sculptural lighting. Its clean, meticulous curation makes it a favourite among professionals and design aficionados alike, bridging sustainability and design through pre-loved furniture.

LOT

LOT positions itself as a modern resale gallery, offering design enthusiasts crafted and heritage furniture and objects. Its inventory includes mid-century seating, collectible ceramics, minimalist lighting and contemporary art, bridging design, sustainability and storytelling.

2nd Home

UK-based 2nd Home connects quality-conscious consumers with pre-owned pieces from the likes of Flos, Knoll, Carl Hansen and much more. Expect premium, designer furniture, lighting and accessories ranging from sofas and dining sets to floor lamps and statement décor.

Whoppah

This Dutch resale marketplace for pre-owned designer furniture, art and décor handles logistics, quality check and delivery, making it easy to trade contemporary European design at accessible prices. At Whoppah expect to find high-end interior icons like Ligne Roset sofas, Moooi lighting and Vitra chairs.

Vinterior

Vinterior is a UK marketplace connecting independent furniture dealers and vintage sellers with buyers on the hunt for the antique, retro and everything in between – with all pieces being fully authenticated and quality-checked. The platform focuses on extending the life of furniture through resale, helping consumers furnish their homes uniquely and sustainably.

Selency

France-based online marketplace Selency’s selection spans farmhouse tables, rattan chairs, mid-century storage and more – championing a cosy, character-filled home while promoting conscious consumption. Every vintage and second-hand item is hand-verified and sourced from private sellers or small boutiques.

Cherry Cargo

Cherry Cargo is a resale platform for high-end, second-hand modern classics. It specialises in design-led furniture and accessories, from sculptural seating and minimalist storage to artistic lighting and unique décor pieces.

IntOndo

This Italian vintage furniture marketplace connects European dealers and private sellers with global buyers. IntOndo's catalogue includes mid-century seating, art deco dressers, brass lighting, decorative glassware and much more, with an emphasis on Italian and continental design.

MCF Select

You’ll find design-forward pieces such as Italian sofas, marble tables, brass lighting and statement art at MCF Select – an online destination that serves design-discerning customers with a pre-owned luxury selection. With an emphasis on timeless design and craftsmanship as well as sustainability, it is a platform for collectors and homeowners alike.

AptDeco

This US-based marketplace simplifies the buying and selling of pre-owned furniture with secure payment, pickup and delivery. AptDeco users can shop for pieces from brands like Pottery Barn, Herman Miller and Article, spanning sofas, office chairs, tables, beds and decor, making good design sustainable and attainable.

The holiday season is fast approaching, and when it comes to gift-giving, people usually fall into one of two camps: those who delight in the hunt for the perfect present, and the rest of us. Buying for a design lover – notoriously tricky, given their knack for finding the most elegant solution to everything – can, in fact, be surprisingly rewarding.

Here, we present Wallpaper’s gift guide for the design-minded individual: a considered edit of beautiful objects that marry form and function with effortless ease. Skip the chaos of tinsel-clad shop floors and instead scroll serenely through our curation, a selection guaranteed to charm even the most discerning (or humbug) recipient.

After a little something? Browse our perfect stocking fillers.

The Wallpaper* gift guide for design lovers

The Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein has accumulated a lot of 'firsts' over the years. There is Khudi Bari, the first building by Marina Tabassum outside of her home country of Bangladesh; the Vitra Design Museum, Frank Gehry's first design outside of the USA; and, famously, Zaha Hadid's first design to be built ever, the Vitra Fire Station.

Now, there's a new feather in Vitra's cap; welcome to Doshi Retreat, the revered and ever-growing campus' contemplative installation by Indian 2018 Pritzker Prize-winning architect Balkrishna Doshi, designed in close collaboration with his granddaughter Khushnu Panthaki Hoof and her husband Sönke Hoof. The structure, nestled in a green field next to Tadao Ando's Conference Pavilion, is not only the first piece of architecture by Doshi outside of his native India but also the first he designed to be completed posthumously – as it is also the last the modernist architecture master worked on before his death, in 2023.

Stepping inside the Doshi Retreat

Doshi Retreat is an homage to the great architect's legacy, and was conceived by him as a place for serenity and spirituality – a sensory journey of sound and feeling. Its origin story begins with Vitra chairman emeritus Rolf Fehlbaum's visit to India a while back, Panthaki Hoof recalls. 'It all started with a friendship between them. Together they visited a temple [the Modhera Sun Temple], which had a small shrine as part of it.' It inspired Fehlbaum to approach Doshi much later for the design of a 'space for silence' in the campus – something that would reflect the serenity and feelings of calm he felt when inside that small shrine.

Doshi created a concept around a number of notions and words, trying to distil the project's meaning. He went to Panthaki Hoof with it, saying, 'Here, this is the retreat.' This birthed the design, which the three architects developed together. 'Our question to answer was, what do you want to feel in this place? What does the shrine mean?' she recalls. The project progressed during the pandemic, and Doshi's passing left the husband-and-wife team (who have since worked on more projects linked to Doshi's legacy, such as the new toilet block at the Institute of Indology in Ahmedabad) to complete it.

The design evolved in an organic way as the three architects collaborated on it – growing beyond the compact space that Fehlbaum might have originally envisioned. 'We were a bit nervous as Rolf was expecting a 2x2m shrine, and this was bigger. It was all driven by intuition,' says Panthaki Hoof. She explains: ‘This architecture was born from a dream Doshi had of two interweaving cobras. From this subconscious vision emerged a written narrative, followed by a sketched concept composed of notes and evocations. It then evolved into an invitation to embark on a journey of discovery.’

The piece – part architectural pavilion, part art installation – sits near the edge of the campus, off the main entrance and a stone's throw from Vitra's manufacturing facilities and museum. This was not where it was originally meant to be, but the architects, walking through the site as they were working on their design, stumbled upon a piece of land next to the Conference Pavilion that felt like the perfect fit. Fehlbaum feels that this way, the project's 'silence answers to Ando,' as all the buildings in the Vitra Campus 'need to speak with each other.'

The parcel of land included three mature trees and a sloped terrain, so the design was crafted to weave between these existing plants, digging a 'river delta-like' path towards the main pavilion space. This journey into the pavilion is as exciting as the arrival at its inner sanctum. As the visitor moves towards the main room, the walls retaining the site's earth and greenery get taller, the guest's gaze urged to turn upwards towards the sky. It affords a feeling of seemingly leaving the prior surroundings behind.

This experience serves as a smooth, gradual transition from the busy, working campus towards the retreat's meditative nature. Meanwhile, small rest stops on slightly higher ground are formed around the trees, offering opportunities to emerge, take a breath and look around.

The project's materiality is key. The pathways are flanked by weathered XCarb steel, the same cladding that wraps the main space too, which is matched in colour with the crushed bricks that line the approach. This reddish colouring creates a strong contrast with the leafy lawn, yet brings in a tactile feel. It also somehow accentuates the green element, bridging effortlessly nature and architecture – an element Vitra is keen to explore further. A masterplan for the wider campus is currently in development with Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets and involves the creation of mini forests across the entire site.

Inside the Doshi Retreat, a single, round chamber featuring a water pond and two simple, curved stone benches invites guests to sit and enjoy the gentle hum of a sequence of gong and ceramic flute that echoes in the room. This sound piece was faintly heard upon approach, too, but here it becomes more engulfing and subtly cocooning. A hand-hammered brass mandala crafted in India adorns the ceiling.

The project's main material, steel donated by ArcelorMittal, is set to age and change patina over time, adding to the pavilion's relationship with nature. As Hoof explains, it was produced using renewable resources to support a sustainable architecture approach. To that end, the foundations were not dug deep but were instead screwed in, so as to minimally disturb the existing land.

The Doshi Retreat was created as an invitation to solitude and a mindful pause – a space without a specific label. Its thoughtful nature and inauguration this week highlighted the Indian modernist's legacy – and his absence. What was it like, finishing the project without the great master, one of its three creators? Panthaki Hoof: ‘[Doshi] used to say that “silence is the most generous form of guidance”, and when he left, his absence was that silence for us.’

vitra.com

sangath.org

One is a German luggage icon, the other a Swiss titan of modern furniture – but Rimowa and Vitra share a common material obsession: aluminium. For Rimowa, it's the defining element of its Original and Classic suitcase collections. For Vitra, it has long been central to pioneering pieces such as the Eames Aluminium Group chairs. Now, the two brands have channelled their shared interest into a limited-edition capsule for those who like their furniture precision-engineered: a multifunctional stool and a portable toolbox, both made from Rimowa’s signature grooved aluminium.

The stool, released in an edition of 1,000, is described by Christian Grosen, Vitra’s chief design officer, as a 'hybrid object that combines elements of luggage and furniture design'. Essentially, it's an aluminium storage cube fitted with a neat detachable seat cushion and Rimowa’s trademark multiwheel system, allowing it to be easily manoeuvred.

The cube opens to reveal a padded interior upholstered in Vitra fabric, with removable leather dividers designed to keep everyday clutter neatly stored. Grosen explains that the original concept was to create a small office stool for storing a laptop, papers and pens, but the resulting design – with the proportions and poise of a little domesticated robot, equal parts storage and sidekick – works just as well in the living room, bedroom or bathroom.

The toolbox, limited to just 100 pieces, takes its cue from the original Vitra Toolbox by Arik Levy (2010), produced in recycled plastic. This new edition is made from grooved aluminium and fitted with internal recycled fabric compartments, giving it a more robust and luxurious edge.

All aluminium components are produced at Rimowa’s headquarters in Cologne, while the upholstered elements are made at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein. 'Even though we come from different fields, the collaboration felt like a natural fit,' reflects Grosen. 'We share common values: a focus on good design, quality and durability, and the “Aluminium Stool” and “Aluminium Toolbox” reflect the heritage of both brands – travel for Rimowa, and mobile living and working for Vitra.'

Both products will be available from 18 June 2025 at vitra.com and rimowa.com, with the stool also launching in select Rimowa flagship stores from 19 June.

'There are chairs – and there are chairs.' These are the words of Erwan Bouroullec, a French designer who knows a thing or two about making seating. For him, a chair should embody movement, lightness, transparency, comfort, elegance – and a sense of welcoming, like a ‘companion’.

These qualities are written into the DNA of two new chairs designed by Bouroullec. ‘Mynt’ is launched globally this week by Vitra (21 March 2025), with a design that proposes a ‘new way of sitting’, in offices, public spaces and homes.

A modern reimagining of ergonomics fused with an essential elegance, ‘Mynt’ has specially patented technology, with separate components for the seat and back enabling fluid movement while the user is seated – ‘like a cat’. It’s the culmination of 25 years of collaborating with Vitra and his first solo chair design for the Swiss company since creatively parting ways from his brother Ronan.

The ‘Arba’ lounge chair, designed by Bouroullec for Copenhagen-based Raawii, has also just made its Japanese debut. ‘Arba’ is clean and contemporary, its composition rooted in two moulded plywood elements, a cross of bent metal profiles and a die-cast base.

Here, Bouroullec shares with Wallpaper* his thoughts on all things chairs – from form and function to his new creative chapter – during a conversation that unfolds while we are both seated on his new ‘Mynt’ chairs in Vitra’s Tokyo office.

Erwan Bouroullec on all things chairs

Wallpaper*: Tell me about ‘Mynt’.

Erwan Bouroullec: You’re sitting on it right now. If you push more on your back – see, it moves with your body. It’s part of a new generation of chairs. There are chairs – and there are chairs. Most convenient and elegant chairs belong to an older definition of chairs that do not move. Office chairs often have amazing ergonomics, but are diminished by the look – a slightly machine world. Here, we’re trying to embed the best ergonomy with a super-high level of elegance. For me it is a lifetime’s achievement. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.

W*: It’s very comfortable.

EB: The back rest and the seat are unconnected – so your body is almost surfing, slightly moving. It has a newly created mechanism so it works for any size of person. A chair that allows your body to move is key. Like a cat, all day moving and exercising. Often, I see these cool-looking wooden chairs – but what happens to your body after hours of working? This is a very dynamic chair with no compromise in terms of elegance. In my point of view, if a chair is not elegant, it will not be comfortable. This one has fucking good comfort.

W*: What was the seed of this chair?

EB: The question of ergonomics has been rising and rising – and Vitra has been at the core of this research. The starting point of this chair was to embed all this knowledge about bodies and people and movement – but in an environment that would welcome people through its elegance. I was a baby designer when I first entered Vitra 25 years ago in 2000. They have been a mentor to a large part of my design practice. It is a lot of pleasure to release this chair.

W*: How do you create this dialogue between body and chair and make it feel welcoming?

EB: The language of a chair can create a feeling of welcomeness – or stress. How do you welcome a person? One super-important ingredient is making it transparent, so people can understand it and its structure. Like the way your brain sees something vertical with branches and processes it as a tree – a chair needs to be transparent in the expression of its structure, so you quickly recognise it. And behind the transparency, elegance is key.

W*: How do you define elegance?

EB: It’s well-proportioned curves. It’s a way of achieving a lot with a certain lightness. It is a kind of smartness. In terms of clothing, for a long time in my life I didn’t wear suits. When I started to wear them 20 years ago, I just thought, fuck, they are incredibly efficient. There are so many pockets everywhere. They are super nice. And elegant.

W*: It also feels gently dynamic.

EB: It’s gently dynamic but due to its elegance it can go anywhere. Sometimes I’m totally scared by highly decorated spaces with very uncomfortable furniture. For me, this kind of style is really clustering people. If you are wealthy and healthy and everything is OK in your life, that’s fine. But if you have tiny weaknesses – you don’t feel at ease or you don’t like your body at some point, maybe due to surgery, an injury or just life – then maybe that empty chic environment can be too hard for you.

W*: How have your ideas evolved since starting with Vitra in 2000?

EB: Now I wish to perform a little bit more. I feel as a mature designer, I have passed the time when I was younger and I was fascinated by my own creativity and the creativity I had with Ronan. I don't think I want to surprise people. Now I don't really like the word creation in a way.

W*: Why is that?

EB: Because I think there are more things to solve than to invent. Now, it’s more important to practice design and inform manufacturing in a better way. Because behind manufacturing, there are so many issues that are fundamental in our world – about resources, conception. We are in a culture in which people understand manufacturing less and less, understand the logic behind producing a good product less and less. This is the worst time for us to understand less and less. It’s now more important to make sure objects are performing – and that people can easily read them and maintain them. This to me is more important than creating something new. Maybe because of the split from Ronan, I am more grounded. Now, the focus is on being creative in solving problems. Using my creative energy to address an identified question, not for the sake of the creation itself.

W*: And your relationship with Vitra?

EB: We are more and more bound – it’s a symmetrical relationship. I have been learning from them and they have been learning from me. This chair is 100 per cent co-created in a way. The design was trying to re-express a part of the core competence of the company.

W*: This is the first product you’ve designed for Vitra without Ronan?

EB: Me and Ronan, we split because we had too much creative energy. Somehow, we never wanted to control the creative energy, to the point where we ended up with fire in the energy. There was a creation connected to a certain fame – which became fuel for some extra amounts of energy, but part of it was also burning and destroying the relationship. So we really needed to let it go.

W*: How different is your creative process as a result?

EB: For a while we were on separate projects within the same studio but we were always referring to one another in a way. It was a little forbidden to use intuition. When you refer to one another, you need to show the vision – and I don't really envision the end goal, more the nature of the practice, the rules to set the perimetres. I guess this is what has been changing for me and possibly him. I can really now enter into some projects that need permanent readjustment – because you discover that at some point, you need to use your intuition. There was a kind of burning energy between me and Ronan that was not fitting with this process.

W*: So it's a new creative chapter?

EB: It is definitely. It was needed, unfortunately. We went too far into creative fireworks. It’s an intense dynamic when everything is linked. Right now I’m happy with some release. I really think we are in a time in which we absolutely need to perform with true lightness.

W*: You’ve also designed ‘Arba’ for Raawii. Can you sum up it up in three words?

EB: Happy. Raw. Comfort.

W*: What are its defining features?

EB: It’s a lounge chair that is very easy to read. First, a star base on the floor, then a central steel bone that distributes the seat and the backrest; some black silent blocks attach the shells to the bone offering strength but also flexibility. Then, a very prominent zipper outlining the shells is also one of the simplest methods to solve the upholstery in a sober manner. So it’s kind of positively raw, a little like a simple tool can be: very understandable, therefore very comforting.

W*: How do you feel when you sit on it?

EB: ‘Arba’ is dynamic, the central bone is kind of firm but very responsive to the body posture, it’s bending and springs back, so the chair is always moving. This is good for people, who can instinctively adjust the chair to their mood.

W*: What kind of role has Japan played in your creative journey?

EB: It’s very important. I first visited when I was 22 or 23. Ronan and I were designing a shop in Paris for Issey Miyake. I came on my own to show Mr Miyake the project. I was especially young but Mr Miyake was incredibly respectful of my age. I think he liked the fact I didn’t understand Japanese culture. I’m always fascinated by Japan. But often, I’m also afraid.

W*: What are you afraid of?

EB: I’m afraid of getting lost in the street. I’m afraid of not doing the right thing. I really enjoy Japan as a visitor – but I could never live here. I always make things fall, I’m clumsy. My family says I am also socially clumsy.

W*: What inspires you in Japan?

EB: If you look at European culture in terms of objects, architecture, fashion, most things older than 100 years are heavily decorated and belong to ideas of old monarchies and the bourgeois. Particularly in Catholic countries, objects are over-carved, over-printed, over-decorated, over everything. Then, to discover, Japanese traditional objects – the pure minimum, the transparency – it is just a total relief. To discover so many signs of culture based on the hyper minimum was a pure relief.

Erwan Bouroullec's ‘Mynt’ chairs for Vitra will be available to purchase on 21 March 2025

erwanbouroullec.com/
vitra.com

The art of make-up organisation is a skill I have honed over a number of years. Every January, I’ll start culling products that I’ve accumulated over the past however many years. (Yes, make-up and skincare expires, and although some has a longer shelf life than others, no matter what the packaging states, it’s best to check how certain formulas are faring every so often).

What can be sharpened, scraped, sanitised or wiped clean with isopropyl alcohol – lip and eye pencils, solid cream concealers, blushers, highlighters, lipstick bullets and even powder products – I usually keep, providing they’re still performing or aren’t humiliatingly ancient. Liquid products in pump bottles, such as foundation, keeps slightly longer than those that require a ‘dipping’ action: wands, doe foot applicators and fingers are bacterial harbingers of doom for make-up past its prime. So mascara, liquid liner and anything contained in a jar sadly must go.

Then, its time to address what needs replacing, before re-categorising or consolidating to free up space. I might even look at investing in something new – brushes and essential tools, perhaps – or storage for the designated beautifying area in my compact London flat (some examples of which are included in the below guide).

Design solutions for make-up organisation: a guide by Wallpaper's beauty editor

Wipe-clean storage units and multipurpose desk tidies

B-Line trolley

I apply my make-up at a small desk in my bedroom and purchased a second hand Joe Colombo for B-Line Boby trolley from eBay a few years ago. It’s been the ideal vessel for storing beauty products, with its multiple pockets and drawers that fan outwards on hinges. Plus, I can glide it in and out from underneath the table as needed.

Joe Colombo Boby trolley, £494.00, aram.co.uk.

Kartell drawers

Similarly, the Kartell Mobil drawers, designed by Antonio Citterio and Oliver Löw in 1994, are a great option for moveable, compact make-up and skincare storage, with drawers numbering between one and six and a choice between gloss or matt finishes. Some models also include additional shelving, with newer editions of the Mobil Mat drawers made from recycled industrial waste materials.

Kartell Mobil Mat drawers, £670.00, heals.com.

Vitra desk tidy

Pretty much anything that works as a desk tidy can double as multi-functional organisation for make-up and skincare. Case in point, Vitra's O-Tidy and S-Tidy by Michel Charlot. The former has a dish shape with a cup in the centre; perfect for holding brushes. The latter is also great for brushes, plus liners and products in elongated bottles that stand on a base, with its sectional, ‘serpentine’ shape. (Another tip: I often use Loewe's empty ceramic candle pots for a similar purpose).

Vitra O-Tidy, £39, twentytwentyone.com.

Muji acrylic drawers

When it comes to the organising of make-up and skincare, I don’t know where I’d be without Muji. Not only does the Japanese lifestyle brand have a wealth of wipe-clean drawers and boxes, but also make-up cases and pouches, reusable 100ml bottles, and cotton pads and buds. (Its thin-stem cotton buds are my favourite for precise clean ups, such as correcting mistakes, removing mascara that has transferred to the eyelids or sharpening the border of a red lip).

Muji acrylic 6 drawer unit, £32; thin-stem cotton buds, £2.95, muji.co.uk.

Adjustable table lamps for make-up application in low lighting

Flos LED lamp

Applying make-up with a light source shining directly onto the face is the only way to properly see what you are doing, alongside the true textures and colours of products. Ideally, the source is natural daylight. After dark, in place of a less-than aesthetically pleasing ring light, I use a portable and adjustable table lamp (such as Antonio Citterio’s Kelvin, designed for Flos) to assist me.

Flos Kelvin Led Base table lamp, £380, flos.com.

Artemide clip-on lamp

Similarly, Michele De Lucchi and Giancarlo Fassina’s Tolomeo Pinza lamp (a miniature version of the Tolomeo desk lamp designed in 1987) is made from lightweight aluminium. If you need a change of scenery, its signature clip mechanism means it can be attached to varying surfaces, providing a face-on light source in any space in the home.

Artemide Pinza lamp, £175, aram.co.uk.

Multi-angle, versatile mirrors for horizontal and vertical surfaces

Artek multi-angle mirror

Viewing your face from every angle – front on, plus the so-called ‘bad’ and ‘good’ sides – allows for a complete understanding of how your make-up appears. (This is usually something I will check on for formal occasions that take place during the day, such as a wedding). Daniel Rybakken’s 124° mirror, created in 2017 for Artek, can either stand freely on a horizontal surface or be fixed to a wall, offering a multi-perspective solution. It includes a tray-shaped base to place products in whilst you use them, too.

Artek 124° mirror, £388, finnishdesignshop.com.

Ligne Roset trinket mirror

Marie-Aurore Stiker-Métral’s Nimbe mirror, created for Ligne Roset with a steel rose beige-coloured frame, is a compact enough for a table top and portable enough to be moved around the house to work with different sources of light. The moulded polyurethane dish-shaped base is also a practical solution for holding (or storing) make-up, skincare products and tools in.

Ligne Roset Nimbe mirror, £466.00, chaplinsfurniture.co.uk.

The make-up tools to invest in, including eyelash curlers, brushes and tweezers

Prada Beauty make-up sponge

Although they can last through many applications and washes, after a while, I will replace any make-up sponges that are feeling a little ragged round the edges. The Prada Beauty foundation blenders can be used wet or dry, are designed different shades for various skin tones and are cut with a triangle edge (a nod to the house's inverted triangle emblem, a motif present throughout Prada’s make-up line) for precise application.

Prada foundation blender, £26, flannels.com.

Shu Uemura eyelash curler

The Shu Uemura eyelash curler is, in my opinion and that of many others, one of the best there is. The tool is even mentioned in The Devil Wears Prada by supermodel Gisele, her character Serena in disbelief that Anne Hathaway’s Andrea doesn’t know what it is: ‘We were in the beauty department and [Andrea] held up this Shu Uemura eyelash curler and she said, “What is this?”’ The S curler, a second and smaller version of the original tool, launched in 2013, which is suitable for an even more extensive range of eye shapes and lashes.

Shu Uemura S eyelash curler, £20.15, stylevana.co.uk.

Victorinox tweezers

If you’re finding that your tweezers are losing their grip, or never really had a strong enough one in the first place for that matter, it’s time to replace them. An expertly-designed pair can last a lifetime, such as this pair by Victorinox, made in collaboration with fellow Swiss brand Rubis. Crafted from stainless steel, their precision-cut slanted tips will grab, seize and remove even the most miniscule of hairs.

Victorinox tweezers, £ 37.50, victorinox.com

Rae Morris make-up brushes

An expertly-designed set of make-up brushes will also stand the test of time. Australian make-up artist Rae Morris is renowned in the beauty industry for her namesake line of professional brushes with magnetic handles. This allows for the brushes to be affixed to metal surfaces, or the brand’s custom-built stainless steel Rae Frameor Rae Plate, ensuring that they never roll away during use or occupy too much space on a table top.

Rae Morris Personal brush set, £330, raemorris.com.

Nars pencil sharpener

A dual-blade pencil sharpener accommodates all widths of eye and lip products. This particular tool by Nars is built with a removable and adjustable adapter, so even extra-thick pencils, remain clean and whittled to a point. It also comes alongside a blade cleaner and a hard cover to catch fall out.

Nars pencil sharpener, £9, spacenk.com.

Essential products that cleanse brushes, remove make-up, prep skin and more

Mac brush cleanser

Used make-up brushes should, in an ideal world, be deep cleaned once a week. I use a solid soap bar and gentle shampoo to wash just the bristles in the bathroom sink, watching the diluted product residue slide down the drain, before laying them down to air dry on a towel. Therapeutic as this process may be, its an activity that takes a bit of time. So a brush cleaner is another absolute essential for the days in between. (I suggest this one by Mac).

Mac brush cleanser, £15, selfridges.com.

Chanel micellar water

Alongside cotton pads, buds and tissues (plus a sturdy and inoffensive tissue box such as the Birillo by Alessi) micellar water is a must. It can be used to dampen a brush, clean up the back of your hand if you’ve used it as a palette, or remove an entire face of make-up when a technique has gone awry. Chanel’s micellar water in particular contains marine plant extracts and a prebiotic molecule to keep the skin’s microbiome balanced.

Chanel L’Micellaire micellar water, £36, chanel.com.

Aesop eye and lip make-up remover

When it comes to wiping away most make-up products, micellar water gets most of the job done. But waterproof mascara or long-lasting, budge-proof formulations are another story entirely. Here, you will need something oil based, such as Aesop’s eye and lip make-up remover, made with nourishing grape seed, soothing blue chamomile and vitamin E. Follow with a rigorous double cleanse.

Aesop Remove eye and lip make-up remover, £19, liberty.com.

One summer in the 1990s, I went to see the work of Alvar Aalto in Finland, on a sort of pilgrimage. I was a young architecture writer at the time, then married to a young architect; many architects and design enthusiasts continue to do this today. The Finnish modernist architecture master’s buildings have such a profound connection to their location that it feels important to experience them in person and to be immersed in the landscape that inspired them.

I was particularly moved by visiting Säynätsalo Town Hall (1949–52) just outside Jyväskylä in central Finland. This intimate, yet proudly civic building seems to have merged with the landscape: grass grows on the steps leading up to the entrance and the building wraps around a small courtyard as if it were putting a warm arm around you.

Alvar Aalto: a brief history

It is Aalto’s combination of modernist vision with a sensitivity to nature and humanity that defines him as an architect. Unlike many Modernist architects whose reputations have ebbed and flowed, Aalto’s work has never fallen out of fashion and has been a constant influence, from his early projects in the 1930s through to his death in 1976. Born on 3 February 1898 in Kuortane, Finland, he studied architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology, graduating in 1921. Early in his career, Aalto worked in various architectural firms and began developing his distinctive approach, blending functionalism with organic, human-centred design.

In 1929 he joined the important Modernist organisation CIAM and went to the second congress in Frankfurt where he met older architects such as Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and László Moholy-Nagy. But in the same year he won a competition for the Palmio Sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis and already started to break away from strict Rationalist principles by defining his own approach, exploring the psychological impact of architecture on vulnerable people by prioritising comfort, light and nature.

Palmio, which is now a heritage centre, was completed in 1933 and is also notable because it shows Aalto extending his vision to every detail of the building including interior equipment, furniture, lamps, door handles, glassware and porcelain. Curved tubular steel was the material of choice for Modernists such as Marcel Breuer, but Aalto used the Palmio project to develop his interest in timber, a material that was all around him in Finland and had a warmth that softened the interior.

In the late 1920s he had developed a technique of compression-moulding laminated wood in collaboration with master joiner Otto Korhonen at his furniture factory in Turku. The first chair he developed in 1929 had a moulded plywood back with steel legs, but in 1933 he went a step further to produce a chair entirely made from bent plywood, the Palmio Chair which was specially designed for the Sanatorium.

Aalto was a great collaborator and worked closely with his first wife, Aino Marsio, who was also an architect, until her death in 1949. In 1952, he married his second wife, Elissa Mäkiniemi, a designer and architect who led projects in the Aalto office including Säynätsalo Town Hall. He also worked with Finnish designer Oiva Toikka on glassware and with various craftsmen to integrate custom-designed furniture and textiles into his architectural spaces. In 1935, in partnership with Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen and Nils-Gustav Hahl, Aalto founded Artek to promote his furniture designs and Modernist principles. The company, which is today owned by Swiss furniture company Vitra, became a platform for Aalto’s iconic pieces, like the bent plywood chairs, and played a crucial role in advancing Finnish design internationally.

Aalto’s work has influenced numerous architects, including Tadao Ando, Sverre Fehn, and Jørn Utzon. Finnish architect and theorist Juhani Pallasmaa has written extensively about him and has said that ‘Aalto's architecture is not just a matter of form and function, it is a question of emotion’. It is the emotional connection forged with his work, whether a building, a wooden stool or a glass vase, that makes Aalto’s work as contemporary as it was nearly a century ago.

Alvar Aalto: Key works

Paimio Sanatorium (1933)

A legendary piece of Finnish modernist architecture, Piamio is now open to overnight guests. In keeping with Alvar Aalto’s vision for his landmark sanitorium, built in 1932 as a tuberculosis clinic, most rooms have single beds and en suite bathrooms, and guests eat homegrown food in the canteen. The rooms are the first stage of a renovation that will include a museum, event and exhibition space, and a further 140 rooms. It was a groundbreaking project when it first opened and remains a key example of wellness architecture to this day.

Savoy Restaurant (1937)

This Helsinki culinary classic was commissioned by two of furniture company Artek's co-founders, Ahlström's CEO Harry Gullichsen and his wife Maire Gullichsen. They went to Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino for the interior, which are now listed – while the food on offer is now led by renowned Finnish Chef Helena Puolakka. The space is located on the top two floors of a house built by the Ahlström family back in 1937.

Villa Mairea (1939)

In 1939, Aalto – in collaboration with his wife, Aino – designed Villa Mairea, an experimental private home in rural southwestern Finland. In its grounds, he integrated a kidney-shaped concrete swimming pool that has since become iconic – thought to be the first kidney-shaped pool in the world. It was unusual for its free-flowing form, curved bowl basin, and lack of any sharp angles or corners.

House of Culture (1958)

The midcentury gem that is the House of Culture in Helsinki is one of Alvar Aalto's masterpieces – an iconic event space conceived as a place for performance and the arts and imbued with the modernist architecture master's signature organic curves, sensitivity and use of brick. Completed in 1958 and an icon in architecture history, the place has seen gigs by the who-is-who of 20th-century music, including Queen and Led Zeppelin. Over the years, however, it fell in need of a refresh - and now, this landmark piece of architecture has got a new lease of life by a team led by Design Agency Fyra and including established Finnish architects JKMM, who worked on the interiors, for client ASM Global Finland, its new operator.

Aalto University (Aalto University Campus) (1950s–1960s)

Named after the famous modernist, the university's original campus layout in Otaniemi, outside Helsinki, was designed by Aalto and his first wife Aino Aalto (1894-1949) - but the main building of the former Helsinki University of Technology on the Otaniemi campus was created with his second wife Elissa Aalto (1922-1994). Its use of red brick was bold at the time, and references old Finnish industrial architecture. Its characteristic Assembly Hall, with its rounded shape and organic, soft lines in the interior of the auditorium is an Aalto classic.

Finlandia Hall (1971)

Finlandia Hall is a large concert and congress venue in Helsinki’s Töölö Bay, built in 1971. It has since become a landmark, not only for its architect’s oeuvre but also for the city and Finland’s wider cultural scene. When Aalto conceived this public project in the early 1960s, it was part of a wider masterplan of its bay area. Most of it never materialised, but the hall did, clad in marble, inspired by Venetian Palaces and the ancient architecture of Italy and Greece – coupled with the boldness and futuristic outlook of its modernist architecture genre.

VitraHaus has joined forces with Zurich-based natural skincare brand Soeder to produce its first self-care item: a liquid soap called ‘Ever Green’, which can be used as hand wash or in the bath and shower.

The product pays tribute to the 4,000 square-foot Vitra Campus garden. Containing 30,000 species of plants and flowers, it sits between Álvaro Siza’s production facility and VitraHaus by Herzog & de Meuron, the company’s flagship store which opened in 2010 as a place to celebrate its home collection.

VitraHaus designs its first skincare product in collaboration with Soeder

Till Weber, Vitra’s creative director of interiors and scenography, worked closely with the Swedish founders of Soeder, Hanna and Johan Olzon Åkerström to bring this project to life.

It began with the trio taking walks together in the Vitra Campus garden, discussing their shared ideas and values. ‘We wanted to capture this moment and experience together,’ says architect Hanna Olzon Åkerström, who founded the company (which recently received investment from Breitling CEO Georges Kern) with her husband in 2013. ‘We gave it a scent, and we put it in a natural soap.’

‘Ever Green’ was formulated in the Zurich-based Soeder laboratories, which uses traditional saponification processes, organic plant-based oils and ingredients such as wheat protein, Swiss honey and shea butter to make the brand’s soaps, shampoos, lotions and deodorants.

Its subtle aroma contains fresh notes of mint, rosemary and citrus, the warmth of patchouli and the heady scent of the evergreen laurel leaf. A linocut illustration of the laurel leaf branch also appears on the front of the bottle.

‘At the VitraHaus we create interiors that inspire and many details are needed,’ says Weber. ‘As we are surrounded by nature we always try to involve it.’

The ‘Ever Green’ soap now brings the essence of Vitra Campus’ gardens directly into the space, as a botanical addition to the architecture, furniture scenarios, shop and café. (It can also be found in Vitra showrooms in major cities around the world).

‘EVER GREEN’ is available at the VitraHaus shop, at Soeder locations and its online store.

vitra.com

soeder.ch

Sabine Marcelis created a colourful overhaul for VitraHaus, the German company's jumble of stacked house-shaped volumes in Weil am Rhein, home to its showroom and café. Following the footsteps of Jasper Morrison and Studio Ilse, Marcelis (who had previously collaborated with the Vitra Design Museum on the 2022 exhibition ‘Colour Rush!’) has transformed the building’s top floor, known as the VitraHaus Loft, into a colour-drenched dream home.

A series of buildings and spaces by leading architects, designers and artists, the Vitra Campus is not short of star attractions, from its Frank Gehry-designed museum, Piet Oudolf garden and conference pavilion by Tadao Ando, to the Schaudepot showroom and flagship VitraHaus, both by Herzog & de Meuron (who hail from neighbouring Basel, just across the Swiss border).

Sabine Marcelis' colourful VitraHaus interiors

Unlike her predecessors, to redesign this large, rectangular space she has not taken inspiration from imaginary characters but from her own domestic setting, a spacious former paper factory in Rotterdam’s beautifully named Coolhaven neighbourhood.

‘The philosophy behind the design closely mirrors how we created our family home,’ explains Marcelis. ‘It features a large open space divided into functional ones, delineated by colour. We then blended my creations with those of other designers, artists, and of course, Vitra furniture to create a cohesive whole.’

Smartly organised yet highly imaginative, the space harnesses the power of seven colours and a rich layering of different materials to create real warmth and personality. Dotted with artworks by the likes of Maria Pratts and Carlijn Jacobs, the resulting space certainly feels both elegant and homely. ‘The colours used in the VitraHaus Loft are personal favourites,’ Marcelis says. ‘I like these colours and never tire of them, which makes them timeless for me. I think this attitude is important for anyone creating their own home.’

‘The tones and hues Sabine has used are recognisable from the natural, organic world and they have a rich interaction with the various spaces – things are connected but do not all perfectly match,’ explains Till Weber, creative director of interiors & scenography at Vitra.

Highlights include a pink bathroom and a cool mint green living room, where Jasper Morrison’s ‘Soft’ sofa creates a cosy lounge area. ‘The original sofa system is generally used to create L shapes, and we’ve just merged it all to form this enveloping pit,’ says Marcellis. ‘I think it’s so important to have a good lounge. It can be really fun – I have a lounge pit at home as well, and it’s the core of the house. It’s so good to just jump in there.’

New limited edition Panton Chairs by Sabine Marcelis

The seven key colours used throughout the space – Bubblegum, Butter, Honeydew, Caramel, Harissa, Plum and Oyster – have also inspired the launch of limited editions of Verner Panton’s classic ‘Panton’ chair (available in seven different colours) and compact ‘Visiona’ stool (in four fabric colours), both on display in the VitraHaus Loft.

‘For the ‘Visiona’ stool, we are offering very different types of upholstery finishes alongside the individual colours, says Marcelis. ‘This ranges from faux fur made from angora goat’s wool designed by Raf Simons to leather and everything in between, giving each piece a very distinct personality.’

Sabine Marcelis’ VitraHaus Loft is on show from 12 June 2024. The limited-edition ‘Panton’ chair and ‘Visiona’ stool (limited to 50 pieces per cover material and colour) will be available from 12 June 2024 at the VitraHaus on the Vitra Campus and vitra.com

Khudi Bari means 'little house' in Marina Tabassum's native, Bangladeshi language. The structure's compact volume, newly installed among the green expanses of the Vitra Campus, just outside Piet Oudolf's garden, easily reinforces its name. It is small, crisp and beautiful, seemingly delicate and almost disappearing among the tree canopies around it. But don't be fooled; its design represents a mammoth idea, a sturdy and efficient construction conceived after lengthy research to tackle the significant natural and human-made disasters that the architect's home country of Bangladesh has been suffering. 

Telling the story of all this and more, the installation of Khudi Bari in the grounds of the famous site in Germany's Weil am Rhein is a celebration of Tabassum's thinking; this dynamic, important example of her hyper-local thinking and socially driven work has now become part of one of the world's most famous collections of architectural structures. 

Step inside Khudi Bari by Marina Tabassum

This 'little house' was designed as a response to Bangladesh's recurrent and frequent flooding disasters, a result of climate change. The country's positioning on the Bengal Delta, at the mouths of three large rivers, makes it prone to flood as the Himalayan glaciers melt due to Earth's rising temperatures. A staggering 80 per cent of Bangladesh is floodplain. 

'[The country] is more of a waterscape than a landscape,' Tabassum says. 'In Bangladesh, there are these houses in the local vernacular, a kind of our own “Ikea”, that can be bought in markets. But they are often too big and expensive to reach those who need them the most.' She set out to create her own, compact version, made of affordable materials, conducting workshops with local communities to connect with them (not an easy task, building a relationship of trust with the different communities involved, Tabassum stresses) and work out who needs them the most; but also to spread the word about the design and teach local people how they can be built. Through a foundation she has set up, dedicated to this cause, Tabassum has already built 100 Khudi Baris across Bangladesh. 

Tabassum and her Dhaka-based architecture studio composed Khudi Bari as a modular home prototype. The design is cost-efficient to build and move, demountable and easy to erect without specialist building knowledge. Made of bamboo and corrugated steel panels, it can be transported easily to house people who have been displaced due to floods and then moved again if needed as water plains change, sandbanks and plots become eroded and households need to move again. Its main enclosed space sits high above the ground level, ensuring water can flow through its base if needed, while people and their possessions can remain safe and dry above.

'It began as a small house but became a system that can be scaled up,' Tabassum explains. 'We would like this to be public knowledge of an idea. Not something for architects only, but something everyone can make their own.'

Khudi Bari's installation at the Vitra Campus sees it become part of the furniture manufacturer's and Vitra chairman emeritus Rolf Fehlbaum's vision to put together a family of buildings displaying progressive architectural ideas and designs that challenge the norm and offer solutions, each representing their respective times. 'It is not just about old [low-tech] technology, but also about contemporary ideas,' Fehlbaum said at the Khudi Bari launch. 

'Why would Vitra show something that is a necessity in Bangladesh? It could be read as exoticism. It’s not. It’s related to our work, as we have worked with Shigeru Ban and his cardboard emergency structures. And Prouvé did his own emergency houses for people who have lost their homes, one of which we have in our collection. It is an important contribution to our campus. The architecture of resilience can also be beautiful.'

Tabassum agrees: 'Vitra has an archival interest, I see this as an archive. Here, it is definitely not serving its purpose as a house, but it’s almost representational for me, showing that the climate crisis is real, we share the same planet. And the people affected have zero carbon footprint. It becomes a symbol.' It is also undeniably an elegant design. But it's an architecture that works hard for its purpose, 'it's not beauty for beauty’s sake', says Tabassum. 'And everyone has a right to beauty and to good design.'

The first, experimental Khudi Bari was built in Dhaka in 2020. It has been tweaked and perfected since, and eventually rolled out as part of the foundation's work. The architect, who has only built in her home country so far (citing her lacking local knowledge to build elsewhere), is now looking at how this little house can evolve. What's the next step in Tabassum's Khudi Bari explorations? Watch this space. 

vitra.com 

marinatabassumarchitects.com

'Iwan Baan: Moments in Architecture' at the Vitra Design Museum offers just what it promises - a sumptuous compilation of architectural photography, taken by one of the most sought after artists within the genre. With this show, Baan, whose career encompasses works by leading names in architecture such as Rem Koolhaas, Herzog & de Meuron, Kazuyo Sejima, and Tatiana Bilbao, is launching his first ever retrospective, drawing on the Dutch photographer's 'wider scope' and telling the stories he encountered in some of the world's most famous architecture oeuvres. 

Be transported through Iwan Baan: Moments in Architecture exhibit

'The rise of digital media over the past thirty years has fundamentally changed the world of photography and architecture,' write the show's organisers. 'No other photographer has shaped these developments as emphatically as Iwan Baan.' And it is true, as Baan's is now-iconic style, still and at the same time dynamic, blending architecture and humans, calm and tension, materials and textures, stands out in its category. 

The show follows Baan's career from the early 2000s, blending still photography and film footage, and covering the photographer's different areas of interest within four display groupings. A section focuses on China and buildings such as CCTV Headquarters by Koolhaas’s architectural firm OMA (2002–2012) and the Olympic Stadium by Herzog & de Meuron (2003–2008), both in Beijing - shot at the beginning of his photographic journey. 

More leading names in contemporary architecture follow, in the part of the show discussing 'Perspectives' and highlight the documentation of works by some of the world's most era-defining names - including Herzog & de Meuron, Francis Kéré, Sou Fujimoto, Tatiana Bilbao, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, SANAA, Toyo Ito, and many more.

Baan's interest in the built environment as a whole takes centre stage in the displays within the 'Cities' hub of the exhibit, documenting 'real-estate booms or crashes, increasing density, urban evolution, and individual life stories.' Here, the lens broadens, going from single building- to city-scale. 

'Moments in Architecture' closes with a zoom into the theme of 'Continuity.' With it, Baan's work is used as a vehicle to help the audience travel across the globe, exploring countries, places, and informal or traditional buildings.

'What's important is the story,' Baan says, 'which is very intuitive and fluid. I am not so interested in the timeless architectural image as much as the specific moment in time, the place, and the people there – all the unexpected, unplanned moments in and around the space, how people interact with that space, and the stories that are unfolding there.'

'Iwan Baan: Moments in Architecture' will be on display at the Vitra Design Museum 21.10.2023 – 03.03.2024

iwan.com 

design-museum.de 

The latest Vitra office chair, the ‘ACX’, developed with Antonio Citterio, is the tenth in its line. It's the latest example of Citterio’s fluid design philosophy and Vitra’s answer to the modern office. Changing with the times, the chair aims to respond to hybrid and collaborative work methods, a variety of people and bodies looking to use it, and hopes to maximise sustainability. 

Vitra office chair by Antonio Citterio: ‘ACX’

After 30 years, Vitra’s partnerships with Citterio and other leading designers have passed milestones in reimagining the office chair. From developing groundbreaking mechanisms for comfort, weight adjustment, and an eye for environmental issues, the ACX is the culmination of extensive industry experience and a unique ability to juggle the complex demands of its evolution.

The chair itself features a design that adjusts automatically to each individual, whilst including a number of hidden control elements to tailor their experience, placed under the seat. What remains is an uncluttered appearance, muted blocks of colour across the 100 per cent recycled knitted cushion covers, and a relaxed fit that blends into a variety of settings. Trimmed down to a refined aesthetic principle, the shape follows clean lines, with a minimal number of components to both simplify its servicing and recycling after use; many materials already having been reclaimed where possible. It’s a surprisingly simple product, made to adapt to a complex world.

This responsive ideology is at the forefront of both Citterio's practice and the ‘ACX’s form. Whilst it boasts the culmination of Vitra’s decades of technological progress and engineering, Citterio stresses that the chair isn’t to be thought of as ‘mechanical’. Instead of serving a particular function or use, the ‘ACX’ adapts to its environment. 

Where industry pressures encourage mass production, everything from its weight to assembly time has been minutely calculated and worked into the design process in order to make the project viable. As our ecological standards grow more stringent, the chair has become reusable to match them, and maintains its quality through a long life of use. In both its appearance and underlying machinery, it has to appeal to an office environment increasingly taking on the qualities of our homes; especially once hybrid working is taken into account (it might find a place among our pick of working from home essentials).

In essence, the ‘ACX’ isn’t a declarative statement in terms of visual design, but a reflection of the times in which it was made. A compact, sustainable, and subtle addition to the workplace, this office chair comments on our changing lives and commercial landscape. In an age where large-scale furniture manufacturers must adapt to thrive, Vitra’s latest offering speaks louder than ever. 

vitra.com

Tane Garden House is the latest addition to be revealed at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein. The building, created by French-based, Japanese architect Tsuyoshi Tane (a participant in the 2018 Wallpaper* Architects Directory), was inaugurated this week during Art Basel 2023 and represents an immersive garden structure that draws on ideas of nature and memory. 

Tane Garden House at Vitra Campus: the origins

‘Like archaeologists, we begin a long process of exploration and digging up the memory of a place. It is a process of surprise and discovery, a quest to encounter things we did not know, what we had forgotten, what has been lost through modernisation and globalisation. I believe that a place will always have memories deeply embedded in the ground and in history. And that this memory does not belong to the past, but is the driving force that creates architecture. Through this process of thinking about the future from the memory of a place, archaeology gradually becomes architecture,’ said Tane.

Tane Garden House: making and materials

The project was realised using sustainable and environmentally friendly materials wherever possible. It also predominantly uses locally sourced elements and was constructed by local craftsmen. The resulting design features, for instance, stone and wood – the former is granite from a quarry some 28km away, and the latter was retrieved from the local forest, about 50km from the Vitra factory. 

The compact structure measures a mere 15 sq m. It can hold up to eight people and acts as both a workshop and a tool shed for the upkeep and maintenance of the surrounding Oudolf Garden in the Vitra Campus. It includes an observation platform that offers 360-degree vistas of the surrounding planted expanses, as well as the Umbrella House and the rest of the Vitra site. 

'It took three years to design the Garden House. We had many conversations and talks and at the end of the day, it just needed time. We were not only using local materials, but also learning to express the local grammar, patterns, details and techniques, as if learning to pronounce a local language. The final result is a unique, primitive and warm form of architecture,' said Tane. 

'When Rolf [Fehlbaum, chairman emeritus at Vitra] picked us up by car and drove us to the Vitra Campus, he told me about his childhood, about his memories, recounting how he used to come here with his grandmother when it was only a large field. The Vitra Campus came into being over a number of years. He was thinking of bringing nature back in the next phases of the Vitra Campus, guided by the idea of sustainability. In support of this goal, he had already commissioned the Oudolf Garden. Then suddenly, Rolf asked me: “Tsuyoshi, would you be interested in designing a garden house that can serve as a symbol of sustainability?”‘ the Japanese architect recalls. 

'He is such a visionary person and has given me a lot of inspiration. During the process, I had many great conversations with him. He knows how to work with architects and designers. His words and inputs give a clear direction and you can see that throughout the Vitra Campus.'

A special exhibition on Tane's work will follow at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery in autumn 2023. 

at-ta.fr 

vitra.com 

When the Eames chair was launched in 1950, it was the world’s first industrially mass-produced chair, made of a plastic shell resting on a series of different bases. Romanian-American artist Saul Steinberg (1914 – 1999) famously tinkered with the Eames chair: having visited his friends Ray and Charles Eames at their LA office, he applied some of his signature line drawings to the studio’s walls, floors and furniture. The sinuous design of the new chair excited him, and he used it as a base for a series of drawings, among which were a resting woman and a cat (the only two original pieces that still remain from that artistic session). 

Now Vitra launches a special limited edition of the Eames chair with Steinberg’s cat, available in 500 pieces. Vitra worked closely with the Eames office and Herman Miller, enlisting a specialised firm to scan the original chair to generate a template that became the starting point for the new design. This allowed the company to reproduce Steinberg’s intervention in as much detail as possible, painstakingly recreating his drawing onto the chair’s modern version.

Several of the over 8000 drawings, paintings and New Yorker covers he produced over his career included cats, often with Steinberg himself depicted as a bespectacled cat, other times with his own cat Papoose featuring as a model. Besides the Eames Chair experiments, cat furniture was also recurrent, with feline heads drawn on walls to complete four-legged stools and tables.

Register for auction via register.vitra.com/steinberg

vitra.com

To coincide with the London Design Festival 2022 (17 – 25 September), Vitra unveils its new London showroom, with a renovation of the grade II-listed Tramshed. The building was originally designed in 1905 by Emmanuel Vincent Harris, and served as an electricity transformer station for the Eastern London Tramway.

This is the first time Vitra has undertaken a renovation project of this scale and ambition, and the team, led by the company’s creative director of scenography, Till Weber, respectfully restored the space to highlight its original features. The building, Weber explains, was designed in classical mannerist style, featuring a stock brick façade introducing a double-height hall that allowed cranes and machinery to operate in the space. Inside, the company will showcase its contemporary collections – by the likes of Jasper Morrison and Barber Osgerby, who also happen to be neighbours – as well as reissues of design legends and pieces by Artek.

‘We approached the project with tremendous respect,’ explains Weber, ‘as it is a pleasure and a privilege to maintain historical buildings and their precious rare detailing and materials, preserving what is possible, revealing and showing the traces of time instead of covering them up.’ Throughout the space, original features were maintained as close to the original as possible, stripping out the unnecessary elements left from previous renovations and celebrating the building’s patina. 

The final result, Weber notes, is ‘a reaction to the space’, showing how the colourful, modern forms of Vitra’s furniture and objects can interact with historical surroundings, the old and the new enriching each other. 

Vitra London showroom: an eclectic harmony of spaces

The showroom’s structure offers a sense of discovery: the grand hall’s space (the centre of what is dubbed ‘The Club’) is interrupted by a silver curtain at its centre, creating a secluded oval space and dividing the front area from the back. 

On one side, a terrazzo bar (‘a communal centrepiece’, comments Weber) contributes to enliven the space, while the side aisle opposite presents a showcase of office furniture responding to a diverse range of needs – from meetings to workshops to focus work. 

Upstairs, a mezzanine area is treated as an aesthetically calming retreat, and, as Weber notes, an opportunity to ‘show a collage of the Vitra approach to home interiors’. Plants, accessories and artworks (including a new body of work by Erwan Bouroullec for The Wrong Shop) complete the interiors. 

Downstairs, the building’s basement was transformed to create ‘The Gallery’, an industrial white box that will be used for exhibitions – and that makes its debut with a presentation of Jean Prouve’s classics in a newly curated palette of colours. A further event and hospitality space (‘The Loft') at the back of the building will open in 2023. 

‘It was necessary to find an interior language compatible with the impressive industrial architecture of the Tramshed,’ explains Weber. The colour scheme chosen for the main space – based on white, dark red and green – echoes the building’s existing architectural colours. ‘Carefully curating the selection of furnishings, we aimed for a novel interplay between the historic building’s existing colours and materials and new elements and furniture by Vitra and Artek.

‘This space for us is an opportunity to play, and it offers it all: we can do a museum-style set-up, we can present new pieces, and we can offer different ways to look at focused and communal work. It shows that Vitra can do transversal spaces well.

INFORMATION

vitra.com

ADDRESS

32 Rivington St
London
EC2A 3LX

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Visitors to Vitra’s Weil am Rhein campus this year will find a new arrival among the furniture brand’s park of architectural treasures. Standing temple-like in a greenfield site next to buildings by Jean Prouvé and Buckminster Fuller, the Umbrella House by Japanese architect Kazuo Shinohara has a quiet but compelling presence. The wooden design, built in 1961 in Nerima, a residential neighbourhood of Tokyo, is the smallest and one of the last remaining residences from the first of Shinohara’s four self-titled ‘styles'. 

Its arrival in Germany is the result of a rescue mission that began when the Japanese architectural firm SANAA contacted Vitra. It had been informed by the Japanese organisation Heritage Houses Trust that the house was at risk of being demolished to make way for a new road. Recognising the building’s significance – Shinohara is considered one of the most important Japanese architects from the latter half of the 20th century, but is still little known internationally – Vitra worked with the Tokyo Institute of Technology to dismantle, ship and rebuild the house on its campus, where it will serve as a venue for small gatherings.

Surrounded by a circle of gravel and approached via a single paved pathway, the single-storey house stands serenely on a square platform raised off the ground and topped by a pyramid-shaped roof – Shinohara was the first to transfer elements like this, previously only seen on temple complexes, into residential architecture.

Its small but perfectly formed 55 sq m footprint accommodates a kitchen and dining table, a living room, a bathroom and a traditional tatami room with 15 half-size tatami mats, which provide living and sleeping quarters for a small family. 

Inside, the visible umbrella structure of the roof makes clear the house’s namesake. It spans the interior volume at 4m in height and is intended to make the small floor area appear larger. 

Shinohara intentionally chose simple and inexpensive materials such as Japanese cypress, Japanese pine, Oregon cedar and cement fibre boards for the house's post-and-beam construction, and it was erected by craftsmen without heavy machinery. This made the relocation process much simpler, as even the largest wooden element was less than 5m long, so it could be easily loaded into a sea container and shipped economically.

Despite not being known to a wide audience, Kazuo Shinohara has influenced many contemporary Japanese architects, such as SANAA and Tadao Ando, who have also built on the Vitra Campus. ‘It can make sense to move a building if its construction easily allows this, and of course, it must fit into the context of the new location,' said Rolf Fehlbaum, chairman emeritus of Vitra. ‘The Umbrella House meets both criteria: it is relatively simple to relocate and it connects with the strong Japanese presence – Tadao Ando, SANAA and soon Tsuyoshi Tane – on the Vitra Campus.' 

INFORMATION

vitra.com

The collaboration between hotel chain CitizenM and the Glasgow School of Art began in October 2020 with a well-defined mission: to give new life to iconic pieces by Vitra that adorn the CitizenM Glasgow hotel, which opened in 2010. 

A collaboration between Glasgow School of Art and CitizenM

In early 2021, students from the interior design master’s degree course at the Glasgow School of Art were invited to take part in the project, reimagining the 2006 ‘Alcove’ two-seater sofa by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, the 1970 ‘Amoebe Highback’ by Verner Panton, and Charles and Ray Eames’ lounge chair from 1956. Widely used throughout the hotel, the chairs were due to be discarded after ten years in use, and the students were asked to come up with design interventions using Scottish wool from local textile brand Bute. 

The three winning designs take into consideration the experience of the hotel’s guests, the pieces’ original design, as well as sustainability: repurposing the seating rather than discarding it. According to a report by the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, titled ‘Re-arranging the Furniture’, approximately 1.6 million tonnes of furniture and bulky waste end up in landfill in the UK every year, a figure that includes roughly five million sofas. 

To coincide with COP26, taking place in Glasgow (until 12 November 2021), the three pieces are showcased within the hotel for a month. Two of the designs are due to be auctioned through Artsy, with the proceeds used to fund future sustainable design education at The Glasgow School of Art, while one will remain in situ at the CitizenM Glasgow hotel.

The three winning designs

The three chosen designers are Ying Chang, who recreated the ‘Alcove’ sofa; Yun Liu, who transformed the ‘Amoebe Highback’; and David Ross, selected for his work on the Eames lounge chair. 

For her sofa, Chang was inspired by the Bouroullecs’ original concept of seating that creates ‘a room within the room’, and explored how that could be adapted to a busy hotel lobby. ‘This sofa is a fantasy; it has a small enclosed space that could offer privacy and a feeling of safety, like a cocoon,’ she says. Inspired by sails, the designer envisioned a pop-up, awning-like structure atop the sofa that, once open, adds extra privacy and sound insulation.

Working on the ‘Amoebe Highback’, Liu likened the Verner Panton-designed chair (one that makes people feel comfortable and relaxed, she observed) to the greenery of Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens. The designer imagined the chair landing on Glasgow’s lawns and feeding off its greenery, a concept she replicated with a patchwork-style motif on the chair’s sinuous forms using a mix of textured fabrics in varying shades of green and purple. 

Finally, David Ross’ intervention for the Eames lounge chair references Glasgow’s art deco theatres and motifs from the city’s transport system. Ross notes that when the chair was originally designed, in 1956, the site of CitizenM would have been surrounded by theatres, only some of which currently remain. His lounge chair is draped in theatre curtains and upholstered with a patchwork design (a technique he favoured for its low environmental impact) referencing traditional Glasgow Corporation transport livery colours. 

The three designers were selected by a panel including Wallpaper* editor-in-chief Sarah Douglas, Vitra chief design officer Christian Grosen Rasmussen, and Claudia Abt, CitizenM’s design director. Each student was supported throughout the project with mentoring and access to Vitra for insights into furniture-making processes. Textiles were provided by Bute, and the designs were completed by Glasgow-based studio Art of Upholstery.  

‘This was a tremendous opportunity for our students to develop their professional practice and to benefit from the expertise of one of the world’s most influential design companies,’ says Penny Macbeth, director of The Glasgow School of Art. 

Adds Robin Chadha, chief marketing officer of CitizenM: ‘With this project we were also able to further our sustainability mission and inspire [others] to diminish waste by seeking to reuse and repurpose quality pieces rather than discard and replace them.’

INFORMATION

The pieces are on view from 1 to 30 November 2021 at CitizenM Glasgow
citizenm.com/gsa-x-citizenm

ADDRESS

citizenM Glasgow
60 Renfrew St
Glasgow, G2 3BW

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Those working in the business of residential interior design often feel frustrated that while there is plenty of compelling and serious conversation around the topic of housing, the design of the domestic interior is increasingly trivialised.

Hoping to redress the balance, ‘Home Stories: 100 Years, 20 Visionary Interiors’ is a new major exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein that celebrates the power of the interior. The show highlights how in the past century, the Western domestic interior has come to reflect some of the most pressing issues of our time.

To tackle this vast and ambitious subject, curators Jochen Eisenbrand and Anna-Mea Hoffmann selected 20 game-changing interiors from the past 100 years to guide the show’s narrative. References to superficial trends or styles are avoided and the focus is placed firmly on ideas.

‘There was the question of how to show interior design in the exhibition,' recalls Eisenbrand. ‘We decided not to try to recreate any interiors because we think that this never really works in a museum context. You don’t have daylight, you don’t have a sequence of spaces, and in the end it always seems a bit dead and dusty.'

Set Design

The exhibition is filled with drawings, documents, films, photographs, furniture and models laid out across an understated set design by Joseph Grima’s studio Space Caviar. Intended to function as a simple but elegant backdrop to the complex and layered issues presented, the display stands are made from a system of modular cork bricks topped with mirrored surfaces. Grima says the system can be endlessly reconfigured as the exhibition travels to different locations, and beyond that, can be repurposed as building materials.

Laid out in reverse chronological order and split into four sections, the exhibition takes visitors backwards through time from the present day to the 1920s.

‘The reason for going back in time is to show that present day is not necessarily better than 100 years ago,' explains Hoffmann. ‘Although I hope we have learnt from our mistakes, this layout demonstrates that there is never a linear history.’

Space Economy and Atmosphere: 2000 – Today

In this section, issues of dwindling urban space and the impact of social media are explored through projects such as an apartment designed by architecture studio Elii where furnishings fold out of walls. A slide show of images selected by Jasper Morrison serve as a visual essay that meditate on the question of what makes a ‘good interior'. ‘I have an idea of what makes a “good object” but making a good room is more complex,’ says Morrison. ‘Exceptional interiors are much rarer than exceptional objects, and few people have the skill necessary to create them.’

Rethinking the Interior: 1960 – 1980

Along with the radical new design approaches that came with movements such as Memphis, in section Rethinking the Interior: 1960 – 1980, we witness how society’s perception of furniture shifted – from heirlooms to be treasured and passed down through generations to consumer products that could be disposed of as fashion changes.

Nature and Technology: 1940 – 1960

This area highlights how homely Scandinavian interiors, such as those seen in the home of architect Finn Juhl, became increasingly influential and architects such as Lina Bo Bardi started to blur the boundaries between indoors and out.

The Birth of the Modern Interior: 1920 – 1940

In this final section, we see the emergence of concepts, such as the open-plan interiors championed by Mies van der Rohe, that still dominate today. Exhibits include a reconstruction of the world’s first fitted kitchen designed by Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky in 1926. Schütte-Lihotzky wanted the Frankfurt Kitchen to make modern life more streamlined and ultimately reduce the burden of women’s labour in the home.

The Frankfurt kitchen is one of three life-size installations dotted throughout the show – the other two include George Candilis’ clinical Hexacube micro-house from 1972, which is placed outside the museum entrance, and Verner Panton’s upholstered Phantasy Landscape room, which visitors are free to explore in Zaha Hadid’s nearby Fire Station building.

‘I want visitors to see how diverse the discipline is, how many changes there have been throughout history and how design not only reflects us as individuals but society as a whole,' reflects Hoffmann. ‘Some of the projects showcased could be seen as failed visions. We didn’t want to only showcase interiors that worked out perfectly because design is about failure and innovation.'

INFORMATION

‘Home Stories: 100 Years, 20 Visionary Interiors,’ Vitra Design Museum, until 23 August.

design-museum.de

ADDRESS

Vitra Design Museum
Charles-Eames-Straße 2
79576Weil am Rhein
Germany

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Pictured, Bild X concept TV, price on request, by Bodo Sperlein, for Loewe. ‘USM Haller’ table, price on request, by USM. LSPX-S1 speaker, £799, by Sony. Crystal box, £595, by Asprey. 16GB calfskin USB key, £220, by LaCie, for Hermès. BeoSound Shape wall-mounted speakers, from £2,920, by Øivind Alexander Slaatto, for Bang & Olufsen. ‘Sussex’ sideboard, £2,554, by Terence Woodgate, for Punt, from Twentytwentyone. Zegna Toyz turntable, £2,870; headphones, £670, both by Master & Dynamic, for Ermenegildo Zegna Couture. Ottava Forte sound system, £799, by Technics. LS50 wireless speaker, £2,500 per pair, by Marcel Wanders, for KEF Audio. ‘Anais’ chair, €3,500, by Draga & Aurel, for Baxter. Paint in Book Room Red (on wall) and Picture Gallery Red (on skirting), £40 per 2.5 litres, both by Farrow & Ball. ‘Devonia Plain’ carpet in Autumn Fall, £43 per m, by Axminster Carpets. Interiors: Amy Heffernan

This year has been a busy year for futuristic technology. We celebrated the rise of the robot; the idea of autonomous driving has rolled off the drawing board and onto the highway; and, after a slow start, electric bikes have finally started to get us in a spin. We’ve even come around to the idea of smart vaping.

Alongside this high concept stuff, there’s still room in our lives for simple, clever tech solutions – and we’re filling our interiors with them. Here’s a few of our favourites...

Beoplay P2, by Bang & Olufsen

The ultra-portable P2 – a pocket-sized powerhouse – is aesthetically and sonically simple. The smooth, pebble-shaped device is completely button-free, controlled remotely by an app. To change, skip or pause a track, simply give the hand-held speaker a shake.

On first impression this might seem a little gimmicky – just another digital language to learn, struggle with and swiftly forget – but the unique control design is surprisingly intuitive. It’s a novel design that appeals to Beoplay’s ‘youthful and energetic’ audience base, says design and concept manager Jakob Kristoffersen.

DOCK, by Native Union

When John Brunner and Igor Duc teamed up to create Native Union in 2009, they set out to offer an alternative to mass-produced charges, cables and technology storage solutions. In doing so, they powered up the aesthetic potential of tech accessories, realising their ability to double as beautiful statement objects.

For the marble watch stand DOCK, which doubles as an Apple watch charger, the pair were inspired by the tech titan’s minimal approach and understated look. Brushed aluminium is paired with fine-grade marble and magnetically holds the watch band in place, buckled or unbuckled.

X-A3 camera, by Fujifilm

Retro design notes meet contemporary usability in Fujifilm’s X-A3. Touchscreen operation pairs with wireless communication and a 180° tilting, ‘portrait enhancing’ LCD screen (developed specifically for taking the perfect selfie), all encased in a faux-leather, 1950s-esque shell.

Aimed at ‘phoneographers’ after an upgrade, the X-A3 also comes with Instagram-style filters and a ‘smile’ shutter. Like the P2, this entry-level mirrorless camera also relies on an app – the Fujifilm Camera Remote app – which allows you to upload your images directly from the camera onto your social channels, and takes much of the unnecessary clutter away from the streamlined in-camera menu system.

Bild X Concept TV, by Loewe

Loewe has impressed this year, by taking its innovative, visually interesting TV concepts and making them into real, functional products – and nabbing a Wallpaper* Design Awards nomination in the along the way. In doing so, they've taken TV design in a new direction: out of the hands of technologists and into the hands of interior experts. 

Its latest release, the Bild X Concept, is still in the developmental stage. Debuted at IFA Berlin in September and designed by London-based designer Bodo Sperlein, its paper-thin gold frame is inspired by the way sails hang from a mast. Its ‘sail’, so to speak, is the unbelievably slim OLED screen, which can be detached from the frame with a simple click-in mechanism. A novel approach, where all the electronics are entirely distinct from the screen itself, makes for what Sperlein describes as a ‘truly smart TV’. A simple shift in thinking, this move towards the modular ‘releases the TV from its usual webbed anchor of cables’ and allows it to be moved, adapted and adjusted, by even the most novice technology owner with ease.

A version of this article appeared in the December 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*225)

Left, ‘Mia’ armchair, £2,318, by Francesco Bettoni, for MDF Italia, from Aram. ‘Cheshire’ lamp, £332, by GamFratesi, for Fontana Arte. Side table, £871, by Eileen Gray, for ClassiCon, from Aram. ‘Junto’ cup, £10, by Simon Legald, for Normann Copenhagen. Echo Show, £200, by Amazon. ‘Barbry’ bowl, £50, by Georg Jensen. The Frame TV, from £1,999, by Yves Béhar, for Samsung. ‘Compile’ shelving, from £798, by Cecilie Manz, for Muuto. Pot and plant, price on request, from Patch. Pebble, £95, by Michael Kilraine, from Twentytwentyone. ‘Junto’ carafe, £29; cup, £10; ‘Salon’ tray, £74, all by Simon Legald, for Normann Copenhagen. Books, part of the West Coast Modern House series, published by ORO Editions. Sky Soundbox, price on request, by Devialet. Paint in Book Room Red and Picture Gallery Red; Axminster carpet, all as before. Right, ‘Day’ wall clock, £80, by Simon Legald, for Normann Copenhagen. ‘Tense’ table, £3,300, by Piergiorgio Cazzaniga, for MDF Italia. ‘Roquebrune’ chair, £1,039, by Eileen Gray, for ClassiCon, from Aram. Reykjavik speaker, £129, by Michael Sørensen, for Vifa. Thunderbolt 3 hard drive, £1,749, by Neil Poulton, for LaCie. ‘Tip’ lamp, £235, by Jens Fager, for Muuto. Surface Pro laptop, £799; Surface Pro Signature Type Cover in burgundy, £150; Surface Pen, £100; Arc Touch Mouse Surface, £60, all by Microsoft. Eclipse marble charger, $180, by Native Union. LG Q6 phone, £250, by LG. Norton Core router, $280, by Symantec, for Norton. ‘Nouveau Pin’ board, €531, by All The Way To Paris, for Please Wait To Be Seated. Gold bin, €350, by Sarah Illenberger. Paint in Setting Plaster, as before

Left, ‘Giraffe’ console, £1,800, by &New. Galaxy S8 phone, £689, by Samsung. Amber glass vase, £88, by Lyngby. ‘Lundstrøm’ bowl, £42, by Nicholai Wiig Hansen, for Raawii, from Twentytwentyone. Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles, £26 for 275g, by Charbonnel et Walker. Marble watch charging dock, $129, by Native Union. Tambour Horizon watch, £2,600, by Louis Vuitton. Beoplay P2 speaker, £149, by Cecilie Manz, for B&O Play. Urban Speed 2-in-1 Rollerball with ScreenWriter, £590, by Montblanc. X-A3 camera, £549, by Fujifilm. Paint in Setting Plaster, £40 per 2.5 litres, by Farrow & Ball. Right, ‘Cubo’ four-drawer cabinet, £1,295, by Theo Williams, for Another Brand. Bravia KD55A1 OLED TV, £3,000, by Sony. Yoga 920 copper laptop, £1,100, by Lenovo. PX noise-cancelling headphones, £330, by Bowers & Wilkins. Metal side table, £520, by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, for Vitra, from Chaplins. ‘Ebury’ tech tidy, £395, by Linley. iPad Pro in rose gold, £619, by Apple. Alpha One phone, $1,000, by Tonino Lamborghini. ‘Edge’ indoor pot, £28, by Skagerak, from Skandium. ‘Bordeaux’ pouf, £539, by Ferm Living. ‘Multi-Lite’ pendant, from €549, by Louis Weisdorf, for Gubi. Paint in Setting Plaster (on wall) and Dead Salmon (on skirting), both £40 per 2.5 litres, by Farrow & Ball. ‘Princedale Pale’ rug, from £750, by Farrow & Ball, for The Rug Company

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Beoplay, Native Union, Fujifilm and Loewe websites

This piece currently holds the Handmade record for taking the most time to create, and is unlikely to see it broken any time soon. When we originally approached designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec with an invitation to collaborate with legendary embroiderer Lesage Intérieurs for Handmade 2016, they gracefully declined. They argued that the standard four month timescale that we usually work to for Handmade projects was just not enough, bearing in mind not only their existing design commitments, but also the amount of time required to get to grips with the potential pitfalls of an unfamiliar craft.

But we’re not ones to take no for an answer, especially when we knew it would be such an exciting collaboration. So at last year’s Salone del Mobile, we persuaded them to meet with Lesage that June with the intention of working on a project for Handmade 2017. This would give them a clear ten months to complete the commission, a fortuitous move as the Bouroullecs’ piece would eventually take around 1,000 hours to embroider entirely by hand.

Lesage Intérieurs was set up in 1993 by Jean-François Lesage, a fourth-generation embroiderer and son of the celebrated haute couture embroiderer François Lesage. The company is dedicated to producing exquisite bespoke handiwork for interiors projects, and we had been looking for a way to bring a thoroughly contemporary point of view to a very traditional skill set. The Bouroullecs made the perfect partners.

We took the brothers to Lesage’s couture workshops in Paris, where some of the world’s most skilled artisans spend countless hours creating opulent embroidery for the likes of Christian Dior and Chanel. The visit was something of an eye opener for the Bouroullecs, who work mainly with industrial manufacturers such as Vitra, Kvadrat, Magis and Samsung. They now began to see embroidery more as a language and technique they could apply and adapt rather than as just a mere stylistic flourish or archaic symbol of luxury.

Still, the brothers had concerns, ‘a fear of being able to make something with a certain honesty and relevance to the contemporary world’, admits Erwan. And perhaps of misusing the skills made available to them – ‘like being with the world’s best piano player and asking him to play something too lightweight’.

They were determined, though, to bring a new energy and punch to the art. ‘We did not want to approach it just as a picture, something decorative.’ They had already been researching digital software coding for a client and wanted to see how they could make that work for this project. ‘Embroidery is a way to make pictures or something graphic, something that people recognise, like uniforms for the army, embedded with very clear codes or signs.’ Yet in an era of Smartphone photography, ‘people can’t read the embroidery – or they have lost the ability to read it’, so they found a solution where ‘software would act as a translator for an ancient technique, to speak the words of a contemporary picture’.

Taking inspiration from our holy theme, the project was named ‘The Veil’, and its execution took place in Lesage’s Vastrakala workshop in Chennai, India. To create their veil, the designers chose to use a fabric by Kvadrat, a company with whom they have a longstanding connection. Designed by Erik Ole Jørgensen in 1987, ‘Time 300’ is a yarn-dyed Trivera fabric, which uses a weaving process that employs two different shades – one in the weft and the other in the warp – to create a subtle two-tone effect. The fabric was stretched over a giant wooden loom, held in place with straps. This allowed more than ten men to work simultaneously on the cloth, which measured 6m x 3m. Oversized pixels, in the form of 7,200 custom-made frosted blue PVC paillettes in three sizes, were then hand-stitched in blue cotton mouliné, a task that involved 180,000 individual stitches from a team of 20, who clocked in more than 1,000 hours.

Traditionally, fabric is embroidered on one side only and lined at the back, but the Bouroullecs requested that the thread be beautifully finished on both sides, so that the piece could be viewed from all angles. Jean-François Lesage says this approach is extremely rare, comparing it to ‘having a back stage as clear as the main stage’. For Lesage, the challenge was ‘mostly to ensure a perfect positioning of each element to respect the architectural aspect of the décor’. He had expected a ‘culture shock’ between ‘the past and the present’, but he and his team found the experience to be positive, constructive and fruitful or, as he put it, ‘a nice encounter between poets’.

Erwan adds, ‘Embroidery is an amazing language, full of diverse expression and manner. In a way, it is like the origin of pixels, with each point making a part of the picture while also conveying its own weight and magic.’ As for the finished piece, the pair were very impressed that it was constructed using so few tools – just a piece of wood to stretch the fabric, a needle, thread, scissors, and hands. Amazingly simple!

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

Watch the making of ‘The Veil’ in Lesage Intérieurs’ workshops in Chennai

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s website, and the Lesage Intérieurs website

This year’s edition of the annual Vitra summer party in Weil am Rhein during Art Basel was a sun-drenched celebration of togetherness as some 3,000 members of the design, architecture and art crowds, plus sundry friends and business partners from all over the world gathered on the company’s campus lawns to eat, drink and make merry.

Basel city is packed during the art fair and hotels are often booked up months ahead, which means there is usually a last-minute flurry on social media of messages from people seeking room or flat shares. It’s all very communal but temporary before most of us go back to our homes in an equally limited, high-cost market governed by skyrocketing real estate prices.

The current exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum, ‘Together! The New Architecture of the Collective’, is about communal living of a more permanent kind. The first section of the show deals with historical experiments in collective living such as Robert Owen’s proto-socialist, paternalistic New Harmony project from 1825 in rural Indiana, or Bruno Taut and Martin Wagner’s 1925 modernist Hufeisensiedlung estate on the outskirts of Berlin, but then moves swiftly on to the more politically-motivated communes established in the 1960s and 70s that were all about rejecting ideas of individual ownership and bourgeois ideals, that often set the new communards in direct confrontation with the state.

But then the exhibition moves swiftly on to the collective impulses of the internet generation, where communal living now seems a logical conclusion of shared data, shared cars, crowdsourcing, couch-surfing and the like, and talks about a whole range of architectural projects that experiment with proportions of public/private space in an urban environment and reject the conventional model of housing designed for nuclear family units.

The show’s curators, Andreas and Ilka Ruby and architects EM2N, have built a 1:24 scale cityscape of models of 21 existing contemporary buildings from around the world that blur the boundaries of ‘family’ as well as the borders between residences and neighbourhoods. These buildings are not about gated communities, but about opening up ground floor areas for small business commerce and social amenities and designating rooftops as publically accessible communal gardens. Visitors can move around and between the models to get an immersive sense of how a more communal urban environment, by design, could work in what the curators call: ‘the city as a public living room’.

They then address the idea of ‘collective privacy’ with a 1:1 model of a ‘cluster apartment’ whose floor plan defines a number of micro apartments, each with its own bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette and living space, clustered around a central and much larger communal living room and cooking/dining area. The theoretical advantages of such a living constellation in contemporary society are obvious: single parent with small child who no longer needs to worry about a babysitter, an elderly person who no longer has to live alone, a student who perhaps helps with the shopping, a busy professional who can come home to a ‘family’ instead of just the cat and a houseplant to talk to.

Obviously this is all pretty utopian. Such housing projects demand endless discussion, negotiation and compromise, not just to build but to live in and maintain. One only has to think of all those modernist social living projects that ended up as ghettos or under the wrecker’s ball or gentrified beyond recognition and accessibility for the very people they were designed for. No organism thrives unless you feed and nurture it. Le Corbusier’s archetypical Wohnmaschine blocks of flats, for example, have long lost the rooftop nursery schools, communal laundry and social spaces, shops and bus stop in front of the door that made them initially so appealing for a mixed demographic of residents. Without these common space amenities they are just a bunch of boxes perched on top of each other, but these amenities were the first to fail back then.

Today, it could be argued, things are different: we have got used to sharing and being communal in new ways thanks to the internet. In addition the global population is aging, there are more singles than ever before, families are smaller or non-existent, we are far more mobile, less prissy about privacy and also rather less weighed down by bulky possessions than we used to be just a couple of decades ago. The current climate is pretty much ideal for a rethink of the collective.

In the final section of Together!, the exhibition gets into the nitty gritty of how to make it happen. On five desks it shows the evolution of the financing concepts and design processes of five different models: the Baugruppe (a building collective), the cooperative, the housing association, a private development and a blend of housing co-op and investment fund.

All in all this is a highly informative, if rather idealistic (but isn’t that the point?), exhibition about a topic that affects most of us particularly acutely right now: how are we going to live? It is easy to think of a lot of places and people that would benefit from its pragmatic clarity in pointing a highly inclusive way forward towards a future that cares more about quality of life for residents.

INFORMATION

‘Together! The New Architecture of the Collective’ is on view until 10 September. For more information, visit the Vitra Design Musuem website

ADDRESS

Vitra Design Museum,
Charles-Eames-Strasse 2
D-79576 Weil am Rhein

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American design retailer Luminaire is presenting a retrospective of Italian architect and designer Antonio Citterio in its Chicago showroom. Coinciding with design fair Neocon, the exhibition highlights the connections between processes, products and designs in Citterio’s work, putting his pieces for brands such as B&B Italia, Vitra and Kartell in the spotlight.

Throughout his remarkable career, Citterio’s approach has focused on method rather than style, and over the years he developed a holistic design sensibility, creating a special relationship with the companies he regularly collaborates with. Some highlights from Citterio’s career on show at Luminaire include the sinuous ‘Mart’ lounge chair, designed for B&B Italia in 2003, and the ‘A.B.C’ club chair for Flexform, launched in 1996. His reach is exemplified, from gym equipment he created in collaboration with Technogym to lighting for Flos, and bathroom fixtures for Axor.

The exhibition includes videos and photographs showing the processes behind key pieces from his portfolio. Further imagery offers a broader context to his oeuvre, showing a selection of international architectural works created by Citterio over the years.

The Italian architect has been a long-term friend and collaborator of Luminaire; collaborative projects have included a 2006 fundraiser for which Citterio decorated an Eero Aarnio ‘Puppy Love’ stool, and a 2008 paper installation at the brand’s Miami showroom during Design Miami.

Citterio will also give a lecture at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago on 13 June, where he will discuss his career and offer an insight into his creative process.

INFORMATION

The exhibition is on view until 15 July. For more information, visit the Luminaire website

ADDRESS

Luminaire
301 West Superior
Chicago IL 60654

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Looking up and down any train carriage on your way to work today and you can’t help but notice that almost every single person sits craned over a screen, staring blankly into its blue glare. In recent decades, the presence of technology in our day-to-day lives has gradually increased to the point that it has drastically changed the way in which we interact with each other. However, as Vitra Design Museum director Mateo Kries notes, it is only in the last two to three years that this phenomenon has been so intensely discussed. Last week, a new exhibition titled ‘Hello, Robot. Design between human and machine’ opened at Vitra’s Weil am Rhein Campus with the intention of examining the topic through the lens of design.

‘We’re not interested in displaying the latest technological innovations,’ says Kries of the exhibition’s focus. ‘Instead we looked at projects that say something about design and robotics – that really go beyond looking at the simple form or technology and instead say something about how we interact with the technology, how they interact with us and how they influence our interaction with other people.’

Divided into four chapters, the exhibition, curated by Amelie Klein and designed by Basel-based Emyl, takes visitors on a journey that begins by examining our historical relationship with robotics and ends in an equally thrilling and disturbing future where machines and humans become one.

In the exhibition’s first chapter, 'Science and Fiction', the robots we grew up with in popular culture are displayed around a darkened space, spotlit like alien species. Here, Star Wars’ R2-D2, Rosie the Robot from The Jetsons and the infallible computer HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey all illustrate how our expectations of robots have been shaped by the media. Other works, such as Eric Pickersgill’s Removed series of portraits, where sitters are asked to recreate their uncommunicative and aloof gestures when holding personal devices, raise questions such as do we really need these devices? And, do we even like them?

This line of questioning continues throughout the exhibition as a way of making visitors re-examine our alarmingly ambivalent attitude to the way in which robots have infiltrated our lives. ‘The technology is there, it will be used so we better learn about it and discuss it rather than leaving it to the big data companies do with it what they want’ explains Kries.

A bright white lab-like space dedicated to robots in the work environment tackles the common fear of robots replacing humans. Here exhibits such as YuMi, a dextrous dual arm robot, highlight the potential for robots to work in close collaboration with humans. Designed to perform repetitive small-part assembly work required for the electronics industry, YuMi is safe enough to use without protective barriers. Meanwhile, Robotlab’s robotic scribe, programmed to constantly write manifestos, raises the question of whether robots could also eventually fulfil intellectual roles in the workplace.

Moving from the workplace into the home environment, a room of care-giving robots and smart objects asks the question ‘Do you want a robot to take care of you?’ Displayed against a flesh-coloured backdrop, existing devices such as the Amazon Echo are showcased alongside conceptual pieces such as Philipp Schmitt, Stephan Bogner and Jonas Voigt’s ‘Raising Robotic Natives’ – a collection of four parenting aids that imagine a world in which domestic robots are ubiquitous. Craned menacingly over a baby’s crib, the ‘Robot Baby Feeder Toolhead’ is an industrial arm equipped with a baby bottle on its grip.

‘Robotics and new technology give us just as much reason to be very excited as to be worried, and we have to look at both,’ says curator Amelie Klein of the exhibition’s tendency to swing between visions of dystopia and utopia. ‘We would really like people to come in with one set of ideas and opinions and leave the exhibition realising that there are both positives and negatives.’

Perhaps no where is this clearer than in the exhibition’s final chapter, ‘Becoming One’, where we see how prosthetics, implantations, exoskeletons and connected homes are all pointing towards a future where humans and machines physically merge. Designer firm Emyl use mirrored plinths that reflect visitors as they move around the space eluding to the blurring of boundaries. At this point, Klein is keen to stress that this future is not hypothetical. ‘It is now that we have to discuss what the repercussions will be, and how we want to deal with this. We live in a physical world that has become connected and smart. This is important for people to realise. It’s now, it’s not that we have to be afraid of something that comes tomorrow, it’s already here.’

The show has been curated by Amelie Klein and designed by Basel-based Emyl

The spectrum of exhibits ranges from industrial robots to installations, 'questioning where the boundary lies between work that can be automated and human creativity'

INFORMATION

’Hello, Robot. Design between human and machine’ is on view until 14 May. For more information, visit the Vitra Design Museum website

ADDRESS

Vitra Design Museum
Charles-Eames-Strasse 2
79576 Weil am Rhein

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

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

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

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

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

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Vitra website

ADDRESS

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

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Creative duo Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec are on a roll, dazzling the domestic design world with their recent projects. Launched in 2015, the Samsung Serif TV showed the brothers' knack for innovation as they merged furniture and electronics – the latter a field that they'd previously left rather untouched. Most recently they explored a new area of play, delving into environmental development with their project 'Rêveries Urbaines (Urban Daydreaming)', currently on view at Zaha Hadid's Fire Station at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany.

A project that began in Brittany earlier this year, the pair were invited to create an exposé of their works, and as usual, they initially refused. After some persuasion, they decided to approach the exhibition in a different manner. ‘We wanted to do something important with a new subject,’ explains Ronan Bouroullec to Wallpaper*. ‘I thought it would be intelligent instead of doing one project, to do a sort of sketch book of ideas, about what we think about cities. Not necessarily about this one [Paris], but different ones too.’

And so began an exploration of urban fantasy, taking shape in the form of 18 architectural maquettes with their futurist ideas for nature-focused cities. The various mock-ups for public spaces include elevated greenery, artistic waterfalls, kinetic relaxation areas and hanging pergolas, all produced as research into recreating the harmony between a city, its architecture and the organic world.

‘I like being out of the comfort zone,’ says Ronan of their first foray into the subject. ‘[The artist] Paul Klee said he would have loved to have painted without knowing so much about the history of painting. We are the same; we grew up in the countryside, we are lucky to travel to different cities but we aren’t knowledgeable about the subject [of urban city development].’

Yet venturing into the unaware works like a charm for the French duo. The models – which draw from natural motifs, mimicking clouds, waterfalls, hanging trees – are not only forward-thinking but nod to the allure of 19th century gardens and parks, all imbued with their characteristic flair.

When asking Ronan if they envision these concepts as the future for city architecture, he replies, ‘I think this is the question of "the new city" – the question of elegance. The question of beauty in the city is not so much something we speak about, people are concerned more with efficiency. Of course it is important, but here we are talking about the beauty.’

And will any of the beautiful visions of 'urban fiction' be bought to life? The designer was keen to keep it all under wraps, but he did reveal that two of the structures are set to be produced in Miami and Aarhus very soon. Until then, we can continue to gawk at the miniature versions at the Vitra Museum until 22 January 2017.

INFORMATION

’Rêveries Urbaines (Urban Daydreaming)’ is on view until 22 January 2017. For more information, visit the Vitra Design Museum website

ADDRESS

Vitra Design Museum
Charles-Eames-Straße 2
79576 Weil am Rhein

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Last month saw the opening of the Herzog & de Meuron-designed Schaudepot – a new residential-style hub on Vitra’s German campus. Laid out like a timeline of design history, the permanent collections in the gallery cherish the products and people that have defined the industry to this day. Three times a year however, the gallery's curators take it upon themselves to shine the spotlight on a particular movement, designer or topic for a couple of months. For their first showing they have dived straight into a hugely divisive and consistently charming movement: 'Radical Design'.

The show explores the prominently Italian avant-garde movement and a plethora of cult classics that marked a political, economical and social change in design history. From the infamous pioneers Gaetano Pesce, Alessandro Mendini and Superstudio arrive a recognisable and innovative spread of their experimental concepts, all centrally located in the space.

'Radical Design' has been curated by Heng Zhi, who sought to focus on what the movement meant to society; in addition to its definitively pop-coloured, plastic-covered shapes, such as Mendini’s art and design straddling Lassù and Superstudio’s utopian Supersurface.

With their distinctive appearance, the bold shapes, colours and materials of the works are inimitable and immediately recognisable. ‘Thanks to the new materials and technologies available to the industrial designers,’ Zhi explains, ‘pieces such as the Cactus [by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, for Gufram] and I Sassi [by Piero Gilardi] made bringing elements of nature into the living space possible.’

'Another point that is important to me is the connection between this historical movement and our society today,' Zhi concludes. Running until November, the five pieces are accompanied by interviews with leading design radicals and the brands who keep the movement alive today.

The show explores a plethora of cult classics that marked a political, economical and social change in design history, from infamous pioneers like Gaetano Pesce, Alessandro Mendini and Superstudio. Pictured: ’UP 5&6, La Mamma, Donna’, by Gaetano Pesce, 1969.

‘Thanks to the new materials and technologies available to the industrial designers,’ Zhi explains, ‘pieces such as the Cactus [by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, for Gufram] and I Sassi [by Piero Gilardi] made bringing elements of nature into the living space possible.’ Pictured left: Lassù by Alessandro Mendini, 1974. Courtesy: Studio Mendini. Right: Cactus by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, 1971

INFORMATION
’Radical Design’ is on view until 17 November. For more information, visit the Vitra Design Museum’s website

ADDRESS

Vitra Design Museum
Charles-Eames-Str. 2
D-79576 Weil am Rhein

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Vitra’s sprawling campus in Weil am Rhein is home to not only the Swiss furniture giant’s head office and design museum, but also boasts an impressive roster of iconic structures. Buildings have famously been provided by some of architecture's greats, such as Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando and Zaha Hadid to name but a few. The newest addition to this architectural hotspot is the Schaudepot by Herzog & de Meuron – their second contribution to the campus, and the new home of Vitra’s permanent collection.

Consisting of 7,000 pieces of furniture, the Vitra collection is a vast assemblage of works spanning generations, such as modernism by Le Corbusier, objects from the Pop era, Bentwood furniture, pieces by Charles and Ray Eames and even a series of contemporary additions created through the medium of 3d printing. A careful selection of more than 400 key pieces will furnish the Schaudepot space, accompanied by temporary exhibits, the first of which will be titled 'Radical Design, Movement Of The 1960s'. The adjacent main museum building, designed by Frank Gehry, will continue to exhibit large scale exhibitions, with the Vitra Design Museum Gallery showing smaller experimental projects.

Herzog & de Meuron's previous contribution to the campus was the VitraHaus, a building hosting a furniture showroom and designed to mimic the local housing vernacular, made from a series of stacked gabled blocks. The Schaudepot is also loosely led by the visual style of a residential property, similar in aesthetics to a large home, featuring red brick walls and the typical pitched roof.

Opening its doors on 3 June, once in operation the Schaudepot will be one of the world’s largest research and exhibition facilities in modern furniture design. The location will also provide its visitors with a shop and cafe to rest and reflect after browsing the collection.

INFORMATION

For more information on the Schaudepot, visit Vitra Campus’ website or the Herzog & de Meuron website

ADDRESS

Charles-Eames-Straße 2
79576 Weil am Rhein
Germany

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Until now, Alexander Girard's work has been relatively unknown – certainly when compared to the fame of his contemporaries Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi and George Nelson, say – but that is soon to change as the American interior and fabric designer's oeuvre is celebrated at the Vitra Design Museum. 

'Alexander Girard: A Designer's Universe' is the latest exhibition to take up residence in in the Frank Gehry-designed building, filling its curved walls and multiple spaces with the vibrance, colour and sense of joy that characterised Girard's work. 

Curated by Jochen Eisenbrand and designed by London-based studio Raw Edges, the display chronicles the life and work of Girard, starting with his early beginnings in architecture; to his bright and bold textiles for fabric giant Herman Miller; his spirited, ‘living’ interiors and restaurant concepts; and his extensive folk art collection. 

‘We normally showcase around 300 items in an exhibition like this,’ explains Eisenbrand, ‘but here have over 700.’ 

Taking on the challenge of presenting so much at once in a calm and collected manner were Shay Alkalay and Yael Mer of Raw Edges. As Eisenbrand explains, it was no simple feat: ‘Girard did many exhibitions himself and was a master of displaying things, so it was a high level that one had to match.’ But match it they did. 

The 3D mural, the banners of hanging fabric, a series of alcoves and the idea of a ‘room within a room’ – all classic Girard motifs – are all seamlessly incorporated. As are colour, pattern and ornament, the three tenets of Girard’s practice. 

'There is so much going on, but the connections are what were really important for us [to show],' explains Alkalay. 'You can see how [his folk art collection, for example] would inspire one project and then developed into other ideas and come back again and again.'  

‘It is a dense amount of information,’ says Girard's grandson Kory of the undertaking, ‘but it doesn’t feel "packed" or look "crammed" because there are so many layers.’ 

Dense is putting it lightly though. Girard was nothing if not prolific, and his attention to detail was beyond outstanding. The phrase ‘ahead of his time’ may as well have been created for him, too. He created ‘themed restaurants’ long before they were in vogue, he brought colour and style to the skies through his work with Braniff Airlines, and made the home a joyous place at a time when design was all about reductionism and rationality. He celebrated what we now refer to as the ‘maker’s culture’ and ‘post-industrial processes’ long before the terms were coined or debates had. He sought a humanist agenda, celebrating a universal common bond that still holds true today. And perhaps it is because of that foresight, that vision, that this exhibition is so rewarding.

In another first for Girard, a 500-page catalogue published to accompany the exhibition provides the first scholarly examination of his work. All in all, it is a fitting celebration for a man who restored what classical modernism had rejected in design and combined ostensible antagonists (craftsmanship and industry, pop culture and high art etc) with both ease and flair. 

INFORMATION

’Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe’ is on view until 29 January 2017. Catalogue from €69.90. For more information, visit the Vitra Design Museum’s website

ADDRESS

Vitra Design Museum
Charles-Eames-Straße 2
79576 Weil am Rhein

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The iconic Pompidou Centre in Paris, designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, has been a cultural and architectural hotspot in the French capital since its opening in 1977. And since day one, the famously High Tech structure was matched with modern design and avant-garde furnishings and social, leisure and retail spaces to boot – including its well-stocked design store on the ground floor.

The shop has now just reopened, following a one-month closure and a thorough redesign by Paris based architect Marie Deroudilhe, whose portfolio spans from retail to residential interiors. 

Deroudilhe, who trained under leading designers such as Sir Terence Conran and Patrick Jouin, completely re-imagined the Pompidou's retail space. Drawing from the overall building's key construction materials – namely steel and concrete – the architect created an interior that celebrates the structure that hosts it, as well as the products it has on offer.

Special care was taken in the development of specific product displays, such as the arrangements for lighting that enhances and highlights the store's jewellery and textile offerings. A special section is dedicated to products for children. The space even has its own specially created soundtrack; the background music bears the signature of DJ Judith Grynszpan.

To mark its relaunch, the Pompidou Centre store has invited leading designers to present a selection of iconic pieces from their most recent collections within its displays. The items on show include works by the likes of Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Margaux Keller, Constance Guisset, Sam Baron, Pauline Deltour, Vitra and Lexon.

INFORMATION

For more information on the store visit the Pompidou Centre website

For more information on Marie Deroudilhe visit the website

ADDRESS

Design Store
George Pompidou Center 
Place George Pompidou
75004 Paris
France 

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Vitra presents the first comprehensive overview of the Bauhaus, now on show in Weil am Rhein as part of their Design Museum’s ongoing programme of exhibitions. Including objects and furniture as well as art, film and photography, many of the pieces on display have never been seen before, presenting a new perspective on the influential design school and its productions.

Founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius in Weimar, the Bauhaus set the stage for design and almost a century later its principles are still observed and celebrated. Gropius and his colleagues gave students a creative and artisanal basis alongside notions of ergonomics, psychology and technology, ideas to be used as tools to shape society.

The exhibition develops like a journey, starting with an exploration of the historical and social context of the Bauhaus’ inception, while also showcasing some of the lauded furniture pieces and objects designed by its members. The show then shifts into a wider concept explored at the Bauhaus, featuring the school’s teachings and projects related to designing spaces; this section includes the notion of minimum dwellings, colour theories proposed by the likes of Josef Albers and spatial models developed within the institute. In the final section, the exhibition explores the Bauhaus’ communication material, from its avant garde typographical experiments to films produced at the school and photographs from its early days.

As well as an historical overview featuring archive material, the exhibition also offers a modern interpretation of the school's principles, through the works of contemporary creatives such as Enzo Mari, Konstantin Grcic, Hella Jongerius and Alberto Meda. To offer an up-to-date perspective on the Bauhaus and its legacy, the museum presents a series of works that demonstrate how its ambitious teachings have now become the norm for design professionals, contemporary pieces dotted throughout the exhibition to compare and contrast influences and tributes.  

With an encyclopaedic route through the Bauhaus' legendary history, the exhibition is an essential tool to understand the school and its power over design, and is a fitting testimony to a still-strengthening legacy. 

INFORMATION

’The Bauhaus #itsalldesign’ is on view until 28 Feburary 2016

ADDRESS

Vitra Design Museum
Charles-Eames-Str. 2
D-79576, Weil am Rhein

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For the sixth time, Clerkenwell Design Week takes over London with its eclectic selection of design and furniture, merging commercial drive with design festival flair.

More than 80 showrooms across the area have opened up their doors to showcase new and recent launches, while the festival’s own venues continue to combine impressive settings with contemporary brands’ work. The Design Factory returns to the historical Farmiloe Building, with a few new launches  - most notably, David Rockwell’s perfectly formed collection for Stellar Works, previewed here in advance of a bigger launch later in the year - and many brands presenting their recent Salone del Mobile news to the London crowd. The other spaces in the area, like the Crypt of St James’ Church and the cavernous house of Detention, present small selections of works that range from young designers’ first creative experiments to more established British brands.

Icon’s House of Culture, located in the stunning Old Sessions house (rumoured to imminently be transformed into a private members’ club) provided a welcome addition to the district, offering a new format to the usual fair-like setups of Clerkenwell. Inside its imposing halls, Moroso and PP Møbler shared a space enriched with a botanical touch, while upstairs, Danish brand Gubi turned a whole room into an elegant Danish lounge. Fritz Hansen has a sneak peek of their ‘7 Cool Architects’ project here too, a literally-titled initiative which is giving new life to Arne Jacobsen’s 'Series 7 Chair', now in its 60th year of life. Snøhetta, Jean Nouvel and Neri & Hu feature amongst the ‘cool architects,’ each of whom was invited to re-invent the chair’s function while leaving its iconic seat intact.

As is now tradition, the city’s creatives take over Clerkenwell through site-specific installations too, aiming to link the area together whilst doubling up as open-air hubs of activity. Designer/maker Sebastian Cox and sculptor Laura Ellen Bacon were commissioned by AHEC to play with hardwood and explore its versatility. Their ‘Invisible Store of Happiness’ features American Cherry and Maple woods, steam-bent into twisted and curled strips which create a dramatic installation placed under the impressive St John's Arch. In nearby St John’s Square, Architects Cousins & Cousins present a multi-coloured pavilion in collaboration with Gx Glass. The jewel-like structure is an alternation of opaque and see-through panels of glass in a combination of pink and yellow tones.

Off-site highlights include British tiles company Bert & May’s new ‘Spaces’ venture which offers contemporary compact living solutions, inaugurated with a Barge designed in collaboration with stylist Laura Fulmine and RaT Architecture. Down the street, Vitra hosted a small retrospective of Jean Prouvé’s furniture as part of the Swiss company’s partnership with G-Star. The collaboration’s second installment is focused on office furniture, reviving ten pieces from the 1940s, ranging from seating to lighting and presented alongside the Prouvé Bistro, by far the area’s most covetable food pit-stop. 

There are 650 million registered mobile phones in Africa. That’s more than in Europe or the US. Though its hard to know how many, a good percentage of these phones will have access to the Internet. And it is this idea of a super-connected continent that is at the centre of the Vitra Design Museum’s new exhibition ‘Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design’.

The museum spent two years visiting and talking to 70 designers, artists, researchers, architects, gallerists and curators in Africa’s creative and entrepreneurial polestars - cities such as Lagos, Dakar, Cape Town, Cairo and Nairobi.  And ‘Making Africa’ identifies a new generation of African designers, artists, architects and cultural entrepreneurs - 120 of them feature in the exhibition - who see little value in European-model distinctions between design and fine art or between creative disciplines. As 'digital natives' (an unfortunate choice of words perhaps), they offer a global audience an alternative to Africa’s bad news narrative. By redefining design's relationship to modernism, they are making Africa a new hub of design innovation and experimentation, particularly in their use materials.

The exhibition takes in the eyewear sculptures of Kenyan artist Cyrus Kabiru, the furniture of Malian designer Cheick Diallo, the photography of Mozambican Mário Macilau and the Nigerian J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere. Also featuring is the architecture of Francis Kéré, Kunlé Adeyemi and the African-born, British-based David Adjaye.

‘Making Africa’ draws parallels to the work of photographers such as Seydoy Keïta and Malick Sidibé and the South Africa-based Drum magazine during the 1960s, as well as the first wave of postcolonial architecture.

After its stretch at the Vitra Design Museum, the exhibition will move on to the Guggenheim in Bilbao this autumn. It is accompanied by a 352-page book, the first comprehensive overview, so Vitra insists, of African contemporary design.

ADDRESS

Vitra Design Museum, Charles-Eames-Str. 2, D-79576 Weil am Rhein

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Like its fashion siblings, Milan's design retail scene is dominated by Italian behemoths running their own single brand stores. Multi-brand shops specialising in a quality edit of contemporary design can be hard to find, which is why Spotti is one of the city's best-kept secrets.

Opened in 1986 by brothers Claudio and Mauro Spotti, the shop hangs quietly on the fringes of Milan's central shopping district and features a considered selection of new furniture, lighting and carpet designs jumbled seamlessly with iconic re-issues.

Inside, the shop's good mood and fresh scene are owed to its twice-yearly installations curated by Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara di Pinto of local design firm Studiopepe. The latest incarnation, entitled 'Summer Tales', features a colourful mix of Kettal's outdoor 'Bitta' sofa (in a new rope version), 'Modernica Bubble' lamps and chairs by George Nelson, exclusive ceramic sculptures by Livia Polidoro and Adobe terracotta desktop accessories, all set against a canvas of tropical wallpaper by Cole & Son.

See all of Spotti’s past in-store collaborations with Studiopepe

The store first enlisted Studiopepe in 2009 because of their unconventionally Milanese approach to interiors. 'We knew that they could make a difference,' says Claudio Spotti, 'especially in a city where design is everywhere but it's often presented in a stiff way.' Lelli Mami's and di Pinto's first project involved transforming the store's interiors completely in white and since then has grown in scope to also include research of young designers and specially commissioned pieces.

For each seasonal store takeover, the studio is now given total creative control of Spotti's showroom design, window and product installations, reigned in only if there are new launches to include such as the Kvadrat and Raf Simons collaboration from this year's Salone del Mobile or Lina Bo Bardi's 'Bowl' Chair for Arper.

Spotti also offers interior design services for homes and offices, kitchens produced by Valcucine, and custom-made furniture under its eponymous label, including pieces designed by Studiopepe. The presentation of 'Summer Tales', which will run in-store throughout October, is the shop's tenth exhibit with Lelli Mami and di Pinto.

ADDRESS

Spotti Milano
Viale Piave, 27
20129 Milano
Italy

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Every few years, Vitra gives us another reason to cross the border from Basel to its 'campus' in Weil am Rhine, Germany. Since the 1980s the design manufacturer has expanded acre by acre into this small Rhine-side town, first with sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, then with striking architecture and installations by Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, SANAA, Zaha Hadid and Herzog & de Meuron.

Vitra's latest addition cements the status of this destination as a design theme park. This week the furniture company unveiled the Slide Tower by experimental Belgian artist Carsten Höller, a 30m tripod topped with a revolving clock, which doubles as a viewing platform and a particularly refined helter-skelter.

A double-flight staircase brings visitors up past a series of landings to a 17m lookout over the Swiss-German landscape. They can choose to leave the way they came, but Höller would rather they descend via the 38m sculptural corkscrew slide. A recurring element in the artist's work, the slide is, he says, 'a device for experiencing an emotional state that is a unique condition somewhere between delight and madness.' The feeling of weightlessness is, he reckons, transformative.

Höller - who previously designed the trophy for the 2010 Wallpaper* Design Awards and sat on our illustrious panel of judges - cites the French writer Roger Caillois, who described the act of sliding as 'a kind of voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind'. And any parent compelled down a playground chute with a nervous child would agree. They'd be better off at the Vitra Campus for a day - their children would thank them.

ADDRESS

Vitra Campus
Charles Eames Strasse 2
D-79576 Weil am Rhein
Germany

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The loft of Harri and Astrid in Weil am Rhein, Germany, is the perfect fusion of their Finnish and German heritage: easy, understated and practical. A musician and set designer, respectively, they've blended their passions harmoniously, building a space for work, rest and entertaining that is full of light and life. Along the way they've been guided by a tenet of the legendary Finnish designer Alvar Aalto, that 'every house should be a fruit of our endeavour to build an earthly paradise for people'.

Harri and Astrid are, of course, fictional characters. They represent the shared values of Artek and Vitra, the two contemporary design brands that joined forces last autumn. Ilse Crawford of Studioilse curated the design of the loft, atop VitraHaus in Weil am Rhein, not only to celebrate Vitra's recent acquisition of Artek - founded by Aalto - but to portray the collections as they are in life, not as artworks behind glass.

The loft will be open to the public all year, as an extension of the Vitra campus.

ADDRESS

Ray Eames Strasse
1 D-79576
Weil am Rhein
Germany

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As the title suggests, 'Konstantin Grcic: Panorama', opening today at The Vitra Design Museum, is a sweeping overview of Grcic's career: a career that has established him as the reigning champ of a new poetic rationalism.

The Hugo Boss-sponsored exhibition, a collaboration between Vitra and Grcic and years in the making, doesn't attack this career in a straight ahead chronological way, but rather at conceptual angles. It picks up on key themes and asks the same questions that Grcic has asked and tried to answer in his work… the questions he keeps asking.

'Life Space', the first section of the show, asks what it really means to live 'somewhere' now; and if we are all increasingly mobile, can we simply take that space with us? Furthermore, how do you create a space that allows for networking, communication and contact - through all the mediums that now offer that - as well as peace, solitude and solace?

'Work Space' tries to get at Grcic's creative process, taking us inside a studio, or hi-tech science lab that contains seemingly random inspirational objects. The space also asks, what does the rationalist modernist do when the job of trying to make people's lives work better has to accommodate competing demands? When the idea of a benevolent design god offering one solution for the common good is dead?

'Public Space' meanwhile, spins around a 30 metre long, 4.5 metre high, digital image produced by artist Neil Campbell Ross. Here are multiple images of what's out there, for better or worse, the old and the new, nature and the city, utopia and dystopia, the unholy mess of the common land. What, it asks, is the designer to do with it, what is a useful intervention?

'Object Space', on the other hand, is biography through object - Grcic's own designs that have inspired him. It is CV and wunderkammer and suggests where Grcic might head next.

ADDRESS

Vitra Design Museum
Charles-Eames-Straße 2
79576 Weil am Rhein, Germany

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Top global design brands gathered at the foot of Dubai's Burj Khalifa last week for the launch of a new fair, Downtown Design. Sited on a soon-to-be-developed patch of land, flanked by the world's tallest building, the tent's location itself brought home the need for contemporary furniture design in a city where tower blocks (despite the impact of the global downturn) still seem to rise from the sand almost overnight.

'We want to make Dubai a catalyst for design in the UAE and a meeting point for design internationally,' declared Downtown Design director Cristina Romelli Gervasoni. The fair is the sister event to Art Dubai and design-art showcase Design Days Dubai - the latter of which launched in 2012 and has since seen a flock of new design galleries open in the city.

'The proportion people are spending on interiors as part of overall construction is very high in the region,' said Lindsay Miller, managing director of the Dubai Design District (nicknamed D3), an ambitious new development of which the first phase is scheduled to open in 2015. 'So the potential for the industry is huge.'

To boost the region's nascent design scene in the meantime, Downtown Design lured in big guns like Vitra, Cappellini, Fritz Hansen, Poltrona Frau and Gaia & Gino, who flaunted their latest collections to local interior designers, architects and furniture distributors. 'The UAE market is growing fast so it's very important for us to meet local company directors,' said Giulio Cappellini.

For seasoned fair goers like ourselves there was little from the international brands that we hadn't seen earlier this year - save for a new leather 'weekender' bag by French designer Pauline Deltour for Discipline we'd like to have nabbed for the flight home. Instead, our greatest prize was the discovery of a new collection by Dubai-based Khalid Shafar.

The Emirati furniture designer - who collaborated with the Campana brothers at Abu Dhabi Art in 2010 - produced an elegant series of tables and vanity units for the Nouvelle Vague showcase that are a pleasing mix of metal bases, marble tops and camel-leather shelves.

To create his pieces, Shafar worked with Abu Dhabi tannery Al Khaznah and its new division Atelier AK, which also launched camel-leather upholstered furniture. Said Shafar: 'It's important for Dubai to show what can be exported abroad in terms of design.' This sentiment was echoed by Cristina Romelli Gervasoni. 'Downtown Design needs to be a platform for promoting local as well as international products.'

In reality, Shafar and Atelier AK were more than a little out-numbered at the fair. But, with the launch of the D3, that could well change for future editions. The new development by Tecom Investments is intended to act as an incubator for the region's design and fashion industry, and will offer a mix of studio spaces, showrooms, offices, a convention centre, shops and hotels.

Those of us used to seeing design districts develop organically - be it in London's Shoreditch or Cape Town's Woodstock - may balk at the idea of such a ready-made creative hub. But 'cluster' developments are the specialty of Tecom Investments, which draws on the success of its Media City in Dubai, based on a similar principle. 'We want the area to be alive 24-7, so that trade visitors can interact with residents,' says Lindsay Miller, who says that occupants of the first phase have been secured. 'Designers will also be able to showcase their work in the hotels.'

Like Downtown Design, D3 will provide a link between local and international makers, manufacturers and distributors, as well as adding much-needed infrastructure. This will be fostered by the recently announced new Design and Fashion Council, whose international advisory board will be unveiled this year. 'The Council will be very important to the industry,' Shafar told us. 'We need a committee who can represent us and create opportunities, in a similar fashion to the how the British Crafts Council promotes design overseas.'

The impact of the council and the new design district is almost impossible to predict. But at the rate Dubai is developing, the opportunity is obvious. For now, it's largely the international brands that are seizing the day. But Downtown Design - and the Dubai design industry as a whole - could be a different game in a few years time.

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Zaha Hadid's iconic Fire Station at the Vitra Campus in Germany and Swarovski has joined the celebrations by commissioning a new installation by the architect for the company's HQ in Germany. 

The Fire Station was a landmark project for the architect. 'I'm equally proud of all my projects as they each represent different times of my career and periods of research, but I have a particular affection for Vitra Fire Station as it was my first building,' says Hadid, whose full monograph, The Complete Zaha Hadid, also comes out this summer, published by Thames and Hudson.

'[Vitra Chairman] Rolf Fehlbaum shares my passion for architecture and was inspired by my early visualizations,' the architect adds. 'He dared to engage me without seeing a prior track record and without the certainty of public success. Returning to Vitra to work with Swarovski on this installation has been a very rewarding experience.'

The new work, entitled 'Prima', is created out of five individual parts that form a larger abstract piece, inspired by early sketches of the Fire Station. Prima is gun-smoke metal-coated, with a highly reflective sheen. The parts are made out of MaxPlatten, a composite material usually used for exterior cladding in buildings, combined with CNC milled hard foam for the sculpting of the piece's double curved surfaces. Spanning an impressive 11m in length and 8m in width, the art piece will be lit by led light strips. 

The commission forms part of Hadid's long relationship with Swarovski; the luxury crystal company is well known for its creative collaborations with some of the big guns of the art, architecture and design world. In this case, a display of Hadid's original sketches and architectural models of the Fire Station will accompany Prima, giving an insight into her creative process.

The installation will be unveiled on 11 June, coinciding with the Art Basel fair, and will be on show for two months. 

ADDRESS

Fire Station
Vitra Campus
Charles-Eames-Str. 2
D-79576 Weil am Rhein
Germany

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Budding Dutch hotel group CitizenM has recently brought its brand of 'affordable luxury' to London in the first of what will be a trio of concept hotels in the city. Conveniently sited across the road from Wallpaper* HQ, seconds from Tate Modern, CitizenM Bankside is the fourth hotel from the group, which also has bolt-holes in Amsterdam and Glasgow, with more planned in New York and Paris.

CitizenM caters to a new generation of technophile travellers, and its latest effort is a notable step-up for a company already known for rethinking the budget hotel concept. Filled with eclectic furniture, accessories and books, the Bankside hotel's striking open-plan lobby is 'styled to look like the living room of a very well-travelled person', according to CMO Robin Chadha.

Guests are offered a self check-in service, using touch screen terminals, and they can refresh themselves at the self-sevice CanteenM - the brand's antidote to the notoriously exorbitant mini-bars, arguably the biggest bane of modern travel.

'We looked at where people spend their time,' says Chadha. 'Do you spend time in the bedroom? No, it's always the living room - and, even more, the kitchen.' The bakery-style kitchen is open around the clock, and serves up sandwiches, salads, sushi, warm dishes and beverages, while the adjacent coffee bar morphs into a cocktail bar as day turns to night.

Unique to this CitizenM is a newfound focus on contemporary art. Turner Prize-nominated artist Mark Titchner features on the exterior of the building with a text piece boldly claiming 'Another World Is Possible', a sentiment that also formed the basis of the design of the hotel. Inside eagle-eyed art enthusiasts may recognise works by Hans op de Beeck, Gavin Turk and Mario Testino. Also new for the hotel group is a partnership with Amsterdam-based bookshop Mendo, the self-styled 'candy store for book aficionados'. In the pop-up bookshop, guests can purchase tomes on photography, architecture, fashion or travel, and have them sent directly to their home address.

The hotel is built around a serene atrium that offers a rare green haven in the bustling metropolis, with tall birch trees reaching up through hanging lanterns and encompassed by a bold 35-meter mural from art collective Assume Vivid Astro Focus. A dramatic spiral staircase leads up to the first floor, where 'business nomads' will find a collection of seven meeting rooms that eschew the corporate look, featuring wooden bookshelves, Eames 'Plastic Chairs' and dramatic lighting fixtures.

The rooms at CitizenM Bankside are compact cubicles of cool, featuring wall-to-wall windows, superking-size beds, space-age rain showers, furniture from design powerhouse Vitra, Skype-based phones, global plug sockets and complimentary wi-fi and films. Remote controls are made obsolete by a bespoke touch-screen tablet that controls everything from the expected (television, window blinds, temperature) to the unexpected (social media channels, ambient mood lighting and themed wake-up alarms).

With rates starting from just £99, CitizenM has set a new standard for techno-forward budget luxury.

ADDRESS

20 Lavington Street
London UK, SE1 0NZ

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