People

GamFratesi, of course! Elle DECO’s Young Designer 2013, GamFratesi is the poster child for 21st century cross cultural, international design studios with an award list so well-endowed that it continues below the fold of their site’s about page. The craft tradition of Denmark muddled with the intellectual and conceptual approach of Italy has been serving up minimal, brill...

Dan Yeffet defies definition. When asked, he describes his overall direction as simple, emotional and material- or technology-oriented, but the Israeli-born, Paris-based designer is constantly pushing boundaries. His Balloons light, for example, tests the limits of handblown glass, playing with the volume almost to the point of bursting. After studying at the Bezalel ...

A certain movement and lightness permeates the creations of French designer Constance Guisset. Each of her objects exist without overwhelming. Indeed, she incorporates a “poetry and softness into objects” that lightens their presence and makes a beautiful element that doesn’t necessarily have to be the immediate and constant object of attention. Perhaps as fascinating...

More than a simple name, British designer Christopher Guy is a brand. Since selling his first mirror frame at Harrods in 1994, the designer’s signature style has become synonymous with elegance and luxury. And his clear, unwavering vision of a globally attractive design offering is certainly a key element of his success. Christopher Guy was born in Britain but raised ...

With the latest generation of designers, the working model of the entire industry is evolving. From conception to fabrication, more and more designers are taking the design process into their own hands. London-based designer Benjamin Hubert is one of the forerunners of this trend. Case in point: his new Tenda lights. The studio will be manufacturing and distributing them...

We’re not yet two months into 2014, and the Stockholm-based architecture and design firm Claesson Koivisto Rune has already presented a plethora of new projects! We caught up with them at the Stockholm Furniture Fair to have a little chat about friendship, inspiration and their design philosophy. Mårten Claesson, Eero Koivisto and Ola Rune met at university and were ...

No one can say that Rudy Ricciotti is lacking in principle or resolve. One only has to watch an interview with him to understand the extent of his character. The Algerian-born architect studied engineering in Geneva before returning to his Mediterranean roots to study architecture in Marseille and investing himself in the region. As an ardent defender of local traditions...

Ricardo Bofill is the President of his family’s Barcelona-based architecture practice, which is three generations in the making. What is so special about the practice is its unique identity as a taller, or workshop. Founded in 1963 by Bofill’s father, the Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura (RBTA) united a multidisciplinary team of architects, engineers, urban planners...

Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas did not initially want to become an architect but rather an artist or a poet. Architecture was his last choice, however a simple glance at his prodigious body of work reveals that it has been an excellent decision. Fuksas opened his first studio in 1967, while he was completing his degree at La Sapienza University in Rome. For tho...

Keeping one foot firmly planted in the future while respecting the past, MAD Architects seeks to create works of individual expression while being mindful of community needs. Indeed, “tension” perhaps best describes the firm’s futuristic designs. Headed by Ma Yansong, the firm’s founder, and principal architects, Qun Dong and Yosuke Hayano, MAD Architects flawlessly inte...

When her daughter, Angela, stepped up to take over the Missoni empire, the founder happily stepped away. But she quickly realized that retirement was not for her and returned to manage the Missoni Home collection. This was in 1997. Seventeen years later, she is over eighty years old and still running Missoni Home. She emphasizes that Missoni is not just a brand, it’s ...

Noé Duchaufour Lawrance functions outside of the realm of limitations. That much is clear. Rather than restricting himself to one specific aspect of design, he works across fields and takes on projects ranging from industrial design to scenography and everything in between. His philosophy does not limit objects as such but rather views them as organic forms that grow an...

We loved 2013! We got to travel the world and meet amazing talents that are producing contemporary design icons. What could be better? Out of the many faces and plethora of fantastic designs, three particular characters left their mark in our memories. RON GILAD Perhaps unsurprisingly, Israeli designer Ron Gilad left his impression on us. Wallpaper Magazine and Elle...

Born in Kurdistan and based in Sweden, Jangir Maddadi creates objects that flawlessly marry function and form. He formed the Jangir Maddadi Design Bureau in 2008 and has since been producing consistently sleek and modern designs that manage a wink of fun. All of his designs are 100% made in Sweden, and Maddadi ensures that his products are manufactured by the best of the...

Ionna Vautrin has everything of the pure French designer. She’s part of this upcoming generation of designers that are no longer focused on the future and able to acknowledge their origins. She proudly claims her French heritage, a culture tangling between engineering and art. These two notions perfectly sum up her distinguished Bicnic lamp. A small lamp designed for Fos...

Established in 2011, Egg Collective is a Brooklyn-based design company founded by three friends: Stephanie Beamer, Crystal Ellis and Hillary Petrie. With emphasis on local craftsmanship and sophisticated design, Egg Collective is one of the shooting stars of the American design world. They received the distinction of “Best New Designer” at ICFF in 2012 and were part of a...

Studio Drift revisits ordinary beauty, putting it out of context and reworking it. A dandelion suddenly becomes a radiant object of wonder, while a stagnant lamp becomes a changeable flower. Indeed, Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta’s creations awaken their audience, provoking strong reactions with common inspiration. After their graduation from the Design Academy Eindhove...

American designer Jason Rens takes familiar objects and makes them new again. How? By using unexpected forms and shapes to construct objects with a vague resemblance to things that we recognize as a useful. His Rason Jens collection is populated with geometric, structured objects that could perhaps be practical but perhaps not. The use isn’t always quite clear, which som...

Even in the collaboration’s infancy, their creative output is prolific and diverse. They have worked with the likes of Philippe Starck on the Istanbul location of the design-conscious Mama Shelter. They are a craft-focused and environmentally conscious pair; their submission to the 2012 Green Design Competition manages to take the least sexy of products, the dehumidifier...

A veteran of the design scene, Jean-Marie Massaud has been racking up awards and honors for twenty years. His Studio Massaud has become a permanent fixture of the design world, the world of architecture, the world of urban planning…the list could go on. Yes, M. Massaud does it all, and he does it exceptionally well. Clean and simple, his visionary yet universal creations...

The replications will be identical to the original design but manufactured using contemporary techniques with stability and durability in mind.

Well. So well that TIME magazine accolades him as one of the 100 most relevant creators of our time, and Wallpaper magazine named him one of the most influential creators of the last decade. His artistic output (from furniture, product, interiors and sculptures to art installations) exudes quirky Alice-in-Wonderland vibrations but reposes on fine craft skill. This speci...

German architect Frei Otto was posthumously named the 2015 Pritzker Prize laureate. On Monday, the 89-year-old architect passed away, causing the Pritzker jury to push the prize announcement forward by two weeks. The jury visited the architect prior to his death to inform him of their decision. “Our jury was clear that, in their view, Frei Otto’s career is a model for...

Walking into Piet Hein Eek‘s studio is rather like walking into a living ecosystem of art and design. Located in a disused Philips factory, the space is veritably buzzing with restaurants, shops and galleries, a hub of refreshing liveliness in Eindhoven. And the space also makes it abundantly clear that Piet Hein Eek is more than a designer. He’s a (very successful) busi...

With their ability to make traditional objects new again, Stockholm-based Front is a design trio that has our (and everyone else’s) attention. Consisting of Sofia Lagerkvist, Charlotte von der Lancken and Anna Lindgren, the group met at Stockholm’s School of Arts, Crafts & Design where they were studying industrial design. Ten years after they first presented at the Stoc...

Sitting across from French designer François Azambourg, it quickly becomes clear that he is actually one part designer and two parts whimsical inventor. His intense fascination with materials consistently drives his creative process, leaving a studio populated with prototypes and the remnants of experiments – projects that are, were and never will be. As the perfect e...

Stockholm-based design studio Form Us With Love was formed in 2005 by three former product design students at Kalmar University. FUWL could be defined by its refusal to view design through a microscope. Founding trio John Löfgren, Jonas Pettersson, and Petrus Palmér insist on examining design as an entire process, from the idea’s conception to its (mass) production. In f...

Leonardo Da Vinci once said he felt paintings were more valuable than written descriptions and never finished any literary works. Ferruccio Laviani thrives from drawing and creating, and is less interested in explaining a design piece in words. And so he excels! Collaborating with Studio De Lucchi, KARTELL SpA, Cosmit and so many more since the early 1980s, he never c...

Fabio Novembre certainly is an unconventional designer. A quick look at his work is enough to understand the issues he raises aren’t limited to a question of use or comfort. Through his interpretation, design and architecture become a way to express every aspect that creates our condition as human beings. Each object has to tell a story. And if man is the central core of...

Dutch designer David Derksen is living proof that inspiration truly is all around us.”It starts with a personal fascination,” he explains of his design process. During this year’s Dutch Design Week, Derksen endeavored to display not only his finished products, but also the research and exploration behind the design from a spark of personal fascination to a tangible objec...

The Brazilian architect founded Studio MK27 in 2001 and has since swept more than 50 architectural awards around the globe. The firm’s well-rounded and multidisciplinary approach certainly contributes to their success. In fact, the firm’s vast pool of knowledge extends to design, urban planning, cinema, economics, politics and art, all of which provide a clear source of ...

Mendes da Rocha – known for projects including the Museum of Contemporary Art at the University of São Paulo and the Brazilian Sculpture Museum – was selected by this year's Biennale curator Alejandro Aravena for the prestigious architecture award. A citation from Aravena and the board of Biennale directors praised the architect for the timelessness of his designs. ...

Andreas Ruby, architecture critic, curator, teacher, publisher and the new Director of the Swiss Architecture Museum, pays his respects to the life, work and brilliance of Dame Zaha Hadid who died suddenly on March 31, 2016 at the age of 65. We all have to die, but strangely the terrible news of the sudden death of Zaha Hadid had something unreal about it, as if it si...

Zaha Hadid was widely regarded to be the greatest female architect in the world today. Born in Baghdad in 1950, she studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut before starting her architectural journey in 1972 at the Architectural Association in London. By 1979 she had established her own practice in London – Zaha Hadid Architects – garnering a reputation a...

since frei otto‘s passing earlier this year, there has been a global outpouring of tributes to a man who sought to redefine the very limits of architecture. quite simply, no other architect provided as many decisive ideas to construction in the second half of the 20th century as frei otto. through the exploration of energy-efficient building techniques, otto’s work c...

Public space in Poland is often a bit of an overlooked terrain it seems – even for those who live there. During communism it was state-run and tainted, something to be shut outside. Today it is something for which many people do not feel responsible, leaving it to lie unkempt and unregarded, or to be gradually privatised between anonymous new developments. However, this ...