A project by Stefan Hinteregger and Teresa Unterthiner, Forestis was conceived as a modern sanctuary that celebrates the four natural elements – air, water, sun and climate. Though larger than many Alpine hideaways, with 62 suites, it feels remarkably quiet and peaceful.

Wallpaper* checks in at Forestis, Dolomites

What's on your doorstep?

Forestis sits above the town of Bressanone in South Tyrol, surrounded by ski runs in winter and hiking trails in summer. Days begin with views over the Peitlerkofel massif and end with sunsets that turn the peaks rose-gold. Guests can step directly from the hotel onto the Plose ski slopes, or in warmer months follow spruce and larch forest paths.

This part of South Tyrol carries a strong blend of Italian and Austrian influence, evident in both its architecture and its cuisine. Villages nearby are worth exploring for their small markets and traditional craft workshops, though most guests find it hard to leave the hotel’s serenity once they’ve settled in.

Who is behind the design?

Designed by Brixen-based architect Armin Sader, Forestis reinterprets mountain architecture through natural geometry. The original stone house – once a historic sanatorium – now connects seamlessly to three slender timber towers that rise from the slope, their vertical lines inspired by the surrounding trees. Inside, the palette stays deliberately minimal with pale spruce, stone and glass layered with soft, tactile fabrics from a local weaving mill in Trentino.

Everything at Forestis feels quiet and purposeful. Light filters through the rooms in tones that change throughout the day, and balconies extend like ledges above the forest canopy. Sustainability underpins the project – from the CO₂-neutral construction to renewable energy sourced on-site – but it’s the integration with nature that defines its character.

The room to book

Each of the 62 suites is built around uninterrupted views of the Dolomites, with windows that draw the landscape directly into the room. Materials are simple – wood, stone and linen – but the proportions are generous and the atmosphere cocooning and restorative.

The Tower Suites are the showpieces, their covered terraces opening directly onto the peaks and their interiors defined by a calming sense of space and light. In the original building, the rooms retain their historic windows, which add a touch more character to the otherwise uniform interiors that run throughout the hotel.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

Dining at Forestis takes its cue from the forest itself. At Panorama, the hotel’s main restaurant, dining feels like theatre, the room looking out towards the views of the Dolomites so that every seat faces the mountains. Each curved banquette is like a private cocoon, so even when the restaurant is full, it never feels busy. Mornings here are especially calm, sunlight streaming through the wide windows onto a breakfast that combines a meticulously curated buffet – complete with an extensive butter offering and a make-your-own juice station – as well as an à la carte menu of hot dishes.

For lunch and throughout the day, the recently renovated Garden Restaurant brings a lighter, more Mediterranean mood. Surrounded by meadows and mountain plants, the space opens to the landscape, making it an ideal autumn sunshine spot. The menu features regional classics such as Wiener Schnitzel sitting alongside dishes made from herbs, vegetables and roots foraged from the hotel’s own garden and neighbouring forest. As evening settles in, the bar with its cosy fireplace and wine cellar becomes a quiet gathering spot for a glass of wine, which has a strong South Tyrolean list at the centre of the selection.

The most ambitious dining experience, though, is Yera, the hotel’s new immersive restaurant built directly into the mountainside behind the main building. Conceived as a cave carved from the red earth, it’s centred around a fire pit where a 14-course tasting unfolds over the course of four hours. Each dish – from white fish with hawthorn berries and fermented horseradish to Jerusalem artichoke, sauerkraut and walnut ravioli – is made using ingredients foraged from the surrounding forest. The meal is paired with small-batch kombucha infusions crafted with the same precision, and in keeping with its ritualistic atmosphere, cameras are not allowed, highlighting the experience’s intimacy.

Where to switch off

At Forestis, switching off starts the moment you arrive. The stillness of the setting does most of the work; however, the spa takes it a step further. Centred on the healing power of the region’s four native trees – mountain pine, spruce, larch and Swiss pine – it spans several levels, with saunas, steam rooms and relaxation spaces that open directly to the forest.

Recently renovated, the spa now includes a series of new spa suites equipped with two treatment beds, a large round bathtub, a steam bath and a relaxation area. Treatments continue to follow the property’s nature-based philosophy – drawing on Celtic traditions and the energies of the surrounding woods – and new additions include the Healing Wood Massage, which uses intuitively selected wooden sticks.

The showstopper is the indoor-outdoor pool, divided by floor-to-ceiling glass, that looks out towards the same Dolomite peaks visible from the suites. After a hike or a day on the slopes, guests drift between the Tree Circle Ceremony, herbal rituals or Wyda yoga, while the saunas follow local custom and are clothing-free, which is just another reminder of how naturally life aligns here with the elements.

The verdict

Forestis is a benchmark for contemporary Alpine hospitality with its clarity of design, deep connection to place, and a sense of time slowed to nature’s flow, and though larger than many retreats, it still feels intimate and personal. Best experienced between seasons when mist drifts low through the trees and the light turns silver, it’s the kind of hotel that quietly reminds you why people fall in love with the mountains in the first place.

Forestis is located at Palmschoss 22, 39042 Bressanone, Italy.

‘[It’s an] approach that has worked really well for us in Amsterdam,’ Dijskre explains, noting that sales at the store have been buoyant despite the break with convention. ‘For us, service and personal connection are the most important. We want people to really experience the brand. By not displaying products on racks or shelves first thing as you walk in, we invite more interaction between our team and visitors – it creates room for conversation.’

Inside Extreme Cashmere’s New York store

A new store on New York’s Mercer Street, which opens this month (November 2025), follows this approach, with just a handful of garments on display (and none in the windows, which is typically prime marketing estate in the competitive SoHo neighbourhood). Instead, shoppers will enter a space reminiscent of a library or lobby, where vivid green carpeting – reminiscent of 1970s interiors – meets a bold assemblage of furnishings, shelves of books, flower arrangements, and product concealed in the brand’s signature cotton dust bags.

Designed by Dijskre’s nephew, architect and designer Hidde Dijkstra, the brief was to create a space that recalls a ‘luxurious home’. Set around two rounded high-gloss centrepieces – designed by Hidde and used as display cases or as a cash desk – the rest of the furnishings have a similarly space-age feel, from steel-frame chairs by Milo Baughman (here playfully upholstered in poppy-print fabric) and cloud-like ceiling lights by Molo, to a bright-pink Sabine Marcelis ‘donut’ transported from the Amsterdam office to New York. Other vintage pieces, such as a 1970s Italian coffee table, were sourced from Marché aux Puces in Paris.

‘It all reflects our love for design and the time and care we put into finding just the right pieces from all over the world,’ she says. ‘The design is inspired by our flagship in Amsterdam, where the concept of “home” is central. We’ve carried that same feeling over to New York, but because the space is larger, we were able to play more with layout and spatial design. It’s still not merchandise-forward, just like in Amsterdam, but instead focused on creating a calm, inspiring environment.’

The decision to open the brand’s second permanent New York store came after a series of pop-ups, including on New York’s Upper East Side (the brand also hosted an ephemeral store-cum-café in LA’s Just One Eye concept store, though for now, the East Coast has taken priority). ‘We’ve always loved New York,’ says Dijkstra. ‘Our pop-up on Madison Avenue last year was such a success, and a lot of fun too, so opening a permanent space here felt like the natural next step. We loved being uptown before, but SoHo has a completely different energy. I love that there are people from all walks of life passing through.’

As for her own perfect day in New York, Dijkstra prefers to keep things simple: ‘I love visiting museums, we went to Dia Beacon yesterday, which was amazing, but honestly, I mostly enjoy the everyday things,’ she says. ‘Going grocery shopping, cooking dinner back at the house, just walking around early in the morning... there’s something about this city that makes you feel like you’re part of it right away.’

Extreme Cashmere, 152 Mercer Street, New York, NY 10012, extreme-cashmere.com

Lee Broom at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair

The British designer is known for everything from domestic lamps (like the cute and portable ‘Chant’) to public installations during design fairs and other events – don’t miss his brutalist sculpture Beacon, currently on view as part of the Southbank Centre’s Winter Light festival. At the Mandarin Oriental, he tells a story of poetic brilliance through a site-specific installation.

At the heart of the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair’s emblematic ming green marble staircase, Broom suspends time with a stately chandelier specially designed for the occasion. ‘I wanted this sculpture to converse directly with the hotel’s architecture and to enhance the guest experience,’ he explains of the RSHP-designed property.

Made from brushed anodised aluminium and hand-blown reeded glass LED fittings, the piece casts a gilded glow over the lobby and Atrium Restaurant, which has recently refreshed its menu. ‘When the teams at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair and Mayfair Design District approached me about this project, they were immediately drawn to my idea of creating something entirely different to the traditional Christmas tree for the festive period,’ Broom says. And while a tree is still in place in the hotel, the star of the show is undoubtedly the designer’s Hail Chandelier.

Also on display at the rooftop Hanover Bar, London-based Studio Waldemeyer delivers another whimsical exercise on light design, true to its technology-forward ethos. Inspired by its collaboration with the Mythos Mozart Museum in Vienna, the Amadeus installation transforms light into melody. A constellation of LED candles flickers like a musical phrase, tracing the bar’s curved architecture in a choreographed display.

Both installations continue the hotel’s recent partnership with the Mayfair Design District, which curates a periodic display of art and design at the hotel under the theme ’Elemental Resonance – Nature Reimagined’.

Mandarin Oriental Mayfair is located at 22 Hanover Square, London W1S 1JP, United Kingdom.

‘Moiré’ – referring to a kind of shimmering or rippling visual effect produced by the superposition of two similar patterns – is a technique that has been used in art and design for centuries. In this project, visitors might notice a similar effect produced by the criss-cross of metal mesh in the central stair's railing, which led to the apartment’s name.

Tour Moiré, a Brasília apartment with drama at its heart

The 294 sq m urban apartment was designed to be the main residence in town for a doctor and a lawyer, and their small dog. ‘We sought to enhance the existing space while meeting the specific demands of the clients, who wanted a guest kitchen integrated into the living room, but also a more private kitchen for everyday use,’ explain the architects. ‘Furthermore, the request for three suites, a guest bathroom, a TV room, and an office evidences the concern for creating a functional and integrated space.’

The apartment was designed to accommodate the client's brief, while also leaving the concrete beams and pillars exposed, to infuse a sense of rawness and material honesty into the space. The predominant style is modern and contemporary, with the main staircase (an existing feature, but now with its new metal railing and handrail) at the apartment’s core.

The honeycomb ceiling is a subtle yet intriguing design element. The greys of its metal grid and the surrounding concrete contrast with the warm, darker tones of the staircase and wood. ‘The apartment was based on the desire to create integrated and functional spaces, reflecting the client's needs and preferences. The search for harmony between practicality and sophisticated design was the guiding principle for the firm in conceiving the project,’ say the architects.

Two kitchens were carefully designed to fit their respective purposes: one is more formal, integrated with the living room for entertaining, while the other is fit for daily use. Some spatial swaps were needed as part of the renovation, including moving a powder room. Say the architects: ‘The [latter] kitchen features a large, grooved panel that connects the two spaces, a sculptural countertop, and concealed cabinets. One bathroom was converted into two, and a new powder room was created, which [allowed us to] expand the living room.’

The design's material palette spans from the feature wood panelling in the entertaining area to the dynamic honeycomb ceiling, the sleek metal staircase and the Guatemala marble kitchen countertop.

Each bathroom has a distinct personality – there’s the primary suite, a green suite, and a blue suite. The second-floor balconies connect the main bedroom to an office and a secondary bedroom. The result throughout is a timeless, understated residence that balances bespoke, contemporary living while offering a warm environment for both entertaining and relaxation.

coda.com.br

RIBA House of the Year 2025, RIBA.org

Caochan na Creige by Izat Arundell

The first project to be nominated is a self-build project, built on a remote site in Bay of Harris in the Outer Hebrides by Eilidh Izat and Jack Arundell of Izat Arundell. The duo, partners in work and life, designed and constructed the modest one-bedroom house on a rocky site overlooking the sea to the island of Rùm.

At just 85m2, Caochan na Creige is one of the smallest projects to be nominated for the House of the Year. With a timber structure and local stone cladding, there’s also an exposed concrete ring beam to add additional texture to complement the rocky site. Inside, lime plaster walls and polished concrete floors are paired with Scottish larch ceilings and bespoke beech joinery made by Izat’s furniture maker brother Alastair.

Caochan na Creige (the name means 'little quiet one by the rock') is intensely personal, not just because of the physical labour required to build it but because every nook and cranny has been shaped to cater to the couple’s possessions and artworks, as well as the views across the sea and glen. The constructed process also involved working with many local artisans, helping foster stronger community ties for this small practice.

IzatArundell.com, Izat.Arundell

Hastings House by Hugh Strange Architects

The house, which was also shortlisted for this year RIBA Stirling Prize (losing out to Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann) follows on from earlier domestic projects like the house reconfiguration in Peckham, South London.

In Hastings, however, Hugh Strange and his team were tasked with updating a 19th-century detached house in the heart of the town centre, with a precipitous level change across the site. The main house has been retained and restored, with special focus given to original features like mouldings, stained glass, fretted barge boards and decorative clay tiles. The real shifts in perception come at the rear.

An existing extension was replaced with a series of galvanised steel units that step the multi-terraced rear garden. Each of these news rooms is given large timber sliding doors, while the existing retaining wall is paired with a new concrete slab yet retains the scars of use over the centuries. It’s a series of interventions that enhances the original house without scouring the site of its history, with contemporary materials and details providing a strong contrast to what went before.

HughStrange.com, @HughStrangeArchitects

Our edit strikes a balance between function, comfort and design intelligence. True to Wallpaper*’s sensibility, it gathers the sharpest designs in tech and lifestyle. The categories may be familiar, but each pick brings a fresh, forward twist on the pieces we reach for time and again.

For more design-driven gifting ideas and aesthetically attuned stocking fillers, explore our other seasonal gift guides.

The Wallpaper* travel gift guide 2025

Analogue in-flight entertainment

Five-star treatment

A chic name-drop

Escape artist

Pleat elite

An order keeper

Mile-high comforter

Free roaming

Lights out

A mood mixer

A reset wash

A flight-mode facial

A pocketable friend

A power move

Do not disturb

Located on the property's East Wing, once home to the stables and workshop, the Conservatory opens follows a meticulous restoration that added an impactful glass ceiling and stone floors that connect the interiors to the outdoors. Flooded with natural light, the space is imagined as a 'skylit garden' featuring olive trees punctuating the dining space.

The interior also offers guests views of the adjacent 14th-century St Michael's Church, a further testament to RH's commitment to the location's heritage.

The unveiling of this new space follows RH's recent opening of its Paris gallery, set on the Champs-Élysées and with contemporary interventions by Foster + Partners, presenting the American company’s unique blend of design, art and hospitality in a grand environment.

The Conservatory will become a dining destination within the Aynho Park location, expanding on the culinary offering first debuted at the Paris Gallery. Guests can expect dishes inspired by RH CEO and Chairman Gary Friedman's travels through an unfussy menu that features novel takes on classics from mini baked potatoes to salads and steak frites.

The Conservatory at RH England, Aynho Park: light installation by Anouska Hempel

The Conservatory's centrepiece is a light installation by designer Anouska Hempel, a dramatic chandelier inspired by traditional hundi lanterns found in luxurious interiors in 19th-century India. The lighting design features 19 glass orbs, hand-etched and suspended from a hexagonal frame made of burnished brass.

'Gifted with the canvas of RH's inherently strong architecture, our goal was to complement with an installation that is both whimsical and deeply romantic,' says Hempel. 'We achieved this by weaving our signature bell glass jar lanterns through a bespoke tiered hexagonal brass structure – this marriage of strength and softness was informed by the principles of Sir John Soane and the rich history of Aynho Park and RH. This piece is a devotion to light, legacy, and levity.'

rh.com/gb/en/england

‘Forever Is Now 05’: art and the Giza Pyramids

Each formation by Proba curves towards the horizon in a sequence of soft, continuous gestures: a portal, an abstracted Eye of Horus (an ancient Egyptian symbol), a shallow concave plane. Carved from marble, onyx, travertine and quartzite, the sculptures register the day’s movement through shifts of translucency and tone in the heat and light, making the work a collaboration with the Earth itself.

'These stones already hold millions of years of emotion in their veins,' she says. 'My role was not to impose colour but to listen to it, allowing the forms to flow with the rhythm of each stone’s pattern.'

The compositions hint at ancient emblems, yet Proba approaches form through intuition rather than symbol. Circles and continuous curves recur across her practice as shapes that feel inevitable in themselves, free of overt reference, gestures with emotional resonance that remain open to interpretation. 'I’m drawn to forms that feel alive,' she explains. 'The viewer can decide whether they’re stepping through an eye, an orbit, a horizon or a memory. That ambiguity is part of the invitation.'

Working in stone altered the energy of her visual language. What is often playful became slower and more contemplative. 'The softness remained,' she reflects, 'but the weight of time gave it a new gravity.' Standing before the Pyramids also reshaped her approach. 'The Pyramids made me want to whisper rather than be loud,' she notes. Her aim was not to compete with scale, but to place something that felt as though it belonged, as if it had emerged from the desert itself.

To bring these gestures into monumental form, Proba collaborated with Solid Nature, the Amsterdam-based stone specialist known for its experimental work with OMA and Sabine Marcelis.

Under CEO David Mahyari’s direction, the fabrication became an exercise in structural problem-solving. The sculptures appear to hover lightly above the sand, yet the installation weighs around 20 tonnes. Achieving this visual lightness required an internal construction hidden entirely within the stone. 'The challenge was letting the forms seem to float without altering Alex’s design,' Mahyari explains. 'We had to find ways to counter the natural weight of the material, especially in the portal and the lashes of the Eye of Horus.'

Because nothing could be built directly on site, all components were pre-fabricated. Transport limitations meant hollowing parts of the stone from within to reduce weight, producing some sections fully off-site and shaping others for final assembly in the desert. Each sculpture is composed of two major stone parts bonded around a central support structure. The adhesive had to withstand an extreme climate, expanding and contracting with the desert’s dramatic temperature shifts while holding the overall mass securely. Beneath each form lies a custom-engineered steel platform, buried under the sand to distribute weight across the uneven ground. The platforms had to remain visually discreet yet structurally decisive.

Material selection was equally exacting. Blocks were chosen without natural fault lines or cavities, preserving the fluidity of Proba’s forms. Travertine was cut across the grain for strength, resisting the stone’s natural tendency to split along its layers. For the onyx at the centre of the Eye of Horus, Solid Nature selected a cross-cut orientation, revealing a cloudy, organic pattern that echoes Proba’s curves and sits in quiet dialogue with the geometric precision of the Pyramids.

These decisions underscore the project’s conceptual core: a meeting between geological time and contemporary gesture. Proba often describes stone as memory made visible. 'Memory here is very literal,' she says. 'The veining, the fractures, the mineral patterns are traces of millions of years. Carving becomes a continuation rather than a rewrite.'

Working with a material that may outlast countless generations reshaped her sense of design’s lifespan. It also introduced an ecological dimension that felt clarifying. 'Making sculpture from the Earth’s own material changes how you think about impact,' she notes. 'It feels more responsible, more connected.'

As the sun moves, the sculptures act as instruments of measure. The portal frames the pyramids from certain angles; the Eye of Horus abstracts ancient symbolism into a contemporary flow; the concave plane receives the horizon as though holding it in its bowl. Proba describes seeing the sculptures arrive on site as a moment of recognition. 'They looked as though they had grown from the desert sand,' she says. 'As if the site had been waiting for them.'

At Giza, Echoes of the Infinite sits with a calm that belies its complexity. The three sculptures align with the three Pyramids as though the site had anticipated their arrival, yet their presence rests on months of blue-sky engineering: hollowed stone, concealed steel, calibrated joints and surfaces tuned to heat and wind. What emerges is a study in how mineral colour, geological time and contemporary form can meet without strain. The work holds its place airily, as though carved from the desert, its origin reading as geological, its logistics effectively invisible.

‘Forever is Now .05’ is on view until 6 December 2025,
Giza Plateau, Cairo

It started this process with a dedicated EV, the hugely impressive Taycan, before following on with the first ICE model to be transformed into an EV, the Macan. Now it’s the turn of the model that provided Porsche with its bread and butter throughout the noughties, the Cayenne SUV. Admittedly, bets are still being hedged, as ICE and hybrid versions of both the Macan and Cayenne will continue to be available for the foreseeable future.

However, the Cayenne Electric certainly ticks the boxes marked innovation, quality and performance. Debuting with the ‘regular’ Cayenne Electric and more sporting Cayenne Turbo Electric, Porsche is throwing out stats like 2.5 seconds to 62mph and a range of 398 miles. Please note, as always, that in the world of electric cars, these two statistics are very much mutually exclusive.

That’s not to say that there aren’t some big strides being made in efficiency and convenience, not least in charging speed. The top spec model can cope with 400kW fast charging, capable of taking the new 113 kWh battery from 10 to 80 per cent in under 16 minutes. According to Porsche, a ten-minute charge at a suitable power point could provide enough energy for the regular Cayenne to travel 202 miles (196 miles in the Turbo).

Most interestingly of all, the Cayenne Electric will be the first Porsche to offer support for inductive charging at rates of up to 11kW. The new Porsche Wireless Charging system is activated by simply parking above the floor plate ‘charge pad’ for the process to start automatically.

Visually, the new Cayenne follows the cleaner aesthetic set up by the smaller Macan, with a horizontal emphasis on the lights, front and rear, more pronounced wheelarches and cleaner lines.

The most notable elements are the pronounced crease on the lower half of the doors, setting up a shadow line that blends into the rear wheel arch. Below this, a raised sill detail offsets the car’s balance, giving it a more forward-focused stance and reducing the overall bulk. The Cayenne Turbo is distinguished by the vertical air vents behind the rear wheel arches, which add to the sense of width and give the car a more sporting stance.

As well as the wireless charging system, there’s the usual long list of Porsche options, ranging from ceramic composite brakes (not strictly necessary in a car that’s said to do 97 per cent of its daily braking requirements via the electric motor regen system), to rear-axle steering, active suspension and a package of enhancements that beef up the Cayenne’s ability off-road.

Inside, the cabin is an evolution of Porsche’s class-leading interior design, with a scattering of analogue controls alongside a veritable cliff face of screens. These are mitigated slightly by the clear, sober graphic design of Porsche’s HMI, while the driver display features a prominently curved OLED screen. Also available is an AR-equipped heads-up display

Interior mood lighting has become more interactive, while there’s also a liquid crystal panoramic roof, similar to those used by Lotus and Audi. To keep HVAC energy consumption down, the heating system doesn’t just warm the seats but also armrests and door panels.

Petrolheads might grumble at the cultural appropriation of their beloved forced induction, but the new Cayenne Electric Porsche has well and truly doubled down on the use of the word 'Turbo' to denote a performance EV. The real question is whether an all-electric Cayenne can be the same kind of economic saviour as its predecessors.

Porsche Cayenne Electric, from £83,200, Cayenne Turbo Electric from £130,900, more information at Porsche.co.uk, @Porsche

He remembers how much his grandfather enjoyed his work, and wanted to be like him. Leafing through a monograph, he chanced upon Julius Shulman’s 1960 nocturnal photograph of Pierre Koenig’s Stahl House in the Hollywood Hills, depicting two women in white dresses, seemingly suspended in a capsule of steel and glass, floating above a carpet of lights. For Cano-Lasso, it ignited a dream of living in LA and, years later, he moved there, got his master’s degree at SCI-Arc and settled in the city.

Tour Cano House, a colourful Los Angeles hills dwelling

In 2019, he teamed up with SelgasCano, the Madrid firm co-founded by his aunt Lucia and her husband José Selgas, to construct the Second Home Hollywood co-working space (now operating under different owners as The Preserve). They also purchased a steep site on Mount Washington in north-east LA, and each designed a house for themselves, side by side, similar in construction, but radically different in appearance. SelgasCano indulged its love of colour, cladding the exterior in polychromatic recycled aluminium tubes, an echo of the pavilion it designed for the Serpentine Gallery in London in 2015.

Cano-Lasso’s incarnation is a lightweight, two-storey, post-and-beam structure with a narrow garden. The house cantilevers out from the hillside, with decked terraces at both levels offering views of the Elysian Valley and Hollywood Hills. Glass doors pivot open on both sides to capture the California breezes. ‘The idea behind this house was to create an environment conducive to the lifestyle LA offers: abundant natural light, a connection to nature, enchanting city views and tranquillity,’ says Cano-Lasso. ‘I feel most at home in the garden. It’s a sanctuary, looking out to the city through the living room, yet sheltered from it; surrounded by flowers, birds and the soothing sound of a fountain.’

The first structural engineer that the architect approached insisted the design wouldn’t meet the city’s tough building code. The second made adjustments to secure approval, and a team of skilled workers slotted 42ft-long glulam beams into steel tube columns by hand, tying them back to the fully-exposed concrete retaining wall. Meanwhile, lower-level rooms sport ribbed wood ceilings. Cano-Lasso finds a lyrical rhythm in the repetition of the joists and ribs, recalling Goethe’s definition of architecture as ‘frozen music’.

The floors are made of American red oak, while walls are lined in radiata pine plywood. Cano-Lasso had come to appreciate plywood while living in Rudolph Schindler’s Sachs apartments – it was one of the Austrian-born architect’s favourite materials. To block the intense heat of the westerly afternoon sun, louvred redwood planks on the terraces can be turned and wooden Venetian blinds lowered.

The floorplan, drawn up by SelgasCano, features an open-plan living and dining area, which opens onto the garden, and two bedrooms on the upper level, while a spiral staircase descends to another bedroom, an office and recreational areas on the lower level. Cano-Lasso’s brother, Alejandro, who sometimes works under the name Doctor Cato, created a mural of vibrantly coloured zellige tiles, imported from Morocco, to animate a concrete wall in the garden. The pivoting glass doors were brought from Spain, and ceramic downspouts were repurposed as wall lamps.

The house is sparsely furnished with a series of thoughtfully curated, custom-made pieces. Alejandro created several lamps, as well as some chairs inspired by the work of Wright and Schindler. Andrew Riiska, an artist whom Cano-Lasso met at SCI-Arc, contributed a bench and stool enriched with colourful upholstered blobs. Two massive boulders, found on site, were craned into the house before the windows were installed and double as side tables. At the outset, Cano-Lasso, his wife and brother moved things around to achieve a satisfying composition. ‘We were looking for pieces that were individually appealing and had a relationship with each other, but I didn’t want to lose the sense of open space,’ says Cano-Lasso.

Building this house was no picnic. It took seven years from design to completion, including a three-year shutdown during the pandemic, but it validated the skill of a fledgling architect whose website is full of speculative designs for fanciful hillside houses. Even if these go unrealised, Cano-Lasso has demonstrated that he can master the challenge of a difficult site, creating a home that is down-to-earth yet infused with poetry. It should serve as a springboard to many future commissions.

diegocanolasso.com

selgascano.net

This article appears in the December 2025 Entertaining Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + from 6 November. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Given the location and the wealth concentrated in the city, it’s no surprise that the exhibitor list is full of what you might call alt-Pateks, the brands to catch your eye before or after your number comes up for that coveted Nautilus or World Time Calatrava. Of note this year is the concentration of technically ambitious (and correspondingly pricy) makers such as Ferdinand Berthoud, Greubel Forsey, HYT and de Bethune, as well as more craft-focused makers such as Chopard, H Moser, Parmigiani and Laurent Ferrier.

Meanwhile, there’ll always be strong interest in the independent sector, however loosely defined, and Dubai Watch Week is a chance for those brands to get in front of the watch-buying public on more equal terms. What is notable is that the value range extends right through to the likes of Ming, Oris and Studio Underdog.

Dubai Watch Week 2025 highlights

Van Cleef & Arpels

The Brassée de Lavande is a new table-top automaton featuring a central lavender bouquet that opens to reveal a butterfly with orange plique-à-jour enamel wings, diamond accents, and black enamel contours. The butterfly’s body is crafted from tiger’s eye with amethyst cabochon eyes and diamond-tipped antennae. Detailed lacquered buds and an integrated carillon mechanism complete the piece

Chopard

The new L.U.C Grand Strike from Chopard is as technically ambitious as it comes: a highly complex chiming watch with a minute repeater and both grande and petite sonnerie functions, all using sapphire crystal gongs. Developed over 11,000 hours and protected by ten proprietary patents (five created specifically for this watch), it is the most intricate timepiece Chopard has ever produced – the culmination of a decades long adventure in sonnerie watches.

Parmigiani

Parmigiani are showing an ‘Arctic Rose’ edition of its PF Tonda Rattrapante, a sort of slow-food chronograph that unfussily allows you set a time interval with its extra minute hand. But it’s less about what it does and all about how beautifully it’s done–the subtlety of the finishes, (particularly theGrain d’Orge guilloché treatment on the dial) and the perfectly fluid shape of the case and bracelet take care of that.

Louis Vuitton

The Escale gets a gorgeously 70s makeover with two new stone dial editions that are being unveiled at Dubai. The new 40mm watches have dials and case rings in turquoise and malachite respectively, and are matched with platinum versions of the trunk inspired case that Louis Vuitton refreshed in 2024. Matthieu Hegi, Louis Vuitton’s Watch ArtisticDirector, promised at the 2024 launch, that a multitude of colours and materials would star in the new Escale and these two watches are that promise delivered.

Pérpetuel Gallery

Away from the Dubai Mall, the Pérpetuel Gallery will be hosting a stellar cast of top level makers including Roger Smith, Fiona Kruger and star of the future, Renaud Tixier. The Monday Watch, first seen last year, gets new dials to compliment the exceptional marriage of innovation and craftsmanship that Dominique Renaud and Julien Tixier have brought to the project.

The curatorial team were granted full access to Anderson’s prolific archive, creating vignettes for each film that form a chronological display. ‘There are so many aspects of his work that are connected with design and architecture,’ says Johanna Agerman Ross, who curated the show and catalogue alongside Matthieu Orléan and Lucia Savi in collaboration with La Cinémathèque Française. 'As a design museum, we wanted to make that a prominent part of the exhibition.'

The lived-in tactility of Anderson’s films is evident throughout. Costumes are made from sumptuous furs and bobbly felts, creating authentic textures and personalities for each of his characters. The Scout outfit worn by 12-year-old Sam (Jared Gilman) in Moonrise Kingdom (2012) is casually styled, with rolled-up cuffs and jaunty accessories, as a child – especially one as rebellious as this lead character – may dress themselves. Willem Defoe’s chilling family fixer in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), meanwhile, is brought to life with sinister intensity by his tailored leather costume and knuckledusters. Mr Fox’s tiny soft corduroy suit was not the simple creation of his puppeteer but designed by Savile Row tailor Scabal.

The props are equally evocative. While many films utilise props for background world-building, Anderson brings an at times obsessive depth to his creations. The young-adult fiction books featured in Moonrise Kingdom were all designed from scratch, with constructed plots, making the eventual titles and covers seem authentic. The show also features a miniature replica of Anderson’s own childhood copy of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox. This movie and his other famous stop-motion film, Isle of Dogs (2018), are explored in highly technical detail, with skeletal inner workings highlighting the depth to which each character is articulated and considered, their intricate, kinetic facial features and unkempt fur adding a touch of realism and character.

The exhibition paints a view of the director as both compulsively precise and playful, refusing to cut corners when an original form of expression might be possible. 'I think he became keener about commissioning items as he went along,' says Agerman Ross. 'With his first film, Bottle Rocket (1996), he commissioned some things, but it was all returned to the prop house. With Rushmore (1998), he decided to keep everything because he was quite upset to find that when he needed to reshoot, things weren’t there. This became the starting point for the archive, and I think he got a taste for commissioning.'

The show highlights how Anderson’s process has evolved, from his early explorations of playful stop motion in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) to his recent work on Asteroid City (2023), which richly combines live action and more imaginative use of design. 'It’s a crescendo of all the techniques he has used, from puppets to miniature models and props and original costumes,' says Agerman Ross.

Anderson is now at a point in his career where he is trusted to fulfill his wildest ambitions. Agerman Ross hopes that this exhibition highlights the creative possibility that still exists in the film industry. 'Filmmaking is a deeply collaborative process. The world of design is vast and film is its own universe; we hope to make it intriguing for young people. How do you become a puppet maker or a set designer? When people see it played out through these objects, they can become more informed about these roles.'

‘Wes Anderson: The Archives’ at the Design Museum from 21 November 2025 – 26 July 2026, designmuseum.org

The opening marks a homecoming for the Langosteria group, a mainstay in the city’s culinary scene since its first opening in Via Savona eighteen years ago. Following a few years of international expansion, with the debut at Cheval Blanc Paris in 2021 and an anticipated opening in St. Moritz in 2023, the group is back in its cherished home turf. ‘This is a project that deepens its connection with the city and its most loyal guests,’ Enrico Buonocore, Founder and CEO of Langosteria, tells Wallpaper*.

Langosteria Montenapoleone, Milan

Like the transformation of the Lancia Palazzo, the design of this stately multi-level dining destination has been conceptualised by the Fendi Architecture Department, which sought to convey the warm feeling of slow, romantic travel. The overarching design language evokes the structure and symmetry of the building’s Rationalist past through the recurrent use of Venetian blinds and a hot-air balloon motif.

On the fifth floor, the Langosteria restaurant accommodates 120 indoor seats and 40 outdoors. Eighteen large windows bathe the interiors in natural light, while the brand’s signature lobster red punctuates the space. Teeming with tactility, canaletto and Italian walnut shape the woodwork of the bevelled floors, while travertine clads stone surfaces, and brass pops in accents. The dining area is kitted out in Murano-glass Venini wall lamps, custom ‘Limousine’ mahogany wood chairs, and leather banquettes.

The floor below will soon welcome Pepe, a new concept by the group centred on convivial counter-style Italian dining, while the one above houses Langosteria Ally’s Bar, equipped with a terrace overlooking the city skyline and a private dining room. Throughout, an open-kitchen layout draws guests into the rhythm of service.

According to the team, Langosteria Montenapoleone ‘speaks Milanese with an international accent.’ This resonates not only in the interior design but also in the menu. Beloved dishes such as Pappa al Pomodoro and Blue Lobster Nature headline the offerings, while new creations like Amberjack tartare in panzanella, Red tuna carpaccio with eggplant and candied tomatoes, and Smoked Rigatoni with Scorpion fish are poised to become new favourites.

Langosteria Montenapoleone is located at Corso Giacomo Matteotti, 9, 20121 Milan, Italy.

Keith Haring's carousel – one of Luna Luna's most notable exhibits – has inspired a playful new furniture collection with Gufram. The radical Italian design house has worked with the Keith Haring Foundation to reissue two of Haring's original fairground seats, The Dog, and the Crawling Baby, which will soon be available to buy.

The new seats capture Haring’s renowned two-dimensional line drawings in sculpture form. His pop-art visual language is reproduced in polyurethane with a Guflac finish (a proprietary paint which leaves a leather effect, developed by the Italian design brand).

The park's inaugural opening was in 1987 in Hamburg, Germany and attracted around 300,000 people in three months. It was Heller’s dream to get the park on tour, yet it never managed to make it to New York.

The theme park originally featured around 30 rides designed by artists such as Joseph Beuys, Sonia Delaunay, Rebecca Horn, Salvador Dalí, and David Hockney, in addition to Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kenny Scharf.

The exclusive collaboration between Gufram and Luna Luna, in partnership with the Keith Haring Foundation, is an ode to the artist’s legacy. It will be available soon from lunaluna.com

As enjoyable as it is to marvel at the application of high-end craftsmanship and methods to low-tech pixellated pop culture graphical forms, it’s even more entertaining to speculate exactly who commissioned this car – all we know is that it’s a tech entrepreneur. With its plethora of 8-bit infused details and hidden Easter Eggs, this Ghost is an arcade machine on wheels.

Colour us unsurprised that this is the ‘first-ever Bespoke Rolls-Royce inspired by vintage video game culture’. Maybe it’ll be the last, but it’s certainly a testament to the Bespoke department’s ability to go above and beyond a creative brief. Quirky bits and pieces abound in this thoroughly bleeped up Ghost Series II, including seat embroidery reading Players One to Four, and what the company calls a ‘Cheeky Alien’ exterior Coachline motif, hand-painted of course. The main body is finished in Salamanca Blue with the upper body in a shimmering Crystal over Diamond Black.

According to Joshua McCandless, Bespoke Designer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, ‘the unique privilege of working within Rolls-Royce Bespoke Design is the extraordinary breadth of ideas we’re asked to bring to life. This brief was particularly exciting.’ The Bespoke team immersed itself in the art, culture and games of the early arcade era.

Retro gaming is having another one of its period moments (this week’s launch of the Analogue 3D console, for example), and Rolls-Royce is keen to position gaming culture as a ‘rapidly emerging space in the contemporary collectables landscape.’ It’s certainly a step up from NFTs.

As you climb into the car you step of four Bespoke illuminated treadplates, with the same low-resolution font seen on the seats. Each treadplate bears a familiar arcade game prompt: ‘PRESS START’, ‘LOADING…’, ‘LEVEL UP’ and ‘INSERT COIN’. However, if you’re going to go with such a quirky motif, why not go all in? Why not build in actual gaming consoles into the rear screens? (Perhaps this is a job for Love Hultén, following on from his synth-equipped Lagonda project?).

We also reckon Rolls missed a trick by not adding a playable Space Invaders in the Starlight Headliner. Instead, there’s a not-completely-unrelated pattern called ‘Pixel Blaster’, consisting of ‘a formation of 80 bitmapped battlecruisers’. Instead of shooting stars, there’s laser fire. Up front, the illuminated fascia gets a special ‘Laser Base’ pattern, with a gunship flying through a starfield that appears to be animated.

If all this sounds like the very best bits of the electronics section of the Sears or Argos catalogues circa 1983, then you’ll have some empathy with the person who commissioned the Gamer Ghost. ‘We wanted the client to feel that the motor car itself was an immersive experience – and that every time they stepped inside, it would recreate the same thrill they felt when they pressed ‘start’ on an arcade machine for the very first time,’ says McCandless.

We know not how many 8-bit side quests the owner had to undertake to be in a position to commission this one-off machine. We will probably never know, but suffice to say it taps into a very distinct era of video games that would place them squarely in Gen X. However, even Douglas Coupland’s most prescient tech hallucinations didn’t foresee a world where the superrich amuse themselves by painting aliens on a Rolls-Royce. What’s next, a Minecraft or Fortnite Edition? How about a Spectre with upholstery made from Labubu fur? To infinity and beyond, for sure.

More information on Rolls-Royce Bespoke at Rolls-RoyceMotorCars.com, @RollsRoyceCars

Pade established a fluid, dreamy style at her institutional debut at the Arken Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark earlier in 2025, and is now presenting a new group of paintings for her first solo UK exhibition. In their celebration of the body, the works continue to consider distortion and movement. Bodies in a crowd are caught in a choreographed dance of emotion, each figure displaying their own primal language.

Pade draws on classical references for her figures in a crowd, bringing them to life with violent brushstrokes. ‘I've always been inspired by history, but in different ways,’ she says. ‘I spend a lot of time looking at the German New Objectivity painters [who established a non-sentimental reality]. Not only do they have a very interesting way of depicting the figurative, giving it a sort of ugliness and an uncanniness to them, but they also express time in an interesting way – or not necessarily time, but what is going on between moments, or between wars. It’s waiting for the next thing to happen, and how they capture it.’

It is a pause the artist reflects in her own work, paying as much attention to the spaces between bodies as she does to the bodies themselves. Pade conducts a geometrical play of shapes and overlapping forms to bring the humanity of her subjects to the fore. ‘When I start the painting, I need to capture the movements especially, and that's why, for me, it becomes more about coordinates in the beginning. When I start, it's about finding the dynamic in the painting, in a movement. Because that's in the end result. There needs to be something that's moving in the painting, if that doesn’t sound completely ridiculous, but it needs to have a pulse. I think it’s especially true when you paint figuratively, because otherwise the characters die. They become frozen.’

Eva Helene Pade, 'Søgelys' is at Thaddaeus Ropac London until 20 December 2025

ropac.net

Born and raised in Manchester, the fashion designer developed a trophy concept that pays tribute to the city, which will host the Brit Awards for the first time, in a switch from its regular home at the O2 arena in London. Inspired by his roots, his design is characterised by an amber-toned resin that nods to the honey of a worker bee, the city's mascot, while the figurine stands atop a sphere representing 'the global reach of British music'.

Williamson follows celebrated creatives who have shaped the awards' trophies over the years, including Yinka Ilori, Es Devlin, Zaha Hadid and Tracey Emin.

As the new trophy is unveiled, we speak to Williamson ahead of the Brit Awards 2026, to find out about his design and his connection to the city of Manchester.

Brit Awards 2026: trophy by Matthew Williamson

Wallpaper*: What have the Brit Awards meant to you over the years?

Matthew Williamson: I have such fond memories of watching The Brits as a child. I remember being excited in the run-up to it, and watching it at home in Manchester with my family was a TV highlight of the year. I always found it so exciting to see the red-carpet arrivals and the presenters and performances. I’ve watched every year since then and still love to see the spectacle of it all.

W*: What moments of the awards’ history have been memorable to you?

MW: Like most, I remember the presenters' blunders, and of course Madonna’s cape malfunction, but perhaps my favourite performances have been by Adele. She sang 'Someone like You' in 2011, and in 2016, 'When We Were Young'. I loved the magical set and her dress in that performance. It seems like a night to let go and express yourself. I remember one time many years ago dressing Cat Deeley in a pink lace dress, and on stage she was shot out of a cannon. I guess anything goes at The Brits and I love that sense of freedom and self-expression it represents and encourages.

W*: What are the main elements of your trophy design?

MW: The trophy this year sees the iconic Britannia figure cast in an amber-toned resin to represent golden honey. It came from my idea to reflect the city of Manchester and I used the worker bee logo as my starting point. I was keen to keep the form recognisable but change the plinth to a sphere to represent the globe. I imagined winning the trophy and feeling on top of the world; [also] the music the winners create is globally accessible in the blink of an eye.

W*: Tell us about the materials and manufacturing.

MW: The trophy was created in honey-pigmented resin. It was moulded using a pattern produced from a 3D render of the original visual. Once removed from the mould, it was cured in an oven, then polished and given a high-gloss lacquer finish.

W*: How important is the trophy’s connection to Manchester?

MW: Manchester is my birth place. I grew up there, was educated there and now visit as often as I can. I love the city and have seen it go from strength to strength over the years, largely due to the people. My parents and sister still live there. I was keen to make the award have a true Manchester connection and the worker bee and its honey sprang almost immediately to mind once I got the call. I wanted the Mancunians to feel proud and in some way this trophy is a tribute to them and their city.

W*: The ceremony is in Manchester this year – why is this important for you?

MW: When I was growing up in Manchester, the music scene was such an important part of defining who I was as a person. I listened to the Stone Roses, New Order, The Happy Mondays, The Smiths and more. Such great musicians hail from Manchester, so this location for The Brits feels very fitting. Manchester has contributed so much to the music we all listen to. My style, my identity, work ethic and general outlook on life have all come from my formative years in Manchester.

W*: What makes the city special for you?

MW: It’s really developed for the better over the past few years. Earlier this year, I took my partner, sister, daughter and my Mum to see Billie Eilish at the Co-op Live, incidentally where The Brits is being held next year. We had the best night! I think the people make the city. It’s perhaps a cliché, but it’s also true that the people there are so warm, friendly, kind and funny. A Mancunian will have your back – [they are] down to earth, resilient and just good people to be around. I'm really proud of the trophy I’ve designed and I can’t wait to be back in Manchester to reveal it as it couldn’t be more fitting. It’s a great milestone moment for me as a person and for my career.

What’s now referred to as Miami Art Week has grown around Art Basel Miami Beach –the vast contemporary art fair held at the Miami Beach Convention Center since 2002 – and its sister exhibition, Design Miami, which launched in 2005 and is now a highlight of the collectible design calendar. This showcase of avant-garde work was co-founded by developer and collector Craig Robins and designer Ambra Medda, and has since taken place annually and concurrently with the art fair.

Over the years, more fairs and events have joined the fray, including Untitled Art, which occupies a huge tent erected on the beach; NADA; and Art Miami and Context, all of which take place across Biscayne Bay in Downtown Miami. Add to that a wide array of independent shows, museum exhibitions, brand activations, temporary installations, pop-up retail spaces and, of course, countless parties hosted across Miami and Miami Beach.

While the wider Miami Art Week has become increasingly commercial over the past decade, Design Miami remains a thoughtfully curated showcase of high-quality collectible furniture, objects and functional artworks. And although the event does invite brands to participate, these typically involve collaborations with international designers who create installations that range from ethereal to highly technical – and everything in between.

This year, Design Miami is open to ticket-holders from 3–7 December, with an invite-only preview day on 2 December. To mark the culmination of the fair’s milestone 20th anniversary year, renowned American design curator Glenn Adamson is using the theme ‘Make. Believe.’ to look both back and forward at the world of collectible design and guide the direction of the event – which includes a special-projects programme of satellite installations and partner activations.

What is Design Miami?

Design Miami showcases some of the most innovative, artful and avant-garde collectible design by global talents, presented by galleries from the US and around the world. Over 70 exhibitors – including more than 25 debuts – will participate in the 2025 edition, with notable returning galleries including the Future Perfect, Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Friedman Benda, David Gill Gallery, Superhouse and many more.

Alongside the 30 large gallery booths, a series of ‘Curios’ spotlights smaller or emerging galleries and their designers, providing a platform for new talent, while several brand-sponsored installations activate the venue. In recent years, the show has expanded its international remit, with new editions in Seoul (September) and Paris (October).

Where is Design Miami?

Design Miami is located in Miami Beach’s famed South Beach neighbourhood, close to the Art Deco district of architectural gems from the 1920s and 30s, and just a couple of blocks from the beachfront. The event takes place in a large temporary structure set up in Pride Park, right beside the Miami Beach Convention Center in which Art Basel is held, making it easy to hop between the two.

Visitors arriving by car are dropped off at Convention Center Drive and 19th Street, but since traffic is notoriously gnarly during this week – even by Miami standards – consider arriving on foot from the nearby hotels on Collins Avenue.

Top things to see during Design Miami 2025

Gargantua Thumb by Katie Stout

For its 10th annual design commission, the Miami Design District has tapped artist Katie Stout to create a playful public artwork that visitors can interact with – and, in this case, sit on. Her series of large-scale sculptural benches, named Gargantua Thumb, will be installed throughout the pedestrian alleys that criss-cross the popular retail destination. The fantastical pieces began as miniature clay animals that Stout hand-sculpted with intentional irregularities, before they were digitally scanned, enlarged and milled from durable outdoor-ready materials. The benches will remain on view through spring 2026.

Perfume Transformation by Clive Christian Perfume and Crosby Studios

Designer Harry Nuriev’s Crosby Studios is partnering with fragrance house Clive Christian Perfume to create an immersive, monochromatic installation that interprets scent as a spatial experience. Visitors will be invited into the sensory environment to imagine what a scent might look like, free from literal association, with the journey beginning in a miniature cinema. The installation is intended to offer a first glimpse into the brand’s new creative direction ahead of its global flagship opening in London.

Design Miami 2.0 curated by Glenn Adamson

To mark the fair’s 20th edition, curator Glenn Adamson has selected eight ‘compelling voices in design’ to present works that align with his theme, ‘Make. Believe.’ Each designer will unveil a capsule collection that showcases their imaginative practices and underlines the continued importance of experimentation in contemporary design. Highlights include Steven Young Lee’s surreal ceramic forms; Stephen Burks Man Made’s translation of Kuba textiles into wooden works; and Jack Craig’s ‘moulded carpet’ sculptures.

Fonderia Fendi by Conie Vallese

Argentine designer Conie Vallese is celebrating fashion house Fendi’s 100th anniversary with a show exploring ‘feminine strength’ through Italian craft. Her collaborations with five ateliers specialising in bronze, ceramic, glass, carpet and leather have resulted in one-of-a-kind Fendi pieces in a Roman palette of rosy bronze, and shades of the brand’s signature sorbetto yellow and pale blue. The designs will be presented in a reinterpretation of a Roman saletto, or living room, alongside a limited-edition Fendi Peekaboo bag designed by Vallese.

Memories of the Future by Achille Salvagni Atelier

Amongst this year’s Design Miami debuts is Achille Salvagni Atelier, a collectible design gallery and studio with locations in Rome, London and New York. Its 'Memories of the Future' installation will pair Italian midcentury works by masters such as Gio Ponti and Renzo Zavanella with contrasting contemporary pieces by designer Achille Salvagni. Housed within a futuristic setting formed by metallic walls and a deep orange carpet, highlights include a 1951 cabinet marking the first collaboration between Ponti and Piero Fornasetti, as well as a sculptural Zavanella armchair.

Mubi announces ‘Let’s Eat! A Film Feast’

The Cinema at Selfridges alongside production company and film distributor Mubi have teamed up for an all-day immersion into food on film, held on 20 November and aptly titled Let’s Eat! A Film Feast. The programme spans screenings, food-focused talks and a pop-up exhibition.

Across the selected screenings, audiences can revisit cult favourites and contemporary gems alike, including The Lunchbox (2013), First Cow (2020), Babette’s Feast (1987) and Raw (2016). For those wanting to dive deeper into cinematic appetite, Little White Lies will explore Big Night (1996); the Mubi Podcast will dissect Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread (2017); and Notebook magazine will delve into Peter Greenaway’s sumptuous and savage The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989). In addition, Sandwich magazine will host a playful, palate-teasing quiz to round out the day.

Every ticket includes popcorn, complimentary Campari-partner cocktails, and free pizza from 2.30 pm. As evening falls, a bespoke menu created by chef and culinary artist Heal Goblin (Nil Mutluer) will be served.

If you’re not in London, Mubi extends the festival online. From 27 November, the new Mubi Podcast season spotlights cinema’s most memorable meals. Besides, a collection of food-led films – including La Cocina (2024), Flux Gourmet (2022), The Taste of Things (2023) and Dessert for Constance (1981) – brings the festival to your living room.

The Cinema at Selfridges is located at 40 Duke St, London W1U 1AT, UK. Tickets for ‘Let’s Eat! A Film Feast’ are available here.

In the years since, 16Arlington has become one of London’s most distinctive independent brands, its after-dark sensuality embodied by the it-girls and creatives who clad themselves in its sultry shapes on red carpets and in nightclubs. Never forgetting their first meeting, Capaldo got back in touch with Price just over a year ago, after discovering a vintage gown made by the designer that had belonged to Cavanti. She had sourced the piece to wear as maid of honour at her best friend’s wedding just before passing away (the designer died in 2021, aged just 28). ‘I reached out to Antony and said, “I would love to connect”,’ he says. ‘He emailed me back and said, “Call me tonight at 8pm.” And that was it. That first night, we were on the phone till four in the morning.’

While generations apart, the two designers’ connection makes perfect sense. Both have built careers around ideas of glamour, excess and beauty. A designer’s designer – deeply respected within the industry but less widely known outside it – Price’s career is the stuff of star-strewn legend. He dressed David Bowie and Duran Duran, collaborated closely with Philip Treacy, and became so instrumental to the aesthetic of Roxy Music that he was coined the band’s ‘invisible member’. His unrestrained work anticipated the louche, shoulder-padded, corseted silhouettes that would come to define the 1980s, and today Price stands as one of the era’s great architects of glamour. Decades later, Capaldo’s work at 16Arlington similarly impresses its own ideas of meticulously crafted, nocturnal dressing, with its own community of figures at the heart of its universe, from Adwoa Aboah to Lara Stone.

Yesterday evening (17 November 2025), the pair unveiled the product of their unlikely inter-generational friendship, a special collection they have been working on together over the past 12 months. The intimate one-off display was held within 16Arlington’s Hoxton studio, and was brought to life by 16 personalities in Capaldo’s orbit, including Lily Allen, Aboah and Lila Moss. Unfolding less like a traditional runway and more like a woozy 1970s salon, it was everything one would imagine from the blending of their worlds. Allowing guests to take in the designs up close, their ‘models’ slunk through the room in a sequence of evening gowns cut in midnight black velvet, chiffon, kink-leaning leather, and trompe-l’oeil animalier, rendered with an opulent attention to craft – crystal-encrusted, feather-strewn and exquisitely sculpted to the body. It was, of course, a study of glamour – treating it as more than a feeling, but a force that defies time, beguiles onlookers, and allows the wearer to become their most magnetic self.

The pair started by delving into Price’s archives alongside the help of writer and collector Alexander Fury. Among pleated lamé gowns worn by Paula Yates, Swarovski-covered sculpted busts made for Philip Treacy, and a jacket for Bryan Ferry crafted from women’s underwear, a theme among these treasures was Price’s gift for construction. ‘Something that really stuck out in the process with Antony is the way he references the body,’ says Capaldo. ‘He talks a lot about creating the heavenly body through clothing. If you were to take the linings out of some of these pieces, just seeing the detail and the padding that has gone into the inners of these garments is really incredible – they are like sculptures. To kind of be up close and personal with those pieces was amazing. The fact that they are still here and in perfect condition is a testament to Antony's work.’

When it came to designing the new collection, the process unfolded collaboratively over the months, with silhouettes coming into focus one by one. ‘We really focused on sculpting the body, whether that's with the jackets or the dresses,’ says Capaldo. ‘We have a few coats, which are really incredible because they have dress waist measurements on a piece of outerwear. Antony's really allowed me to go with it in the sense of trusting what I feel is right for today, whilst allowing us to fully explore his penmanship and apply that to the collection. There are pieces of his that I've reinterpreted. There are pieces of mine that he's reinterpreted. I say this with hand on heart, there hasn’t been a single moment we’ve butted heads. It’s been amazing.’

Capaldo knew he wanted to do something special for the show. It's something he’s gained a flair for now, after stepping away from the fashion week calendar in favour of more personal events (for A/W 2025, he hosted a candlelit dinner at Almine Rech gallery, which was transformed for the evening with an exhibition of 1980s-reminiscent studio photographs by Ethan James Green). Last night’s presentation, however, felt personal in a deeper way – not least of all because it was staged in the brand’s own studio, where the team work each day. ‘We wanted this show to be a really intimate affair,’ says Capaldo. ‘For people to be able to see the clothes up close, to experience them in the walls that they were made in. Bringing it into the space adds that level of grit, which is something that's so present in both mine and Antony's work.’

Worn by a cast of characters who have inspired Capaldo personally and creatively, the effect was as intended – a celebration of their shared ideas of beauty, individuality and craft. ‘Both Antony and I have been surrounded by these incredible individuals, people that stand for things and have a voice, who have naturally shaped and inspired our careers,’ says Capaldo. ‘Jerry Hall was somebody that was very close to Antony and his journey. My version of Jerry is somebody like Adwoa. I've really relied on my community and my friends to bring the show together and bring this collection to life.’

It was also, of course, a heartwarming celebration of their friendship – and of fashion as a language powerful enough to bridge generations. ‘I speak to Antony every day and I have for the past year, for hours on end,‘ says Capaldo at the end of our call. ‘He's a wonderful man, so talented, so unapologetically opinionated, who loves nothing more than bringing glamour to life and transforming people through clothes.’ Working on the collection with Price, the designer adds, has been one of the most rewarding efforts of his career. ‘I personally felt Antony never really received his flowers,’ he says. ‘To have been able to witness such a legend at work has probably been one of the most incredible and pivotal moments in my career. It's been really magical.’

Analogue’s products – which include the Game Boy-emulating Analogue Pocket – take the dark art of emulation to another level. For the Analogue 3D, this has required four years of work recreating the original Nintendo N64 hardware to ensure 100 per cent compatibility with the nearly 400 games available on the original system. Introduced in 1996 and discontinued in 2002, nearly 33 million N64s were sold before it was replaced with the GameCube.

Thanks to timing, software tie-ins and the 64-bit system’s inherent laser-focused playability – a time-honoured Nintendo trope – the N64 is embedded in Gen X’s core menus. Excellent multiplayer capabilities – around 70 per cent of all games released for the console had a multiplayer function – made gaming more social than ever before.

Although the Analogue 3D faithfully replicates the tech, can it also evoke the tug of nostalgia? Supplied in a hefty box with four wireless 8BitDo 64 controllers and a selection of four classic titles (for copyright reasons you’ll need to use original game cartridges).

With The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, GoldenEye 007, F-Zero X and Super Mario 64 on hand, covering every base and genre, we paired the Analogue 3D with the latest version of the Sky Glass smart TV.

As expected, the Analogue 3D makes a formidable retro machine. For a start, there’s 4K output, ably managed by the new hardware with a plethora of graphic controls that allow different levels of upscaling, screen stretching for modern TV formats and even emulation of the warm glow of a cathode ray tube.

Simple black and white menus allow a deep dive into the console’s settings, whilst the game carts remain plug and play like the original. Analogue reckon the 3D will handle most third-party cartridges – the internet is awash with unofficial ‘flash carts’ – but their focus has been on ensuring 100 per cent original compatibility.

The hardware itself is robust and low-key, evoking the form factor of the original (with four original controller ports) plus a few useful additions – Bluetooth connectivity, an SD card for game saves and updates, Wi-Fi, USB-C for power, etc.

Plug the Analogue 3D into the Sky Glass via HDMI and fire it up, and within seconds you can be playing a game; Nintendo and its trusted army of developers were masters of gaming simplicity, streamlining menus and ultra-addictive gameplay.

Many of the original games ran in just 320 x 240 pixels (although the hardware could handle double that) for smooth gameplay and framerates. Given that the iPhone display in your pocket has around 50 times more pixels, older eyes have a fair old time trying to pick out the details on what was once considered the crispest, most HD gaming display available.

For the most part, this doesn’t matter, because what the 3D manages superbly is the feel of these iconic titles. It was an era before bloated software, vast armies of developers and Hollywood-rivalling budgets. Instead, the 3D provides picture-perfect replicas of the N64’s myriad and enticing game worlds.

You’ll enjoy masterfully designed levels, split screen multi-player action and pixellated carnage, soundtracked by the throaty crunch of chiptune music and sound effects. The new controllers mimic the look and feel of the originals while also bolstering known weak points, and deliver fluid movement and accuracy.

As well as being a true plug-and-play machine, the Analogue 3D is also pitched at those keen to look under the hood of old technology. Updates and enhancements are planned, with scope for a burgeoning community of Gen X nostalgics to assemble and trade war stories from back in the day.

There’s a big games library out there and unlike today’s blockbusting AAA titles, with their time-sapping 100-plus hours of gameplay, the earlier console generations were about casual, social gaming experiences. For fans of the original – especially those with a few cartridges stashed in the attic and an untapped well of muscle memory – the Analogue 3D is an exceptionally fine example of retro tech that balances fun with nostalgia.

Analogue 3D, $249.99, 8BitDo 64 controller, $39.99 each, Analogue.co, @Analogue.co

Inside Teatro della Cometa

The theatre was originally designed in 1958 by architect Tomaso Buzzi and Countess Anna Laetitia ‘Mimì’ Pecci Blunt. Now the theatre has lifted the curtain on its new visual identity by Studio Sonnoli, reflecting its diverse offering and contemporary approach to musical performance.

For the interiors, Tudisco worked alongside Poltrona Frau’s Custom Interiors branch, specialising in designing and producing custom seating specifically for shared spaces such as auditoriums, performance venues and hospitality establishments.

Wanting to reclaim the building’s original beauty and functionality, Poltrona Frau worked on a solution that was inspired by its own ‘TLT’ model (a seating plan originally designed for historic theatre settings), which was expertly tweaked to accommodate the theatre's distinct layout.

Across the stalls and two balconies, three different seat heights were implemented, positioned in a way to give every viewer optimal sightlines. Each armchair was designed to match the building’s original 1950s interiors, while the inclination of the seats and backrests were set to enhance visibility and performance.

The chairs were upholstered in lavishly rich red Rubelli fabrics, injecting elegance and old-world opulence.

‘It is a privilege for us to contribute to the restoration of Teatro della Cometa,’ says Nicola Coropulis, CEO of Poltrona Frau. ‘Through our Custom Interiors Business Unit, we collaborate on some of the world’s most distinguished auditoriums and theatres, yet contributing to the rebirth of such a historic Roman landmark holds a truly special significance. This project reflects Poltrona Frau’s ability to unite craftsmanship and technical innovation, bringing new life, value, and beauty to a symbolic place of Italian culture.’

That hasn’t harmed the tactile experience of the ‘unboxing moment’ in any way, shape or form, nor has the gradual increase in recycled materials in the products themselves. For example, the MacBook Air enclosure is 100 per cent recycled aluminium, as is the Mac Studio, with the Air also using 100 per cent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets and 100 per cent recycled copper in the main logic board.

However, much of this important work is necessarily out of sight and out of mind for the consumer – recycled aluminium looks no different to the virgin material, while rare earth elements are buried deep within the devices. But there are other areas where material innovation, savings and efficiencies can play a major part, as well as help shape design.

Enter the Apple Watch Ultra 3, the newest flagship Apple wearable with material innovation that’s proudly laid bare. For the first time, the case of the Ultra 3, and that of the titanium Apple Watch Series 11, are made entirely via 3D-printing, using 100 per cent aerospace-grade recycled titanium powder.

The end result is a spectacular demonstration of how multiple strands of design and research came together to create change. First up, the 3D-printing process – devised and productionised by Apple’s own metallurgy team – uses half the titanium of previous generations of Watch Ultra, where the case was milled from a solid billet of the metal.

Instead, the Ultra 3 uses high-grade powdered recycled titanium, meaning there’s barely any wastage and what remains goes back into the production cycle. On top of this, the energy efficiency of the process has been dramatically reduced.

Focusing on a small element of a very premium product might appear to be a lot of effort for relatively minimal overall benefits. However, according to Sarah Chandler, vice president of Environment and Supply Chain Innovation at Apple, ‘we are now at the point where we are solving the hardest problems – we need to take some really big swings’. What starts with Apple Watch could soon be rolled out into other devices, with correspondingly larger savings.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. ‘We have a long history at Apple of designing with the environment in mind – it's one of our core values,’ says Chandler. Chandler and her team have devoted huge amounts of research and development into realising the new cases, describing the project as a ‘tremendously innovative 3D-printing process’.

‘Our hope is that [this] can really change the system, change the approach, change how products are made, and help lead the way for others,’ Chandler says.

Her colleague Kate Bergeron, vice president of Hardware Engineering, describes it as a ‘multi-year journey’. ‘In fact, if we want to go back to the nascent 3D-printing industry, I would say it’s been decades,’ she adds. In essence, the titanium powder is placed on an outline in layers of 60 microns.

A laser solidifies each layer before more powder is added, and the process repeated. ‘We have 900 layers in the UltraWatch, which is just insane,’ says Bergeron, pointing out that ‘we had to invent how we were going to make the parts and invent the material at the same time’.

The other challenge is scale. 3D-printed metal is not uncommon, but applications tend to be very high-end and specialised – think aerospace, military, Formula 1 – so to make the process work on ‘Apple scale’ is a big deal. Naturally, this new additive process has resulted in the same levels of surface quality that Apple Watch owners expect, but what they won’t be able to see are the innovations made possible by the new process.

‘In the Ultra, one thing that we were able to incorporate this time around was additional water sealing,’ says Bergeron. ‘We were also able to make the antenna windows interlock more effectively with the titanium, which we couldn't do using machining. I would say our industrial designers are already thinking about crazy and exciting things they can design that we would never have been able to make before.’

This same process is also being deployed under the skin in the iPhone Air, where a new titanium USB-C port enclosure was 3D-printed using the same method, helping achieve its impossible silhouette.

Apple is keen to stress this is systemic change, not just technology for the sake of it. ‘We are trying to find something that can really be an unlock,’ says Chandler. ‘We don't want to just do something once, we want to do it because it becomes the way the whole system works.’

‘We wouldn't develop anything like this as a one-off solution,’ Bergeron clarifies. ‘We look at 3D-printing as a roadmap to the future and so we are absolutely excited to take this technology and apply it in other places where it will make sense. Now that we have this in our toolkit… we can turn it into the next level of innovation.’

Apple Watch Ultra 3, from £749, Apple.com

Apple iPhone Air, from £999, Apple.com

'For the first time, we found ourselves simultaneously being the clients, the architects, and the contractors,' says Tsergas. 'Balancing all three roles at once was challenging, but also incredibly insightful. It gave us a deeper understanding of every layer of the process.'

Explore Block722's Athens penthouse

The home was the result of an intense and rewarding period of research and exploration by the two founders, who worked with local contractors Thekla Construction on the overall build. This investigation phase was followed by delicate and precise detailing and spatial planning, orchestrating an interior that would 'fit like a glove' to the lifestyle of its inhabitants.

At the same time, the space reflects the studio's ethos and overall approach of 'organic luxury'. This means using natural materials (here, marble, wood, and travertine) and maintaining a strong relationship with the outdoors, emphasising wellness and environmental health. To achieve this, the interiors are highly bespoke, as the architects worked with specialist craftspeople for lots of the fittings, fixtures and furniture, as well as designing a number of the products and built-in elements in-house.

'We don’t regret for a moment the countless hours we spent reflecting on how we live as a family – our needs, our habits, our routines, and our aspirations,' Tsergas explains. 'This type of self-observation proved invaluable, and it’s something we will encourage our clients to engage with more deeply. Understanding who they are inside their home and how they move through their day offers such rich information for the design. The aesthetics and spatial solutions that emerge from this process are inevitably more authentic, personal, and beautiful.'

The penthouse, titled Lumen Residence, was conceived as a duplex, spread across 230 sq m. The first level contains a flowing and carefully composed living area, while bedrooms are located upstairs. On the top level is also an expansive roof terrace, partially planted and partially paved and operating as an outdoor living room for resting and entertaining – as well as sports, as it also contains a half-size basketball pitch and a swimming pool. The Athenian skyline beyond becomes a key part of the experience.

'Designing a home so high above the city gave us a rare opportunity to work with natural light in a completely different way. With almost nothing obstructing our views, we were able to bring abundant daylight into every space – even those oriented northwards – and then soften and filter it through sheer fabrics, wooden jalousies, and the timber grille that channels light into the master bathroom through a skylight,' says Tsergas.

'We also knew from the beginning the type of qualities we wanted for our new home: a sense of seclusion and privacy, and a calm, grounding energy that would contrast with the vibrant pulse of Athens below. Although we didn’t intentionally set out to create a “resort-like” home within the city, that is exactly the atmosphere that emerged. The water element on the rooftop and the extensive planting across both floors contributed significantly to this feeling.

'Ultimately, what thrilled us most was achieving all the qualities you would expect from a single-family home – comfort, openness, connection to nature – but experiencing them in the sky, with a panoramic relationship to the city, the sunset, the stars, Mount Hymettus, and the entire Athenian landscape. That feeling is truly indescribable.'

The pair have been living in their tailor-made home for a few months already, but they say that it feels like they've always been there. Two comments keep coming up when friends and collaborators visit their new home, the couple add: 'This is so you!' and 'It’s clearly a Block722 home – but in a way that feels different and unexpected.' No doubt, the type of feedback that subtly signals a resounding success.

block722.com

And that’s just the past few years. Concepts like the 1984 Peugeot Quasar, the 1986 Proxima, the 2006 908 RC or the 2012 Onyx seemingly came from another planet and certainly not from a humble carmaker best-known for its small cars and family-friendly saloons and SUVs.

Now there’s another Peugeot Concept in town, the Polygon. A compact electric city car, it continues the out-there DNA of its predecessors, with vast gullwing doors and a spongy, geometric interior.

Industry watchers are calling the Polygon a preview of the next-generation 208, which is currently a competent, likeable but not earth-shattering entrant into the small EV market. Two things could set its successor apart, both previewed by the Polygon. The first is more than a hint of retro style, harking back in particular to the evergreen 205, a 1980s icon that still looks fresh today.

The other innovation is a drive-by-wire steering system that does away with intrusive mechanicals, freeing up interior space and allowing a new low-set dashboard design. There’s also the return of the Hypersquare wheel seen on the Inception concept; paired with the new steering system, it should mean less effort to turn, which is perfect for a small city car.

And there’s a third thing, albeit not one that’s directly connected with design. Peugeot has debuted this new concept in the frantic, violent and Day-Glo world of Fortnite, joining a roster of other carmakers who have used the online game as a place to showcase new design. In fact, Fortnite seems to be taking over from Gran Turismo as the new virtual venue for car design.

In addition to Lamborghini, which has delivered virtual recreations of the Urus, Huracan, and Countach in the game, Porsche has also popped up in the game world. The sandbox-style shooter is a globally accessible online venue for live music shows, launches and product placement, and the game's essential vehicles are the perfect platform for way out car design.

In fact, Fortnite is now a veritable auto showroom, providing a captive audience of teens and pre-teens ready to learn about brand image, styling and the relative values of supercars Vs sports cars.

Peugeot worked with developer Gameloft to deliver the Polygon into the Fortnite universe, adding not just the car itself but a whole Peugeot realm, Polygon City Island, styled to resemble a giant Hypersquare steering control.

Players can enter the map, get hold of a Polygon and even personalise the colour, trim and decals. Perhaps it’s a step up from creating concepts that never see the light of day, but we still prefer car designs that manifest themselves in the physical world.

Peugeot.co.uk, @Peugeot

Located in Chennevières-sur-Marne, roughly 15km outside the capital, the single-storey property exemplifies the modernist architecture ideal of harmonising the built environment with nature. Set on a 220 sq m footprint, the house sits within a tranquil, green environment, withdrawn from the main road and approached via a private lane. Chennevières-sur-Marne itself offers a leafy escape from the city, close to the banks of the Marne.

Shaped in an L-plan, the house clearly delineates day and night spaces. The living wing consists of a generous living room with an alcove, a kitchen with a pantry, and a bathroom – all opening directly onto terraces and a landscaped garden. A hallway distinguished by built-in storage and its original wooden ceiling leads to the sleeping wing, which includes a master suite with a private bathroom and two further bedrooms, each with its own bath or shower room. This area also features a dressing room and an additional bathroom.

The home is an instructive case study in both the Wogenscky’s style and the modernist movement at large. The movement champions functionality, material honesty and integration with the landscape, and this home checks all the boxes. Materially, the structure blends textured concrete, brick, glass and wood, creating the modernist interplay of geometric rigour and warmth. Here Wogenscky’s personal sensibility shines through, with interior spaces shaped by subtle variations in colour, texture and atmosphere – always anchored by functional intent.

In terms of environmental integration, the property features a green roof terrace and expansive bay windows, its western exposure further amplifying natural light. The layout physically and visually binds the interior to the outdoors, with many of the spaces enjoying direct access to the terrace and garden.

Wogenscky (1916-2004), a long-time collaborator of Le Corbusier and his chief assistant from the post-war years until Le Corbusier’s death (in 1965), played a key role in France’s post-war reconstruction. Wogenscky’s body of work – spanning industrial and administrative complexes, schools, hospitals and transport infrastructure as well as private residences – combined technological innovation with site sensitivity. His career was defined by a quest for harmony between architecture and nature, guided by humanist values and a commitment to social progress.

A modernist architect to the core, Wogenscky carried forward Le Corbusier’s legacy with conviction, and this house stands as a testament to that lineage.

The André Wogenscky home is on the market for €880,000 with Architecture de Collection

Retrofit House is an initiative set in Birmingham's Ladywood and part of a nationwide programme promoting imaginative yet thoroughly accessible redesign solutions to 21st-century architecture problems – climate change's rising temperatures and waters, and declining biodiversity, coupled with the UK's urgent need to update and increase housing stock. Its aim? To invite everyone on board the architectural journey of home-building and future-proofing.

Explore Retrofit House and be inspired

The powerhouses behind Retrofit House are a trio of design, architecture and urban planning practices: Civic Square, Dark Matter Labs and Material Cultures. The project is the real, bricks-and-mortar result of the efforts of Immy Kaur, the founder and co-director of Civic Square, and her project partners, over the better part of a decade. It forms part of the UK-wide collective movement, Retrofit Reimagined.

So, what does it look like? The initiative takes over an entire Victorian terraced house in Ladywood, on a suburban, residential street. Using the building's fabric, the architects from the three organisations proceeded to dissect it, boring holes in walls, removing plaster and revealing the structure's bones, using the house as a showcase of what homes of that era –which are typical not only across Birmingham but throughout the UK – are made of.

At the same time, displays of an array of biomaterials in the home offer options for anyone interested in repairing, adapting and improving their own home using sustainable architecture methods and resources. Biomaterials are known for their kinder impact on the environment (when responsibly sourced), as well as on our health.

'People don't often understand [retrofitting],' says Kaur. 'And, over the last five years, we have had a number of government schemes that have done poor work, eroded trust, wasted money.' As a neighbourhood-based initiative, Civic Square, through Retrofit House, aims to inspire 'an uptake for better quality housing on streets that are cleaner, where communities are at the forefront of that work'.

'But it is really important to unlock all of the capacity that exists in neighbourhoods, and in civil society and all these community organisations that have huge amounts of social capital, to understand their places and make the story of retrofit less about just understanding the deep technical things that you need to do, but more about the fact that we've all got something to bring to this. Because it is about better quality homes that are better for your health, that are cheaper to run, that are better for your children, that create better health outcomes.'

The residence's rooms will be used for workshops – both hands-on labs, and idea discussions and debate panels – aimed at helping the local community, and others beyond, feel confident about the methods and skills needed. This includes not only the homeowners themselves – to whom the project presents agency and choice – but also architects, tradespeople and contractors who wish to enrich their skillset by working with biomaterials, as part of Re:Builders, a six-month learning programme for workers in the built environment.

The result? A boost to ecological and social architecture infrastructure as Retrofit House itself slowly gets retrofitted and used to show how it's done.

'It is important to see this as a space of imagination and possibility, not just for decarbonising, which is super important, but for something far greater, which is the revitalisation of our democracy, of our communities and of our neighbourhoods,' Kaur continues.

'For Civic Square, Retrofit House is connected to a larger plan. What is the infrastructure needed to put communities at the forefront of their climate transition, of their recovery? [We aim to show that] it's not a big, scary thing that they don't understand, but in fact, something that they feel liberated and excited by. And everyone's got something to share, and everyone's got something to learn.'

Retrofit House launched with an Open House week in November 2025 and will remain accessible to all via appointment and through its learning programme, serving as an important beacon for sustainable architecture action. It is one of three Retrofit Reimagined demonstrator projects currently in effect – the others are We Can Make in Bristol and Retrofit Balsall Heath in south Birmingham.

For more information, visit:

civicsquare.cc

darkmatterlabs.org

materialcultures.org

Retrofit Reimagined

‘When you're out there at sunset it's like a colour dome — it's just this rainbow of colours from east to west,’ he says.

Franklin channelled all that vibrancy into a recent body of work created with Kohler’s MakerSpace artist residency program. Specifically, he made ceramic fish — hundreds and hundreds of them — which now hang in mesmerising arrays in Kohler showrooms and even the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

A funny thing happened when Franklin was developing glazes for his next school of sturgeon, walleye and trout: he helped invent Kohler’s newest finish, Pearlized.

It all started when one of the workers in the Kohler factory decided to stick some pieces of ceramic into a PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) machine, a multi-million-dollar device that’s usually used to put metallic finishes on faucet parts. The piece came out as gleaming as bullion. Franklin wondered, could they do the same for his fish?

After a period of trial and error, Franklin and the Kohler team managed to create a hypnotic pearlescent coating which exuded a rainbow-like gleam not unlike the artist’s treasured vistas of Puget Sound. ‘It captures both the iridescence of a fish, but also the water at sunset,’ he says.

The company liked the experiment so much that a cluster of Franklin’s shimmering fish became the centrepiece of Kohler’s booth at Salone del Mobile last year (according to Franklin, CEO David Kohler even kept a ceramic fish on his desk). ‘People were so excited about it,' Franklin remembers. 'I think the reaction showed that, wow, there is something here.'

Pearlized will make its official debut at Design Miami this December as part of a special installation designed by Harry Nuriev of Crosby Studios at the fair. The centrepiece of the installation will be a limited-edition Derring Carillon sink in the Pearlized finish. With its iridescent coating, the sink appears like a gleaming abalone shell, something straight from a mermaid's dream house.

While Kohler doesn’t have plans to expand Pearlized into other products just yet, the debut hints at more innovations to come and the company’s ongoing commitment to artist collaborations, one that was especially valuable to Franklin:

‘It was incredible to have carte blanche to play in the factory like that,’ he said.

Pearlized will be on view to the public at Design Miami from 3-7 December.

This is the central thesis underpinning the Costume Institute’s 2026 spring exhibition ‘Costume Art,’ which will run from 10 May 2026 until 10 January 2027. The landmark annual show, whose prelude is the star-studded Met Gala every first Monday in May, will display garments from the Costume Institute’s collection alongside artefacts and objects from the greater museum as an ode to and exploration of the human body.

‘“Costume Art’ is a celebration of the body in all of its strengths and weaknesses; its resiliencies and continuities; its perfections, Its imperfections, its idiosyncrasies and commonalities; and, above all, its sublime beauty, its wondrous complexity and its glorious and miraculous diversity,’ Bolton said at a press conference this morning.

The exhibition will unfold in several sections, including chapters titled the Naked Body, the Abstract Body, the Aging Body, and the Pregnant Body, in an effort to highlight ‘those that have traditionally been overlooked,’ according to the exhibition press release.

‘Costume Art’ also promises to create surprising conversations across the Met’s collections, which comprise 5,000 years of human history. At the preview, a 16th-century engraving of Adam and Eve by Albrecht Dürer was displayed alongside a 2009 bodysuit by Walter van Beirendonck printed with a full-frontal outline of a naked man (the back reads: Get Natural, Get Naked). A glimmering silver ‘Delphos’ gown designed in 1938 by Mariano Fortuny, meanwhile, towered above a seven-inch terracotta statuette of the goddess Nike from the 5th-Century BCE.

Other works that will be on display include a bustle designed by Charles James (the subject of the Costume Institute’s 2014 exhibition); a bulging gown designed by Rei Kawakubo (the star of the 2017 show); and a delicate tulle dress designed by Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy cinched at the waist with a belt made from bone-like metal pieces.

‘Although we can only show a few pairings today, they demonstrate a wide spectrum of connections that will be featured in the exhibition,’ Bolton said.

Typically, Costume Institute displays have been site-specific, taking over galleries with glittering fanfare (‘Heavenly Bodies,’ the Costume Institute's 2018 presentation, even extended uptown to the Met Cloisters). But ‘Costume Art’ marks a singular milestone: it will inaugurate a brand new, 12,000 sq ft gallery adjacent to the Met’s Great Hall.

The galleries, designed by Brooklyn-based architecture firm Paterson Rich Office, are named for Condé Montrose Nast, the 20th-century publisher whose magazine company publishes Vogue and is the project’s lead donor. By placing the Costume Institute’s galleries quite literally at the museum’s threshold, the Met is further elevating fashion’s profile within its holdings.

As Max Hollein, the Met’s director and CEO, noted, ‘We are expanding our long-standing commitment to collecting and presenting fashion within the context of our vast global collection.’

Set within the former location of George Nelson’s studio on Park Avenue South (a location that has served as the company's public space since the 1940s), the showroom embodies MillerKnoll's mission to preserve its design legacy while connecting its audience with contemporary creativity through innovative design conversations.

'This space underscores the company’s commitment to using design as a catalyst for human connection,' reads a note introducing the reimagined showroom, and the inaugural exhibition reflects this vision.

For the gallery's debut, the company chose a project originally presented at Triennale Milano in 2024: Walking Sticks and Canes is an exhibition curated by Japanese designer Keiji Takeuchi, who invited designers to create a walking stick that answered the question: 'How can we change a stigma into a purposeful product that makes you want to go outside and walk with your friends again?’ 

Takeuchi asked 19 designers to reinterpret the walking stick, 'not as a tool but as a gesture of movement and connection.' The group includes Herman Miller collaborators Jasper Morrison and Cecilie Manz alongside international designers such as Julie Richoz and Marialaura Irvine.

'Our role is to open doors to design experiences that aren’t always accessible,' says Kelsey Keith, Creative Director at MillerKnoll. 'Bringing Walking Sticks & Canes to New York connects people to these designers’ work and draws a line from very big questions to detailed, tactile answers. We’re also rethinking our showrooms as spaces where design becomes a living, evolving practice: something to experience.'

This focus on design for living is all the more poignant as it sits within MillerKnoll's creative ecosystem. Set over 11 floors and more than 77,000 square feet, this is the first space in the United States to combine contract showrooms and retail stores from Knoll and Herman Miller, as well as brands from the group that include, Muuto, Maharam and Hay.

MillerKnoll, 251 Park Ave S, New York, NY 10010

Wallpaper*: What were the main considerations in bringing this world to life?

Nathan Crowley: I think the main consideration was being respectful of the stage show, Wicked, and of the great history of the film. I spent every Christmas watching it with my parents, who have nostalgia about it, as do my grandparents, but my kids also all have nostalgia for Wicked. So you are trying to find a look for Oz that tells the story of this epic journey. The considerations are treading lightly and finding a way through it all and re-designing it for us, because this is the first time that Wicked has been told cinematically, so that's a long journey and we have to really start to understand what Oz is, what our theories of Oz are and what best represents it.

W*: What were the challenges in creating worlds of good and evil in a non-literal way?

NC: We have to redefine the yellow brick road as a form of oppression. How do we visually tell you that story? This is one of the many things that Wicked brings – it says the yellow brick road isn't what you think it is. We tell that story by showing you how it's made. They have to enslave the animals to make it. The munchkins have to get all the yellow tulips we grew and turn them into a yellow dye and make bricks with them, rather than making all the colours of the rainbow for their clothes, it’s now enforced colour to make the bricks, and all their colour is taken away. Munchkin Land becomes monotone yellow. So even when the house lands and Dorothy goes on her journey, she's really becoming an agent of the wizard. She's now working for the wizard. So it's just a very different point of view. And I think that's where you start. What are the visual signatures of showing you that oppression?

W*: What references inspired you?

NC: For Emerald City, it was the Chicago World Fair in 1893, where the great modernists built the White City, that's now long gone. But they built a dream. Edison and his electricity lit it. You look at Sullivan and especially Burnham, who built the White City and is the father of American modernism. The underlying thing that I took to Emerald City was a dream and the White City was a dream. And because we're an American fairy tale, I needed something like the Chicago World Fair to give me that dream.

With Sullivan and Burnham, their architecture was so detailed, but yet because it was en masse, it became simplistic and modern. So that's what I had to do for the Emerald City. I've got to build my green city. But I took inspiration from America, and then I had to add the whimsicalness, taking architecture that feels like it's verticality [using height in architecture] and then twisting them together. I had to form a new type of architecture, which was very exciting actually.

W*: How closely did you work with the director and members of the production team in the design? How flexible were you required to be as the story took shape?

NC: We had many months of prep before we even started building anything. So we worked in this visual room, all together, with Jon [M. Chu, Wicked director] and the producers. You look at it as a whole. I do everything practically and I start building with my giant construction group: it's like a piece of sculpture and it develops, like the dancers. Then the choreographer Chris [Scott, Wicked choreographer] comes in and says; 'Well I've got this idea for this dance, but I need a bridge.' Things change halfway through filming. We always develop it. And Jon would come and say, 'Oh, for this scene I need a giant fountain that rotates.' And yes, I've got a great special effects team. I can build your rotating fountain – but maybe it could open, and flowers and a balloon could come out!

On our crew, we have all the people who can do that stuff. We have engineers and sculptors and artists and prop makers who get excited because it's a challenge. So I don't do it alone. I have this army of people. At one point, we were running a thousand people in my department. And it's the most wonderful thing when everyone is moving. It's so fluid.

Wicked: For Good is released on November 21

Composed of womenswear, menswear, accessories and beauty, the Ludovic de Saint Sernin x Zara collection sees the Paris-based designer bring his luxury brand to a wider audience for the first time.

The beauty component is an extensive range of makeup and skincare that equals the impressive quality of the Zara haircare designed by Guido Palau. A moisturiser and skincare tools are designed to create a healthy base for the makeup, which includes a dual-wand mascara, a lightweight but high-coverage foundation, and hydrating lip gloss, for a solid base that can be amplified with metallic colour sticks for eyes and lips. It is a toolkit for a fresh-faced look, one that complements the slinky glamour of the collection’s fashion.

As a designer, de Saint Sernin is best known for his sensual, gender-fluid designs that often feature lace-up and metal eyelet details. For the Zara collection, de Saint Sernin wanted to retain those foundational elements with looks both sensual and easy to wear, transitioning from day to evening, uptown to downtown, subway to limousine.

The brand’s signature metal eyelets are reimagined as polished chrome studs that embellish everything from leather trench coats to minidresses, stacked belts and gloves. While party-ready halterneck tops, mini skirts and body-hugging gowns come in a lightweight metal mesh material. Both the menswear and womenswear features an array of leather and denim trousers and jackets that can be paired with the collection’s fuzzy coats or tank tops woven with glittering thread.

For de Saint Sernin, who used to shop at Zara growing up, the collaboration is a dream come true ‘What we’ve created together is my idea of the perfect wardrobe: pieces crafted with incredible quality that I want to wear, that I want my friends to wear, that I want everyone to wear,’ he says. ‘The most incredible aspect of working on this collection was knowing how universal it would be. Thanks to Zara, people across the world will have the chance to access the Ludovic de Saint Sernin universe.’

zara.com

The partners in life and art have collaborated with Chanel and Louis Vuitton, and have shot for every top fashion and culture magazine you can think of, including their series on America’s top 50 creatives for Wallpaper* in 2024. Their early adoption of digital manipulation in the Nineties put them at the forefront of portraiture at a time when experimentation with computer technology in image making was in its emergence. The result is a 40-year body of work made with the declared intention of striking a balance between the moment and timelessness and to ‘destabilise the conventional promise of photography as a purveyor of truth.’

In a preview of work in their retrospective at Kunstmuseum Den Haag opening in March 2026, ‘Can Love Be a Photograph’ ,they are showing images from the project ‘Think Love' at India Mahdavi’s Project Room #21, in Paris. This project, which opened to coincide with Paris Photo, showcases Inez & Vinoodh’s series created with the iPhone 17 in Marfa Texas.

‘Think Love’, created as part of the project ‘Joy, in 3 Parts’ is a series of portraits of couple Charles Matadin and Natalie Brumley. Curated by ex-director of photography for The New York Times Magazine Kathy Ryan, the project also featured Mickalene Thomas and Trunk Xu.

The couple were shot simply, outside with a translucent piece of red fabric, in a series that explores both the intimacy and the euphoria of romantic love and desire. The landscape plays a role in some of the images as a stirring backdrop for the young lovers.

The collaboration with iPhone is a natural progression in Inez & Vinoodh’s use of tech throughout their career, who see it as a way of pushing the boundaries of art and portrait making. In the exaggerated elements of a portrait, they create insights into their subjects or their art, extending the influence of the photograph. They were the first to start using computers to alter the human body in ways that are very normal now, and used them to heighten meaning over a mythical human physical perfection.

Having worked together since 1986, they have an intuitive way of making images, with one taking photographs and the other observing. There is no fixed role and most of their shoots take only fifteen minutes, with the duo demonstrating an apt way of gaining the trust of their subjects that means the process is very fluid, they have said.

In trying to liberate photography from the moment, they have created timeless images with both avant garde and classic qualities featuring well-known figures of recent times. In putting together the large-scale show, previewed here in Paris, they have taken chronology out of the equation, taking their work out of the order in which it was made and focusing purely on the images.

Inez and Vinoodh’s legacy as image makers is set, but they are still seeking to explore photography, its limitations and its possibilities. Here we see a taster of what’s to come in March 2026, on view in Paris until 12^th December.

'Think Love’ is on view from 13th November – 12th December 2025, India Mahdavi’s Project Room #21

theravestijngallery.com

Explore the new Border Outlook in Naco, Mexico

‘Naco exemplifies the abandonment and scarcity of border towns in Mexico, which are considered mainly as spaces to transit, to cross to “the other side”,’ she says. ‘It is the place where drug dealer El Chapo Guzmán built the first tunnels from Mexico to the United States, and it is a place characterised by violence. It lacks public space and has had, until now, no civic spaces or cultural services. Naco is a place fragmented by two main elements: the border wall and the highway that runs parallel to the wall, making the city two strips defined by these strong physical and conceptual divisions.’

After winning a competition in 2020 to design low-income houses in Chiapas for the government, the Mexico City-based Canales was invited to help transform Naco ‘from a place of transition into a place of belonging’ by Mexico’s Secretaría de Desarrollo Agrario, Territorial y Urbano (SEDATU, the country’s ministry for urban development). Some of Mexico’s best contemporary architects, such as Gabriela Carrillo, Rozana Montiel and Estudio MMX, have worked on similar programmes.

The brief initially outlined a market for local craftspeople selling their wares, but this soon expanded to become a multipurpose social-activity structure, offering a platform for anything from graduations and concerts to community events. The design comprises a 4,000 sq m grid-based structure, composed of interconnected vaulted roofs and terraces, left open to the elements and free from furniture or spatial dividers, ‘so anyone can make use of it and everything is always visible’, notes Canales. A three-level tower on one end confidently marks its presence. Made of terracotta brick and exposed concrete, it is robust, almost brutalist; at the same time, its resulting earthy tones nod to the local soil colouring and the area’s architectural vernacular, both important references to Canales. This construction method also meant it could be easily built without the need for specialist skilled labour or expensive future maintenance, perfectly suited to a funds-strapped local municipality.

Beyond navigating difficulties arising from the scheme’s limited budget and resources, the architect also had to tackle travel obstacles as the development of the design took place during the height of the pandemic. ‘It was almost impossible to travel there and visit the sites, and throughout the building process, there was still a huge problem regarding safe working conditions and availability of materials,’ she says. ‘There were more problems than the usual scarcity issues in these very remote and marginal areas. Additionally, these are places that have never been safe for women, so that did not help either.’

The Border Outlook is part of a bigger architectural family, including four other projects designed by Canales for Naco (a sports facility, housing for older people, a community centre and a plaza), and two more for the nearby town of Agua Prieta (a sports and civic centre, and a public library with a park). All were commissioned through a SEDATU scheme addressing the need for safe public spaces and civic services in some of the most deprived areas in the country.

Within this context, the Border Outlook is a flagship feature, thanks to its textured minimalism, size (it is the only building in town with more than two floors) and location at the entrance to the city (visible to everyone driving towards the US, and to returning locals, signalling their arrival home). ‘It plays an important role in providing a sense of identity and pride for Naco residents,’ says Canales. ‘At night, it becomes a lantern for the city and a symbol of new public pedestrian space.’ As a bonus, its presence inspires passing cars to lower their driving speed, allowing for a pedestrian crossing, connecting the town to a baseball field that was previously hard to access.

The project is now fully operational and thriving, but its significance goes beyond its practical use. Canales says, ‘I have been told it’s the “tower of hope”, where people can look from above and gain a different perspective that was not available before – not only can they see “the other side”, but they also see their own side, and become more aware of their home.’

fernandacanales.com

Ichio Matsuzawa: Architecture at the edge of perception

He created the bar with a series of curved, three-millimetre acrylic sheets, each a two-by-four-metre panel with 94 per cent transparency. They hovered at the edge of consciousness, present only when they caught the light, distorted a likeness or, momentarily, eclipsed a moving body.

The panels were heat-formed in an industrial oven using steel moulds, a process as delicate as it was unpredictable, as the acrylic became almost liquid when heated, making the ultimate curves impossible to control. Matsuzawa embraced the risk, allowing ‘beautiful accidents’ to shape the final forms, discarding everything that felt too rigid, precise, or artificial. What remained was a series of ephemeral thresholds that appeared and dissolved as visitors moved through the space.

This is where Matsuzawa drew a line between architecture and sculpture. Objects, he commented, are static. Architecture is perpetual: it changes with people, climate, sound, and time. In the bar, nothing stayed still. From the street, shadows of trees rippled across the acrylic, and echoes bent and multiplied. The breeze pushed both surfaces and images out of alignment. ‘New, mirage-like spaces are constantly being generated,’ he explained.

The transparency also blurred the divide between inside and out, a deliberate strategy given the bar’s street-level site in central Tokyo, which became part of the architecture, not merely the backdrop. Nature, too, entered the framework: wind, branches, sunlight, passing cyclists, and the casual choreography of pedestrians.

To counter the coolness of the acrylic, Matsuzawa designed stools and tables wrapped in richly coloured Afghan textiles, introducing tactility, warmth, and cultural layering. A soundscape by composer Yusuke Nakano completed the multisensory environment.

Matsuzawa, who has quietly built up a reputation for projects that question material presence and spatial perception, saw the AWT Bar as part of a philosophical enquiry into architecture as experience rather than form. ‘Each visitor encounters a different space, depending on their movements, their timing, their sensitivity,’ he said. ‘The work isn’t complete until someone inhabits it.’

The bar served cocktails designed by artists, including Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group and Tsuyoshi Ozawa, and snacks by chef Shinobu Namae, including Seaweed Jambon Beurre made with Suji-Aonori seaweed butter and two kinds of seaweed pickles, but the bar’s real takeaway was spatial. In creating architecture that existed only through perception rather than solidity, Matsuzawa inverted conventional notions of what a building should be.

Rather than defining space, his near-invisible acrylic panels dissolved it – making the architectural experience something visitors sensed rather than saw, felt rather than touched. For an architect committed to spaces that emerge from sensation rather than structure, the AWT Bar wasn’t simply a commission. It was a manifesto.

imoffice.net

Indeed, when Barringer and her creative partner Amanda McGowan first met, during orientation at NYU – taking cinema studies and journalism via pre-med, respectively – a bond was initiated almost before either had uttered a word. ‘Our outfits spoke to each other,’ recalls Barringer. A shared visual language was quickly affirmed and the pair soon began collaborating on various projects until 2015, when Women’s History Museum proper was established. ‘If we weren’t both wearing these very expressive things,’ adds McGowan, ‘we probably wouldn’t have connected. It was both a visual marker of “oh, this is what we’re interested in”, and a kinship.’

Speaking to Wallpaper* the day after Halloween, (they didn’t participate, instead heading to Metrograph to watch Juraj Herz’s 1972 gothic drama, Morgiana), the duo has spent the past decade building on that early instinct and refining how they share it with the world, producing garments, sculptures, print and videos, and putting on catwalk shows, setting up a vintage store, curating exhibitions and opening a physical shop space in Chinatown. Their first institutional exhibition, ‘Grisette á l'enfer’ (or ‘Grissett in hell’, so-called after a figure that emerged in France in the 17^th century, representing working class women behind the fashion industry) is on display now at the Amant in Brooklyn, through 15 February 2026.

‘I was shy when I was younger,’ says McGowan, reciting her own sartorial biography, ‘so [clothing] became a way to communicate with people, to express how I felt and not have to say anything.’ Coming of age before the internet’s grip on culture had reached its current fever pitch, both women were drawn to fashion magazines early on, and initially envisioned their practice would lean into the medium. ‘We grew up with computers, but before you had access to so much imagery. Print media was the way to access images of fashion or art,’ offers McGowan. ‘That was a very formative education on fashion and developing our own tastes and visual language.’

The first ‘official’ pieces of Women’s History Museum were produced for an exhibition by the artist Donna Hunaca, a friend and former colleague of Barringer’s, and the experience ultimately shaped their focus on making apparel in an art context. Pulling influences from a disparate range of sources, the 18^th and 19^th centuries are regulars on their mood board, while Vivienne Westwood’s 1984 ‘Hypnos’ collection is an evergreen reference; an interrogation of the more traditional fashion industry is central to everything they do. In practise, this has led to a singular, oftentimes sexy and typically provocative arrangement of working with textiles and adjacent materials, like a bra constructed from birds (‘Animam Agere’), wigs and shoes made from colourful plastic ‘pills’, or high heels stacked on secondary wooden platforms, as well as more conventionally ‘wearable’ pieces that include dresses printed with columns and leggings full of cut outs.

Until 2020, both Barringer and McGowan were working other jobs alongside and in support of Women’s History Museum. During the pandemic, they began receiving PUA, during which time they started the vintage business, which in turn informed how their wider practice has since unfolded. ‘Living in New York City and surviving off of a creative career is pretty difficult,’ shares Barringer. ‘We started selling vintage because we needed a way to make money, then we were able to direct our energies more intentionally.’ Working together – in addition to maintaining a friendship – is something they’ve had to navigate along the way, but McGowan wouldn’t have it any other way. ‘Collaborations aren’t easy, it took time. But working with someone I really respect and admire is exciting. We have this language which makes it fun and interesting, it’s endlessly generative.’

The Amant exhibition follows their first three consecutive fashion shows since joining the official NYFW schedule, and the pair are happy to be embracing a change in tempo, having sat out S/S 2026. ‘Shows are so ephemeral, it’s nice to have something that's going to stand for a long period,’ explains McGowan. In the space, a series of 18th-century mannequins on loan from the Met appear alongside others cast in wax and welded steel, adorned in pieces from past collections featuring old coins, porcupine quills and antique casino chips. ‘We're lucky to show in different contexts – we love the performative aspect of fashion shows, but it's also enriching for people to see the full scope,’ McGowan continues. ‘Everything feels terrible right now, in many ways, but aesthetically, there are lots of soulless things being made. So there’s a significance to creating things that make people happy, giving a reprieve from the world.’

Women’s History Museum: Grisette à l’enfir runs at Amant, Brooklyn until February 15, 2026

womenshistorymuseum.co

'The relentlessness of our phones, the digital noise, the pace that we are expected to maintain at every hour of the day – I think all of that makes analogue experiences feel like a breath of fresh air. '

'In the digital age,' she points out, 'you no longer need to use paper for everyday things, you choose paper, when the situation asks for it, and so you must think about that choice and use the right paper.'

For Cooper-Wright, that means sustainably made notebook and diary pages that are a joy to write on. As Mark+Fold reaches its tenth anniversary, that instinct feels well founded. To celebrate, the brand has opened its first-ever pop-up shop on London’s Brick Lane.

The Shoreditch space marks a decade of the brand’s steady rise. Since 2015, Mark+Fold has carved out a place among discerning stationery lovers for its considered design, meticulous production values, and a belief in the simple, grounding act of putting ideas on paper. The pop-up will showcase the full new collection – including the 2026 diary range – alongside the brand’s core products.

And that's not all. A programme of talks brings long-time collaborators into the fold. Writer Huma Qureshi, who drafted her memoir in a Mark+Fold notebook, will discuss process and the ritual of choosing ‘the right’ notebook. Patrick Grant, fashion designer and Great British Sewing Bee judge, joins Cooper-Wright to explore craftsmanship, sustainability, and their shared ethos of honest, local production. Textile artist Margo Selby will launch a new edition of Mark+Fold notebooks featuring her Shuttle II design, bringing her bold geometric language to the brand’s signature minimal, tactile format.

In addition to the main collection, the anniversary will spotlight a rare series of ‘Editions of 10’ – small-batch, hand-bound books produced in collaboration with Wyvern Bindery in Hackney. These continue Mark+Fold’s longstanding tradition of championing skilled makers, from bookbinders to marblers, and sit within the brand’s ongoing commitment to preserving endangered crafts.

The 2026 diary, developed with Swiss-German typographic designer Catherine Nippe, also takes centre stage. Clean, flexible and understated, it’s available in a special linen-bound edition with a debossed foil ‘26’ and cotton ribbon – a nod to the brand’s obsession with detail and longevity.

For Cooper-Wright, the pop-up is a chance to gather the community that has grown around a shared love of paper, precision, and the power of a crisp blank page.

The Mark + Fold pop up is open to the public from 12 to 25 November 2025 at 228 Brick Lane, London E2 7EE

Presented through six modular ‘officescapes’, the project reinterprets the logic, structure and psychology of work using the USM Haller system – the celebrated modular furniture first developed in 1961 by Paul Schärer and Fritz Haller.

Conceived shortly after May’s move to New York last year, the project draws on the city’s density, energy and intellectual charge, and most pointedly on the building in which it was developed: 161 Water Street, home to May’s own studio. Once the AIG headquarters, the Emery Roth & Sons-designed tower was built in 1982 , amid the high-gloss, high-ambition corporate boom of the era. This historical backdrop set the tone for May’s investigation into how spatial design can reflect, support and evolve with today’s working patterns.

'The needs of modern work are fluid, constantly redefined by technology, geography, and personality, ' explains May, who is known for his sleek and minimalist aesthetic. 'Using the adaptability of the USM Haller system, my approach was to create environments that are not prescriptive – spaces that can adapt to the evolving patterns of creative and intellectual life. Each officescape is designed to encourage clarity of thought, calm, and self-definition – qualities that, to me, define the new architecture of work.’

The six 'officescapes' each embody a specific archetype of working intelligence: the 'Collector' is curiosity and research, the 'Strategist' speaks to structure, the 'Editor' represents precision, the 'Maker' – experimentation, the 'Archivist' – order, while the 'Observer' is an exploration of contemplation. Designed between eight and 12 linear feet, each is a fully functional workspace intended to function independently or as part of a connected spatial network.

Photographed within WSA’s glass-fronted third floor, the 'officescapes' use the building’s neutral architecture as context and subject. The project marks the beginning of an ongoing, global study by May and USM into typologies of work, with future iterations planned in response to different cultures and cities.

One configuration, 'The Collector', will be on view at Basic.Space NYC – an invite-only event run by social commerce platform Basic.Space in downtown Manhattan – until 16 November 2025.

Maggie’s: a brief history

That such a centre now exists within over 27 major hospital sites across the UK and abroad is the legacy of writer, gardener and designer Maggie Keswick Jencks. Diagnosed with breast cancer at 47, and having experienced firsthand the complexities of cancer care, Maggie felt that more support could be offered, beyond medical treatment, to those living with cancer – a place in contrast to the often windowless sterility of a hospital consultancy room or corridor.

Before she died in 1995, Maggie, together with her husband, the landscape designer Charles Jencks, and her oncology nurse Dame Laura Lee LBE (who would become the charity’s Chief Executive), conceived the template for a different kind of healthcare premises, and the first Maggie’s opened its doors just a year later at Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.

The Maggie's centres and their architecture

‘In essence, Maggie’s is somewhere you can go as soon as you leave the consultant’s office’, explains Director of Properties, Siobhan Wyatt. ‘Our centres are run by oncology professionals and we provide practical, social and emotional support – we have benefits advisers, clinical psychologists and cancer support specialists, but also run things like art classes, relax and breathe sessions and offer nutritional support; it can be as little or as much as the visitor needs’.

Architecturally, Maggie’s buildings are atypical in their design, with leading architects such as Norman Foster, Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid conceiving mixed-use spaces that promote human connectedness and wellbeing, where patients, carers and healthcare professionals can intermingle in buildings emanating a sense of sanctuary. The enveloping gardens at Maggie’s sites are every bit as integral to this outcome.

Maggie's gardens

‘When you are in a Maggie’s, and when you’re digesting information, the view beyond the window to the outside world is really important’, says Wyatt, emphasising the significance of seasonality that gardens impart. ‘If you’re sat in an environment where you are surrounded by seasons it can help you psychologically adjust: you see the beauty in a shrub coming to a natural end in autumn and then the regrowth in spring, for example. All of that, without saying anything out loud, supports the process of you accommodating this new world that you’re living in’.

Initially, interest in designing Maggie’s gardens came from Maggie and Charles’ circle of friends, Wyatt explains, which included landscape architects who offered their services. ‘But it soon became more structured. We’re very invested in matching the architect and landscape designer for each project, making sure the fit is right.

Maggie's gardens: key examples

At Maggie’s Southampton, for example, the architect was Amanda Levete and Sarah Price was the landscape designer, and there was 'a really beautiful relationship in their sharing of space,’ says Wyatt. The centre, which occupies a former car park within University Hospital Southampton, was designed to reflect the surrounding New Forest landscape. Wyatt continues: ‘Amanda Lavette was completely generous: the concept was a glazed box with little architectural definition, just surrounded by a slice of the New Forest. The landscape then banks up all the way around on all four sides, so you are nestled in.'

Wyatt gives the example, too, of how Marie-Louise Agius worked with Thomas Heatherwick on a ‘planters’-theme for Maggie’s Yorkshire, with raised roofs of verdant greenery; and of Maggie’s Northampton – a more recent project – where garden designer Arne Maynard has continued the indoor-outdoor architecture of Stephen Marshall’s ‘umbrella’ building with linear hedges that form outside rooms. Undoubtedly, the collaborative process yields hugely creative results. ‘Every time you do one of these projects, you learn that the relationship between architect and landscape architect is really important,’ says Wyatt.

By its nature, the space made available on hospital grounds for Maggie’s centres often tends to be awkward: a former carpark, a space between existing buildings, an inclined landscape, etc. Nonetheless, over the years, designers have risen to such challenges with remarkable ingenuity and beauty. At the Royal Marsden hospital in London, renowned Dutch designer Piet Oudolf envisioned four zones of differing plant communities to make productive use of varying light levels, its 12,000 plants selected for year-round seasonality.

At the Royal Oldham Hospital, garden designer Rupert Muldoon employed airy white birch trees to draw light into a garden space below dRMM’s column-raised Maggie’s building. ‘Designing a healing garden, for me, meant embracing as much nature as possible,’ Muldoon reflects. ‘I imagined a woodland garden of suggestive routes, inviting exploration. Working with Maggie’s is liberating – there is freedom to create what you are most passionate about.’

Wyatt remarks on a favourite space within the garden at Maggie’s Manchester, designed by Dan Pearson, which features raised beds for vegetable cultivation. ‘There’s a lot of activity – people having conversations over doing something practical with their hands, like shelling peas; that’s always magical to see. There’s a covered veranda, and you see people asleep in chairs with a sheepskin blanket over them – it might be raining, but they can still be outside’. Vital to all Maggie’s gardens is a carefully selected, highly skilled gardener, who continues the designer’s vision but also develops its unique character, often leading a regular group of volunteers in practical, accessible gardening activities.

In many cases, the gardens play a crucial role in softening the passage between the hospital consultancy room and the Maggie’s premises, particularly for patients immediately after diagnosis, Wyatt explains – something Maggie felt keenly. ‘As soon as you get out, the way-finding and the time it takes to get to the centre is really important. That’s why we insist on being as near to oncology as we can, and we insist on influencing as much of that surrounding landscape as we can’.

A good example can be seen in the extended garden at Maggie’s West London, where Dan Pearson conceived an intimate pathway weaving below the hospital’s large London plane trees, leading through lush seasonal planting – including scented sweet box, soft hellebores and Japanese anemones – to the centre itself. ‘Those meandering spaces give a person time to pause, time to digest; spaces where you can sit down, where you feel comforted and secure, before you get to the front door. That’s why the garden is so important – it’s that transition from the medical to the Maggie’s environment.’

Recommended: The Garden Design Confessional podcast. Presented by garden designer Darren Hawkes, the podcast features interviews with many of the garden designers behind Maggie’s gardens.

maggies.org

3000 copies of the vinyl will be available worldwide. In addition, Rough Trade stores will hold 500 coloured vinyl records and 500 limited-edition CDs featuring a live performance at Brixton Electric.

'What drew us to work with David is the dark sense of humour in his pieces,' the band tell Wallpaper* 'And that he’s sick as fuck!'

Lambrini Girls have had a momentous year, receiving nods from punk elders Iggy Pop, Kathleen Hannah and Carrie Brownstein and critical acclaim from publications such as The Guardian, Rolling Stone and NME – the latter calling their ferocious debut album 'loud, raw, and impossible to ignore'.

Phoebe Lunny and Macieira-Boşgelmez of the band gained a following with their outspoken politics, both in interviews and their music. Their debut record takes on the far-right, gentrification, toxic masculinity and trans rights.

The new vinyl, titled Slutcore Version For Kids Who Can't Read Good captures their humour and DIY ethos – a perfect pairing between two of Brighton's subversive creative forces.

Wallpaper* dines at Monsieur Dior by Dominique Crenn, Beverly Hills

The mood: ladies who lunch

As the first Dior restaurant outside Paris, the mood embodies French art de vivre, woven with fashion and taste. From the moment you step into the lifts, engulfed in floral motifs, an enchanting experience unfolds. Designed by architect Peter Marino, the space blends the spirit of 30 Montaigne with laid-back Californian ease, including a large patio shaded by the quintessential palm trees of Rodeo Drive.

A curved bar crafted in ebony and onyx, overlooked by a ceiling of sculpted rose petals in shades of white and backed by a wall sculpture of faceted mirrored panels, almost cut like a diamond, offers signature cocktails such as the J’Adior, made with pear, elderflower and Champagne, alongside a menu of small bar bites. The main room features a full-wall canvas: Gardens of Courances (2025) by Nicole Wittenberg, a major site-specific commission created to immerse guests in an enchanted botanical cosmos. Dining chairs are swathed in chartreuse green and peach-coloured abstract fabrics surrounding round white tables, though you may prefer a seat along the banquette wall or one of the cosy side booths for prime people-watching.

The rainbow of colourful crystal-cut plates and glasses used during your meal can be purchased in a small Maison conveniently located between the bar and the main restaurant; a tempting prospect after a few fruity or Damask rose cocktails.

The food: light French fare with a Californian twist

Pardon the cliché, but every dish is a work of art. If you’re feeling decadent, the caviar service arrives in a tin layered with smoked crème fraîche textured to resemble tweed. Dig deeper and you’ll find egg-yolk jam and pickled shallot, intended to be spread on a fluffy herbed madeleine. The most-ordered dish so far is the confit salmon with fermented red pepper, clams and grilled spinach. Other hits include seared scallops with blood orange, beef tartare (again with egg-yolk jam), and abalone served with anchovy and pepper sauce.

Crenn’s signature has been reimagined for Beverly Hills as the Guinea Hen Rodeo with mushrooms, though her rich, creamy potato millefeuille remains unchanged. Desserts take the ‘couture cuisine’ theme to its peak and are almost too pretty to eat – from a coconut rosé cream tart with raspberries and pistachio to a chocolate mousse patterned after a quilted handbag. Get your camera ready: photographs are encouraged, and the dishes are crafted to be captured like A-list stars.

Monsieur Dior by Dominique Crenn is located at 323 N Rodeo Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210, United States.

Everywhere you look, human hands and mechanical arms coexist in purposeful choreography. As well as mind-blowingly hi-tech machines, there are workers wielding the kinds of tools that shoemakers would have used hundreds of years ago: bread knives are used to trim the jute in one corner, whilst robotic cutters trace laser-sharp outlines across sprawling hides in another.

A tour of Birkenstock‘s Görlitz factory

‘In our production, some steps remain entirely manual, others are half-automated, and a few are fully automated,’ says Markus Baum, Birkenstock’s chief product officer. ‘For certain processes, we’ve even co-developed machines with partners to meet our standards. We introduce innovation where it makes sense, never for its own sake. Progress for us must always serve purpose.’

In Görlitz, we’re a world away from the cobbled streets of the founders’ 18th-century Frankfurt (once an epicentre of shoemaking), but the principles remain the same. Craftsmanship here is a mix of curiosity and continuity; knowing what can change, and what must always stay the same. ‘It’s all about balance,’ Baum adds. Some materials can only be worked on by humans, and some can only be done by machines.

Considering Birkenstocks all still have a handmade element, the scale of production is astonishing. Two football fields’ worth of leather – mostly from European suppliers in Italy and Spain – are cut each day. The brand’s famous cork ‘Fussbett’, or footbed, is still the beating heart of the operation, and even when Birkenstock have collaborated with brands like Dior, Rick Owens and Jil Sander, it’s the one thing that noone is allowed to change. The footbed has become the brand’s literal and philosophical foundation and is perfectly suited to today’s wellness-driven world.

In the factory, the footbeds are baked in steel moulds and emerge hot, pliable and aromatic, like loaves of bread from an oven. Every single one is still made in Germany, a point of pride that underscores the brand’s insistence on authenticity. ‘Birkenstock's shoemaking tradition dates back to 1774, and with that heritage comes a deep understanding of our craft,’ Baum explains.

Though Birkenstock has been around since the 18th century (when Johann Adam Birkenstock first registered as a shoemaker in a small Hessian village near Frankfurt), it’s remarkably contemporary. Laser systems map each hide like a topographical scan, tracing imperfections before slicing out the sandal’s familiar shapes. Though for the more experimental 1774 range, produced in smaller runs, everything is still hand-cut, especially for the Boston clog’s complex patterns or for selecting the softest part of the hide for a front strap.

After nearly 200 years of production, it was the 1960s countercultural wave of Birkenstock-wearing American hippies that made the shoes an iconic symbol of natural living. Since then, a series of high-profile fans have exploded the brand into what we know it as today: Steve Jobs photographed wearing them in 1973; fashion designer Andre Walker in the gladiatorial Athens in 1983; Kate Moss shot wearing them in The Face magazine in 1993.

But somehow Birkenstock is immune to fashion’s usual vagaries. They want it to remain that way. ‘We stay true to our purpose: empowering people to walk as nature intended,’says Baum. ‘A universal idea rooted in the belief that everyone deserves to walk naturally. And that’s timeless. We’ve never been much interested in or were ever defined by trends. We draw from a rich product archive of more than 700 silhouettes and from the cultural capital that comes with it.’

That archive acts as an internal guide and helps the brand navigate hype cycles. And much as they love to dip into the archive, they’re also all about innovating for the future. ‘We’re bringing newness to leather through design and texture and continue to lead the way in pioneering finishes and enhanced wearability,’ Baum says. ‘At the same time, we’re expanding production of our water-ready styles. We innovate wherever it genuinely adds value to the product, function is what drives us.’

Whether it’s with luxury houses or emerging designers, collaborations are approached with the same purpose. ‘Collaboration, for us, is a field of experimentation,’ says Baum. ‘We value the fresh perspective that brand outsiders bring to our products and to our core values of quality, function, and tradition.’

At the end of the factory line, a pair of Arizonas sits cooling on a steel rack – cork still warm, straps neatly pressed into place. Soon they’ll travel across continents, almost identical to those made centuries ago, but entirely new. That’s Birkenstock’s soft power: a shoe that’s barely changed, but still somehow feels like the future.

birkenstock.com

What began as a modest artist exchange has evolved into a community of more than 400 contributors spanning 40 countries, united by colour, process and a commitment to slow, human-centred communication.

The 100th issue, titled Risottopia, marks the project’s most ambitious edition yet. Instead of focusing on a single city or theme, Marcella has invited three of the most influential figures in modern design – Nathalie Du Pasquier, Peter Shire and Barbara Stauffacher Solomon – to contribute new artworks. These are designers who have profoundly shaped Marcella’s own practice, and whose impact stretches across movements, decades and continents. The result is a vivid visual conversation between Memphis, Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Glasgow: a utopian meeting place conjured through ink, shape and pattern.

For subscribers, Rottopia arrives as a limited-edition pack of hand-printed postcards, mailed exclusively throughout November. As ever, the process is defiantly analogue. 'Every month we print, fold and ship the work by hand,' says Marcella. 'It’s labour-intensive, but it’s an act of love – a reminder that design can still travel slowly, beautifully, and surprise.'

Alongside the anniversary edition, Risotto is planning a public retrospective for 2026 and will launch a digital Riso Club Atlas, mapping the project’s global reach and the hundreds of artworks produced so far. Together, these initiatives underscore the studio’s dedication to sustaining a print culture that values tactility, imperfection and exchange.

At a moment when digital images circulate effortlessly, Riso Club’s commitment to ink, postage stamps and physical connection feels almost radical. Its 100th issue is not only a celebration of print, but a reminder that correspondence – something shared, held and kept –will always have the power to move people.

Non-members have until 30th November to secure their pack at risottostudio.com

Favouring reuse over starting from scratch and working with natural materials - often predominantly wood - Oza Sabbeth Architects (and now, Oza Studio) has been carving its own, distinct niche within architecture and in its part of the world; which is also where its newest project, a bespoke haven for a couple who own a car repair outfit in the Bronx, is located.

Tour this Montauk house on Hither Hills

'The clients of Hither Hill are some of the most genuine and down-to-earth folks we've ever had, and one of our favourite clients ever. They own and operate an auto body paint shop in the Bronx. And they LOVE the house. It is a coming-of-age for them, a celebration of their lives so far... It is their lair,' Oza explains.

The couple approached him with a commission for a holiday home on Hither Hills, a stretch of sand with a long, southerly view of the Atlantic Ocean. Set on elevated ground, the site captures wide Atlantic views at both sunrise and sunset.

Right from the start of the project, Oza spotted an opportunity to bring his approach of radically reimagining existing building fabric for 21st-century needs to good use. He says: 'The clients wanted to tear down the house and start from scratch. There was no ambition to make it grand. The ambition was to make it theirs – more open, more light, yet still humble.'

However, the architect quickly established that the cost to demolish and start from scratch would be twice as much as that of a reuse. Additionally, ironically, by demolishing, 'less would have been possible – both in terms of size and proximity to the side lot lines.'

The tired, existing structure on site felt mundane and uninspiring, yet held lots of potential. Oza and his team reorientated the house to look out towards the water, ensuring there is expansive glazing in nearly every interior space. A new top roof deck and a terrace spilling out from the living spaces accentuate this connection between indoors and outdoors.

'The large ocean-facing deck anchors the home to its site, while the street-facing side is kept more reserved with screened windows that filter sunlight and shield the interiors from exposure,' says Oza. 'The result is a home that balances openness and retreat, transforming a once-static shell into a coastal dwelling that serves as both sanctuary and outlook, as well as refuge and prospect.'

The Montauk house on Hither Hills spans some 3,250 Sq Ft. The top level features the roof deck, which contains a viewing lounge, green roof, a powder room and kitchenette. Just below is the home's piano nobile, featuring the main entrance, and living spaces (sitting, kitchen and dining areas inside and out on the second deck), but also the primary bedroom. A lower level offers space for three guestrooms, a gym, a lounge, a secondary entrance and the garage.

'The design process felt like chiselling out a noisy form to excavate a quiet interior,' Oza explains. 'The constraints were many – structural limits, tight site slope, zoning, and budget. But we found answers by stripping back 'noise': we simplified the plan for better flow, we extended the roof deck to pull the horizon in, we used vertical siding to create rhythm and calm, and we carved in light, shielded privacy made the house breathe.'

Meanwhile, wrapping the structure with a single material - vertical wood planks - produced a visually consistent and bold overall volume. This timber skin goes around all facades and the entire body of the house, creating a gently dramatic, sculptural impression. 'The wood planks extend from the siding to the roof, visually simplifying and connecting the entire shell of the house,' Oza notes.

oza-studio.com

Wallpaper* dines at Bonheur by Matt Abé, London

The mood: tactile minimalism

Russell Sage Studio is behind the look of Ramsay restaurants, including Pétrus and 22 Bishopsgate, but here it’s Abé who has been heavily involved in the design process. Details such as the yellow leather tabletops reflect the chef’s vision for a tactile and comfortable space that matches his culinary ethos of approachable refinement (Bonheur is the French word for ‘happiness’). Dramatic flourishes include floral installations, sculptural waiter stations and horsehair wallpaper adorning illuminated recesses in the dining room.

‘The space is intended to feel soft, stylish and emotionally resonant,’ says executive creative director Russell Sage, ‘with discreet luxury that is crisp and elegant, without being over the top. The palette includes peach, rust, sandy walnut and ochre tones, subtly referencing Matt’s Australian roots without being literal, and reflecting the overarching concept of rich, warm minimalism.’

The basement dining room is unrecognisable from the glossy black-and-red Le Gavroche days, with the best seats in the house at Petit Bonheur, the six-seat chef’s table, which offers the opportunity to get up close and personal with Abé and his team.

The food: Abé unleashed

Bonheur is very much Abé’s, not Ramsay’s restaurant, but don’t come expecting a radical departure from the fine-dining playbook. There’s a three-course à la carte menu, but two tasting menus – the five-course Journey and the seven-course Dream – are the main attraction. The cooking, however, is no re-tread of what Abé was doing at Royal Hospital Road. Here at his first solo restaurant, the chef has total creative freedom, best exemplified by his choice of ingredients.

Bonheur is the only restaurant in the country to serve Cumbrian 125-day-aged Blue Grey sirloin, developed between Abé and Lake District Farmers as an experiment into the dry-ageing process and transformed by the chef into a butter-soft slice of pink meat encased in crisply seared fat with a half-moon of potato terrine on the side: the poshest meat and potatoes imaginable.

Other classic dishes given the contemporary haute-cuisine treatment include quiche Lorraine re-imagined as a cheesy tart of leek and pork belly with vin jaune sauce, and a sweet-toothed dessert of pecan mousse with cocoa ice cream and the grown-up addition of Pedro Ximénez gel.

Bonheur by Matt Abé is located at 43 Upper Brook Street, London, W1K 7QR, UK.

‘You enter the house, and in literally each corner there is a sofa,’ shares curator Michele Bertolino, sampling the upholstery the morning after the show opened to collaborators and contributors, press, family, and friends of the museum. ‘It's incredible because the sofas are always busy; it means being cosy and having the possibility to stay, to speak together.’ Gennaro’s friends still live in the same house in Palermo, where his work, tied to the idea of affection as recognition and care, remains, and which Bertolino visited often during the making of the show; each time, his hosts put him up in the artist’s old bedroom.

Gennaro’s is one of three monographic spaces that underscore the gravity of the wider show, each consciously developed by the curator’s friend, the architect and exhibition designer Giuseppe Ricupero (the other two rooms focus on Patrizia Vicinelli and Francesco Torrini). ‘These artists give a specific hint to the way in which the HIV-AIDS crisis was approached in Italy and I think, as a first show discussing this, sum up the issue,’ says Bertolino. The show’s moniker moreover, is direct in its communication: ‘vivono’ translates to ‘they live’, and the dates relay the earliest recorded case of AIDS in Italy, and the year HAART therapies were introduced, in Vancouver, at the XI International AIDS Conference.

A response to the silence Bertolino identified around HIV-AIDS in Italian culture – particularly amongst those championing foreign art made in a similar context – the show was constructed through discussions together with research the curator had begun for an earlier photobook project. ‘It came out of necessity,’ he explains today. ‘It's a conversation that is going on [globally], and in Italy we are not addressing the issue.’ Thinking communally, Bertolino worked with a committee that included the collective Conigli Bianchi, activists Valeria Calvino and Daniele Calzavara, and Ida Panicelli, the museum’s artistic director between 1993-94. ‘They took my hand and let me in, this guy coming from contemporary art, asking personal things about their life,’ recalls the curator. ‘They really helped me understand and navigate this history, as it’s not a history I lived.’

Consisting of nine rooms in total, the show is orchestrated primarily around Italian artists, while several British and American names also appear (Robert Mapplethorpe’s quietly brooding Coral Sea (1983) is surrounded by ample white space, while Derek Jarman’s Pontormo and Punks at Santacroce, from 1982, plays nearby to The Pope and the Penis, the bold text-based work previously exhibited at the 1990 Venice Biennale by New York collective, Gran Fury). A specially commissioned Roberto Ortu film introduces the show, and a vast collection of painting, illustration, sculpture, video, photography, and poetry follows. Paramount for Bertolino however, are a series of worktables made up of archival materials such as pamphlets, articles, posters, campaigns by Moschino and United Colors of Benetton, and recent works by Milan’s Tomboys Don’t Cry collective.

‘I wanted it to be meaningful and present, so we had conversations about what it means to collect and preserve, how we build a memory when there is no memory,’ says the curator. Formed around themes, as opposed to chronology, labels include stigma, care, time, shit and celebration; ‘shit’ was a suggestion from Calvino notes Bertolino, acknowledging the term’s complexity. In an essay from the show’s accompanying book, Reader, Calvino expands on the word’s significance, alluding to her own experiences and drug use amidst the social and cultural shift that occurred in the country in the late 20^th century, as Italy moved into neoliberalism. ‘The 1980s were shitty years,’ she writes. ‘Shitty in the sense that they digested and discarded everything that the 1970s had been…the years of marches, collectives, self-awareness groups, counterculture...’

Indeed, much of the work presented at Centro Pecci was made against this backdrop, and yet Bertolino and Ricupero were determined to foreground a sense of lightness within the show, honouring the desire to love and embrace joy that existed in tandem with the extreme grief and political landscape of the time. Writing after his own diagnosis in the 1980s, Gennaro once suggested that ‘it is never a personal matter,’ indicating the comfort sustained from the relationship between HIV-AIDS and creating a shared narrative.

The sentiment is partially echoed in the responsibility Bertolino felt while putting ‘Vivono’ together he says. ‘A lot of people trusted me in a very sincere and immediate way. Behind this work there were people, life experiences – for some people, it was years since they had gone back to the works, or talked about their partner or son,’ he shares. ‘The subtitle of the show is “art and feelings”, and I was really not sure about this, but it is a show about feelings – made through feelings, constructed because of love. And I would love it to be the opening up of a conversation that is not present in Italy. Luca Starita [who also contributed an essay to Reader] will publish in February, a book on literature and poetry and HIV-AIDS in Italy, so things are happening. It’s a collective effort.’

'VIVONO. Arts and Feelings, HIV-AIDS in Italy, 1982-1996' at Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, until March 1, 2026

felixgonzalez-torresfoundation.org

'A refined holiday table should exude quiet abundance, warmth, and generosity without leaning into the classic clichés,' says Bryony Sheridan, buying director at the luxury e-commerce site Abask. Lean into sculptural centrepieces, subtle glassware and grounding, earthy materials such as linen, hammered metal and ceramics, elements that 'create warmth without clutter,' per Sheridan. 'Minimalism and festivity work beautifully together when the focus is on intentional design rather than solely decoration,' she adds.

But don’t overdo it – no one wants to have an over-the-top flower arrangement blocking their dinner conversation. 'The golden rule with any table is to edit once before guests arrive because removing the one unnecessary element always elevates the whole table,' Sheridan adds.

Here are a few tabletop pieces we love to get you started. And remember: no matter what’s on your table, the most important thing is the people who surround it.

The listing recognises Southwark station’s architectural and historical significance, highlighting it as a striking example of late 20th-century design. Architect MacCormac Jamieson Prichard along with engineers Babtie and LG Mouchel & Partners designed the station, which was built between 1994 and 1999. Its dramatic appearance sets it apart from the other five Jubilee line stations built at the same time, despite using the same stainless steel and polished concrete material palette.

Inside, the station plays with natural and artificial light, creating what lead architect Sir Richard MacCormac described as ‘alternating experiences of confinement and spatial expansion’.

Key architectural features that contributed to Southwark station’s Grade II designation include the circular ticket hall, a drum-shaped entrance recalling the classic art deco stations of Charles Holden, such as Southgate and Arnos Grove. Notable interior elements include the 630-panel blue glass screen by British artist Alexander Beleschenko, inspired by Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s set design for Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and the distinctive steel-panelled tunnel at the lower concourse.

Heritage Minister Baroness Twycross has said that she is ‘thrilled’ that the station will now be protected, describing it as a ‘great reminder of the extraordinary breadth of our country’s architectural heritage’. Historic England’s co-chief executives hailed it as ‘a high point in a long tradition of excellent design and engineering throughout the Underground network’, while conservation groups including Save Britain’s Heritage and The Twentieth Century Society have also welcomed the news.

The Grade II-status protects the station from redevelopment. That said, Southwark council has granted planning permission for two high-rise blocks to be built above and alongside the station; TFL has promised that these will ‘sensitively’ complete MacCormac Jamieson Prichard’s original vision.

‘Exhibition of Old Rope’ consists of ten tonnes of discarded rope – roughly 20 miles in length – intensively cleaned and piled high in the Mayfair gallery. Shrigley spent eight months collecting it from seaports, climbing schools, tree surgeons, offshore wind farms, scaffolders and shorelines around the country.

To be fair to Shrigley, he’s not seriously suggesting that the rope is worth £1 million. The price tag is deliberately provocative, literally embodying the idiom ‘money for old rope’. The Turner Prize-nominated artist is known for his deadpan, self-deprecating work, and the exhibition is intended as a commentary on the contemporary art market and the nature of artistic value.

That said, there may be some genuine artistic value to be found here. Much of the rope is made from synthetic polyester and nylon, materials notoriously difficult to recycle. In this respect, the exhibition addresses a pressing environmental concern – an estimated 640,000 tonnes of discarded fishing gear and marine rope enter the oceans each year – and explores the transformative potential of giving discarded materials a second life through art.

Shrigley’s work has long explored absurdity and humour, slyly questioning the arbitrariness of artistic value. In 2016, he created Really Good, a massive, brightly coloured sculpture spelling out these words. EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK (2003-2004) displayed this slightly unsettling reassurance on a billboard, while Brain Activity (2007) featured crude, childlike sketches depicting bizarre or frustrating human scenarios – people trying to squeeze toothpaste back into a tube, awkward social interactions and nonsensical mechanical inventions.

Piles of discarded materials have become something of a trope in conceptual art, and Shrigley’s work takes an established idea to its literal, ridiculous extreme.

Bentley’s use of the ‘Super Sports’ name actually dates a century to the 1925 3 Litre Super Sports model, 18 of which were built with an uprated engine and lightened chassis. Famous as the first Bentley ever to exceed 100mph, the Super Sports appellation didn’t reappear until 2009, when the first-generation Continental GT was given a ‘lightweight’, high power makeover to create a truly driver-focused Bentley. It was followed by the 2017 version, a generation two car with the famous Bentley twin-turbo W12 engine delivering 710 PS.

Like its two predecessors, the newest Supersport pretty much doubles the top speed achievement of the 1925 car, but it’s about so much more than hitting the high numbers. In fact, the stats that matter here are weight, not power.

Impressively, this new model is being cited as the ‘lightest Bentley in 85 years’, and comes in at almost half a tonne less than the luxury-stuffed Continental GT. That’s less than 2,000kg, which might seem hefty in comparison with other ICE machines (an Aston Martin DB12 S is around 1,820kg), but it’s near miraculous for a modern Bentley.

This crash diet has been achieved via a ruthless pruning of componentry and materials. The most dramatic difference between the standard car is the revised powertrain, which not only switches out the hybrid system for a pure ICE set-up, but in the process becomes rear-wheel drive – the first RWD Continental GT, traditional an all-wheel-drive car.

A test car, dubbed Project Mildred after a typically fearless Bentley owner, aviator and endurance racer from the 20s, Mildred Mary Petre, provided swift proof of concept and the new Supersports was born.

Other key weight saving contributions come from a new carbon fibre roof panel, replacing the aluminium original, and the complete deletion of the rear cabin and seats. This is something of a big deal, given the Conti GT’s reputation as big, fast GT car with ample space for four. No longer; even the onboard sound system is now focused to the front cabin, with the removal of rear sound insulation.

In the front, there are two bespoke sports seats, with plenty of colour and trim options and Bentley’s Mulliner division can provide further personalisation. The ‘Nightfall’ launch scheme shown here combine Anthracite gloss exterior paint with Camel accents and striping and an interior in Beluga, Camel, and Bronze.

Externally, Bentley has gone all out on a new aero body kit, aping the work of certain aftermarket suppliers without stooping to their level of ostentation. It’s no shrinking violet, however – the company acknowledges that it’s ‘the most aggressive Bentley Grand Tourer ever’. A lot of carbon fibre has gone into new front bumper and splitter, a laser-cut aluminium grille, new side sills, rear diffuser and fixed rear spoiler.

As a result, there’s more downforce, a more dynamic weight distribution and despite a power drop to ‘just’ 666 PS, the new Supersports promises to be even more dramatic and engaging than its predecessors. Bentley will build just 500 numbered examples of Supersport Mk4, with production starting late next year. The price is yet to be revealed.

BentleyMotors.com, @BentleyMotors