Wallpaper

contributors

CRISTINA KIRAN PIOTTI Writer Milan-and-Mumbai-based journalist Kiran Piotti quizzes Michele De Lucchi on his sofa collaboration with Stellar Works (page 068). She was surprised by the Italian architect’s interest in her furniture during the Zoom interview: ‘He was so engaging. At one point, he started using my own furniture to explain a concept,’ she says. ‘I felt I was welcoming a renowned designer into my home, and I loved the personal touch he tried to give to our conversation.’ PETER BLAKE Artist Blake is Britain’s foremost pop artist, pioneering a combination of pop culture and fine art in the late 1950s that has proven prescient. ‘I believe that you can be diverse and serious at the same time,’ he says. Now 88, he has recently published a monograph of his collage works, with a foreword…

editor’s letter

Fresh canvas Welcome to our annual Design Directory issue, where we have scoured the globe virtually to bring you the most exciting new design for every room of your home. Our selection is reassuringly formidable and inspiring, with honourable mentions including: Marco Lavit’s geometric ‘Lemni’ armchair for Living Divani; Tobia Scarpa’s ‘Soriana’ armchair for Cassina; Naoto Fukasawa’s ‘Pao’ table lamp for Hay; Mathias Hahn’s ‘Akira’ bureau for Schönbuch; Vincent Van Duysen’s ‘Giro’ tables for Kettal; USM’s timely ‘World of Plants’ sideboard, an update to its classic ‘USM Haller’ modular system, enabling you to create a vertical herb garden and naturalise your work space; Stephen Burks’ ‘Kida’ hanging outdoor lounge chair for Dedon; and the ‘Wireline’ suspension lamp by Wallpaper* Designers of the Year Formafantasma, which creates delightfully sculptural lines out of its…

bread winner

Taking inspiration from how the French carry bread under their arm, Fendi’s luxurious take on its classic ‘Baguette’ bag sees it rigidly reimagined in Plexiglas with a pristine pearlescence. As well as being slotted under the arm, it can also be carried hands-free with a cross shoulder strap. We think this style has something of the luxurious lunchbox about it. But before you close its metal ‘FF’ logo clasp, just make sure your snacks are firmly wrapped in clingfilm. Model: Patrick Rom at Elite London. Hair: Chris Sweeney at One Represents. Make-up: Martina Lattanzi. Retouching: RGBerlin…

pioneer spirit

Rolex’s history of creating tool watches can be traced back to the 1930s when the timepieces it provided to explorers became an integral part of an expedition’s kit. In 1953, when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest, it was with white ‘Oyster Perpetual’ watches on their wrists. Building on this success, Rolex released the first ‘Explorer’ watch later the same year. The toughened case and clear design codes are still present in today’s ‘Oyster Perpetual Explorer’, with the three, six and nine numerals making for quick and easy legibility. The ‘Explorer’ has been bulked up over time, but this year’s model, equipped with calibre 3230, cuts a neater silhouette, returning to its original 1953 case size of a restrained 36mm. Its smaller proportions are drawn in…

sharp relief

Two new tableware collections from Cassina, made in collaboration with Ginori 1735, pay homage to the purist style of Le Corbusier. The first, a set of three platters in white unglazed porcelain, take inspiration from some of the symbolic bas-relief designs that appear at Chandigarh, the modernist Indian city designed by the architect in the 1950s. The three platters feature a fish (round), a sun (rectangular) and an open hand, symbolising peace (square). The second, featuring an interlocking hands motif, was originally created in 1961 for the Prunier restaurant in London’s St James’s, and has been reissued, remaining as true to the original design as possible. To complement these minimalist gems, we have used them to serve up a cornucopia of cicchetti (Venetian bar snacks similar in concept to Spanish…

match points

How we will dress post-pandemic has been the subject of much debate. Will we usher in a new era of drama and decadence, or will the low-key leanings of the past year be here to stay? We recommend riffing between the two mindsets, and modulating between the elegant and the easy. A surefire way to succeed? Sporting a knee-length tunic dress over trousers. The tunic-over-trousers trick is a smart yet insouciant move for those not quite ready to don a dress. For those with a more minimalist mindset, Hermès’ pared-back take features a dress with a built-in scarf, and nods to the purist fashion mood of the 1990s, when elemental design was a winner. At Boss, dress silhouettes sport sleekly seductive cut-out back details, a look well balanced out when worn…