Wallpaper 8

It’s now over nine years since we first

carefully crammed a brimful of one-off

designs into Brioni’s Milan HQ, introducing

an unsuspecting audience to what is

now a must-see fixture at Salone del Mobile.

Even we were a little shocked and awed

by what we pulled off with that inaugural

Wallpaper* Handmade exhibition: a

showcase of 76 unique collaborations that

mixed and matched designers, makers and

manufacturers from around the world.

The one-off collaboration – the

opportunity for a brand to play with new

ideas and new talent – is now a popular

tactic at Milan Design Week. It’s a trend

we like to take at least some credit for.

But it also means that every year we need

to add extra top-spin and swerve to what

we serve up there.

This year, we tasked designers and

makers with thinking about the rest, repair

and elevation of mind and body. It was an

idea we tagged ‘Wellness + Wonder’. This

was no woolly bandwagon-boarding. There

was serious intent behind that idea,

important questions asked: What can and

should we mean now by ‘functionality’?

How much can we really expect design

and designers to do? Can design bolster

and becalm? In the age of digital overload,

squeezed sleep, sometimes crushing

personal and professional expectations,

Newsstand cover

Photography:

Michael Bodiam

Interiors:

Maria Sobrino

Exhibition design:

DWA

III, an installation by

Based Upon, see the

Handmade exhibition,

page 157

Pictured top, a sketch by

designers Mut for their

mood-boosting ‘Chromo’

table lamps, produced

with glassmaker

Preciosa, see page 106

Thanks to

Key partner Lavazza,

along with Gufram, Pinch

Sunbrella, Toiletpaper,

and WallpaperSTORE*

for their hale and hearty

support in Milan at

the Handmade exhibition

Limited-edition cover

by Davide G Aquini

Designer Aquini’s sketch

for his ‘Elementi’ stone

and steel dumbbells,

realised with Lundhs

Real Stone, see page 128

Limited-edition covers are

available to subscribers,

see Wallpaper.com

Paper power

The feelgood effects of

this issue extend to the

tactile treat of print on

paper. It is delivered in

five superlative stocks

courtesy of Finnish

producer UPM:

UPM Cote Matt 70gsm

UPM EcoPrime 55gsm

UPM Fine 150gsm

UPM Finesse Silk 350gsm

UPM Star 100gsm

can design really make us feel better?

And when, to paraphrase Arthur C Clarke,

technology comes off like magic, how

does the physical thing, the analogue

object, create wonder? We hope the pieces

created for this year’s Handmade exhibition,

and presented and catalogued in various

remarkable ways across this special issue,

provide a multitude of answers: from

huggable columns to big bouncy back

benders, glimmering altars to inflatable

rugs, meditative land and lightscapes (our

newsstand cover star) to snappy, silvery

chocolate cases for the occasional mood-

enhancing nibble.

To wellness and wonder we should,

and did, add wit. The centrepiece of this

year’s exhibition was Maarten Baas’

‘Forever Young’ playground, realised with

perfect attention to off-kilter, wobbly-

edged detail by Henge (page 078). Baas’

improbable loop-the-loop slides and

cartoon see-saws talked about play and

the passing – and odd circularity – of time,

of an openness to pure and giddy pleasure.

‘Forever Young’ is funny, charming,

challenging, but only ‘functional’ if you

think a key function of design is to engage

the inner child and energise and enlighten

the sometimes bruised and befuddled adult.

And you really should.

Nick Compton, Acting Editor

The wonder year

040 ∑

EDITOR’S LETTER