How very Wallpaper*
Welcome to the 25th anniversary issue of Wallpaper*, and what a quarter of a century it has been! In celebrating our 25th birthday, I wanted to join up the dots from the past, to distil what makes Wallpaper* so special, and then look forward to the next 25 years...
With this in mind, I welcome my esteemed predecessors, Tyler Brûlé, Jeremy Langmead and Tony Chambers, to share their thoughts and experiences, as each wrote such significant chapters in the magazine’s history. Then, looking forward, we invite five creative visionaries, Frida Escobedo, Theaster Gates, Formafantasma, Michèle Lamy and Nendo, to each select five creative leaders of the future.
We reveal the ever-brilliant artist Daniel Arsham’s furniture range with design gallery Friedman Benda (he even designed an epic limited-edition cover for our birthday), while Peter Saville and Kvadrat take us on a Technicolour tour, bringing together field and factory with a collection of new fabrics. We showcase newly launched chairs with an outstanding shoot by photographer Leandro Farina and head of interiors Olly Mason, which involved transparency film, the darkroom, enlargers, photograms and multiple exposures – all a true celebration of the creative process.
And for another perfect union – our first-ever edition of Weddingpaper*, a guide to your ‘very Wallpaper*’ nuptial choices. Following this, we also present an 18-page showcase of this season’s glitziest looks, preview some highly anticipated Salone del Mobile pieces as we gear up to visiting beloved Milano again, and celebrate our coveted annual architects’ directory.
A project very close to my heart, documented here, is Discovered. In the midst of so much uncertainty, early on in the first London lockdown, I wrote an editor’s letter titled ‘From Wallpaper* with Love’, which reached out to the design community to pull together and support the next generation of talent. So I was thrilled and inspired when my long-time collaborator and friend David Venables, from AHEC, called me – and through the conversations that followed, Discovered was born. We identified and recruited 20 emerging designers from around the world to create a new object or piece of furniture, made in four American hardwoods: soft maple, hard maple, cherry and red oak. The work is extraordinary, and will be on display at the Design Museum in London from 13 September until 10 October.
Nothing says celebration like a fireworks display so, for the finale, we have the legendary Judy Chicago’s Niçoise salad, complete with a coloured smoke sculpture created by the artist, and photographed by her husband Donald Woodman. There was so much smoke involved in the shoot, the fire brigade was called.
Being in touch with so many old friends, Wallpaper* past and present, has been a joy – and to read their memories and tributes to this iconic brand has been incredibly heartwarming (see page 077). When I joined Wallpaper* nearly 15 years ago, I was told it was the best place to be, and that it was the people that made it impossible to ever leave. And it’s true. But it’s you, the readers, the audience that really drives us. It’s an honour to be Wallpaper’s current caretaker, and I promise we will continue to be dedicated in delivering the very best in design to you for many years to come. And, of course, continue to be ‘very Wallpaper*’.