Spirit of adventure
Welcome to our December issue! As a year of reopening and recalibration draws to a close, we’re dreaming of December getaways. Anticipating Design Miami’s triumphant return, we present a trio of exciting previews. Leading the way is creative polymath and A-cold-wall* founder Samuel Ross, who is presenting two new furniture collections that bring together three centuries of Black experience with narratives of modernism, industrialisation and brutalism. Among the highlights is his ‘Rupture’ chair, gracing our limited-edition cover, which reimagines traditional West African seating in marble and orange steel.
A stalwart of the fair, Fendi has commissioned Botswanan designer Peter Mabeo for a series of ten pieces that pushes artisanal techniques and materials in new directions – including a galvanised metal seating sculpture, a clay stool, chairs in panga panga wood and a basket-weave cabinet. Meanwhile, Design Miami newcomer Kohler embraces cutting-edge technology with its ‘Rock.01’ sink, a collaboration with artist Daniel Arsham that demonstrates the enormous potential of 3D-printed ceramics. This is the brand’s first artist collaboration for many years, and given the extraordinary results, it has been well worth the wait!
We also explore the future of urban mobility with the Yves Behar-designed Unagi Model Eleven electric scooter. The compact carbon-fibre composite design comes with an advanced driver-assistance system that is poised to make our daily commutes a breezy delight. Then, as science fiction rapidly becomes science fact, we review the latest home robots that stand ready to assist in every aspect of our lives.
Elsewhere in the issue, we escape to Suffolk seaside retreat Thorpeness, England, the first completed residential new-build by London architecture studio IF_DO; Foster + Partners’ new building for Le Dôme winery in a medieval village near Bordeaux, a striking design that blends seamlessly into the landscape; and Herzog & de Meuron’s M+, the new museum of visual culture in Hong Kong and one of the most ambitious cultural projects to have debuted in recent years. Meanwhile, our main fashion story, by photographer Fumi Homma and stylist Stuart Williamson, sees us take to the ski slopes; and in the same spirit of adventure, our watches shoot, exquisitely photographed by Leandro Farina, shines the spotlight on sport watches.
For those of us who are entertaining at home for the holidays, Tekla’s new Kitchen collection offers exceptional quality and timeless style – a perfect match for Marguerite Humeau’s white truffle ravioli, a seasonal and suitably decadent dish that features in this month’s Artist’s Palate. And for a tablesetting that is bound to impress, Nendo’s ‘Mizuki’ vases for Georg Jensen, featured in our Newspaper section, hit exactly the right spot. Enjoy! Sarah Douglas, Editor-in-chief