The Imperfect Object
Following a major retrospective and the transfer of her studio archive to the Vitra Design Museum, the Dutch designer Hella Jongerius reflects on three decades spent questioning the assumptions of industrial design – from imperfection and colour to the systems that shape the objects around us
- Words Ayla Angelos
When Hella Jongerius opened her studio Jongeriuslab in Rotterdam in 1993, the design world was in transition. The Memphis Group, founded by Ettore Sottsass, had spent the previous decade challenging modernism with furniture defined by cartoonish shapes and zig-zagging geometries – the anthropomorphic Carlton bookcase from 1981 being an apt example. But by the early 1990s, a recession across Europe ushered in a more cautious mood, and the theatrical energy felt increasingly out of step. At the same time, designers were becoming visible cultural figures whose names could define products and brands. Few designers embodied this shift more clearly than Philippe Starck, whose objects for Alessi
Where Clay Comes Home
Taccini’s new prize brings the ceramicist Bisila Noha to Casa Tacchini, where vessels that carry the memory of the earth meet a …
When Modernism Becomes Heritage
The National Trust is seeking to secure Richard and Su Rogers’ 1967 Wimbledon home – a bright yellow, steel-framed experiment in …
Tailored for Tomorrow
In conversation with father and daughter duo Richard and Molly Anderson, who discuss early Savile Row, tailoring, working with your …
Didi NG Wing Yin on his “obsession” with wood
From Hong Kong to Helsinki, the artist-designer talks us through the material curiosity, hands-on chaos and his fixation on his …
Dancing on Ruins
A visual history of design in Iraq, from invention to destruction to radical preservation
House of Baby
At Bánh Bánh, located in south London’s Brixton, painting, performance, architecture and food become part of a single immersive …
Jean-Marie Massaud for Poliform
A new modular sofa launches alongside the brand’s new Milan flagship, a three-storey space by architect Stefano Belingardi Clusoni …
Bathers Cabin: A Ritual in the Woods
Inside Architects Holiday's new bathing sanctuary at Great Park Farm, East Sussex
The Hardware Archive
From hose clamps to drain covers, Liang-Jung Chen’s Hardware Archive celebrates the anonymous components that hold our world …
Everything Is Connected
As Guggenheim Bilbao opens a retrospective of Ruth Asawa's work, curator Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães selects five pieces that …
The Shape of Optimism
When Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby began working in the 1990s, Britain was redefining itself. Their colourful, technically assured …
Southbank Skate
Fifty years after skateboarders discovered the Undercroft beneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Southbank Centre celebrates a free …
Martin Parr’s Everyday Systems
Across five decades, Parr photographed people and places, exposing how class, aspiration and consumption are engineered into daily life
Inside Issue 4
The Triennale design museum in Milan has had a successful eight years under the presidency of Stefano Boeri, with Marco Sammicheli …
Anima launches Issue 4 with Flos
An exclusive look at the launch of Anima Issue 4 and the Flos Nocturne Collection
When Fashion Becomes Art
From lobster dresses to skeletal silhouettes, a new exhibition at London’s V&A charts Elsa Schiaparelli’s radical fusion of …
Inside the Marimekko Print Archive
At Matter and Shape in Paris, the Finnish design house opens up its 75-year archive of prints, revealing how artists, colour kitchens …
Spaces in Dialogue
In Salvati e Tresoldi: Lo spazio delle interazioni (Electa, 1985), Alberto Salvati and Ambrogio Tresoldi present architecture as …
Fragile Architecture
For Maison Ruinart’s Conversations with Nature programme, Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata unveils a sequence of timber installations …
Still Life with a Chair
When Casa Batlló starts to move
Matt Clark from United Visual Artists transforms Gaudí’s landmark into a choreographic performance, unveiling a new facade commission …
A Catalogue of Everything
From Prada’s fashion archive to Warhol’s Time Capsules, the act of preservation shapes the way we see, access and experience history.
The Art of Motion
In a world dominated by screens, Helen Chesner and Isabel Gibson champion the tangible through kinetic installations and interactive …
Blackletter Revival
From Saltburn to Juicy Couture, pop albums to podcast logos, blackletter type is everywhere – and it’s shaking off its outdated associations
Back to the Roots
After years of private equity-driven expansion, Flos and B&B Italia are returning to what made them great. With Piero Gandini at …
Can plastic ever be green?
As global temperatures hit an all-time high and the plastic-free movement gains momentum, can the wonder material of the 20th century …
The Politics of Data
From wealth inequality to media bias, Mona Chalabi’s data visualisations tell stories that numbers alone cannot
Design as Resistance
How Palestinian architects, artists and designers navigate material restrictions, urban fragmentation and cultural preservation under …
Anima talks to the British artist and designer about what's next after selling his stake in his business, A-COLD-WALL*
