Table of contents for May 2020 in Wallpaper

VINCENZO DE COTIIS Architect and designer De Cotiis is renowned for his infinitely collectible furniture and covetable interiors, so we were thrilled to be allowed inside his 18th-century palazzo apartment in Milan to see how he displays his Wallpaper* archive (page 166). He recently showed his ‘Éternel’ collection, which channels Japanese culture and is the fruit of a long study on immateriality, at Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris, and is currently working on a number of residential projects. HARRIET THORPE Assistant Architecture Editor A member of the Wallpaper* team since 2016, Thorpe excels in telling stories that combine architecture, culture and community. For this issue, Thorpe reports on a Chilean family-run winery designed by local architects Mapa (page 089). The highlight of her experience was ‘getting lost in the rolling…

The Toronto-based partnership of Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe had been in practice together for three years when, in 1997, a local businessman and his wife called, inviting the architects to masterplan their five-acre plot on Point William, a spur of forested land jutting into Lake Muskoka. More than two decades later, the weekend retreat and family compound, a two-hour drive north of Toronto, continues to grow and evolve. The programme developed as clients and architects considered alternative options. Shim-Sutcliffe reconstructed a decrepit boat shelter (1997-1999) and a guest cottage (2007- 2010), before turning its attention to the main house – a sprawling, ramshackle structure that blocked views of the water and was widely regarded as the ugliest on the lake. The architects had earlier secured planning approval for a…

A hopeful air abounds in the 2020 edition of Precious Index, our annual watch and jewellery title. Leading the way, on page 136, is eternal optimist, design aficionado and self-confessed Wallpaper* fan, super-producer Pharrell Williams. When we met him in Miami to talk about his new Mars-inspired watch design with Richard Mille, Williams waxed lyrical about the space race and the audacity of human ambition in thinking without limits. That sense of endeavour is reflected on page 129, where we consider the watch industry’s design love-affair with steel, the wonder material that underpins the modern world. The progressive mood spills over into our no-rules jewellery shoot on page 140. Photographed by Geray Mena, and styled by fashion director Jason Hughes, it shimmers with the heady 1980s individualism of London’s Club…

A Clockwork Orange’s violent delinquents, The Shining’s creepy Grady twins, Suspiria’s sadistic ballerinas – a medley of malevolent characters in classic horror films have played an influential part in the previous collections of Jun Takahashi, founder of cult Japanese label Undercover. Now, for S/S20, Takahashi has turned his spine-tingling view to Thai jewellery designer Patcharavipa Bodiratnangkura’s usual fine-jewellery offering, which typically incorporates organic forms and precious elements like mother-of-pearl and texturised 18ct Siam gold. ‘I wanted to add something poisonous to the label’s creations,’ Takahashi says of their collaborative collection, which is formed from lengths of uneven sterling silver chains and thorny tendrils, this time plated in 18ct gold, and dripping with blood-red Swarovski crystals or blossoming with crimson painted-enamel roses. It’s a stylish swerve from the punkish panache of…

Sweet spot DROP BY DOUGH, BANGKOK Bangkok has no shortage of bakeries, but few pair up sweet treats with praiseworthy design. Narongrit Sritalanon and Chalermphol Akkarapinyokul, the brains behind a popular Thai lifestyle blog, saw an opportunity after visiting artisanal doughnut makers from Seoul to Copenhagen. In collaboration with Bangkok-based designer San Sephu, they restored a ramshackle townhouse in the up-and-coming suburb of Udom Suk into a Scandi-chic café with arched doorways and double-height ceilings. The interior delivers a medley of teak panelling and cream walls, punctuated by jolts of Prussian blue in the tiles and upholstery. Furnishings by Louis Poulsen and Herman Miller complete the look, as do the various artworks the owners brought back from travels around the globe. Most importantly, the pillowy doughnuts, in flavours such as…

Newsstand cover Photography: Ryan Hopkinson Interiors: Matthew Morris Crystals Monolith in stainless steel (inox), from €15,600, by Oskar Zieta, for Zieta Studio. ‘Diana B’ side table, £441, by Konstantin Grcic, for ClassiCon, from Aram. ‘Atlanta’ armchair, price on request, by Giuseppe Bavuso, for Alivar. See our story on page 170 Limited-edition cover by Annabelle Selldorf The architect’s black-and-white photograph was taken at Hauser & Wirth’s new 542 West 22nd Street premises during construction. Seen is the cupola for the building’s main stair volume, awaiting installation. See our story on page 092 Limited-edition covers are available to subscribers, see Wallpaper.com Welcome to our May issue, where we are focusing on Art, Architecture & Escape at a time when I think we could all use a little escapism… Taking centre stage in…

Nestled amid the lush and gently undulating hills at the heart of Tuscany, the bucolic small town of Radda in Chianti encompasses dozens of vineyards and centuries-old farmhouses. Last August, this agricultural bastion became the home of a contemporary and cosmopolitan new neighbour from Paris, when Celine inaugurated a sprawling handbag-making plant there. Designed by Fabio Barluzzi and Barbara Ponticelli of the MetroOffice architecture studio, ‘La Manufacture’, as it is named by Celine, is a glass and concrete hilltop monolith that doesn’t apologise for its industrial muscle. Instead, its transparent walls are designed to eliminate the boundary between the viticultural hills and the workers inside, exalting the role of the artisans by encircling them with Tuscany’s natural beauty. ‘We never intended to hide the fact that this is a factory,’…

Few neighbourhoods in New York have undergone a transformation as striking or significant as Chelsea. Once an industrial district, its gas stations and warehouses gave way to the inevitable tide of gentrification in the 1990s, after decades of neglect. An influx of art dealers decamping from the bubble of SoHo cemented its designation as the city’s artistic epicentre – though traces of its history still reverberate in the column-free spaces and red-brick façades that make up its warren of high-end commercial galleries and luxury residential developments. On a grey day during Armory Week, it’s the tony neighbourhood’s newest addition that has us braving New York’s fickle weather. Taking shelter in Hauser & Wirth’s West 22nd Street bookshop from the sputtering drizzle, we don the necessary safety gear before the brisk…

If you’re prone to losing your shades, you might want to check out S/S20’s hottest accessory– the sunglasses chain. Optical accoutrements were eagerly eyeballed on the Gucci catwalk where acetate chains, resembling chunky-link necklaces, swung from 1960s shades. The dazzling link creations produced by specialist brand Frame Chain (see previous page), where clinking gold chains are punctuated with graphic hoops or dazzling crystals, are most alluring when viewed in profile. And jewellery designer Rosa de la Cruz has also revelled in the retro, collaborating with heritage optical atelier EB Meyrowitz on a series of lorgnettes with jangling oval-link chains and diamond-set frame motifs. gucci.com; framechain.co.uk; rosadelacruz.co.uk…

Steel has long been the favoured material for making practical watches. Strong, light, economical, hypo-allergenic and non-magnetic, it was perfect for pilots, engineers and the military, but not a luxury material, not something to create dreams from. That is, until the 1970s, when watch designer and goldsmith Gérald Genta had a different vision. His early 1970s modernist steel watch designs, including the ‘Royal Oak’ for Audemars Piguet and the ‘Nautilus’ for Patek Philippe, integrated case and bracelet in a single fluid loop. His use of handbrushed and polished metalwork, typical jeweller techniques, created a new kind of luxury sports watch. And it wasn’t long before women’s watches were just as vigorously proportioned – the new Patek Philippe ladies’ automatic ‘Nautilus’, which eschews the smaller delicacy of earlier models with its…

The first pair of made-in-Japan jeans was created in Okayama in 1963 by Canton, in partnership with Oishi and Maruo Clothing. Since then, the western region has become a go-to area for quality denim; many of Europe’s leading brands, including Chanel, Prada and Dior, buy their denim from the local Kuroki Mills. In the small harbour town of Kojima, looking out over the Seto Inland Sea, you will find companies such as Hangloose, which specialises in ageing jeans using a variety of sanders and washing techniques to bring out that perfect used look, or Sunami Sewing Machines, whose fourth-generation president Tatsuya Sunami travels the region and beyond to fix and customise the tools of the trade used by small manufacturers who can’t afford to employ their own engineers. He also…

View finder VILLA VERTE, CAPE TOWN Following the success of their Maison Noir property, Cape Town hoteliers Jim Brett and Ed Gray have unveiled the four-suite Villa Verte on an adjoining plot of land. Seven years in the making, the project is set against a forested hillside, with views clear across Hout Bay and the Constantia Nek pass. Architect Thomas Leach has riffed on the silhouette of Maison Noir, itself inspired by a traditional South African kraal, or settlement, and designed by Paolo Deliperi. Curves and circles are dotted throughout in a nod to nature, and these forms are echoed by Southern Guild gallery and Future Found Design Agency in the interior, with curvaceous furniture and artwork. Available to rent as a whole house, Villa Verte has a 12.5m heated…

Right, trench, £2,150, by 2 Moncler 1952. Below, trench, £2,187; trainers, price on request, both by Rokh. Trousers, £695, by Roland Mouret. Bag, £385, by Osoi he trenchcoat has long been a wardrobe classic, but for spring, brands brought a dash of deconstructed drama to the eternal outerwear essential, turning the trenchcoat into a jigsaw puzzle, splicing and dicing it into a powerful new piece. A host of labels have all upped their construction game, with Rokh’s signature hybrid silhouettes including a trench with leather inserts; Karl Templer’s debut collection for Ports 1961 featuring a style with a splice of bold picnic blanket check; and Moncler’s take an assemblage of glossy fabrics and Jenga-like prints. Entrench yourself now. rokh.net; ports1961.com; moncler.com A global sweep of magnificent modernist treasures Expedition force…

Acerbis, which has been producing storage furniture since 1870, has played a quietly pivotal role in Italian design, collaborating with a number of high-profile artists and designers. It was one of the first Italian companies to work with Japanese designers whose compositional language added metallic inserts and new materials to the wood of northern Italy’s Val Seriana. Collaborators included the likes of Kazuyo Komoda, whose ‘Asisai’ umbrella stand, featuring three simple and harmonious bent steel wires fixed to a flat base, has been a bestseller since its launch in the late 1990s. Acerbis also worked with Jonathan De Pas, Donato D’Urbino and Paola Lomazzi, important figures in pop design culture who investigated new perspectives on the use of space with coloured module units. And as the Memphis movement built momentum,…

Mika Rottenberg b. 1976, Buenos Aires, Argentina Combining film, architectural installation and sculpture, Rottenberg investigates ideas of labour and the production of value in our hyper-capitalist world, creating unsettling, subversive allegories for contemporary life. Weaving fact and fiction, she has worked in diverse locations, among them a pearl factory in China and a Calexico border town. Following her 2019 exhibition ‘Easypieces’ at New York’s New Museum and MCA Chicago, and a show at Hanover’s Sprengel Museum, Rottenberg is developing upcoming solo presentations for the Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts in Hong Kong, the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, and Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal. Nicole Eisenman b. 1965, Verdun, France Drawing from her personal experience as an artist in New York City, Eisenman explores narratives such as the…

My grandfather, Louis Siegelson, opened his watch-repair shop in Brooklyn in 1920. When my father, Hy, took the helm, he expanded the business to diamonds and jewellery, eventually occupying the largest display window on 47th Street in the heart of the Diamond District. I joined my father in 1992, but when he died two years later, I began refashioning Siegelson as an appointment-only business focusing on 20th-century masterpieces. For me, the ‘Giraffe’ set sums up the Siegelson way – it has no big gems or obvious beacons of value. We have many rare pieces that do, but this is simply an exceptionally crafted design. The lacquered Oréum (a branded gold alloy) necklaces and bracelets are the work of sculptor, craftsman and jewellery designer Jean Dunand. They speak of a specific…