Stools from local designer Caleb Ferris and design firm Prowl Studio were among the works displayed at a San Francisco exhibition centred around contemporary Bay Area design.

The Works in Progress show displayed stools, chairs and other furniture from local designers to highlight the diversity in methods and backgrounds of an evolving Bay Area design scene.

"As the Bay Area creative scene evolves in real-time, there are boundless possibilities for how it might bloom," said curators and designers Kate Greenberg, Kelley Perumbeti, and Sahra Jajarmikhayat in a statement. 

"For now, we are here to acknowledge its depth and say: it's a work in progress."

The team distributed the exhibition's pieces across metallic platforms supported by foundations of bricks.

Pieces ranged from a curvacious, duck-footed poplar wood stool marked with paint and silver leaf by Caleb Ferris, to Prowl Studio's cubic stainless steel stool wrapped in a 3D knit cover.

"Across a range of materials, forms, and functions, the participants have found a groove in the original, the introspective, and the off-center," said the team. 

Designer Ido Yoshimoto displayed a sculptural side table made of old-growth redwood and finished in a dark red textured hue. The table consists of a geometric, curved corner that runs into a darkened raw edge.

Studio Ahead created a fuzzy Merino wool stool informed by northern California rock formations, which contrasted with the smooth surface of a glass stool by curators Jajarmikhayat and Greenberg.

Other works included a baltic plywood side table with grooved sides and small, chunky sky blue legs by NJ Roseti and a white oak chair topped with a wild fleece and suede cushion by Rafi Ajl of studio Long Confidence.

Office of Tangible Space showed a flat-legged chair designed in collaboration with CNC design studio Thirdkind Studio, while Duncan Oja of Oja Design displayed a charred white oak stool with an organic, rough-sawn profile.

Fyrn Studio showed a charcoal-black hardwood stool with aluminium hardware created with replaceable parts and studio Medium Small and designer Yvonne Mouser both displayed chairs made of ash, one blackened and the other not, supported by bases of elegant, simple lines.

"As simple as it sounds, the soul of this exhibition is in the representation of physical craft and the people behind it. It's important to shine a light on this vibrant slice of the Bay Area that is not always as visible amidst a city focused on the digital realm," said Perumbeti.

"There's something really exciting brewing in this community that is just beginning to get teased out," said Greenberg.

Works in Progress was part of the wider San Francisco Art Week, which highlights art and design from the city and took place from 13-21 January.

Other recent furniture exhibitions that highlighted California designers include INTRO/LA with pieces by Adi Goodrich and Sam Klemick and the first Miami edition from Milan-based design exhibition Alcova held in a motel during Miami's art week.

Works in Progress took place at the American Industrial Center in San Francisco from 18 to 23 January 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

The photography is by Sahra Jajarmikhayat unless otherwise stated. 

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Student drawings, scale models, and a life-size recreation of set designer Es Devlin's London studio are on display at an exhibition exploring the designer's 30-year archive at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

Presented in conjunction with her debut monograph, An Atlas of Es Devlin, both exhibition and publication showcased sketches, paintings, small-scale work and more behind 120 projects spanning Devlin's career in set design.

"My craft is to imagine worlds that don't yet exist, to invite audiences to practice 'interbeing' within psychological architectures they have not previously inhabited, to remind viewers that they are not separate but connected to one another and to the biosphere," said Devlin.

"For this exhibition, I have gathered the drawings, fragile paper sculptures and small-scale revolving cardboard models that I and my studio team have been making over the past three decades, a miniature parallel practice at the root of the large-scale public performance and installation works."

Visitors entered the exhibit via a recreation of Devlin's London office, where they could sit at a central table scattered with paper and art tools representative of works in progress.

Devlin's voice narrated thoughts about early school days, belonging, and the intersection of creative disciplines as projections animate the space, with scribbles and writings appearing on the table's pages and along the walls.

"The first thing I wanted to do was to invite visitors into my studio," said Devlin. "Many of the people coming into this exhibition will not have a clue what it is I do or what are the processes that go into it at all."

"You come into the studio and already I hope you get the sense I had when I first walked into a room full of people making work like this."

A projection of Devlin's hands pulled an entryway open to the adjoining room, where Devlin's Iris installation displayed the names of her many collaborators on a series of rings, a motif the designer often uses to "express the overlaid perspectives of creative partners and audiences".

The next installation displayed a wall covered in early sketches, paintings, collages, and diaries Devlin produced during her years at a music school and in her early career, which she noted were delivered to her later in life in "four big black beanbags" by an old boyfriend who had kept them.

White, scale models of set and production designs made by Es Devlin Studio were displayed throughout succeeding rooms, accompanied by process sketches, documents and notes that include mark-ups on song lyrics by musicians Miley Cyrus, U2, The Weeknd, Beyoncé and more.

Devlin noted that her work often begins with analyzing a "primary text" like pop-song lyrics or play before delving into further research.

"I have spent 30 years translating words into images and spaces – transforming texts on a page into kinetic sculptures that encompass viewers with light and song and use magic to alter their perspective," Devlin said.

Another room contained a model theatre with a screen on its stage that displayed films of previous performances, while another displayed short films from Devlin's various installations.

The last had a large table in which a number of Devlin's monographs were displayed for visitors to thumb through, with pages of the recent book pinned along the walls.

"The biggest challenge was to make the book," Devlin told Dezeen "The book and the exhibit are kind of continuous of one another. Normally, my practice is a small group of people in my studio, resonating out to wider groups."

"But this was the opposite centripetal force of drawing everything into a really small series of rooms, and a small object, the book. It's the inverse of what I normally do."

According to the designer, the book-making process took nearly seven years and was edited by Cooper Hewitt associate curator of contemporary design Andrea Lipps, who also curated Devlin's exhibit.

Dezeen recently spoke with Es Devlin on her career, her work on the Sphere and more in an exclusive interview.

The photography is courtesy Es Devlin Studio unless otherwise noted.

An Atlas of Es Devlin will take place at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York from 18 Nov to 11 August 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Project credits:
Exhibition design: Es Devlin Studio
Curator: Andrea Lipps
Curatorial assistant: Julie Pasto
Curatorial interns and fellows: Madelyn Colonna, Bailey de Vries, Barbara Kasomenakis and Sophie Scott
Designers of record and fabrication: Pink Sparrow
Graphic design: Morcos Key
Projection and video design: Luke Halls Studio
Composition and sound design: Polyphonia
Lighting design: Bruno Poet and John Viesta
Audiovisual production and integration: AV&C

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Firewood logs were used as modular stackable elements for the scenography of the BIO27 Super Vernaculars design biennial in Ljubljana, Slovenia, which has been shortlisted for a 2023 Dezeen Award.

Curated by Jane Withers, the 27th edition of the city's design biennial took place at the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) in the summer of 2022.

The four-month presentation explored how designers and architects are adapting vernacular traditions and value systems to respond to contemporary challenges like water scarcity, waste and declining biodiversity.

Similarly, the brief for the exhibition design was to rethink classic parameters and consider sustainability in the context of a temporary show.

Slovenian architecture studio Medprostor chose to create the scenography from a readily available, locally sourced material that could be entirely reused at the end of the show.

"Walls, planes, piles and lines of firewood are a part of the Slovenian visual landscape, as almost 59 per cent of the country is forested," said Medprostor.

"By only using the standard logs and non-invasive stacking and binding methods, all the material was returned to the supplier for further resale and use."

Pre-cut to standard lengths, the logs were oriented vertically and bound together to create tables and platforms of varying heights and sizes throughout the exhibit areas.

Some of the logs were notched in their tops to hold photographs and texts mounted on honeycomb cardboard sheets, which also formed flat horizontal surfaces for displaying items by participating designers.

Bundles were also laid on their sides to act as low-lying display podiums for larger pieces.

"The aim was to explore ways of stacking wood that are based in traditional techniques but can at the same time support new shapes and methods that evoke a sense of contemporaneity," Medprostor said.

The grey and orange straps used to bind the wood and to hang cardboard panels from the ceiling were reused from the shipping industry.

A few panels also incorporated video screens or served as a backdrop for projections, adding another medium through which the curated projects could be articulated.

Medprostor collaborated with graphic designers Studio Kruh and AA to continue the low-impact approach to the exhibition graphics and signage, which were primarily printed on-site at the museum.

Additionally, the firewood was able to extend its drying process for the duration of the biennial, making it more energy-efficient when finally used as fuel, according to the studio.

"The drier the wood, the higher heating value and better environmental footprint it has," Medprostor said. "While in the museum, logs can dry additionally and be returned to the supplier for further resale with a better ecological footprint."

"The museum becomes a part of the process of curing the wood."

The BIO27 Super Vernaculars scenography has been shortlisted in the exhibition design category of the 2023 Dezeen Awards, along with a shrink-wrapped exhibition design by Didier Faustino and a showcase of recycled steel chairs by Daisuke Yamamoto.

The awards will be presented during a ceremony and party in London on Tuesday 28 November 2023, with creative direction by The Unlimited Dream Company.

The photography is by Ana Skobe and Klemen Ilovar.

BIO27 Super Vernaculars took place at the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO), Ljubljana, Slovenia from 26 May to 29 September 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Project credits:

Location: Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO), Ljubljana, Slovenia
Exhibition design: Medprostor: Rok Žnidaršič, Jerneja Fischer Knap, Katarina Čakš, Teja Gorjup
Graphic design: Studio Kruh + AA
Curator: Jane Withers
Assistant curator: Ria Hawthorn
BIO27 director: Anja Radović

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Old and new blurred together in this exhibition at Paris' GSL Gallery, which celebrated contemporary creatives who observe design traditions of the past.

Le Salon de Septembre was the inaugural exhibition to be held at GSL Gallery, a factory-turned-arts space in Paris' Patin neighbourhood run by creative collective The Guild of Saint Luke.

Guided by the motto "Remastering The Past", the collective thought it fitting for the show to highlight the fact that traditional design techniques are "very much alive and well".

"These techniques are being adopted by young avant-garde artists and designers around the world to create new forms that can also be read in the context of decorative art history," the collective's founder, John Whelan, told Dezeen.

"This is a subjective opinion but I think that artworks and design pieces that reference the past are drawing upon our roots, the very foundation and life force of our culture – works that attempt to break free from the past can often look 'deracinated' and meaningless despite their valiant effort to create a new language."

A mix of established and emerging creatives contributed pieces to the exhibition, which was curated by Whelan and interior architect Edgar Jayet.

On the gallery's ground floor, an ebonised blackwood and stainless steel daybed by Australian designer Olivia Bossy sat beside a lustrous aluminium lamp from designer Max Copolov.

This drew on the work style of Weiner Werkstätte – a modernist Austrian design studio established in 1903 by painter Koloman Moser, the architect Josef Hoffmann and patron Fritz Waerndorfer.

A glass vitrine in the same room contained an ornate bento box from 19th-century Japan and a raw aluminium stool by co-curator Jayet.

This offered a reinterpretation of the curule seat, used in Ancient Rome by powerful magistrates.

Upstairs on the gallery's mezzanine, a chair by Seoul-based designer Kim Byungsub was on display.

While its seat was made from hairline-finish steel, its backrest featured najeonchilgi: a historic Korean handicraft technique in which mother-of-pearl motifs are inlaid into lacquered surfaces.

Other items on this level included a walnut-veneer lounger by London-based artist EJR Barnes, designed to emulate "turn-of-the-century European grandeur".

There was also a blackened ash, steel, and felt-laminate suspension light by London-based designer Joe Armitage, which took its cues from a floor lamp created in 1952 by his grandfather, architect Edward Armitage.

An array of paintings, prints and reliefs served as a backdrop to the pieces in the gallery. These nodded to the exhibition design of the 1903 edition of Salon d'Automne, an art show that takes place in Paris every year.

"My co-curator Edgar Jayet and I were particularly interested by the avant-garde spirit of the original Salon d'Automne, which was controversial in its day, showing the Fauvists, Cubists and Futurists, as well as Charlotte Perriand and Le Corbusier in design," explained Whelan.

"Archival images of the original exhibition in 1903 heavily influenced our scenography, with an ebonised oak vitrine and shelf above which artworks are hung in a ramshackle, fin-de-siecle style."

Like Salon d'Automne, Le Salon de Septembre will now become an annual event at GSL Gallery.

"We hope to provide an annual snapshot of the zeitgeist in art and design, showing artists and designers that explore heritage as a means of contemporary inspiration," concluded Whelan.

Prior to opening GSL Gallery at the beginning of 2023, The Guild of Saint Luke specialised in reviving historic interiors and designing new ones.

Previous projects include Nolinski, an art deco-style eatery in the French capital, and Maison Francois, a chic brasserie in London that riffs on Ricardo Bofill's architecture.

The photography is by Celia Spenard-Ko. 

Le Salon de Septembre took place at 27 Rue Jacques Cottin, Pantin, Paris, from 15 September to 6 October. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Japanese designer Daisuke Yamamoto presented recycled steel chairs on podiums of the same material as part of an exhibition in Milan, which has been shortlisted for a 2023 Dezeen Award.

Yamamoto's Flow project explores ways to minimise industrial waste by focusing on a single material – light-gauge steel (LGS).

Commonly used in construction as a strong, lightweight framing option, LGS is also one of the industry's largest waste products, Yamamoto claims, as it is rarely recycled after demolition.

The designer therefore chose to create a second life for the steel sheets and components as a series of sculptural chairs.

He also used LGS to form platforms for showcasing the seating designs as part of an exhibition at Milan design week 2023 that has been shortlisted in the exhibition design category of this year's Dezeen Awards.

"This project began with the awareness that everyday recycled construction materials are disposed of, then new construction begins – a so-called 'scrap and build'," Yamamoto said.

"Using the iconic LGS material – one of the most popular materials normally used in framing systems throughout the interior wall structure – we transformed it into beautifully redesigned furniture, giving the materials a second chance," he added.

The exhibition formed part of the Dropcity showcase, which took place inside the Magazzini Raccordati spaces at Milan Central Station during the design week in April.

These empty railway arches have a dilapidated, industrial aesthetic with peeling floors, stained tilework and exposed utilities.

Yamamoto chose to leave the vaulted room largely as he found it but placed a series of platforms in two rows, upon which he presented the series of chairs.

Track lighting was installed overhead to spotlight the elevated designs, each of which has a slightly different shape.

In the centre of the exhibition, a workshop bench also built from lightweight gauge steel was used to fabricate more chairs during live demonstrations between Yamamoto and craft artist Takeo Masui.

"This is a landfill, a place where a volume of used LGS is collected," Yamamoto said. "A place where the designer and craftsmen work hand in hand to recreate what was bound to be disposed into something new, a process of disassembling to re-assemble."

The intention was to not only showcase the material's capabilities for reuse but also to allow visitors to engage with the process and ask wider questions about how society deals with waste.

Using waste materials produced by other industries was a key trend that Dezeen spotted during this year's Milan Design Week, with designers and studios including Formafantasma, Prowl Studio, Atelier Luma and Subin Seol all looking to reduce the environmental impact of their products.

The photography is by Takumi Ota.

Future Landfill took place at Magazzini Raccordati from 15 to 23 April 2023 as part of Milan Design Week. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Creative studio D/Dock has transformed a hall inside Amsterdam's former Westergasfabriek gasworks into Fabrique des Lumières – billed as the largest immersive art centre in the Netherlands.

Commissioned by Parisian company Culturespaces, D/Dock's design and build team transformed the double-height 3,800-square-metre hall into an exhibition space where bright, colourful artworks are projected across the floor and walls.

The space can be adapted through the use of movable seating and adjustable sound and light systems to suit the needs of various exhibitions on everything from space travel to the work of architect Antoni Gaudí.

"[The space] serves as a versatile canvas set against an industrial backdrop, where over 100 projectors and speakers transform the venue into dynamic worlds, from a lively jungle to an interstellar journey or an evocative art gallery, offering a spectrum of cultural and sensory experiences adaptable to various exhibitions," lead architect Sven Butteling told Dezeen.

To achieve a continuous space suitable for light projections, any openings of the 1885 building were closed up with cladding and painted to blend in with the existing brick interior.

Taking advantage of the building's height and scale, an internal staircase wraps around the rear facade and leads to a raised platform providing views of the main space.

Two newly built pavilions provide more enclosed immersive experiences within the main exhibition space while also operating as projection surfaces in the main hall.

Among them is the mirror pavilion, which D/Dock clad in mirrored panels and shiny flooring tiles to create "an infinite projection space".

During construction, the building's interior was carefully restored to maintain its industrial character, with the addition of newly built and digital elements creating a contemporary arts centre that blends the old and new.

The addition of lightweight insulation on the roof and windows, as well as acoustic and fire-rated doors, helped to enhance the energy performance of the hall.

D/Dock is a creative studio of architects, artists, designers and engineers based in Amsterdam.

Fabrique des Lumières has been shortlisted in the architectural lighting design category of the Dezeen Awards 2023. Also in the running is the glowing facade that Aranda\Lasch created for a Dior store outside of Doha, Qatar.

The photography is by Ossip van Duivenbode, Marijn van Laerhoven and Eric Spiller.

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French-Portuguese architect Didier Faustino has shrink-wrapped a series of wooden blocks to display paintings by the late artist Paula Rego as part of an exhibition in Hanover, Germany.

The unusual scenography was created for the exhibition titled Paula Rego: There and Back Again at the Kestner Gesellschaft art association and has been shortlisted in the exhibition design category of the 2023 Dezeen Awards.

Didier Faustino and his practice Mésarchitecture created a series of display walls for the show, providing additional surface area inside the building for displaying Rego's work while referencing her distorted artistic style.

"The aim of the scenography is to emphasise the contemporaneity of Paula Rego's work, as well as to echo the violence of the world she describes," said Faustino.

The Portuguese-British artist, who died aged 87 in 2022, was known for her stark depictions of injustice – particularly against women – and has been heralded as a feminist icon.

Unfolding across four rooms over two levels, the exhibit comprised 80 works including paintings, drawings, prints and costume designs.

To display some of the larger or more important paintings, Faustino built a variety of freestanding wooden structures with shapes and protrusions that respond to the architecture of each space, as well as the sizes of the specific frames.

He then wrapped these structures in white thermo-retractable film and exposed the material to heat so it pulled taught over the formwork.

"Walls to hang her paintings have been designed with protruding parts, giving them a grotesque appearance resembling the grotesque figures of the artist," Faustino said.

"Their wrapping with heat-shrink white film, with its stretched and wrinkled parts, gives a sense of both tension and sensuality."

Faustino also pulled several colours from Rego's paintings and applied these to the perimeter walls that surround the sculptural displays.

More artworks and exhibition texts were presented on these brightly-hued surfaces, which contrasted with the stark white plastic. The exhibition was Rego's first institutional solo show in Germany and ran from 30 October 2022 to 29 January 2023.

Faustino's work spans both art and architecture, ranging from bright spiky doorways and stages added to historic buildings, to a bar interior in Ghent with pink marble walls and olive green furnishings.

The photography is by David Boureau.

Paula Rego: There and Back Again took place at the Kestner Gesellschaft from 30 October 2022 to 29 January 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Curated by design consultancy Small Office, this year's INTRO/LA features sculptural furniture from local designers such as Adi Goodrich, Sam Klemick and Jialun Xiong.

The exhibition is being shown in Small Office's Los Angeles showroom, with pieces displayed among semi-transparent dividers.

It showcases both emerging and established Los Angeles designers.

"The show is to display how diverse the community is, and how everyone's working in different styles and production methods and materials," Small Office founder Paul Valentine told Dezeen.

"[It's] really to show the expanse of creativity here, rather than zero in on one trend and say, 'this is what's happening'."

Colourful, geometric pieces from Adi Goodrich's Sing Thing collection are on display, including multi-tiered lamps, a checkered dining chair and playful, flat-pack side tables.

The collection is an homage to the silhouettes and character of the French L'Esprit Nouveau movement, as well as Lina, an influential woman in Goodrich's life who taught her "how to live".

Sam Klemick's Sweater Chair and an accompanying, wiggle-legged stool sit nearby.

Recently on display as part of 2LG Studio's You Can Sit With Us exhibition, the Sweater Chair consists of a carved-wood sweater draped over the backrest of a chair of the same material.

An aluminium side table inspired by "the exterior of a boxy home" by designer Jialun Xiong sits among a chair, bench and stool featuring stainless steel elements and minimalistic lines.

Xiong's Dwell side table consists of a metallic cube with rectangular and circular slices taken from around its body, "representing different architectural elements to enrich the user's experience".

Caleb Engstrom's Wet Wool chair is made of resin-drenched wool draped and set to dry over metal and wood pieces, which debuted earlier this year at Los Angeles Design Festival 2023,

The chair sits next to a stackable side table made of rubber, lacquer and resin table bases used in Engstrom's other pieces. One such base layer contains "faux" lemons trapped in its transparent form.

Other work includes rustic wooden stools and lighting by Ravenhill Studio, spikey, wooden chairs and a large mirror by Objects for Objects and scalloped, ceramic planters and side tables from BZIPPY. Also on show was a collection by Leah Ring and Adam de Boer as well as studio Waka Waka, which has a production studio next door.

The INTRO series was started in 2013 as a platform to showcase both emerging and established designers in contrast to the traditional trade show format. Valentine aims to create "one interior feeling" by displaying pieces from various designers in close proximity to one another for a community-oriented exhibition.

Previous design exhibitions around Los Angeles include Future Perfect's Dear Future show, which displayed work from Gaetano Pesce and a variety of shows at Los Angeles Design Festival 2023.

INTRO/LA is on show at Small Office in Los Angeles until 17 November. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

The photography is by JJ Geiger.

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Russell Whitehead and Jordan Cluroe of 2LG Studio have curated You Can Sit With Us, a London Design Festival show that offered "a seat at the table" to a diverse mix of emerging designers.

The 2LG Studio founders invited 13 designers from a mix of nationalities, races, genders and backgrounds to be a part of the exhibition, which was on show at London Design Fair.

The exhibition took the form of a dining room, featuring a long table surrounded by chairs that were each designed by a different participant.

Whitehead and Cluroe came up with the concept based on their own experiences of trying to break into the design industry and being made to feel like outsiders.

"When we launched our practice nearly 10 years ago, there was an inner circle that felt very out of reach to us," Whitehead told Dezeen.

"We were so bruised by the industry and felt blocked by certain doors that were firmly closed to us," he continued.

"Instead of chasing acceptance where it wasn't forthcoming, we decided to accept the love that was coming our way and put our energy there."

The aim of You Can Sit With Us, he said, was to give a platform to a new generation of designers who may be having similar experiences.

The exhibition's name is a reference to the 2004 movie Mean Girls.

"We wanted this to be a safe space that actively welcomed new perspectives," Whitehead explained.

Among the most eye-catching designs in the show is a lounge seat with upholstery made from trainer insoles by Helen Kirkum, a footwear designer who typically crafts her designs from recycled sneakers.

Norwegian designer Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng has contributed a CNC-cut version of a hand-crafted ash chair she first made during the pandemic in a new black lacquer finish.

A backrest with a sweater slung over it is part of the carved wood form of a design by California-based Sam Klemick, who had a career in fashion before she moved into furniture.

Rotterdam-based Benjamin Motoc created a piece that playfully combines a sketch with a basic 3D design, while Paris-based sculptor Bence Magyarlaki has produced a characteristically squidgy form.

Other chairs were designed by Amechi Mandi, Divine Southgate Smith, Wilkinson & Rivera, Net Warner, Hot Wire Extensions, Byard Works, Pulp Sculptuur and Blake C Joshua.

The participants were selected across design, art and fashion because Whitehead and Cluroe "didn't want to enforce boundaries in that way".

Their chairs were arranged around a table produced by Smile Plastics using recycled plastic bottles and old tinsel, which created a glittering effect.

The exhibition was an important project for 2LG, and for Whitehead in particular, who battled mental health struggles following the pandemic.

The designer said the project allowed him to explore how "heart and emotion" can be a part of design.

"A lot of healing has taken place in the lead-up to this show," he said.

The project included a collaboration with textile brand Granite + Smoke, who produced colourful blankets emblazoned with the exhibition's title message.

Whitehead and Cluroe also worked with homeware brand Sheyn on a series of suggestive 3D-printed vases.

"The collection we designed together is a celebration of our queerness, something we have not embraced fully in our product design output, but it felt more important than ever to put that out there right now," added Whitehead.

You Can Sit With Us was on show at London Design Fair from 21 to 24 September as part of London Design Festival. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

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Valentino Architects and curator Ann Dingli have presented a proposal to retrofit a historic fortification at the Venice Architecture Biennale to suggest alternative methods of conservation in the face of Malta's rapid development.

Curated by Dingli, the small-scale exhibition was part of the Time Space Existence showcase and featured an abstracted plan to retrofit the 17th-century watchtower on the north-eastern shore of Malta.

"The Għallis watchtower in isolation is not remarkably significant – it's been vacant for years," Dingli told Dezeen. "But it belongs to a network of micro-fortifications that were built along the edge of the islands in the 17th century and tell a part of the islands' wider military story."

"Today the tower is a marker along the coast and not much more," she continued. "The point of the exhibition is to re-charge its significance by introducing new usability and graduating it from just a visual landmark to a habitable space."

With its proposal, the team suggests changing the use of the building to create a multi-use structure that can be utilised in numerous ways.

"The design reverses the exclusive nature of the tower – conceived as a fortress designed to keep people out – to an inclusive building that invites people in," explained Valentino Architects.

"Its programme is flexible, adapting to three permutations that allow for varying degrees of private use and public access."

The tower was showcased at the biennale to draw attention to a wider issue facing Malta – the commercialisation of its historic buildings.

The team aimed to demonstrate that historic buildings could be converted into useable structures rather than being restored as empty monuments.

"Heritage architecture in Malta has a strong focus on preservation of building fabric and less so on functional innovation," said Dingli.

"This means heritage buildings very often serve one programme – usually as museums of themselves or as institutional buildings – and as a result become inaccessible or redundant to everyday use," she continued.

"This design moves away from heritage as a product and towards heritage as useful space."

The team hopes that the exhibition will draw attention to the rapid development of Malta, which it says is happening at the expense of the country's existing buildings.

"The islands are on a seemingly unstoppable trajectory of hyper-development," explained Dingli. "Malta is the most densely populated country in the EU, and one of the most densely populated countries in the world."

"Its built environment hasn't met this intensity with the right blend of retrofit and newbuild development – the former exists in extreme scarcity, despite a huge stock of existing building fabric crying out to be re-used in smarter ways," she continued.

Although the exhibition focuses on a historic fortification, the team believes that prioritising reuse over rebuilding should be implemented across the country.

"The argument for conservation needs to be extended to any form of building stock, not just heritage buildings," explained Valentino Architects.

"Demolishing existing buildings to make way for new ones is almost never sustainable," they continued. "When there is no alternative but to remove a building, we need to advocate for dismantling as opposed to demolishing."

"Materials such as Malta's local yellow limestone – which has traditionally carved out the architectural identity of our island – is a finite resource that needs to be both protected and used," they added.

Alongside the Għallis exhibition, the Time Space Existence show presented work by architects, designers and artists from 52 different countries in venues across the city. These included a tea house made from food waste and a concrete emergency housing prototype developed by the Norman Foster Foundation and Holcim.

The photography is by Federico Vespignani.

Time Space Existence takes place from 20 May to 26 November 2023 at various locations across Venice, Italy. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Digitally shrink-wrapped skin, armrests salvaged from parks and "frozen" resin featured in Prototype/In Process, an exhibition of seating presented by virtual magazine Chair of Virtue during London Design Festival.

Displayed under a railway arch at Borough Yards, Prototype/In Process was made up of 1:1 scale prototypes of chairs, as well as chairs that are still works in progress, by 12 London-based designers who are either established or emerging in their field.

Sara Afonso Sternberg presented sculptural aluminium seating made of armrests salvaged from the middle of public benches in Camberwell. The armrests were originally created to make it difficult for homeless people to sleep or rest on the benches.

"These objects are given a new form and use, inviting the public to critically engage with control mechanisms such as hostile architecture that permeate the urban landscape," said Afonso Sternberg.

Another piece on display was by Jesse Butterfield. The designer used vacuum infusion, draping and papier-mâché to create a chair covered in resin that was intended to appear "frozen".

Various methods of production were showcasedthroughout the show. Daniel Widrig used 3D printing to digitally shrink-wrap a rectangular chair with polylactic acid, a starch-based bioplastic.

The result is a grey-hued chair with an undulating form, which mirrors the shared style of previous blobby stools created by the designer.

"Its contours mimic the gentle curves and natural irregularities of body tissue, forming intricate folds and wrinkles," explained Widrig.

Thomas Wheller also used aluminium by folding a single piece of the material to create his chair, while Louis Gibson experimented with "regular" construction stock materials by creating casts from disused pipes.

"I was interested in imagining how these parts could be used unconventionally," said the designer.

"With such large volumes, I was curious to create casts, and then evaluate the internal forms in a new light, and finally address the problem of reassembly," added Gibson.

"I chose plaster for the purpose of quick setting, I also felt it was in keeping with the world of builders' merchants stock supplies."

While the exhibition concluded at the end of London Design Festival (LDF), Chair of Virtue is an ongoing project curated by Adam Maryniak.

Prototype/In Process was on display on Dirty Lane as part of the annual festival's Bankside Design District.

Furniture created from the remains of a single car and a modular display system by Zaha Hadid Design were among the many other projects featured during LDF.

The photography is courtesy of Chair of Virtue. 

Prototype/In Process was on show as part of London Design Festival 2023 from 16 to 24 September 2023. See our London Design Festival 2023 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks that took place throughout the week.

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More can be done to support emerging designers in London says Jan Hendzel, who curated an exhibition focused on emerging talent at this year's London Design Festival.

Jan Hendzel Studio curated the 11:11 exhibition, which paired 11 established designers with 11 emerging designers, to draw attention to interesting south London designers.

"Our emphasis was on creating a platform to support the grassroots and emerging creators of south London," Hendzel told Dezeen.

"By forging new relationships and connecting the established design industry with up-and-coming makers, 11:11 aims to create a more inclusive and diverse future in design."

For the exhibition, 11 established designers – A Rum Fellow, Alison Crowther, Charlotte Kingsnorth, Daniel Schofield, Grain & Knot, Jan Hendzel Studio, Martino Gamper, Novocastrian, Sedilia, Simone Brewster, Raw Edges – each displayed their work alongside an emerging designer selected from an open call.

The emerging designers showcased were Alice Adler, Carl Koch, Dominic McHenry, Jacob Marks, Mariangel Talamas Leal, Moss, Silje Loa, Söder Studio, Unu Sohn, William Waterhouse and Woojin Joo.

Hendzel believes that events like LDF can create space for emerging talents to showcase their work, but often focuses on university-educated designers.

"The importance of offering a platform to emerging talent, especially that of grassroots and local level creatives, is to offer empowerment and to demonstrate that design is a profession that can offer meaningful and exciting careers," he said.

"When the design festival rolls into town, yes, I believe we do have platforms for emerging creatives; however, one big issue is that design shows can be cost-prohibitive and often focus on university-educated people, which by default puts the profession at the more elitist end of things," he continued.

"If you don't have cash or a degree then finding a platform to celebrate your ideas can be difficult."

He believes that LDF and others can do more to support emerging talents, and suggests that providing free space for exhibitions and installations would be a way of doing this.

"Emerging talents require nurture, they require safe places to practise their respective disciplines and they require opportunities for growth through connections and collaborations with established practitioners to elevate their craft," he explained.

"A great opportunity would be to find and offer more free spaces to emerging groups, alongside bursaries and support packages in how to promote your event and develop your respective craft within a design district."

The exhibition, which is taking place at Staffordshire St gallery in Peckham, includes numerous pieces of furniture with chairs designed by Gamper and Leal, as well as drawers by Jan Hendzel Studio and Crowther.

Sedilia's contribution was a Roll Top Chair and Roll Top Ottoman.

The exhibition also include mirrors designed by Jan Hendzel Studio, Novocastrian and Kingsnorth, and clothing by Soeder.

Also on display were lights by Schofield and by Marks.

Another exhibition showcasing the work of emerging designers at LDF was Drop02, which contained work from IKEA and H&M's Atelier100 design incubator.

Other projects currently on display as part of the festival include a prototype modular furniture system by Zaha Hadid Design and furniture by Andu Masebo crafted from a scrapped car.

The photography is by BJ Deakin Photography.

The 11:11 exhibition takes place 16-24 September at the Staffordshire St gallery as part of London Design Festival 2023. See our London Design Festival 2023 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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Multidisciplinary designer Kustaa Saksi has unveiled In the Borderlands, an exhibition of jacquard textiles at the Helsinki Design Museum, which includes a piece featuring scenery generated by AI software.

Conceived as objects that straddle both art and design, Saksi's large-scale textiles were hung from the ceilings and arranged across various rooms within a gallery at Helsinki's Design Museum.

To create his pieces, the designer uses jacquard weaving – a technique invented in 1804 where patterns are woven with yarn using a loom to create a textile, rather than printed, embroidered or stamped onto fabric.

Ideal Fall is a single oversized tapestry featuring bright and abstract forms depicting waterfall- and plant-style forms.

Saksi created the colourful textile using AI software, which he instructed to generate images that would depict "ideal" scenes of nature. The designer then picked his favourite suggestions and used the imagery as a stimulus for the tapestry's patterns.

"The exhibition explores moments between reality and illusion, which are the starting point for many of Saksi's works," said the Design Museum.

Migraine Metamorphoses is another series of textiles featuring similarly bold designs, which Saksi created to refer to the various phases of migraines – intense headaches that the designer has suffered since the age of seven.

According to the museum, the soft texture of the textiles intends to "mitigate the painful subject matter".

Often influenced by the boundaries between dreams and imagination, Saksi's first-ever tapestry series was also on show at the Design Museum.

Called Monsters and Dreams, it is characterised by striking patterns that take cues from hallucinations experienced by one of the designer's family members. These textiles were draped across or hung from the ceiling of a single room with dark blue walls, which had been painted to enhance the pieces' dramatic theme.

Saksi has created his pieces in collaboration with Dutch studio TextileLab since 2013.

"The jacquard technique can be referred to as one of the early precursors to the computer," said the Design Museum.

"It was the first mechanised technique which enabled the transfer of information about a particular pattern to a weaving machine with the help of a punched cylinder, to eventually become a piece of textile."

Throughout the gallery, the textiles were illuminated with controlled levels of lighting in order to preserve their appearance, according to the museum.

In the Borderlands is on display until 15 October as part of the museum's 150th-anniversary programme. Elsewhere at Helsinki Design Week, designer Didi NG Wing Yin presented a series of amorphous timber furniture while last year's edition of the event featured projects including plant-based textiles.

The photography is by Paavo Lehtonen.

Helsinki Design Week takes place from 8 to 17 September 2023 in Helsinki, Finland. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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To celebrate 15 years of Gallery Fumi, the London gallery is hosting the Growth + Form exhibition of "functional art", featuring sculptural furniture and lighting with organic forms.

The Growth + Form exhibition includes new works by 16 of the 28 past Gallery Fumi artists and designers, responding to themes of transformation, regeneration and biological growth patterns.

It was designed by architectural designer Leendert De Vos and curated by design historian Libby Sellers, who invited former artists and designers back to showcase new pieces in a group display.

The exhibition title and theme were informed by the On Form and Growth book by Scottish biologist D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, which analyses the mathematical harmony of growing shapes in biology.

Responding to this biological starting point, furniture and lighting with organic shapes and natural materials can be seen throughout the exhibition.

Danish artist Stine Bidstrup created a sculptural chandelier titled Light Entanglements, made up of twisting clusters of hand-blown glass.

Different lengths of painted sticks were combined to create Marmaros Metamorphosis II, a circular decorative wall piece with a textured, tufted-like surface by sculptor Rowan Mersh.

"Revisiting the very beginning of his career when Mersh used cheap materials to experiment with techniques, in this work using lacquered coloured sticks, he creates forms with the details and skill level he currently attains when using precious materials," said Gallery Fumi.

As the gallery celebrates its 15th anniversary, Sellers likened its growth to the formation of crystals – the material traditionally associated with 15-year anniversaries.

"Grown from small particles into a solid form of geometric beauty, crystal is both a poetic metaphor for Gallery Fumi's own development over the last 15 years and an opportunity to explore the creative affinity between science, art, and the intricate nature of constructions," said Sellers.

"After all, is this not a definition of design? The meeting of knowledge, form-making, material exploration and beauty?" Sellers added.

"The works are vibrant and active – sprouting, swirling, twisting, turning – transferring material and form into objects of beauty."

Also on show was a wooden cabinet covered in hand-painted shingles by Berlin-based designer Lukas Wegwerth, who also created a crystal salt vase titled Crystallization 183.

"Crystallization 183 was identified by Sellers as most significant for the exhibition, as not only is the 15-year anniversary traditionally celebrated with crystal, but the process of growing the crystals is a poetic metaphor for Fumi's growth as a gallery," Gallery Fumi said.

Other pieces on display include a sculptural copper floor lamp with a stone base by London design studio JamesPlumb and a chair by British designer Max Lamb crafted from a single yew log.

"Tapping into the creative affinity between science and art, the pieces created for the show will display fluid organic forms, natural materials and geometric structures," said Gallery Fumi.

Other designers showing work include US sculptor Casey McCafferty, Italian designer Francesco Perini, design studio Glithero, Chinese material designer Jie Wu, German ceramic artist Johannes Nagel, Finnish artist Kustaa Saksi, British artist Leora Honeyman, Spanish artist Saelia Aparicio, British artist Sam Orlando Miller, design studio Study O Portable and furniture design studio Voukenas Petrides.

Gallery Fumi was founded in 2008 by Valerio Capo and Sam Pratt. It has previously showcased work including a Jesmonite lighting collection by British designer Lara Bohinc and a limited-edition bench by JamesPlumb made using medieval dying techniques.

The photography is courtesy of Gallery Fumi.

The Growth + Form exhibition is on display at the Gallery Fumi in London, UK, from 7 to 30 September 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Sculptures crafted from recycled BMW airbags and oak railway sleepers feature in artist Frederik Molenschot's Atlas 2000 exhibition, which is on display at Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris.

Marking the Dutch artist's first solo exhibition, Atlas 2000 features hand-sculpted works that are directly influenced by natural landscapes, Molenschot said.

The show's title refers to the visual diary the artist has created since his studies at Design Academy Eindhoven in 2000.

Spread across the minimalist ground floor at the Paris branch of Carpenters Workshop Gallery, the sculptures were crafted from various materials and range from functional to abstract.

Buoy Airbag is an amorphous, pale blue-hued hanging sculpture created from recycled airbags sourced from BMW vehicles.

"The piece delves into the intricate connection between cargo transport and climate change, with recycled airbags symbolising a melting arctic ice rock floating in the sea," the artist told Dezeen.

"I want to explore how luxury materials are used and how they become what they are," he added. "[So] I processed the used airbags in a 'couture' way, to get a very high-quality finish."

Molenschot also designed Gingerblimp, a bulbous bronze LED light sculpture characterised by a silver patina and a gold-brushed interior.

The artist explained that the sculpture is a playful take on ginger root from the natural world and also nods to the manmade blimps that form part of New York City's annual Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Recycled oak railway sleepers were salvaged to create a chunky dining table and chair, which were named Bridge Beat to "pay homage to the captivating structure of bridges".

Also part of this series is a black bronze desk and chairs formed from gridded lines arranged in triangular formations.

"Each material was selected purposefully, offering unique properties and textures that complement the conceptual aspects of the artworks," explained Molenschot.

"Every piece is hand-sculpted in our studio."

According to Molenschot, the pieces' forms vary as much as their material palettes. In one corner of the gallery, a bobbly bronze glove was positioned underneath a branch-shaped textured lamp while oversized clothing also features in the exhibition.

"This solo show holds a special place in my heart, as it represents my entire artistic journey since my time at the Academy," reflected Molenschot.

"It's an invitation to explore my vision of our world. My 'atlas' is a compendium of research, pictures, designs, and sketches that have shaped me as an artist."

Known for his large-scale bronze sculptures, Molenschot has been represented by Carpenters Workshop Gallery since 2008. The galley, which also has locations in London and the US, previously exhibited an all-denim furniture show by designer Harry Nuriev.

The late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld also debuted his first sculpture exhibition at the Paris branch.

Atlas 2000 is on display at Carpenters Workshop Gallery from 1 June to 16 September 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Fragments of buildings by American architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan have been displayed at a new exhibition in Chicago by US design studio Norman Kelley.

A variety of fragments from iconic buildings are on display at the Art Institute of Chicago as part of a permanent exhibition called Architectural Fragments from Chicago.

The exhibition was curated by Harold and Margot Schiff curator of architecture and design Alison Fisher.

Norman Kelley mounted multiple pieces of demolished or renovated Chicagoan buildings onto square grey panels measuring eight feet by eight feet (2.4 metres by 2.4 metres) with stainless steel, mirrored trim in the museum's Women's Board Grand Staircase.

The exhibition includes approximately 27 architectural fragments and three lightboxes.

The pieces displayed are sourced from local, architecturally significant buildings in order to illustrate and preserve Chicago's built history.

"Architectural fragments are part of a material history that speaks to past building practices, changing neighbourhoods, and evolving ways of life," said Fisher.

"Recuperated from demolished or renovated buildings, these pieces of facades or interiors help preserve the memory of architecturally or culturally significant structures long after their physical presence has been erased."

Architectural elements such as sections of cornices, wall panels, an elevator grille and a column are displayed.

The fragments were mounted across the space from a large stained glass window that is a part of the same exhibit.

Also among the pieces are an ornate circular ventilator grille and entrance door from Frank Lloyd Wright's four-storey Francis Apartments, built in 1895 and demolished in 1971.

Both fragments display Wright's early use of organic forms, informed by his mentor Louis Sullivan.

A cast iron cornice section and spandrel panel from Sullivan's Gage Building, one of his last to be commissioned in Chicago, are also included. Both feature plant shapes and organic, curving lines.

Works from other architects include a facade panel from the National Pythian Temple by Walter T Bailey and a colourful section of floor tiles from the Mecca Apartments by Edbrooke and Burnham.

Lightbox installations include a geometric stained glass window from Frank Lloyd Wright's Coonley Playhouse and the Tiffany Studios 1917 Hartwell Memorial Window that depicts a sprawling landscape of over 48 panels.

"While this installation represents many works by Chicago's celebrated modern architects, other fragments come from buildings by lesser-known designers who were equally important in shaping spaces of activism, community, creativity and labor in our dynamic metropolis," said Fisher.

The fragments have been catalogued as part of the museum's permanent collection.

Norman Kelley is based in Chicago, IL and Cambridge, MA and was founded by Thomas Kelley and Carrie Norman in 2012.

Elsewhere in Chicago, the studio recently completed an apartment renovation for a diverse collection of chairs and refreshed the lobby of a postmodern skyscraper.

The photography is by Nathan Keay.

Architectural Fragments from Chicago is on show at the Art Institute of Chicago permanently. For more exhibitions, events and talks in architecture and design, visit Dezeen Events Guide.

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Contemporary German furniture designs are displayed alongside vintage pieces at this travelling gallery that multidisciplinary designer Vanessa Heepen has launched in Berlin.

Rather than having a permanent home, Forma will take over different locations across the German capital.

The gallery's inaugural exhibition, titled The Room I Walk the Line, was recently on show on the ground floor of a mixed-use building in Friedrichshain, nestled in between fragments of the Berlin Wall on the banks of the river Spree.

"To be honest, the area is not where I would typically choose to open a gallery," Heepen told Dezeen. "But when I first saw a picture of it on a real estate website, I was deeply touched by its huge windows, red columns and by the water, of course."

A trained interior designer, Heepen largely left the space in its found state but worked with her team to create a simple mahogany bar counter and storage unit for the gallery.

She also asked "soft architecture" studio Curetain to create a white latex screen for the corner of the gallery.

As part of the exhibition, this served as the backdrop for a tall white spectator shelf by Stuttgart-based Freia Achenbach, along with a graphic white stool by local designer Nazara Lázaro.

Other pieces in the exhibition included a pigmented concrete chair by Carsten in der Elst and hanging metallic stars by Studio Kuhlmann, both from Cologne, as well as a translucent shelf by Berlin's Lotto Studio.

Forma also sourced a number of vintage pieces from Moho – a 20th-century furniture showroom in Prenzlauer Berg – among them an embossed metal cabinet and a wriggly coat stand.

One of Heepen's main motivations for founding the gallery was to carve out a space for showcasing design-led furnishings in Berlin, which she says is something of a rarity in the German capital.

"It is a discursive topic, and people have always been unsure about the success of it," she explained. "After Forma's first edition, I am glad to say it was hugely successful".

The designer is currently on the hunt for Forma's next location and will let the new setting inform her selection of furnishings.

"I'm always open to something new that occurs within the process," she said. "I hold on to my vision, but I am also open to taking a detour."

Elsewhere in Berlin, Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron is currently constructing a major new museum for modern art.

The building's design came under fire at the end of last year, when it was discovered its complex air conditioning system would result in the venue using four times as much energy as a nearby museum from the 1800s.

The photography is by Matthias Leidinger. 

The Room I Walk the Line was on show at Mühlenstrasse 63 in Berlin from 15 June to 15 July 2023. For more exhibitions, events and talk in architecture and design, visit Dezeen Events Guide.

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Architectural photographer Jim Stephenson explains how The Architect Has Left The Building exhibition at RIBA aims to draw attention to how people use buildings, in this interview.

Despite taking place at the Architecture Gallery at the Royal Institute of British Architects' central London HQ, Stephenson told Dezeen that the exhibition is not focused on buildings.

"The installation is about people watching," he said. "Although it's at the RIBA and in the architecture gallery, it's not really about the buildings – they're just the backdrop, they're the stage set really."

"We wanted to create a meditative, large scale film piece that was all about how people use (and misuse) space once the architect's work is done," he continued.

As the exhibition's title suggests, the exhibition focuses on how buildings are used after the architect's work is finished.

It aims to show buildings in use, in contrast to the majority of architectural photography that often portrays buildings empty, at their point of completion.

"When I used to work in architecture practices, we used to design everything around people and context," explained Stephenson. "It felt like everything was dictated by those two things and then when we would get projects photographed we'd ask the photographer to omit those two things."

"The buildings were empty objects – sculptures," he continued. "It always jarred with me, so in our work we focus on people using space as much as possible."

The exhibition include numerous photos taken by Stephenson, along with an enclosed screening room, where a film created for the exhibition was played on a dual screen.

"This film is all about the small interactions that occur in and around buildings – between individuals, groups of people and even between people and the buildings," said Stephenson. "It's all about the people!"

The film, which was created with artist Sofia Smith and has a soundtrack created by Simon James, contains numerous contemporary buildings from the past 15 years.

Among the buildings featured are Tintagel Castle Bridge by William Matthews Architects, Tate St Ives extension by Jamie Fobert, Sands End Arts and Community Centre by Mae Architects and London Bridge Station by Grimshaw, which were all shortlisted for the Stirling Prize.

The film makes aims to makes people think about the connections between buildings and how people are connected to them.

"Watching Sofia make visual links between buildings that I hadn't previously considered to have much in common was fascinating," explained Stephenson.

"There's a point in the film where we transition from Sands End Community Centre to Tintagel footbridge and it's seamless – from a community centre in West London to a bridge over the sea in Cornwall!"

"And at London Bridge train station, Simon recorded not just the ambient sound that everyone can hear, but he also recorded the inner guts of the building with contact mics, as well as the sound in the electromagnetic spectrum," he continued. "All those sounds get layered up in the show and I can't go through that station now without thinking about them."

Stephenson hopes that the film will demonstrate how people improve architectural spaces and how they are recorded.

"The history of architectural photography is dominated by empty, glossy, new buildings, photographed before people have come in," said Stephenson.

"I think there was a fear amongst architects that people 'mess up their building' and photographing them empty somehow showed the architecture in a more pure and distilled way," he continued.

"I think that's mad. If the people you designed the building for are 'messing it up' then maybe there's something wrong with the building? I'm half joking, but I've never documented a space that wasn't improved by people, or at the very least a sign of life."

One of the UK's best-known architectural photographers, Stephenson co-founded film production studio Stephenson& with Smith. Recent projects photographed by Stephenson include a wood-lined community space in east London, a rammed-earth yoga studio to the gardens of Somerset hotel and a rolling bridge in London.

Recent buildings captured on film by Stephenson& include a visitor centre at the UK's largest sawmill and a school theatre by Jonathan Tuckey Design in London.

The photography is by Agnese Sanvito, unless stated. The film is by Jim Stephenson and Sofia Smith with soundtrack by Simon James.

The Architect Has Left The Building is at RIBA in London until 12 August 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Designers including Bethan Laura Wood and Maarten Baas have contributed a range of "sometimes jarring" chairs and lighting to an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Called Conversation Pieces: Contemporary Furniture in Dialogue, the exposition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) features 45 pieces of furniture and decor "that prioritise meaning and material choice over function and practicality".

"The works on view are sometimes jarring, often bold and always conversation starters," said the museum.

Drawn entirely from the SFMOMA collection, some of the pieces were chosen purely for their alternative appearance, such as an otherworldly leather and plastic armchair by South Korean designer Jay Sae Jung Oh.

Other pieces of furniture were selected for their commentary on social issues. For example, a piece by American architect Germane Barnes is a porch chair topped with an oversized backrest shaped like a milled wood comb.

Called Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown, the piece was described by Barnes as a representation of Black hair, meant to highlight how Black hair "is often policed and frowned upon instead of celebrated as it should [be]".

Dutch designer Baas and Italian architect Gaetano Pesce were also included in the exhibition.

Baas created a bright blue chair covered with clay while Pesce contributed an organic-looking fabric and resin chair called Seaweed, which resembles clumps of tangled algae.

A series of lighting designs accompanied the furniture. British designer Bethan Laura Wood created a spindly glass and metal chandelier called Criss Cross Kite.

"A chandelier is normally a very fancy-pantsy centre light," said Wood, reflecting on her work.

"I definitely want to play with this idea of fantasy within the thing."

American designer Katie Stout's ceramic lamp Unique Girl was also on display. The lighting piece is characterised by an abstract figure that the designer said is meant as a commentary on domesticity and femininity.

All of the furniture in the exhibition was arranged across a deep red carpet interspersed with amorphously shaped plots of floor space to form a meandering pathway.

Books by the exhibited designers as well as texts that inform their work were positioned in piles on the floor next to their respective furniture pieces.

"For the designers who did not yet have a book on their practice, we wrapped a large book in black paper to signal [the idea of a] 'missing book or scholarship," said SFMOMA curator Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher.

"We found that most of the missing books were for women designers," she added.

"Sparking dialogue throughout the gallery, Conversation Pieces presents chairs and lamps that surprise and garner attention unapologetically," said SFMOMA.

Last year, the San Francisco museum showcased an exhibition of work by architect Neri Oxman, while it recently became the first museum to acquire a module from the Japanese Nakagin Capsule Tower.

Conversation Pieces: Contemporary Furniture in Dialogue was on display at the SFMOMA from 20 August 2022 to 25 June 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The images are courtesy of SFMOMA.

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An exhibition of the 1950s sets, props, miniature models, costumes and artwork used in Wes Anderson's latest film Asteroid City has opened at 180 The Strand in London.

The exhibition was designed to immerse visitors in the film's fictitious world – a desert town in 1950s America famous for its meteor crater and celestial observatory.

Its aim was to give visitors insight into the "1950s Americana world the film is set in", said Asteroid City associate producer Ben Alder.

Asteroid City was filmed on flat farmland in Spain, with the buildings made for the film set up to appear like a town.

"Everything you see in the film was physically built and laid out in a way that gave the actors and crew the sense of living in this real town," Alder told Dezeen.

"The exhibition is a great way for people to see how much work went into all the elements of the film, like the costumes, because you can spend more time looking at how they are made and how much care went into them."

Pieces in the exhibition are spread across three main spaces, with audio clips and parts of the film projected onto walls referencing scenes relevant to the nearby displays.

"The idea was to use the largest open space for the sets to give people the sense of how big they were on the film, and you can imagine how massive our Asteroid City town was," said Alder.

"Then there's another space that's a more traditional gallery-type curation where you can see smaller objects and props, going into the details of the characters," Alder continued.

Mimicking the exterior of the cafe featured in the film, a temporary wooden structure decorated with menu lettering and a desert scene spans the entrance of 180 The Strand.

Sets displayed in the exhibition include white wooden residential shacks, a train carriage and a bathroom scene.

Other life-sized scenery props include telephone booths, billboard posters and humourous vending machines that dispense martinis and bullets in the film.

"There are moments where visitors are invited to be in the sets and interact with them," said Alder.

"Not only can visitors see all the pieces from the film really closely but they can go inside some of the sets – they can sit inside the train compartment, recreate the scene with [actor] Scarlett [Johansson] in the window, or go into the telephone booth – which is something really special that not a lot of exhibitions have."

Some of the character costumes are arranged together with set pieces to recreate scenes from the film.

Also on display are puppets made by Andy Gent, who previously created puppets for Anderson's films Isle of Dogs and Fantastic Mr Fox, and a series of glass flowers used in a stop-motion animation sequence where they transition from blooming to wilting.

The exhibition ends with a recreation of a luncheonette featured in the movie, where visitors can order food and drink.

It has a 1950s-style decor, with stools lined up along the service bar, pastel-coloured blinds and the image of a desert landscape framed inside fake windows.

Asteroid City is out in cinemas now.

Anderson is known for his distinctive film aesthetic, typified by retro influences and pastel colours. Interiors that have been informed by the director's style include a pastel-yellow breakfast cafe in Sweden and a bottle shop in Los Angeles with mid-century influences.

The photography is courtesy of Universal Pictures and 180 Studios.

The Asteroid City exhibition is on display at 180 The Strand in London from 17 June to 8 July 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Designer Birgitte Due Madsen, architect Anne Dorthe Vester and curator Henriette Noermark have launched an exhibition of marble, resin and wood furniture designed to explore collaboration.

Kinship, which opened at the Alice Folker gallery in Copenhagen during the 3 Days of Design festival, showcases 18 designs that utilise terrazzo, wood, metal, resin, marble and glass.

The exhibition was informed by existing works by Madsen and Vester, including the Lucid resin chair by Madsen and the Vitrine ash-and-steel wall hanging artworks by Vester, which are also on display in the space.

"As a group of three individuals who thrive in collaborative environments, it was natural for us to come together for this collaboration," the collective told Dezeen.

"We wanted to explore collaboration while focusing on our individual strengths, existing work, and experiences. Each of us brings different skill sets, backgrounds and practices, which we wanted to showcase in this exhibition," the trio added.

"The exhibition delves into the exploration of collaboration by placing a spotlight on the individuals involved."

In the spirit of collaboration, the exhibitors designed three terrazzo and oak chairs together especially for the Kinship exhibition.

These were made using wood supplied by Danish flooring company Dinesen.

Located in the centre of the gallery's second room, the terrazzo bases of the chairs mimic each other in shape, with the wooden slats placed on different angles of the base.

The terrazzo used was made from glass waste, recycled bricks and concrete to reduce the CO2 emissions generated when creating the material, the gallery said.

"The design process for the terrazzo chairs stemmed from the idea of experimenting with direct collaboration. We used Birgitte and Anne Dorthe's previous works as a foundation to create a new collective collection," the trio explained.

"The chairs were designed with a consistent aesthetic and visual language that is reflected in our shared terrazzo furniture," it added.

"The intertwining of practices creates a cohesive display that showcases direct references to the slats found in Anne Dorthe's pieces and the semicircular strokes seen in Birgitte's works."

Surrounding the chairs, Madsen's series of circular Neon Cast lights are displayed on her Breton marble cubes. The gypsum and glass lights come in shades of green, blue, pink, red and purple.

Two additional neon lights hang on the walls of the gallery, each designed with a horizontal or vertical stripe of neon running through the similarly designed circular light.

The four Breton cubes, named after sailors' shirts originally designed to be functional, explore both form and function. The cubes feature uniform horizontal, vertical or diagonal stripes of marble, each with its own veiny pattern in green, pink and brown.

Also at this year's 3 Days of Design, Christian + Jade partnered with Dinesen to present the Weight of Wood exhibition and Tableau showed sculptural wooden furniture by Vaarnii.

The photography is courtesy of Birgitte Due Madsen.

Kinship is on show from 2 June to 29 July 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for information about the event, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Chair-shaped sculptures and a doughnut-shaped paper lantern were among objects displayed inside a Copenhagen apartment during 3 Days of Design.

Yoonede – derived from the word "unity" – was a group exhibition featuring the work of 20 artists, designers and brands.

The idea behind the show was to promote collaboration, with everyone's work displayed together. Some designers also teamed up with other participants on their exhibits.

Objects were displayed in the rooms and courtyard of an apartment on Gammel Mønt, a street in the heart of the Danish capital.

Line Øhlenschlæger, one of the three founders of Yoonede, told Dezeen: "The only stipulation we made to the artists, designers and brands involved was that they should be willing to combine with others who may or may not be on the same level."

"Normally when you do a group exhibition, you have one designer in one corner and one designer in another corner, but the idea here was to lift everyone together," she said.

Øhlenschlæger, who works as an art director, put together the exhibition in partnership with product designer Sofie Østerby and interior architect Maaria Repo.

The trio, who are former colleagues, had long wanted to work together on an exhibition and decided to invite other creatives that they admired to join.

They only expected a few of them to say yes, so were shocked to see the list reach 20 participants.

Øhlenschlæger's contribution to the exhibition is a series of circular tables, supported by three-pronged volumes made from either steel or aluminium.

Østerby created a sculptural coffee table using wenge, an African hardwood, while Repo exhibited a bowl with a distinctive streaky glaze finish.

MBADV – an ongoing collaboration between designers Maria Brunn and Anne Dorthe Vesyter – was behind the chair-shaped sculptures, one made from oak and the other from stone.

The paper lantern, by lighting designer Laura Fiig, was suspended above a bench made by Studio Oro using both epoxy resin and travertine.

Designers Anne Brandhøj and Signe Fensholt combined skills in wood and ceramic to create a series of totem-like sculptures, while Atelier Madirazza presented a grand marble-framed mirror.

Cabinet-maker Antrei Hartikainen contributed a slender, curved shelving unit as well as mouth-blown glass vases.

Other key pieces included a minimal chandelier by Kasper Kjeldgaard and a woven textile by Bettina Nelson.

Brands on show included Kusiner, which presented wool carpets, and Danish audio brand Iril, which showed its minimal speakers.

The exhibition continued outside, where terracotta plant pots by heritage brand Bergs Potter sat alongside sculptures by artist Josefine Winding.

The founders plan to run Yoonede as an exhibition platform, so that it can continue beyond this 3 Days of Design debut.

"The exhibition is built around the wish of bringing creatives together, learning from each other’s differences and sharing a passion for design, art, and objects," said Østerby.

"We're showcasing inspiring individualism while letting a strong and curated cohesiveness stand out," added Repo.

The photography is courtesy of Yoonede.

Yoonede was on show from 7 to 9 June 2023 as part of 3 Days of Design. See Dezeen Events Guide for information, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Design duo Formafantasma has unveiled an exhibition at Oslo's National Museum of Norway about the history and future of wool production, featuring a 1,700-year-old tunic and a carpet made from waste fibres.

Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin of Formafantasma created the Oltre Terra exhibition, curated by Hannah Eide, to unravel humanity's past and present relationship with sheep and, by extension, the production of wool.

The exhibition features archival and contemporary objects, including life-size replicas of seven different breeds of sheep and tools for shearing, arranged across a diorama-style set within a single gallery at Norway's national museum.

Among the first animals to be domesticated by humans, sheep were first culled by hunter-gatherers around 11,000 years ago.

This marked the start of a complex relationship, according to Formafantasma.

"The National Museum of Norway [which commissioned Oltre Terra] was interested in us developing a body of work that relates to the local community in Oslo, because wool was an extremely important material in Norwegian culture before the development of the industry connected to oil and farming," Trimarchi and Farresin told Dezeen.

Oltre Terra aimed to combine artefacts typically seen in natural history museums with ones more commonly exhibited at art and design galleries, in order to highlight the interdependency between biological evolution and production processes.

Among the pieces on show are a cream carpet by CC-Tapis made of four different wool fibres extracted from 12 Italian sheep breeds.

This wool was left over from production and would usually be discarded for its coarseness, but the carpet intends to illustrate how these rougher fibres can still be used to make products that are not in direct contact with skin.

Also on display is a 1,700-year-old woollen tunic, which was found preserved under a mountain ice patch 200 miles northwest of Oslo in 2011, and woollen sails that were used for Viking Age boats.

At the centre of the installation sits a video that Formafantasma created with artist Joanna Piotrowska. Called Tactile Afferents, the film focusses on the sense of touch and explores the ways in which humans have interacted with sheep over time.

The exhibition also features replicas of notable examples of the species, such as Shrek, the Merino sheep from New Zealand who – like many others – was discovered in the wild with an overgrown coat in 2004 after he escaped his domestic flock six years prior.

This is an example of when sheep need humans, according to Formafantasma.

"Many people are against animal farming, which, when it is intensive farming, we also think is extremely problematic," said the designers.

"But sheep at the moment are not like their wild ancestors, Mouflons – they do not naturally lose hair. They need humans to shear them."

The show's exhibition design nods to the concept of the diorama – miniature or largescale models found in museums that are encased in glass and typically display three-dimensional figures.

For Oltre Terra, the diorama was "exploded" into sections and left open, rather than covered in glass, to allow visitors to feel more connected to the pieces and to question the boundary between art and science.

"For us, it's about unifying narratives and showing how these are complex ecologies that should be displayed together," said Trimarchi and Farresin of the installation.

"The scope of the exhibition is to explore this very intimate yet intricate relationship between humans and animals, in which the boundaries between tamer and domesticated fade," continued the designers.

Trimarchi and Farresin explained that one of the exhibition's overarching aims was to promote mutual dependence and respect between humans and sheep, especially when it comes to farming practices.

"The relationship between humans and sheep is much more complicated and complex," they added.

"As with human relationships, there are abusive relationships, and there are just relationships and constructive relationships. What we're doing now [with livestock] is, in some cases, extremely abusive, but this does not mean that sheep and animals and humans cannot live in a process of symbiosis."

The show took its name from the etymology of the word "transhumance", which is formed by the combination of the Latin words trans (across, 'oltre' in Italian) and humus (grounds, 'terra') and refers to the practice of migrating livestock from one grazing ground to another.

Founded by Trimarchi and Farresin in 2009, Formafantasma has previously presented other shows that investigate materials, including an exhibition on timber with furniture brand Artek that was held at Helsinki's Design Museum last year. The studio also redesigned its website to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The photography is by Ina Wesenberg. 

Project credits:

Formafantasma team: Sara Barilli, Alessandro Celli and Gregorio Gonella
Curator: Hannah Eide

Oltre Terra is on display at the National Museum of Norway from 26 May to 1 October 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Iranian-French architect India Mahdavi has designed an exhibition to present works by French painter Pierre Bonnard at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi presents more than 100 works by the famed 20th-century artist who is celebrated for applying an iridescent palette.

The scenography design by Mahdavi, also known for her use of colour, is intended to create "an impression of his world, through my own eyes" according to the architect.

Instead of typical white gallery walls, the spaces are awash with bold hues and patterns that she has chosen to complement the artworks.

Many of the shades of yellow, pink, orange and green that adorn the walls and floors are lifted directly from the canvases, while floral-inspired repeated patterns offer a contrasting backdrop.

Large carpets continue these motifs at different scales across the floors.

Mahdavi has also placed some of her own furniture designs in the gallery spaces, offering visitors the opportunity to pause and appreciate the paintings and their surroundings.

"Mahdavi envelopes Pierre Bonnard's works in an environment that complements Bonnard's distinct use of colour and texture, and evokes the wistful domestic intimacy for which his paintings are renowned," said the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).

Bonnard was born in 1867, and his artistic career took off in the 1890s in Paris, where he began capturing street life.

The artist's focus then moved to domesticity, followed by landscapes thanks to the influence of his friend and neighbour in Normandy, Claude Monet.

Bonnard later relocated to the south of France and created a large body of work there before his death in 1947.

"The paintings of Pierre Bonnard depict intimate domestic interiors, natural landscapes and urban scenes with subtlety, wit and a sensuous approach to colour and light," said the gallery.

The exhibition features loans from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, which holds the world's largest collection of Bonnard’s work, along with significant loans from other museums and private collections from around the world.

It is organised around 11 themes, which include landscapes, interiors, still life, early nudes, and large decorations.

There are also sections dedicated to his depictions of music and theatre, views from his 1920s studio in Le Cannet, and scenes of nature and daily life around the town.

"For Bonnard, landscape painting was a hybrid genre and often included glimpses of interiors and still lifes," said the gallery.

The gallery has hosted many immersive exhibitions and installations in recent years, including a scaled-down version of Greece's famous Parthenon temple, a mist-filled chasm in its sculpture garden, and Nendo's take on the drawings of MC Escher.

Mahdavi's best-known projects include the Gallery dining room at London restaurant Sketch, which she originally created in pale pink, then transformed with golden tones in 2022.

She recently updated six rooms within Rome's 16th-century Villa Medici to feature an array of contemporary and colourful furniture.

Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi forms part of NGV's Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series, and runs from 9 June to 8 October 2023. For more exhibitions, events and talks in architecture and design visit Dezeen's Events Guide. 

The photography is by Lillie Thompson.

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Danish designer Helle Mardahl has unveiled The Sensory Society, a 3 Days of Design exhibition that takes cues from Wes Anderson's film The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Mardahl filled an entire Copenhagen apartment with her colourful glass objects, creating installations that include a playful bar and a grand dressing table.

The exhibition showcases new additions to the designer's glassware range, called the Candy Collection, including hand-blown pendant lamps, characterful wine glasses and Mardahl's take on "the perfect bowl".

The aim was to create an exhibition that appeals to all of the senses.

"We've transformed this old, amazing apartment into a world of imagination, mystique and humour," Mardahl said.

"Inspired by the amazing Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, I implemented colours from our newest addition to the Candy Collection, such as grapefruit, blue jelly, champagne and spearmint. Absolutely yummy!"

Mardahl first launched her Copenhagen-based studio in 2017, after "falling in love" with glass. Her pieces typically have a candy-like aesthetic, with rich colours and round shapes.

The designs are all hand-made by artisans mostly based in Denmark.

"The process of creating the glass is magical," said Mardahl.

"It's hot, it's sweaty, it's absolutely perfect. It is truly a love story between the glass and the artisan."

When you arrive at The Sensory Society, the first room you encounter is a lobby where almost every surface is red, creating a bold backdrop to glass pendants hanging down from the ceiling.

In the bar area, glass tableware objects – including the popular Bon Bon cake stand – are displayed at different heights, while wine glasses are hung around a cylindrical column.

A grand dressing table is finished in pale shades of lilac, pink and blue. It incorporates tiered shelving, supporting hundreds of glass vessels.

There is also a turquoise-coloured room where the new wine glasses take centre stage.

Small details throughout the apartment are also made from glass, including drawer handles and orbs fixed to the sides of the chairs.

"It's a candy world of flavours and colours, a universe that simulates your senses and feelings," added Mardahl.

The Sensory Society is on show from 7 to 10 June 2023 as part of 3 Days of Design. Follow live coverage on Dezeen live: 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen, or see Dezeen Events Guide for information about the event, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Danish design studio Christian + Jade has created an exhibition in collaboration with wood flooring manufacturer Dinesen that explores the density of wood and its significance and history as a commodity.

The Weight of Wood exhibition, which takes place at the Dinesen showroom as part of Copenhagen festival 3 Days of Design, was the result of a year-long research project commissioned by the brand's recently founded Dinesen Lab.

Dinesen Lab invited Christian Hammer Juhl and Jade Chan, founders of Christian + Jade, to take part in a residency in which local artists were asked to work with wood harvested by the company to produce a research project and explore the weight of wood.

The Weight of Wood installation is located within a large exhibition space at the brand's showroom in Copenhagen. This was divided into a series of smaller rooms via sheets of textured paper hung vertically from a wooden pavilion.

Each of the smaller rooms separates the exhibition into three different parts titled Forest and Wood, Wood and Wood, and Human and Wood.

Throughout the exhibition space, wooden tables hold a number of experiments and interventions completed by Christian + Jade using different types of wood that were harvested by Dinesen.

"We were fascinated by the idea that no two pieces of wood weigh the same, not even if it comes from the same tree trunk," the studio explained at a preview of the exhibition. "This was really what sparked our interest in this project."

"Through this exhibition, we have tried to work with this idea in various scales," the studio founders added. "It sort of presents a design methodology, combining different pieces of wood with different densities."

"What we have created is not only a series of furniture but also a rocking horse, a rocking chair and lots of small experiments that visualise this intangible quality of wood, which is the weight of wood."

A collection of different-sized cubic wooden volumes were presented in the exhibition, made from 11 different species of wood including beech, cherry, Douglas fir and elm. Each of the pieces of wood weighs 250 grams and conveys the different densities of wood through volume and size.

A seesaw placed at the rear of the exhibition space featured a base made from Douglas fir and topped by a seat constructed from equal parts Douglas fir and oak. As a result of oak having a higher density than Douglas fir, the seesaw will always lean towards its oak-constructed side.

"We chose three different furniture archetypes that require weight and balance in their function – the seesaw, the rocking chair and the rocking horse," Chan said.

"So in designing or reimagining the furniture, we've worked with four of Dinesen's main wood species; that is Douglas fir, oak, pine and ash."

"The seesaw is an example of one of the simple principles that we apply – the pivot point is made using Douglas and the seat is made using oak and Douglas," Chan added.

The rocking horse was constructed from 87 per cent Douglas fir and 13 per cent ash. Because of its Douglas fir-heavy construction, the horse always tilts towards one side, which provides it with a unique movement.

Chan concluded the preview of the Weight of Wood exhibition with a poem by H P Dinesen, a relative of the company founders:

"To those who love the tree, those who may be fighting the tree, the one who plants the tree, the one who fells the tree, the poet who praises the tree, and the one who simply settles with enjoying the tree."

Also at this year's 3 Days of Design, Nemo Lighting unveiled a light designed by architect Le Corbusier and a lamp by architect Charlotte Perriand and Takt launched a fully disassemblable sofa that can be replaced and recycled.

The photography is by Claus Troelsgaard.

Weight of Wood is on show as part of 3 Days of Design 2023, from 7 June to 9 June 2023. Follow the live coverage on Dezeen live: 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen. 

See Dezeen Events Guide for information about the event, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno has changed the HVAC and electrical system of the Serpentine gallery in London, in an effort to make an exhibition for all the nearby species.

Titled Web(s) of Life, the exhibition presents some of the artist's most recent and well-known environmentally focused works, while also encompassing interventions into the building itself.

These interventions aim to make the Serpentine South building housing the exhibition more porous and responsive to its setting in Kensington Gardens, challenging anthropocentric perspectives that only consider the interests of humans and not any other beings.

Sculptures made for the enjoyment of a variety of different animals are placed on the building's grounds, facade and roof as well as inside the building, while complex webs woven by multiple types of spiders working "in collaboration" with Saraceno feature inside the dimly lit galleries.

"You see that many architectures today are somehow not so inclusive of what is happening on the planet," said Saraceno, who trained as an architect. "I'm very happy to think that for the first time at the Serpentine, there are many spiderweb pavilions."

"It's a little bit about trying to think how animal architecture could enter into the discourse and how we need to have a much more equilibrated and balanced way of building cities today on Earth," he told Dezeen.

To make the gallery interior more comfortable for spiders and other insects, the equipment that controls the building's temperature and humidity has been switched off and some doorways opened to allow for free movement of both air and animal life.

Given the exhibition will run throughout the British summertime, this might mean some discomfort for human visitors – but within limits. According to the Serpentine's chief curator Lizzie Carey-Thomas, the gallery will allow the staff on its floor to decide when conditions are too hot for them to work safely or for visitors to have an enjoyable time.

At that point, the gallery will close rather than switch on the air-conditioning, encouraging visitors to enjoy the installations outside in the park and under the trees.

A further intervention by Saraceno comes in the form of a new solar array on the Serpentine's roof, which will power all the films and lights in the exhibition.

The destructive effects of lithium mining on the environment and Indigenous communities is a key theme of the exhibition. So Saraceno and the Serpentine are avoiding the use of a lithium battery and instead embracing the intermittency of solar power by adapting the exhibition's energy use to the level of sunshine outside.

On cloudy or partly cloudy days, films will run less frequently and lights will be dimmed. On particularly sunless days, the films may switch to audio-only, while some lights will switch off altogether.

"The irony there is that on the extreme heat days with lots of sun, we will have full power but we won't be able to open the exhibition," said Carey-Thomas.

As the Serpentine South building is heritage listed, both Carey-Thomas and Saraceno say the process for making any alterations was complex and drawn out, with approval for the solar panels taking two years and other plans to remove windows and doors quickly abandoned.

The works within the exhibition include Saraceno's Cloud Cities sculptures, which feature compartments specifically designed for different animals such as birds, insects, dogs, hedgehogs and foxes.

The artist is also screening a film that documents one of the instalments of his Aerocene project, which involves making an entirely fossil-free aircraft powered purely by air heated by the sun with no need for batteries, helium, hydrogen or lithium.

In the film, the Aerocene team completes the world's first piloted solar-powered flight, flying a balloon sculpture over the highly reflective salt flats in Salinas Grandes.

There is also a work created specifically for children, called Cloud Imagination, which is accessed through a dog-shaped door that's too small for most adults to enter.

Saraceno and the Serpentine describe the Web(s) of Life exhibition as having been created "in collaboration" with a host of different contributors, both human and non-human.

These include the communities of Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc in Argentina, spider diviners in Cameroon, the communities around Aerocene and Saraceno's Arachnophilia project, and the lifeforms found in the Royal Parks surrounding the Serpentine, which will continue to evolve the works over the next three months.

The artist and gallery also want to extend the ethos of the exhibition to the potential sale of the artworks by developing a scheme called partial common ownership or, Saraceno hopes, "partial common stewardship", which means any buyer would "co-own" the work along with a designated species or community.

Another recent artwork to have explored ideas of intermittency in energy and design is Solar Protocol, which looks at the potential of a solar-powered internet.

The photography is by Studio Tomás Saraceno.

Tomás Saraceno In Collaboration: Web(s) of Life will take place at Serpentine South in London, UK from 1 June to 10 September 2023 and culminate with a day-long festival on Saturday, 9 September including a weather-dependent Aerocene flight. For more information about events, exhibitions and talks, visit Dezeen Events Guide.

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In this renovated loft in Brooklyn, the owner both resides and hosts public art performances within a space divided by a variety of inserted volumes.

The loft is located in a late 19th-century cast iron building in Williamsburg that once served as a hat factory, and was renovated by a team of architects.

Ignacio G Galán, Jesse McCormick, Khoi Nguyen and Julie Tran of Future Projects collaborated to turn the industrial space into a residence that could also serve as a venue for artistic performances and other public events.

Named Another Seedbed, the project recalls the use of lofts in New York City by artists in 1960s to 1980s for developing experimental works.

The owner and activator of this apartment began organising parties, performances and other events in a similarly industrial space in Bushwick.

He then decided to create a dedicated space for himself to live and work, as well as host other artist friends who needed square footage to bring their ideas to life.

"Neither just a private studio nor an art gallery, the space is equipped to welcome gatherings that operate between a dinner party and a public performance," said the project team.

"Artists appropriate the space and become hosts themselves, expanding the communities which the project brings together."

The apartment is organised as a largely open-plan space, with private areas concealed inside inserted volumes.

Red-stained pine plywood panels hide the bedroom, which is accessed via a concertina door, and also contain storage.

The bathroom occupies another volume that's covered in hand-troweled earthen clay plaster outside and lined entirely is blue penny-round tiles inside.

An open kitchen with grey cabinetry sits below a framework of coloured wood, featuring smokey polycarbonate panels that are lit from behind.

This frame extends into the living area to form a floor-to-ceiling shelving unit, on which books and objects are displayed, and a projector for screening videos onto the opposite wall is housed.

A variety of moving furniture pieces, including an ochre-toned sofa on wheels, help to choreograph the events and arrange the apartment as desired by whoever is using it.

"The space will not advertise its performances," said the team.

"Some neighbors might not know of its existence. Others will hear about an event through friends. Some might find themselves there often and will develop networks of neighbourliness within it."

Brooklyn has both a thriving arts scene and a wealth of defunct industrial buildings for hosting exhibitions, performances and events.

Herzog & de Meuron recently completed the transformation of a derelict power plant in the borough into arts centre, while the Public Records creative venue added a bar and lounge on an upper floor of its former warehouse building earlier this year.

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The first sari to be worn at the Met Gala and sequins made from discarded X-ray film sourced from hospitals feature in the Offbeat Sari exhibition, which showcases around 60 contemporary saris at London's Design Museum.

The Offbeat Sari is the first UK exhibition to explore the contemporary sari, according to the Design Museum. The show opens today in a cavernous space within the museum's subterranean gallery, illuminated by thin neon pendant lights.

Hailing from India and wider South Asia, a sari is traditionally thought of as an unstitched drape wrapped around the body from shoulder to waist.

In recent years, designers have been reinventing the 5,000-year-old garment to serve young people's growing interest in the sari, which has led to its revival, according to Design Museum head of curatorial Priya Khanchandani.

"Women in cities who previously associated the sari with dressing up are transforming it into fresh, radical, everyday clothing that empowers them to express who they are, while designers are experimenting with its materiality by drawing on unbounded creativity," said the curator.

Split into various themes such as identity and resistance, the exhibition presents around 60 contemporary saris created by a range of established and emerging designers.

Among the garments is the first sari to be worn at New York's Met Gala in response to the annual ball's 2022 theme, Gilded Glamour.

Embellished with semi-precious stones, the tulle Sabyasachi-designed sari worn by Natasha Poonawalla features a statement train and was paired with a gold Schiaparelli bodice with protruding, orbit-shaped elements.

Another navy blue sari by Abraham & Thakore is characterised by delicate sequins that were made using discarded X-ray film salvaged from hospitals – a design that aims to address the issue of sustainability within the fashion industry.

Also on display is a purple georgette silk sari embroidered with shimmering acrylics, sequins and crystals. Founder of the #DeGenderFashion movement, author and comedian Alok previously wore the garment to highlight their belief that saris can be worn by anyone, regardless of gender identity.

Contrasting textiles such as distressed denim and woven stainless steel make up other saris in the exhibition, highlighting the garment's versatile evolution.

Within the show's "movement" section are a number of saris worn by young people while engaging in sports. These include a garment adorned with cherry blossom motifs that was donned during a cricket match as well as a polyester chiffon sari, which is among the outfits worn by a group of women who have begun to skateboard in saris – a growing trend, according to the museum.

There is also an area dedicated to the craftsmanship involved in sari-making that explores how its history has transformed over the 21st century.

"The sari is experiencing what is conceivably its most rapid reinvention in its history. It makes the sari movement one of today's most important global fashion stories, yet little is known of its true nature beyond South Asia," explained Khanchandani.

"For me and for so many others, the sari is of personal and cultural significance," reflected the curator.

"But it is also a rich, dynamic canvas for innovation, encapsulating the vitality and eclecticism of Indian culture."

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's first design-focussed exhibition is another show that is currently on display at the Design Museum until late July. In other recent fashion news, designer Rick Owens has released a collection of wearable helmets that double as fluorescent floor lamps.

The photography is by Andy Stagg. 

The Offbeat Sari is on display at London's Design Museum from 19 May to 17 September 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Project credits:

Curator: Priya Khanchandani
Associate curator: Rashmi Varma
3D design: Studio Mutt
2D design: Stuthi Ramesh

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An exhibition dedicated to the work of British architect Norman Foster has opened at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, showcasing drawings and original models produced by the architect over the last six decades.

The exhibition, which according to the Norman Foster Foundation is the largest-ever retrospective display of Foster's work, features around 130 of the architect's projects including the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Headquarters, Hong Kong International Airport and Apple Park.

Designs that informed Foster's work are also exhibited, including works by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, French painter Fernand Léger, Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi and Italian painter Umberto Boccioni, and even cars, which the architect is passionate about.

The exhibition, simply called Norman Foster, was designed by Foster with his architecture studio Foster + Partners and nonprofit organisation the Norman Foster Foundation.

Curated by Centre Pompidou deputy director Frédéric Migayrou, the exhibition aims to showcase examples of Foster's innovation and technology, his approach to sustainability and his ideas for the future of the built environment.

"This exhibition traces the themes of sustainability and anticipating the future," said Foster.

"Throughout the decades we have sought to challenge conventions, reinvent building types and demonstrate an architecture of light and lightness, inspired by nature, which can be about joy as well as being eco-friendly."

The 2,200-square-metre exhibition begins with a room dedicated to Foster's sketches and drawings, a practice he uses to communicate ideas and log design inspiration.

"For me, design starts with a sketch, continuing as a tool of communication through the long process that follows in the studio, factories and finally onto the building site," said Foster.

"In 1975 I started the habit of carrying an A4 notebook for sketching and writing – a selection of these are displayed in the central cabinets, surrounded by walls devoted to personal drawings."

The exhibition continues in a large space with partition walls that separates it into seven themes: Nature and Urbanity, Skin and Bones, Vertical City, History and Tradition, Planning and Place, Networks and Mobilities, and Future Perspectives.

The Nature and Urbanity section explores Foster's approach to preserving nature by building "dense urban clusters, with privacy ensured by design," the studio said.

Referencing a critic's comment that the external appearance of Foster's projects could be categorised as having a smooth "skin" facade or expressing its skeletal structure, the Skin and Bones portion of the exhibition showcases projects that illustrate the relationship between structure, services and cladding.

In the Vertical City section, the studio showcases how it created "breathing" towers by designing open, stacked spaces.

"We were the first to question the traditional tower, with its central core of mechanical plant, circulation and structure, and instead to create open, stacked spaces, flexible for change and with see-through views," said Foster.

"Here, the ancillary services were grouped alongside the working or living spaces, which led to a further evolution with the first ever series of 'breathing' towers."

"In the quest to reduce energy consumption and create a healthier and more desirable lifestyle, we showed that a system of natural ventilation, moving large volumes of fresh filtered air, could be part of a controlled internal climate," the architect continued.

The History and Tradition section aims to provide insight into examples of historic and vernacular architecture that influenced Foster, while the Planning and Places portion explores masterplanning and placemaking in urban spaces.

Towards the open exhibition space's exit, the Networks and Mobility section displays examples of transport and infrastructure and leads to the final room, Future Perspectives, which exhibits concepts for future methods of travel and communication.

On display are details of autonomous self-driving systems and designs for habitats on Mars and the moon that were developed with NASA and the European Space Agency.

Foster recently spoke with Dezeen about his views on sustainability in architecture, in which he said "there are lots of dangerous myths".

The photography is by Nigel Young from Foster + Partners.

The Norman Foster exhibition is on display at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France, from 10 May to 7 August 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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The Zaha Hadid Foundation has opened an exhibition about Zaha Hadid's Moonsoon restaurant in Sapporo, Japan. Here, exhibitions officer and curator Johan Deurell selects five highlights from the show.

Zaha's Moonsoon: An Interior in Japan is a case study of architect Hadid's first built project outside of the UK – the Moonsoon Bar and Restaurant in Sapporo, Japan, which was constructed in 1989.

The exhibition offers a journey from the conception of the venue  – conveyed through a series of archival models, presentation documents and sketches – through to its built form, presented through images and one-to-one recommissioned furniture from the bar's interior.

"Our latest exhibition showcases the creative processes behind one of Zaha Hadid's earliest and less well-known projects," said Zaha Hadid Foundation director Paul Greenhalgh. "Moonsoon was created at the time of the incredible explosion of the Japanese economy, and the design boom that accompanied it."

"Japan provided opportunities for emerging architects to work on experimental projects. For the foundation, it is a chance for us to dive deep into the archives and highlight works rarely seen before."

Monsoon's design referenced some of the early 20th-century avant-grade movements that emerged out of Russia, such as the works of Russian abstract artist Kazimir Malevich.

Angular, twisting and geometric shapes were translated into functional architectural volumes and layers. Additional design references include the works of sculptor Alexander Calder, French liquor commercials from the 1950s and imagery of orange peel and pasta.

Zaha's Moonsoon: An Interior in Japan takes place at the Zaha Hadid Foundation headquarters in Clerkenwell, London, which functioned as Hadid's headquarters from 1985 until her death in 2016.

Read on for Deurell's five highlights:

Presentation case, acrylic and aluminium by Zaha Hadid Architects, 1989-90

"The idea of our exhibition came about with the discovery of a Perspex briefcase in the archive. This briefcase was made by Daniel Chadwick as a container for the Moonsoon design concept.

"It carried elements of model as well as 14 paintings, six perspective drawings and 13 collages shown in this exhibition. The case would be taken to the clients as a form of presentation strategy, where the works on paper would be laid out and the model assembled."

Presentation model, acrylic by Zaha Hadid Architects, 1989-90

"This model, made by Daniel Chadwick, was created to illustrate a concept, rather than as a replica of the restaurant's final form. Here an 'orange peel' shape swirls through the two floors, and the colourful shards represent the furniture and interior elements. At the time it was made, the interior and furniture designs had yet to be finalised.

"Zaha Hadid Architects embraced the transparency of acrylic to make the relationship between interior and spatial elements in the model easier to view. In the future, digital models would provide the transparent layering effects that Hadid sought to achieve through the early use of acrylic."

Interior concepts, acrylic paint on black cartridge paper by Zaha Hadid Architects, 1989-90

"This painting belongs to a suite of 14 paintings originally stored in the Perspex briefcase. Moonsoon's concept was partially inspired by fire (for the first-floor bar) and ice (for the ground-floor restaurant), which is illustrated through the reds and blues in this painting. A swirling 'orange peel' shape represents the central furnace penetrating through the two floors, whereas splintered 'ice shards' symbolise tables.

"Zaha Hadid Architects used paintings to explore concepts that could not be shown through conventional perspective drawings. Various team members contributed to the paintings. The works were derived from sketches, which had been transferred to tracing paper and then onto cartridge paper, and subsequently coloured in, often by Hadid herself. Their warped shapes and layering anticipated the possibilities later offered by CAD software."

Zaha's Moonsoon, by Marwan Kaabour, 2023

"Not everything in the show came from that briefcase. There were boxes upon boxes of archival material too. During the research phase, colleagues at Zaha Hadid Architects told me: 'go find the little doodle'. That turned out to be a sheet of Arabic letterforms spelling out Zaha and Moonsoon, and the recurring swirly shape, which you see in the model and paintings.

"With some help from Marwan Kaabour, who designed the graphic identity for the exhibition, I learnt that the swirl is a stylised version of the letter H in Zaha. Marwan has done some amazing work for Phaidon and V&A before and runs the Instagram account Takweer on queer narratives in the SWANA region. I asked him to make a video based upon the archival material we had found.

"This snippet is taken from that video. It charts the development of Moonsoon's 'orange peel' structure, from the brief to its final built form. Beginning with sketches of the words مونسون [Moonsoon] and زها [Zaha] based on Arabic letterforms, through references to orange peel, pasta, and the works of Alexander Calder, it concludes with their eventual translation into the technical drawings informing the construction, as well as images of the construction and built."

Sofa and tray table by Zaha Hadid Architects, 1989-90 (remade in 2014)

"Finally, the exhibition includes a boomerang-shaped sofa from the bar. The furniture for Moonsoon employed intersecting curves and diagonal planes to create an interior landscape. Designed by Michael Wolfson, the differently sized sofas have interchangeable plug-in backrests and tray tables, which came in different colours and finishes.

"Waiters could set the tables on their stands when delivering the drinks to guests. I am not sure how well this waiting method worked in practice, but it is interesting to think about this furniture as part of a design historical tradition of flexible seating landscapes. We know that Zaha was a fan of Verner Panton's work, for example."

Zaha's Moonsoon: An Interior in Japan is on show at the Zaha Hadid Foundation in London from 20 April until 22 July 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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A vengeful doll from an Alpine folk tale was the imagined occupant of this colourful cabin-style home created by German designer Markus Benesch at Milan design week.

The maximalist Alpine Rising installation featured decorative Alpine-style furniture and multi-coloured wall coverings, all filled with references to life in the mountains.

Benesch developed the design after becoming fascinated by the fabled character of the "tuntschi" doll.

According to the story, the tuntschi is fashioned out of wood, straw and cloth by herdsmen who spend the summer tending cattle on the mountain and crave female company.

The doll comes to life, yet the herdsmen continue to objectify her. So when the time comes for them to return home, she takes murderous revenge on one of them.

This got Benesch thinking about what happens after the story finishes.

"I wondered, what is this doll doing when she is alone in the wintertime?" he told Dezeen. "I thought, maybe she has the time of her life."

One of the starting points for the design was to think about the types of pastimes that the doll might enjoy.

One idea was that she might ski. This resulted in swirling motifs – reminiscent of snow tracks – that appeared throughout, plus a pair of bespoke skis.

Benesch also thought the doll might take up pottery, which led him to the work of Austrian ceramicist Florian Tanzer, founder of Vienna-based studio Luma Launisch.

Tanzer's rough and enigmatic ceramics often depict unusual characters.

For Alpine Rising, he created vases and vessels that integrate the face of the tuntschi. Some pieces had more than one face, in reference to her two-faced nature.

Benesch and his small-production furniture, textile and wallpaper company Curious Boy created a completely custom interior for the tuntschi's Alpine cabin.

Divided into rooms, it was filled with farmhouse-style furniture pieces that combined traditional Alpine woodcraft with colourful motifs typical of Benesch's designs.

Benesch creates these patterns by inlaying wood with pigmented resin.

In ash wood, designs on show included the cabin-style Tuntschis cabinet, the elaborate Himmibed and the playful Stui dining chairs.

Walnut was used for the amorphous Splügen lamp, while the zigzag-patterned Hochzeitsschrank wardrobe was crafted from pine.

For the wallpaper and textiles, Benesch created repeating patterns using images of wooden shingles that typically clad Alpine chalets, then overlaid them with various colours and tones.

Underlying the entire design was an idea about getting away from today's digital world and the harmful effects it can have on mental health, and instead celebrating "an analogue lifestyle".

This idea was emphasised by hand-carved ash and walnut spoons and a pack of custom-designed playing cards.

"We want to disconnect from the crazy of our today's world and reconnect more with ourselves in nature," added Benesch.

The exhibition formed part of the 5Vie district during Milan design week, where other exhibitions included Artemest's L'Appartamento, a 1930s apartment redesigned by six different studios.

Following Milan design week, we collected ten standout installations and projects on show during the week.

Alpine Rising was on show from 15 to 21 April 2023 as part of Milan design week. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

Exhibition and furniture photography is courtesy of Markus Benesch Creates. Ceramic photography is by Gregor Hofbauer.

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An architecture centre founded by British architect Terry Farrell has opened in Newcastle, England, with an exhibition exploring building materials of the future and "urban rooms" for local residents.

The Farrell Centre is an exhibition gallery, research centre and community space that aims to provoke conversation about architecture and planning, both in the city and at a global scale.

The project was instigated by Farrell, who donated his architectural archive and put £1 million towards the build.

The inaugural exhibition, More with Less: Reimagining Architecture for a Changing World, looks at how buildings might adapt to the climate crisis.

Fake fur, mycelium and wool insulation feature in a series of installations designed to challenge traditional methods of producing architecture.

Elsewhere, three urban rooms host workshops and other events where locals can learn about the past and future of Newcastle and voice their opinions on development plans.

"The centre is here to bring about a better, more inclusive and more sustainable built environment," said Farrell Centre director and Dezeen columnist Owen Hopkins during a tour of the building.

"The belief that underpins everything we do is that we need to engage people with architecture and planning, and the transformative roles that they can have," he told Dezeen.

"Architecture and planning are often seen as something that's imposed from above. We need to shift that perception."

Forming part of Newcastle University, the Farrell Centre occupies a four-storey former department store building in the heart of the city.

Local studios Space Architects and Elliott Architects oversaw a renovation that aims to make the building feel as open and welcoming as possible.

The ground floor has the feel of a public thoroughfare, thanks to glazed facades on two sides, while bleacher-style steps create a sunken seating area for talks and presentations.

A colourful new staircase leads up to the exhibition galleries on the first floor and the urban rooms on the second floor, while the uppermost level houses the staff offices.

According to Hopkins, the launch exhibition sets the tone for the type of content that visitors can expect from the Farrell Centre.

The show features installations by four UK architecture studios, each exploring a different proposition for future buildings.

"We wanted to create something that expands people's understanding of what architecture is, beyond building an expensive house on Grand Designs," Hopkins said, referencing the popular television show.

Newcastle University's Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE) has created Living Room, a cave-like structure made by cultivating a mixture of mycelium and sawdust over a giant wool blanket.

Next, a mini maze created by Glasgow studio Dress for the Weather aims to showcase the thermal and experiential qualities of building insulation, with varieties made from low-grade wool and plastic bottles.

London-based Office S&M proposes low-tech but fun solutions for making buildings more comfortable.

These are represented by a silhouette of the head of Michelangelo's David made from pink fur, a metallic space blanket, a chaise longue topped covered in expanding foam and a dichroic-film window covering that casts colourful reflections onto the floor.

"This whole room is about actually doing really simple mundane stuff, but in a way that is joyful and tells a story," said Hopkins.

In the final room, an installation by London-based McCloy + Muchemwa brings nature indoors with a boardroom table covered in plants.

On the floor above, the three urban rooms have been fitted out by Mat Barnes of architecture studio CAN with custom elements that make playful references to building sites.

They are filled with historic maps, interactive models, informal furniture, display stands made from scaffolding poles, and architecture toys that include building-shaped soft play and Lego.

The idea of setting up an urban room in Newcastle was the starting point for the creation of the Farrell Centre.

A decade ago, Farrell was commissioned by the UK government to produce a report on the state of the UK's architecture and planning system.

One of the key recommendations in the Farrell Review, published in 2014, was to create an urban room in every major city, giving local people of all ages and backgrounds a place to engage with how the city is planned and developed.

As Farrell grew up in the Newcastle area and studied architecture at the university, he became keen to make this concept a reality in this city.

Although the Farrell Centre is named in his honour, Hopkins said that Farrell is happy for the facility to forge its own path in terms of programme and approach.

"He established the idea and vision for the centre, but he is happy for us to build out that vision in the way that we think is best," added Hopkins.

The director is optimistic about the centre's potential to engage with the community.

"Newcastle is a city like no other," he said. "The civic pride here is off the scale. People have such a deep-rooted love of where they live."

"It's amazing to be able to tap into that as a way of creating a better built environment."

More with Less: Reimagining Architecture for a Changing World is on show at the Farrell Centre from 22 April to 10 September 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

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Swedish retailer IKEA marked its 80th anniversary at Milan design week with Assembling the Future Together, an immersive exhibition that charts the furniture company's history and addresses its future.

Assembling the Future Together took place at Padiglione Visconti in Milan and explored the brand's progression since the 1950s.

"The whole exhibition is about the past, the present and the future," said IKEA designer and chief creative officer Marcus Engman.

"So it's a little bit like telling the story of IKEA furniture, things we have done and things that we will do even more," he told Dezeen in Milan.

To reflect this idea, the space was divided into three main sections. One area dedicated to the past features designs from IKEA's 80-year history displayed on geometric white shelving.

Among the pieces was furniture from the 1970s with bright fabrics and bold shapes, which were influenced by the increasing emergence of youth culture during this decade, according to the brand.

Chunky children's furniture from IKEA's Mammut series was also included. The line was first designed in the 1990s and has remained popular ever since.

For the present portion of the exhibition, the brand launched the first products in its new Nytillverkad collection.

Characterised by "simple, functional and playful" elements, the furniture, bedding and accessories intend to pay homage to past iconic IKEA pieces in line with the current wide-spread revival of interest in vintage designs, according to the brand.

While the collection nods to IKEA's roots, the brand used contemporary materials to create the pieces.

"It's putting old things into a new perspective," explained Engman.

Large-scale contemporary photographs, which showed members of the public sporting IKEA's recognisable blue and yellow Frakta shopping bag in unexpected ways, were suspended from the ceiling throughout the venue.

One image showed a bride protecting her dress inside one of the shoppers on her wedding day, while another has been adapted to transport a dog on the subway in New York.

"Even if we perceive our products as 'ready design', people see them a bit more like Lego pieces to play with," acknowledged the designer. "People use the Frakta bag in so many ways we didn't expect."

The future area of the exhibition features four towering installations dedicated to the elements of fire, water, earth and wind, which include an illuminated tree and smoke dispensers.

"The future part is all about showing how we are using design and product development to nudge people's behaviours into doing something that is good for people and the planet," reflected Engman.

"It's also where we try to challenge people to be part of this – not just wait for IKEA to do stuff, but actually ask, how can we do things together?"

"We have set out to be fully circular by 2030 so that affects everything that we do," he continued.

Designed as an inclusive, "down-to-earth" space that is open to all, the exhibition drew together many other experiences, such as a cinema zone showing portraits taken by photographer and IKEA's first artist-in-residence Annie Leibovitz that document the "real lives" of people in their homes.

The project is part of IKEA's annual Life at Home Report, where members of the brand's team visit people in their living spaces and document their findings.

Various talks and music events took place in the space throughout the week alongside a dedicated "record shop" and on-site IKEA cafe serving branded food and drinks.

The aim of incorporating music into the exhibition was to bring people together, according to Engman. Communicating the sacredness of the home is at the core of the IKEA exhibition, said the designer.

"This is something for us that we need to constantly work on – finding new ways of getting people to understand how important the home is," he explained.

"I mean, the challenges during covid and now the cost of living crisis has been where we can help out even more."

"Because people have had to spend more time at home – but how can we make the home also something that is really not just a functional thing, but an emotional thing?" he continued.

"So I think that's our biggest thing, but making sure we do that in people- and planet-positive ways. Because that's the only way forward."

Previously, IKEA donated its products and design services to create a series of United Nations-led refugee support centres in Eastern Europe to offer sanctuary to vulnerable groups displaced by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The brand's research lab, Space10, developed a concept for connecting physical furniture to an ever-evolving NFT tree.

Assembling the Future Together was on show from 18 to 23 April 2023 at Padiglione Visconti, Via Tortona 58, Milan. See our Milan design week 2023 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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Architecture studio Worrell Yeung has renovated a historic cast-iron building in Soho for an arts organisation called Canal Projects, which hosts exhibitions "in an unmistakably New York City space".

Sat between Soho and Tribeca, the five-storey landmark was built in 1900 as a manufacturing centre, featuring a decorative white facade, double-hung windows and an external fire escape all typical of the neighbourhood.

Its street and basement levels were renovated by Worrell Yeung to create a home for Canal Projects, a non-profit arts organisation that hosts exhibitions, talks, performances, readings and screenings for the community.

The studio was careful to retain as much of the building's character as possible, highlighting the existing features like original masonry and steam radiators, and restoring them where necessary.

Visitors arrive via a new entry threshold on Canal Street, where patinated bronze panels line the tall walls in a space intended to offer a moment of pause.

Up a short flight of steps is the main gallery space – a large, open and flexible room that can be programmed in accordance with the organisation's needs.

"We designed the foundation to be a series of spaces that would compress and expand, collapse and unfold and move between dark and light," said Worrell Yeung co-founder Jejon Yeung.

Surrounded by 14 large windows on two sides and boasting ceilings over 13 feet (four metres) tall, this room is light-filled and spacious.

New white oak floors complement the industrial details, including five cast iron columns and five wide flange steel columns that were exposed and restored.

"Similarly to providing artists with a distinctive platform, we wanted viewers to experience art in an unmistakably New York City space," said Max Worrell, Worrell Yeung's other co-founder.

"Passers-by will glimpse exhibitions from the street through the window walls along Canal and Wooster Streets, and visitors on the interior can see artwork with the city context visible in the background," Worrell said.

Also on the ground-floor level are private offices for the curators and a bright orange public restroom.

Next to a freestanding reception desk by artist Zachary Tuabe, a staircase leads down to the basement level, which has a much smaller occupiable footprint.

Darker and more enclosed, the cellar space features original brickwork, masonry and timber ceiling joists, and provides a very different exhibition space that is suitable for film screenings.

Light from the steel sidewalk grates illuminates one end of the space, where a library area is created by floor-to-ceiling shelving that pivots as required.

A pantry area is hidden in an alcove behind a set of stable doors and is coloured entirely bright orange to match the upstairs restroom.

"We wanted artists to confront a venue that provides sufficient neutrality for their work, but that is also distinctly undivorceable from the Soho Cast Iron District," said Yeung.

"This is a building typology unique to New York City, and a richly layered context within which to exhibit."

Canal Projects opened to the public in September 2022, with an exhibition titled Pray organised by artistic director and senior curator Summer Guthery.

The show featured works by Bangkok and New York-based artist Korakrit Arunanondchai, and American artist and filmmaker Alex Gvojic.

Worrell Yeung was founded in 2015, and has worked on a variety of projects in and around New York.

The studio recently completed a timber-clad lake house with cantilevered roof planes in Connecticut, while past endeavours have included a Hamptons renovation, a Chelsea loft apartment, and the penthouse in the Dumbo Clocktower Building.

The photography is by Naho Kubota.

Project credits:

Architecture and interior design: Worrell Yeung
Worrell Yeung project team: Max Worrell, founder and principal; Jejon Yeung, founder and principal; Beatriz de Uña Bóveda, project manager; Yunchao Le, project designer
Structural engineer: Silman (Geoff Smith, Nick Lancellotti)
Lighting designer: Lighting Workshop (Doug Russell, Steven Espinoza)
MEP engineer: Jack Green Associates (Larry Green)
Expediter/code consultant: Anzalone Architecture (James Anzalone)
Contractor: Hugo Construction (Hugo Cheng, Kong Leong)

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Hundreds of thousands of cannonballs, donated Lego bricks and a marble toilet roll feature in Making Sense, the first design-focussed exhibition by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei at London's Design Museum.

Showing a range of new and historical works spread across a single gallery, Ai Weiwei: Making Sense opens at the Design Museum this Friday and marks the artist's first design-focussed exhibition to date.

"I had to do something after the pandemic to celebrate how life goes on," explained Ai, who is globally recognised for using art as a tool for activism.

Central to the space is five "field works" made from rectilinear arrangements of found objects that the artist has been collecting since the 1990s.

Still Life is a group of several thousand Stone Age axe heads, knives, spinning wheels and chisels sourced from flea markets and laid side-by-side. The installation intends to humble visitors and serve as a reminder that design was originally based on survival.

Another untitled work created last year brings together over 200,000 Xing ware porcelain cannonballs made during China's Song dynasty – seemingly delicate objects that were once war weapons.

"It's a matter of intelligence," Ai told Dezeen, discussing his long history of collecting artefacts.

"It is to keep the memory and to try and build yourself with what has happened to other human beings in very dramatically different times through history."

Spouts is an installation of thousands of ancient porcelain teapot spouts, while Left Right Studio Material collects fragments of Ai's sculptures that were destroyed by the Chinese state when it demolished the artist's Beijing studio without warning in 2018.

"The remains are a form of evidence of the repression that Ai has suffered at the hands of the Chinese government, as well as a testament to his ability to turn destruction into art," said the Design Museum.

The fifth "field work" features piles of Lego bricks that were donated by members of the public after the toy manufacturer stopped supplying bricks to Ai because he used the toys to create portraits of political prisoners.

Called Lego Incident, the work is presented alongside a vast recreation of French impressionist Claude Monet's famed Water Lillies series that is also made entirely out of Lego, as well as a dramatic wooden sculpture made of columns sourced from a Qing dynasty temple and tables from the same period.

Among the other pieces in the exhibition, the artist presented a pair of large sculptures made from life jackets and children's school bags respectively.

The objects were arranged in two snake-shaped formations dedicated to the victims of China's 2008 Sichuan earthquake and the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe.

Also on display are two life-size toilet rolls made from marble and glass, which were designed in 2020 in response to our dependency on everyday objects at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

"They work as one," said Ai, who said he does not have a favourite piece in the exhibition – rather, he feels the projects complement each other.

"All my works work as one – the bad ones, the so-called 'good' ones, the random ones or the ones being neglected."

"It's just like, can you choose one part of your body as the most important one?"

Various photography was also shown, including colourful new editions of the artist's Study of Perspective series – images of the artist pointing his middle finger at recognisable landmarks including Berlin's Reichstag building and New York's Trump Tower.

Prints displaying the National Stadium, widely known as the Bird's Nest, being constructed prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics were also mounted to the wall.

While the artist helped to conceive the stadium in collaboration with architecture studio Herzog & de Meuron, he later distanced himself from the project in protest against the Chinese government.

"I never really have a particular hope," said Ai. "I just focus on my own practice," he said discussing how he would like audiences to engage with the exhibition.

"I think it's a good idea to present to others as people may share the same kind of emotions or concepts [to you]. But I have no idea – I just don't know."

Other recent projects contained in Ai's extensive portfolio of political work include a cage-like structure in Stockholm and a Quebec City installation made of a wall of life jackets that were used by Syrian refugees while attempting to cross the Mediterranean sea.

The photography is by Ed Reeve unless otherwise stated.

Ai Weiwei: Making Sense is on display at London's Design Museum from 7 April to 30 July 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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An exhibition at Chatsworth House including designers including Michael Anastassiades, Faye Toogood and Formafantasma, features in this video produced by Dezeen for the stately home.

Called Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth, the exhibition brings together a collection of furniture and objects displayed throughout and responding to Chatsworth House and its gardens.

In total, 16 international designers and artists created pieces that respond to the interiors of the building.

Some responded by sourcing materials from the property itself, while others focussed on themes and ideas taken from decorations within the interiors.

"The designers of the exhibition have responded to Chatsworth in all sorts of fascinating ways," said co-curator of the exhibition Glenn Adamson.

"Throughout you really see this kind of conversation between the present and the past."

The exhibition continues Chatsworth House's 500-year-long history of working with leading artists and designers and collecting an extensive collection of art and objects.

"An artist's new work can create a new way of looking at these spaces," said Chatsworth House Trust director Jane Marriott.

"It can capture their imaginations and hopefully inspire them to explore Chatsworth in a different light."

British designer Toogood took over Chatsworth's chapel and adjoining Oak Room. As a nod to the historical use of the space as a place of worship and gathering, she created an installation of monolithic furniture made from bronze and stone.

The sculptural forms were designed to evoke ecclesiastical structures and to reflect the local landscape.

"These objects give a sense of meditative calm, a sense of massiveness or monumentality that feels appropriate to the space," Adamson said.

Two stone benches by Dutch designer Joris Laarman made from locally sourced gritstone , which was the material used to build the house itself, were placed in Chatsworth House's gardens.

The surfaces of the benches were carved with undulating patterns in which moss and lichen have been planted and will continue to grow over time.

Other objects in the exhibition include a throne-like seat wrapped in leather made from musical instruments by Jay Sae Jung Oh, a fibrous cabinet designed by Fernando Laposse, and sinuous steam-wood sculptures by Irish furniture maker Joseph Walsh.

Another section of the exhibition, which occupy Chatsworth's Sculpture Gallery built in the early 19th century, features pieces by British designer Samuel Ross.

Ross's pieces were designed to echo the surrounding sculptures, mimicking their form to invite viewers to imagine the body that would recline on them. The designer has used a material palette of stone and marble to further reflect the sculptures within the gallery.

"It's a kind of collision of past and present, of the artisanal with the technological, the classical with the industrial," Adamson said.

"It's a great example of how the show in general tries to talk across generations, across centuries."

Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth is on display at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire until 1 October 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Photography is courtesy of the Chatsworth House Trust.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen for Chatsworth House as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen's partnership content here.

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Architect Ma Yansong, the curator of Blueprint Beijing, a feature exhibition exploring the future of the Chinese capital at the 2022 Beijing Biennial, shares six of his highlight installations from the show.

Ma, the founding partner of Chinese architecture studio MAD, invited 20 architects and artists of different generations from around the world to present their visions for the future of the city of Beijing in a variety of mediums including architectural models, installations, photography and videos.

"Blueprint Beijing is a comparative study of history and the future of Beijing and the world," Ma told Dezeen.

"We compiled a compendium of seminal events, people and ideologies from around the world that have vividly explored the theme of 'the future', such as Archigram, Oscar Niemeyer and many more, that have had a significant impact on current architects, and have influenced changes in Beijing's urban planning in relation to major events."

"The works of several creators selected here traverse the dimensions of time, space and geography, and their personal creative imagination has brought distinct significance to the exhibition," he added.

The exhibition also presents material taken from historic archives about eight architects and collectives that have showcased visionary ideas, as well as four Chinese science fiction films with historic significance.

Here, Ma has selected six of his highlights from Blueprint Beijing for Dezeen:

Restaurant Inside the Wall, by Drawing Architecture Studio, 2023

"The Restaurant Inside the Wall installation is presented as a graphic novel, with a restaurant hidden inside the wall as the protagonist. Drawing Architecture Studio (DAS) transformed the graphic novel into a spatial experience in order to strengthen the absurd and suspenseful atmosphere of the story, by collaging and connecting the real elements of various street stalls.

"Drawing from the observation of urban spaces in China, DAS has discovered a lot of unexpected pockets of wisdom embedded in everyday urban scenes, and roadside 'holes in the wall' are an example of this. This installation adds a microscopic daily footnote to the grand avant-garde urban blueprint for the future."

Filter City & City as a Room, by Peter Cook from Cook Haffner Architecture Platform, 2020-2022

"In this installation, Peter Cook dissects two of his drawings – Filter City (2020) and City as a Room (2022) – into elements that concentrate on sequences.

"Cook utilizes his signature strategy of creating concept drawings that remain connected to the built environment, while also moving towards a new future-looking 'hybrid', particularly interiors, that can be created from fragments of drawing and images.

"As a result, viewers can transcend from distant observers into participants."

Liminal Beijing, by He Zhe, James Shen and Zang Feng from People's Architecture Office, 2022

"The installation of Liminal Beijing, created by People's Architecture Office, connects the city of Beijing in different time and space. It features a knot of radiant, winding, and rotating tubes that can be interpreted as pneumatic tubes transporting documents in the 19th century or the hyperloops developed today, representing the link between the future and the past.

"Modern life would not be possible without the hidden system of ducts that deliver heating, cooling, and clean air. Air ducts in Liminal Beijing are made visible so they can be explored and occupied, and are presented as missing fragments of space and time."

Astro Balloon 1969 Revisited x Feedback Space, 2008, by Wolf D Prix from Coop Himmelb(l)au, 2022 edition

"This installation was realized by combining two of Coop Himmelb(l)au's previous works: Heart Space – Astro Balloon in 1969 and Feedback Vibration City in 1971, which were first shown in this form at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2008.

"The resulting installation is a cloud-like, semi-transparent and reflective floating space that translates visitors' heartbeats into a lighting installation.

"Throughout its practice, Coop Himmelb(l)au has presented numerous futuristic 'architectural' prototypes of dwellings which are responsive to the sensibilities and activities of their inhabitants."

Beijing In Imagination, by Wang Zigeng, 2023

"Chinese architect Wang Zigeng illustrates two city models that were informed by visual imagery of mandalas on the floor and ceiling of the exhibition space, expressing the tension between the ideal city and the chaos of the real world — a parallel reality of both the present and the future.

"He believes Beijing is the embodiment of ancient cosmologies and an ideal city prototype through the ritualization of urban space – the establishment of political and moral order as a highly metaphorical correspondence between human behavior and nature."

Pao: A Dwelling for Tokyo Nomad Women II, by Toyo Ito, 2022 Beijing edition

"This installation explores what living means for city dwellers in a consumerist society. Even today, half of the population living in Tokyo are living alone, and having a place to sleep is all one needs. Pao is a light and temporary structure that can be dissolved in the buzz of the metropolis.

"This is a new edition of Toyo Ito's previous work Pao: A Dwelling for Tokyo Nomad Women. By recreating the installation in Beijing while coming out of a global pandemic, Ito hopes to provide a space for visitors to reflect on the excessive consumerism that has continued to dominate the present."

The Photography is by Zhu Yumeng unless otherwise stated.

Blueprint Beijing is on show at the 2022 Beijing Biennial Architecture Section at M WOODS Hutong in Beijing until 12 March 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Designmuseum Denmark has looked at how design can shape the future through its The Future is Present exhibition, which features projects including a tubular chandelier made from cow intestines.

Presented at Copenhagen's recently renovated Designmuseum, the exhibition showcases a range of "speculative and suggestive" works that examine four themes titled Human, Society, Planet+ and Imagining the Future.

"Design is very much a forward-looking profession," said exhibition curator Pernille Stockmarr. "It's about changing the existing into something better – and what we do in the present creates the future."

"Living in a time with major global challenges, this exhibition wants to invite people to see and reflect on the different potentials of design in this transformation and encourage them to think about what kind of future we want," she told Dezeen.

Among the pieces on show is Inside Out, a chandelier-style lamp made from 100 metres of knotted cow intestines extracted from eight cows. Designer Kathrine Barbro Bendixen aimed to explore how byproducts can be used to rethink patterns of material consumption.

Faroe Islands-based fashion brand Guðrun & Guðrun created Vindur, a ruffled dress with exaggerated bell sleeves made of woven silk and machine-knitted milk yarn sourced from dairy production waste.

The brand worked with textile designers Amalie Ege and Charlotte Christensen and Lifestyle & Design Clusters to create the garment, which was made using a "traditional technique used during the inter-war period when resources were in short supply and waste was transformed into value," according to the Designmuseum.

More conceptual works include Beyond Life, a collection of biodegradable paper foam urns by designer Pia Galschiødt Bentzen with detachable pendants containing seeds that can be grown.

"Beyond Life unites death, loss, and remembrance with the awareness that we humans are part of nature's endless circle of life," said Stockmarr.

Also on show is Library of Change, a "map" of dangling acrylic foil cards charting current trends and technologies, inscribed with questions for visitors such as "would you leave the city for better connection?"

Stockmarr explained that the exhibition aims to communicate "the breadth of design" by including works that vary in scale, purpose and medium.

"Their ability to inspire, start conversations and make visitors reflect was a priority," she said.

"I didn't want the works to be too-defined solutions for the future, extreme sci-fi visions, utopias or dystopias, but exploratory works. Some are collaborative research projects and others provide foresight into design methods, handicrafts and creative experiments."

Alongside the various projects in the exhibition, artefacts from the Designmuseum's own archive that highlight past ideas for the future are also on display.

One of these designs is the three-wheeled vehicle Ellert, Denmark's first electric car developed in the 1980s by engineer Steen Volmer Jensen.

Local studio Spacon & X created the exhibition design for The Future is Present with the aim of reflecting its themes.

The studio delineated the show's various zones using modular bioplastic dividers that snake through the exhibition space and worked with natural materials including eelgrass, which was used to create acoustic mats to manage noise in the museum.

Objects are arranged on custom tables and plinths made in collaboration with sustainable material manufacturer Søuld, while Natural Material Studio created a mycelium daybed for the show.

Stockmarr explained that the show is meant to be a call to action and empower people to reflect on their individual roles in determining the future of design.

"By asking more questions than giving answers the exhibition wants to inspire visitors," reflected the curator.

"The show acknowledges that it is not only designers, architects, craftspeople and experts, but all of us who are participating in shaping and designing the future by the questions we ask and the choices and actions we take today."

Similar recent exhibitions that explored the climate impact of materials include a show at Stockholm Furniture Fair that visualised the carbon emissions of common materials such as concrete and The Waste Age – a London exhibition that addressed how design has contributed to the rise of throwaway culture.

The Future is Present is on display at Designmuseum Denmark from 19 June 2022 to 1 June 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Designers Inma Bermúdez, Moritz Krefter, Jorge Penadés and Alvaro Catalán de Ocón have created three playful wooden furniture pieces on show at Madrid Design Festival.

Devised by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), Natural Connections was on show in the entrance hall of the cultural building Matadero Madrid.

Each of the three furniture pieces was designed to encourage interaction with wood – with one acting as a bench, the other a climbing frame and the third a hanging light installation.

The designs were created in response to a brief provided by AHEC, which sought pieces made by Spanish designers out of maple, cherry, and red oak hardwoods sourced from American forests in an effort to encourage the use of the material.

"We challenged the design studios to present these chambers in a public space – in a public context – so that visitors get to experience a connection," AHEC European director David Venables told Dezeen.

"The design teams worked with maple, cherry, and red oak to create playful, original, and highly innovative installations that we hope will provide engagement, excitement and a connection for visitors to these wonderful natural materials," said Venables.

Designer Catalán de Ocón created a six-metre-long hanging light called Nube  – which translates to cloud in English – made of 4,000 interconnected spherical and cylindrical individual pieces of wood.

Nube is lit by several LED lights that were placed in the middle of the hollow structure. A brass cable runs from the bass into the mesh structure, branching into positive and negative electric currents.

Positive poles run through the cherry wood while negative poles run through the maple pieces, which form a complete circuit when they touch and illuminate the bulbs.

Its design was informed by Catalán de Ocón's fascination with the manufacturing process for small utilitarian wooden objects such as pegs, matches and blinds.

"I was inspired by the little match or the pencil, or the wooden pin for hanging the clothes – those kinds of manufacturing techniques, where you get an object which is repeated over and over and over again," Catalán de Ocón told Dezeen.

Meanwhile, La Manada Perdida, or The Lost Herd, by Inma Bermúdez and Moritz Krefter was influenced by the Matadero's former function as a slaughterhouse and cattle market.

The Spanish design duo produced a series of red oak, maple and cherry benches for Natural Connections that reference equine and bovine animals such as horses and cows. The pieces were given minimal finishing to mimic the texture of the tree they came from.

"They appear as benches or seats, but their design goes beyond furniture to incorporate aspects of imagination and play to help people encounter and rediscover nature," said AHEC.

Madrid-based designer Penadés responded to the natural connections theme by producing a tiered seating piece called Wrap that is connected by ball joints.

The designer, who is known for his interior projects with Spanish footwear brand Camper, glued and rolled 0.7-millimetres-thick pieces of cherry veneer into tubes to create tubular hollow components, which form a bleacher-style seat when joined together.

Natural Connections is one of several exhibitions at Madrid Design Festival, a month-long event that sees a design programme take over the Spanish city. After the exhibition ends, the furniture will remain in the cultural centre for a year.

Also at this year's edition is Slow Spain, an exhibition by university students that aims to explore American hardwoods and mindful furniture consumption.

Last year saw lighting designer Antoni Arola and Spanish light manufacturer Simon use a smoke machine, lasers and a small tree to create Fiat Lux 3 Architectures of Light.

Natural Connections is on show at Matadero Madrid as part of Madrid Design Festival 2023, which takes place from 14 February to 12 March. See Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the month.

The photography is courtesy of AHEC.

Project credits:

Designers: Inma Bermúdez and Moritz Krefter, Alvaro Catalán de Ocón, Jorge Penadés
Partners: American Hardwood Export Council, Matadero Madrid, Madrid Design Festival, Tamalsa

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Bubblegum-pink walls, floors and furniture create unconventional spaces for displaying art at this gallery in Paris designed by local studio Golem.

Headed by architect and artist Ariel Claudet, the practice was invited to design the interior for the Superzoom art gallery, which is located in the historic Le Marais district.

The gallery comprises three spaces arranged in an unusual order, with the gallery director's office at the entrance, a white-cube gallery space in the centre and an accessible storage space at the rear.

"We flipped upside-down the classic and elitist sequence of an art gallery, offering visitors a new pleasure-driven experience and the gallery managers three spatial tools for a large range of curatorial approaches," explained Claudet.

Superzoom's signature colour pink was used as the basis for the design, reflecting the vibrancy of the local nightlife and techno scene where the gallery mingles with artists and collectors, according to Claudet.

An integrated sound system hooked up to a vinyl record player provides a soundtrack of electronic music to enhance this connection.

By placing the director's bright-pink office at the front, Golem aimed to create an entrance that is warmer and more inviting than a typical white gallery space.

The "pink den" contains a built-in bench for visitors and a fake grass carpet that contributes to the warm, tonal aesthetic.

Visitors can continue through into a large and versatile white-walled gallery. This display area remains connected to the main spatial concept thanks to the pink openings on either side.

The final space within the gallery is a storage area with walls painted the same shade of lively pink. In a conventional gallery setting, this space would be hidden away. But here, it is open and accessible to visitors.

Each of the spaces in Superzoom's gallery can be used for exhibiting work, either independently or together.

For example, Golem suggested the white cube could be used for a solo show while other artists' work is presented in the director's office and storage space.

All of the furniture and the pink wall separating the white cube from the director's office are mobile and can be removed to create a larger space for exhibitions or parties.

Golem designed the baby pink table featured in the director's office as an emblem of the gallery that can be taken to art fairs or used for client dinners.

Claudet founded Golem in 2021 after working as an architect for practices including Rem Koolhaas's Rotterdam-based firm OMA.

Other all-pink interiors published on Dezeen include a fur-covered Balenciaga store in London and the Minimal Fantasy holiday apartment in Madrid.

The photography is by Cyrille Lallement.

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Architecture studio Enter Projects Asia has completed a private gallery for a collector in Chiang Mai, Thailand, featuring an undulating rattan structure designed by an algorithm that weaves its way in and out of the building.

The 2,000-square-metre gallery complex comprises gardens, water features and a series of pavilions for displaying the owner's collection of silverware, fine china and porcelain, including what is reportedly the largest collection of Wedgwood porcelain in Southeast Asia.

Enter Projects Asia, which is based on the Thai island of Phuket, developed a holistic proposal for the project that spanned everything from spatial planning to lighting and furniture, with the fluid rattan structures providing a consistent element throughout the scheme.

The aim was to create a less "clinical, antiseptic" interpretation of a traditional gallery, based on the studio's research into parametric design and dynamic forms, Enter Projects Asia director Patrick Keane explained.

"We sought to create an immersive experience, giving the space a warmth and depth uncharacteristic of conventional art galleries," he said.

The gallery features two wings arranged on either side of a central entrance. Each wing contains an exhibition space, with a private dining area also accommodated in the larger of the two volumes.

The rattan installation begins at the entrance and traces an overhead route through the building, seamlessly transitioning between inside and outside.

At several points, the suspended structure drops down to create bulbous open-sided pods, incorporating shelves for displaying artworks and objects.

The installation's complex form was generated using generative design software and is intended to simulate the movement of clouds and steam.

Its shape seems to change constantly when viewed from different perspectives, adding visual dynamism to the interior.

Lighting integrated within the overhead structure creates a warm glow both during the day and night, while concealed lights illuminate the display areas.

The three rattan pods – measuring five, four and three-and-a-half metres in height respectively – were fabricated in a factory during the coronavirus lockdowns before being transported to the site and assembled.

Enter Projects Asia regularly works with rattan palm, which is a naturally abundant resource in the region. Previously, the studio produced a similarly sculptural wickerwork installation for an office and factory building in Waregem, Belgium.

During the pandemic, the practice also launched an initiative called Project Rattan that focuses on creating bespoke rattan furniture and lighting using local craft skills.

According to Keane, the fast-growing palm species are well suited to use in interior design, offering a sustainable alternative to conventional building materials.

"It is not hard to be sustainable in construction if we adapt to our environment," he said. "Why would we use synthetic, toxic plastics when we have all the noble materials we need at our fingertips?"

Keane founded Enter Projects in 2005 after completing his studies in Australia and the USA. Since relocating to Asia, the firm's projects aim to combine a focus on innovation with a strong sustainable agenda.

Previously, a rattan studio the practice designed for yoga brand Vikasa was named leisure and wellness interior project of the year at the 2020 Dezeen Awards.

The photography is by William Barrington-Binns.

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Weathered walls and concrete floors feature in this design gallery that creative collective The Guild of Saint Luke and architecture firm Studio ECOA have set up inside a former factory in Paris.

Spread across one storey and two mezzanines, GSL Gallery provides a mixture of studio and exhibition space for the group of architects, artists and artisans that make up The Guild of Saint Luke.

The gallery occupies a disused factory in Pantin, a neighbourhood in northeastern Paris with a growing arts and culture scene.

In recent years, the building operated as a classic car garage but was purchased by art dealer and gallerist Hadrien de Montferrand during the pandemic with the aim of transforming the site into a gallery.

De Montferrand enlisted locally based Studio ECOA to carry out all the necessary architectural changes and asked The Guild of Saint Luke (GSL) to steer the building's design and become its first tenant.

"We were charmed by the space and found the patina and raw walls to be punk and accidentally on-point," GSL's creative director John Whelan told Dezeen.

"Working in close collaboration with Studio ECOA, we proposed a project that retained all of the rawness of the spaces with very minimal design interventions," he continued.

"We felt that it would be criminal to interfere with the existing mood, which is melancholic and eerily beautiful."

Studio ECOA restored the building's facade and aluminium roof, as well as preserving its original concrete flooring.

Boxy storage units were built on either side of the front door to form a corridor-like entrance to the ground floor, where white panelling was added across the lower half of the patchy, time-worn walls to emulate the look of a typical gallery.

This ground-floor space will be used to display a changing roster of avant-garde installations, which GSL hopes to finance by using the gallery's workspaces to produce more commercial projects for design brands.

"Commercial endeavours will help to fund more proactive 'passion projects', where we will exhibit GSL's own designs along with designers and artists that we admire," Whelan said.

"Our chief motivation is creative freedom, as we hope to produce installations that do not necessarily adhere to a commercial brief."

The building's two existing mezzanines were cut back to create a central atrium, which draws natural light into the gallery's interior.

The lower mezzanine now houses a hybrid live-work space where GSL members or visiting artists can stay the night.

This space is centred by a large Donald Judd-style wooden table and also accommodates a bed, kitchenette and a bathroom concealed within a mirrored volume.

Extra exhibition space is provided on the secondary mezzanine that sits beneath the building's roof, directly under a series of expansive skylights.

Prior to now, GSL has largely specialised in hospitality interiors – restoring historic brasseries across Paris and devising opulent restaurants such as Nolinski near the Musée du Louvre and Maison Francois in London.

"We hope that the gallery will be an extension of the aesthetic that we are trying to develop, embracing new ideas but never abandoning the pursuit of beauty," Whelan explained.

"It feels like a good time to do so, as Covid has cleared and a mood of optimism in design has emerged. This bracing, minimal space feels almost like a clean slate and invites a multitude of possibilities."

Other recent additions to Paris's cultural landscape include a major extension of the Musée Albert Kahn by Kengo Kuma and Associates, which made room for a historic collection of 72,000 photographs.

Elsewhere in the French capital, Bruno Gaudin Architectes just completed a 15-year renovation of the National Library of France, incorporating a number of new circulation routes and public spaces.

The photography is by Oskar Proctor. 

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Architecture and design studio Space Popular has unveiled Search History, an exhibition at the MAXXI museum in Rome that applies the writings of Italian architect Aldo Rossi to virtual worlds.

The installation features bold and colourful images envisioning a metaverse city, with doorways that appear to be gateways between different virtual spaces.

The aim of Space Popular founders Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg was to show how Rossi's ideas about the experience of real-world cities can be reflected in the immersive spaces of the metaverse.

"The project Search History began as part of our research on issues of the virtual city," says Lesmes in a video about the project.

"We have been studying how we move between virtual environments, basically places on the internet that are three-dimensional," Lesmes said.

"We found a lot of connections to theories of Aldo Rossi," she added. "Even though he didn't develop them thinking about the virtual realm or virtual worlds, we feel they are extremely applicable."

Search History is the fifth edition of MAXXI's Studio Visit, a programme that invites contemporary designers to reinterpret the work of iconic architects from the museum's collections.

The starting point for the project was Rossi's seminal text The Architecture of the City, which describes urban areas as a multilayered sequence of spatial experiences.

Space Popular believes that virtual environments should be equally multilayered, and that special attention should be paid to the way people move from one space to another.

"What does it mean to click on a hyperlink? Do we open a door or do we slide something up?" Hellberg says in the video.

The exhibition comprises a doughnut-shaped pavilion formed of overlapping curtains, each printed with multilayered imagery.

Inside, Space Popular created the feeling of standing in a city plaza by adding a circular bench topped by a light designed by Rossi in 1991, called Artlarmer, which has the feel of a street lamp.

The light is also is depicted on one of the curtains, alongside other pieces of street furniture that include a litter bin and a drain cover.

The curtains also depict architectural elements like roof profiles and columns, as well as references to computing such as a keyboard and a search window.

"This piece is a sort of simulator, a representation of what it could be like, the experience of browsing through immersive, digital environments," said Lesmes.

The project builds on the manifesto that Space Popular presented for the Dezeen 15 online festival, which proposed using portals made of digital textiles to navigate virtual worlds.

The duo have also created other works that explore the design of the metaverse, which they call the immersive internet. These include Value in the Virtual at ArkDes and The Venn Room at the Tallinn Architecture Biennale.

Space Popular: Search History is curated by Domitilla Dardi, senior design curator at MAXXI, and is sponsored by textile manufacturer Alcantara, which provided the material for the curtains.

Previous editions of Studio Visit have seen Neri&Hu explore the world of Carlo Scarpa and Formafantasma examine Pier Luigi Nervi.

The exhibition photography is by Matthew Blunderfield.

Space Popular: Search History is on show at MAXXI from 7 December 2022 to 15 January 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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This art and design gallery in Venice, California occupies a former private house where interiors by designer Gabriella Kuti provide a warm, neutral backdrop for the works on show.

Maison Lune was co-founded by French artist and designer Sandrine Abessera and Ukrainian fashion designer Lubov Azria, who set about creating a "dream home, where beauty rules".

"We want to build an alternative to traditional galleries, which are often perceived as too elitist and intimidating," said Abessera and Azria.

The duo worked closely with interior designer Gabriella Kuti to turn what was a private house in a protected historical building into a space to showcase a rotating series of exhibitions.

The gallery is organised like a collector's home, with artworks and design pieces spread across multiple rooms that total 4,000 square feet (371 square metres).

Their intention was to allow visitors to journey through the different rooms and floors, which are designed to exude a warm atmosphere.

The team didn't need to alter too much of the existing interiors but added storage and lighting to help better display the works.

"The space was already an amazing canvas for this purpose: high ceilings, lots of lights and skylight, white limestone floors," the co-founders told Dezeen. "We created more shelving with LA artisans and added more lights."

Architectural features like circular windows, spiral staircases and marble bathrooms all bring character to the gallery.

The house also has a terrace with a small swimming pool and balconies for displaying pieces outdoors.

Everything displayed through the various styled vignettes, from artworks to collectible design pieces, is for sale.

The aim is to spotlight a wide range of both established and emerging artists and designers, who work across mediums and techniques including painting, sculpture, photography, furnishings, ceramics, lighting, textiles and objects.

"The pieces showcased represent the varied and changing cultural landscape of identities, values and beliefs," the pair said.

Inaugurating the gallery is a group exhibition titled Transcendence, curated by Gaia Jacquet Matisse and including work by her mother, Sophie Matisse, along with artists Bobbie Olivier, Jeannie Weissglass, Edson Fernandes, James Fischetti, Angela Damman and Santiago Martinez Peral.

Together, the show aims to "examine the concept of duality within our existence as humans inhabiting the earth, alongside nature" according to the team.

This debut exhibition will continue until the Frieze Los Angeles 2023 art fair, which takes place 16-19 February, then the gallery is scheduled to host four showcases per year.

Presenting art and collectible design in a residential setting has become a popular way for gallerists and fairs to contextualise the objects, and make them more appealing to potential buyers.

Galleries like The Future Perfect, which operates showrooms in LA, New York and San Francisco, and the Nomad Circle series of travelling design fairs are among those that have found success through this format.

The photography is by Ye Rin Mok.

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Promotion: exhibited as part of World Design Capital Valencia 2022, the Design + Health exhibition showcases the influence of design on advancements in science and medicine.

Presented at the Valencian Museum of Enlightenment and Modernity (MuVIM) in Spain, the exhibition aims to illustrate how design has been used in the health sector to improve people's wellbeing.

The exhibition takes place from 11 November 2022 to 16 April 2023, during Valencia's tenure as the World Design Capital 2022.

The Design + Health exhibition combines research from various design industries, including architecture, interiors, industrial design, graphic communication and fashion.

Organised into 25 themes, the display outlines the progression of science and medicine by reviewing past disciplines, analysing current practices and illustrating future possibilities.

"Design in itself cannot cure anything, but neither could a vaccine if we did not have a syringe to inject it with," said exhibition curator Ramón Úbeda.

"Designing is part of the solution, it is not an added value but rather intrinsic to the development of any innovation for the social good."

The exhibition contains over 500 examples of design for health, including creations from renowned designers and architects such as Charles and Ray Eames, Barber Osgerby, Philippe Starck, Yves Béhar, Nendo, Piero Lissoni, Matali Crasset, Benjamin Hubert, Raw Color and Tokujin Yoshioka.

On display for the first time in Spain is the Emergency Bike, an electric bicycle design currently being tested in Paris.

The bike was created by creative agency Wunderman Thompson to allow doctors to cut through road traffic and reach medical emergencies faster.

One of the aims of the display was to promote design for the health sector, which is often overlooked compared to designs that are more prominently featured in magazines, such as furniture and lighting.

"This is probably one of the most ambitious exhibitions in the entire programme of Valencia World Design Capital 2022," said Xavi Calvo, general director of the year-long programme.

"The open, witty and didactic nature of this exhibition will bring society as a whole closer to such familiar and vital issues as health and the search for wellbeing," Calvo continued.

The exhibition concludes with the screening of the documentary The Hospital of the Future, which was created by Dutch architecture studio OMA.

Design + Health exhibition takes place at the Valencian Museum of Enlightenment and Modernity, Valencia, Spain from 11 November 2022 to 16 April 2023 as part of World Design Capital Valencia 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for World Design Capital Valencia 2022 as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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Designers Antoine Behaghel and Alexis Foiny have created sculptural olive wood furniture based solely on drawings by children for a Galerie Philia exhibition.

Design Brut: Philia & Kids is the inaugural programme of a non-profit initiative conceived by international art gallery Galerie Philia that aims to engage children in design.

The project's first edition invited 19 kids from a primary school in the Breil-sur-Roya village in France to design sculptural furniture that was exhibited at Espace Meyer Zafra in Paris from November until last week.

Informed by the late French painter Jean Dubuffet, the initiative is named after art brut – or "raw art" – Dubuffet's name for art created outside of academic limitations, such as art made by children.

Participants aged six to seven took part in a workshop over five months, where they were asked to draw their own interpretations of sculptural design under the supervision of BehaghelFoiny Studio founders Antoine Behaghel and Alexis Foiny and their teacher Virgile Ganne.

The drawings range from a crocodile-like bench to colourful dining chairs and spikier, more abstract forms.

"Several shepherds' children drew hooves on the legs of the furniture, or horns on the backs of the chairs," noticed Behaghel and Foiny.

"Others, living near olive groves and the surrounding forest, drew leaves and branches on their furniture," they told Dezeen.

The designers explained that they encouraged the kids to "assert their own creativity" as well as observe their classmates' drawings and borrow forms from each other to make the design experience collaborative.

"Against all odds, we realised that, when faced with furniture design, the children's first intentions were rather wise, and copied the shapes of furniture they saw every day," they said.

After this, Behaghel and Foiny sorted the drawings into different furniture typologies including tables, chairs, stools, coat racks and pedestal tables, as well as categorising the creations by "spirits and styles".

The pair then worked with a cabinetmaker in Breil-sur-Roya to bring the drawings to life by making physical furniture out of local olive wood.

"In some places, we shrank or enlarged the silhouettes drawn by the children, to better distribute the weight," noted the designers.

During this process, the children were taken on a tour of a local sawmill and shown every stage of the production process in order to familiarise them with carpentry.

Behaghel and Foiny explained that olive wood was chosen for its cultural significance to Breil-sur-Roya, which is known as the "pays des oliviers" (olive tree country).

The designers painted the material in various colourful shades that aimed to subtly tint, rather than conceal, its veiny surface.

"It seemed to us very relevant to associate the intervention of very young children wiht a thousand-year-old wood!" noted the designers.

The pair hopes that the workshop will have taught the children about the importance of furniture design while showcasing their personal creativity without limitations.

"In the end, the children's drawings showed a real spontaneity," reflected Behaghel and Foiny.

"They are both free from technical reflexes and therefore led us to take risks and at the same time detached from the aesthetic automatisms that we impose on ourselves more or less consciously as professional designers," they added.

"They led us to extract ourselves from standardisation of tastes and beauty, to play more with imbalances and proportions."

This is not the first time that children have tried their hand at chair design. Third and fourth graders at a school in New York have designed a number of seating collections under the supervision of art instructor Bruce Edelstein, including chairs with horns and other wooden seats.

The photography is by Maison Mouton Noir. 

Design Brut: Philia & Kids was on display at Espace Meyer Zafra from 10 November to 8 December 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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A vivid orange Helsinki subway seat and an iconic timber sauna stool are among the pieces in this exhibition of work by design duo and couple Antti and Vuokko Nurmesniemi.

Various works by the late interior architect Antti Nurmesniemi and textile designer Vuokko Nurmesniemi are presented in this eponymous exhibition at Helsinki Design Museum, which charts the pair's work from the 1950s to the 2000s.

From kitchen crockery to colourful textiles, the Nurmesniemis created a broad range of designs together and individually over their solo and shared careers before Antti's death in 2003.

"The exhibition is important because there has never been a joint retrospective exhibition about this central designer couple in Finnish design history," curator Susanna Aaltonen told Dezeen.

Arranged across a gallery at Helsinki Design Museum, the show includes a striking orange subway seat that Antti created in 1982 in collaboration with industrial designer Börje Rajalin – a model that is still in use on Helsinki transportation today.

Visitors can also find an extensive cluster of garments featuring bright hues and geometric patterns, designed by Vuokko for her fashion label Vuokko Oy, which she founded in 1964.

A red Pehtoori coffee pot from 1957 by Antti is also on display – described by Aaltonen as a product that is "often highlighted as Finland's early industrial design item" – as well as elegant models of electricity pylons created with interior architect Jorma Valkama in 1997.

Also central to the exhibition are photographs of and furniture from Studio Home Nurmesniemi, the couple's live-work home and atelier in Kulosaari, Helsinki, which was completed in 1975.

These pieces include signature wooden sauna stools and 1980s geometric lounge chairs designed by Antti and upholstered in Vuokko Oy pinstripe fabrics.

This furniture is displayed alongside archival imagery of the designers in their modernist house – a setting still used for Vyokko Oy photoshoots.

"All in all, the couple's shared home and studio house is the finest example of the [their] lifestyle dedicated to design," reflected Aaltonen.

"I hope that the exhibition will increase people's understanding of Finnish cultural heritage and that people will also learn to cherish and preserve objects better, especially interiors."

Other shows at Helsinki Design Museum include a recent exhibition by design studio Formafantasma and furniture brand Artek and a temporary "insect hotel" installation that is currently on display outside the museum.

Previous retrospectives at the museum include one centred on the plastic furniture and chairs of Finnish designer Eero Aarino.

Antti + Vuokko Nurmesniemi is on display at Helsinki Design Museum from 28 October 2022 to 9 March 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The photography is by Paavo Lehtonen unless otherwise stated. 

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Curator Kathryn Johnson explains the story behind surrealism and its impact on design in this video Dezeen produced for the Design Museum about its latest exhibition.

Titled Objects of Desire: Surrealism and Design 1924 - Today, the exhibition features almost 350 surrealist objects spanning fashion, furniture and film.

The exhibition, which was curated by Johnson, explores the conception of the surrealist movement in the 1920s and the impact it has had on the design world ever since.

It features some of the most recognised surrealist paintings and sculptures, including pieces by Salvador Dalí, Man Ray and Leonora Carrington, as well as work from contemporary artists and designers such as Dior and Björk.

"Surrealism was born out of the horrors of the first world war, in a period of conflict and uncertainty, and it was a creative response to that chaos," Johnson said in the video.

"It saw in the fracturing of the world an opportunity to shake things up, to do things differently, to think differently, and to acknowledge the subconscious and its importance for our everyday lives."

The exhibition explores surrealism's impact on contemporary design, with nearly a third of the objects on show dating from the past 50 years.

"We want to start a conversation about what surrealism is and why it matters now," Johnson said.

The name of the exhibition references the importance of the concept of desire within the movement. In the video, Johnson explained that the surrealist movement began with poetry, with French poet and author André Breton penning the first surrealist manifesto.

Breton described desire as "being the sole motivating force in the world" and "the only master humans should recognise."

The exhibition is segmented into four themes. It begins with an introduction to surrealism from the 1920s and explores the influence of the movement on everyday objects, as well as its pivotal role in the evolution of design throughout the twentieth century.

Another part of the exhibition explores surrealism and interior design, since early protagonists of the movement were interested in capturing the aura or mystery of everyday household objects.

Objects on display include Marcel Duchamp's Porte-Bouteilles, a sculpture made from bottle racks, and Man Ray's Cadeau/Audace, a traditional flat iron with a single row of 14 nails.

The exhibition moves along to the 1940s, where designers started using surrealist art for ideas to create surprising and humorous objects. Items borne from this include Sella by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni and Jasper Morrison's Handlebar Table.

A key section of the exhibition includes a spotlight on surrealism's significance in the UK, documenting the partnership between Salvador Dalí and the British poet and art patron Edward James, whose collaboration resulted in some of the most notable works of surrealism such as the Mae West Lips sofas and the Lobster Telephone.

Another section of the exhibition examines surrealism and the body in relation to the human form, sexuality and desire.

Included in this section are Sarah Lucas' Cigarette Tits, in which the language of tabloids is used to expose stereotypes of female sexuality, and Najla el Zein's Hay, which highlights the sensory pleasures provided by everyday materials.

Photographs, vintage magazine covers and fashion items are on display to show the impact of surrealism on the fashion industry starting from the 1930s.

According to Johnson, "surrealism attracted more women than any other movement since romanticism." As a result, she wanted to ensure there was a wide representation of female artists and designers in the exhibition.

"I think that was partly because of concerns about the body, about sexuality, and how the domestic were key themes of surrealism from the beginning," she said.

"But those themes were approached in a very original and critical way by the women associated with the movement – some of whom would not have considered themselves surrealists but were in dialogue with those ideas."

The final section of the exhibition looks at the surrealist preoccupation with challenging the creative process itself and how this resulted in original works of art and design.

According to Johnson, contemporary designers are still using ideas from early surrealism, such as welcoming chance into the creative process, or using techniques like automatism.

"The surrealists try to write and draw without thinking, and we see in the exhibitions and studies where they are drawing in an automatic way. But now, of course, contemporary designers have other tools to use to try and bypass the known and the conventional," Johnson said.

An example of this in the exhibition is Sketch Chair by design studio Front, which was produced using motion capture technology to translate the movement of drawing in mid-air into a 3D-printed form.

"The surrealists knew that changing the mind would change the material world and we're now at this frightening but thrilling juncture where we're creating a computerised intelligence that can be creative," Johnson said.

Objects of Desire: Surrealism and Design 1924 - Today opened at the Design Museum on 14 October 2022 and is on show until 19 February 2o23.

Tickets are available at designmuseum.org/surrealism.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen for Design Museum as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen's partnership content here.

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Design studio Hakuten has created a three-dimensional map of Ginza, Tokyo, that presents the ecology that exists in the district.

The Ginza Ecological Map, which was featured in the Japanese makeup brand Shiseido's Hakuten's window, was designed to "carefully express the impression of the location and the history of the city, with a hidden story of Ginza".

It spotlighted the natural elements found throughout the district, including samples of trees, plants, insects and earth, with the intention of enhancing the local community's knowledge of its district's ecology. Each item was presented in one of 72 windows – similarly to how scientific specimens are exhibited in museums.

The exhibition ran throughout 2021 and across two themes: Organisms, which presented insects and cuttings from plants, and Earth – showcasing the diversity of soils found throughout the district.

"We care­fully displayed this ecology in the window as if they were scientific specimens," said Hakuten.

"The exhibition ran throughout the year across two different ecological themes – Organisms and Earth – and brought to light a new and beautiful Ginza that had not been seen before in the form of the Ginza Ecology Map."

The materials were collected during a number of fieldwork studies in addition to the knowledge gained from speaking to people local to Ginza. Once collected, the items were exhibited in creative ways with the aim of becoming a tool to communicate the connection between Ginza's natural world and society.

For example, the plant named glothistle was collected from under the city's Wako clock tower, and as part of the exhibition was displayed in a clock-like motif to represent it.

In addition, the district's ginkgo biloba trees were planted in 1906, and according to the designers, they represent a "turning point for modernisation in the city".

As a nod to the tree's heritage in the district, images of Ginza's buildings were printed onto the collected ginkgo tree leaves as part of the exhibition.

"Unlike most window displays that show objects and installations that only suit its occasion, not only did Ginza Ecological Map provide a new perspective of Ginza city, but through research from local residents it also expanded into a communication tool between the city and the people," said Hakuten.

"By looking at the usually unseen ecology that exists in a metropolis, we were able to rethink the relationship between the city, people, and nature in an attempt to approach a more sustainable society."

As part of the Earth theme, the colour of the soil across the district was documented, including samples collected from sidewalk ditches and from around various plants such as dogwood and camellia.

The exhibition also shed light on creating a number of creative resources from the city's soil – including pottery and crayons – and clothing dyed using local plant's pigments.

According to the studio, the pandemic provided the opportunity to reflect on the human-nature relationship as Ginza was "emptied" because of the pandemic.

The project was conceived of this change, and aimed to rethink the district's approach towards creating a society more mindful of enhancing and protecting its nature.

"In Covid-19 where we were provided with more opportunities to deeply reflect upon the global environment, this project allowed us to rethink the relationship between the city, people, and nature in an attempt to approach a more sustainable society," said Hakuten.

Ginza Ecological Map has been shortlisted in the exhibition design category at this year's Dezeen Awards alongside, Weird Sensation Feels Good – The World of ASMR, Greenwood Rising: Black Wall Street History Center exhibition and Journey of the Pioneers.

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