WALLPAPER: HANDMADE…IN ITALY

Leading design title Wallpaper* magazine exhibited a very special project during this years Milan Design Week. Occupying four floors of the Brioni fashion house for three days, the magazine commissioned a throng of designers, manufacturers and architects to create items celebrating craftsmanship and design. Architects Carmody Groarke devised ‘12,000 Stitches’ – a conceptual celebration of the bespoke tailoring of a Brioni suit. Wouter Scheubin created the clever Walking bookcase designed (conveniently enough) to store the Wallpaper* city guides, when pushed ‘legs’ carry the shelving system along. ShopRobotic was the chicest in vending machine technology dispensing attractively packaged copies of the magazine whilst providing information on the creative processes behind each exhibited product included in the show on the machine’s screen as you select. Other, more unassuming items included a humble watering can by design giants BarberOsgerby and a paper in-flight bag by Saskia Diez. Once again we see the appreciation of craft, design process and brand heritage re-affirmed as a major emerging trend in design.