Welcome to the Designer of the Yr: Wallpaper* Design Awards 2023 shortlist. This yr, we have a good time the work of Yinka Ilori, India Mahdavi, Studiopepe, Stephen Burks and Kwangho Lee.
Uncover the winner in Wallpaper’s February 2023 difficulty, on sale 5 January, and right here at Wallpaper.com.
DESIGNER OF THE YEAR SHORTLIST: WALLPAPER* DESIGN AWARDS 2023
Yinka Ilori
(Picture credit score: Courtesy Yinka Ilori)
‘Yinka Ilori: Parable of Happiness’, the British Nigerian designer’s first main museum show (15 September 2022 – 25 June 2023, at London’s Design Museum), charts his journey by furnishings, graphic design and structure. The show comes at a very thrilling time for Ilori, who this yr was tasked with redesigning the afternoon tea expertise on the Bulgari Lodge in addition to creating a brand new playground in east London – two tasks that present his playful method throughout completely different environments. Ilori was additionally aptly nominated cognac home Courvoisier’s Ambassador of Pleasure, creating an set up that confirmed in New York, Johannesburg and London with extra actions deliberate for 2023, and created his first everlasting set up in Berlin, a pavilion titled ‘Filtered Rays’ that explores the connection between gentle and color. He additionally unveiled his new studio, an area imbued together with his signature vibrant compositions. ‘The colors are very joyful and actually assist set the tone for the day,’ he tells us. ‘I’ve used them to create a very constructive, glad surroundings. I hope that it provides everybody within the workplace time to dream and picture.’
yinkailori.com (opens in new tab)
India Mahdavi
(Picture credit score: Courtesy Svenskt Tenn)
(Picture credit score: Giorgos Sfakianakis)
Maybe India Mahdavi’s most iconic inside, The Gallery at Sketch, bought a makeover earlier this yr. The French-Lebanese architect reworked the sweet pink paradise she created with artist David Shrigley in 2014 right into a extra subdued house, in collaboration with artist Yinka Shonibare and with contributions by African craftspeople, who created distinctive objects and textiles for the inside. Mahdavi’s capacity to infuse her designs with color and curves produced some beautiful collections this yr, such because the ‘Loop’ lounge chair and banquette for Gebrüder Thonet Vienna, benefiting from the corporate’s wood-bending capabilities in vibrant, jewel tones. Mahdavi additionally teamed up with Swedish firm Svenskt Tenn to pay tribute to Josef Frank’s legacy with an immersive inside for its Stockholm gallery and a collection of newly designed pewter items so as to add to the gathering. Momentarily abandoning color, Mahdavi collaborated with Athens’ Carwan Gallery to reimagine a few of her most iconic furnishings designs in all-white marble, demonstrating her capacity to twist her method whereas sustaining her sturdy inventive id.
india-mahdavi.com (opens in new tab)
Stephen Burks
(Picture credit score: Justin Skeens)
(Picture credit score: CatMax)
American designer Stephen Burks has been a pioneering drive on the worldwide design circuit since he first established his studio in 1997. Identified for his trademark model of uniting industrial design with points of handcraft, Burks has solid a path for different American designers to comply with, whereas establishing his personal distinctive inventive signature. No stranger to working with world producers like Cappellini, Dedon, Missoni and Roche Bobois, Burks is especially profitable in his embrace of cultural variety, be it supporting craftspeople from across the globe or drawing from his personal expertise as a Black American designer. Burks’ pioneering standpoint is presently being celebrated on the Excessive Museum in Atlanta – his first main institutional present in over a decade (till 5 March 2023). The Brooklyn-based designer additionally unveiled a vibrant set up for the kitchen and toilet fixture model, Graff, in Chicago, showcasing its signature faucets in opposition to an array of handcrafted textures and finishes. That is coupled with an ongoing collaboration with college students of Brera School in Kentucky, titled ‘Crafting Variety’ and offered completely at DWR, with full proceeds benefiting the faculty. These tasks are testomony to Burks’ capacity to translate the worth of human relationships into purposeful kinds.
stephenburksmanmade.com (opens in new tab)
Studiopepe
(Picture credit score: Courtesy Galerie Philia)
(Picture credit score: courtesy Visionnaire)
In 2022, Studiopepe debuted a set with Italian furnishings maker Visionnaire, impressed by the 5 senses and that includes tongue-like lamps in addition to fringed mirrors impressed by alchemy. After just a few conversations with studio founders Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto, Wallpaper* commissioned the pair to work on a 2023 horoscope that marked our journal’s first foray into astrology. Studiopepe’s capacity to infuse their furnishings designs with their private pursuits – from astrology to anthropology and the historical past of objects – culminated in ‘Temenos’, their first collectible design assortment offered at Milan Design Week 2022 in a dramatic set up in collaboration with Paris’ Galerie Philia. Additional items by the duo this yr have included furnishings for long-term collaborators Tacchini and Baxter, a pop-up store in Rome for Hermès, and lighting for Contardi.
studiopepedesign.it (opens in new tab)
Kwangho Lee
(Picture credit score: Dongkyun Vak)
(Picture credit score: Jussi Puikkonen, Connie Hüsser)
Initially skilled in metallic artwork and design at Seoul’s Hongik College, Kwangho Lee created just a few furnishings items for his 2007 commencement present, which caught the eye of quite a lot of design galleries, kickstarting his profession in furnishings design. A daily fixture of the collectible design circuit, prior to now yr Lee has expanded his scope working with manufacturers to create purposeful furnishings that features the ‘AA’ bench for Finnish design model Vaarnii, and the ‘Hunk’ chair and ‘Glyph’ tables for Swedish model Hem, impressed by a few of his earlier works. He has additionally labored with Korean marble producer Complete Marble, making a chair that encompasses a marble marquetry method that includes a knotted design – a nod to his ‘Obsession’ collection outlined by intricate woven patterns as the bottom for furnishings and product designs. ‘The enjoyment of constructing is central to explaining my work,’ he advised Wallpaper* this yr, as we mentioned his assortment for Hem. ‘The important thing effort has been to translate the handmade high quality of my work into a bigger scale of manufacturing. And I believe that it’s been a singular problem for me, looking for this new method of working. This entire course of has been simply attempting out new strategies and seeing the place every iteration takes us. I’m very excited to see how this goes.’
kwangholee.com (opens in new tab)
Supply: Wallpaper
