Disegno #38
The cover star of Disegno #38, Chris Kabel's vase made out of expandable cellulose sponge for ECAL's Under Pressure Solutions (image: Jasmine Deporta).
Dancing to acid house, planting indigenous seeds and raising a Tamagotchi: readers can vicariously experience all of these activities and more by picking up the new autumn 2024 edition of Disegno.
Disegno #38 launches during the London Design Festival on 16 September, but it is already available to pre-order through our online shop.
Our first ever themed issue, Disegno #38 reflects on the role of memory in design through short stories about recollection, regeneration, preservation and legacy.
‘At sea’, Disegno #38.
Ellen Peirson visits HAT Projects’s Sunspot, which aims to revitalise a much-maligned seaside town by turning an old arcade into a business centre.
Darran Anderson travels to architect Erich Mendelsohn’s first building in Poland and reflects on desecrated gravesites around the world, and what our treatment of spaces for the dead reveals about our relationships with the living.
Frank Broughton dances to Yuri Suzuki’s AI-generated acid house and explores the history of making music from the soul of machines.
‘The Place We Wish to Be’, Disegno #38.
Yuki Sumner documents architect Yui Tezuka’s memories of the childhood home her father designed, and explores how treating it as a playground has influenced Tezuka’s subsequent practice.
Disegno’s editor-in-chief Oli Stratford tries out Industrial Facility’s Powerbox, which separates batteries from products to make energy output physical again, and also speaks to designers from ECAL about making expandable furniture by harnessing the shape memory of cellulose sponge.
‘Ancestors in the Making’, Disegno #38.
Kitya Mark traces the history of linoleum flooring and speaks to Christien Meindertsma about her work to give the material a new, natural aesthetic and a longer lease of life.
Helen Gonzalez Brown raises Tamagotchis and considers how the digital pet has informed our contemporary relationships with smartphones.
Fowota Mortoo gives physical form to indigenous knowledge systems by helping to build ANO Ghana’s new educational space.
‘From the Ground Up’, Disegno #38.
Malika Leiper and Najha Zigbi-Johnson delve into the spiritual significance of Stephen Burks Man Made’s sculptures reflecting on African American ancestors.
Lutivini Majanja visits Mt Suswa to learn about the architectural significance of caves and cave_bureau’s bid to save the area from water scarcity.
We are also proud to share Folkform’s diary entries about the last Masonite factory in Sweden, and an excerpt of artist Nigel Shafran’s intimate workbooks.
Disegno #38 comes out in print on 16 September 2024, and is available to order now.
Disegno #38 includes:
Kyu-Ikeda-Tei
Architect Yui Tezuka’s tales of her childhood home
Yuki Sumner and Edmund Sumner.
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Preteen Dreams
The digital legacies of Tamagotchi
Helen Gonzalez Brown
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A Place We Wish to Be
Planting a new world with indigenous seeds
Fowota Mortoo and Alfred Quartey
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At Sea
Jaywick Sands, seaside nostalgia and Hat Projects’s Sunspot
Ellen Pierson and Jim Stephenson
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Thirsty
Designers from ÉCAL water their expandable furniture
Oli Stratford and Jasmine Deporta
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Sketches of Utopia from Hell
Desecrated memorials and a preserved Erich Mendelsohn building
Darran Anderson
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Do Androids Dream of Acid House
AI-generated sonic architecture from Yuri Suzuki
Frank Broughton
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A Wellspring
Cave_bureau’s study of architectural history and the future of Mt Suswa
Lutivini Majanja and Rogers Outwa
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Nigel Shafran 1984-2024
Everyday ephemera from four decades of an artist’s practice
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Ancestors in the Making
Stephen Burks Man Made honours the wisdom of African American forbears
Malika Leiper, Najha Zigbi-Johnson and Brandon Forrest Frederick
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Factory Diaries
Folkform’s ode to Sweden’s last Masonite factory
Albie Fay, Anna Holmquist and Magnus Laupa
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From the Ground Up
Smelling and scuffing generations of linoleum with Christien Meindertsma
Kitya Mark and Mathijs Labadie
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Give Us This Day Our Daily Watts
Future Facility’s Powerbox makes energy output physical
Oli Stratford and Kane Hulse
Order your copy of Disegno #38 from our online shop. Or why not subscribe?