Disegno #42
The cover of Disegno #42 features EVJ bag No. 16, designed by Elisa van Joolen and commissioned by Z33 House For Contemporary Art Design and Architecture; Jan van Eyck Academie; 38CC; and Het Nieuwe Instituut (image: Elisa van Joolen).
Protesting with puppets, displaying moth-infested chairs, stitching together plastic bags, and trying out smartphone alternatives for kids – all of these activities and more feature in the new Autumn 2026 edition of Disegno!
Disegno #42 launches during London Design Festival 2026, and is available to order now through our online shop.
Our fifth themed issue looks at the role of transformation in design, told through short stories about transition, adaptation and renewal.
‘Learning from Raffia’, Disegno #42 (image: Emna Kayouli).
Karmen Samson takes care of a plastic bag made by Elisa van Joolen, and explores how a valueless and often reviled object can gain importance through craft, documentation and shared custodianship.
Seetal Solanki delves into Civic Square’s neighbourhood experiment that investigates how people can shape, own and govern places and resources on which their lives depend.
Oli Stratford tries out Karri, a smartphone alternative for kids designed by Jon Marshall, and considers what role hardware can play in protecting people of all ages from the online world.
‘What’s the Use of an Unwanted Headscarf? What’s the Use of a Chair?’, Disegno #42 (image: Debbie Gallulo).
Malika Leiper travels to Kinshasa to visit Kilubukila, a design studio which provides infrastructure for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kuba artisans and researches raffia’s material possibilities.
Helen Gonzalez Brown visits the Bread and Puppet theatre in Vermont, and considers what the organisation’s papier-mâché puppets and communal ways of life have to offer audiences as climate change accelerates.
Lara Chapman stops by the studio of RK Collective to learn more about stadium seats made from donated Iranian headscarves and the possibilities of design activism.
‘Alternative Devices’, Disegno #42 (image: Kane Hulse).
Lia Forslund chats with designer Fredrik Paulsen about his new brand Joy Objects, which brings the anarchic energy of the skatepark into product design.
Billy De Luca explores the conflict between museum preservation and bio-design, through Aléa Work’s experience displaying a chair made from mycelial networks.
Disegno #42 comes out in print in September 2026, and is available to order now.
Disegno #42 includes:
Reinscribing the Plastic Bag
Old bags, new values in the studio of Elisa van Joolen
Karmen Samson and Valentina Vos
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Shape-Shifting the Civic
The three states of public matter, as explained by Civic Square
Seetal Solanki
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Alternative Devices
Jon Marshall’s smartphone alternative for kids
Oli Stratford and Kane Hulse
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Learning form Raffia
Building Kuba infrastructure with Kinshasa’s Kilubukila
Malika Leiper and Emna Kayouli
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The Living Bread
Papier-mâché protest with the Bread and Puppet theatre
Helen Gonzalez Brown and Garrett MacLean
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What’s the Use of an Unwanted Headscarf? What’s the Use of a Chair?
RK Collective transforms donated Iranian headscarves into stadium seating
Lara Chapman and Debbie Gallulo
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Kickflip
Fredrick Paulsen drags furniture design into the counterculture
Lia Forslund
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Out of the Ground and Into the Living
Aléa Work revels in the moth-infested realities of bio-design
Billy De Luca and Daniil Kotliar
Order your copy of Disegno #42 from our online shop. Or why not subscribe?