
Hugo Macdonald
Hugo is a design critic, curator and the co-founder of Bard, a gallery in Edinburgh dedicated to Scottish design and craft. A long-serving member of the Wallpaper* family, he has also been the design editor at Monocle and the brand director at Studioilse, Ilse Crawford's multi-faceted design studio. Today, Hugo wields his pen and opinions for a broad swathe of publications and panels. He has twice curated both the Object section of MIART (the Milan Contemporary Art Fair) and the Harewood House Biennial. He consults as a strategist and writer for clients ranging from Airbnb to Vitra, Ikea to Instagram, Erdem to The Goldsmith's Company. Hugo has this year returned to the Wallpaper* fold to cover the parental leave of Rosa Bertoli as Global Design Director.
Latest articles by Hugo Macdonald
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A bit of all white: Hermès unveils its latest home collections in Milan
Taking up residence once again at La Pelota, Hermès asks Milan Design Week 2025 visitors to consider objects as emotions
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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Elegance personified, the 'Riley' sofa is a handsome beast
A new sofa by Hannes Peer for Minotti has us swooning, not slouching
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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At Milan Design Week, 'Material Alchemists' marks the Wallpaper* Class of '25
Our own exhibition brings together 20 emerging designers from around the world giving matter form with magic
By Hugo Macdonald Last updated
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At Milan Design Week 2025, Turri launches a circular dining table fit for ceremonial feasts
The new ‘Kenobi’ by Marco Acerbis for Turri is the kind of dining table we like to get around
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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The 'Moonbeam' lamp makes light use of leather
A new range of table lamps by Six N. Five is a delightful novelty for Poltrona Frau for Milan Design Week
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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Milan Design Week: Afra and Tobia Scarpa’s monastic marvel of a chair returns to life
Molteni & C’s reissue of the ‘Monk’ chair has us worshipping at the altar of its designers, Afra and Tobia Scarpa
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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Milan Design Week: these porcelain lights mimic paper lanterns
An exclusive first look at Lee Broom's ‘Cascade’ lighting for Lladró, launching at Euroluce during Salone del Mobile 2025
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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Where next for Salone del Mobile? Maria Porro on the future of the world’s biggest furniture fair
Ahead of Salone del Mobile 2025 in Milan, we sit down with its president to talk design, data and forging the event’s future in a fast-changing world
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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What to see at Milan Design Week 2025
A guide to some of the events the Wallpaper* team is checking out at Milan Design Week (7–13 April) – from public installations and major launches to standout venues and must-see exhibitions
By Hugo Macdonald Last updated
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Milan Design Week: Philippe Malouin's ‘Great’ sofa for Hem more than lives up to its name
Three years in development, the Canadian designer’s new sofa for Hem is an elegantly modern, comfortable beast
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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Salone exclusive: Enzo Mari’s ‘Boomerang’ desk flies back into production
Gebrüder Thonet Vienna brings a lesser-known, marvellous Mari creation back to life as part of its Salone del Mobile 2025 collection to be unveiled in April
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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First look: Fritz Hansen kicks-off the 70th anniversary celebration of Arne Jacobsen's ‘Series 7’ chair with a dawn chorus of colour
The Danish classic is reborn with a limited edition palette called ‘7:14 AM’, derived from the colours of the Danish sunrise
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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'It’s indisputable that craft has enormous value socially, culturally, economically': interrogating the case for craft in contemporary life
Ahead of next week's 21st edition of Collect, the world's leading fair for collectible craft, we sit down with Natalie Melton, executive director of the Crafts Council, to talk about making a living from making
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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‘Design has the power to evoke emotions, good or bad’: Fritz Hansen’s new appointments on the Danish design brand's future
Wallpaper* sits down for an exclusive joint interview with Fritz Hansen’s recently appointed CEO Henrik Steensgaard and creative director Els Van Hoorebeeck
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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A postcard from Stockholm Design Week 2025
Global design director, Hugo Macdonald, reports from the Scandinavian fair which, despite challenges, has much worth venturing into the Swedish winter for
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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'A creative explosion' in the West End: Sarabande Foundation takes residency at Selfridges
Sarabande Foundation's ‘House of Bandits’ takes up residence with gusto in Selfridges for nine weeks
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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This Flexform armchair, inspired by the uplifted lapels of a jacket, is a calculation in comfort
The ‘Eri’ armchair by Fumie Shibata for Flexform wins 'Best Comfort Zone' in the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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This curvy stovetop espresso maker brings a shot of artistry to your coffee ritual
‘The Anticline’ stovetop espresso maker by Cultivation Objects takes its name from a geological formation and wins a Wallpaper* Design Award 2025 for its curves
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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Florim’s new ceramic surface collection is an ode to tactility
A primal pleasure, Matteo Thun and Benedetto Fasciana’s SensiTerre collection of ceramic flooring and cladding surfaces for Florim is a Wallpaper* Design Award winner
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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Isabel + Helen on bringing the Wallpaper* Design Awards to life
Step behind the scenes of the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025 cover. Designed by Isabel + Helen, it is a welcome reminder that we still have magic in our own minds and hands
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025: Formafantasma revisits the masculine codes of modernist design
Formafantasma wins a Wallpaper* Design Award 2025, for its Milan exhibition ‘La Casa Dentro’, which took to task the inherent masculinity and conservatism at the heart of modernism
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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We feel a growing passion for MycoWorks, the company inspiring beauty with fungal-based biomaterial
Reishi is a Wallpaper* Design Award winner, a new self-growing, biodegradable material by MycoWorks presented in a series of exquisite expressions of earthy and ethereal furniture, lighting and artworks
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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Sleep happily ever after on Carl Hansen & Søn’s reissue of a Kaare Klint bed
Carl Hansen & Søn’s ‘Spherical’ bed is a worthy Wallpaper* Design Award 2025 winner, celebrating both the past and the future in one fell swoop
By Hugo Macdonald Published
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Discover Interni Venosta, the new furniture label where craft and beauty speak for themselves
Interni Venosta, the new furniture label of Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran, is a perfectly pitched celebration of craft, quality and nostalgia- winning a Wallpaper* Design Award
By Hugo Macdonald Published