‘I began experimenting and haven’t really stopped,’ Miranda Keyes on working with glass
In a rapidly changing world, the route designers take to discover their calling is increasingly circuitous. Here we speak to Miranda Keyes about her forging her own path to success


For Wallpaper’s 2025 Next Generation issue, we have rounded-up a hotlist of emerging design talent from around the world, shining a light on the newcomers paving the present and forging the future. Join us on our journey to meet ten designers from Adelaide, Tokyo, London, Lagos, Guatemala City, Mexico City, Loch Lomond, New York and Paris. Welcome to our ascending stars of 2025.
Emerging designer Miranda Keyes, London
Miranda Keyes, photographed by Alessandro Raimondo, in her south London studio
London-based Miranda Keyes is part of our Keyes studied sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art, specialising in bronze. She did an Erasmus year in Berlin, then moved back to London, where she had grown up, and began working with glass, which she had dabbled in a little in Berlin. ‘I began experimenting and haven’t really stopped,’ she says.
Wallpaper*: Why the shift from bronze into glass?
Miranda Keyes: It was as simple as being able to work by myself when working with scientific glass blowing, instead of more people, which would have been necessary with bronze or regular glass blowing. I did other jobs, such as set design, like everyone does in London, but it was hell carrying heavy things around the streets. I grew my glass through grunt work of fabricating uninteresting things until I could support myself full time. It has been slow and intuitive. I didn’t go into this thinking I’m going to become a glass person. I went into it because I love doing it; it satisfies an urge to make things. I enjoy focusing intensely on one material.
W*: How do you describe your work?
MK: People who make things with glass are obsessed with its lowly status. It’s the opposite problem to bronze. I want to shake glass artists and say: ‘It doesn’t matter!’ That said, I don’t identify myself as a glassmaker but as a sculptor working in glass, because I find it fascinating. Working with one material, you get to know it intimately, how it behaves and all its nuances.
W*: What has been a career highlight?
MK: I feel lucky I’m able to make a living out of what I do. There are no pinnacles; the highlight is the thing itself. It’s a miracle being able to live off what you love. I’m currently preparing for two shows, which feels a little masochistic. I’m not really doing anything apart from glass all day, and still it is so exciting.
W*: What would be a dream commission?
MK: Utter freedom, no one sticking their oar in too far.
W*: What do you believe is the power of design?
MK: Good design is the objects you love to live with, and, where possible, they are sculptural, too. I find it so much more moving seeing paintings in houses, not galleries. Using glass at home that you’ve made yourself is something I still find thrilling. Having things around you that give you pleasure is so important to me. The ultimate sculptural project for me would be to build my own house and everything in it. It’s a formal pursuit.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Miranda Keyes, photographed by Alessandro Raimondo, in her south London studio
@miranda.keyes
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.
-
You’ll soon be able to get a sneak peek inside Peter Zumthor’s LACMA expansion
But you’ll still have to wait another year for the grand opening
By Anna Fixsen Published
-
Unpacking A/W 2025’s best runway sets, which captured a mood of longing and escape
As fashion month concludes in Paris, Wallpaper* explores the most captivating show sets of the A/W 2025 season, from Daniel Lee’s escape to the countryside at Burberry, to a romantic rose-strewn runway at Ferragamo
By Orla Brennan Published
-
Manchester United and Foster + Partners to build a new stadium: ‘Arguably the largest public space in the world’
The football club will spend £2 billion on the ambitious project, which co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has described as the ‘world's greatest football stadium’
By Anna Solomon Published
-
Wallpaper* takes a turn around Somerset House for Collect 2025
Our round-up of the highlights from the 21st edition of the collectible craft and design fair in London
By Malaika Byng Published
-
‘It’s a museum-like jewel box’: L’Objet marks 20 years of elegant design with a new London flagship
Opening on 12 March 2025, L’Objet’s new London boutique is rich in chocolate colours and velvet detailing
By Tianna Williams Published
-
This Beirut design collective threads untold stories into upholstered antique furniture
Beirut-based Bokja opens a Notting Hill pop-up that's a temple to textiles, from upholstered furniture to embroidered cushions crafted by artisans (until 25 March 2025)
By Tianna Williams Published
-
'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
-
Feldspar makes its mark on Whitehall with a festive pop-up at Corinthia Hotel
Devon-based bone china brand Feldspar makes its first foray into shopkeeping with a pop-up at London’s Corinthia Hotel. Ali Morris speaks with the founders and peeks inside
By Ali Morris Published
-
One to Watch: EJM Studio’s stool is inspired by the humble church pew
EJM Studio’s ‘Pew’ stool reimagines the traditional British church seating with a modern, eco-conscious twist
By Smilian Cibic Published
-
One to Watch: Family Project’s ‘furniture friends’ are elegant and humorous with lasting emotional value
Family Project, founded by Francesco Paini, is a London-based design practice drawn to human connection, creating portraiture through furniture and injecting artful expressions into interior spaces
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Martino Gamper creates a joyful tapestry of colour, pattern and eras in an immersive showcase
'I'm always interested in what is considered kitsch, what is considered contemporary, what is ugly, what is beautiful—it's a subtle line'. Martino Gamper‘ presents 'Before; After & Beyond’
By Ali Morris Published