Frame

Frame is a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to the design of interiors and products. It offers a stunning, global selection of shops, hospitality venues, workplaces, exhibitions and residences on more than 224 pages. Well-written articles accompanied by a wealth of high-quality photographs, sketches and drawings make the magazine an indispensable source of inspiration for designers as well as for all those involved in other creative disciplines.

Frame • Frame is published six times a year by

LIGHTS OUT?

VALENCIA • Returning from a trip to Valencia, designated as World Design Capital 2022, Floor Kuitert recalls her encounter with the rich ceramics culture that seeps through the city’s past and present.

REYKJAVÍK • Jenna Gottlieb asks why Iceland’s capital is lagging behind its Nordic neighbours when it comes to accessibility and inclusivity.

What if we could design spaces that could ‘give’ more than they ‘take’? • How youth culture is reshaping hospitality. What packaging-free retail means for store design. Phygital venues for esports entertainment. How workspaces can tackle the loneliness epidemic. Sustainable restaurants enter a new chapter.

1 What matters most to Gen Z hospitality guests?

2 Who’s driving the refill retail revolution?

3 Will the rise of esports create a new type of hospitality venue?

4 How can we make the future workplace less lonely?

5 What the quest to reduce waste will mean for restaurant design

A design is a failure if people find it hard to interact with it meaningfully • Various Associates on combining the best of Western and Chinese design. Marjan van Aubel on making solar energy accessible. Spotify on developing offices for hypergrowth.

VARIOUS ASSOCIATES • Shenzhen-based studio Various Associates – headed by Qianyi Lin and Dongzi Yang – has been boldly striving to subvert and rework the use of Chinese building materials in their most traditionalist, conservative form, and to introduce them in fresh, unexpected contexts. Lin and Yang discuss why it’s important to streamline narrative with design, their search for visual references that appeal to people the world over, and why they shy away from hackneyed ideas of good craftsmanship.

MARJAN VAN AUBEL SOLAR DEMOCRATIZER • There’s much more to solar energy than outdated photovoltaic panels. Dutch designer Marjan van Aubel has dedicated the past five years of her career to uncovering the potential of this technology: malleable layers of solar cells that can be applied to almost any surface in our built environment. Developing tangible products and engaging installations – notably a contribution to The Netherlands Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020 – the self-proclaimed solar designer has set out to redefine what sustainability entails. Her ground-breaking designs reveal how this renewable and readily available energy source can be easily extracted and implemented. But Van Aubel’s ambition to get the word out doesn’t stop there. She’s one of the names behind The Solar Biënnale taking place this autumn, which will survey a wide range of innovations and highlight the pioneers pushing the industry forward.

SPOTIFY Sonya Simmonds • How do you design offices for a company that’s in hypergrowth? That’s what Sonya Simmonds set out to do for Spotify. Having previously worked for architecture firms in London and Stockholm on projects for clients such as Bloomberg, Schroders and the Discovery Channel, she’s now the global head of design and build at the world’s most popular audio-streaming subscription service. She explains how the team reassessed its strategy to create dynamic, flexible and experiential workplaces.

Building smaller can promote innovation • Why retail is showing its shadow side. Plyscrapers reach new heights. Animals up the design ante...