The stretch of the Thames running between Tate Modern and St Paul’s is one of those London views that never quite loses its effect — and London studio Cake Architecture made that exact backdrop the entire design brief for WatchHouse’s newest café, a 60-seat riverside space that absorbs some of the city’s most iconic architecture and folds it into something intimate and grounded.
Most sunglasses get two lenses. That’s the standard, the baseline, the thing nobody questions because why would you? Two lenses. Two eyes. Done. But Issey Miyake Eyes just released UROKO, a pair of sunglasses with eight lenses, and it made me stop and genuinely reconsider what we accept as default in design.
LEGO has a way of taking things you already love and making you love them in a completely new format. Formula 1 has been getting a lot of that treatment lately, and the brand’s latest direction is hard to argue with: brick-built driver helmets, sized for your shelf and detailed enough to stop anyone mid-step.
Physical controls are having a moment. Volkswagen and Subaru are bringing back buttons and dials after years of touchscreen regret. Ferrari’s first EV was designed with Jony Ive’s studio around toggle switches and analog-style gauges. Across the design world, the message is clear: tactile isn’t nostalgia, it’s better design.
Some design objects earn their place on your table through sheer visual presence. The Dollight series from dolop does exactly that: a collection of sculptural table lamps that somehow manage to be playful, sophisticated, and deeply personal all at once. They’re the kind of lighting that makes you rethink what a lamp can be.