Five Design Trends Set to Dominate 2020

From the experiential over the tangible to harnessing global problems as solutions, take a look at the current trends that will define tomorrow’s zeitgeist.

By Mark Hooper 09/01/2020

Plastic as a solution

With the debate over single-use plastic still dominating the agenda, the narrative has shifted towards how the design community can affect meaningful change – and even promote plastic as
a solution, rather than a problem.

Milanese gallerist Rossana Orlandi’s ‘Guiltless Plastic’ competition at Istituto Marangoni during London Design Festival offered a fascinating insight into how plastic waste can be processed in a more cost-, time- and energy-efficient manner; how to incorporate fully recyclable materials without negatively impacting on aesthetics; the repurposing of household waste for building cladding; and ways to incorporate contaminated complex plastics back into the cycle.

This follows the ongoing work by University College London’s Plastic Waste Innovation Hub, part of a wider EPSRC-funded project (Designing-Out Plastic Waste), which takes a system design approach to plastic waste, calling on a UCL team of experts alongside staff, students, industry professionals, policy-makers, government, waste management, charities and the public to tackle
the plastic waste problem. 

As always, the most elegant proposals are the simplest: such as James Shaw’s work in re-purposed plastic that embraces the approach that the waste itself can be a valuable raw material.

This echoes initiatives in the world of fashion, such as Christopher Raeburn’s pioneering ‘Remade, Reduced, Recycled’ mantra – reworking surplus materials and products into completely new designs, minimising waste, and harnessing green technologies and sustainable materials.

“I think as a designer you have an obligation to consider what you are doing and why,” he says. “Ultimately, we want to make strong, sustainable choices that provide our customers with a completely unique and desirable product.” On a more scientific front, biodesign expert Natsai Audrey Chieza applies the academic rigour of ‘critical design thinking’ to the sustainability issue, having already developed a ‘homegrown’ range with Stella McCartney – reminiscent of furniture designer Sebastian Cox’s experiments in using mycelium fungi structures as bonding agents in his products.

Even the big brands are experimenting in fully recyclable products: witness the Futurecraft Loop sneaker from Adidas, fashioned from a single ‘virgin’ plastic (TPU, or thermosplastic polyurethane) that can be ground up and reused…

Design as experience

The line between art installation and design is becoming more and more blurred: witness some of the more eye-catching showcases at London Design Festival, such as Take The Plunge by Volume Creative in collaboration with Virgin Voyages, a playful interactive installation at the Bargehouse in the city’s Oxo Tower Wharf intended to highlight the power of design to evoke curiosity. Visitors are invited to step into an endless horizon, eventually entering a space that depicts a sunset under the sea.

The effect is reminiscent of the work of Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, whose career retrospective at London’s Tate Modern (until 5 January, 2020) highlights the interlinking crossover between design, engineering and art in producing immersive experiences.

Similarly, VOID by Dan Tobin Smith + The Experience Machine in partnership with Gemfields uses large-scale projections of the mineral formations within rubies and emeralds, enlarged until they give the visitor the impression of travelling through abstract, galaxy-like structures in the multi-sensory spatial installation, including the harmonised layers of female electronic drone choir NYX.

Disco Carbonara

Meanwhile, Disco Carbonara by Martino Gamper offered up the false facade of a disco using traditional cladding from the Italian Alps at Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross, inspired by the story of Potemkin village – a fake portable village built to impress Empress Catherine II by her lover Grigory Potemkin in 1787.

Surface fakery

Don’t call it fake news: experiments in surface texture and printing processes are resulting in a trend for products that aren’t quite what they seem.

The leather design specialist Bill Amberg has developed a new, refined process for digitally printing on leather hides, allowing creatives from other disciplines to transfer their designs onto a material that they may never previously have considered.

Among the new Bill Amberg Print collection are intriguing collaborations with Marcel Wanders, Calico Wallpaper, Champalimaud, Solange Azagury-Partridge, Lisa Miller and Matthew Day Jackson.

Jackson’s 1969 series, in particular, highlights the versatility of this technique – with a faithful recreation of the surface of the far side of the moon, produced using the original imagery from NASA. The work is an extension of his Kolho collection in association with Finnish design company Made by Choice and the Formica Group, in which he produced a topographically accurate 3D veneer for a furniture collection, which he also designed himself.

Bringing a sense of mischievous playfulness to contemporary fabrics and wallpapers, Scottish designers Timorous Beasties are no strangers to controversy. Wickedly funny twists on classic traditions, disorientating trompe l’oeil effects, designs inspired to look like different materials or covered in blotches and spills – even a range inspired by the classic Rorschach psychological test – everything is fair game.

Applying a similar approach to product design, architecture and experiential installations, New York-based collaborative practice Snarkitecture have become the darlings of the Instagram generation, thanks to experimental projects like The Beach, a touring installation in which 750,000 recyclable plastic balls were used to create a ball pit for adults. Their recent Hall of Broken Mirrors at the Design Museum Holon, Israel, creates the illusion of reflection within parallel spaces.

Colourshock

No design collection is worth it’s salt this season without a shock of cartoonish primary colour. Renowned for her bright, bold designs, French-born Camille Walala has transformed public spaces from Mauritius to New York through her Memphis-inspired sculptural 3D street furniture and architecture. Her Walala Lounge in London’s Mayfair district brought a typical splash of colour
to the UK’s capital.

Similarly, British-based Yinka Ilori is making a name for himself thanks to the way he employs a colourful, graphic style inspired by the traditional Nigerian parables and African prints that surrounded him as a child. His Colour Palace with architects Pricegore for the second Dulwich Pavilion is a 10-metre-high structure inspired by the buzz of fabric in markets in Lagos. His furniture, available to buy from Bluebird, London, often offers rug-from-under-the-feet moments, such as his range of chairs with backs, spindles and supports placed illogically (putting the ‘disco’ into discombobulating?).

Domus, meanwhile, has teamed up with Dutch designer Hella Jongerius, known for her studies of colour across varying materials, to produce Diarama, a tile collection from Mutina that offers a confident chromatic palette, creating an array of shades by applying glaze across various coloured bases.

Mutina Tile Display

British illustrator and designer Luke Edward Hall, meanwhile, continues to capture the spirit of Jean Cocteau through his deceptively simple line drawing style, with a range of bright and pastel shades applied to objects from tiles to slippers to furniture. You only need to glance at his list of high-profile collaborations to see how in demand he is – witness his recent Il Viaggio di Nettuno range at Richard Ginori for his classicism-meets-pop art approach.

Equally adept at juxtaposing styles from wildly different eras (19th century brown wood furniture meets Memphis, anyone?), Milan-based design duo Dimore Studio have embraced vibrant colour for their Progetto Palmador Series, including the Big One table, in glossy poli lacquered wood, featuring coloured geometric patterns and 20 micron silver-plated brass inlays; while stark red-and-white stripes add a sense of Italian holiday chic to their outdoor furniture.

Value In Storytelling

The ongoing demand for heritage, authenticity and craftsmanship in contemporary design has seen some slightly jarring bandwagon-hopping. But for those who aren’t prepared to cut corners, narrative and storytelling can add value to a piece. Take, for instance, London’s Sarah Myerscough Gallery – one of the prime movers in elevating craft to the level of art.

There is a buzz around many of the artists she represents – including the elemental wooden sculptures of Nic Webb, the tradition-meets-technology creations of Gareth Neal, the weathered, geological ceramic designs of Aneta Regel and the totemic works of Ernst Gamperl.

Gamperl is also a past winner of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize – another sign of how the world of luxury brands and worthier-than-thou craftsmanship are converging. This year’s winner of the prize, Genta Ishizuka, combines ancient lacquer techniques dating back to 7th-century Japan with contemporary form-making, breaking long-held conventions along the way.

Also notable are the lunar-like ceramic surfaces of potter Akiko Hirai, artist Harry Morgan’s combination of glass and concrete and Annie Turner’s incredible, delicate ceramic sculptures which resemble latticed netting. Italian maker Giovanni Corvaja, who uses 18-karat gold as his raw material, transformed into hair-like strands that are then spun to produce impossibly ethereal bowls, is also defying the norms of material expectation.

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How Off-the-Rack Suits Got Sophisticated Enough to Win Over Bespoke Guys

Ready-to-wear tailoring has never been better, and it offers even the most particular dressers a fast, easy platform for experimenting with their look.

By Aleks Cvetkovic 18/02/2025

The world moves fast—and for once, tailoring is moving a little bit faster.

Guys around the globe are rediscovering their love of suits, but many have determined that they can’t stomach the monthslong wait for bespoke. The good news? Ready-to-wear tailoring has never been better.

That’s in part because bespoke makers are beefing up their off-the-rack offerings. Anderson & Sheppard’s shop-in-store at N.Y.C.’s Bergdorf Goodman—the first outpost beyond its London flagship— opened in December with, among other things, a sharp wool-and-cashmere jacket in a delightful shade of teal. Huntsman’s recent fall-winter collection, billed as its most comprehensive assortment yet, offered everything from tuxedos to shooting breeches. Even Leonard Logsdail, Hollywood’s highly esteemed bespoke purveyor, is experimenting with hem-and-go models.

But non-custom tailors are upping the ante, too. Some of the best ready-to-wear suits on the market come from such brands, whose wholly distinctive points of view provide a welcome departure from the rigidity of many bespoke tailors’ house styles. The preponderance and diversity of such high-quality, easy-to-access threads has recast off-the-rack suits as the ultimate way to experiment with your look, not just a way for some to get dressed on the cheap. What’s more, it reflects the new reality that even people who suit up regularly might want to show up looking different on Thursday night than they did on Tuesday morning.

“Life nowadays is much more fluid,” says Chris Modoo, a London-based stylist who once worked as a tailor on Savile Row. “Things happen, invitations appear. You might get an invite for a black-tie party in the South of France for next Saturday.” Ready-to-wear is the obvious solution when you’re in a last-minute menswear quandary, but “it also means you can try new things.”

One maker worth a test-drive is Husbands Paris, founded by Nicolas Gabard, who sees his role as an “archivist of the past.” His look, inspired by stylish men such as Yves Saint Laurent, David Hemmings, and Gary Cooper, is unabashedly striking—think long, fully canvased jackets, broad lapels, structured shoulders, and wide-leg, high-waisted trousers. These wares are made in small workshops in Italy and Portugal, where craftspeople infuse them with high-end details such as hand-sewn buttonholes and silk bar tacks, a form of stitching that reinforces seams and pockets.

Thom Sweeney L.A. store Brett Wood

They’re the kind of touches any menswear enthusiast can appreciate—even if they’re the trees to Gabard’s style forest. Clothes like this are designed as a form of wearable self-assurance, enhancing what Gabard calls a “classically masculine” silhouette: broad shoulders, slim waist, narrow hips.

“Of course, tailoring has to fit well, but it also has to bring something else,” he says. “More and more [Husbands] customers want to be confident, powerful, and sexy in their outfit.”

When you want to look more suave than soigné, turn to the indie Milanese brand Massimo Alba, which is known for its chic casualwear but made its name with easygoing tailoring. “A great suit is not just about the way it fits but about the way it makes you feel,” says the eponymous label’s founder of his relaxed approach. “For me, the essence lies in balance, between structure and softness, elegance and ease. In my opinion, a suit should adapt to the wearer, not the other way around.”

Alba’s creations are cut from plush materials such as corduroy and flannel, featuring natural shoulders and only the lightest of canvasing in the chest, which results in a less-formal look. Which is not to say they aren’t workhorses: Daniel Craig wore one of Alba’s Sloop suits to dodge bullets in 2021’s James Bond film No Time to Die. “I always focus on fabrics that move with the body, details that whisper rather than shout, and cuts that allow for freedom,” Alba adds.

And freedom is precisely what this newfound inventory of great ready-to-wear tailoring provides. Modoo advises some clients to look to bespoke tailors for investment-level garments, such as morning suits, tuxedos, or the dark, serious stuff you might need for a funeral or odd courtroom appearance. “You know you’re going to wear these for 10 or 15 years,” he says. Let the new class of distinctive ready-to-wear step in when you want to try something that just wouldn’t make sense as a bespoke order. “Your pink-velvet blazer for the Christmas party? How well does that need to fit?”

London bespoke tailor Caroline Andrew is one of many who admits ready-to-wear has its place. Courtesy of Caroline Andrew

Fortunately, with so many options available, the fit is easier to dial in. You can expect most high-end operations to make a long list of changes, from ensuring that the seat of the trousers drapes appropriately to cutting working buttonholes on the jacket. For a peerless experience, you can always reach for garments from one of the many talented bespoke tailors offering ready-to-wear. At Thom Sweeney, such clothes are “all influenced by our bespoke cut,” says Thom Whiddett, who cofounded the brand with Luke Sweeney in 2007. “You try on [our ready-to-wear] jacket, and you immediately get a sense of the proportions and shapes that we put into a bespoke garment.”

That alluring sense of near-instant gratification is the point. For some, nothing will ever replace the distinguished feeling of slipping into a bench-made suit—and plenty are willing to wait for it.

“You have to mentally buy into the process and enjoy it,” says Caroline Andrew, a London bespoke specialist. “The journey is just as important as the finished product.” But ready-to-wear sets the time-strapped tailoring enthusiast down a different path: discovering new facets of your personal style at a record pace.

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Tom Brady Wears a Jacob & Co. Watch Decked in Yellow Sapphires to the Super Bowl

The $740,000 Caviar Tourbillon was an opulent choice for the former NFL star.

By 17/02/2025

Tom Brady was on the field tonight at the 59th annual Super Bowl game, and while the retired NFL hero—a seven-time Super Bowl winner (the most of any footballer in history)—wasn’t playing, he came dressed to impress with a $116,400 Jacob & Co. watch on his wrist.

Brady, who is a notable watch collector, recently sold off several of his timepieces at a Sotheby’s auction called “The GOAT Collection: Watches and Treasures from Tom Brady” this past December. Those timepieces ran the gamut from a Rolex Daytona Ref. 6241 to a unique Audemars Piguet Royal Oak with his name spelled out in diamonds across the salmon-colored tapisserie dial. His Rolex Daytona sold for over $1.5 million, and, in total, his auction raked in around $7 million. So, he’s well-equipped for a new watch purchase.

Whether or not he owns the six-figure sapphire stunner or it was a paid spot, the watch certainly stood out against his conservative but immaculately fit gray suit. “Tom Brady is the epitome of excellence, both on and off the field,” said Benjamin Arabov, CEO of Jacob & Co, in a press release sent out by the company shortly after Brady’s appearance. “We’re thrilled to see him wearing two of our most prestigious timepieces on the biggest stage in sports. The Billionaire Mini Ashoka and Caviar Tourbillon embody the precision, luxury, and innovation that define Jacob & Co. We’re honored to have him represent the artistry and craftsmanship behind every piece we create.”

Like much of Brady’s wrist candy, his 44 by 15.8 mm Caviar Tourbillon is not easy to come by. It is limited to just 18 pieces. It features hours, minutes, and a one-minute flying tourbillon in the JCAA43 movement with 216 components and 72 hours of power reserve. The movement itself is set with 338 brilliant-cut diamonds, while a total of 337 yellow sapphires adorn the case and dial. The clasp is decorated with another 18 baguette-cut yellow sapphires, and the crown comes with 14 baguette-cut yellow sapphires and one rose-cut yellow sapphire. As far as gem setting goes, this is one extraordinary piece, but it certainly seemed like a surprising choice for Brady, who was otherwise dressed like he just stepped out of a boardroom or a Ralph Lauren catalog.

Benjamin Arabov, son of Jacob & Co. founder Jacob Arabov, is now the CEO of the company. The 32-year-old recently took to Instagram to post that he was looking for a rebranding agency with experience in visual identity and packaging. As far as marketing goes, however, with Tom Brady, he’s golden.

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This Vintage Rolex Day-Date Has an Ultra-Rare and Coveted ‘Bark’ Design

The ultra-cool piece from Wind Vintage also comes in pristine condition with a desirable patina.

By Paige Reddinger 17/02/2025

Over the last four years there has been a resurgence in interest for 18-karat yellow gold watches. Much of that is due to fatigue over the long-running craze for steel tool watches, but it is also in part due to the rising value of gold (which shows no sign of slowing), rendering these once undesirable pieces increasingly worth collecting. Add to that the fact that, in some niche and stylish circles, unusual bracelet treatments, gem-setting, and interesting dials are becoming increasingly appealing and you have a new wave of watch collecting emerging. Steel sports watches are still the bread and butter for most dealers, but as pockets of interest in more unusual timekeepers, often from younger and fashion-forward collectors, continue to rise we’re seeing some really fun pieces pop up on the market. Case in point: This 1980s Rolex Day-Date in 18-karat yellow gold with a sapphire and diamond dial from Wind Vintage currently available exclusively on The Vault.

It wasn’t that long ago that dealers had a hard time unloading an all-gold gem-set piece. Eric Wind, the notable dealer and founder of Wind Vintage, says five years ago he would have sold this piece for around $23,000 to $28,000. The asking price today? $45,000. “It is very rare,” he tells Robb Report. “I think that was all clearly hand-done. Funnily enough, bark watches were not very desirable in the past. You know, even five to 10 years ago, they were very, very hard to sell. But, over the last three to five years, there’s been such an emergence and interest in jewellery and watches and work like that engraving and other kind of artistic forms that the watches took.” The style of engraving he is referring to on this watch can be seen on the bezel and middle links of the bracelet that is referred to as “bark” for its rough tree-like appearance.

“Bark” engraving on the bezel and bracelet of the Wind Vintage 1980s Rolex Day-Date
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

And while the bracelet is certainly a notable feature that will stand out in a sea of Submariners and Daytonas, the dial is also worth bragging about. Its diamond minutes track and sapphire hour markers are executed in what is known as a “string dial” because it looks like a string of pearls. “They’ve become very popular,” says Wind. “They were very expensive back in the 80s, just because of the cost of the stones, and there are just not many that exist on the planet.” Likewise, Wind says the canary yellow matte dial is not something he comes across often, having only seen a couple of others.

An up-close look at the patina and “bark” engraving on this 1980s Day-Date from Wind Vintage.
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

Part of what makes this watch so hard to find on the market is that pieces like this often didn’t survive past their ’80s heyday. “A lot of times these watches were so undesirable that dealers would replace the bezel inserts and put on fluted inserts, or smooth bezels or fluted bezels and melt down the bracelets or polish the center link so they looked like a standard Day-Date. Those dealers should have learned that what goes around, always comes around. Now with these interesting Rolex watches on the rise, they’ll become even harder to find.

A Wind Vintage 1980s Day-Date with “bark” engraving and a gem-set “string dial”
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

If you’re interested in the piece and want to speak to Wind about it IRL, he will be at Robb Report’s House of Robb event in San Francsico today during the NBA All-Star weekend.

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Soccer Star Kylian Mbappé Is Now an Investor in Watch Marketplace Wristcheck

Just like Jay-Z.
Published on February 7, 2025

By Abby Montanez 11/02/2025

Kylian Mbappé just went from brand ambassador to investor.

The celebrated French footballer, who currently plays for Real Madrid, has taken a stake in luxury watch trading platform Wristcheck, Hypebeast reported lat week.

Off the filed, the 26-year-old soccer star is a known timepiece collector and has served as an ambassador for Swiss marque Hublot since 2018. With this new partnership, the forward joins a growing group of influential backers, including Jay-Z. The rapper and business mogul took an equity stake in the Hong Kong-based company last summer as part of a recent funding round of $7.9 million.

“I’m thrilled to join Wristcheck as an investor through Coalition Capital,” Mbappé said in a press statement. “As a Hublot ambassador and someone passionate about watches and innovation, I see Wristcheck as a platform that truly understands the next generation of collectors. They’re reshaping the watch industry with a forward-thinking approach that blends technology, transparency, and creativity.” Mbappé did not immediately respond to Robb Report‘s request for comment on his new business endeavor.

Kylian Mbappé is an investor in online watch shop Wristcheck.
Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Launched in 2020 by renowned horophile and Instagram personality Austen Chu, Wristcheck offers a platform for collectors to buy and sell pre-owned watches that have been authenticated by Swiss-trained watchmakers. Since it was founded, the company has raised more than $21.6 million in funding from investors including the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Gobi Partners GBA, and K3 Ventures.

Mbappé, meanwhile, has achieved remarkable success in his soccer career. He won the 2018 FIFA World Cup with France, becoming the youngest player to score in a final since Pelé. At PSG, he has secured multiple Ligue 1 titles and domestic cups. Individually, Mbappé has earned the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award and regularly features in top European scoring charts. And in 2020, he was ranked the world’s highest-paid player, surpassing rivals Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

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Sotheby’s Will Put on the Largest Auction of Breguet Watches in Decades This Fall

To celebrate the revered watchmaking house’s 250th anniversary, the sale includes rare collectibles belonging to living Breguet family members.

By Paige Reddinger 11/02/2025

Interest in Breguet has experienced a quiet resurgence among savvy collectors who appreciate the brand’s deep-rooted watchmaking heritage. This growing enthusiasm will soon take center stage with an upcoming auction that shines a significant spotlight on the storied Maison.

Founded in Paris 250 years ago, Abraham-Louis Breguet was one of the most influential watchmakers in history, best known for inventing the tourbillon and the automatic winding system—along with many other groundbreaking innovations. His legacy continues to inspire modern masters such as F.P. Journe and Philippe Dufour. You can see Breguet’s influence pointedly in pieces like F.P. Journe’s famous Chronomètre à Résonance timepiece, voted one of Robb Report‘s 50 Greatest Watches of All Time.

Now, Sotheby’s has announced “the largest sale of Breguet timepieces in three decades.” Though the auction won’t take place until November, the auction house is already working to build anticipation. In the meantime, it might be wise to brush up on the most coveted Breguet references.

Breguet 1827 Perpétuelle à Tact watch made for King George IV Breguet

What may pique collectors’ interest is the sale is being curated in conjunction with Breguet and Emmanuel Breguet, the vice president and head of patrimony, who happens to be a descendant of the original Monsieur Breguet. So far, the only timekeeper publicly associated (at least visually) with the auction is the 1827 Perpétuelle à Tact watch made for King George IV. Still, it hints at the historic level of pocket watches, wristwatches, and clocks that will be on offer. Abraham-Louis Breguet was a frequent supplier of high-end and state-of-the-art timepieces for royalty, including Marie Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte, and King George III.

Other highlights include an open-faced montre à tact (a watch that replicates the internal hour hand on the cover of the pocket watch via an arrow so that time could be read via touch) with a calendar and moonphase indications that was the inspiration for the Ref. 3330. A pendulette with alarm, perpetual calendar and repeater, and a two-color gold open-faced tourbillon watch is said to be a part of the sale, although no images were provided as of press time. More info on what will be in the sale will come this spring.

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