Weekendpaper* | Erwan Bouroullec’s rural retreat

Erwan Bouroullec, known for his innovative, minimalist approach to furniture, interiors and industrial design, is based in Paris. But when he needs to create, he retreats to his remote estate in the Burgundy countryside. ‘I’ve been living in Paris for 35 years, but I kind of needed another place in the countryside,’ he says, as we film the latest in Wallpaper’s video series, The Stuff That Surrounds You. ‘I needed space to work, to experiment, to try things out.’

What he and his wife discovered was an abandoned farm building, steeped in history. Rather than erase what was there, they chose to ‘layer’ their life onto it, working with LVA Architects to preserve and respect its original elements. Part sanctuary, part laboratory, the space Bouroullec has created is a hive of design experimentation. Tractors, tools, woodwork, even the grass – everything becomes a ‘toy’ to explore, manipulate and learn from, he says. ‘When I’m here, I’m building quickly, roughly, but always looking for truth in the roughness,’ he reflects. ‘It’s grounded, necessary and playful.’

Forty years since the release of their first album, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe continue to ply their trade as Pet Shop Boys, now national treasure-adjacent, if only the descriptor didn’t actually underplay their achievements. Not least in the field of graphic design and art direction, an area the duo command as effortlessly as they do songwriting and, perhaps unexpectedly, live performance. Has any pop act in history curated its visual communication with as much consistent creativity and panache as Pet Shop Boys? We can’t think of one.

Much of this is down to designer Mark Farrow, the duo’s long-term creative foil and sparring partner, who shares Tennant and Lowe’s northern roots, unsullied vision and no-nonsense agenda. As a new history of the band’s work, Pet Shop Boys Volume: The Complete Visual Record, is published, Wallpaper* sits down with Farrow for a rare retrospective conversation. ‘People tend to think it’s very clean and minimal,’ he says of their design aesthetic, ‘but there’s often a lot of humour in there.’

A stone’s throw from the bustle and bling of the Las Vegas Strip, a sleek but understated building rises from the desert – a structure that, while elegant, the casual observer would not likely guess contains a remarkable private art collection. Once inside, you’re left to wonder, is this an art gallery or a private home? In short, it’s both. It’s actually the home of Todd-Avery Lenahan, president and COO of Wynn Design and Development, the in-house creative studio for gaming and hospitality corporation Wynn Resorts, and his husband John Gorsuch. The collection is so varied that pieces from antiquity coexist with unapologetically contemporary objects. It is not uncommon, for instance, to see, on the same wall, an abstract painting by Joan Miró and an oil portrait by Thomas Phillips.

Lenahan strives to achieve a balance; the diverse art in his home is curated as if the works are in conversation. ‘I joke with my husband all the time. It’s time to let them start their party when we turn out the lights at night. I feel like these [works] are all having a dialogue with one another,’ he says. Join the conversation with a house tour unlike any other.

With his ‘Gambosa’ table lamp for Spanish brand Marset, designer Mathias Hahn plays with balance, geometry and colour. The steel lamp’s stem and shade seem to float above the base, and come in six covetable mix-and-match colour combos – glow for it.