Weekendpaper* | A Gaudí wonder gets an art space

When we speak with designers Stephen Burks and Malika Leiper – newly honoured in the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2026 – they say they are fulfilling a long-held dream by living in Paris, the latest location to serve as their base since 2024. Over the past year, they have reshaped their lives around residencies and collaborative projects from Montana to Senegal, using each location as a testing ground for new ways of working at the intersection of craft, community and industry.

Their nomadic model is a way to rethink what a design studio can be. Rather than sketch from afar, they embed themselves in local communities: sitting with quilters in Gee’s Bend, Alabama, or working with foresters and carpenters in Yoshino, Japan. What links the projects is less a visual signature, the pair tell Ali Morris, than a set of questions: who gets to participate in contemporary design? How can long-established techniques be allowed to evolve, rather than be frozen to fit Western expectations of ‘authenticity’? And what kinds of economic structures need to be in place for this work to move beyond one-off commissions?

‘Couture is really a dying craft; it’s nearly extinct. There are only a few houses doing it,’ said Jonathan Anderson of the rarefied dressmaking medium built on tradition and strict rules, at his Dior couture debut this week. After the show, he opened an exhibition allowing visitors to see his work in conversation with original designs by Christian Dior. ‘[I want] to demystify couture and inspire the next generation to ensure its future,’ he said.

As it turned out, Haute Couture Week – which concluded in Paris on Thursday – has rarely commanded so much attention. Jack Moss does the demystifying for you with his highlights, spanning Anderson’s bold Wunderkammer of ideas at Dior; the ethereal lightness of Matthieu Blazy’s fairytale couture debut at Chanel; Alessandro Michele’s ‘peep show’ at Valentino, and more.

For the Bay Area’s largest and most historic synagogue, everything old is new again – thanks to a modernisation that seamlessly connects 21st-century design with a century-old landmark.

Temple Emanu-El was constructed in 1925 in the Byzantine Revival style as an homage to the Second Temple of Jerusalem, an ancient place of Jewish worship. And, although the beloved synagogue has remained the centre of life and worship for one of California’s oldest congregations, accessibility issues and necessary seismic upgrades had significantly impacted its ability to serve the Jewish community for nearly four decades.

David Nash speaks with the San Francisco architects, Mark Cavagnero Associates, whose interventions – from a glass and bronze structure that wraps around the courtyard so people can ‘socialise and have a more communal experience’ to the re-establishment and restoration of the temple’s original grand entry on Lake Street, minus its stairs – mean that this majestic structure is welcoming its community as intended.

American pool is a whole new ball game in the hands of Hermès. The Wallpaper* games room is crying out for this matte leather table with curved lacquered legs, four matching hornbeam and leather cues, and a discreet drawer to stash the balls in their bakelite rack when not in use. Cue a Wallpaper* Design Award for its maker.