TENWAYS - CGO 009 Brings Connected Design to Urban E-Bikes

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TENWAYS CGO 009 Brings Connected Design to the City Bike

The city e-bike has moved into a more precise category. It is no longer enough for it to carry a battery, look streamlined, and promise an easier commute. The object now has to answer more specific urban questions: how it is stored, how it is serviced, how visible its technology should be, and how naturally it fits into daily movement.

The TENWAYS CGO 009, the brand’s new connected city e-bike, shown with its clean frame design, integrated lighting, and belt-drive setup.

With the new CGO 009, TENWAYS places those questions at the centre of its 2026 lineup. Presented during the brand’s Berlin Press Day, the model is positioned as the showpiece of a wider range that also includes the CGO Compact, CGO 600Pro, and CGO 800S. The Amsterdam-based company has built much of its identity around urban mobility, and the CGO 009 extends that direction through a cleaner frame language and a more connected technical setup.

The model’s most relevant feature may be its Smart Connect Module, which integrates GPS tracking and security functions directly into the bike. It gives the CGO 009 a more contemporary role within the city e-bike category, where ownership is increasingly shaped by location data, theft prevention, and daily access.

TENWAYS also equips the CGO 009 with a belt drive, a detail that points to the maintenance question around urban e-bikes. The appeal is practical. Less upkeep means fewer interruptions in a routine built around short distances and repeated use. In a city context, convenience often has less to do with speed and more to do with whether an object keeps working without asking for too much attention.

TENWAYS CGO 009

TENWAYS CGO 009

The boost function gives the CGO 009 its most immediate riding feature. TENWAYS describes it as intuitive, placing the emphasis on quick support rather than a complicated control system. In a city context, that detail matters most during the uneven parts of a ride: pulling away from a crossing, moving through dense traffic, or handling a route that changes between flat streets and small climbs.

The CGO Compact is built around storage and accessibility, the CGO 600Pro around lightweight commuting, and the CGO 800S around step-through comfort. The CGO 009 carries the strongest focus on connectivity, with its Smart Connect Module, GPS tracking, security functions, belt drive, and boost support giving it the role of TENWAYS’ most technology-led city model.

TENWAYS CGO 009

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— Explore more at www.tenways.com

content credits Tenways Press

Kaweco Pen - The Return of Iridescent Pearl

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Kaweco and the Return of Iridescent Pearl


Kaweco has brought back the Perkeo Iridescent Pearl, a writing instrument first known from the brand’s collection range and now added to the permanent Perkeo line. The release expands the colourway into two formats, with the model available as a fountain pen and as a rollerball.

The Kaweco Perkeo Iridescent Pearl in fountain pen and rollerball formats, shown with its translucent pearl-effect body.

The appeal of the Iridescent Pearl is built around its material effect. The translucent body reacts to light with a shifting colour surface that moves between green-blue and pink tones. Kaweco links this optical quality to the appearance of a pearl, giving the model its name. In a category often shaped by solid colours, polished metals, or nostalgic references, the Perkeo Iridescent Pearl places the visual experience closer to stationery culture and contemporary object design.

The Perkeo series has always occupied an accessible position within Kaweco’s wider offer. It is not presented as a collector’s item or a prestige pen, but as an everyday writing tool with a recognisable design language. This makes the return of Iridescent Pearl less about exclusivity and more about permanence. A colourway previously tied to a collection release is being folded into regular availability, suggesting that Kaweco sees sustained demand beyond a limited drop.

The fountain pen version includes a transparent ink feeder, allowing the ink flow to remain visible inside the pen. It is a functional part of the writing system, yet it also contributes to the object’s appearance. This detail fits the broader direction of the pen, where visibility and lightness are central to the design.

The Kaweco Perkeo Iridescent Pearl returns in fountain pen and rollerball formats, with a translucent body that shifts between soft blue, pink, and pearl tones.

At 14 grams, the Perkeo Iridescent Pearl stays close to the accessible character of the Perkeo line. The fountain pen comes with fine or medium German-made nibs, while the rollerball uses a black EURO refill with a 0.7 mm line width. Kaweco also offers inks, a converter, and clips as optional additions, keeping the model open to personal use without turning customisation into the main narrative. The pen is delivered in plastic-free packaging. With Iridescent Pearl now part of the standard range, Kaweco gives one of its most recognisable finishes a fixed place in the Perkeo line.

A Kaweco Lunar Sport pen in use, photographed by Sophia Weigand for Eight Miles High with Elisa Klinkenberg.

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— Explore the full KAWECO Pen collection at www.kaweco-pen.com

content credits Kaweco Press
last image photographed by Sophia Weigand

HACOY - Maximilian Rupp on Munich Fashion and Comfort

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Inside HACOY
the Munich Brand Shaping Comfort with Restraint

Fashion has learned to keep desire slightly unfinished. A new season, a new cart, a new reason to feel almost complete. HACOY enters that cycle with a quieter proposition, shaped around what founder Maximilian Rupp calls “a sense of enough.” Founded in Munich, with Romana Tricoli leading the design side, the brand looks at clothing through contact, habit and restraint, from silk underwear and a unisex cupro pajama to swimwear and bamboo T-shirts made for the city that first gave the project its pace.

The focus sits close to the body, where a garment has very little space to pretend. A waistband, a seam, a collar, fabric after several hours of wear. These are small decisions, but they determine whether comfort remains an idea or becomes something lived with. HACOY develops its pieces with long-term manufacturing partners in Italy and Lithuania, where material, fit, production realities and responsibility enter the process early, before a garment can become part of the range.

In conversation with LE MILE, Rupp speaks about refusal, everyday desire, material honesty and the discipline required to let a young independent brand grow from one city without outgrowing the restraint it was built on.

LE MILE
HACOY seems to begin with a simple promise: clothing should make daily life feel less loud, less forced and less disposable. What did you feel was missing in fashion before you started building the brand?

Maximilian Rupp
A sense of enough. Most of the industry is built to keep you slightly dissatisfied, because that is what makes you buy the next thing. I wanted clothes that do the opposite, clothes that you stop thinking about once you own them. What was missing, for me, was restraint. Pieces that don't perform, don't shout, and don't expire in your head after one season.

What has "Better, not more" already made you refuse?

Discounts, for one. We don't do sales, and we've turned down the big seasonal sale events even when the maths looked good, because a brand that is "better, not more" can't also be "40% off." We've passed on collaborations that would have given us reach but not meaning, and on expanding the range just to have more to show. The hardest refusals are the reasonable-sounding ones: another drop, another category, another channel. Most of them I say no to.

Where does comfort usually fail in a garment?

At the points of contact. The waistband, the collar, the seam against the skin, the label that scratches after an hour. Comfort fails when it is treated as something you add at the end, after the look is decided. The body is honest about it. It just takes a few hours to tell you.

HACOY is currently focusing on silk underwear, a unisex cupro pajama and swimwear, all categories that sit close to the body and private daily routines. Why did this intimate layer of dressing feel like the right place to move into now?

Because if "less loud" is going to mean anything, it has to start where no one is watching. These are the clothes for waking up, resting, being alone. There is nothing to hide behind: no styling, no occasion, no audience. You can't fake quality in a piece that is only ever experienced privately. That felt like the most honest place to be.

Romana Tricoli leads the design side, while you shape the broader system around it. Where do strategy and design have to agree before a garment can move forward?

On whether the piece earns its place. Romana can take an idea further than I can on the design side. My job is to hold the constraints: the material, the price it can honestly carry, whether we can make it the way we say we make things. We have to agree on the why before the what. If a piece is beautiful but we can't produce it responsibly, it doesn't move. If it is responsible but says nothing, same answer. The agreement is almost always about restraint.

You studied business psychology and fashion brand management, which is an unusual combination for a founder working with clothing so closely tied to feeling and routine. What did that attention to human behavior teach you about fashion?

That almost no one buys clothes rationally. People buy a feeling, and a small story about who they are. You can exploit that or you can respect it. I chose to design for the everyday self rather than the aspirational one, the person getting dressed on an ordinary Tuesday, not the imagined version of them. Behavior also taught me that habit beats novelty. The pieces people actually love are the ones they reach for without deciding to.

HACOY
portrait of founder Maximilian Rupp

When does function become more important than material purity?

When purity would fail the person wearing it. A "purer" fiber that pills, shrinks, or falls apart in two years is not the responsible choice just because it sounds clean. The material is a means, not the point. If a considered blend lasts ten years and a single fiber lasts two, the blend is the more sustainable garment. I would rather be honest about that than perform purity.

HACOY works with long-term manufacturing partners in Italy and Lithuania, giving the brand a concrete European production geography. What did these partners change about your original idea of the brand?

They made it slower and more honest. I came in with an idea of the brand. They taught me the reality of making: minimums, lead times, what a fabric will actually do, what is genuinely possible. You can't bluff your way through a workshop. Working with the same people over years turns production from a transaction into a relationship, and that changes what you are willing to put your name on.

"Hyper local, global" begins with one city first, not a global rollout. What becomes clearer when a brand grows from a place instead of from a market plan?

Who it is actually for. The idea is local hubs, city by city, where over time each city produces its own clothing rather than everything flowing out of a single source. Italy is where we hold the standard today, but it is a starting point, not a permanent anchor. The longer goal is production that lives where the people who wear it live. When you grow from a place, you have real people and real context giving you feedback, not an abstract target group on a slide. A market plan tells you where the demand should be. A city tells you who is actually showing up, and what they actually need. The second one is harder to argue with.

The new bamboo T-shirts are planned as a Munich-only launch, which makes locality part of the product itself. What has to happen for a garment to feel connected to a city without turning into merchandise?

Merchandise is when you print the city's name on a shirt and call it belonging. Connection is when the city actually shaped the thing: where it is made, who tried it first, the fact that it exists at this scale because of this place. It has to come from a real constraint and a real relationship, not a graphic. If you removed the word "Munich" entirely and it still felt of Munich, you have done it right.

Alongside the brand, you work on MAR, your personal painting practice. What kind of space does MAR give you, and what can it hold that would become too private inside a fashion brand?

MAR has no brief and no customer. Nothing has to be useful, coherent, or finished. It can hold doubt and mess, the things that don't resolve, which a brand is not allowed to show. HACOY has to be legible to other people. MAR doesn't have to be legible to anyone, including me. I need both, and I think they protect each other.

You mentioned ADHD and mental health as subjects you care about. Has that influenced how you build a working environment around the brand?

Yes. I've tried to build the brand around how I actually work rather than how I am supposed to. That means fewer, deeper focuses instead of many shallow ones, being honest about capacity, and a structure that bends rather than punishes. I am not interested in a culture that treats a different kind of attention as a flaw to be managed. If anything, the way my mind works is part of why HACOY looks the way it does.

Fashion still depends on real bodies, real fabric and people making decisions together. How do you prevent AI from making an independent brand look larger or smoother than it really is?

By using it for the work, not the front. I run a lot of the brand alone, and AI lets one person do what used to take a team. But the temptation is to use that to look bigger and more polished than we are. I try not to. A startup magazine once decided not to feature us because they assumed we were already a big company. I took it as a compliment, because at most we are three people. It told me the work was landing, but it also reminded me how easily the surface can outrun the truth. So the decisions that matter stay human, the texture stays human, and the brand is allowed to look exactly as small and handmade as it is. The danger is not the tool. It is letting the surface outrun the substance.

If HACOY's first phase is about proving the model in Munich, what would tell you that the brand is ready for another city?

Pull instead of push. Not a single revenue number, but the quieter signs: people coming back, rewearing, telling other people without being asked, a community that holds together when I am not actively feeding it. The day the model runs in Munich without me pushing on it constantly, and there is genuine demand coming from somewhere else, that is the signal. Until then, moving would just be ambition pretending to be readiness.


— Explore the Full Collection at www.hacoy.com
all images HACOY Press

SOOS Atelier - The Art of the Active Table

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SOOS Atelier and the Art of the Active Table


Amsterdam Tableware for Serving, Sharing and Staying Longer

At SOOS Atelier, the table is understood through movement, with objects carried in, placed within reach, shared, cleared away and remembered. Founded in Amsterdam, the brand approaches tableware through the physical habits that make being at the table feel natural, giving form to the small decisions that shape a room before, during and after a meal. Its objects enter these gestures with little ceremony, allowing food and conversation to remain close to the centre of attention.

SOOS Atelier, Classic Tray
A stainless steel tray for small servings, coffee moments and everyday gestures around the table.

SOOS Atelier Shiloh Plates, Shiloh Breakfast Bowl

Stainless steel plates and bowls from the Shiloh collection, shaped for shared meals, breakfast settings and daily use.

The stainless steel range gives SOOS Atelier its clearest material line, carrying one visual language across plates, bowls, trays, cups, coupes and cutlery At a time when stainless steel is again gaining visibility in interiors and object design for its reflective surface and industrial clarity, SOOS Atelier brings the material to a more intimate scale. In the Shiloh pieces, steel becomes direct and durable, with a reflective surface that holds light while keeping its practical edge. Trays, plates and bowls stay close to the logic of service, yet their surfaces give even simple arrangements a visible charge. The material makes serving feel deliberate, and it asks to be used and looked after.

That matter-of-fact quality is important because SOOS Atelier’s idea of table culture depends on use. Hosting is treated as a sequence of gestures shaped by what is placed in the centre, what remains within reach and which object makes a simple meal feel considered. The collection belongs to a contemporary appetite for tables that are visually aware and generous, while still allowing the meal to remain the point. The objects hold a setting together while keeping the table open to food, conversation and time.

From there, glass and ceramic shift the table into lighter and more private rhythms. The Square Glasses have a graphic clarity that suits a morning drink as easily as something served later in the day, with straight sides and softened corners that give the hand a precise form to hold. The A.M. Coffee Club pieces draw the table back to the morning, where scale matters more than abundance. White ceramic, blue lettering and compact proportions place them in the quiet rhythm of espresso, the first longer cup of the day, the moment before a room becomes social. In these pieces, SOOS Atelier shows that table culture also begins in solitude, with an object chosen for a habit repeated often enough to matter.

SOOS Atelier, Disposable Camera Silver

A silver analogue camera loaded with Kodak 400 film, designed to be passed around and let an evening collect different perspectives.


SOOS Atelier, Large Shiloh Tray, Square Glasses

A stainless steel tray and straight-sided glasses for drinks, small dishes and everyday serving.

The Disposable Camera Silver adds a sharper cultural note because it addresses something already present wherever people gather. SOOS Atelier gives that presence a designed body through its silver case, allowing the camera to sit inside the same visual language as the objects around it. Loaded with Kodak 400 film and 27 exposures, it carries a clear function, yet its relevance lies in the way it changes the record of an evening. Passed between guests, it lets a shared moment move through different hands, seats and timings.

SOOS Atelier’s own visual language is carefully composed, with a refined sense of colour, furniture, proportion and surface, while the disposable camera introduces a looser record shaped by flash, blur, uneven framing and partial attention. Through that looseness, the idea of gathering becomes practical. A table shared by several people produces several views of the same moment, and the camera gives that multiplicity a physical form. It makes remembering part of the setting, while leaving the experience open to chance.

Across steel, glass, ceramic and film, SOOS Atelier gives ordinary table habits a more deliberate form while keeping their ease intact. Its pieces make serving, drinking, sitting and remembering feel considered, leaving the table open to the informal pleasure of staying a little longer.

SOOS Atelier, Stainless Steel Tableware

A table setting with stainless steel plates, bowls, trays and serving pieces from the SOOS Atelier collection

SOOS Atelier, Morning Fuel Cup

A ceramic cup and saucer for the morning coffee moment, simple in form and made for daily use.

SOOS Atelier, The A.M. Coffee Club

A ceramic coffee family for the morning table, moving from espresso to the first longer cup of the day.

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— Explore the full SOOS Atelier collection at www.soosatelier.com

content credits
photographed by Tess Letort, SOOS Atelier

Clothing in Use - The Language of Maara Studio

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Where Colour Holds
Maara Studio by Izabela Barbaric

written LE MILE

Maara Studio takes shape through a way of working that stays close to the garment itself and to how it is worn. Founded by Izabela Barbaric, the label develops through decisions that remain tied to the piece rather than building a fixed vocabulary.

Maara Studio

Maara Studio

Colour enters the collections with a clarity rooted in presence. It holds the garment in place, allowing it to register immediately while remaining connected to the body wearing it. The effect is direct, with a controlled sense of staging.

A similar precision runs through the way garments are imagined in relation to specific people. Many pieces are connected to women from Barbaric’s own circle, as a way of thinking through posture, gesture and how a piece is carried. This thinking informs proportion, material and colour at a level that remains embedded in the garment itself, without resolving into fixed characters or narratives.

Material and production follow these conditions, with small editions produced through Italian ateliers keeping the process close to the object so adjustments remain traceable and decisions do not disappear in scale. Fabrics such as silk, cotton and linen are selected for how they respond in wear, how they hold shape without fixing it, and how they shift over time. What emerges is a way of approaching femininity that does not need to be defined in advance. It takes shape through use and through how a garment holds together while being worn. In the following conversation, Izabela Barbaric speaks about how this approach developed and how it continues to inform Maara Studio.

Maara Studio

Maara Studio

Maara Studio

LE MILE
When did your design language reach a point where it needed its own label? Was there a decisive moment, or did that step take shape gradually? And how closely is that founding impulse tied to the assured femininity your work expresses today?

Izabela Barbaric
The desire was there from an early age. As a child, I used to flip through catalogues and magazines and knew I wanted to be part of that world. At first, I took a different path, worked, gained experience, and saw a lot, but something creative was always missing.
During the pandemic, that thought became more concrete. The turning point came in a conversation with a friend who simply asked why I wasn’t doing it. I didn’t have an answer. In that moment, I realised there was no real reason not to, so I started. Confident femininity was never a concept to me, it was always a feeling. For me, it is less about an external image and more about an inner attitude: taking space, being present, and not adapting.
Over time, that feeling became more defined through the process itself, through making decisions, but also through moments of uncertainty. That attitude was always there, but it only became tangible through building my own label.

Looking back at your earlier years — before Maara existed — what did you believe fashion could give you that it perhaps couldn’t at the time? And has that belief changed?

Fashion has always been a way for me to express mood and personality. It is about feeling comfortable, moving freely, and dressing intuitively rather than according to expectations.
That sense of freedom is still at the core of my work today. If anything, it has become even stronger.

Colour plays a central role in your collections. It feels deliberate, almost defiant in its openness. What does that luminosity mean to you beyond its immediate visual impact?

Colour represents joy to me, but it is also a statement. It expresses presence, confidence, and a certain independence from the need to conform. Colour always carries an attitude. At the same time, it is a form of communication. It influences how a look is perceived, the mood it carries, and how present it feels.
Sometimes colour is an intuitive decision, sometimes it is used more consciously to create contrast or a sense of calm. It also helps structure my collections by creating connections or, in some cases, intentional breaks.

Much of contemporary fashion operates through irony or conceptual distance. Against that backdrop, Maara feels direct and sensual. Is that a conscious choice? And what does that directness allow you to express that might otherwise get lost?

Yes. I believe in honesty in expression. Clothing should connect and evoke something without needing explanation. That directness makes it accessible, while still remaining deeply personal.

Maara Studio
portrait of designer and founder Izabela Barbaric

Maara Studio

Who do you design for? And how does that presence — real or imagined — influence the way a piece takes shape?

I design for individuals. I often have a friend or an important woman in my life in mind, her presence, her way of living, the way she presents herself, how she wears colour, and how she wants to be perceived. Clothing should enhance that personality, not overshadow it. It is about presence, confidence, and a sense of joy.
This idea directly shapes my designs, especially in terms of silhouette and proportion. Colour and material also come from this, because each piece needs to adapt to the person, not the other way around.

When you design, how consciously are you thinking about the body? Is movement something you construct deliberately, or does it emerge intuitively as the piece develops?

The feeling on the body is essential. A piece needs to feel natural and move with the wearer. When that works, everything else follows almost automatically. I think about the body and movement very early in the process. It is not something that comes at the end, it accompanies the design from the beginning. There is always a moment where I test how a piece falls, how it moves, and whether it supports the body or restricts it. Many decisions are made at that point.

Several of your pieces carry the names of women from your own circle. What shifts in your process when a garment is connected to someone you know personally? For you, is friendship more a source of inspiration, a space of resonance — or at times even a form of corrective?

It makes the process more personal. I think about real characters, their energy, their presence, and shared memories that are meaningful to me. Friendship is a strong source of inspiration for me because it strengthens each person in their own identity. That is essential.
At the same time, these relationships create a kind of resonance. They influence how I see my designs, how I develop them further, and sometimes how I question them. It is less about direct feedback and more about a shared understanding that shapes the process.

What does working in small editions allow you to preserve? And when does limitation start to feel like a conscious choice rather than a constraint?

It keeps me close to the product. I can work more consciously, make more precise decisions, and preserve the uniqueness of each piece. This creates something more personal and less interchangeable.

When working with small Italian ateliers, where does quality become non-negotiable for you — in the material, in the cut, in the finishing, or in something less tangible?

Everything.
Quality reveals itself in the details, in the materials, the cut, the craftsmanship, and above all in the fit. That is where I take the time it needs. For me, it also means paying close attention to the construction of a garment, how it is built, how cleanly it is made, and how well it holds its shape over time. That is where the difference really lies.

Croatian roots, Italian production — how present is that duality in your thinking? And where does it surface most clearly in the design itself?

For me, Croatia represents boldness, freedom, and a very vivid understanding of fashion, a way of expressing oneself and embracing life.
Italy, on the other hand, stands for precision, craftsmanship, and uncompromising quality. Both cultures carry a strong female energy, as an attitude, as a presence, as something natural. A woman as the centre, as a driving force, as someone who shapes rather than follows. This duality also becomes visible in the design itself, in the interplay between strong colours and clear silhouettes, between expression and controlled construction. That tension defines my work.

— Explore the Full Collection at www.maara-studio.com
all images seen by Karolina Golis, beauty by Anna Winkel for Maara Studio

Ammann Sneakers - ASCONA BEINWIL Leather Cowhide Construction

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Ammann’s New Sneaker Line 

Flat Silhouettes Shaped by a Century of Shoemaking

The form settles low and controlled, with a sole that introduces a measured lift while keeping the overall proportion compact, allowing the upper to remain close to the foot and uninterrupted in its line, so the shoe reads as a continuous volume rather than a layered construction, its presence defined through balance and alignment instead of added elements.

Ammann
Sneaker Urban

Ammann
Sneaker Urban

Developed from a lineage that began in a small workshop in Oberentfelden and expanded into a manufacturing structure shaped by durability, repetition and large-scale production, including military boots and everyday leather shoes built for sustained wear, the current collection carries forward a way of thinking that prioritises how a shoe performs over time and under use. This history does not surface through direct reference, yet it informs the way proportions are handled, how the sole meets the upper, and how the overall structure avoids unnecessary articulation.

ASCONA and BEINWIL follow this logic through flat, continuous lines and a construction that stays visually closed, with the sole slightly raised and softly rounded to stabilise the form without introducing tension, while the upper remains compact and aligned, allowing the shoe to maintain a consistent stance across different contexts.

Ammann
Sneaker Urban

Ammann
Sneaker Urban

Ammann
Sneaker Urban

Across the collection, smooth leathers define the surface through a restrained range of tones, from pale variations to warmer finishes, each responding differently to light and wear, while cowhide introduces natural variation through its pattern, ensuring that individual pairs carry subtle differences without affecting the underlying structure. The material selection stays precise, with each surface supporting the overall form rather than redirecting attention. Seams follow the curvature of the upper closely and remain visually contained, while branding is reduced to minimal interventions that do not interrupt the line of the shoe, and within the lacing, a small cowhide heart is integrated into the tongue, positioned in a way that remains secondary to the construction and only becomes visible upon closer inspection.

Developed in collaboration with specialised manufacturers in Northern Italy, where long-standing relationships shape both material sourcing and fabrication, the production process extends the same level of control beyond a single location, maintaining consistency through shared technical knowledge and established workflows. Within the current landscape of sneaker design, where form is often driven by scale, surface treatment or visible construction, Ammann’s approach remains focused on proportion, material handling and structural clarity, allowing the shoe to hold its position through the way it is built and resolved.

images (c) AMMANN SHOES

DISCOVER MORE: www.ammann1917.ch
Explore ASCONA and BEINWIL sneakers shaped through low silhouettes, smooth leather, cowhide details and precise construction.

Secrid Envelope Wallet - Slim Leather Wallet

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Inside Secrid’s New Envelope
How Fold and Mechanism Define Access

written LE MILE

Since 1995, Secrid has developed pocket-sized accessories shaped through industrial design and a clear approach to construction. Founded by René and Marianne van Geer in the Netherlands, the brand continues to produce locally, with assembly carried out in collaboration with social enterprises. This production model connects material, process and labour within a consistent, regionally anchored system.
The wallet is defined by how it manages access and Secrid’s Envelope approaches this through a construction that begins with a single fold, shaping the object into a compact, continuous volume where structure and closure are resolved in one movement. The geometry emerges directly from how the material bends, creating a form that holds its shape without added framing or reinforcement. Developed and produced in the Netherlands, the object carries a design logic that connects industrial precision with a clear, everyday usability.

SECRID
Envelope Pebble Ice Blue

SECRID
Envelope Vintage Cognac

That fold establishes the outer presence, but its function becomes clear once the wallet is handled. The surface carries a slight resistance, the edges remain precise, and the volume stays contained even when filled. The construction holds a fixed proportion, keeping the object stable in the hand and in the pocket. This controlled containment defines how the wallet behaves in everyday use, setting limits that prevent it from accumulating excess.

The interior builds on this constraint by distributing space with exact intention. Cards, coins and small essentials are assigned distinct positions within a layout that remains legible at a glance, including a dedicated compartment that accommodates loose items without disrupting the overall structure. Each compartment is directly accessible, allowing interaction without rearranging the contents. The organisation is embedded in the construction itself, guiding how the wallet is used through its spatial logic.

At the core sits Secrid’s card mechanism, a compact unit that defines the system the wallet is built around. A single press releases the cards in a stepped formation, making selection immediate and controlled while holding up to eight cards within a protected enclosure. The movement is consistent, governed by an internal structure that stores, shields and presents the cards in one sequence. This mechanism establishes a clear rhythm of use through repetition and precision.

SECRID
Envelope Pebble Butter Yellow & Vintage Cognac

SECRID
Envelope Vintage Cognac

The interaction between folded exterior and mechanical core determines how the object performs over time. The outer layer absorbs contact and movement, while the internal unit maintains its exact function with each use. Production takes place in the Netherlands, with assembly carried out in specialised social enterprises, embedding the object within a broader manufacturing context that links material, labour and process.

Material selection reinforces this behaviour, with leather that retains enough structure to preserve the folded geometry while remaining responsive to touch and motion. Its surface develops subtle variation through use, registering contact without altering the underlying form. Colour options extend this without changing the construction, allowing the same object to appear more subdued or more pronounced depending on finish.

Within the broader shift toward carrying fewer, more deliberate items, the Envelope narrows its scope through this controlled construction. It defines capacity through form, organises access through mechanism, and stabilises use through material. The wallet becomes a fixed system that holds its shape, its contents and its function in a single, continuous structure.

SECRID
Envelope Original Ballete

SECRID
Envelope Original Ballete

Price €79 for the Secrid Envelope
— Explore the full Collection at www.secrid.com

NUBIKK SS26 - Collection Moccasins and Loafers Return to Everyday Wear

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Inside NUBIKK’s SS26 Collection
Why Moccasins and Loafers Matter Again

Footwear has been running on autopilot for years, with sneakers absorbing functions that once belonged to other categories until their dominance flattened distinctions to the point where they stopped saying much at all. What is taking shape now is less a new trend than a redistribution of attention. Loafers, moccasins and mules return without recovering their old authority, entering the same everyday space without insisting on occasion, status or hierarchy.

NUBIKK SS26
Riley Mio Brown Loafers Women

NUBIKK SS26
Riley Mio Brown Loafers Women

NUBIKK makes that shift easier to read because the brand has never depended on heritage mythology or on the inflated novelty cycle that drives much of the contemporary market. Founded in 2012 in Waalwijk, a town with a long connection to Dutch shoemaking, it has built its identity through a more pragmatic line of thinking, one that begins with wear, material and repeat use, then extends that logic across sneakers, booties, slip-ons and moccasins. Production in Portugal, leather sourcing tied to Leather Working Group suppliers, and a repair-first approach give that positioning more weight than the usual contemporary-brand language ever could, grounding the product in continuity while keeping it visually aligned with a contemporary sense of style.
That matters because NUBIKK is neither trying to rescue the moccasin as a classic nor inflate it into a fashion object. In SS26, the category is handled with less sentiment and more clarity. The point is not revival but usability within a wardrobe where the old division between sneaker, loafer and softer leather shoe has started to erode, while maintaining a level of lightness that shapes both how the shoe feels and how it appears.

Within this group, Riley Mio and Riley Jade hold a tighter, more controlled line, while Joan Macaw and the more open Joan Mule extend the same idea outward, not as separate statements but as variations within a shared position. They remain closely aligned, with surface and detail carrying most of the variation. A smoother leather upper with a restrained strap keeps one version tighter and quieter, while suede opens another through visible seams, lacing or fringe, allowing texture to carry more of the expression. In models such as Joan Macaw and Riley Jade, these shifts become more visible through fringe, stitching and lacing, while Riley Mio and Joan Mule introduce a slightly firmer note through their more defined upper construction and hardware. Elsewhere, embossed finishes and metal hardware sharpen the tone without pulling the shoe out of the same broader field. The point is not that these models blur into one another, but that they stay close enough in attitude to function within the same wardrobe logic.

NUBIKK SS26
Joan Macaw Beige Slip Ons Women

NUBIKK SS26
Joan Macaw Beige Slip Ons Women

That proximity is what makes them timely, as the moccasin is no longer framed as a softer cousin of formal footwear nor as a nostalgic gesture toward leisure. It becomes a direct, adaptable part of daily dressing, able to sit with denim, tailoring or looser silhouettes without asking for a change of register. Even the mule, which pushes the line further through its open heel, does not break the structure. It shows how little closure a shoe now needs in order to feel complete.

This is where NUBIKK becomes more interesting than the average seasonal footwear label. The brand is not operating at the level of runway declaration, and it does not need to. Its strength lies in understanding a middle zone of the market that many brands still mishandle, where shoes carry enough form to register, enough ease to remain in constant use, and enough variation in material and finish to shift mood without forcing a new identity each time, while retaining a lightness that reads as both a functional and visual quality. That balance is harder than it sounds, especially in a category where products still veer too quickly toward either comfort cliché or overdesigned statement.

NUBIKK SS26
Riley Mio Off White Loafers Women

Seen from that angle, the collection says something precise about the current state of footwear. Categories remain visible, but their authority has weakened. What matters now is not whether a shoe once belonged to formalwear, leisurewear or sneaker culture. What matters is whether it can keep moving across those territories without friction. NUBIKK does not solve that through spectacle, but through a steady recalibration of forms that were already there, waiting for a different use.

NUBIKK SS26
Riley Jade Bordeaux Loafers Women

NUBIKK SS26
Joan Mule Brown Slippers Women

images (c) NUBIKK

DISCOVER NUBIKK: www.nubikk.com
Explore moccasins, loafers and mules shaped through lightweight construction, material clarity and everyday adaptability.

HAKA beja - Material-Driven Approach to Contemporary Menswear

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A Jacket, a Shirt, a Coat — Nothing More, Nothing Less
HAKA beja and a Material-Driven Approach to Contemporary Menswear


At HAKA beja, each jacket remains tied to the availability of its fabric, and that condition already says a great deal about how the work is made. In a fashion system organised around calendars, images and recurring releases, clothing usually enters circulation with its timing already decided. Material follows the idea, quantity follows the plan, and the garment arrives as part of a larger visual proposition, while HAKA beja operates from a different starting point. Here, availability sets the terms, fabric determines direction, and a piece reaches release only once its form, construction and proportion have settled over time. What results carries a quiet clarity that feels increasingly rare in contemporary menswear, as these are clothes whose value does not depend on novelty at the moment they appear but on whether they remain convincing once they are worn, handled and returned to.

That orientation did not emerge from a conventional fashion trajectory. Textiles were present early on through family connections to the industry, and Benjamin Seeßle had originally intended to train as a tailor for menswear. During a dual degree in fashion management, he spent his practical phases at a long-established retailer in Lower Bavaria whose history lay in trouser production. The people around him understood fabric, construction and quality with real precision. At the same time, he found himself unable to connect to either standard retail fashion or the codes of high fashion, which led him to begin making his own pieces from leftover cloth within that environment. Those first samples were developed as a private practice, shaped by an interest in traditional menswear and by a desire for clothing that could retain simplicity without becoming generic.

That sense of simplicity remains central to the brand and is easy to misread, as HAKA beja does not chase extravagance and does not rely on conceptual overload to produce significance around the object. Seeßle describes the outcome with almost disarming directness as simply a jacket, a shirt, a coat, a phrasing that shifts attention away from inflated authorship and back toward the garment itself. These pieces are designed with precision, but they do not perform design as spectacle, and their authority comes from material, cut, hardware and use.

The structure of the brand follows the same logic. There are no classical seasonal collections, no complete SS or FW proposals assembled for a date on the calendar, no artificial limitation staged as scarcity, as HAKA beja instead works in individual products developed independently of a fixed release structure. Overproduced luxury fabrics are sourced first and used until they are gone, which establishes the central condition under which each piece is developed. Availability does not enter at the end as a practical restriction but acts at the beginning and shapes what can come into being at all. Quantity is therefore limited by actual supply, and each piece remains bound to the specific fabric from which it was developed, so that once that material is gone, the exact constellation of material, cut and finish cannot simply be repeated.

This results in a different temporality, as garments are not created to complete a line-up or to satisfy the expectation of seasonal renewal, but develop over months through vision, modelling, tailoring and adjustment until they hold together. Influences enter from far beyond fashion in any narrow sense, with references ranging from film, personal environment and hunting to craft, gardening, everyday labour and food culture. The language of classic menswear and the Alpine region remains visible throughout, though never in the form of costume or citation, appearing instead as discipline in silhouette, restraint in proportion and a functional clarity that leaves room for variation.

Food culture is especially important here, and it gives the brand one of its most useful images. Seeßle speaks of the laid table with friends or family as a guiding idea behind HAKA beja. The image works because it is less metaphor than method. A good meal prepared for others depends on the quality of ingredients, on manual work, on time and on care in presentation, while it also establishes a difference between consumption and appreciation. The host selects well, prepares carefully and plates with attention, creating a situation in which everyone present responds accordingly, as pace changes, perception sharpens and behaviour follows. Within that setting, clothing enters the same field of respect, where one dresses properly for such an occasion to acknowledge the people around the table and the effort that has gone into what is being shared.

photographer LEO KÖHLER / stylist NATALIA WIERZBICKA / assistant DOMINIK EHRENGRUBER / hair + make up EVA HERBOHN / studio OAT MILK STUDIOS / models PAOLO FIORE, ADRIAN GABOR VITUS VON ZOLYOMI, JANIS BITARAF

From that perspective, HAKA beja becomes easier to understand, as the garments do not ask to be read through fashion images first but belong to a larger idea of conduct in which material quality, craft and presentation shape how an object is received and how one behaves in relation to it. This is also why the brand’s simplicity feels substantial rather than reductive. It is grounded in selection and preparation, where good natural ingredients, manual work and careful presentation form the basis of thinking and making. The analogy to cooking remains direct and extends from product development to the way a finished piece enters life.

The process begins with material, as only natural fibres are used, chosen for durability, tactile presence and the way they record wear over time, while wool, cotton and silver form the basis of the work. The fabrics often come from overproduced stock originally made for major luxury houses, sourced through European suppliers such as Nona Source in France. Sampling takes place in Germany, silver components are produced through jewellery foundries and goldsmiths in southern Germany, and construction is handled by tailoring partners in Italy and neighbouring European contexts. The phrase Made in Europe is often used loosely in contemporary branding, but here it refers to a production chain that remains concrete, localised and traceable.

What distinguishes HAKA beja is that this material logic does not announce itself through overt virtue signalling, as the garments do not read as proofs of concept for sustainability discourse but stand on their own as resolved objects. Dense wool fabrics with a firm hand allow jackets and outer layers to hold shape with striking assurance, while proportions are handled with intelligence, often through shorter lengths that shift visual weight upward and subtly alter the movement of the body. Shirts, ties and tailored references persist, while workwear and Alpine dress introduce a different register of utility and familiarity, so that the result sits in a precise zone of tension once described as roughness and elegance, remaining materially legible.

This tension becomes particularly visible in the silver elements, where fine cross-shaped fastenings in 925 silver appear on several jackets with exact placement, functioning as closure and structural point at once. The act of opening and fastening carries a slight resistance, making wear a more deliberate interaction, while each element retains its own material character and remains visibly marked. The relationship between textile and metal stays legible instead of dissolving into styling effect, and Seeßle’s preference for silver over gold, expressed with notable directness, reflects a clear distinction in perception, where silver reads as genuinely valuable without becoming loud. Even the naming system refuses unnecessary narrative inflation. Terms such as Korpus, Rumpf, Kittel or Sack do not construct mythology around the product but simply identify types. A jacket remains a jacket, a vest remains a vest, and variation takes place through cut, material and handling, which keeps attention on labour and execution rather than on storytelling frameworks imposed from the outside.

What emerges from all this is a practice with a rare degree of internal consistency, in which material, time and use remain closely aligned throughout. The pieces do not rely on collection logic, on theatrical image production or on the designer’s self-mythology to establish relevance, but instead shift the focus toward a more demanding question of whether a garment can remain persuasive through construction, touch, proportion and repeated wear. At HAKA beja, clothing does not gain value by appearing, but proves itself through use over time, as garments are worn, returned to and recognised for the consistency of their material, construction and form.

images (c) HAKA beja

DISCOVER HAKA beja: haka-beja.de
Explore Made in Europe garments released in small series, with a focus on raw natural materials, craftsmanship and contemporary design.

HIDDEN WHITE - The Recalibration of luxury Footwear

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HIDDEN WHITE and the Recalibration of luxury Footwear
A London Brand focused on Material, Durability and Value


Any footwear label working with a reduced visual language faces a fundamental condition from the outset, since the absence of dominant branding places the full burden of identity on construction, proportion, material and finish. HIDDEN WHITE operates precisely within that constraint, building recognition directly through the object, where material, structure and proportion define authorship in a way that does not rely on amplification.

HIDDEN WHITE
Dylan White Black Leather Trainers

HIDDEN WHITE
Dylan Black Leather Trainers

Founded in London in 2024, the brand is structured around a clearly defined conceptual frame, yet its relevance is determined by how consistently that frame is translated into product. White functions here as a tool for surface precision and visual clarity, while the notion of the hidden introduces a second layer that directs attention toward embedded elements. This relationship is resolved through construction. Stitch lines follow the contour of the foot with clear intent, panel transitions remain controlled, and the connection between upper and sole is handled in a way that keeps the form continuous and visually stable.

The Morse code translation of H and W serves as the most specific identifier within this system. Its application is integrated into the structure of the shoe through embossing, linear detailing or subtle graphic placements that remain part of the construction. Repeated across models, this code forms a quiet but consistent signature that can be recognised without relying on overt branding.

Across the collection, this approach takes shape through a range of silhouettes that extend beyond a single core product. Trainers such as Dylan and Dara establish the foundation through clean leather uppers, measured proportions and restrained graphic intervention. Asure introduces a more pronounced toe construction and a sharper outline, shifting the visual weight forward, while certain versions move further into a more expressive register through material contrast and surface treatment. Asher translates the language into an oxford structure supported by a heavier sole unit, and Aura carries it into boots. Taken together, the collection operates as a system, though not a uniform one, with quieter models sitting alongside more assertive interpretations that test how far the underlying design logic can be extended.

HIDDEN WHITE
Asure Black Leather Trainers

HIDDEN WHITE
Asher Gunmetal Patent Leather Oxford Shoes

The context in which HIDDEN WHITE operates is already densely populated. Minimal leather sneakers, reduced branding and controlled palettes have become a shared language across a wide range of premium labels over the past decade. Under these conditions, restraint alone no longer produces distinction. What becomes relevant is whether a brand can develop a recognisable internal structure, one that remains identifiable through proportion, construction and repeated design decisions, not through external markers. HIDDEN WHITE builds that distinction through a combination of coded detailing, clearly weighted silhouettes and a material-led approach that holds together across different product categories, giving the collection a level of internal definition that remains legible even as individual models shift in tone, and making it increasingly difficult to read the brand as interchangeable within this segment.

This extension across categories reflects a broader development within contemporary footwear, where the distinction between casual and formal continues to dissolve and categories increasingly overlap. HIDDEN WHITE addresses this through a shared construction logic, allowing elements to move across trainers, more formal silhouettes and boots without appearing displaced.

HIDDEN WHITE
Asure Grey Leather Trainers

Material decisions reinforce that structure at a functional level. Full-grain leather, structured linings and solid rubber sole constructions define how the shoes respond to movement and pressure. The surfaces maintain clarity while adapting through wear, and the internal construction supports extended use through a balance of cushioning and stability. This is further supported by a comfort-focused insole system that introduces a more technical layer to the product, shaping how the shoe performs over longer periods of wear. The product is built to hold its form over time and gradually adjust to the foot through repeated use.

At the same time, HIDDEN WHITE sits within a broader recalibration of how value is defined in footwear. Material quality, durability and long-term usability are gaining weight in a market where visual status signals carry less relevance than they once did. This shift is reinforced by increasing scrutiny around production standards and product lifespan, placing greater emphasis on how things are made and how long they last. In that context, a focus on full-grain leather, structured construction and wear over time moves beyond aesthetic positioning and becomes part of a wider conversation about what constitutes a valuable product today. Positioned between legacy luxury and more accessible design-led brands, HIDDEN WHITE reflects a segment that combines material quality with a more attainable entry point.

This physical definition remains central to how the shoes are perceived. The soles carry a certain mass, the materials retain density, and the overall construction prioritises substance. That decision shapes appearance and experience, giving the shoes a grounded presence and a more direct, supportive feel in wear. The visual language follows the same logic, with a restrained palette that still allows the shoes to maintain a clear presence through proportion, toe shape and panel definition. Individual elements are positioned with precision, allowing variation without disrupting the overall reading of the collection.

HIDDEN WHITE
Dara Different Trainers

HIDDEN WHITE
Dara Different Trainers

HIDDEN WHITE
Asher Burgundy Leather Oxford Shoes

The strongest moments in the collection appear where proportion, construction and material align with clarity. Models such as Dylan and Dara show how this balance can hold in its most reduced form, while Asure and selected Asher variations demonstrate how the same logic can be extended into more pronounced silhouettes without losing definition.

HIDDEN WHITE’s strength lies in its ability to maintain that balance across a growing range of products. The brand does not depend on a single defining model, but builds its identity through a consistent set of decisions that remain visible across different categories, which gives the collection stability while leaving enough room for development, positioning HIDDEN WHITE as a label that is not searching for direction, but actively shaping it.

images (c) HIDDEN WHITE

DISCOVER HIDDEN WHITE: hiddenwhite.com
Explore leather sneakers and footwear focused on construction, durability and material quality.

Portofino Ceramica - The Structure of Contemporary Tableware

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Where Objects take their Place
Portofino Ceramica and the Structure of Contemporary Tableware

Ceramic objects rarely stand alone as they enter use immediately, shaping how food is placed, held, and perceived, and defining situations through weight, proportion, and surface. At Portofino Ceramica, that condition informs the work from the beginning.

Portofino Ceramica
Bento Cups

Portofino Ceramica
Bento Diner Plates

Portofino Ceramica
Elsa & Bento Tablewear

The brand traces back to a family business founded around thirty years ago, originally centred on the trade of Italian ceramics. Now led in second generation by Phil and Zoi, the company continues its family structure while gradually redefining its design direction. Production moved to Portugal as the European ceramic landscape evolved, placing the work within a production context shaped by technical precision and long-standing ceramic know-how. What defines the process is gradual refinement, with forms adjusted over time and decisions building on what already exists.

Design takes shape through close exchange with the producers, as ideas originate within the brand and develop further through technical knowledge and an understanding of clay that shapes proportion, feasibility, and finish. Form does not arrive fully resolved but stabilises between intention and material behaviour, shaped by both.

This dynamic continues directly in production, where material behaviour determines each stage. The initial forms are cut from clay plates and shaped by hand, giving each piece its slightly irregular contour. Stoneware is then refined and finished by hand, dried to stabilise its structure, then fired at high temperatures to establish durability. In some cases, drying takes place under natural conditions before firing. Glazes are applied manually and reach their final state only in the second firing, where surface, tone, and texture settle. Subtle variations remain visible in colour and reflection, with the overall character remaining consistent.

Portofino Ceramica
Alvo Vase

Portofino Ceramica
Rio Vase

These differences give the collection variation within a coherent whole, reflecting the nature of hand-applied processes and raw material behaviour. They become perceptible in handling and light, allowing objects to exist together without becoming identical. In the Elsa series, this approach translates into a precise, tactile form. The matte exterior absorbs light and stabilises the object visually, while the reactive glaze inside introduces depth and variation. Its qualities are most evident in use, in the way heat is retained, the surface responds, and the object settles in the hand.

Bento shifts the emphasis towards surface interaction, where matte and glossy glazes meet within each piece and shift with movement and light. Reflections change, edges soften or sharpen, and the surface remains active while retaining its restraint. The palette of beige and black reinforces this direction.

Portofino Ceramica
Bento Jug

On the table, the pieces relate through proportion and spacing, with plates, bowls, and vessels aligning without hierarchy and allowing arrangements to emerge from context. They remain adaptable, moving between everyday use and more composed settings without adjustment.
This flexibility is sustained by a material structure designed for continuity in use, as high firing temperatures ensure durability and resistance to regular handling, including dishwashing, while weight, edge definition, and surface remain perceptible, allowing the objects to continue registering physically in use.

The same thinking extends to sourcing, packaging, and logistics. Manufacturing in Portugal concentrates specialised knowledge and keeps material sourcing regional, while packaging and distribution in Germany maintain control over handling and reduce plastic use, with a focus on durability, responsible production, and reduced material waste. They form part of the same overall approach.

A different emphasis appears in the vases, where use becomes less central and silhouette takes on greater presence. In pieces such as Rio, Alegra, or Alvo, vertical proportions and more pronounced forms define space more directly, allowing material and surface to be read without mediation.

Portofino Ceramica
Bento Bowl

Portofino Ceramica
Elsa Tablewear

Across the collection, refinement remains continuous, with forms reduced until they hold, surfaces calibrated until they stabilise in light and use, and variation contained within a narrow range.

The collection settles into everyday contexts through repetition and continued handling, carrying a clear identity through proportion and material presence. Its coherence lies in how pieces relate in use, through scale, spacing, and surface, forming a system that can be extended over time. In practice, the system stays open, shaped by how it is arranged, adapted, and lived with over time.

images (c) Portofino Ceramica seen by Aimilia Theofilopoulos

DISCOVER PORTOFINO CERAMICA: portofino-ceramica.com
Explore contemporary tableware, stoneware ceramics, and handmade collections including plates, bowls and vases.

Sweef Modular Sofas - Scandinavian Design for the Modern Living Room

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Why Modular Sofas Are Redefining the Living Room
— A Look at Sweef


In many interiors, the sofa occupies the largest wall or the most obvious corner. Yet its presence shapes the entire room, setting the space in motion and determining where the eye settles, how a conversation is staged, and how the body lands at the end of the day.


Sweef
Modular Sofa Kamelen

Sweef
Modular Sofa Hajen

Sweef
Modular Sofa Dromedaren

Few objects carry so much spatial consequence while appearing so familiar. This quiet spatial authority explains why the sofa has become one of the most telling objects in contemporary interior design, functioning less as an accessory of domestic life and increasingly as a form of soft architecture.

This shift is especially visible in the renewed interest in modular seating. As homes become less fixed in their routines and more layered in their use, the sofa is increasingly expected to do more than remain in place. It has to absorb change, adapt to new spatial conditions and continue to make sense across different phases of living. The most compelling systems therefore combine comfort with a design clarity that allows them to structure a room with confidence.

Sweef approaches the home from exactly this territory, with the sofa at the centre of its thinking. Founded in 2011, the Swedish brand emerged through e-commerce and developed around the idea that customers should be able to build a piece around their own sense of comfort, proportion and material preference instead of choosing from a narrow set of fixed outcomes. Much of the collection is made to order, with extensive fabric and colour options shaping the final expression of each piece.

Sweef
Modular Sofa Dromedaren

Sweef
Modular Sofa Dromedaren

One of the clearest examples is Valen, a sofa whose appeal lies in its deep seat, low horizontal emphasis and generous, almost compressed softness. It reads immediately as a piece designed around staying rather than perching. The proportions are substantial without becoming heavy, and the silhouette remains calm even when the upholstery shifts the mood from neutral linen to saturated velvet. Colour plays a decisive role here, as a sofa upholstered in deep green velvet creates a very different spatial gravity than the same piece in pale linen or textured bouclé. Within contemporary interiors, upholstery increasingly carries the visual weight of a room, giving colour and texture a more defining role in the overall composition.

Where Valen establishes the core language, Mammuten expands it into a fuller spatial proposition. Presented by Sweef as a modular sofa series, it strengthens the idea of the sofa as an evolving landscape within the home. That is where Sweef becomes especially relevant within the current interior conversation. Modular furniture is being reconsidered as a long-term domestic framework capable of moving with its owners, absorbing changing habits and maintaining continuity while the surrounding life shifts. Sweef’s modular presentation of pieces like Mammuten and Dromedaren speaks directly to that logic.

That focus on modularity does not define the full scope of Sweef’s collection. Alongside its configurable systems, the brand develops more fixed sofa formats, sofa beds and a broader interior offering that extends its approach to comfort and material into different domestic situations. The recently introduced Björnen 2.0 sits within this expanded context as a sofa bed that carries the same attention to proportion and surface into a more transitional use. It reads as a piece that moves between states without disrupting the room, maintaining a consistent presence whether in its closed or extended form.

Sweef
Modular Sofa Dromedaren

Material plays a central role in how this logic is perceived and in how the object enters the room. Sweef’s universe is built around velvets, linen blends, bouclé-like textures and a notably broad palette of colours, allowing fabrics to act as spatial markers within the room instead of functioning merely as upholstery. Contemporary interiors are increasingly described as layered environments in which different materials, surfaces and tones build atmosphere through depth and tactility. In such spaces the sofa often becomes the strongest textile element in the room, anchoring the composition visually and atmospherically.

This renewed attention to material also intersects with a broader shift in how furniture is valued. In contemporary interiors, quality and longevity increasingly function as indicators of luxury, encouraging homeowners to select pieces that justify their presence over time. Sweef’s made-to-order production, emphasis on durable upholstery materials and repair-oriented service logic position the sofa as a long-term object designed to evolve with its owners across changing living situations.

Sweef’s showrooms give this philosophy a spatial dimension and allow the furniture to be experienced beyond digital imagery. Locations in Stockholm, Oslo and Berlin present the sofas within fully realised interior settings where scale, proportion and tactility become immediately legible. The newest of these spaces opened in Berlin-Kreuzberg on Prinzessinnenstraße 14 and introduces the collection to the German market within a setting that makes Sweef’s Scandinavian language of comfort, material and proportion physically legible.

Sweef
Modular Sofa Mammuten

Sweef
Modular Sofa Mammuten

Within these showrooms, the relationship between sofa and space becomes clearer. Walking around a modular piece reveals how its proportions define circulation through the room. Sitting down exposes the depth of the seat and the structure of the cushions. Fabrics shift character depending on light and distance, and configurations that once appeared online begin to read as spatial structures.

Seen from this perspective, Sweef resonates with a broader return to interiors that value adaptability, material character and emotional permanence. The best sofas offer comfort while establishing order and atmosphere within the room. They anchor the interior and provide a stable centre of gravity for everyday life. Sweef understands this well. The contemporary sofa is no longer only where living happens. It increasingly becomes the structure that allows living to take shape at all.

images (c) Sweef

DISCOVER SWEEF MODULAR SOFAS: sweef.de
Explore Sweef’s modular sofa collections, materials and colour configurations.

SENSES .THE LABEL - Spring/Summer 2026 Collection

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SENSES .THE LABEL 

Why Colour becomes the defining Structure of the Collection

written SARAH ARENDTS

In many current womenswear collections, colour rarely appears all at once. Often it appears as a tonal shift that subtly alters the mood of otherwise familiar silhouettes. 
In the Spring Summer 2026 collection by SENSES .THE LABEL this dynamic becomes visible through a series of carefully placed colour accents within a stable wardrobe vocabulary. One of the clearest appears in the drop Vanilla Sky, where butter yellow enters through textured knitwear and relaxed layering pieces. Set against a palette of soft neutrals and fluid tailoring, the tone warms the collection without disturbing its calm composition.

SENSES .THE LABEL
Vanilla Sky Drop

SENSES .THE LABEL
Vanilla Sky Drop

The Spring Summer season is organised through six drops released gradually over time. Vanilla Sky, Neon Nectar, Riva Mare, Tropical Edit, Gym and Cin Cin introduce shifts in colour, pattern and material while remaining anchored in the same design language. Feminine silhouettes, streamlined shapes and casual structures define garments that move easily through everyday life.

Each drop subtly recalibrates the visual atmosphere of the wardrobe as the season progresses. Cin Cin introduces a vivid orange that becomes the collection’s most direct colour accent, while Riva Mare adds maritime striping in white and Spicy Red whose graphic rhythm brings structure to otherwise fluid silhouettes. Tropical Edit expands the palette with saturated blues and lighter summer prints, Neon Nectar deepens the chromatic range, and Gym leans further into the collection’s sport-inflected dimension. Butter yellow in Vanilla Sky remains the softest tonal intervention within this evolving palette.

Across these variations the underlying construction remains consistent. Wide trousers, soft tailoring and lightweight knitwear establish pieces that transition easily across different moments of daily life. Many pieces rely on relaxed proportions and clean cuts, allowing fabric, colour and silhouette to carry the visual identity of the wardrobe.

SENSES .THE LABEL — Explore the full Spring/Summer 2026 collection at www.sensesthelabel.com

SENSES .THE LABEL
Neon Nectar Drop

Knitwear plays a particularly important role within this structure, with lightweight pullovers, cardigans and fine-gauge layers appearing throughout several drops as flexible elements within the seasonal wardrobe. Positioned between structure and softness, knitwear becomes an ideal surface for colour within the collection’s tonal system. Shades such as butter yellow or aqua can appear clearly without overwhelming the silhouette itself.

The drop structure reinforces this gradual approach. Instead of presenting the season as a single visual statement, the collection evolves through smaller tonal adjustments across the different chapters. Each drop introduces a new colour impulse or graphic element while leaving the broader wardrobe language intact.

Within contemporary womenswear this modular approach has gained relevance as wardrobes increasingly favour garments that circulate easily across different contexts of everyday life. SENSES .THE LABEL adopts this structure with particular clarity, organising the season through a sequence of focused colour interventions. Collections built through smaller releases introduce colour, pattern and material in clearly defined moments throughout the season. Each drop concentrates these elements within a specific phase of the collection, allowing the wardrobe to develop through successive shifts in colour and material.

SENSES .THE LABEL
Neon Nectar Drop

SENSES .THE LABEL
Riva Mare Drop

SENSES .THE LABEL
Cin Cin Drop

SENSES .THE LABEL uses this rhythm to position colour as a guiding element of the season. Aqua, orange, butter yellow, Spicy Red and deep blue appear as distinct accents before receding into the collection’s quieter tonal field. The wardrobe evolves through a sequence of tonal adjustments that unfold gradually across the season. Each shift introduces a subtle change in atmosphere as the underlying silhouette language remains stable.

A measured rhythm runs through the collection as calm base tones establish orientation and precisely placed colour accents guide the movement of the season. Relaxed silhouettes remain consistent throughout the wardrobe as colour gradually reshapes the atmosphere of familiar forms.




Anna Schäfer Bachtadze - Concept Couture

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Anna Schäfer Bachtadze
Defines a Slower Couture Rhythm Between Berlin and Paris

written SARA DOUEDARI

Anna Schäfer Bachtadze creates couture with a quiet kind of conviction. Between Berlin and Paris, she has shaped a practice that values time, sensitivity and the intimate dialogue between garment and woman. Her designs do not chase attention — they unfold gently, revealing their strength through craftsmanship, comfort and care. In this conversation, she reflects on transformation, longevity and the beauty of choosing a slower, more conscious path in fashion.

BACHTADZE
seen by Anna Schaefer Bachtadze

BACHTADZE
seen by Anna Schaefer Bachtadze

Born in 1980 in Tbilisi, Georgia, Anna grew up in a deeply artistic environment that shaped her early understanding of aesthetics and discipline. Ballet was her first great love; although she did not pursue it professionally, the weightlessness of stage costumes and the emotional intensity of performance continue to influence her work. Fine lace, fluid silhouettes and a sense of movement remain signatures of her design language.

BACHTADZE
seen by Anna Schaefer Bachtadze

BACHTADZE
seen by Elizaveta Belyaeva

After moving to Berlin at the age of fifteen — where she acquired the nickname “Bibi” — she later studied fashion design at HTW Berlin, graduating magna cum laude. Professional experience in management and marketing at international luxury houses such as Louis Vuitton and Céline provided her with the strategic foundation to establish her own label in 2009.

Originally operating within the traditional fashion calendar, she made a decisive shift in 2019, stepping away from wholesale and overproduction to reposition her brand as Concept Couture. Today, she works exclusively made-to-order, creating modular eveningwear designed to transform and endure. For Anna Schäfer Bachtadze, couture is not about seasons or spectacle — it is about responsibility, precision and pieces meant to accompany a woman for years, even generations.

Anna Schäfer Bachtadze, founder + creative director
seen by Elizaveta Belyaeva

BACHTADZE
seen by Anna Schaefer Bachtadze

Sara Douedari
Are you a romantic or a realist when it comes to fashion?

Anna Schäfer Bachtadze
It depends on my mood. I don’t like to define myself within rigid categories. In terms of aesthetics, I feel closer to a mystic than to a romantic — I am drawn to atmosphere, intuition, and subtle emotion. Yet when it comes to construction and wearability, I am very pragmatic. I design gowns that feel effortless on the body, so a woman can fully inhabit the experience of wearing them.


What was the exact moment you decided: I refuse to produce fashion that doesn’t last?

It wasn’t a single moment — but rather a process. When you run a small brand with a direct connection to your clients, there is no space for compromise or for failure in the form of a bad product. You cannot hide behind marketing. Your clients experience your work up close — they judge you by your quality. They don’t buy a logo; they buy your expertise. And loyalty only comes through real satisfaction.

Fashion has always been my life, not a trend or a strategy. If I was building something that would define my path, it had to have longevity. I didn’t create this brand for recognition or visibility. I created it because it was the only language that felt true to me.

Saying no to overproduction sounds powerful - but what did it cost you?


In fact, nothing. Quite the opposite. When I was operating within the traditional fashion system — producing up to six collections a year simply to fill the calendar — that was the most stressful period of my career. High risks, high investments, constant pressure to sell.

Stepping away from overproduction didn’t cost me financially or creatively. It only cost me my ego — and that was a very healthy exchange.

When you say „Made to Transform“, is it the garment that transforms - or the women wearing it?

Both.

The garment is engineered to allow transformation. Each dress is built from several modular elements that can be combined in different ways, allowing a woman to shift her look — from black tie to cocktail — with ease.

But “Made to Transform” also refers to the awareness of the client. Stepping out of the traditional fashion system was a necessary evolution for me. Yet transformation is never one-sided. It is a mutual story between the creator and the consumer.

To move beyond habitual consumption patterns requires a certain level of consciousness. True transformation happens when both sides are ready to evolve

Craft takes time. The market demands speed. Where do you draw the line - and have you been tempted to cross it?

I don’t design in response to market pressure — I design in response to my clients. If a woman comes to me with an urgent and meaningful occasion, we will do everything possible, even work through the night if necessary. But urgency must remain the exception, not the norm.

I will never again push my team into constant stress simply to compete within a system that has lost its sense of proportion. Craft requires time, precision, and respect — both for the garment and for the people who create it.
That is where I draw the line.
I also made a structural decision: I stopped working with wholesale. I now sell directly or online. This allowed me to step out of the pressure of buying seasons and production calendars dictated by the market. After Covid, selling luxury online became normal — even expected. So this transition felt organic, almost inevitable.

Between Berlin and Paris - who understands your work faster?

No one understands my work quickly. My dresses don’t scream like Instagram fashion. They reveal themselves when you try them on — when you feel the construction, the comfort. That takes time.

But Paris has a long-standing culture of couture and craftsmanship. There is a certain sensitivity here — an understanding that subtlety can be powerful.

Ten years form now, when one of your garments is still in someone closet - what will that prove?

In fact, many of my clients already own dresses that are ten years old or more — and they still wear them, or even pass them on to their daughters.

What does that prove? That true style exists beyond trends and seasons. And that I have done my work well.

Sustainable Luxury Footwear by AGAZI

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AGAZI - Sharpens Footwear with Redefined Design Intelligence

Plant-Based Innovation and European Workshop Production Redefine Contemporary Footwear

written LE MILE

Luxury houses invoke craftsmanship while expanding production across global markets, and sustainability is framed as urgent even as most brands remain embedded in accelerated supply chains. Contemporary footwear operates within this visible tension, balancing heritage narratives with industrial scale and ethical ambition with logistical reality. Design, material responsibility and manufacturing logic frequently coexist without fully converging. Founded in 2023 in Poland, AGAZI does not position itself as manifesto or corrective intervention. It advances a quieter alignment in which design, material responsibility and workshop production operate within the same structural framework.

AGAZI
Mule Haze

The alignment becomes evident before it is explained, as a sharp red pump elongates the foot without exaggeration and a cut-out heel structured through latticework reveals skin in measured intervals, its geometry deliberate and controlled. The silhouettes feel composed, shaped by proportion and restraint rather than seasonal impulse. Visually, the collection aligns with contemporary runway imagery while maintaining its own internal clarity, inviting assessment through line, surface and balance first.

This matters because the high heel remains one of fashion’s most exacting objects, it exposes hesitation in construction, magnifies imbalance and leaves little room for material compromise. In this context, responsibility cannot remain theoretical. The IVO line sharpens the classic pump through disciplined colour blocking and clean edges. DANCE YOUR WAY introduces negative space without disrupting internal precision, allowing the heel to move, flex and be tested in motion. Durability, craftsmanship and comfort under pressure become intertwined standards. Techniques such as Strobel construction and certification for sensitive feet reinforce a commitment to longevity that extends beyond appearance. Within a fashion culture long oriented toward image, comfort increasingly signals seriousness, as the intention shifts toward refining how the heel performs rather than tempering its authority.

In Łuków, eastern Poland, a family-owned workshop with more than thirty years of experience forms the operational core of AGAZI, where performance remains inseparable from place. Now led by the founder’s son, the factory has introduced systems that reduce material waste and tighten the relationship between design intent and resource use. More than ninety percent of the workforce are women, shaping a locally rooted company structure marked by social awareness. At a moment when progress in fashion is often equated with geographic expansion and layered supply chains, maintaining a contained production model becomes a deliberate position. Growth is pursued through refinement and selective positioning. Oversight remains immediate, decisions travel shorter distances, and European manufacturing functions as an operational condition informing each stage of development.

AGAZI
IVO MIDI Red

STEP INTO PLANT-BASED FOOTWEAR
agazi.eu
Vegan shoes handcrafted in Poland from certified plant-based leather alternatives.

AGAZI
IVO Green Pink

Material innovation appears without spectacle, as plant-based alternatives such as apple leather derived from juice industry waste, grape leather sourced from wine production residues, bamboo-based components and natural cork, paired with sugar cane soles, are integrated directly into the construction process. Over the past decade these materials have moved from experimentation to credible industrial application. The decisive question concerns their capacity to sustain uncompromising quality in practice. At AGAZI, their use remains controlled, with surfaces kept precise, finishes refined and colour saturation deliberate. Sustainability operates as a foundational condition of production, while aesthetic expression retains its autonomy.

The resulting collection resists seasonal volatility through measured proportions and restrained embellishment. Structural play remains disciplined, preserving formal clarity. The shoes appear conceived to settle into a wardrobe and accompany daily life over time, allowing durability to function simultaneously as material property and stylistic stance. Longevity concerns not only the endurance of a sole but the continued relevance of a silhouette.

AGAZI
LOUISE Matte Brown

AGAZI
Dance Your Way Toffi

AGAZI
Dance Your Way Toffi

This coherence extends into the Second Life programme, through which worn pairs can be returned, cleaned, repaired and redirected in collaboration with local foundations. Responsibility extends beyond the moment of purchase and informs how products are conceived from the outset. Material choice, construction method and lifecycle form a continuous design consideration across the lifespan of each pair.

AGAZI positions itself within European luxury through a measured, structurally grounded approach, acknowledging the realities of an industry defined by scale. Its strength lies in coherence. By aligning thoughtful design, uncompromising quality, material accountability and a contained European production framework, the brand articulates a model that feels internally resolved. Within the contemporary fashion landscape, such resolution carries weight. As a European label with a clearly articulated ethical orientation and a design language shaped by precision and aesthetic sensitivity, AGAZI commands attention not through volume but through structural clarity and refined design intelligence.

credits for images:
IVO black&caramel, IVO green&pink, IVO jeans, IVO #2, DANCE YOUR WAY (black & toffi), MULE HAZE, NOMAD MOON, NOMAD SUN
photographer Mateusz Grzelak
stylist kasiamioduska kasiamioduska + Filip Janiak
beauty Kasia Olkowska
set design Dagmara Kazimiera Stępień

CARMEN, IVO midi red, LOUISE (black & matte brown)
photographer Julia Niedospiał

That’s Engineering in Men’s Grooming with Brooklyn Soap Company

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That’s Engineering in Men’s Grooming

Brooklyn Soap Company extends its Grooming System with the Brooklyn Blade Pro

written MARK ASHKINS

Brooklyn Soap Company introduces the Brooklyn Blade Pro as the most technically defined device in its grooming range to date. Positioned alongside the Brooklyn Blade trimmer, the Brooklyn Shaver for foil shaving and the Brooklyn Body Blade for waterproof body grooming, the Pro advances the brand’s shaping phase through material density, mechanical precision and service-oriented construction.

Brooklyn Soap Company
Brooklyn Blade Pro

Over the past decade, men’s grooming has settled into a disciplined routine shaped by precision and repetition. Beard length, neckline definition and calibrated fades are maintained with an attention that treats the bathroom mirror as a recurring checkpoint. In this environment, devices gain significance because consistency over time defines the result as clearly as the initial cut. Construction and mechanical integrity therefore move to the centre of evaluation. Weight, balance and torque influence handling during trimming, while material stability determines how cleanly contours can be drawn and how reliably a chosen length can be reproduced across weeks of use.

The Brooklyn Blade Pro is built around a full metal housing sealed for waterproof operation. Inside, a brushless professional motor delivers sustained torque engineered to reduce mechanical wear over time. The precision blade is specified at 0.35 millimetres, enabling controlled edge definition and tighter line work. Runtime is listed at up to three hours per charge, supported by an exchangeable battery system designed for extended lifecycle use. Nine magnetic attachment combs ranging from 2 to 20 millimetres create a stable interface between blade and beard, reducing micro movement during trimming and supporting uniform length control.

These specifications position the Pro within an engineering-led understanding of grooming. A rigid metal body stabilises grip during detail work. Magnetic guards help maintain consistent pressure along the skin. Sustained motor performance supports even cutting from the first pass to the last, embedding accuracy in the mechanics of the tool itself.

Part of Brooklyn Soap Company’s expanding grooming system — explore the Brooklyn Blade Pro at www.bklynsoap.com

Brooklyn Soap Company
Brooklyn Blade Pro

The release also reflects the structural development of Brooklyn Soap Company as a brand. Founded on beard and shaving formulations, the company gradually articulated a phased grooming system structured around cleansing, shaping and conditioning. Care products such as Beard Shampoo, Beard Oil in variants including Classic and Cedarwood, face and beard cream and aftershave treatments establish the supportive layer around form and skin balance. The trimmer defines shape; the surrounding formulations maintain texture and comfort once that shape is set.

Across its cosmetic portfolio, the brand references formulations developed with natural ingredients and produced without microplastics or silicones under a Made in Germany designation. In hardware, the emphasis on durable metal construction and replaceable components extends this framework from cosmetic composition to industrial design. Longevity emerges as a shared principle across both liquid and mechanical categories.

Brooklyn Soap Company
Brooklyn Blade Pro

Brooklyn Soap Company
Brooklyn Blade Pro

Brooklyn Soap Company
Brooklyn Blade Pro

Within the contemporary men’s care sector, evaluation criteria increasingly centre on specification and service life. Motor type, battery concept and housing material influence purchasing decisions as strongly as scent or surface finish. Against this backdrop, the Brooklyn Blade Pro operates as a structural reinforcement within the grooming system, strengthening the shaping phase through material solidity and mechanical stability. Engineering becomes the defining language of daily beard maintenance.

Muller Van Severen - Inside the Belgian Design Duo

How Muller Van Severen Built One of Today’s Most Influential Furniture Studios

Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen began working together in 2011, bringing two independent artistic backgrounds into a shared studio. Fien trained as a photographer, developing a precise understanding of composition, surface, and colour, while Hannes studied sculpture and focused on spatial structure and the behaviour of materials in three dimensions. The partnership formed through ongoing conversations about objects and through a gradual interest in how furniture could serve as a direct extension of their artistic processes.

ALLTUBES Bench by Muller Van Severen, part of the ALLTUBES series
(c) Muller Van Severen

ALLTUBES Cabinet High + Chair 2 by Muller Van Severen
(c) Muller Van Severen

Detail of the ALLTUBES Wall Cabinet L by Muller Van Severen
(c) Muller Van Severen

The development of each piece begins with material examination and simple construction tests. Metal rods are bent or joined to explore tension, leather is suspended to understand curvature, and polyethylene sheets are evaluated for their stability and chromatic presence. Decisions emerge from these practical studies rather than from conceptual narratives. Lines, joints, and surfaces remain visible because every part of the object reflects the steps that shaped it. This approach creates furniture that carries the clarity of studio experimentation without decorative additions or concealed elements.

Colour selection follows the same principle of directness. Polyethylene retains the industrial tones originally used for classification in food-processing environments; metals age at their natural pace; leather develops patina through use. These properties guide the design process and influence the proportions and combinations of materials. Instead of treating colour as a secondary layer, the duo integrates it at the earliest phase of development, allowing it to act as a structural element within the work.

Diversity within their oeuvre arises from the range of functional questions they address. Seating pieces examine how minimal surfaces can maintain comfort through tension alone. Tables often incorporate lighting, creating merged objects that organise spatial arrangements through a single construction. Shelving systems explore vertical extension and load distribution, while carpets translate the duo’s sense of balance into textile form. Variations come from the specific technical requirements of each task, not from shifts in style. The relationship between Fien and Hannes remains central to the evolution of their work. Drawings, scale models, and continuous dialogue form the basis of their process, with both artists contributing to each stage until a coherent solution emerges. The studio functions as a place for daily testing and refinement, and this environment shapes the calm, straightforward presence found in their finished pieces.

Daybed designed by Muller Van Severen for Kvadrat’s “Divina: Every Color Is Divine” exhibition, 2014
(c) Muller Van Severen

Hannes Van Severen + Fien Muller
Muller Van Severen

A recent development in their practice is the opening of a dedicated showroom near Ghent, accessible by appointment. This space allows architects, collectors, and design professionals to encounter the work in a precise and controlled setting. The showroom presents their furniture in a scale and context aligned with its intended use, giving visitors the opportunity to study materials, proportions, and constructions directly. This addition extends the studio’s reach without altering its foundational methods, and it offers a clear view of the ongoing investigations that anchor their work.

Bridges cabinet series by Muller Van Severen for BD Barcelona
(c) Muller Van Severen

Collaborations with production partners, including long-term work with valerie_objects, extend their designs into international contexts while preserving the essential principles of the studio. Manufacturers follow material guidelines that reflect the duo’s priorities: clearly defined geometries, unaltered surfaces, and structural transparency. These partnerships allow the work to circulate more widely without shifting the foundation of the practice.

Muller Van Severen continues to build a body of furniture that reflects an uninterrupted engagement with material behaviour, proportion, and the practical demands of construction. Every object contributes to an ongoing exploration of how form and function can be approached with artistic precision, and the resulting work introduces a steady presence to interiors through disciplined use of colour, material, and structure.

Duo Seat + Lamp by Muller Van Severen, presented at Design Brussels in 2011
(c) Muller Van Severen

Pillow Sofa designed by Muller Van Severen, created with KASSL Editions and reimagined by BD Barcelona
(c) Muller Van Severen

header image credit

Crossed Double Seat (2012), designed by Muller Van Severen for the Future Primitives series at Biennale Interieur
(c) Muller Van Severen

Maintaining Clean Floors in Modern Homes: A Comprehensive Guide to Floor Care Strategies

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Maintaining Clean Floors in Modern Homes:
A Comprehensive Guide to Floor Care Strategies

Clean floors serve as the foundation of any healthy, welcoming home, yet countless homeowners find themselves caught in an endless cycle of ineffective cleaning routines. The real challenge isn't just the physical act of cleaning—it's understanding how different methods work in harmony to deliver lasting results. Success hinges on finding the right balance of techniques, equipment, and timing that matches your unique flooring and lifestyle demands.

Different Floors, Different Care: Tailoring Your Cleaning Approach

Whether you're wielding a traditional broom, operating a cordless vacuum, or experimenting with other cleaning tools, grasping the complete picture of floor care empowers you to make smarter decisions about your cleaning approach.

Your flooring material dictates everything about how you should clean it. Hardwood floors demand a delicate touch—gentle, pH-neutral cleaners and minimal moisture are essential to prevent warping and preserve those protective finishes you've invested in. Tile and stone surfaces can withstand more aggressive cleaning, but those grout lines become magnets for dirt and bacteria that require special attention.

Laminate and vinyl flooring might seem bulletproof, but moisture control becomes critical since water can seep through seams and cause irreversible damage. Carpet and area rugs present their own puzzle—wool fibers need gentler care than synthetic materials, while plush, high-pile carpets trap debris in ways that low-pile options simply don't.

Each flooring type has its Achilles' heel, and recognizing these vulnerabilities shapes your entire maintenance strategy. Think of material identification as your roadmap—without it, you're cleaning blind.

Prevention First: Reducing Dirt and Damage Before Cleaning Becomes Necessary

The smartest floor care strategy starts at your front door, not your cleaning closet. Strategic doormat placement inside and outside every entrance can slash tracked-in debris by up to 80%—a simple investment that pays dividends daily. Taking it a step further with a shoes-off policy in high-traffic zones keeps outdoor contaminants from ever reaching your floors.

Furniture pads and protective barriers act as insurance policies for hardwood and laminate surfaces, preventing those heartbreaking scratches and dents that seem to appear overnight. Meanwhile, immediate spill response isn't just good housekeeping—it's damage control that prevents stains from becoming permanent fixtures.

Families with pets or children can benefit enormously from designated eating and play zones equipped with washable rugs. These contained spaces turn inevitable messes into manageable cleanup tasks rather than floor-wide disasters. Don't underestimate the power of regular walk-throughs either. Catching potential problems early—when they're still small and inexpensive to fix—beats dealing with major damage later.

(c) Dyson Press

Cleaning Techniques: From Traditional Methods to Modern Equipment

The most effective floor cleaning isn't about choosing between old-school and high-tech methods—it's about knowing when to use each approach. Manual cleaning techniques like sweeping and mopping remain irreplaceable, especially for delicate surfaces that need a gentle human touch. Master the art of systematic sweeping by working from room edges toward the center, and match your broom type to your surface for optimal results.

Mechanical cleaning equipment brings efficiency and consistency to the table. Upright vacuums excel at extracting deep-seated dirt from carpets, while robotic cleaners handle daily maintenance for time-strapped households. Handheld devices shine where their larger cousins can't reach—stairs, tight corners, and around furniture legs.

The secret lies in strategic deployment rather than blind loyalty to one method. High-traffic areas might need daily mechanical attention, while your grandmother's antique hardwood might prefer gentle weekly hand-cleaning.

Selecting Appropriate Cleaning Solutions: Safety, Effectiveness, and Sustainability

pH levels aren't just chemistry class trivia—they're the difference between clean floors and damaged ones. Alkaline cleaners slice through grease like nobody's business, but they'll wreak havoc on natural stone. Acidic solutions dissolve mineral deposits beautifully, yet they can permanently etch marble surfaces.

Natural cleaning solutions crafted from pantry staples like white vinegar and baking soda offer powerful, safe alternatives for many cleaning challenges. But don't assume "natural" means "foolproof"—even these gentle giants need proper dilution and application to avoid unintended consequences.

Safety becomes non-negotiable in homes with children and pets. Always test new products in hidden spots first, and never skimp on ventilation when using any cleaning chemicals, natural or otherwise.

Creating a Maintenance Routine: Balancing Frequency and Effectiveness

Sustainable floor care thrives on consistent daily habits paired with strategic deep-cleaning sessions. Your daily routine might include sweeping high-traffic zones and tackling spills the moment they happen. Weekly deep cleans address every floor surface, while monthly intensive sessions target those areas that need specialized care.

Seasonal flexibility keeps your routine realistic—muddy spring months and holiday entertaining seasons naturally demand more frequent attention. Pet owners and parents typically need tighter cleaning schedules, while empty nesters might stretch intervals between major cleaning sessions without consequence.

Bringing It Together: Your Path to Consistently Clean Floors

Mastering floor maintenance means recognizing how prevention, proper techniques, suitable products, and smart scheduling work together as a unified system. The most successful homeowners don't rely on any single miracle solution—they blend multiple strategies that fit their specific circumstances.

Start small by implementing one or two preventative measures and watch how they transform your cleaning routine. Clean floors dramatically enhance your home's health and comfort, making every effort you invest in proper care practices worthwhile. Remember, there's no universal "best" approach—evaluate your unique situation and adapt these strategies to create a system that actually works for your lifestyle.

onomao - Handcrafted Ceramics

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onomao
*within Portuguese Craft Culture

written SARAH ARENDTS

onomao began in 2018 with a clear intention to bring traditional Portuguese craftsmanship into a contemporary context. The brand collaborates with small manufactories that work with regional clay and long-established production methods.

Every piece is shaped, glazed, and finished by hand, which creates subtle variations in surface and form. These variations are part of the identity of the objects and underline the direct connection to the people who make them. Packaging materials are reused, and shipments remain free of plastic.

onomao
small bowl pura rosa

onomao
aberta hand-painted orange

The founders Arthur and Felix Wystrychowski grew up in Munich and developed an early interest in Portugal. Their regular travels for surfing brought them into contact with local workshops and with the atmosphere of regions where craft is part of everyday life. Arthur studied landscape architecture in Berlin and strengthened his interest in materiality, spatial order, and quiet design solutions. Felix trained as a cook in Portugal, later moved toward graphic design, and gained experience in visual communication. Their combined perspectives shaped the direction of the brand and guided their search for small manufactories that value continuity, responsibility, and fairness.

The collections show a broad range of forms and colors. onomao does not work with a single design language. Instead, the assortment includes tableware with sculptural silhouettes, soft curves, and straight lines, depending on the collection. The best-known line is called Traditional. It features pieces with a clear structure, balanced proportions, and glazes that reflect the character of Portuguese ceramic traditions. Other collections explore different approaches. Some use matte surfaces in warm earthy tones. Others bring in more saturated colors or glossy textures that highlight the material. The diversity in the assortment allows each piece to stand on its own while still fitting into a cohesive visual family.

onomao
large bowl deep plate natural white

onomao
www.onomao.com

based in Cologne, Germany and working with small Portuguese manufactories to produce handcrafted ceramics and homeware

onomao Traditional Collection average price range: 12 € – 45 €

onomao understands tableware as part of the everyday situations in which people pause, cook, and sit together. Meals often form the central moments of a household, and the founders see ceramics as one of the elements that quietly supports these routines. The collections differ in shape, color, and finish, yet they share a steady and unobtrusive presence that works in simple weekday settings as well as in larger gatherings. Forms range from strict lines to softer curves, and the glazes include muted tones, natural textures, and more saturated colors. This variety reflects the different ways kitchens function and how people choose to organize their daily rhythm.

It also reflects the founders’ interest in creating objects that remain practical while offering a sense of calm and order on the table.
Their collaboration with small Portuguese workshops follows the same principles. The manufactories work with regional clay and long-established methods, and the production decisions are shaped by continuity, material awareness, and respect for craft. These relationships have grown over time and form the foundation of onomao’s approach to design. New pieces are introduced carefully, without compromising the pace and structure of the workshops. This approach allows the assortment to evolve in a steady and deliberate way, keeping a clear connection to the people and regions involved in the production.

onomao
small and large plate natural white

onomao
salad bowl sapphire blue classic

onomao
aberta hand-painted blue

Yerevan Fashion Week - Home and Away

Home and Away
*The Yerevan Portraits

written CHIDOZIE OBASI

Nestled amid the nature-meets-brutalist setting of a vibrant city, Yerevan Fashion Week provides a compelling backdrop for emerging and established design, merging threads of innovation and tradition with potential for consumers and insiders alike.

While Spring might feel like a faraway fantasy, that needn’t be reflected in your wardrobe offerings. A surefire way to make a wealth of occasions slightly more appealing? Choosing to eschew traditional cuts and volumes for breezier kinds – or at least, integrating some flashes of colour into the mix. The Wave’s sculptural pieces; Manuk Aleksanyan’s beading; Loro Piana’s timeless classics; Faina’s naturalesque details: from longline dresses to conceal under coats, to the pieces sure to enliven any outfit, LE MILE shows you 8 ways to channel your eclectic style.

dress THE WAVE

total look LORO PIANA

dress MANUK ALEKSANYAN
loafers LORO PIANA

total look BRIONI

dress THE WAVE
boots PREMIATA
eyewear CALVIN KLEIN via Marchon Eyewear

dress FAINA

blazer + skirt FERRAGAMO
shirt TORY BURCH

photography  LIDIA VIRABYAN
fashion direction  CHIDOZIE OBASI
fashion  LISA MANCINI
model  SOFIA
video  KARO TERTERIAN
fashion assistants  INGA and VALENTIN
project coordination  ELEN MANUKYAN and VAHAN KHACHATRYAN
special thanks  @fdc_armenia