Materials

These open-plan hotel suites break apart traditional hotel bathroom typologies by tempting bathers over to the other side of the locked door.

LAUFEN x Alessi x Snøhetta. Three design heavyweights provide new perspectives in Milan.

As humanity's earliest invention, the attraction of Earth's most destructive element is sewn into our nature. These 12 outdoor fire products help the modern human use and control it.

The established D1 chairs and comprehensive D2 furniture system by Diez Office and Wagner Living prove that sustainable design can be both aesthetically pleasing and easy to use, paving the way to a greener office future for all. Watch the video to

A tricky style to achieve, maximalism is as unique to each user as their own personality. Get it wrong and it’s easy to feel exposed and unfulfilled. Here are some examples that get it right.

Clerkenwell Design Week came back bigger than ever in 2022. With more showrooms, exhibitions and installations, festival visitors found out what the industry’s been up to while they’ve been away.

Find out why the recently renovated Interni flagship store in Milan is symbolic of the Italian company's larger goal of offering full-service partnerships to designers and architects worldwide.

Building on its years of expertise, the German luxury appliance manufacturer now proposes to inspire architects and planners with a large-scale installation at this year's Fuorisalone.

Against the backdrop of a potential global food crisis, our Kitchen Design Week speakers discuss the future of the kitchen, both functionally and culturally. And, in the near future, our DAAily bar in Milan opens its doors.

Exhibiting at the DAAily bar during Milan Design Week, Douglas Mandry’s 30-metre-long Art Curtain will introduce visitors to the Swiss artist’s Monuments project, documenting climate change.

When it comes to unforgiving materials such as glass, safety features often aren't the most attractive design elements. Saflex®'s unobtrusive FlySafe™ 3D technology breaks this trend – and protects wildlife, too.

Greek brand Kraft Paints not only brings colour to the picture, its innovative and sustainably produced range of products also help architects in achieving their environmental certification goals.

Lea Korzeczek and Matthias Hiller of Studio Oink talk about why our kitchens have so many appliances, but so little food.

Cristina Acha Odriozola of Acha Zaballa Arquitectos discusses contemporary social kitchen spaces: ‘That model of the service area is obsolete.’ Hear what else she has to say…

Cristiano Pigazzini and Daniel Heckscher of Note Design Studio converse on future kitchen requirements: 'It is cheaper to get food than to prepare food.' Watch the video to hear more…

Italian furniture maker Flou has been dedicated to a core philosophy of comfort since its inception in 1978. Here, a picturesque country residence showcases the brand's latest designs in situ.

Italian kitchen brand Cesar and design studio Garcia Cumini drew inspiration from the past in the creation of The 50's – a functionally versatile and forward-looking shelving solution.

Dries Otten discusses keeping things simple in kitchen design: 'I always try to bring it down to the basic question, what do we really need?' Watch the video to hear what else he has to say…

Take our hand, as Designboom, Architonic and ArchDaily guide you through both the fair and the city before and during Milan Design Week. Find out where to find the best products, people and parties.

With improvements to endurance, resistance and design adaptability, the latest medium density fireboards, once only a budget-friendly option, are giving natural materials a run for their money.

The architects of these four projects used monochrome colour and material palettes to clearly define kitchen spaces in open-plan layouts. Here’s how.

The design process revealed! Find out how a local architect and a creative hotelier, together with bathroom-fittings experts HEWI, fashioned a destination that's a shining example of how it's done.

Quality food and service are now commonplace in the hospitality sector. For more engaging out-of-house mealtime experiences, these eateries bring a little extra entertainment to the menu.

A blend of traditional lounge club style with contemporary materials and innovative manufacturing made the Eames Lounge Chair a timeless classic.

Craftwand's sustainable, modular system allows office planners to create and recreate versatile working spaces that bring benefits to users as well as to the environment.

Making contemporary appliances, cookware, tableware and artisanal ingredients more visible and accessible, open kitchen storage puts an end to the kitchen design cover-up.

As interior businesses become more selective in partnerships, this Dutch brand is providing the solution.

Monica Armani discusses the materiality of outdoor furniture: 'There are many secrets that everyone working in the outdoor market knows.' Watch the video to learn more…

Lincrusta's surface-covering products extend beyond those for walls, allowing interior designers to add flashes of pattern and texture to ceilings and other surfaces, too.

Single colour tiles might look simple on the surface, but with a little creative thinking, the full range of possibilities starts to emerge. Here are five original ways to apply them.

Patrick Jouin of Patrick Jouin iD introduces the hardwearing comfort of new outdoor materials: 'We have fabric that can resist the sun and the rain, that is so sensual.' Watch the video to learn more…

Discover some of the measures that Heinze is taking within its own company (infra)structure to combat the negative effects of climate change on our shared environment.

With the launch of its own festival dedicated to the issue of climate change in Düsseldorf, Germany, Heinze paves the way for much needed discussion and fruitful exchange that promises a greener future for the construction industry as a whole.

In a new exhibition of Bauhaus designer Erich Dieckmann’s timeless pieces, the D2 shelving system by DIEZ OFFICE for Wagner Living shows off its versatile aesthetics and ease of use. Watch the video to learn more…

Dutch urban-furniture specialist Furns' modular and sustainable outdoor products help architects and planners to create public spaces that not only benefit local communities but the environment, too.

Luca Nichetto of Nichetto Studio discusses designing for outdoor as if it were indoor: 'You can take a sofa that is designed for outdoor and put it in your living room.' Watch the video to learn more…

By surrounding users with the comforting permanence of the ground, these six projects from across the world create intimate sunken living spaces that hold us in a supportive embrace.

Specialist lighting brand BOMMA can trust in centuries of Czech glassblowing tradition in the creation of its daring, otherworldly, handcrafted designs.

A productive hybrid work model fuses together the sanctuary of home work with traditional office collaboration. These five key advantages make the customisable office pod work.

With natural lighting, surfaces and adaptable physics, 3D visualisation uses realism, real-time rendering and VR technology to help clients see plans for real in a virtual world.

Private pools provide both tranquillity and excitement, literally just outside your back door. But a relaxing pool is useless without the surrounding area to enjoy it.

MAKE's Katy Ghahremani discusses selecting furniture early in the design process: 'It's important to show clients the materiality of spaces in the context of the FF&E.' Watch the video to learn more…

These five projects encourage visitors to keep looking up. Using different materials and techniques, they turn the mundanity of flat, boring ceilings into special, individual surfaces to gaze up at.

Alfredo Häberli of Alfredo Häberli Design Development discusses furniture that touches the soul: 'You can ask, is this piece of furniture design talking to me or not?' Watch the video to learn more…

Product surfaces are often not given the credit they deserve. With phantom and black phantom, the lighting specialists at Occhio have now added two novelties to their repertoire that stand out from the crowd.

With its Cosmos Black and Titan Grey collections, German specialist in door and window handles Karcher Design offers specifiers a universe of options in the creation of striking architectural accents.

Benedetta Tagliabue of EMBT discusses an architect's desire to design all parts of a project, including the furniture: 'Everything goes together and everything is a whole.' Watch the video to learn more…

Warming up chilly interiors with a blend of science and artistry, these nine types of contemporary radiator bring creativity in from the cold.

Sebastian Herkner discusses respecting well-designed products: 'It's important to cherish a product, to keep it as an investment.' Watch the video to learn more…

With a long history of environmentally conscious design, Unilin Panels’ wood-based panel solutions are naturally suited to modern architecture and interior design markets.

New Unilin Panels designs include the colour-stable and textured matt Master Oak finish – a decorative option the brand says is better than the real thing.

At these offices in Breda in The Netherlands, Unilin Panels helped create a relaxing, minimalist environment with high-performance but natural-looking materials to meet a contemporary brief.

Last but not least: in the final instalment of our nine-part series, we present the things that have won prizes at the ICONIC AWARDS 2022: Innovative Interior for merging the practical with the aesthetic in the design of consumer goods.

Fourteen years after its inception, Swedish brand Skargaarden has firmly established its premium outdoor furniture. Their new pieces for 2022 are further proof that local design and a loving attention to detail are recipes for success.

M stands for Modelec, materials, and Made in France: French high-end switch manufacturer Modelec celebrates the essential and the sensory with its new M collection.

For a residential project in Iceland with nature, materials and sustainability at its core, architect Palmar Kristmundsson found a kindred spirit in iconic Danish brand VOLA.

Desktop accessories strike a balance between clutter and function. But with stationery gone, this weird and wonderful world goes far further than a company-issue pen-pot and two-tiered filing tray.

The kitchen is the beating heart of most homes. Not just a place to eat, but to socialise and celebrate. In part six of our nine-part series, we are also celebrating the kitchen, and more specifically, the winners in the kitchen category of this

Glimpses of light: In the fifth part of our nine-part series celebrating the winners of this year's ICONIC AWARDS: Innovative Interior, everything revolves around the topic of luminaires – and the diverse possibilities offered by different lighting

Pushing the family together has revealed the functional inadequacies of the open plan. How do we give everyone their own space, without putting up walls?

Design can improve quality of life for all. But when those with the biggest pencils are men, the needs of female users are often ignored. More independent female designers can rebalance the scales.

We continue to laud the 112 winners of this year’s ICONIC AWARDS: Innovative Interior. In part three of our nine-part series, we turn our attention to the topic of simplicity…

Find out how a regional bank in Germany went from a simple furnishing job to full-blown cultural transformation thanks to workplace-design experts Interstuhl.

The practice of biophilic design – using plants and green space to improve health and wellbeing – is an important tool, but can it solve the environmental crisis too?

Successes are meant to be celebrated, and here, we celebrate several at once, namely the winners of this year's ICONIC AWARDS: Innovative Interior. Part 1

The planet we’re on has finite resources. By making new products from old, we stop the rot and start to build back better. Recycled manufacturing has changed the meaning of the words ‘new’ and ‘used’.

The black, matt-textured PerfectSense Feelwood lacquered boards from EGGER lend this modern kitchen space in Aurach, Austria, a natural elegance while also appealing to the senses. Watch the video to learn more…

It's not for nothing that the humble brick has remained such a favourite with architects over the centuries, with its robust, versatile and sustainable qualities offering broad scope for creativity.

When bathed in constant light, Scandinavia is spoiled with beautiful scenery. When the sun goes away, however, attentions turn inside. Here’s how to recreate amazing Scandinavian home interiors.

As the online marketplace takes a stranglehold on bricks and mortar retail, these are the destination super retail structures tempting consumers back to market.

Since its inception ten years ago, the German Design Awards, presented by the German Design Council, has built up a trusted reputation within the industry. On the occasion of its 10th anniversary this year, the 37-member jury once again will honour

Patrick Lüth of Snøhetta discusses creating sustainable and site-specific hospitality: 'We want to create a unique, specific atmosphere derived from the physical location.' Watch the video to learn more…

Edward van Vliet discusses how he creates unique hospitality experiences from the ground up, arguing that 'when you start with the floor in a certain pattern, then you have done half of your work.' Watch the video to learn more…

Say sayonara to smooth painted walls and farewell to flat wallpaper; these are the latest ways to create striking feature walls that literally impose themselves onto interior environments.

Diego Gronda of Studio Gronda discusses designing for the guest experience and sustainable, adaptable interiors: 'We cannot keep on demolishing structures.'

As a sustainable material, wood lasts a long time, it’s renewable and with amazing natural looks, it has a long-lasting impact too. Here are ten examples of products that use solid wood wisely.

High Pressure Laminate (HPL) is now an indispensable part of the interior design world, that includes Unilin Panels, which manufactures not only melamine panelling but also top quality HPL panelling.

A home’s frontage provides visitors an all-important first look into the residents' character. Here are ten entranceway items that greet guests with style, while still remaining functional.

Thomas Spranger of Max Dudler discusses how a project’s architectural language is inspired by its environment: ‘From the very start, we think in terms of materials.’

Seven different ways architects, designers and specifiers can utilise glass to create light, modern spaces, as well as magical and mysterious environments.

Reinventing the shower floor, BetteAir starts again with a clean slate. The innovative tray uses a flush-mounted drain and minimal rim to create a sanitary landscape of purity. Watch the video to learn more…

Antoine Chaaya of Renzo Piano Building Workshop discusses how a site’s soul can inspire its materials and the poetic voices in certain buildings, ‘when buildings start to sing, we are in architecture.’ Watch the video to hear more…

After the temporary nature of the past year, 2022 will see long-term change take centre stage. From bold palettes and organic materials to functional environments, here’s what’s in store for the year ahead.

These outlandish, luxurious and downright surreal retail spaces were Architonic users' most-seen new shops of 2021.

This eclectic list of Architonic's most-clicked new hotels, restaurants, bars, and public spaces of 2021 prove design-lovers interest in travel hasn't waned over the past year.

These most-popular office interiors of 2021 gave employees space to both work and play, while projecting a respectful, comforting and professional aura to clients.

To reach this list of our users' most popular new residential interior spaces of 2021, projects must have had jaw-dropping visuals, but they also tend to feature the most sensible, functional long-term solutions to their brief.

Space partitioning can often be dismissed as a bland, acoustic-only solution. But these five projects show how space can be artfully divided while adding colour, character and personality.

When you think about renovating, it’s easy to think of stressful situations. Clicwall, the modular wall-cladding system with a smart click profile by Unilin Panels, makes your renovation a dream come true.

Coming soon: Master Oak, the latest generation of melamine and HPL panelling from Unilin Panels with lifelike natural oak design. Unilin Panels is setting a new standard for the world of interior design.

We may have moved on from a structural reliance on brick to keep our buildings up, but the traditional material’s natural aesthetic and texture is still standing strong in modern architecture.

The new matt-textured PerfectSense Feelwood lacquer panels from Egger ‘shine’ with practical properties, such as an anti-fingerprint surface, which proves to be a great advantage, especially with dark colour variants.

With winter drawing in across the northern hemisphere, Hudson Valley Lighting Group share tips on how to warm up homes with layered lighting and worn-in finishes.

The threshold-free shower tile BetteAir offers planning security for creative free thinkers - seamless, floor-level and almost invisible.

Office furniture specialist Haworth embraces awareness, analysis and imagination in its quest to create workspaces that have a positive impact on our lives.

What are the factors to be considered when devising workspaces which benefit not only the people in them but the environment, too? Office specialist Haworth provides an answer...

Cologne-based FLAT'N specialises in creating bespoke carpet designs, using innovative digital printing techniques to realise individual patterns, colour combinations and shapes.

The award honours the best architecture, interior architecture, product design and brand communication. For 2021, it has set two trends: wooden architecture and redevelopment.

When it comes to the renovation of existing spaces, architects can find the optimal flooring solutions by merging existing features with contemporary new elements.

Berlin-based glass printing specialist Glastrix opens up broad possibilities for architects and interior designers looking to create bespoke design effects with glass.

Get some bonus surface insights and tips from our design week experts – Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen, Peter Bundgaard Rützou and Joaquin Vaquero!

‘An architect defines a space, but its real meaning comes from its surfaces,’ says Joaquin Vaquero of CLK Architects. Watch now for more insight and commentary!

The new Kaijo and Canyon surfaces by designer Markus Bischof for Agrob Buchtal may differ significantly in form, but both create striking, geometric facades.

‘We tend to go back to surfaces that allow time to pass, that show the imprint of what happens,’ says Peter Bundgaard Rützou of Space Copenhagen. Watch now for more insight and commentary!

‘The ultimate goal is that an empty space should feel welcoming just by the choice of materials,’ says Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm Architects. Watch now for more insight and commentary!

Colour and light are two hugely influential tools when sculpting interior space. They bring function and positivity to environments without adding physical clutter.

With the industries shift in focus towards sustainability, this Dutch brand has been there from the beginning.

Unique surfaces for every bathroom interior.

The material underneath your feet is arguably the most crucial part of any interior. Here are the questions specifiers need to consider, when selecting the perfect floor covering for their project.

Facades are the clothes buildings dress themselves up in. Physical declarations of prominence and boastful creativity. Here is an inspirational selection of architectural facades created by Architonic’s archive of manufacturers…

When it comes to creating timeless furniture, there's a lot to learn from modern classics like the String furniture system ...

Italian chair manufacturer Palma has reinvented its processes to make its production as green as possible.

The 2021 collection by Flou depicts six aspects of our changing environment, bridging our increasingly indoor lives with the world outside, again.

Once the forgotten realm of interiors, creating the perfect soundscape is now just as important as light and decoration. Here are the different acoustic products available to create the right tone…

With its customisable furniture systems and huge range of materials for art and design, Berlin-based specialist Modulor helps architects, designers and hobbyists alike to properly furnish their lives.

‘3M™ DI-NOC™ offers designers and facility managers a fast and affordable way to create stunning new spaces without being constrained by budget or construction time,’ says Paola Silva Coronel, Global Advisor for 3M. Find out more...

How to make office spaces more inviting to workers used to the comforts of home? For increasing numbers of interior architects and designers, textiles provide a compelling answer.

With its highly innovative HybriQ technology, the family-run Spanish surface specialist Cosentino makes a radical contribution to the circular economy – and offers harmonious colour designs for kitchens and bathrooms.

Concrete packs a powerful architectural punch, not least when serving as a scene-setter in contemporary commercial spaces.

The smart, metallised solutions of Kvadrat Shade’s roller blind textiles help transform buildings into Positive Energy Buildings, reducing carbon footprints and energy costs all at once. Watch the video to find out more...