Heading into a new year, we’re calling it: Here—in no particular order—are 20 architects and designers whose stars are on the rise.
Conti, Cert in Barcelona
Fan first started following the work of Andrea Conti and Isa Cert, the duo behind Barcelona-based Conti, Cert; so enamored are we of their work that we could hardly choose which project of theirs to feature first.
Nimtim Architects in South London
Named, cheekily, for its founders, garden and landscape designer Nimi and architect Tim, Nimtim Architects is “a practice of architects, landscape, and interior designers based in South London” that’s been called out as a firm to watch by the likes of Architects’ Journal and Wallpaper*.
We agree—just see their wildly inventive work in Kitchen of the Week: Playfulness and Plywood in a London Kitchen by Nimtim Architects.
Friends George Bradley and Ewald Van Der Straeten joined forces to create architecture studio Bradley Van Der Straeten thirteen years ago, and their way with color has captured our attention this year.
Bradley Van Der Straeten in London
For evidence, take a tour of their Tonal Terrace—see Two Become One: A Colorful Townhouse for an Actor and a Cinematographer—as well as A Graphic Designer’s Redone Victorian, Where the Pantry Takes Center Stage, more muted but no less characterful.
Suleïma Ben Achour and Antoine Lallement are the architects behind Studio Classico based in Marseille and Paris and in the...
Studio Classico in Marseille and Paris
...past two years we ve covered four of their fresh retro infused projects A Room of One’s Own: An En Suite Retreat in ParisAmerican Style in Marseille: Studio Classico Designs a Shaker-Inspired BakeryAn Apartment Remodel for a Writer in Paris and Order and Pattern in a Spirited Paris Apartment Remodel by Two Young Architects shown here
“When I first met Emmanuel Olunkwa in 2015, he had been in New York for about a year and was working as an intern at Comme des Garçons while pursuing an undergraduate degree at The New School,” wrote Remodelista contributor Oliver.
Emmanuel Olunkwa in Brooklyn
Malachi Connolly of Malachi Connolly Design is based both in Brooklyn and on the Outer Cape; shown here, a compact, well-thought-out kitchen in the Brooklyn Heights apartment of Remodelista founding editor Julie Carlson.
Malachi Connolly Design
Patrick Bernatz is on our short list of designers of the moment. Fan wrote about one of his projects—see ‘Old California’ in an Updated 1907 Arts & Crafts-Style House in Los Angeles.
Patrick Bernatz in LA
“Homework Design, an upstart interior design firm in Taipei, Taiwan, specializes in using plaster finishes and vintage furnishings to create hushed, self-contained worlds,” Margot wrote in An Apartment in Taipei: A Childhood Home, Updated for a Newlywed Couple.
Homework Design in Taipei
Jill MacNair in London
“I can’t wait to see Jill MacNair’s next project,” writes Nell.
Julie has been following the work of Peter Dolkas and Michelle Ficker of Studio Dorion, who outfitted interiors last year at the Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse.
Studio Dorion in Brooklyn
“Both Fan and I became obsessed with Studio Glume, a multidisciplinary firm focusing on design and renovation of small buildings, interiors, furniture, art, and graphic design,” Julie wrote when she toured the home of founding member Wang Ying (see An Eclectic Home in Shanghai: Wang Ying of Studio Glume).
Studio Glume in Shanghai
Studio Krokalia in London
We first started following the work of Pallas Kalamotusis through Pallas and Freya, in which she makes ethereal ceramics with cult followings with the ceramicist Freya Bramble-Carter (see: “Beauty Is Eternal”: Colorful Ceramic Vessels by Two London Creatives (and Friends)).
Kai Avent-deLeon in Brooklyn
Kai Avent-deLeon is the owner of Brooklyn concept shop Sincerely Tommy the founder of Raini Home an interior consultancy and line of furniture and objects and a cofounder of the project...
...Building Black Bed Stuy whose mission is to protect and preserve the Black community in Bed Stuy and beyond In everything she touches she s a style leader Margot writes
Tour Kai’s Bed-Stuy townhouse in our new book, Remodelista: The Low-Impact Home, and her previous home in Bed-Stuy Avant-Garde: Inside the Eclectic Apartment of a Brooklyn Designer and Shop Owner.
Loren Daye of LoveIsEnough made waves with the interiors of Le Crocodile at Brooklyn’s trendy Wythe Hotel in 2020; more recently, the studio took on the bold restorations at Little Cat Lodge in the Catskills, and we’re eager to see what they have up their sleeve next.
LoveIsEnough in Brooklyn
Ste. Marie in Vancouver
We’ve been followers Jorge Ambrosi and Gabriele Etchegaray ever since we covered their work on the “spare and luminous” Shaker-inspired rooms at Círculo Mexicano (see Círculo Mexicano: Soulful Minimalism in Mexico City).
Ambrosi Etchegaray in Mexico City
We’ve been ardent followers ofdthe work of Thom Dalmas and Bretaigne Walliser for quite a while, initially as founding partners of Fabr Studios (see: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Fabr Studio in East Williamsburg), and now through their new outfit, TBo Office.
TBo Office in New York
In researching our new book, Remodelista in Maine, one outfit kept popping up every time we stumbled upon a space we loved: Joiya Studios. Woodworker turned furniture maker turned restaurant designer Brad Bowes creates exquisitely crafted spaces, often with fine custom millwork.
Joiya Studios in Portland, Maine
Photograph by Anson Smart, courtesy of Tamsin Johnson.
Tamsin Johnson in New South Wales, Australia
Another on our watch list?
Several years ago, architects Hélène Pinaud and Julien Schwartzmann of Paris-based Heju first shared with us their scrappy and brilliant designs, from their own budget kitchen (Kitchen of the Week: Two Young Paris Architects Completely Redo Their Kitchen for Under $4,300) to A Homemade Terrazzo Table.
Photograph via Papotte.
Heju in Paris
And now they’re unquestionably on the up—taking on Architectural Feats in a Paris Duplex as well as the design of new lodgings in Bligny sur Ouche, France (shown here).