2025 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS’ DIRECTORY
In the spotlight: Varna Shashidhar of VSLA
Architect & Designer Profiles
10 landscape architects to know: the ultimate directory
This year, a deep dive into landscape architecture brings a refreshing shift to the long-standing Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory, an annual listing of promising practices across the globe. For 2025, as celebrated in the October print issue of Wallpaper*, our survey of exciting studios goes outside, as we sample the inspiring international talent that is transforming the environment around us, shaping everything but the buildings.While the Architects’ Directory traditionally focuses on resident...
Immersing herself in nature taught this landscape architect ‘more than any lecture ever could’
Indian landscape architect Varna Shashidhar, founder and principal of Bengaluru studio VSLA, didn’t always know that her heart – and hands – belonged outdoors. But by the time she earned her master’s in landscape architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design in 2006, she was sure of one thing: a desk job in an air-conditioned office just wasn’t on the cards. ‘Harvard introduced me to fantastic friends and mentors, and led me to the best scientists, ecologists and designers at the cutting...
The top 10 architecture stories of the year: who, what, where and why?
For the top 10 architecture stories of 2024, look no further; we researched, reviewed and reflected to present you with some of the most-read news and features that dominated the headlines of the Wallpaper* world in the past year.The old and the new meet in our pick of the year's finest architecture stories. New cultural institutions, rediscovered modernist marvels, world-class transport infrastructure, interviews, and our annual Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory – all form part of the architectu...
STO.M.P on the architecture studio's work, love of craftmanship and 'the cinematic details'
Husband-and-wife architect duo Vignesh Sekar and Shamini Vignesh love to relax with a good movie, but their weekly routine doesn’t always involve a Coke apiece and a giant tub of popcorn. ‘We love to lean into the cinematic details—the camera angles, the quality of light, the artistic sensibility,’ says Vignesh.The founders and principals of STO.M.P (short for Studio for Modernism & Practical Aesthetics), based in the southern Indian city of Madurai, approach a site in much the same way a cinema...
An Indian mud house and more natural architectural wonders from Sketch Design Studio in Rajasthan
If her weekend home is any indication, it’s safe to assume that Rajasthan-based interior designer Shipra Singhania likes to put her money where her mouth is. In 2023, the founder and principal of Sketch Design Studio, a natural building and interior design practice she established in 2014, used kitchen ingredients to build her family’s pied-à-terre on a four-acre permaculture farm in Alwar, Rajasthan.She conjured the structure with nothing more than mud, lime, and edibles such as neem, jaggery,...
North Studio’s Rahul Bhushan: ‘I’m just a simple boy with a big dream – to make the world a better place’
If you dropped North Studio’s Rahul Bhushan in the middle of a forest with no food or water, by the end of the week, he’ll have designed a sustainable treehouse, started a wildlife yoga retreat, and convinced the squirrels to invest in eco-friendly architecture. The architect, hailing from the Indian Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, is a master at harmonising with nature, infusing it into his work by reviving ancient mountain-building techniques.Using wood, stone, and mud, Bhushan creates ea...
MADE IN INDIA Nine forward-thinking studios on a mission to transform their country
Sketch Design Studio, NORTH and STOMP feature in a list of nine in Wallpaper's Made in India feature
[Print] The Plant Whisperers
Varna Shashidhar was always passionate about the natural environment, but it took an internship with leading Sri Lankan architect Chelvadurai Anjalendran to help her appreciate the richness of the built form in symbiosis with the landscape. Her experience led her to pursue a master’s degree in landscape architecture at Harvard University, with a resolve to set up her own practice, focusing on creating contextual environments that celebrate the natural beauty and nuances of India and South Asia. “Cultural landscapes in India have the power to touch the chitta [human consciousness], which transcends the sensorial. That is a quality I aspire to bring into my work,” says Shashidhar. Since founding VSLA in 2013, she hasn’t been afraid to get her hands dirty—literally. Among her notable achievements are a didactic ecosystem for Neev Academy in 2015, a garden sanctuary with native edibles and medicinals for Byg Brewski, then India’s largest microbrewery, in 2018, and a one-acre urban remediation landscape with over 75 species of local and adapted vegetation for Bangalore International Centre in 2019. She is currently working on creating a healing landscape at Kathiwada, Madhya Pradesh. And yet, she’s nowhere near done.
At home with the Barclays
Twenty years ago, Sam and Erica Barclay had a plan: graduate college, get married, make a career. The end. The childhood sweethearts, who ‘met’ at the age of five and grew up in the same rural Michigan town, hadn’t bargained on moving to India, much less permanently. “Ours is a story that will either make you go ‘awww’ or roll your eyes—you decide,” Erica had mused when I interviewed the couple several years ago. (For the record, I had awww-ed.) After attending undergraduate school in different...
Architect Vinu Daniel is building sustainable homes (and other things) out of waste
If Vinu Daniel had had his way, his life would have been very different. For one, the Dubai-raised, India-based architect would be spending his days on a stage, not a site, trilling Carnatic romanzas and still living tax-free somewhere in the Gulf. “I never thought I’d be an architect,” reflects the former aspiring musician and present-day principal of architecture practice Wallmakers. Indeed, had his Malayali parents not played doomsayers and coerced him into picking something more m...
Vinu Daniel: The architect creating homes out of waste.
Architect Vinu Daniel doesn’t work from an office. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s conviction that the ideal house should be made with material sourced within a five-mile radius, the founder of award-winning practice Wallmakers instead works wherever his next project happens to be. In the past, this has taken him to southern India, where he built a mountain-shaped home from local construction debris; Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, where he mad
Vinu Daniel: The architect creating homes out of waste.
Vinu Daniel isn’t your average architect. He doesn't own an office. He creates buildings out of earth and litter. And for anything he constructs, he sources materials within a 5-mile radius. Some might call the Dubai-raised, India-based architect a maverick, and if his recent projects are anything to go by, they wouldn't be wrong. The list includes a mountain-shaped abode fashioned from construction debris; a red brick house with shapeshifting walls; and a subterranean home, carved into a rock face, with a foundation comprising four thousand discarded plastic bottles. For a job that takes him all over India and the world, the award-winning architect, who runs Indian architecture practice Wallmakers, has learned to live out of a suitcase: “For now, my home is where my work is.”
[Print] Brass Tacks: Vikram Goyal
Vikram Goyal never meant to pursue design, much less make a career out of it. “In a way, design found me,” says the celebrated New Delhi-based product designer, who has, in the past two decades, emerged as an éminence grise in the Indian design firmament. His oeuvre of brass works has found particular resonance on the world stage, speaking to a global audience while echoing, even amplifying, India's rich artisanal legacy.
[Print] The Wonders of Waste: Up Close With Vinu Daniel
As a student of architecture at university in Kerala, Vinu Daniel had a penchant for going against the grain. “I never aspired to be an architect. I wanted to be a musician instead and I even plotted an escape in my third year [of architecture school],” says the founder of Kerala-based architecture practice, Wallmakers. He was equally disenchanted by the the pedagogy of the course. “It put architecture first and nature second, which was weird—aren’t we supposed to tread carefully?” he continues. A chance encounter with eminent British-Indian architect Laurie Baker in his fourth year of university served as his turning point, inspiring in him an epiphany and motivating him to develop his own architectural ethos.
Venus Williams is serving aces with her interior design firm V Starr
The tennis titan’s successful South Florida-based interior design studio V Starr in many ways reflects her career on the court
When interior designer Sonya Haffey first met Venus Williams, she didn’t recognise her right away. “Maybe it was because she was sitting down, but I remember thinking she looked familiar,” says Haffey, now principal at the Williams-owned, South Florida-based interior design studio V Starr, who recalls the faux pas as being equal parts amusing and embarrassing. After all
When interior designer Sonya Haffey first met Venus Williams, she didn’t recognise her right away. “Maybe it was because she was sitting down, but I remember thinking she looked familiar,” says Haffey, now principal at the Williams-owned, South Florida-based interior design studio V Starr, who recalls the faux pas as being equal parts amusing and embarrassing. After all
5 inspiring Indian designers you need to know
In a land like India, where design and craft traditions date back thousands of years and are still ever-evolving, there’s something to be said about architects and designers who possess both a global sensibility and a local sensitivity. We got up close and personal with five Indian designers, each with a remarkably distinct signature, to learn more about their journeys, th
5 interior designers on why Modern Prairie is the next big thing
Chances are, you’ve never heard of the Modern Prairie aesthetic. After all, it is one of cowboy country’s best-kept secrets. A sophisticated take on traditional farmhouse, it’s a style that traces its roots to America’s Prairie movement of the late 1800s. Lately, we’ve seen a resurgence of the aesthetic, with interior designers across America reinterpreting the style in their own unique way. Here, five designers take us through what Modern Prairie means to them, how it has informed their work, and why they think it’s only going to get bigger.
How HGTV star Ali Budd built a design studio spanning the globe
The Toronto-based interior designer has projects in Canada, the United States, Costa Rica and Antigua—with more countries in the pipeline
Even as a little girl, Ali Budd always knew she was destined for design. “I’d spend countless hours with my dad drawing, hunting for furniture to rebuild or refinish, and turning various rooms into elaborate forts,” recalls the Toronto-based interior designer and founder of her eponymous design studio. “My parents were entrepreneurs, and I grew up at their ad
Even as a little girl, Ali Budd always knew she was destined for design. “I’d spend countless hours with my dad drawing, hunting for furniture to rebuild or refinish, and turning various rooms into elaborate forts,” recalls the Toronto-based interior designer and founder of her eponymous design studio. “My parents were entrepreneurs, and I grew up at their ad
[Print] Rooted in Africa: Designer Jomo Tariku on Reimagining African Furniture
Growing up in Ethiopia in the 1970s, Jomo Tariku was always surrounded by beautiful things. His father—a US-educated colonel in the Ethiopian army, designated the first military attaché to Kenya—was a consummate collector of glassware, furniture, rugs and objets d'art, acquired on his travels within Africa and beyond. “I believe that left a lasting impression on me and what I do now for a living,” says the Nairobi-born, Virginia-based industrial designer. At the behest of his father (who wanted to keep his two young sons out of trouble), a young Tariku did a summer apprenticeship programme at a local furniture builder in Addis Ababa before moving to the United States in 1987 to pursue a degree in industrial design at the University of Kansas. It was there, while he was completing his thesis on contemporary African furniture, that his design practice was born. And yet, it would take another thirty years for the world to truly sit up and take notice.
[Print] Meet the Makers: Pavitra Rajaram and Bharat Floorings & Tiles
Seven years ago, on a boat ride to Alibaug, designer Pavitra Rajaram and Bharat Floorings & Tiles Vice Chairman Firdaus Variava pondered a collaboration in passing. By the time they disembarked, the idea became a thought. But for the next seven years, it had little room to grow. That changed in 2020. To mark the centenary celebrations of Bharat Floorings & Tiles, Firdaus was keen to launch a special centennial collection. And that long-ago conversation with Pavitra seemed like a wonderful thing to manifest. “We were looking for someone to do a spectacular collaboration with, someone whom we loved and respected enormously and who would give us timeless designs—and who better for this than Pavitra?” he says.
[Print] AD100, India, 2023
Coverage of 70 of the 100 profiles featured in this story.
[Print] Name to Know: Thierry Journo
When Thierry Journo named his lifestyle brand IDLI, he wasn't paying homage to the much-loved South Indian breakfast food. Instead, he was tipping his hat to the country in which it was born. "Not many people know that it's simply an acronym for 'I Do Love India'," says the Tunis-born designer. The son of French-Italian parents, he spent the first six years of his life in Tunisia, before moving with his family to Paris, where he completed his schooling. As he got older, it was clear to him that his interest lay in art, more specifically in art history. He thought: what better place to learn it than the Louvre?
Vinu Daniel on the glory of garbage in architecture and Chuzhi House
Vinu Daniel never aspired to be an architect. Born in Dubai to parents of South Indian origin, he was always expected to pursue something mainstream, such as law or medicine or even chartered accountancy. ‘Certainly anything but Carnatic classical music,’ jests the founder of Wallmakers of his childhood proclivity for the arts. In a bid to reconcile his passions and his family’s hopes, Daniel moved to India for university, enrolling at the College of Engineering Trivandrum for a degree in archit
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