muuto | the pleat mirror by gustav winsth

H&M Home.

Dusty 17th-century floorboards and ochre Baroque palazzo walls might seem an unlikely home for a high-street giant, yet Milan has a way of making contradictions feel incredibly natural. Palazzo Acerbi’s ancient rooms, once famous for the wild parties of a 17th-century Marquess, now house the much-anticipated collaboration between H&M Home and Kelly Wearstler. Marking a double debut for both the brand and the designer at Salone del Mobile, the installation offers a look at 29 pieces of furniture, lighting and decorative objects, showcasing a departure from the small-scale accessories that defined the brand since 2009. Schön! walked through the space guided by Evelina Kravaev-Söderberg, the creative lead at H&M Home, for a first look at the collaboration.

Modern silhouettes sit against a backdrop of historic frescoes, creating a friction that Kravaev-Söderberg found irresistible. “We wanted to showcase our very contemporary products in this older environment because we’ve talked a lot about the interesting connection between the past and the present,” she says.

H&M Home.

Out of the 29 items that make up the full range, nine hero pieces lead the narrative in Milan. Emera table lamps appear in reimagined, floor-scale proportions to lead visitors toward the dining room, where Noxen chairs sit atop silver mirrored plinths. Reflections dance across raw, historic walls, creating a conversation between the ornate permanence of the palazzo and the contemporary shapes of the furniture. Mirrors work to destabilise the space, making the heavy solid wood feel as though it might be floating. Here, custom music fill the rooms, ensuring visitors experience the collection through every sense as they move through the historic space.

Two shutter box cabanas house the Aurex lamp, an object defined by its silhouette and framed like a piece of art within a vitrine. Light projections move through the shutters to animate the walls while custom music fills the air, ensuring every sense is engaged. Moving into the lounge, the Soluna lounge chair and Poma accent chair are stacked and layered against striped wallpaper. “My approach to design is always the same. It’s more intricate, of course, to do the furniture; it needs to hold a human body. There are different purposes but a similar passion put into every object,” she explains.

H&M Home.

Patterns deepen in the floral room, where the softly contoured Curva vase takes a position of prominence. Vintage floral wallpapers and bronze mirrors reflect a space filled with live flowers and a plush carpet, creating a warm, enveloping atmosphere. Solid wood chairs with geometrical silhouettes take over the dining room, designed to function as both seating and standalone art. Vintage wallpapers, selected by Wearstler herself and blown up to a larger scale, line the walls to give the illusion that the installation has always existed within the historic building.

The final room introduces the Mona clothing rack, finished in a high-gloss red that stands out against pink and green walls. Printed garment bags suggest a narrative that extends beyond the room, while a custom scent by Side Hustle – heavy with notes of orange flower, jasmine, and Palo Santo – drifts through every corner.

H&M Home.

Modularity defines the larger items, particularly the Avern armchairs and the circular Ortra sofa table that can be configured to fit various living spaces. Creative solutions emerged from the practicalities of a global retailer, ensuring items can be transported easily. “Modularity is the main theme here in Salone [del Mobile]. We have restrictions at H&M when it comes to sizing and weight, so we had to figure all that out,” Kravaev-Söderberg says.

Working with Kelly Wearstler meant navigating a year of renderings and development to ensure the quality met the designer’s high standards. Wearstler, renowned for her West Coast maximalism and her work on luxury Proper Hotels, brings a Californian soul to the Swedish brand. Wearstler’s Californian aesthetic finds a partner in a neutral colour palette that feels timeless and accessible.

H&M Home.

A three-day session in Stockholm served as the catalyst for the partnership, where screens were abandoned in favour of material samples and printed references. Kravaev-Söderberg still recalls the energy of their sessions. “[Wearstler] She’s inspired us a lot with raising the bar and just never being satisfied,” she says. “We actually printed out things and talked about colours sitting on the floor.” 

Backgrounds and heritage inform every choice Kravaev-Söderberg makes, from her roots in Sofia, Bulgaria, to her studies in Paris and life in Stockholm. A multicultural perspective helps her design for an international audience with varied tastes. “Bulgaria and Sweden are completely different, but I think also that’s why I love to work for an international company,” she says. 

Such a balanced outlook ensures the assortment can offer both minimalist geometry and more decorative ornamentation without losing its identity. “In a way, we are all the same and in many other ways we’re not, so it’s easy to find this balance and diversity also within our assortment,” Kravaev-Söderberg says. “H&M Home is not about one style; we try to make one assortment for different tastes and different aesthetics.”

H&M Home.

Balancing beauty and utility remains the priority for H&M, ensuring every object answers a purpose which can shape how people live. “I hope that they [the consumers] will understand the concept of modularity and that they will have a feeling to play around in their home, because that’s what you actually can do with a modular assortment.”

The ultimate goal for the design team is to create items that hold emotional value. “The home, I think, is the most personal thing around you,” says Kravaev-Söderberg. “It’s a space where you really can be yourself and relax. To me, the home is my sanctuary still.”

Visitors to Milan can view the collection until the end of April, before the official launch in stores on September 3rd. Discover more here.

photography. courtesy of H&M Home
words. Gennaro Costanzo

Hartmut Nägele.

Spring always brings a flurry of fresh design news, but the latest dispatch from the German furniture powerhouse Thonet demands immediate attention. Fashion icon Jil Sander has once again turned her exacting eye to the realm of interior design, expanding her highly successful JS. Thonet signature collection for 2026. “Creativity is simply a part of my life,” she says, as she adds the S 411 lounge chair, its accompanying footstool and the sweeping S 1070 table to the lineup. Enthusiasts could already catch an early glimpse of the new pieces at the Neue Werkstätten during the Munich Design Days, before the official global rollout in early May.

Revisiting a classic requires a careful touch. “I wasn’t interested in completely redesigning these classics,” Sander explains. “It was more about taking them to the next level.” Taking inspiration from the mirror finish of a Steinway piano and the rich leather found in vintage English motorcars, she has entirely reimagined the tubular steel frames. Two distinct aesthetic paths define the collection, appropriately named ‘SERIOUS’ and ‘NORDIC.’ 

Fabian Frinzel. Hartmut Nägele.

SERIOUS replaces traditional chrome with a smoky, titanium-coloured finish, pairing the metal with high-shine lacquered wood and deep leather tones like Graphite Ruby Red and Graphite Green. Meanwhile, NORDIC takes a softer route, utilising a matt nickel-silver finish alongside white-pigmented oak and leathers in shades of Light Caramel and Alabaster White.

Speaking on the NORDIC line, Sander notes that the matt nickel-silver frame has a uniquely warm aura. She previously relied on satin nickel-silver for the metalwork in her flagship fashion boutiques worldwide, claiming that it acts as a structural backbone for creating an atmosphere of understated luxury. “For me, the colour tones are like notes that speak to each other and make each other resonate,” she says, ensuring every choice harmonises with the surrounding materials.

Hartmut Nägele.

The newly added S 411 lounge chair dates back to a 1932 Thonet factory design, originally marking a shift towards more voluminous, comfortable seating. “I wanted to achieve this lightness without chrome reflections and at the same time ground the S 411,” Sander says. Fully upholstered in premium leather and finished with a singular piping detail, the chair boasts an incredibly clean, monolithic look.

Hartmut Nägele.

Dining spaces receive equal attention with the introduction of the S 1070 table, a piece originally conceived by Glen Oliver Löw in 2004. Measuring a generous 220×100 centimetres, the table features a longitudinally divided top that allows for intriguing two-tone colour combinations. A matching B 97 side table completes the arrangement, updated with stunning marble tops. 

Earlier last month, Thonet formally donated two of the S 64 chairs from the SERIOUS line to Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich.

Hartmut Nägele.

Discover more here. 

photography. courtesy of Thonet, Fabian Frinzel, Hartmut Nägele
words. Gennaro Costanzo

Soho Home.

Stealing the ashtrays from a luxury hotel is a time-honoured tradition, but trying to smuggle an entire velvet sofa out of a private members’ club presents a much greater logistical challenge. Fortunately, anyone who has ever sat in a Soho House and wondered how to replicate that exact mood in their own living room no longer needs to resort to petty theft. Taking the celebrated aesthetic of its global outposts and making it widely accessible, Soho Home is officially expanding into Germany for the first time. From the 20th of March 2026, the entire collection of furniture, lighting and textiles has become available to order nationwide via their digital platform, while the very first physical showroom opens its doors at Soho House Berlin.

Robyn Steffen.

Situated right on Torstraße, the new studio occupies a familiar neighbourhood spot that perfectly bridges the gap between exclusivity and community access. Speaking with Schön!, Matthew McQuade, Managing Director of Soho Home, notes that the country has been a priority for quite some time. “Soho House Berlin opened 16 years ago and since then we’ve been building a loyal community of creatives in the city, many of whom are embedded in the local design and interiors,” he explains, adding that the city’s design scene is expanding and diversifying. 

Setting up shop in Store X, a curated creative space, felt like the most logical progression for the brand. “Torstraße has always felt like the right fit for Soho House and Soho Home because it sits in the intersection of galleries, studios and independent businesses,” McQuade says. “It has the kind of neighbourhood feel we look for when we open a space and where better to open a Soho Home Studio than right below our House?” The existing Store X café area already attracts people to meet and connect, and the open-plan, tiered store space lends itself perfectly to the different room sets.

Soho Home.

Opening the doors to the wider public might seem like a pivot for a company built on membership, but the core philosophy remains entirely consistent with its origins. “The brand was born when our guests began asking if they could buy their favourite pieces from around the Houses,” McQuade says, tracing the journey back to their initial launch of Barwell crystal glassware in 2016. “As much as we want our Houses to feel like home, we want our members to take a piece of the House with them into their own homes.” 

Allowing anyone to walk off the street and engage with the collection simply brings that idea to life more directly. Visitors can wander through the tiered floor plan and see room sets that offer practical examples of how a plush velvet armchair or an olive-stained dining table functions in a domestic setting. “We’d like it to feel relaxed and informal, somewhere you can drop into rather than somewhere that feels transactional,” McQuade adds.

Soho Home.

Pieces currently filling the Berlin showroom draw inspiration from locations as varied as Soho Farmhouse to outposts in Portland and Nashville, blending natural materials with warm colour palettes. German buyers are famously practical about their interiors, yet the brand’s focus on quality appears to translate seamlessly across borders. “In Germany, there’s definitely an appreciation for quality and practicality, which fits well with how we design,” says McQuade, noting that people respond to comfort regardless of location.

A worthy example of this philosophy is the Belmont sofa, featuring a visible oak wood frame and wool-linen cover, embodying the approach to everyday living. “Pieces like the Belmont Sofa are made to be properly lived in, they’re generous, comfortable and not overly formal,” McQuade says, explaining that such items change how you use a space in a subtle way by making the room feel more inviting.

Soho Home.

Updating iconic designs like the Theodore Armchair requires a careful hand to ensure the original proportions are maintained while offering fresh appeal, such as the new burl backing option. “If something has become a favourite, it’s usually because the proportions and comfort are right, so we don’t want to lose that,” says McQuade. “The updates are considered: new fabrics, different finishes, sometimes small adjustments to bring it in line with how people are living now.”

Experiencing those refined details in person is exactly why the physical showroom provides so much value to the consumer. McQuade highlights the understated items, like the Ivy coffee table with its ocean grey marble and intricate edge carving, as the pieces that will likely surprise visitors the most. “They don’t necessarily stand out straight away, but once you live with them or see the materials up close, they feel very different,” he explains. 

Soho Home.

Looking ahead and at possibilities to expand into entirely new categories, McQuade is determined to test the ground carefully. “Right now, the focus is on getting the foundations right in the German market, making sure people understand the brand, the collections and how everything works together,” he says. “We tend to grow in line with how our customers live. Last year, we added outdoor lines to our offering and as that evolves, there’s definitely scope to expand into other areas over time.”

Berliners can finally trade their minimalist concrete benches for something with a bit more velvet, provided they can resist the urge to turn their flats into permanent members’ clubs. Whether you are looking for a single hand-knotted rug or an entire bedroom overhaul, the new Torstraße hub ensures your home can finally match your social life without the need for a membership card.

Soho Home.

Learn more here.

photography. courtesy of Robyn Steffen, Soho Home
words. Gennaro Costanzo