Disegno #40
The cover of Disegno #40 features kites designed by Maurice Scheltens, Liesbeth Abbenes and Bertjan Pot (image: Scheltens & Abbenes).
Flying kites, digitising spiritual traditions, and wearing hand-made fibre wigs all play a role in the new Autumn 2025 edition of Disegno.
Disegno #40 launches during the London Design Festival on 13 September, but it is already available to pre-order through our online shop.
Our third themed issue looks at the role of freedom in design, told through short stories about liberation, autonomy, and inventiveness.
‘Speaking with Fibres’, Disegno #40 (image: Emilija Milušauskaitė).
Disegno’s editor in chief Oli Stratford unfolds the layers of Nipa Doshi’s storytelling kaavad, which explores the designer’s relationship with history, culture, and femininity.
Jonas Ravlo Stokke evades the constraining systems of production and distribution by making products from standard components.
Tiiu Meiner wears wigs woven out of fique by Rosana Escobar, and unravels the fibre’s journey from a coarse, industrialised material into a golden hairpiece.
‘Tracing the Living Ground’, Disegno #40 (image: Behalf Studio).
Mai Huyền Chi reflects on her memories of Quȧng Trị while learning about Behalf Studio’s digital platform that helps people to avoid landmines and understand the region’s history and resilience.
Maude Willaerts visits Espace Aygo, a sprawling Brussels townhouse reimagined by a group of young designers to free themselves from heteronormative architecture and prescribed ways of living.
Kitya Mark looks past the bright colours and minimalist aesthetic of prison furniture to interrogate the violence of carceral design.
‘Free Living’, Disegno #40 (image: Albrecht Fuchs).
Helen Gonzalez Brown explores Nienke Sikkema’s bubbly blown glass animals that embrace naïveté, and learns the stories behind Kite Club’s messages in the sky.
Danah Abdulla traces the Palestine ephemera that have decorated London’s streets since 7 October, and reflects on how graphic design can foster solidarity.
Olaoluwa Olowu seeks counsel from Ifá divination, and interrogates whether Yorùbá sacred knowledge can successfully be digitised through the new Agbà AI app.
‘Moments of Palestine’, Disegno #40 (image: Danah Abdulla).
Ann Dingli travels to Copenhagen to visit Dorte Mandrup’s Centre for Health, a welcoming, light-filled space that aims to restore dignity to people with chronic and lifestyle-related diseases.
Michael Snyder visits Edmar Pinto’s São Paulo apartment filled with arte popular, and traces the history of Brazil’s reception of working class and indigenous artists.
Disegno #39 comes out in print on 13 September 2025, and is available to order now.
Disegno #40 includes:
Panels Slide; Secret Doors Open; Sights Appear
Cultural production in the kaavad of Nipa Doshi
Oli Stratford and Philip Sinden
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The Light is Different in the North
Dorte Mandrup’s illuminated healthcare centre
Ann Dingli and Lea Ingemann Bjerg
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Off the Shelf
Jonas Stokke’s store-bought manifesto for radical objects
Jonas Stokke and Einar Aslaksen
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The Pitfall of Knowledge
Glass animals in the studio of Nienke Sikkema
Helen Gonzalez Brown and Renée de Groot
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Tracing the Living Ground
Behalf Studio chart unexploded ordnance in Quang Trị
Mai Huyền Chi and Behalf Studio
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Speaking with Fibres
Salon discussions with Rosana Escobar and fique wigs
Tiiu Meiner and Emilija Milušauskaitė
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Moments of Palestine
Graphic solidarity through the ephemera of protest
Danah Abdulla
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A Skyful of Kites
Scheltens & Abbenes and Bertjan Pot take wing
Helen Gonzalez Brown and Scheltens & Abbenes
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The Collection Took Over
A São Paolo apartment designed as a home for arte popular
Michael Snyder and André Penteado
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No Better Cell
Design from inside and outside the prison-industrial complex
Kitya Mark and Piercarlo Quecchia
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The Digital Masquerade
Digitising Yoruba spirituality with Ifedolapo Arolawun
Olaoluwa Olowu and Ọlájídé Ayeni
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Free Living
Alternative domestic designs from Espace Aygo
Maude Willaerts and Albrecht Fuchs
Order your copy of Disegno #40 from our online shop. Or why not subscribe?