A Year Of Design Dialogues: Top 10 Questions With… Of 2025

Founder and president of her New York-based design firm Jessica Schuster Design, Schuster works on projects across the country, ranging from residential to commercial and hospitality spaces. Schuster approaches each project with fresh eyes, crafting unique spaces that “maintain a harmonious balance between the unusual and the familiar.” While she “keeps her pulse on what’s happening globally,” Schuster also is firmly committed to the art of enduring interiors, such as the Esmé Hotel in Miami Beach and timeless residences in New York. Read more about Jessica Schuster’s work.

As Chinese Gen Z designers, Baoer Wang and Josh Ren seek experiences they cannot obtain online, which is something they strive to do with their Shanghai-based firm Studio Profile. The two cofounders have built emotional spaces that resonate with clients and customers all over China, like the Hirono Pop Mart shop and BizyBoy Shanghai to much acclaim. Together, their work signals a new generation of designers shaping emotionally driven, experience-led spaces that connect deeply with audiences both in China and beyond. Discover Studio Profile’s game-changing work.

Born in Montreal to Filipino parents, Gonzales believes that sustainability and wellness should be part of every project. After her five-year-old nephew Luka Ferraro became a cancer survivor and seeing how her sister attempted to boost his immune system through nutrition and other factors, she realized that good design can encourage healthier habits. After relocating to Hong Kong in 2006, she established Liquid Interiors in 2009 with the aim to create sanctuaries for clients. Armed with LEED AP (ID+C) and WELL AP designations, she is passionate about living authentically. Get insights into Rowena Gonzales’ wellness approach.

Who’d ever think Reading-born Brit Tom Parker would end up as a top-tier hospitality designer in Los Angeles? Now, it’s been a decade since he co-founded Fettle with Andy Goodwin, and with studios stateside and in London, Fettle has a far-flung portfolio boasting completed projects in Paris, Portland, Rome, Dubai, Miami, Las Vegas, and, of course, on both home bases. With clients including TAO Group and the landmark Georgian Hotel, Parker aims to continue collaborating with diverse brands while further expanding the firm’s global reach. Explore Tom Parker’s colorful work.

Cheick Diallo believes that the future of African design is bright and not because he’s one of the designers who has shaped it into its contemporary form, but because he cherishes the work of this new generation and how they are pushing boundaries. Born in Bamako, Mali’s capital, Diallo describes his childhood as creative, filled with tinkering with locally available materials, part of which shaped his love for design. His practice has heavily relied on upcycling, addressing consumerist negligence in the continent and also expressing how designers could weaponize that in their creative process. Read more about Cheick Diallo’s work.

The name OOIIO doesn’t mean anything particular, but somehow it feels synonymous with the Madrid-based architecture studio’s strong use of color and playful, open attitude. Founded by architect Joaquín Millán Villamuelas during the economic crisis that rocked Southern Europe in the 2010s, this multidisciplinary studio embraces every project as an opportunity. This ethos continues to define OOIIO today along with a smart, solutions-oriented approach—albeit one guided by instincts—that understands it’s not what you have, but what you do with it. Explore Joaquín Millán Villamuelas’s whimsical work.

Anything is possible in multidisciplinary artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons’s world. Renowned for her profound explorations of identity, memory, and spirituality, Campos-Pons’s practice has stretched across four decades, spanning various mediums, including photography, painting, sculpture, video, and performance art. She often draws upon personal and collective histories, addressing themes such as the Transatlantic slave trade, diasporic identity, and Afro-Cuban spirituality. Her art is evocative, a vessel for storytelling, connecting ancestral narratives with contemporary experiences in intrinsic details. Check out María Magdalena Campos-Pons’s evocative work.

Since founding his firm Michael Hsu Office of Architecture in 2005, Michael Hsu has defined a certain brand of Texas hospitality. Projects like La Condesa and Uchi demonstrated that a thoughtful, international minimalism could fit right into Austin’s early-aughts food boom, while the city’s new Project Transitions direct provider of housing for people living with HIV and AIDS proves hospitality can go further than fine dining. Reflecting on the firm’s 20 year anniversary, Hsu hopes to continue embracing Texas regionalism and evolving into a broader design ethos. Read more about Michael Hsu’s hospitality work.