Oli Stratford
Writer, editor 
and public speaker

‘Alternative Devices’, Disegno #42 (2026).

Image: Kane Hulse.

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‘Metamorphosis’, Disegno #42 (2026).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Beautiful Is Their Glance’, Disegno #41 (2026).

Image: Roel van Tour.

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‘Put Keyaki In Their Special Chair’, Disegno #41 (2026).

Image: Masahiro Sambe.

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‘Horse Sense’, Disegno #41 (2026).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Panels Slide; Secret Doors Open; Sights Appear’, Disegno #40 (2025).

Image: courtesy of NGV.

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‘Freedom Through Constraint’, Disegno #40 (2025).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Through A Glass Darkly’, Disegno #39 (2025).

Image: Studio Brynjar & Veronika.

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‘Surviving What?’, Disegno #39 (2025).

Image: Etienne Malapert.

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‘The Courage of the Cucumber’, Disegno #39 (2025).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Thirsty’, Disegno #38 (2024).

Image: Jasmine Deporta.


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‘Give Us This Day Our Daily Watts’, Disegno #38 (2024).

Image: Kane Hulse.

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‘Mementos’, Disegno #38 (2024).

Image: Disegno.

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‘A Non-Light Light’, Disegno #37 (2024).

Image: Fabian Frinzel.

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‘Für Edward’, Disegno #37 (2024).

Image: Kristina Micotti.

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‘Unfinished’, Disegno #37 (2024).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Rising, Dancing, Twisting’, Design Reviewed #03 (2023).

Image: courtesy of Mathmos.

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‘In Praise of Faff’, Design Reviewed #03 (2023).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Control’, Disegno #36 (2023).

Image: courtesy of Apple.

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‘Motley’, Disegno #36 (2023).

Image: Fabian Frinzel.

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‘Less Volume, More Meaning’, Disegno #36 (2023).

Image: Fabian Frinzel.

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‘Notes of Mustard’, Disegno #36 (2023).

Image: Fabian Frinzel.

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‘The Scourge of Perfection’, Disegno #36 (2023).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Sugar/No-Sugar’, Design Reviewed #02 (2023).

Image: courtesy of PepsiCo.

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‘User Manual’, Design Reviewed #02 (2023).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Aggregate: A Composite Account’, Disegno #35 (2023).

Image: Donald Milne.

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‘A Quiet Cut’, Disegno #35 (2023).

Image: Fabian Frinzel.

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‘I Can Feel Your Anger’, Disegno #35 (2023).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Vacation, All I Never Wanted’, Design Reviewed #01 (2022).

Image: courtesy of Potato Head.

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‘The Doctor Will See You Now’, Design Reviewed #01 (2022).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Fibre to Form’, Disegno #34 (2022).

Image: Theresa Marx.

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‘Essential Forms’, Disegno #34 (2022).

Image: Fabian Frinzel.

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‘To Be Clear’, Disegno #34 (2022).

Image: Fabian Frinzel.

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‘Design Me Like One of Your Buff Boys’, Disegno #34 (2022).

Image: Disegno.

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‘A History of Swiss Aluminium’, Disegno #33 (2022).

Image: Rasmus Norlander.

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‘Mea Culpa’, Disegno #33 (2022).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Emeco Abides’, Disegno #32 (2022).

Image: Ramak Fazel.

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‘The Electric Ribbon Trick’, Disegno #32 (2022).

Image: Fabian Frinzel.

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‘Designing the Batman’, Disegno #32 (2022).

Image: Disegno.

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‘The Biodegradable Aphrodite’, Disegno #31 (2021).

Image: Theresa Marx.
 
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‘The Sugar Pot’, Disegno #31 (2021).

Image: Disegno.

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‘The Biggest Machine On Earth’, Disegno #30 (2021).

Image: Delfino Sisto Legnani.

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‘Happy Birthday’, Disegno #30 (2021).

Image: Disegno.

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‘What Lies Beneath’, Disegno #29 (2021).

Image: courtesy of SCP.

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‘Za, Naoto Fukasawa for Emeco’, Disegno #29 (2021).

Image: Choreo.

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‘Honext’, Disegno #29 (2021).

Image: Choreo.

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‘Swipe Right’, Disegno #29 (2021).

Image: Disegno.

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‘The Only Thing Left to Design is the Foot’, Disegno #28 (2021).

Image: Daniel Rybakken.

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‘OB-4 by Teenage Engineering’, Disegno #28 (2021).

Image: Choreo.

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‘Bell Chair by Konstantin Grcic for Magis’, Disegno #28 (2021).

Image: Choreo.

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‘One Star’, Disegno #28 (2021).

Image: Disegno.

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‘In the Circumstances’, Disegno #27 (2020).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Zoonotic Spaces’, Lockdown Paper (2020).

Image: Humberto and Fernando Campana.

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‘The Tourists’, Disegno #26 (2020).

Image: courtesy of NASA.

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‘Here In My Home’, Disegno #26 (2020).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Sustained Assault’, Disegno #25 (2019).

Image: courtesy of Nike.

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‘Goodbye Old Baby New Year’, Disegno #25 (2019).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Nested Betters’, Disegno #24 (2019).

Image: Daisy Alexandra Ginsberg.

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‘A Company Voyage’, Disegno #24 (2019).

Image: Juho Huttunen.

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‘My Pretty Peacock’, Disegno #24 (2019).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Don’t Cross the Streams’, Disegno #23 (2019).

Image: Ugo La Pietra.

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‘Business as Usual’, Disegno #23 (2019).

Image: Disegno.

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‘The Good Neighbour Idea’, Disegno #22 (2019).

Image: Jermaine Francis.

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‘Tetris Effect’, Disegno #22 (2019).

Image: courtesy of Enhance.

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‘Material Liberation Front’, Disegno #22 (2019).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Du français au russe en français’, Disegno #21 (2018).

Image: Iittala.

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‘Soft Work by Barber & Osgerby for Vitra’, Disegno #21 (2018).

Image: Barber & Osgerby.

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‘You say “chair”, I say “wooden object shaped in such-and-such a way”’, Disegno #22 (2018).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Most Yellow Cars Tend to be Signal Yellow Cars’, Disegno #20 (2018).

Image: Jermaine Francis.

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‘The Kenneth Pint Glass’, Disegno #20 (2018).

Image: Camden Town Brewery.

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‘Strength Through Adverbsity’, Disegno #20 (2018).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Cities of Spectacle’, Disegno #19 (2018).

Image: Matthew Williams.

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‘Eventually Everything Connects’, Disegno #19 (2018).

Image: Ramak Fazel.

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‘Tears for a Cube’, Disegno #19 (2018).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Spring Cleaning’, Disegno #18 (2018).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Design on the Fly’, Disegno #17 (2017).

Image: Jörg Koopmann.

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‘Sit Tight for Citrus’, Disegno #17 (2017).

Image: Disegno.

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‘The Driver’, Disegno #16 (2017).

Image: Andrew Bush.

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‘What is New is Young’, Disegno #16 (2017).

Image: Disegno.

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‘A Blanketing Field of Cotton Poplin’, Disegno #15 (2017).

Image: Murray Ballard.

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‘The Glitch’, Disegno #15 (2017).

Image: El Ultimo Grito.

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‘A Matter of Definitions’, Disegno #15 (2017).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Alternative Facts’, Disegno #14 (2017).

Image: Nama Khalil.

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‘Fake News!’, Disegno #14 (2017).

Image: Disegno.

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‘Contextual Illumination’, Disegno #13 (2016).

Image: Delfino Sisto Legnani.

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‘Yellow Inflatable Jacket, S/S17 Balenciaga’, Disegno #13 (2016).

Image: Ayzit Bostan and Fabian Frinzel.

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‘YEV-104, Yamaha’, Disegno #13 (2016).

Image: Ayzit Bostan and Fabian Frinzel.

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‘The Collector of Cracks’, Disegno #13 (2016).

Image: Disegno.

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‘NikeLab Windrunner x Kim Jones’, Disegno #12 (2016).

Image: Studio AKFB.

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‘Panini Colette’, Disegno #12 (2016).

Image: Studio AKFB.

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‘KUFTwist by KUFstudios’, Disegno #12 (2016).

Image: Studio AKFB.

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‘Return to Sarajevo’, Disegno #11 (2016).

Image: Fabian Frinzel.

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‘Coat from Outside, A/W 16/17 Junya Watanabe Man’, Disegno #11 (2016).

Image: Studio AKFB.

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‘Ghosts and Other Functionalities’, Disegno #10 (2016).

Image: Albrecht Fuchs.

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‘Disparate Threads’, Disegno #09 (2015).

Image: Iwan Baan.

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‘Power Behind the Scenes’, Disegno #09 (2015).

Image: courtesy of Magis.

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‘A New Frontier’, Disegno #08 (2015).

Image: Nick Rochowski.

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‘Pagan Practice’, Disegno #08 (2015).

Image: Kalle Sanner.

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‘Century Camera’, Disegno #07 (2014).

Image: Jere Salonen.

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‘Wrapping Architecture’, Disegno #06 (2014).

Image: Mårta Thisner.

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‘Forest as Idea Generator’, Disegno #06 (2014).

Image: Amira Fritz.

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‘75 Watt in the Pearl River Delta’, Disegno #05 (2013).

Image: Revital Cohen and Tuur van Balen.

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‘UN North Delegates Lounge’, Disegno #05 (2013).

Image: Frank Oudeman.

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‘Iceland Emerges’, Disegno #04 (2013).

Image: Glamour Et Cetera.

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‘The Fix’, Disegno #04 (2013).

Image: courtesy of Fixperts.

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‘New Technology’, Disegno #03 (2012).

Image: Colin Christie.

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‘Illuminations’, Disegno #03 (2012).

Image: Colin Christie.

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Oli Stratford / Editor, writer and public speaker

olistratford[at]gmail.com

I am an editor, writer and public speaker working within design journalism. From 2016, I have been the editor-in-chief of Disegno, one of the world’s leading design journals. My writing and editing has been published by Phaidon, Gestalten and Hatje Cantz, among others.

From 2015, I have also been head of editorial for the creative agency Disegno Works, delivering commercial projects for clients including Nike, Vitra, Jaguar Land Rover and the Design Museum. 

I regularly chair public talks and moderate panel discussions for brands and institutions including Apple, Moooi, YKK, RIBA, Alessi and the British Council. I am also the host of the design podcasts The Crit and Words on Wood.


Recent bylines

Wes Anderson: The Archives, Making the Plus, Platform: Bethan Laura Wood, Cars: Accelerating the Modern World, Industrial Facility Works, Playground - The Design of Sneakers, The New Era, Dirty Furniture, Apollo, Crafts, Mr Porter.

Recent clients

Jaguar Land Rover, Vitra Design Museum, ECAL, The American Hardwood Export Council, The Goldsmiths’ Centre, Nike, Herman Miller, The Design Museum, Molteni&C, Vibia, Universal Design Studio, Vestre, Nothing, Stockholm Furniture Fair.

I am available for writing and editing commissions, and can also be booked to host or moderate conferences, panel talks and public discussions.