This month, the game studio Color Gray Games released the new detective game The Rise of the Golden Idol by brothers Andrejs and Ernests Kļaviņš. It is a sequel to their 2022 game The Case of the Golden Idol, which received wide international acclaim and the National Design Award of Latvia 2023 in the digital solutions category.

Wigiwama, a manufacturer of upholstered furniture for children, creates attractive and high-quality items that fit not only into a kids’ room but even in a minimalistic interior. The company’s latest product is the Moon Chair, a modular armchair that can be easily adapted to different functions and heights, including for adults.

Estere Betija Grāvere is an emerging artist and designer who works with drawing and various techniques of graphic art and also creates visual identities and book designs. In the Nice Touch section, she talks about her favourite pen.

Designer Sarmīte Poļakova specialises in material design — she creates new, sustainable, and, equally importantly, visually appealing materials from the residues of different industries. «Waste is our own invention,» says Sarmīte. She looks for ways to turn it into new resources through design.

Continuing the tradition, this year ISSP is publishing a planner for 2025, which includes 40 photographs by Latvian and foreign artists. The theme of the year is Metamorphosis — a symbol of transformation and development.

Architect Brigita Bula, one of the selection jury chairs of the National Design Award of Latvia 2025, creates sustainable architecture for environmentally conscious and forward-thinking clients. In the Nice Touch section, Brigita talks about a method that helps her develop ideas when working on projects.

The New Riga Theatre, whose concept and project were created by the architecture office Zaigas Gailes Birojs but later also worked on by the studio Sarma and Norde, stands out both for its multi-layered architecture and for its complex construction process, which was widely discussed by the local media.

Photographer Filips Šmits captures people in vivid and somewhat utopian photographs, which are most aptly described by the title of his photo series Sun Kissed, where he captures staged scenes of people relaxing in an urban environment. In the Nice Touch section, Filips recommends a thing that helps fight the autumn darkness. 

e materiality of architecture is a theme that architects selected by the curator Angelina L. Starkova are exploring at the Tallinn Architecture Biennale. FOLD presents five resources proposed by the participants of the biennale.

In creating the new visual identity of the Latvian National Museum of History (LNVM), the design studio Kid Design reflects on the passage of time and the museum’s mission — to collect, preserve, research, and promote. Design solutions combine references to the historical with contemporary elements.

Among the winners of the Red Dot Design Award 2024 is the interior design of the medical products manufacturer Lightguide, a joint collaboration between the design studio H2E and the architecture office Mindaro Arch.

Illustrator and graphic designer Ingus Sproģis combines the modernist style of illustration with modern details in his work. For inspiration, Ingus collects historical visual materials, and in the Nice Touch section, he talks about how to extend his collection into the digital world.