Introducing the Surface Magazine 2026 Print Edition

Yesterday, at Bobby’s Bar inside London’s newly opened St. Clement hotel, Surface unveiled 2026, a limited-edition hardcover volume guest edited by photographer and creative director Andrew Zuckerman and designed by Noë & Associates.

The oversized annual marks Surface‘s first print publication in more than five years, but it is less a return than an evolution. Conceived as a time capsule of the present moment, this book examines the people, ideas, and systems redefining how we live, build, communicate, create, and preserve knowledge.

Inside are conversations with figures including architect Bjarke Ingels, chef Dan Barber, filmmaker Robert De Niro, Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen, lunar data pioneer Chris Stott, and more. Their stories explore subjects ranging from nuclear energy and food systems to artificial intelligence, space infrastructure, and the future of communication.

For Zuckerman, the project began with a desire to look beyond individual disciplines and understand how emerging fields are increasingly converging. “Rather than make a magazine about design objects, I looked at the connective tissue between technology, energy, biology, A.I., food systems, space, materials, philosophy, and the natural world,” he shares. “I wanted to understand them as one story.”

That sense of convergence shapes the editorial architecture of the book itself. A story about the Prada and Axiom spacesuit collaboration leads into questions of perception and artificial intelligence. A conversation between writer Andri Snær Magnason and artist Olafur Eliasson opens onto broader explorations of industrial design and filmmaking. Throughout, seemingly disparate disciplines reveal unexpected connections.

The physical object reflects that same ambition. Designed by Noë & Associates, the volume balances restraint and material richness, drawing from Surface’s historic visual language while advancing it through foil stamping, embossing, and immersive photographic portfolios.

“I collaborated with Marc Lotenberg in 2013 to reinvent Surface magazine,” says Mark Noë, founder and CEO of Noë & Associates. “The original premise was for the design of the publication to become the surface—a canvas for stories, makers, and the people behind the work. Never to distract from it.”

That philosophy remains intact.

“Today, with so much visual noise competing for attention, that restraint reads as both radical and necessary,” Noë says, acknowledging the essential work of Mike Davey, Rok Hudobivnik, Vera Kasper, Paul Noë, and Emma Ralph on the 2026 edition. “This publication doesn’t reinvent that philosophy; it deepens it. We’ve refined how we use typography, materiality, and space to let the stories breathe.”

Alongside new conversations and original reporting, Surface 2026 features the voices of artist Julie Mehretu, photographer Tyler Mitchell, musician Jacob Collier, and choreographer Gianna Reisen.

“The book became an opportunity to commission some of the strongest voices in our orbit, from longtime contributors to leading thinkers who have captured our attention over the years,” says Surface editor-in-chief, David Graver.

Published in a limited run and not offered for public sale, Surface 2026 will be distributed through a curated network of cultural institutions, creative leaders, collectors, partners, and friends of the magazine.