It is not easy to hear about authorial staging; even among insiders it is not such a popular term. Perhaps the term authorial staging better explains the concept, but the fact remains that it is not such an entrenched practice, at least in the art and design world. The fashion industry, on the contrary, seems to have already grasped its potential, perhaps because in terms of budget it can afford it and, on the other hand, has a great need for a scenic effect for both shoots and runway shows. Of scenic runways we had already talked about it, dwelling on the work of the Bureau Betak studio, which makes the sets of the fashion shows of major fashion houses including Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Jacquemus, turning them into real shows with an artistic flavor.

In any case, any show – be it fashion, art or design – needs production or rather, very specific services that make it all possible. From transportation to packaging, from exhibition design to the actual set-up. But who is in charge of it? Who are these actors? It is not easy to identify well-defined realities that deal with these services from A to Z, although in recent years real brands – or design studios – are emerging that aim to meet these demands in toto, inserting themselves in a complex process, not only from a logistical point of view but bringing a real creative contribution with a solid aesthetic line. Their position behind the scenes makes it difficult to draw an identikit of them, which is why we asked Matteo De Nando, founder of HeyCrates, an emerging brand that represents one of the few Italian examples of authorial staging.

We met HeyCrates during Milan Design Week, specifically at Lampo, Isola Design‘s new main hub. The exhibition that HeyCrates will present next week in the Scalo Farini location well represents the direction the brand has been taking in the last period, materializing as the starting point of an important second phase for the brand. Let’s find out more and delve behind the scenes of an exhibition.

Let’s start with the definition “authorial staging” or “author’s staging.” In recent years it is increasingly in demand by various industries, think fashion, but also design and art. In the past, the production aspect was reduced to a simple anonymous service. Why do we need a set-up today that is creative and has an established identity? What has changed in your opinion?

Matteo De Nando: HeyCrates was born in a sphere, that of art, that pivots precisely on authorship, which is often the result of a synergy of various professions, from the design of a work of art to its conservation, including its staging. What I have been able to observe firsthand is that this last decade is marked by an increasing number of ephemeral events dotting the calendar of all major cities. As a result, I think the demand for original design, as well as responsive and “bespoke” logistics, has grown in tandem.

This is where your brand fits in. How did the idea for HeyCrates come about? What was your intuition? Do you think you fit in and subsequently filled a void that was missing especially in the art world?

Matteo De Nando: It can be said that HeyCrates was born out of both a strong need and a great curiosity and interest in the world behind the scenes. An interest that is also aesthetic with respect to the art system and its mechanisms, declined in a form that can enhance the designer as well as the craftsman.

When I think of exhibition design, the much-loved “white cube” model comes to mind even though it seems to have become obsolete in recent years. Do you think this is the reason for the success of authorial exhibition design in the art world as well? Do galleries, or spaces more generally, need “wow” effect set-ups to adapt to a new language influenced mainly by social media?

Matteo De Nando: Surely social media, configuring itself as an “archive of news,” relentlessly influences the way of storytelling to its audience. Authorial setting has always been linked to curating; it is time to enhance production as well.

Who are your ideal customers? What should you expect when you call HeyCrates?

Matteo De Nando: My favorite clients are those with whom we talk about design and not problem solving. HeyCrates likes to design!

In talking with you one word that resonates in my mind is hybrid. A term perhaps widely used to give a definition to something that is difficult to explain in a few words. This is because, in addition to production, HeyCrates develops in parallel its products made by Italian and non-Italian designers. I’m thinking in particular of the installation that you are presenting at Isola – Storages – explain more about what these are. Are they large-scale or limited edition products? Do they wink at collectible design?

Matteo De Nando: For Isola’s shop area, I thought it was appropriate to reintroduce the Storages living room designed by Federico Fontanella as it fully fulfills the function of the space by giving some more food for thought on the possibilities of packaging as furniture, furnishings. To date, we have a family of products that could be said to be first-generation, so they are definitely relatable to collectible despite pointing to a broader production.

How do you choose designers to collaborate with? Do they have to reflect your vision? Are they constant collaborators or do you prefer to rely on designers depending on the project?

Matteo De Nando: To date they have always been people with whom I spontaneously start dialogues, but they go beyond that. So I find myself providing input, and if that input is gathered and processed then we go.

We close with a question about the future. How do you envision HeyCrates in the near future?

Matteo De Nando: Like a 15th-century workshop

Courtesy HeyCrates
Cover: HeyCrates x Luertìs – furniture_ Mini by Riccardo Gianduzzo x HeyCrates_ph Cesare Lopopolo e Anna Vezzosi

Perfect Days is a Wim Wenders film that was released last year.

It tells the story of Hirayama, who works as a cleaner at a public toilet in Tokyo, dedicating himself every day to cleaning its surfaces as thoroughly and diligently as he possibly can. The film was lauded at the Cannes Film Festival, winning two awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award at last month’s ceremony. The Guardian called it a “zen meditation on beauty, fulfilment and simplicity”.

It is the film that Alfie Whiteman, Tottenham goalkeeper, points to when discussing the mentality of a backup keeper. Whiteman is a valued and popular member of the Spurs squad, but he has not been involved in a match this season after recovering from a broken leg in pre-season. But his answer to the question of where he finds his motivation to keep performing to his best in training every day is typical of Whiteman.

First, because it underlines his personal commitment to his craft; his determination to keep his own standards high in everything that he does. And second, because not many other Premier League footballers would illustrate a point about their own career with reference to arthouse cinema portraying a Japanese toilet cleaner.

“He’s cleaning toilets,” Whiteman says of the character Hirayama, “but he does it to the best of his ability, so they’re clean as a whistle. It shows that no matter what you’re doing, you need to do it well. There’s no point in doing something badly; just don’t do it then.”

Whiteman, 25, has been at Tottenham for 15 years, made a first-team appearance under Jose Mourinho, and has had two loan spells at Degerfors in Sweden, where he lived by himself in a log cabin with water provided by a nearby lake.

Perhaps it should be no surprise that Whiteman recently read Where I Lived, and What I Lived For, part of the 1854 book Walden by Henry David Thoreau, in which the transcendentalist writer lives by himself by a pond so that he can “front only the essential facts of life”.

Whiteman (centre) pictured in Tottenham training last season (Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images)

Whiteman is a fascinating interviewee — not only for his football life but also for his one away from the game.

Not many players have a hinterland quite like he does. Whiteman is creative, enthusiastic about his photography and art and, in February, he recorded an hour-long show on independent online radio station NTS called “Sweet Tooth w/ Alfie”. It starts with The Warnings by jazz producer David Axelrod and goes from there, skipping genres, taking in Cocteau Twins and Elliott Smith along the way.

The idea for the show came about during the 2022 World Cup. Whiteman had just returned from his second loan spell in Sweden and had some time off. He went on holiday to Tokyo and a friend introduced him to Femi Adeyemi, the founder of NTS. The two connected over their shared interest in music and stayed in touch. Adeyemi suggested that Whiteman put together a show.

Music has always been a huge part of Whiteman’s life. His father was a jazz guitarist and Whiteman starting his NTS show with Axelrod was a personal tribute to him — a nod to how a young Whiteman used to hear that song in his car. Whiteman senior used to take Alfie to the famous Soho jazz club Ronnie Scott’s and thus, growing up, he saw performances by Roy Ayers, Lonnie Smith, Eumir Deodato and British funk pioneers Cymande. Even now, Whiteman still raids his dad’s record collection.

What Whiteman most likes about music is the sense of exploration. He goes to Reckless Records in Soho and buys some records online, but he also frequents car boot sales to buy cassette tapes, on the off-chance he might love what he hears. “I’m not looking for a specific thing where I know what it sounds like and I’ve got a favourite album,” Whiteman says. “I like the music discovery aspect of it.”

The last gig he went to was to his friend Pigbaby supporting Vegyn at EartH in Dalston. “That was a great show; all quite experimental.”

Whiteman’s particular music taste slightly marks him out from the rest of the squad, but he laughs at the suggestion that he forces his team-mates to listen to Boards of Canada before games. The changing room playlist, he reveals, is usually chosen by a member of staff, or James Maddison, or sometimes Giovani Lo Celso, now that Eric Dier has left. Drake and Lil Baby feature heavily. Sometimes they just listen to Smooth Radio.

In the past, Whiteman has tried to maintain the distinction between his life as a professional goalkeeper and his many hobbies and interests. When he first published a mix online, he did so under his mother’s surname.

“I’ve always kept my private life and football separate,” he explains. “I feel the stigma of, ‘You’re a footballer, that’s it, and anything else is a distraction’, which I think is a complete fallacy. You need a broad range of things in life that stimulate you to be a rounded person.”

Whiteman making his Spurs debut against Ludogorets in the Europa League in November 2020 (Ian Kington/pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Ultimately, what is the difference between spending your spare time trying to get your handicap down and spending it listening to records or taking photographs? (Whiteman has an interest in documentary-style photography and admires how Jeff Wall and Alex Prager structure their scenes.) Why would it be a distraction to spend time off at Pirate Studios but not at a golf course? For Whiteman, it is just about being authentic to who he is.

“As ‘the stereotypical footballer’, we are pigeon-holed and painted with the same brush,” says the goalkeeper.

“If you talk about hobbies, a lot of footballers play golf. They spend a whole day off and dedicate a lot of time to it, and I don’t see any difference between doing that and doing a show on NTS, for example, or taking photographs. People are into different things in every walk of life. It should be celebrated. That’s also kind of a reason why I kept it quiet, my life away from work. I’m just Alfie with my friends.”

In part, Whiteman does not want to use his football career as a “platform” for his other interests, which he wants to develop organically. He has already worked very hard to get to where he is in the game, having signed for Spurs when he was 10. Tottenham scouted Whiteman as a boy playing for Norsemen, a popular amateur club based not too far from Spurs’ Enfield training ground. He also played Sunday league for Edmonton All Stars.

Whiteman was always a Spurs fan and of all the players who have gone from the academy into the first-team squad in recent years, no one could claim to be more Tottenham than him. He grew up near Broadwater Farm, the housing estate just over a 20 minutes’ walk south west of the ground. He attended Park View School, just a bit further down the road. He then moved to near South Tottenham station, just off the High Road most fans use to get to games, and now he lives just “two roads away” from the stadium, meaning that he walks there for games.

Whiteman’s commitment to the local area is evident at this event at Project 2020, a community centre a short walk from the stadium. There is a recording and podcast studio where Whiteman takes questions from a long line of schoolchildren about football, music, career choices and how to handle disappointments.

“I’m also a local resident, so I’m talking to my fellow residents,” Whiteman says afterwards. “The kids had some really interesting questions. It’s always fascinating, a child’s mind, because they don’t know the rules. They haven’t quite yet been affected by the world’s pressures and the things you can’t do. Their curiosity is really inspiring.”

Whiteman answers questions during his session with Project 2020 (Tottenham Hotspur FC)

This has been a frustrating season for Whiteman, who did not go out on loan but stayed to be part of the squad for pre-season under Ange Postecoglou.

But after a good start, Whiteman broke his leg and then had to spend months recovering before he could return to full training. He feels “very fortunate” to be working with Guglielmo Vicario (“an incredible professional and an outstanding keeper”), who has made the No 1 spot his own since arriving from Empoli. With Fraser Forster established as No 2 and Brandon Austin there as well, Whiteman knows how tough the competition to play is.

“The reality of the position of the goalkeeper is that there is only one,” he says. “You’re not subbed in and subbed out and, playing for a big club, there is going to be fierce competition. When you’re not playing, it’s always difficult because everyone wants to play — hence why I went on loan to go and play games. The main thing is just focusing on today’s training, doing well, and then the day after that — and being ready, because you never know when your opportunity may arise.”

So every day, Whiteman goes in and trains as well as he possibly can because those are the standards and values he holds himself to. A bit like Hirayama from Perfect Days.

“It’s all very intrinsic motivation,” he says. “I feel with everything I try to do — if that’s making the bed, or eating the right things, or just picking up a piece of rubbish — I want to do things well. I feel like people don’t understand how intense training can be. It’s not just a kickabout. It’s competitive and it’s high-paced.

“You’re performing every day on the training pitch to try to prove to the coaches and the gaffer that you deserve to be there, you deserve to be in the team. The motivation just comes from me wanting to do well in whatever I’m doing.”

Which makes me wonder whether, given the frustrations of working hard but not being in the team, Whiteman’s hobbies provide him with a much-needed creative outlet.

“I feel like I’ve always had it,” says the former England Under-19 international. “It’s just me being who I am. I’ve been taking photos and have been into music for a long time.

“Whatever you’re doing, you need a switch-off. If you have a bad day, you can’t let that just dictate everything involved in your life. That’s why it’s good to have good people around you and things you appreciate. These creative endeavours, or whatever you want to call them, really benefit my work life because it gives me a broader purpose. And I’m learning. I definitely think it’s beneficial.

“You need to have variety in your life.”

Whiteman was speaking at Project 2020, a community hub in Northumberland Park, which offers a range of free engagement activities for young people across Tottenham.

(Top photos: Tottenham Hotspur FC and Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images)

A local photographer’s work is being shared and seen by millions of people around the globe after she captured the once-in-a-lifetime moment of a couple’s proposal in Flower Mound during Monday’s total solar eclipse.

Macy Alex, a professional photographer from Lewisville, said she was recently contacted by Alex Hoffpauir of Lake Charles, Louisiana, who wanted to propose to his girlfriend, Austynn Harbison, in North Texas during the eclipse. They ultimately decided on Murrell Park, located in Flower Mound on the eastern shore of Grapevine Lake.

“I suggested Murrell Park because to be able to capture them and the eclipse at the same time, I needed to be lower than them, and the cliffs at Murrell made that possible,” Macy said, adding that she was stressing over the details to make sure she got the shot, since there were no do-overs. “I showed up 45 minutes early, and I was just trying to maintain my composure. I really wanted to nail it.”

Macy was worried Alex would have a hard time finding the spot she wanted them to be for the photo, so she sent him coordinates and maps and also drew an X in the dirt with her foot “and prayed he saw it.”

“All of sudden Austynn popped up on the ledge and asked if they were in my way, and I said, ‘No, you’re in the best spot in DFW to see the eclipse,’” Macy said.

As they waited for the moment of totality, the happy couple was sitting and laughing and talking about how much they loved each other.

“They were having a lovely moment,” Macy said.

Then the moon fully covered the sun, and Alex dropped to his knee, and Macy triggered the flash she had set up.

“I got the shot,” she said. “I couldn’t believe I got it.”

After congratulating the newly-engaged couple and another 20-minute photo shoot, Macy went home and quickly edited the photo and posted it online, then did the same thing with a TikTok video, and then she forgot about it while hanging out with a friend. The next time she checked her phone, she almost threw it out of surprise that she had 2,000 notifications. By Tuesday evening, Macy’s TikTok video has 3.8 million views, and the photo has been shared millions of times on X (formerly Twitter) and tens of thousands of times on Facebook. Her previously most viewed post on social media was a TikTok video with 150,000 views.

“It’s a joy to be so seen,” Macy said. “I love a good story … My ultimate goal is to share joy when and where I can.”

@macyalexphoto

Come with me for the most stressful. Ut rewarding shoot of my career ❤️💍🌑

♬ Total Eclipse of the Heart (Radio Version) – Bonnie Tyler

Click here for more information about Macy Alex Photography.