To be an undertone is to be essential, but never primary. Undertones are underlying. Secondary. Subdued. Traces. Accompanying. It is often used with the English preposition 'of'–of origin, of belonging, of layers, of possession, of feeling. It is not restricted to one discipline; it moves across music, makeup, fragrance, design, art, cuisine, culture and life. Omnipresent, though rarely noticed.

The steps we take, the walls we pass, the streets we cross accumulate into systems of routine, of change, of time—and even when we don't intentionally register those frames, they become a part of our everyday. What happens when something shifts in that routine? When the long grey tunnel wall turns into a colourful ceramic tile wall? A small intervention of colour, attention, visuals can alter the memory and experience of a place.

This week's issue highlights the undertones that shape how we change, interact, respond, remember and resist the movements defining their lives. Adam Nathaniel Furman's 3D installation on Livery Street Subway creates one such moment of pause. Brera Design District 2026 shifts the limelight from product to process, people and places, to making, collaboration and context. Of all movements, Brutalism has been most contested; seen as violent, cold and uncomfortable. Quake Brutalist Jam III, a mod for Quake (1996), leans into this unease and alienness to shape its gritty digital terrain.

After all, isn't it the undertones of presence, becoming and belonging that shape the way we see and are seen?