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interiors / art / architecture / travel
asia edition / issue 25
© Copyright 2020 Design Anthology All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, scanning or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except where noted. Views expressed by authors are not necessarily those of the publisher. This magazine is printed on fsc™-certified paper and other controlled materials. The fsc™ logo identifies product groups from well-managed forests and other controlled sources in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council®.
FROM THE EDITOR
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n case you hadn’t noticed, we’re living in the future. Remember those post-apocalyptic movies we (of my generation) watched as children; the ones about a global pandemic or some kind of environmental disaster? Well, that’s what it feels like we’re experiencing (minus the zombies). Late last year, during the height of the protests here in Hong Kong, I actually remarked — rather foolishly, in hindsight — that our generation is lucky because we’ve never experienced great hardship. I was wrong. We may not have lived through a global war or economic depression, but this is the first time in most of our memories that we’ve been so indiscriminately and globally impacted. I know that many people around the world are still coming to grips with the ‘new normal’ and are grappling with the widespread effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. So, it may seem insensitive of us to be publishing what’s normally our favourite issue of the year, but we always look forward to the Summer Issue for its collection of homes in tropical climes and its wanderlustinducing locations. And since none of us will be travelling any time soon, we felt we could all do with a break from looking at the same four walls of our homes and enjoy for a moment the fantasy that armchair travel provides. Aside from the welcome distraction we hope this issue presents, our aim remains to showcase and celebrate the immense talent working in this part of the world. The design industry has taken a severe knock over the last few months, and we hope that when some semblance of normality resumes, those of you who have the means to engage an architect or interior designer, or to buy new furniture or accessories for your home, will consider spending locally. Invest in design, in quality and in individuals and small studios that consistently pour their heart and soul into whatever they design or produce — the world would be a rather boring and unappealing place without them. Stay healthy and well. Suzy Annetta Editor-in-Chief
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MASTHEAD
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June 2020 The Summer Issue The editors, writers, columnists, designers and photographers behind this issue
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Suzy Annetta sa@fifthblack.com Managing Editor Philip Annetta pa@fifthblack.com Deputy Editor Simone Schultz ss@fifthblack.com Art Director Jeremy Smart js@fifthblack.com Commercial Director, Hong Kong Petula Kincaid psk@fifthblack.com Commercial Manager, Australia Brad Johnson bj@fifthblack.com Text Charline Catteeuw, Christopher DeWolf, Duncan Forgan, Katie Hagar, Sophie Kalkreuth, Paphop Kerdsup, Christina Ko, Suneet Zishan Langar, Shonquis Moreno, Payal Uttam Images Merwin Adenan, Fabien Charuau, Juliette Chrétien, Molly DeCoudreaux, DOF Sky|Ground, Muhammad Fadli, André J Fanthome, Adrian Gaut, David Getty, Ashanti Harris, William Hereford, Adam Kuehl, Maike McNeill, Manoo Manookulkit, Annie Martin, Rajen Nandwana, Guillaume Plisson, Peter Prato, Tommaso Riva, Cesar Rubio, Kemal Sanli, Soopakorn Srisaku, Studio Daniel Costa, Edmund Sumner, Stephanie Teng
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Design Anthology, Asia Edition is published quarterly by Fifth Black Media Limited 14C, E Wah Factory Building 56–60 Wong Chuk Hang Road Aberdeen, Hong Kong +852 3489 0240 hello@fifthblack.com fifthblack.com Media Sales, Hong Kong Josephine Leung +852 2856 3543 josephineleung@visiononehk.com Media Sales, Italy Carlo Fiorucci +39 0362 144 6000 info@fiorucci-international.com Media Sales, Thailand Nartnittha Jirarayapong +66 2 635 5185 noo@njintermedia.com Media Sales, United Kingdom Rebecca Harkness +44 7500 949434 rebecca@designanthologyuk.com Media Sales, other regions Petula Kincaid +852 3489 0240 psk@fifthblack.com Printer Asia One Printing Limited 13/F, Asia One Tower 8 Fung Yip Street Chai Wan, Hong Kong Distributors Hong Kong, Macau & China Foreign Press & Far East Media Singapore & Malaysia Allscript Thailand Asia Books Taiwan Multi Arts Philippines APCEI Indonesia Periplus Europe, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, US & Japan Export Press
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CONTENTS
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June 2020 The Summer Issue Our selection of the best design stories from around the world
Read more online Explore the world of Design Anthology between issues with exclusive interiors, interviews and reportage on design, published throughout the week at design-anthology.com
Australia Edition Published in Melbourne, our Australia edition is focused on the changing face of design in Australia and New Zealand design-anthology.com /subscribe/australia
Dossier
Wanderlust
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Openings New store openings in Hong Kong and Manila
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Products New collections and collaborations
Villa, Sri Lanka On Sri Lanka’s southern coast, The Kip is a four-room villa dedicated to slowing down
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Read Upcoming and new books on design, art, interiors and architecture from some of the world’s best publishers
Cruise Boat, Bangkok Namthip, a converted Thai rice barge, offers a luxurious way to experience Bangkok from the Chao Phraya river
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Openings The best of the new boutique and luxury designer hotels from around the world
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Creative Space, Hong Kong We take a look inside the characteristically refined new office of André Fu’s Hong Kong-based studio AFSO
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Profile Textile designer Liam Lee’s handcrafted throws are more like artworks than functional objects
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Design Studio, Jakarta Newly launched studio and workshop Surrounding Objects creates locally inspired furniture in collaboration with Indonesian artists, designers and craftspeople
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Creative Space, Bangkok Design in Motion’s studio space showcases the firm’s fresh approach to architectural features
United Kingdom Edition Discover Europe’s creative community with Design Anthology UK, published by Astrid Media designanthologyuk.com
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Vernissage 74
Knot Art Learning a vocabulary of knots enabled artist Windy Chien to express herself using a linear language that transforms the functional into the decorative
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South Asian Artists We profile five South Asian artists to watch, from a Magnum photographer to an architect-turned-artist
www.baxter.it • www.baxtersrl.cn
CONTENTS
Home
Architectonics
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148 Studio Profile Studio Lotus’s ingenious approach to adaptive reuse, which extends from buildings and materials to traditional craft forms, presents a new, resilient model of urbanism for India
Goa Self-taught architect Nikhil Padgaonkar’s voluminous home is an intuitive blend of the industrial and the traditional
100 Bangkok The home of boutique design firm ANONYM’s founders is a calming retreat from the city’s fast pace 112 Bali Designed by architect Maximilian Jencquel, Rumah Purnama evokes the bohemian spirit of Ubud popularised by artist Walter Spies 130 Yogyakarta Contrasts define this waterside home, designed by AEDI to reflect its owner’s personality and passions
The Flâneur 152 In-Between Days A flâneur is an urban explorer — a connoisseur of the street. In our rotating column, guests share their musings, observations and critiques of the urban environment in cities around the world. In this issue, former Istanbul resident Shonquis Moreno reflects on the city’s poetic relationship with the water
Front cover Past and present meet in this Yogyakarta home nestled in a bamboo forest Image by Merwin Adenan See page 130
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Design in Motion’s Bangkok studio feels appropriately tropical thanks to plenty of greenery and floor-to-ceiling windows Image by Soopakorn Srisaku
DOSSIER
Design news from around the world
DOSSIER / Openings
WOOL Studio Store Hong Kong Hong Kong-based Scandiphiles can now rejoice — furniture agency WOOL has opened a light-filled boutique in the island’s Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood. Here you can find furniture, home products and accessories from Scandinavian favourites like MENU, Frama, Tekla, Kristina Dam Studio and new paint and plaster brand St. Leo, all of which will beautify your home and transport you to your favourite Copenhagen neighbourhood. woolstudio.co
Ito Kish Manila Renowned Filipino designer Ito Kish closed his Manila showroom in 2017 to concentrate on consultancy work. Now he’s returned to the world of brick and mortar retail with a new space in Makati, which will only open for specific events and exhibitions. With the new store, Kish will also be launching From the Neighborhood, a perennial selection of objects he’s handselected from specific countries on his travels. The store’s official opening date will depend on when the lockdown in Metro Manila is lifted, but you can shop from the comfort of your home in the meantime, as all items will be available online soon. itokish.com
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DOSSIER / Products
Baea Hong Kong-born entrepreneur Adah Chan has recently launched a range of natureinspired homewares under the brand Baea. Having worked in the homeware and textile industries for most of her career with the likes of Ralph Lauren Home and Designers Guild, Chan channels her experience into an offering of unique bed linens, cushions and other objects. This includes a collaboration with textile designer Catherine Reeves on two timeless collections, both inspired by nature. Sustainability is woven into each product from the outset, with premium organic cotton, buttons made from plant-based material and biodegradable packaging. The debut collections consist of bed linen, throws and cushions, and are available globally online and through select retailers in Hong Kong. baea.com
Items from the Wild Meadow collection (this page) and the Rocks collection (facing page)
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DOSSIER / Products
Studio Daniel Costa Italian artist and designer Daniel Costa has launched his first rug collection, LUM, in collaboration with Belgian carpet manufacturer van Caster and craftspeople in Nepal. The rugs are made from handspun yak wool, Tibetan sheep wool, goat hair and nettle fibre in a range of natural tones. studiodanielcosta.com
Image by Juliette Chrétien and Studio Daniel Costa
Man of Parts × Yabu Pushelberg New York- and Toronto-based design practice Yabu Pushelberg has collaborated with new Canadian brand Man of Parts on the El Raval series. The design symbolises its namesake Barcelona neighbourhood’s nightlife and the chance encounters that happen in the historic district. The series includes a sofa, chair and bench, all made from walnut, handwoven rattan, leather and smoked bronze. manofparts.com / yabupushelberg.com
Poltrona Frau × AB Concept Image courtesy of Poltrona Frau
Hong Kong-based hospitality design firm AB Concept has launched the Viola chair, its first collaboration with Italian heritage brand Poltrona Frau. At once lightweight and hardy, contemporary yet classic, the armchair is made from refined European ash, Pelle Frau® leather strings that have been hand-stitched into the frame, and padded cushions that can be upholstered in Poltrona Frau fabric or leather. poltronafrau.com / abconcept.net
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DOSSIER / Products
Time and Style Amsterdam-based Time and Style creates objects that fuse a contemporary aesthetic with traditional Japanese craft. For this year’s collection, the brand has launched a series of three tables produced using a thousand-year-old Japanese bronze casting technique, pendants from traditional Japanese washi paper, and two chairs in oak and white ash respectively. timeandstyle.nl
Top Drop bronze table from the Casting series Bottom Sculpture bronze table from the Casting series and Arrow chairs
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K I N — W E LC O M E TO T H E FA M I LY By surprising yourself, unsurprisingly, creative flair will strike you in every day life. This is Allermuir.
KIN BY PEARSONLLOYD
allermuir.com
DOSSIER / Products
Blue Bunny The first furniture collection from Bali-based lifestyle brand Blue Bunny is handcrafted from sustainably sourced rattan and displays a 70s glam aesthetic with a futuristic twist. Along with its commitment to sustainability, the brand has pledged to donate a portion of all profits to two foundations that care for critically ill children. fb.com/wearebluebunny
Tommy Lai Multidisciplinary designer Tommy Lai has recently established his own studio in Hong Kong. After graduating from the London College of Fashion, Lai started his career as a visual merchandiser, designing spaces, retail displays and furniture. Under STUDIO TOMMY LAI, he offers bespoke creative services and has launched his own collection that includes the Offset chair, seen here. tommy-lai.com
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DOSSIER / Read
André Fu: Crossing Cultures With Design
Chinese Brutalism Today: Concrete and AvantGarde Architecture
by Catherine Shaw (Thames & Hudson)
by Alberto Bologna (ORO Editions)
Over the past decade and a half, Hong Kong native André Fu has risen to become one of the most in-demand and recognised interior architects in Asia and perhaps the world. His understated luxury graces hospitality spaces from Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul to London and New York. Modern but classically inspired, Asian but globally inspired, his aesthetic is perhaps best described by author and regular Design Anthology contributor Catherine Shaw as ‘not about combining styles; rather, it rests on an ability to navigate very different cultures and styles and to reflect contemporary culture not based on any one model, but on the inherent qualities of beauty’.
As China has rapidly developed its infrastructure and built environment over the past two decades, it’s become the world’s leading producer and user of concrete. Architect and academic Alberto Bologna, who’s taught about the use of exposed concrete in architectural design as a visiting scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing, has produced a rare critical reading and contextualisation of recent Chinese buildings. Bologna chooses to cover a small selection thoroughly. Beginning from the surface, he works through the construction process to uncover deeper meanings and motivations. Chapters cover the design process, the search for identity through surfaces and ornament, and the emerging spatial conceptions enabled by new construction and fabrication techniques. Each chapter comprises multiple essays and is thoroughly referenced in keeping with the critical, scholarly approach. Residential, public and private buildings range from what we expect of the term Brutalism (whose meaning is itself discussed) to forms that draw a surprising amount from tradition. Imagery is carefully chosen, and in addition to finished buildings, includes construction and fabrication, plans and sections, and often expressionistic initial drawings. An extended foreword by Pierre-Alain Croset adds context.
This work showcases 18 projects, and while the stars are undoubtedly the beautifully realised interiors of such properties as the St. Regis Hong Kong and The Berkeley, London, Fu’s product designs for Lasvit and Tai Ping are also featured, as is the famously private designer’s own Hong Kong home. Each is introduced by a first-person narrative from Fu, and the large format provides space for photography that does justice to the carefully crafted scenes. Comments from collaborators and Shaw’s personal insights complete the picture.
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DOSSIER / Read
Korean Art from 1953: Collision, Innovation, Interaction
Liaigre: Creation 2016–2020
by Yeon Shim Chung, Kimberly Chung, Sunjung Kim & Keith B Wagner (Phaidon)
by Françoise-Claire Prodhon (Rizzoli)
The modern history of the Korean Peninsula is inherently political, and of course has been a major driver of Korean art. Korean Art from 1953 embraces this, with 13 chapters divided into two parts delineated by key historical points. The first begins with the end of the Korean War in 1953 and stretches until 1987. During this period, while North Korea embraced socialist realism, South Korea experienced the growth of a diaspora, and increasing foreign interaction shifted the country’s art from its introspective beginnings. Marker events include the bloody repression in Gwangju in 1980, which led to the formation of the antiauthoritarian Minjung movement. Photography also developed from state to individualistic expression, and Dansaekhwa became a leading modernist movement. The second part, from 1988 to the present day, covers the global social changes that have Westernised Korean art, and its usage of pop culture, technology and media, in addition to the establishment of three major national art events and participation in the Venice Biennale, which introduced Korean art to a broader audience.
Christian Liaigre took a step back from his design studio in 2016, but under creative director Frauke Meyer the brand has continued to create refined, upscale interiors. This publication showcases five major projects: a Japanese home overlooking thermal springs, a modernist palace in New Delhi, a villa in St. Moritz, an early 20th-century Parisian maison and a Munich mansion. Each is separated into sections that cover the inspirations behind the project and then the project itself. They include short introductory essays, but the focus is on the sumptuous imagery that shows the studio’s refined approach. Inspiration mood boards show the tactility and quality of the materials and objects that informed the design direction for each space, while the spaces themselves are showcased through full-bleed, full-colour images. Happily, the limited number of projects shown leaves ample space to cover them from all visual angles. A separate chapter on the studio itself gives a peek behind the scenes, and an index of objects for each project provides a useful reference for the curious — or those looking to emulate.
Coverage extends across the spectrum of visual arts, with illuminating essays complemented by well-chosen imagery. The book includes references for further research as well as a useful glossary of English and Korean terms.
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DOSSIER / Read
Popo Danes: Bali Inspired: Architecture for the Tropical World
Tom Kundig: Working Title
by Diana Darling, photography by Rio Helmi (Rizzoli)
by Tom Kundig, foreword by Mark Rozzo (Princeton Architectural Press)
Popo Danes grew up in his native Bali around architects, building materials and construction sites, and after working as an architect for some years was awarded an international scholarship to study architecture in the Netherlands. Now one of Indonesia’s foremost architects, his work carries the influences of these times: he brings a traditional sense of tropical context coupled with a European modernist approach.
An owner and design principal at Seattle-based Olson Kundig, Tom Kundig is a multiple awardwinning architect whose work is distinguished by its emphasis on the primacy of the site; indeed, his buildings can be seen as backdrops to their built, natural or cultural surroundings. This approach is well illustrated in Kundig’s fourth monograph with Princeton Architectural Press. The work includes 29 of the architect’s most recent projects, from the striking Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle to a high-performance tower for South Korean retailer Shinsegae International in Seoul. Texts by Kundig for each project are contextualised by design writer Mark Rozzo’s foreword and a diverting, wideranging conversation between Kundig and music archivist Michael Chaiken. Large-format interior and exterior photography provides evocative — interestingly, often crepuscular — views, despite Kundig telling Chaiken that ‘architecture is experiential. It’s like music. Sure, you can listen to a digital recording or a superb analog recording, but live? That’s a whole different kettle of fish.’
The former means that Danes’s buildings are concerned with functionality: they’re marked by their alignment with the surroundings and with cultural heritage, and by strong connections between structural elements. Appropriately, then, the book’s 15 chapters are organised by architectural consideration, from site and culture to materials and structural elements to natural elements like light and water. Texts are brief: aside from the book’s introductory essay, each chapter has only a concise summation of Danes’s philosophy, which gives way to images that illustrate his approach. Apart from its illustrative function, the photography here is as sunny as befits work largely situated in the tropics, and the disposition of the architect himself. Endnotes on some of Danes’s other initiatives provide an interesting aside.
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DOSSIER / Read
Where Architects Sleep: The Most Stylish Hotels in the World
Zeng Fanzhi: Untitled 2018
by Sarah Miller (Phaidon)
by Zeng Fanzhi, text by Richard Shiff, Michael Govan & Christina Yu Yu (Rizzoli)
Anyone who has travelled with a hotel designer or architect will have experienced their unique and uninhibited take on the experience; in this spirit and that of Phaidon’s well-received Where Chefs Eat and Where Bartenders Drink, the publisher has extended the idea to hotels, and who better to comment than architects?
Untitled 2018 is the first monograph dedicated to Zeng Fanzhi’s acclaimed Abstract Landscape series since its inception in 2002. In a break from the structure of many books on art criticism, it illustrates the complete development and execution process of the titular work, which was acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for its permanent collection.
This exhaustively thorough tome covers more than 100 countries in all regions across the globe; the first section lists all 250+ designers with their recommended venues, which is followed by regional listings comprised of a seven-point summary for each hotel and a quote from one of the recommenders. Those looking for inspirational imagery to complement the recommendations will be disappointed: this is a resource, pure and simple. But it serves its function well, with a key that denotes all-time favourites, budget-friendly, ecoconscious, luxury, wellness-focused and more, as well as locations such as desert, countryside, urban, mountain or island. Places the architects wished they had designed themselves are noted, as are places considered particularly worth the travel. The roll call includes such luminaries as John Pawson, Kelly Hoppen, Shigeru Ban, Norman Foster, Fumihiko Maki, Sean Godsell, Daniel Libeskind, Yabu Pushelberg and many more.
In addition to its coverage of the artwork itself, which begins from a plain canvas and progresses through the application and intermingling of many layers and strokes, the volume includes an overview of Zeng’s practices in abstraction and the evolution of the series, with further visual references of other Zeng pieces and comparative works by other artists. A concluding panel discussion with the artist provides further context.
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DOSSIER / Creative Space, Hong Kong
Refined Vision
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n entering design studio AFSO’s new Hong Kong office space, a circular window in the lift lobby affords a precursory glimpse both of the physical space and the world of the studio’s founder, renowned architect and designer André Fu. A milkygreen onyx tabletop shimmers under the soft glow of a custom pendant; on it sits a contemporary flower arrangement by local florist and frequent collaborator Gary Kwok. Japanese in inspiration, the foliage balances delicately atop a ceramic vessel. Directly behind, a floor-to-ceiling shelving unit displays a number of product prototypes, from ceramic dinnerware to bronze vessels and glassware. The artfully arranged mise en scène is not only a welcoming display for visitors but also a canvas onto which Fu can curate the products AFSO has designed for his new eponymous brand, André Fu Living.
would be disappointed to be typecast as simply the designer or decorator of a given hotel.
Text Suzy Annetta
Fu recognised that the layout and design of a workspace can affect both a team’s working style and culture, so it became a priority to find a space with high ceilings and an open view, both rarities in Hong Kong. The Cambridgetrained Fu approached the new space as he does every project: by rationalising the available space. In his new studio, that meant creating a series of more interactive spaces — from the casual meeting hub at the reception and the more formal conference space to the pantry that doubles as the material board production area. These more regularly animated spaces facilitate the kind of teamwork required to realise the multiple projects and products, of varying scales and geographic locations, on which AFSO is working at any given time.
Images Stephanie Teng
A harmonious melody of materials continues throughout the space, from the textured wool floor covering in the conference room to the customised hardware and cast-glass light fixtures, all set against a backdrop of serene and supremely elegant smoked-oak tones. The space is punctuated by gallery-worthy art pieces that the designer has purchased himself — a signature touch. But aesthetics aside, there’s more going on here than meets the eye, and Fu
Reflecting the nature and calibre of AFSO’s work, Fu has eschewed predictable office decor and has instead incorporated elements and details that either feel more like a luxury residence or wouldn’t look out of place in one of his five-star hotel projects. As a result, the team can enjoy the benefits of working in a truly inspiring space that’s also an exemplar of the studio’s holistic vision.
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Cambridge-trained architect and designer André Fu approached his new office space as he would any other of his high-profile projects. Here, that meant creating a series of interactive spaces to facilitate teamwork
A portal at the entrance offers a glimpse into the studio space. Visitors are greeted with an elegant scene that includes an onyx table, custom pendant and ikebana-inspired floral arrangement
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This page, top right Artist Polly Brotherwood created a series of watercolour paintings for Louis Vuitton to pay homage to the luxury label’s Objet Nomades collection. Each of the works portrays an objet in the designer’s hometown; this one depicts Fu’s Ribbon Dance chair This page, top left and bottom Fu’s distinctive style is realised throughout, and means there is no shortage of intriguing views and vignettes Facing page The studio space offers an insight into AFSO’s philosophy and the world of its founder. Furniture, materials and other elements feel more residential than corporate, and are characteristically luxurious 34
Top and bottom left Artworks from Fu’s collection, such as the one by New York-based Mika Tajima (above) and a timber sculpture by South Korean artist Jae Hyo Lee (below), add other inspiring touches to the more formal working spaces Bottom right Copies of Fu’s new book Crossing Cultures with Design line one of the shelves
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Shop a curated selection of books including Crossing Cultures with Design on the Design Anthology Shop design-anthology.com/shop 36
Designed to be designed. Choose the spout, handles and finish from this curated collection to suit your style. The Components™ bathroom faucet and accessory collection. Created by Kohler. Designed by you.
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PARTNER CONTENT / 8 Deep Water Bay Drive
Nestled Amid Nature
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ensitivity to context has always been a fundamental part of architecture, but is often overlooked in favour of optimising floor area. Occasionally, however, a partnership between developer and architect demonstrates the type of understanding of the surroundings that can elevate a building to something that imparts a more profound experience.
Images Adam Kuehl
This page At 8 Deep Water Bay Drive, nature is an intrinsic part of the design. Relaxing grounds are complemented by sensitive interventions such as the interconnected indoor and outdoor swimming pools
Facing page The indoor and outdoor spaces connect and blend seamlessly, such as the Aura Point (top right) and the finely choreographed walking paths linking the thematic gardens, ponds and meditative spaces
That is precisely what Nan Fung Group and Vervain Resources aimed to create at 8 Deep Water Bay Drive. The site is nestled amid Hong Kong’s verdant and hilly southern side, with outlooks towards Tai Tam to the east and Mount Cameron to the north-west. The architects from P&T Group designed along the contour of the hill, helping to make the entrance more approachable rather than greeting residents with monolithic podium walls. Nature has also been a critical part of the planning, in which the surrounding greenery translates to sculpted, multilevel green spaces within the grounds and openness to nature for each of the 52 apartments. Strolling past the expansive tower lobbies and through the clubhouse gallery path takes you to the development’s centrepiece: the Metta Garden, a spiritual journey unveiling the beauty of flora by layers as an extension of each private living space. The grounds’ grand entrance opens into the parterre, a gravel courtyard ringed by low stone walls and punctuated by the Iris Garden and Lily Pond on both sides. Trees flank the Sylvan Walk to create a romantic allee, complemented by an open lawn connecting the space with its surroundings. This is echoed by a green space in the form of the Farm patch that spreads across, blending seamlessly green living from the surrounding natural beauty with the interiors into a single transcendent whole. Listening, observing and responding authentically to the landscape immerses you in grace, a journey that can be completed through meditation or yoga at the Aura Point. Those who prefer more active relaxation are catered for by the interconnected 20-squaremetre indoor and 25-square-metre outdoor pools — or just indulge yourself in the outdoor Jacuzzi.
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Learn more 8deepwaterbaydrive.com 39
Unfurling Forms
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DOSSIER / Profile
Text Sophie Kalkreuth Images Courtesy of Studio Liam Lee
Facing page Designer Liam Lee approaches textiles like an artist would a canvas. He dyes and hand-felts the fabric in his New York studio, each piece taking up to 40 hours to complete Next page Lee considers his process to be somewhere between drawing and sculpting. The roving merino wool patterns and bold colours mean the pieces can also be used as wall hangings, similar as they are to largescale tapestries or textural paintings
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he woollen throw that designer Liam Lee pulls from his bag unfurls like a waterfall; purple folds extend, in turns sheer and opaque, across the table. The fabric, a mohair and lambswool blend, feels the way one imagines a cloud might: light, plumy, soft. But as is the case with many finely crafted objects, the throw’s effortless finish belies the painstaking labour that goes into its making. ‘The scale of my production is very small, since it takes around forty hours to complete each piece,’ says Lee, who dyes and hand-felts the fabric at his New York studio. The textiles are all machine-woven by Cushendale Woollen Mills in Kilkenny, Ireland, a family-owned enterprise founded in 1778 and one of a dwindling number of mills that use wool from local sheep. When the untreated material arrives at Lee’s studio, he approaches it like a canvas. ‘I think of my process as somewhere between drawing and sculpting,’ he says. Lee began making the throws in early 2019 with the intention of creating functional objects, but they’re now also used as wall hangings. The Noguchi Museum displays them this way, and a recent group exhibition at VSOP Projects in New York also saw his work suspended on the wall like a tapestry. Brilliant hues of fuchsia, lime green and cobalt are created using non-toxic acid dyes — Lee prefers these as they allow him careful control over the colour — which he applies through
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immersion or by spraying the pigment directly onto the fibre. To create the roving patterns on the surface, he uses locally sourced merino wool and a felting needle that he repeatedly stabs into the fibres, agitating tufts of wool until they begin to bond together and create a solid fabric. ‘In a nutshell, it’s the process of transforming wool into 3D objects,’ he explains. ‘I gravitated towards needle felting — as opposed to wet felting — because it allows for much greater precision when sculpting a form on the surface.’ The meandering lines and outcroppings add dimension and whimsy to the throws, their shapes resembling microbes, or on a macro scale, rivers and mountains. At first Lee used to map the patterns out, but he says the results were too rigid, so instead he now embeds the roving into the fabric, following the lines where they lead him. Lee has no formal design training; he received a BA in English Literature, though he studied architectural history and theory in college and has worked for various architecture firms. He also hails from a colourful family of poets, painters, drapers and photographers, and his maternal grandfather, the modernist architect George Matsumoto, was one of the founding faculty members of North Carolina State University’s School of Design. Given the designer’s broad range of interests and influences, it’s not surprising his work has cross-disciplinary appeal. ‘This is what always attracted me to design,’ he says. ‘That it is in itself a very interdisciplinary field.’
Atelier by FANG Translating the beauty of couture gowns into artisanal floor coverings taipingtent.com/atelier-by-fang
Hong Kong • Shanghai • Taipei • Paris • Hamburg • London • Milan • Dubai • New York • Chicago • Dania Beach • Dallas • Los Angeles • San Franciso
DOSSIER / Design Studio, Jakarta
Surrounded by Design Text Katie Hagar
Facing page Part of new brand Surrounding Objects’ inaugural collection is the Nordic-inspired SL screen, made from woven rattan panels in a pattern inspired by its namesake, architect Sigurd Lewerentz. After its launch, the prototype of the screen was installed in Lewerentz’s St Mark’s Church in Bjorkhagen, Sweden Images by David Getty
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tephanie and David Getty, founders of Jakarta-based Studio Getty, launched their new venture Surrounding Objects at the 2020 Stockholm Furniture Fair’s Greenhouse platform. The design studio and workshop was born out of the Gettys’ desire to create useful and beautiful items in collaboration with designers, artists and craftspeople, and to use local resources in the hope of highlighting more common materials in order to ‘breathe new life into them and showcase them in a way that makes people see their potential’, as David describes. Surrounding Objects is also a reflection of the Gettys’ backgrounds; they met at the Rhode Island School of Design, where they obtained their master’s degrees in architecture, and after both working for architect David Salmela in Minnesota, they relocated to Jakarta in 2014 to oversee design and production at Stephanie’s father’s woodworking shop. For Surrounding Objects’ inaugural collection, the two once again worked with Salmela, this time on the Lap bench series and the 10/3 table. Thanks to intelligent and efficient design, just one sheet of plywood is used to produce all three sizes of the Lap bench. The 10/3 table echoes the benches in its straight-lined construction as well as its practical production; it’s also cut from one single piece of plywood in order to minimise waste. In Stockholm, the benches were shown in both a light basswood, a common softwood found in Minnesota, as well as a dark plywood often used in Indonesia’s shipping industry. The choice of wood is a reflection of the duo’s heritage — Stephanie grew up in Indonesia and David in the northern United States, and they aim to showcase their home countries’ local and sustainable materials. Indeed, local crafts have
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informed much of their process. ‘We want to make things that are rooted in craft, but are modern and contemporary,’ says David. In a distinct nod to Nordic design, the SL screen is constructed from panels of rattan — produced by Indonesian master weavers from BYO Living — that form an arch pattern and a stacked grid inspired by the wallpaper designs and brickwork of Swedish architect Sigurd Lewerentz. A smart system of knoblike dowels on the oak frame means the screen can be customised to fit any space. Following the Stockholm Furniture Fair, the prototype of the SL screen was installed within Lewerentz’s St Mark’s Church in Bjorkhagen, Sweden, the very setting that inspired its creation. Surrounding Objects’ next project will be a collection titled Found Furniture, inspired by the simple joinery techniques and inventive solutions used by Indonesian labourers to fashion temporary seats and resting spots along the streets of Jakarta. A handful of these charming handmade pieces have inspired the duo to experiment with recreating them from new materials, and the resulting series — planned to debut in autumn 2020 — is intended to be a celebration of the ingenious, child-like nature of the original objects. And as Studio Getty, the duo is also working on a shophouse in Bali, due to be completed at the end of 2020, that will become a living and working space, as well as a showroom for the Surrounding Objects collections. And on top of marrying the duo’s architecture practice with their new homeware project, says Stephanie, ‘We’re also hoping to open it as an artists’ residency, so designers can come here and access the resources that we have in Indonesia.’
Created in collaboration with architect David Salmela, the Lap bench (top and middle) and 10/3 table (bottom) can each be built out of just one sheet of plywood. The pieces are available in light basswood and dark plywood, materials that reflect David Getty’s US upbringing and Stephanie Getty’s Indonesian roots Images by Muhammad Fadli
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Shop a curated selection of handmade products from Surrounding Objects on the Design Anthology Shop design-anthology.com/shop 46
DOSSIER / Creative Space, Bangkok
Stepping Up
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hen Tharit Tossanaitada and his four business partners founded multidisciplinary firm Design in Motion in 2014, they transformed a narrow shophouse in Bangkok into their studio space. At the time, all they wanted in their workplace was a sense of proximity to one another. But as the team grew, they realised it was time to leave the nest. ‘There was literally no room to swing a cat,’ Tossanaitada recalls with a laugh. Tossanaitada and his partners grappled with the task of designing a workplace that symbolised the studio’s ethos. He says that although the way Design in Motion works has always been very lean and informal, the growing team meant that the old shophouse became so cramped there was no space left for a meeting room. When designing their new studio, the team knew they wanted a space in which everyone was free to choose where they worked, be it at a desk or in the common areas. ‘Our priority was ensuring a relaxed vibe that helps lessen stress and pressure in the work environment,’ he says. ‘That’s the reason more space is allocated to common areas like the pantry, meeting room, terrace, and even the staircases. We wanted to create a workplace that’s open and relaxed, both physically and mentally. We want natural light and ventilation to filter in, and to improve the flow of space and our team’s workflow too.’
Text Paphop Kerdsup Images Soopakorn Srisaku
When designing their new Bangkok studio space to accommodate a growing team, the founders of Design in Motion prioritised a relaxing environment with plenty of common areas. The outcome is also the building’s key architectural feature: large exposed concrete staircases that serve multiple functions, including communal seating, informal workspace and display area
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DOSSIER / Creative Space, Bangkok
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DOSSIER / Creative Space, Bangkok
Three years after the idea of designing a new studio space first came about, the team is now settled in its new home — on a plot of land owned by one of the partners — in the up-andcoming creative neighbourhood of Soi Pridi Banomyong.The site’s petite size was a challenge for the designers, so in order to include all of the necessary functions while also maintaining the studio atmosphere they envisioned, they decided to stagger the interior spaces by splitting each floor into two levels. The staircases that link the levels are visible from the exterior, and become the main feature of the structure.
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Acting as a flexible space for all kinds of activities, be they working, relaxing or growing houseplants, these exposed concrete staircases are an interesting example of how to rethink architecture. By highlighting the potential for this ordinary yet idiosyncratic element, the project exemplifies Design in Motion’s approach. And according to Tossanaitada, this reflects one of the studio’s core principles. ‘We believe the concept of design is always in motion. It can be adjusted according to the surrounding factors, different time periods and the advancement of technology.’
Natural light and fresh air flood the studio thanks to double-volume areas and floor-to-ceiling windows. An abundance of greenery and a natural colour and material palette bring the outside in, and the easily accessible rooftop with ampitheatre-style seating hosts regular movie screenings 51
The site’s petite size belies the voluminous interior, achieved by splitting each floor into two levels using the staircases 52
PROFESSIONAL CURATION, CUSTOM COMMISSIONS, AND WHITE-GLOVE INSTALLATION
Taylor Curry, B.F.A., photography, 2012, Feather Study #4, digital print, 52" x 42"
INQUIRIES
scadart@scad.edu
PARTNER CONTENT / Prestige Carpets
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he rise of conscious consumption means it’s becoming increasingly important for consumers to know where and how products are made; in this new luxury, provenance and best practices have become the key markers of quality. Established three decades ago, Melbourne-based Prestige Carpets has long championed these principles. The floor-covering specialist prides itself on its commitment to using pure New Zealand wool and innovative tufting and weaving methods to produce bespoke carpets that are consistently chosen by Australia’s leading designers and architects. The wool fibre used for every carpet can be traced back to specific farms in New Zealand. In addition to providing a sense of provenance, this also means that all wool is farmed in accordance with strict animal welfare and environmental guidelines that ensure adherence to best farming practices and the humane treatment of the animals. The farms all provide an abundance of roaming and grazing land, with their higher-quality pastures resulting in higher-quality fleece. Once the yarn arrives in Australia, it’s tufted, sheared and backed in Prestige Carpets’ Melbourne hub, in a fortnight-long process from spun yarn to ready-to-ship carpet. The bespoke production process and singleneedle tufting machines mean carpets can be customised or made to clients’ specifications, with designs able to be produced in a range of sizes, custom colours and yarns. Materiality is a highlight, of course, and those who come to Prestige Carpets understand the many benefits of choosing wool over synthetic alternatives. Along with being a sustainable option — wool grows naturally and needs to be shorn annually at least — it’s favoured for its ability to keep cool in summer and warmer in winter, making it a perennial addition to the home.
Committed to Quality
Whether wall-to-wall carpets or rugs, chunky and rustic or refined and elegant, all are of the highest quality and reflect Prestige Carpets’ core values of precision, innovation and sophistication.
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Learn more prestigecarpets.com.au
Facing page The New Zealand farms with which Prestige Carpets works have ample roaming and grazing land, with higher-quality pastures resulting in higher-quality fleece This page, top Prestige Carpets’ offerings include the chunky-loop Bombala range, seen here in Amaroo (left) and the Threads collection of carpets (right) that each feature a colour randomly threaded through an earthy base tone This page, bottom Prestige Carpets prides itself on using the finest-quality New Zealand wool and innovative production methods, both of which make the bespoke floor coverings a trusted choice for Australia’s leading designers and architects 55
The collector’s edition Design in Asia: The New Wave
Our first ever large-format book, Design in Asia is an exposition of the most promising emerging designers working throughout the region today. With a foreword by Aric Chen, the deluxe edition is hand-numbered and limited to 500 copies. Stored in a refined slipcase, this special edition is available solely through Design Anthology.
buy your copy
design-anthology.com/book
Namthip is a luxurious new way to cruise the Chao Phraya river Image by Manoo Manookulkit
WANDERLUST Designer destinations
PARTNER CONTENT / Sanlorenzo
Seafaring Luxury
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talian shipbuilding company Sanlorenzo prides itself on channelling the best of its experience, craft and innovation into the creation of tailor-made yachts and superyachts. The newly launched 64Steel Attila superyacht — debuted at the annual Monaco Yacht Show in late 2019 — is yet another cuttingedge project that demonstrates the brand’s commitment to innovation in nautical design. Ahead of her Monaco debut, the 64Steel Attila won the Best Interior Design award at the Cannes Yachting Festival World Yacht Trophies Gala Dinner. The superyacht’s design is the result of a collaboration between acclaimed luxury yacht architects Officina Italiana Design and Sanlorenzo’s in-house styling department, while the coastal-chic interiors are by Francesco Paszkowski and Margherita Casprini of award-winning yacht design studio Francesco Paszkowski Design. The flagship of Sanlorenzo’s Steel range of superyachts, the 64Steel Attila boasts five decks and an internal maximum width of 12.5 metres, with a total length of 64 metres and an extendable exterior platform. Sleek, elegant exterior lines belie the large beam and ample internal volume. The superyacht boasts features typically found on larger boats, such as the Owner Deck (a private deck with a bow-facing bedroom and outdoor bathtub), a garage that can house two tenders of more than ten metres each, and a helipad that can be transformed into a beautiful solarium when not in use. Three swimming pools also feature, the most impressive of which sits to the rear of the main deck; measuring five metres in length,
its glass bottom and walls allow dappled light to filter into the beach club below. Other innovative solutions designed to maximise onboard liveability include a sweeping marble-lined double staircase connecting the pool and dining area on the main deck to the lower-deck beach club and wellness centre complete with a sauna, hammam, massage room and gym. The staircase splits halfway to become a double-height space, amplifying the sense of spaciousness in the entire area. When the bow mirror and side platforms are opened, the beach club spans a generous 78 square metres. Breathtaking as the 64Steel Attila is from the exterior, with her numerous outdoor social areas, pools and balconies, the interiors are the real highlight. Paszkowski and Casprini designed them in a ‘modern South American’ style; the palette of natural materials includes nubuck leather, six types of marble, and teak walls and floors, while a mix of Italian and custom-designed furniture fills the interiors. There’s an emphasis on dining too, with each deck accorded its own restaurant-worthy dining area and a large barbecue area built into the main deck. Rounding out the catering setup is a marble-lined cold store and climatecontrolled wine cellar. Available across Asia from Simpson Marine, the 64Steel Attila is a testament to Sanlorenzo’s commitment to marrying technology and craft in order to provide an authentic and luxurious sense of seagoing adventure.
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Images Guillaume Plisson, courtesy of Sanlorenzo
The 64Steel Attila superyacht is the newly launched flagship of Sanlorenzo’s Steel range. Designed by luxury yacht architects Officina Italiana Design in collaboration with Sanlorenzo’s in-house styling department, its sleek, elegant exterior lines conceal an impressive internal volume
Facing page Offering unobstructed ocean views and a picture-perfect sunbathing spot, the infinity pool is the most impressive of the superyacht’s three swimming areas This page Acclaimed yacht design studio Francesco Paszkowski Design conceived the luxurious interiors in a ‘modern South American style’ with a palette of warm natural materials and a curation of Italiansourced and custom-designed pieces
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Learn more simpsonmarine.com sanlorenzoyacht.com 61
WANDERLUST / Villa, Sri Lanka
Slowing Down
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WANDERLUST / Villa, Sri Lanka
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n Sri Lanka, the abundance of raw materials leading back to nature creates an invisible connection that binds elements of purity and craft, cultural commodities and traditional techniques. In the midst of it all, the quiet fishing village of Ahangama makes the perfect nest for The Kip. Evening light shines through jungle trees into the four-bedroom restored colonial villa, the golden sunlight accentuating objects that are simple in nature — the same things that create a balance of object against space, a sense of proportion and place. ‘We wanted to blend in with the landscape around us. If you’re in a natural environment, you should feel nature,’ says co-founder Phoebe Taylor. There seems no better place to embrace the slower pace that The Kip embodies. ‘From a design perspective, anything is possible here in Sri Lanka. You have makers and raw materials at your fingertips. There are plenty of skilled artisans, but you need to have patience because production isn’t instantaneous,’ Taylor explains. ‘And more often than not, the end design is a bit different from what you wanted, but once you let go of your original idea, you allow yourself to embrace the design process as a whole.’ Before Taylor and her partner Seddy Di Francesco opened up The Kip to guests, they lived in the former fisherman’s house to get a feel for how the property worked functionally. It made them realise why spaces had been designed a certain way, and they tried to avoid modernising any of it. They’ve always seen the business as an extension of their own ethos, and every decision has been carefully thought through. ‘From the designs and process to materials and manufacturing, all the way to placement of objects in the rooms, everything serves a purpose,’ says Taylor. The result is that each room is slightly different, all based on Taylor’s own instinct.
The couple have poured their hearts and souls into the property, and it truly shows. ‘Every piece has a story. We’ve followed the processes and people behind every item. I can even tell you how each of the pieces was delivered,’ says Taylor, illustrating a philosophy that goes beyond aesthetics. Indeed, respect was an important factor throughout: respect for the surrounding nature, for local communities, for the original design of the property, for the hands that built everything, and for the traditional skills that have been passed down through generations. The result is a design that isn’t defined by a stereotypical style. It’s an authentic portrayal of its founders’ values — humble and modest, yet portraying unwavering patience and attention to detail.
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Text Charline Catteeuw Images Maike McNeill
Previous page The Kip is an intimate four-room accommodation dedicated to the art of slowing down. Throughout the restoration process, owners Phoebe Taylor and Seddy Di Francesco took care to keep the colonial villa’s spaces as authentic as they found them Facing page and this page Furniture and design objects are beautifully simple and unpretentious, and each has a story, from the hands that created them to their final placement in the rooms and communal spaces. The aesthetic reflects slowness and the beachside locale 65
WANDERLUST / Cruise Boat, Bangkok
Luxury on the Water
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naking sensuously through the city and into the Gulf of Thailand, the Chao Phraya river is one of Bangkok’s most evocative aspects. And there are few better ways to appreciate the waterway and adjacent visual highlights like Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn) and the Grand Palace than from Namthip, a traditional Thai rice barge that has been converted into one of the most luxurious cruising vessels ever to ply the river. ‘I love the romance of old Asia,’ says Albano Daminato, the newly minted AD100 designer who oversaw the boat’s refurbishment. ‘Our vision for Namthip was to combine that timeless, tropical feel with an attention to detail that encompassed everything from the materials used for the upper-deck roofing to the cocktail glasses and table crockery.’ The exacting approach taken by Daminato and collaborative partner, Thai luxury furniture retailer CHANINTR, is obvious from the moment one steps aboard the boat’s handsome solid teak hull. Geared towards social interaction and entertaining, the upper deck has an indoor-outdoor arrangement; the bow of the vessel is exposed, while the stern area is covered by a beautiful Lanna-inspired roof made from timber shingles and bamboo grasscloth lining. Other nods to Thai traditions include rattan furniture, textiles such as local silk, linen, cotton and jute, and neutral and golden-yellow tones. The visual impact is equally powerful below deck. As well as incorporating the same solid teak flooring found throughout, two bedrooms
feature clean, minimalist lines, luxe fabrics and smart en-suite facilities.
Text Duncan Forgan
So sleek is the overall set-up that it’s hard to believe the Namthip was once a workhorse that transported rice, sugar and sand upstream from Bangkok to remote villages along the river. Indeed, the 70-year-old vessel was in a state of relative dilapidation when Daminato took on the commission from Bangkok-based tour operator Asian Oasis.
Images Manoo Manookulkit
‘There was a lot of work that needed to be done,’ he recalls. ‘A lot of the original timber was worn out, so it had to be completely re-clad, the boat needed a new motor and mechanical work, and air-conditioning units had to be installed.’ Namthip spent more than a year parked in a boatyard in Ayutthaya while renovations were carried out. The finished product, though, betrays no hint of a troubled gestation period. ‘As a designer, you’re often frustrated when a project is finished,’ adds Daminato. ‘Maybe something is not perfect or the way you envisioned it and you’re unable to do anything about it. But overall, I’m delighted by how Namthip has turned out. It’s been a pleasure to work on something so unique and special.’ There are several options for experiencing Namthip, including shorter evening cruises that offer a way to take in the Bangkok metropolis, with sunset cocktails followed by drinks and then dinner after dark; an enticing alternative is an overnight journey approximately 80 kilometres upriver to Ayutthaya, the country’s historical capital.
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Bangkok-based designer Albano Daminato worked in collaboration with luxury furniture retailer CHANINTR to convert a dilapidated Thai rice barge into Namthip, one of the most luxurious vessels on the Chao Phraya river. Materials were inspired by traditional Thai architecture, including solid teak, rattan, thai silk and jute, seen here in one of two minimalist, contemporary bedroom suites
Facing page, top Solid timber walls and flooring and a subdued palette give the interiors a cosy yet tropical feel Facing page, bottom Bangkok is synonymous with the snaking expanse of the Chao Phraya, and the Namthip offers a stylish way to take in the city’s sights from the iconic waterway instead of the notoriously busy streets This page The vessel’s roof is made from Lanna-inspired timber shingles and bamboo grasscloth, and provides shade over the indooroutdoor deck, the perfect setting for sundowners 69
WANDERLUST / Openings
Images by Adrian Gaut
New Hotels
This page Habitas, Namibia Facing page The Drayton, Savanah; Apurva Kempinski Bali
Four Seasons Hotel at Chao Phraya River — Bangkok
Occupying a pristine stretch of river frontage in Bangkok’s creative Sathorn neighbourhood, the Four Seasons offers a luxurious experience of the city’s iconic Chao Phraya river. Designer Jean-Michel Gathy of Denniston championed the riverscape in his design of this ‘urban resort’, with all elements intended to highlight the water views. Cascading courtyards and porous boundaries blur the distinction between indoors and out, allowing guests to feel in harmony with the natural landscape. The 299 guest rooms include river-view rooms, suites with garden terraces and the impressive twostorey Presidential Suite, and all interiors feature elegant touches of Thai influence and artworks curated by Gathy himself.
The Londoner — London
Edwardian Hotels London has opened what it calls the ‘world’s first super boutique hotel’, The Londoner, on the city’s historic Leicester Square. The architecture is by Woods Bagot, while interiors come courtesy of Canadian firm Yabu Pushelberg. According to George Yabu, the hotel ‘was designed to play into the roots of Leicester Square as London’s historic theatre district. We created layers of programming up into the sky and deep into the earth that emphasise this extroverted, alluring, playful voice.’ Across 16 storeys are 350 rooms, suites and a tower penthouse, as well as private screening rooms, a spa and gym, and six concept F&B options, including al fresco dining and a rooftop lounge bar.
Apurva Kempinski — Bali
After a decade of construction, the Apurva Kempinski has opened in Bali. Making its home on the clifftops of Nusa Dua and designed by Jakarta-based Trivium Design Group and architect Budiman Hendropurnomo, the sweeping hotel features 475 rooms, suites and villas, six dining options and a spa. The crowning jewel is the collection of 43 villas, all with private pools and outdoor terraces for a tranquil taste of tropical Balinese life. Interiors feature natural materials like wood, stone and rattan, as well as traditional textiles and hand-carved pieces from Bali and Java.
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Image by William Hereford
WANDERLUST / Openings
The Drayton — Savannah
Housed in one of Savannah’s oldest buildings on the city’s famed riverfront, The Drayton is a petite 50-room accommodation that oozes warmth and charm. Owner Raghav Sapra led the restoration project in collaboration with New York-based firm nemaworkshop, and both had the vision to celebrate Savannah’s heritage, identity and culture throughout. The Drayton evokes familiarity, comfort and tropical chic, with herringbone flooring, oak panelling, rattan, bold colours and artworks that channel a sense of Southern hospitality and the building’s 19th-century roots. Enhancing this social element are characterful drinking and dining options like Saint Neo’s Brasserie, the Drayton Coffee Bar, the Downstairs Cocktail Lounge and a rooftop bar.
Rosewood — Yangon
Rosewood Yangon makes its home in the grand colonial-era New Law Courts building, which dates back to 1927. Located in the heart of the city’s historic centre and surrounded by other heritage buildings, the hotel achieves Rosewood’s ‘sense of place’ philosophy by offering guests a fusion of contemporary Burmese style and oldworld grandeur. New York-based Lillian Wu Studio designed the 205 guest rooms to highlight the building’s architectural features, which have been sensitively preserved and restored, and most feature patios and balconies. The hotel’s five dining venues are part of Rosewood’s Partner’s in Provenance programme, and have been crafted by Tokyo’s Bond Design Studio to have their own distinct characters; they include NOVA European Brasserie, the Living Room & Patisserie, the CourtRoom Bar and the rooftop Y Bar.
Habitas — Namibia
Set on a 50,000-hectare nature reserve, Habitas Namibia is the second property designed and developed by experience-led global hospitality group Habitas. Overlooking the vast landscape are just 15 guest rooms, each a private lodge built with deep consideration for the surrounding environment, while a private ten-sleeper villa has been created in a previously existing structure. Connecting guests with the wildlife, landscape and local communities is a programme of safaris, workshops, conservation activities, live music and wellness activities, while fire pits, a pool, spa and variety of communal lounge areas encourage socialising. Rounding out the unique offering is the hotel’s restaurant, helmed by two-time Namibian chef of the year David Thomas.
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Conversations with luminaries The Design Dialogues
In Design Anthology’s new original audio series, our editors take an international tour to meet some of the most recognisable names working in design, architecture and interiors.
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design-anthology.com/podcast
Rope artist Windy Chien installing The Year of Knots Image by Molly DeCoudreaux
VERNISSAGE News from the art world
VERNISSAGE / Knot Art
String Theory
Text Christina Ko
Facing page, left Rope artist Windy Chien’s practice involves exploring the potential of knots; in doing so, she contemporises macramé and elevates knot tying to a craft. One such exploration resulted in Diamond Ring, made from a single unbroken piece of rope that becomes a series of roving paths Image by Peter Prato Facing page, right Chien works on Circuit Board, a rope sculpture inspired by electronics parts and New York City’s subway map Image by Molly DeCoudreaux
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here is a simple beauty to Windy Chien’s knot and rope sculptures — and beauty, it must be noted, is a word not often used in the art world these days, pushed aside in a time that seems to prize politics over process. Her practice melds art and design, the practical and the decorative, craft and concept, analogue and digital, and is as much about the journey as the destination. As final products, her works are minimal and meditative rope sculptures: macramé wall hangings inspired by circuit boards, functional pendant lights suspended from strands resembling DNA spirals, or interlocking rings forged from a single line of rope twisted in the same manner we chain tyres to guard them against slippery ice. Her best-known work is likely the one whose first edition hangs in the offices of Facebook: Chien’s first foray into art after careers as a record-shop owner and an Apple executive, which saw her learning a different knot every day for a year. What started as a personal project and means of gaining fluency in a new language became, almost organically, a new career — as Chien pinned the new knots to a wall, she realised she’d begun creating not just a consistent meditative practice, but an artistic one too. The Year of Knots has grown into a multi-edition installation, an Instagram account, a book and a way of life. The fluency Chien has gained is not simply in execution. ‘Knotting is truly a universal language. I regard every knot I learn as a new letter in an unwritten alphabet. There are almost four thousand documented knots, and mathematicians tell us that an infinite number
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are possible,’ she explains. ‘The majority of documented knots were invented by sailors, but knots are also used by farmers, basket makers, seamstresses, rock climbers, soldiers and so on. We all tie our shoelaces in the morning. So, functional knots have been used throughout history, and then there are the rich decorative knotting traditions of China, South Korea and Japan.’ Following the broad exploration involved in The Year of Knots, Chien’s subsequent projects have been deep dives into single knots — ‘taking a knot as far as necessary to uncover its fullest expressive potential’, as she describes it. By eschewing colour for the most part, Chien forces the focus to be squarely on the technique. ‘My work is about lines, not about colour. So I remove colour, preferring to stay within a neutral palette or use only one colour so that multiple colours don’t begin to converse with each other,’ she says. ‘If I use colour in my work, it must serve a purpose that adds to the meaning of the work.’ And therein lies the distinction that defines her work as art rather than design. ‘For me, the difference lies in approach, intent and process. A designer may start with a problem or a predetermined goal and then try to solve it; I start with my materials and try to understand them thoroughly, then explore what they can become. In this way, my approach is that of a craftsperson. The studio craft movement further blurs the lines, as it identifies the practice of craftspeople who make work for aesthetic and artistic reasons rather than utility.’
Top The sculptural quality and technical details of each knot in The Year of Knots are accentuated by the lack of colour Image by Cesar Rubio Bottom As Chien pinned each new knot to the wall, The Year of Knots began to take shape as a sculptural installation that has since evolved into a multi-edition artwork Image by Annie Martin 77
VERNISSAGE / South Asian Artists
Rising South
Text Payal Uttam
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t’s about time we started exploring this region,’ says Hong Kong-based collector Patrick Sun about his recent acquisitions from India. Sun is among many international collectors, dealers and museums who are now turning their gaze to South Asia. But while major artists from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are gaining recognition around the world, many artists from the subcontinent remain under the radar; here, we profile five such talents to watch. M A R TA N D K H O S L A
Top New Delhi-based Martand Khosla uses construction material and domestic items to explore urban issues. For Upwards (reaching for the light) (2019), he created a series of towers from steel and reclaimed wood Bottom Martand Khosla, Pascal 2 (2019). Wood, 128 × 155 × 58 cm Images courtesy of the artist and Nature Morte Gallery
Artist and architect Martand Khosla’s precarious sculptures, vivid installations and drawings made of crushed bricks delve into the dark underbelly of urban India. ‘I had a desire to try to engage with what’s happening in our cities,’ explains Khosla about his motivation for turning to art. ‘If we look at the city as a macrocosmic institutional space, there’s constant pressure between that world and what I call the mesocosmos: the migrants, the people living in illegal spaces, in the gaps that exist in between.’ Among his most striking recent works that touch on itinerant populations are installations such as A City Awakens in Anger (2019), an assemblage of miniature wooden chairs, doors, windows and other domestic items forming a sphere that appears to have exploded open. These displaced objects point to larger issues of forced demolition of homes, abrupt resettlement and what Khosla describes as the ‘dystopian energies’ that course through Indian cities today.
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VERNISSAGE / South Asian Artists
Left Promotesh Das Pulak’s mesmerising flower-encrusted gas marks are made using a traditional technique. Pictured is Untitled (Gas Mask for the Rich & Famous), 2019. Brass, copper, shola flowers, 32 × 15 cm Right Inspired by the Japanese craft of kintsugi, Najmun Nahar Keya applies gold leaf to old photographs, as seen here in Kintsugi Dhaka (4), 2019. Photograph on archival paper, gold leaf, archival glue, 43 × 33 cm Images courtesy of Aicon Contemporary
PROMOTESH DAS PULAK A N D N A J M U N N A H A R K E YA
Although Bangladeshi artist Promotesh Das Pulak created his flower-encrusted copper gas masks before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, the sculptures have taken on new relevance today. ‘Bangladesh is full of pollution and corruption,’ says Pulak, whose delicate sculptures of guns, grenades and gas masks reference violence in modern society. ‘We wear masks to save ourselves, but we continue polluting and don’t think of others.’ In beautifying objects associated with war, he alludes to luxury, the division between wealthy and poor, and our culture of selfishness. To create the intricate white flowers that cover the masks, Pulak works with artisans skilled in the traditional shola craft, wherein the stem of shola plants, a pliable white material, is typically used to make elaborate headgear for weddings and decorations for religious idols.
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Pulak’s wife Najmun Nahar Keya also draws on her surroundings for inspiration. She studied painting at Tokyo University of the Arts, and while in Japan also learned about the traditional craft of kintsugi (golden joinery). Her practice now involves applying gold leaf to the surfaces of old photographs of 19thcentury architecture. ‘In Japan, if ceramic breaks, they fix it with gold dust and lacquer to make it more precious. Similarly, I try to fix broken architecture with gold leaf,’ she explains. ‘There’s an idea of wabi sabi here — though the buildings are broken and imperfect, they can still be beautiful.’
VERNISSAGE / South Asian Artists
SOHRAB HURA
Delhi-based Magnum associate photographer Sohrab Hura is known for his poignant portrayal of fraught communities ranging from marginalised people in Mississippi to Kashmiri people suffocating under militarisation and state violence. The selftaught photographer describes his approach as multilayered storytelling, and the results are controversial yet candid insights into religious and cultural aspects of daily life in India. One of his early works titled Life is Elsewhere (2005–2012) is a deeply personal project that remains his strongest. It comprises gripping images depicting his mother’s struggle with schizophrenia, including harrowing portraits, and shots of pills and the night gown she wore when she was forcibly taken to hospital, alongside heart-wrenching handwritten notes.
RAISA KABIR
UK-based interdisciplinary artist and weaver Raisa Kabir staged one of the most talkedabout performances at the 2020 India Art Fair. Dressed in a traditional sari, she spent hours dyeing fabric in vats of indigo in a performance inspired by her research into colonial indigo plantations in Bengal where maltreated workers staged a major revolt in 1859. ‘I’m interested in textile production, racialised labour, gendered labour and collective trauma that carries across different diasporas. A way to make that visceral is to place my body in the sites of making,’ Kabir says of her processdriven performances. Her other works range from handwoven pieces exploring the shifting borders of pre- and post-partition India to dramatic durational dances such as Build me a loom off of your back and stomach... (2018), in which she pulled a heavy loom as she danced across the gallery and later used the soles of her feet as a loom. ‘It was evocative of the pain and tension of migration,’ she says of the performance. ‘For displaced people, textiles become like an archive of stories. Often, they’re the only thing they can take with them. We all have stories like this. It’s universal.’
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Facing page, left Images from Sohrab Hura’s project Life is Elsewhere, for which he documented scenes from daily life that included his mother’s battle with mental illness Top A 2009 photograph (archival pigment print) from Life is Elsewhere (Set A) Bottom A 2009 photograph (archival pigment print) from Life is Elsewhere (Set H) Images courtesy of the artist and Experimenter
Facing page, right Detail of interdisciplinary artist Raisa Kabir’s handwoven work It must be nice to fall in love… (2016) Image courtesy of the artist This page Kabir’s performance piece নীল. Nil. Nargis. Blue. Bring in the Tide With Your Moon (2019) echoes her earlier work on colonial indigo production, exploring anxieties around globalised neocolonial textile production and nationhood Image by Ashanti Harris 81
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Bohemian and minimalist elements combine in this Ubud home designed by Maximilian Jencquel Image by Tommaso Riva
HOME Timeless spaces
HOME / Goa
Room to Breathe
HOME / Goa
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ikhil Padgaonkar compares the process of designing his Goa home to a child drawing a collection of shapes on paper and calling it a house. ‘I wanted to work with very basic forms — cubes, triangles and rectangles — without any wings or extensions,’ says the documentary film-maker and multimedia creator, who has no formal architecture training. The result, however, is a striking hilltop retreat that’s anything but basic. Located in the northern village of Moira, the home is shrouded in screens made of galvanised steel slats that effortlessly bring the outdoors inside. ‘When you step into the home from the east entrance, you can see right through to the other entrance and the forest beyond,’ says Padgaonkar. ‘The house is merely a transitory space between two outdoor points.’ The thin steel tubes keep the north and south facades of the home open to the dramatic verdant views of an ancient church, a river and lush fields. And to block the glare of the sun, the east and west facades are clad in rust-coloured Rajasthani kiln bricks, a striking contrast to the steel. The property follows the natural gradient of the land, unfolding across three terraces. The main house is a cuboid structure spanning approximately 185 square metres that sits on the top terrace, while the middle terrace structure houses an office, pool and garage, and the bottom terrace a separate studio apartment. The entire north facade of the home boasts large balconies that are cantilevered two metres above the top terrace. ‘I wanted to give
the impression of an object perching on the hill rather than firmly affixed to the ground,’ explains Padgaonkar. The home’s main entrance leads into an airy double-height living room, where exposed concrete ceiling, hand-trowelled grey lime plaster walls and dark limestone floors evoke a raw industrial loft. Above the living space is a mezzanine floor that houses a master bedroom delineated by curtains instead of walls, Padgaonkar’s son’s bedroom and a small office for his wife, a jewellery designer and photography critic. The furniture is a mix of angular custom-made galvanised iron and teak pieces and traditional Indian items. One of the most charming corners of the home is the north-facing veranda, which has a colourful red charpoy opposite a tree trunk that pierces through the floor and rises to the roof above. Reluctant to fell the four towering trees that were already growing on the property, Padgaonkar incorporated them into his design by creating two patios around them instead. It’s clear that Padgaonkar has poured his heart and soul into the home. After purchasing the land, he gave up film-making to teach himself how to sketch and build. Refreshingly humble, he eschews design jargon and says he used intuition and logic to create rigorously simple forms with economy of materials. In trusting his instinct, he has created space to savour the simple things in life, something that no amount of training could teach.
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Text Payal Uttam Images Fabien Charuau
Previous page Nikhil Padgaonkar intuitively blended industrial and traditional in his family home in the Goan village of Moira. The building overlooks the town’s church, its galvanised steel and concrete facade creating a contrast between old and new that’s echoed in the home itself Facing page The vibrant carpet, side table display and mid-century Goan armchair restored with red plastic wicker lend the living room warmth and character. The home’s muted colour palette of earthy tones allows the greenery and sunlight from the north patio to take centre stage
Padgaonkar built the dining table using leftover steel sections and planks of wood from construction. Replicas of Eames DSW chairs, lamps sourced from Mumbai’s Chor Bazaar and exposed electrical conduits all accentuate the industrial effect that contrasts with the earthy Afghan kilim 89
Facing page Padgaonkar’s own creations feature throughout the home, such as the teak coffee table, restored mid-century armchair and steel-framed armchairs
This page Padgaonkar inherited more than 3,000 books from his father, most of which are stored in built-in library shelves around the home. The library also houses a display of lithographs, Indian stone sculptures and African wooden masks. Seen here are two lithographs by Joan Miro and sculptures from India’s Gupta period
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This page Tucked away in the south-west corner of the ground floor, the kitchen overlooks the second, smaller patio and features river-washed black granite counters
Facing page A ground-floor veranda overlooks the home’s swimming pool, while a bright charpoy sits behind a tree that grows up through the entire house. Some of the facade screens can be opened up, offering vistas of the Moira river and the hills of Tivim, a village to the north
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A wide view of the home shows both floors, as well as the open master bedroom, with a bed designed by Padgaonkar. On the ground floor, a grey limestone finish on the walls mitigates the glare of the bright tropical sunlight and mutes the volume of the double-height space 94
Facing page The master bedroom is accessed via teak and metal stairs that Padgaonkar designed. He also designed the minimalist metal shelf, which holds an eclectic combination of traditional and contemporary art including works by Sayed Haider Raza, Picasso and Velu Viswanathan, alongside statues from Varanasi and a wooden mask from Guinea
This page Padgaonkar’s wife Lola Mac Dougall’s first-floor office is decorated with a selection of her glass bead necklaces, created in collaboration with women’s cooperatives in Central India, their deep red hues echoed in the reupholstered 1960s office chair
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Concrete and Rajasthani kiln bricks make up the facade, together with steel tube screens that allow the family to enjoy breezy weather while protecting their privacy 98
HOME / Bangkok
City Hideout
HOME / Bangkok
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he main protagonists in the story of how architect couple Phongphat Ueasangkhomset and Parnduangjai Roojnawate — the founders of boutique design studio ANONYM — came to conceptualise their dream home in Bangkok’s Ekkamai neighbourhood are an unlikely pair: their pets. ‘We were staying nearby and were happy enough there,’ says Ueasangkhomset. ‘But condos in Bangkok aren’t animal-friendly and we wanted to make room for these guys.’ At this, he gestures towards eight-year-old golden retriever Nam-tan (‘Brown’), who’s curled up in her favourite spot on the porcelain floor beneath the white quartz counter that counts as one of the property’s star features. Upstairs, the couple’s cat Toi-ngog (‘Bean Sprout’) is equally at home in the master bedroom. But while the chance to live with their beloved pets was clearly an incentive to move, so too was the opportunity to create a balanced living space amid the heady maelstrom of hectic Bangkok. Entering the home, a 30-yearold townhouse tucked away down a leafy backstreet next door to the ANONYM office, it’s easy to see why the couple regard it as a haven. Indeed, it feels as though they’ve lived here for far longer than just two years, and it comes as a surprise to hear that the finished product was not rigidly planned. ‘When we took ownership, we didn’t know exactly what we wanted,’ says Ueasangkhomset. ‘So, we cleared everything out over the course of six months and came up with new ideas along the way.’
Natural light flows into the open-plan downstairs kitchen and dining area through a skylight. An indoor tree is a focal point here, while the long granite counter, cool white walls and oak doors are soothing touches. Patio doors at the rear of the house open out to a small courtyard covered with mixed gravel, a space that accentuates the home’s tranquil feel.
Text Duncan Forgan Images DOF Sky|Ground
Upstairs, the atmosphere is equally calming, unified by black parquet flooring that extends all the way from the master bedroom to a spacious living area lined with bookshelves. Another surprising detail is the barrel vault structure that houses the bathroom, inspired by an arch decoration on the property’s original exterior. ‘Since there was only a small window, we raised the height of the master bedroom to prevent it feeling claustrophobic,’ explains Roojnawate. ‘But we were concerned that the energy created by realigning the false ceiling along the slope of the gable roof would disappear if the master bathroom wall was erected at its full height. We tried straight and diagonal walls before settling on treating the bathroom as a barrel vault.’ The end product, much like their home itself, embodies the couple’s use of lateral thinking and problem solving through trial and error. ‘We work with many clients, and we really enjoy the process of applying our skills and vision to their briefs,’ says Roojnawate. ‘This, though, is truly ours. We created it and it’s somewhere we can retreat to.’
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Previous page The founders of design firm ANONYM designed their Bangkok bolthole to be a soothing retreat away from the bustle of the city, complete with a grey-toned courtyard at the back of the home and sliding doors on both storeys to allow plenty of natural light into the living spaces Facing page The entrance features an arch decoration on the original exterior, and oak louvre shutters that can be opened to maximise ventilation in the area’s prevailing winds
This page The entry foyer is outfitted with a bench and rocking chair from Rex Kralj and works by Thai artist Trirat Sriburin. A skylight allows diffused lighting to pour into the home, while the floodlight at the base of the indoor tree creates a more dramatic atmosphere at night
Facing page, top The couple spends most of their time cooking, dining, working and socialising at the five-metre-long white oak and quartz kitchen island, where a pendant by Stefan Diez for Vibia hangs overhead
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Facing page, bottom An arched opening was incorporated into the counter base to allow the couple’s pets to move from one side to the other with ease
Black lacquered flooring extends from the staircase up to the second-floor lounge, contrasting with the warm lighting caused by the indirectly lit barrel ceiling. The couple is specific when it comes to materials and finishes; the palette was selected to give off warmth and add texture to the space 106
Left One end of the upstairs living room opens onto a small terrace overlooking the back courtyard, while on the other, incorporated into the balustrade, is a bench that enhances the sense of openness and connection between the two floors
Right A bird’s-eye view from the open balustrade on the second storey reveals the steel and fibreglass planter box built to house the indoor tree, which will eventually grow up to five metres tall
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Facing page The only artificial light in the master bedroom comes via two wall lamps. During the day, the space enjoys natural light from the north window and skylight, with the glass louvres opening up into the indoor courtyard. The home’s barrel vault runs from the master bathroom to the staircase and functions as a wardrobe here, introduced as a ‘space within a space’, while the neutral colour palette ties all the elements together
This page In keeping with the rest of the home, the master bathroom, also concealed in the barrel vault, is light and bright, accented with granite counters and earthy mosaic tiling
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HOME / Bali
Moonrise Kingdom
HOME / Bali
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ali’s Ubud holds an enduring charm for visitors and expatriate residents alike, thanks largely to German painter Walter Spies, who made the northern town his home in the 1920s and 30s and captured its folklore and mysticism on canvas. For nine years, Spies lived in a bungalow in the Campuhan area that played host to an all-star line-up of guests including artists, musicians, movie stars and royalty. The paintings of Bali that Spies produced during this period undoubtedly helped shape the vision of ‘paradise on earth’ that endures in the popular imagination. On a small piece of land just a short walk from Spies’s former residence sits Rumah Purnama, or House of the Full Moon. A small, unassuming angkul-angkul (entry door) marks the entrance to the home that Venezuela-born, Paris-trained architect Maximilian Jencquel bought two years ago. Back then, the existing two-storey house, a traditional pagoda-like structure known as a wantilan, was in an uninhabitable state of disrepair. Not one to shy away from a challenge, Jencquel stripped it back to its bare bones and started from scratch. The main structure was made from stone and local bangkirai, an affordable but durable hardwood, and Jencquel extended the structure using the same materials. The traditional thatched roofing (alang alang), crafted from bamboo rafters overlaid with hand-layered native grass of the same name, was painstakingly repaired
where necessary and added to the extension in a year-long renovation and restoration process.
Text Suzy Annetta
It’s clear what drew Jencquel to the shanty in the first place. Its hillside location affords breathtaking views of the sacred Campuhan ridge and Mount Agung, the highest peak on the island, and while most villas in Bali are built to take in the spectacular sunsets, this one is positioned for cinematic views of the moon, hence its name. The lush, dense jungle that surrounds the home is visible from each of the main rooms, providing a splash of verdant colour that contrasts with the otherwise earthy palette. Inside, natural materials take precedence, with a palette dominated by timber, abaca and linen, resulting in cosy, unpretentious spaces that have been simply furnished. Early in his career, Jencquel spent time working for Christian Liaigre, and the legendary French designer’s influence is apparent, especially in the custom-made pieces — many of which were produced by Jencquel’s team of carpenters using offcuts from the reconstruction process.
Images Tommaso Riva
While it’s modest in size, there’s a sense of generosity to the home. Its amply sized rooms, plump sofas and ten-seater dining table are all signs that the home was designed to accommodate family and friends, harking back to the bohemian heyday of Spies’s residency and its stream of guests.
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Styling Lisa Scappin
Previous page Architect Maximilian Jencquel transformed a twostorey hillside home in Ubud by stripping it back to its bones and rejuvenating it with great sensitivity to the structure’s heritage and original materials. The traditional thatched roofing was painstakingly repaired over the year-long process Facing page The infinity pool is shaded by a traditional alang alang canopy and looks out over the lush Campuhan ridge
Facing page The dining table and chairs were designed by Jencquel and produced by his team of carpenters, who crafted them from timber left over from construction. An earthy painting by Jencquel is complemented by rustic ceiling pendants from a street vendor in Bali
This page Jencquel worked with Christian Liaigre for many years, and carries the influence of the design icon
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A custom-made sofa with cushions sourced from Seminyak boutique Fern sits below a painting by Bali-based Italian artist Filippo Sciascia. The coffee table, standing on an abaca fibre carpet from Sumatra, is a repurposed Balinese bed topped with marble, and displays a selection of books and ceramic and terracotta vessels
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The outdoor deck is complete with a picturesque infinity pool and views of Campuhan Ridge and Mount Agung, both considered sacred by the Balinese
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A Buddha statue at the entrance and rattan statuettes in the upstairs family room are just some of the many artefacts from the Indonesian archipelago that decorate the home. The family room is lined with the same bangkirai timber used for the house’s frame 122
Facing page In the ground-floor bedroom, mosquito netting is draped romantically around the bed, above which hangs a photograph taken by Jencquel. The bedside lamp was sourced from Ubud-based interiors brand Cloth by Medina This page The adjacent en suite is outfitted with a tamarind wood side table and freestanding resin bathtub, both designed by Studio Jencquel 125
The upstairs master suite is decorated with a cardboard lamp, painting by Jencquel and peachtoned bed clothes from Cloth by Medina, topped by a woven rattan ceiling 127
A second en suite offers an outdoor shower and a bathroom with a view. The same hue of marble is repeated throughout the home, here in the basin and shower floor, while the vanity countertop is crafted from salvaged ironwood from another of Jencquel’s projects
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HOME / Yogyakarta
Past Meets Present
HOME / Yogyakarta
‘T
his is one of my dream projects,’ says Indonesian designer Eko Priharseno. When Priharseno was initially asked to design a luxurious house in Yogyakarta, he was excited to find out the client was architect and property developer Wawan Dalbo. ‘He didn’t need drawings or 3D models — what he needed was to talk about his passion for art and architecture and his vision,’ Priharseno says. The two first met when Dalbo commissioned Priharseno’s firm AEDI, which he co-founded with his partner Audrey Bernanda, to design the interiors for a new hotel. Some time later, Dalbo began building a new house for himself and got back in touch. ‘The structure itself was almost finished, but most of the interior hadn’t been done yet,’ says Priharseno. To turn his house into a home, Dalbo needed a team that understood his personality. The house sits next to a waterfall in the middle of a bamboo forest. It spans 3,000 square metres, with an outdoor swimming pool and a 450-square-metre car gallery. ‘Cars are one of Wawan’s passions,’ says Priharseno. ‘He doesn’t like the idea of buying a car — he wants to build it.’ The car gallery allows Dalbo to showcase his creations in a glass-walled steel structure flanked by a raised walkway. As for the rest of the property, Dalbo says he drew inspiration from the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. ‘I really enjoyed the flow of the space,’ he says. ‘The design plays with elevation, narrow versus wide corridors, open versus small spaces, old versus new buildings, and constructed versus natural elements.’
Dalbo is an avid art collector, with many pieces by Yogyakarta artists plus an array of eclectic objects in his collection. The challenge for Priharseno and Bernanda was to design a memorable living space without overshadowing the art. ‘We carefully selected furniture and decorations that are less powerful but blend well with the whole concept,’ Priharseno says. The duo assembled a mix of new and vintage furniture, with a contrast between raw and polished textures. ‘Many elements of the house are salvaged materials from demolition sites,’ says Dalbo, referring to pieces that include a bridge and Chinese temple doors. ‘Even the pillars sustaining the ceiling of the main house are made from salvaged wood from an old port in Borneo. With the right amount of care, these materials become an understated luxury that’s not easily replicable.’ Priharseno and Bernanda arranged everything in a way that felt natural. ‘We want his house to tell the tale of a journey,’ says Priharseno. ‘Some furniture is arranged to break the squareness, as well as to give a sense of freedom — an off-grid kind of feel — and flow between the artworks on display.’ Dalbo is mesmerised by the result. ‘There’s a lyricism between the rooms, evoking Italy’s era of abstraction and futurism in the twenties,’ he says. ‘There are sharp contrasts, nuanced with a strange air of volumes and strictness in colour. The past was never a defining factor in building the house, but it soon became apparent that it’s the ruling element that ties everything together.’
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Text Christopher DeWolf Images Merwin Adenan
Previous page Indonesian firm AEDI designed the home of architect and property developer Wawan Dalbo to reflect his personality and passions. On seeing the result, Dalbo was struck by how the home channels the past in contemporary ways, exemplified here in the inclusion of a bridge that was salvaged from a 1940s sugar factory in West Java Facing page A sculpture by Yogyakarta-based artist Ichwan Noor guards the home’s abstracted entrance
This page Dalbo wanted to incorporate ironwood beams from Borneo, so designer Eko Priharseno used them as a structural element in the living room, basing the size of the space around their original size. A custom-made coffee table, built from leftover construction materials, anchors the room
Facing page Also in the living room, the earthy tones of an antique elephant statue and Frog chaise longue by Piero Lissoni for Living Divani sit in dialogue with the greenery outside 134
Facing page A custom full-height shelving unit in unfinished steel houses a colourful array of books, artworks and ornaments. In the foreground is a 1960s Ari lounge chair by Arne Norell This page Plants and vintage treasures, like this 18th-century Thai wooden statue, sit side by side throughout the home 137
Facing page In this bedroom, a restrained colour palette allows textures to predominate, with an unfinished coated-steel wall and 15th-century Burmese door backing a Bornean ironwood bed base This page A monochromatic, geometric floor covering is a contemporary touch in one of the bathrooms, as is a work by Indonesian artist Sigit Santoso 139
Facing page Dalbo was inspired by the architecture of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, including the contrasts between open and small spaces, old and new buildings, and built and natural elements. This inspiration is evident throughout the home, and is seen here in the juxtaposition of concrete, wood, glass and verdant exterior views
This page Historic pieces like this Sumbanese carving (left) and bronze Dong Son drum (right) add a rawness that contrasts with the more polished elements of the home 141
Left Nature permeates the home and complements the more industrial touches Right Dalbo’s car collection is housed in a glass-walled steel structure flanked by a gravel walkway 143
The home’s location in the middle of a bamboo forest means nature is never far from view
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Krushi Bhawan in Bhubaneshwar is a large-scale manifestation of New Delhi-based Studio Lotus’s commitment to local artisans and traditional craft Image by André J Fanthome
ARCHITECTONICS Surveying our built environment
ARCHITECTONICS / Studio Profile
History in the Present Text Suneet Zishan Langar
Facing page, top Architecture and interior design firm Studio Lotus is at the forefront of adaptive reuse in India. Its design for the distinctive handcrafted, hinged windows of RAAS, a boutique hotel project made up of restored 18thcentury buildings and a trio of new ones in the historic Walled City of Jodhpur, reinterprets the traditional jali perforated screen Left image by André J Fanthome, right image by Rajen Nandwana Facing page, bottom Imagine Studio at the Trees is a cluster of industrial buildings transformed into a marketing centre for a real estate company. The studio recycled existing building elements (such as the repurposed steel louvres, seen left) to not just underline historic relevance but to serve as punctuations in the newly created spatial narrative Images by Edmund Sumner
M
odern urban India abounds in stark dichotomies — skyscrapers cast shadows on ancient ruins, gated enclaves share walls with ‘urban villages’, and cars and buses jostle for street space with rickshaws, thela (hand-pushed carts) and sometimes even herds of cattle and sheep. The paucity of space, infrastructure and resources is something I’m reminded of as I make my way down a narrow, winding alleyway in Lado Sarai, an endless web of closely packed two- and three-storey buildings in southern New Delhi. India is projected to more than double its building stock by 2030 and grow by more than 400 million urban dwellers by 2050, both of which will increase its net carbon emissions manifold. But local architects and urbanists are beginning to take note; a growing school is exploring the potential for reusing buildings and materials to reduce capital and energy directed towards new construction. At the forefront of this movement is New Delhi-based architecture and interior design firm Studio Lotus, which is where I’m headed to meet two of its five design principals: co-founder Ankur Choksi and his protégé Pankhuri Goel, who leads the practice’s adaptive reuse initiatives. Studio Lotus’s experiments with reuse began in 2004, two years after its founding, when the team was invited to renovate a museum memorabilia shop within the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur. ‘We were horrified when we first visited the site,’ recalls Choksi. ‘Nails had been hammered and holes drilled into the fort’s sandstone walls, and partitions erected across its arcades.’ Further investigations uncovered several layers that had been applied onto the historic interior shell: washes of lime and paint on the walls and ceiling, and a ten-year-old cement floor.
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Working with conservation experts, Studio Lotus carefully removed the contemporary additions to reveal the fort’s exquisite original materials and spatial proportions; the team also devised a display and lighting system with all fixtures held in place by pressure clamps or rods. ‘The intent was to be as non-intrusive as possible. We didn’t want our intervention to leave a footprint,’ says Goel. Meanwhile, barely a kilometre away in the heart of the Walled City, enterprising brothers Nikhilendra and Dhananajaya Singh had acquired a 6,000-square-metre site and three 18th- and 19th-century buildings, with the vision to establish a boutique hotel. Studio Lotus’s remarkable demonstration of restraint and sensitivity at the fort caught their eye, and the practice won the project — its biggest commission yet — with partners Praxis. Over the next few years, the firms worked with more than 100 local artisans to painstakingly restore the three historic buildings in original materials, while three new buildings were strategically inserted into the site. ‘The vocabulary is contemporary,’ says Choksi of the additions, ‘but we’ve adapted from the same age-old palette of skills and materials so that the experience is authentic.’ When RAAS Jodhpur finally opened in 2010, Studio Lotus was catapulted into the national limelight and a flurry of international awards soon followed, including a nomination for the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The success brought a host of exciting commissions from across India, where the practice would go on to apply its learnings from Jodhpur. ‘We’d ask ourselves if we were doing anything that could be done without, if there was something that could be reused or recycled,’ says Goel.
ARCHITECTONICS / Studio Profile
In 2013, for instance, Studio Lotus fused together two adjoining run-down buildings in New Delhi with a series of connections to create flexible live-work spaces for artists. Two years later in Mumbai, in collaboration with GPL Design Studio, it transformed a cluster of industrial buildings into a marketing centre for a real-estate company.
This page, top Founded in 2002, Studio Lotus is today led by (left to right) Sidhartha Talwar, Pankhuri Goel, Ambrish Arora, Asha Sairam and Ankur Choksi This page, bottom Hand-painted installations adapted from azulejos, an Iberian tin-glazed, ceramic tilework technique, dot the facade of the Royal Enfield Garage Cafe Images by André J Fanthome
The practice also sustained its commitment to engaging with local artisans and ‘contemporising craft’. In 2016, the designers reinterpreted thikri (mirror inlay), casting and foundry work in fine-dining restaurant Baradari at the City Palace in Jaipur, and adapted azulejos (Spanish and Portuguese tinglazed ceramic tilework) a year later to create hand-painted installations at the Royal Enfield Garage Cafe in Goa. At the Krushi Bhawan in Bhubaneshwar (completed in 2018), however, these beliefs manifested at an unprecedented architectural scale. The 12,000-square-metre government facility is imbued with a vibrant narrative of traditional Odisha craft bred from local folklore and mythology that comes to life in hand-carved lattices and bas-relief sculptures in stone, screens and installations created with the ancient dhokra tribal metal-casting technique and, most distinctively, a brick facade inspired by regional woven ikat patterns.
Facing page, top For the facade of the recently completed Krushi Bhawan government facility in Bhubaneshwar, Studio Lotus drew inspiration from the ikat patterns of Odisha’s handlooms and realised the facade with clay bricks in three colours Facing page, bottom The studio worked with local craftspeople to adapt the dhokra tribal metal-casting technique to create light fixtures that wrap around the columns as well as metal screens that line the building corridors Images by André J Fanthome
Today, a considerable portion of India’s population is engaged in the crafts sector, which despite its contribution to the GDP, is still largely tied to rural economies. But as citizens become increasingly aspirational, the demand for artisanal products is declining; increased urban migration means that traditional intergenerational skillsets are being lost at an alarming rate, while the exodus threatens to choke India’s metropolises. In this context, Studio Lotus’s ingenious approach to adaptive reuse assumes immense significance; by reinvigorating regional, craft-based economies and revitalising the decaying urban fabric of Indian cities, the practice seems to be presenting a new and resilient model of urbanism for India — one of multiple, optimised and self-sustaining landscapes.
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THE FLÂNEUR
In-Between Days
T
he place I miss the most in Istanbul isn’t a place at all — or, at least, not a destination. It’s the space that divides the city and joins it together, the in-between that made Istanbul Istanbul in the beginning and has made it Istanbul every day since. I miss the water. For something called a strait, the Bosphorus is not at all straight. For more than 30 kilometres it meanders through seven acute turns leading from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, where tankers and battleships alike await their turn to transit. We lived 180 steps above the Üsküdar ferry landing on the Asian side of the city, and from our balcony could see 180 degrees north, west and south: from the mosques of Üsküdar, across the mouth of the Sea of Marmara to the European side, from ancient Topkapı Palace to Dolmabahçe, the last palace occupied by a sultan before Atatürk founded the Republic in 1923. The furthest north we could see was just past the southernmost bridge, officially the 15 July Martyrs Bridge but known as the First Bridge, spartan and gunmetal grey by day, but illuminated by exuberant coloured lights by night. From our balcony, I was sometimes witness to a world eating its own heart out. We spent hours spotting Russian ships carrying armoured vehicles and heavy weaponry under skimpy tarpaulins to Syria while Putin insisted he wasn’t arming Assad. We watched a bomb explode across the water seconds before the sound hit us, and felt jets firing their
afterburners, rattling the windows like teeth, through the night of the attempted coup in July 2016.
Text Shonquis Moreno
But I was also privy to things that made my heart swim. I watched seagulls raising their fuzzy young on the neighbouring rooftop. Across the domed skyline I saw the lights of the mosques’ minarets blink on to signal the end of a day of fasting during Ramadan, and I listened to overlapping calls to prayer gather into a polyphony and stream through the city’s narrow streets. From the balcony, we saw ships as big as small cities, and prefabricated sections of oil platforms much bigger than that, emerge from the strait’s famously impenetrable fog.
Illustration Kemal Sanli
On ferry rides, sipping bitter tea from tulipshaped glasses, I watched seasons change from sultry summer to snowy winter. I passed baby dolphins and surfaced submarines — once seeing both in a single crossing. One day after the coup, I was on a ferry when I came across the body of a dead seagull that had been placed in a cardboard box. Above it, someone had written a few lines from a 1930 poem by Nâzım Hikmet: ‘If you don’t burn, if I don’t burn, if we don’t burn, how will light vanquish the darkness?’ Istanbul is a candle that burns and gutters. But history is circular, and the city’s many resurrections have been, and will continue to be, inevitable. Like its melancholy ballads, Istanbul finds comfort in its sorrow, resilience in its loss, humour in its tragedies and beginnings in all its ends.
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Shonquis Moreno is a design, travel and architecture writer now based in the San Francisco Bay Area.