Women's Fashion September - October 2019
THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
CONCEPT OF
The allure found in the context of diversity
REFINEMENT
Women's Fashion September - October 2019
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From Wool Alone Whether tigers or tortoises, field mice or feathered peacocks, artisanal needle-felted animals are a celebration of life itself. By Ligaya Mishan Photograph by Anthony Cotsifas Styled by Jill Nicholls
56 Live to Work
THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
On the cover
Page 62
A gold brooch crafted by French jewelry designer, Jean Schlumberger, which forms part of his first-ever jewelry designs inspired by objets trouvés (found objects) in the mid-1930s. The Magnificent Jewels of Jean Schlumberger: From the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Collection is currently being exhibited in the National Museum of Qatar until January 15,2020.
The entrance to a housing complex, Edificio 18, built in 1954 by Marcello Nizzoli.
NICK BALLÓN
4 T QATAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
Olivetti’s headquarters in Ivrea, Italy, were once an experimental ground for a progressive company that looked after its employees and their families from birth through retirement. By Nikil Saval Photographs by Nick Ballón
THINGS
Notes on the Culture Architectural furniture, Jell-O’s comeback and more.
43 64
Of a Kind Marie-Hélène de Taillac’s gemstones. Illustrations by Aurore de la Morinerie
45
PEOPLE 19
An Uprising An airy object of wonder and then derision, foam has moved up in the food world once more. By Ligaya Mishan Photographs by Kyoko Hamada Food Styling by Michelle Gatton Prop Styling by Victoria PetroConroy
Gilding the Lily Dark florals and leather accents: a romance. Photographs by Arnaud Lajeunie Styled by Alex Harrington
Reeling in the Years Looks inspired by the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, reimagined for right now. Photographs by Sean and Seng Styled by Malina Joseph Gilchrist
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The Thing A stretched, almost surrealist timepiece from Cartier. By Nancy Hass Photograph by Sasha Lytvyn Styled by Todd Knopke
Page 43
PLACES 29
Death Is for the Lazy Remembering the New York artist couple who believed a challenging living environment would keep its inhabitants’ minds sharp, allowing them to live longer — or maybe even forever. By Marie Doezema Photographs by Matt Harrington
32
The Great Outdoors Sporty knits — by turns ribbed and brightly striped — are flying high for fall. Photographs by Samuel Bradley Styled by Jason Rider
Page 29
FROM TOP: PHOTOGRAPHS BY KYOKO HAMADA; MATT HARRINGTON; FOOD STYLING BY MICHELLE GATTON; PROP STYLING BY VICTORIA PETRO-CONROY
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15
Notes on the Culture Qatar An exhibition by the Qatari artist Sara Al Obaidly; spicing up the menus at three regional dining spots; mixing fragrances and architecture in Doha; and more.
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Works of a Legend Jean Schlumberger’s magnificent designs arrive at Qatar’s Desert Rose. By Alexandra Evangelista
PEOPLE QATAR 23
The Future Is Green Sustainability charges forward in Italy’s fashion capital. By Debrina Aliyah Photographs by White Milano
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Page 104 Page 26
On Top of the World Reaching the highest of highs and conquering the world, one mountain at a time. By Alexandra Evangelista Photo courtesy of Fahad Badar
THINGS QATAR 49
Unconventional and modern, Gucci’s latest handbag creation is the perfect epitome of its current muse, Zumi Rosow. By Alexandra Evangelista
PLACES QATAR 36
Puglia's Rustic Appeal Distinctive landscapes, traditions steeped in history and the magnetic charm of its people define this well-heeled boot of Italy. Text and photographs by Debrina Aliyah
Another Thing
50
Beauty, in So Many Words An honest look into what beauty really means, inside and out. By Debrina Aliyah
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Modern Quartz
Page 37
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FROM TOP: PHOTO COURTESY OF FAHAD BADAR; DEBRINA ALIYAH
A classic staple reinterpreted in the season’s key trends for the perfect drape over your abayas. By Debrina Aliyah
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Page 18
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PHOTO COURTESY OF QATAR MUSEUMS
10 T QATAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
Jassem bin Yousuf Al Darwish
Introduces
Photograph by Florent Tanet
It was only last November, after eight years of working with the esteemed French architect Joseph Dirand, that Francesco Balzano struck out on his own. For the Dolce pieces, made from a dappled quatre saisons And yet, the 39-year-old designer has already developed a series marble sourced near the French Pyrenees and produced in of ambitious furniture collections, including the richly colored, collaboration with Les Marbreries de la Seine, a Paris-based firm deceptively simple marble side tables, low tables and dining tables specializing in the stone, Balzano looked to what he calls the in his Dolce line, launching this month, as well as a few clean“atmosphere of forms” of his favorite buildings, each lined tables and consoles rendered in cloudy pastel Balzano’s D5 stool, as “minimal, absolute and timeless” as the next. resin. Whatever type of material Balzano happens to D1 table and Constantin Allusions to Rome’s Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, be using — he also works with wood, bronze and resin bench, the latter of which was produced designed in 1937 with a travertine arcade facade limestone — he ensures it is of what he calls “noble” by Theoreme Editions, and intended as a rationalist tribute to the city’s quality, and then goes about infusing his designs with alongside a slab of Colosseum, can be seen in the collection’s rounded an array of hyper-detailed architectural references. French marble (at far left).
THE FUTURE IS NOW
edges, while the Dolce stool’s base recalls the columns of the Roman Pantheon. Another piece, Balzano’s scallop-edged pink Antica table, could also be said to nod to the Pantheon, every groove its own sort of column or space between, as well as to the tapered outdoor staircase atop the Adalberto Libera-designed Villa Malaparte in Capri, another 1930s icon. Balzano, who was born in Paris to a French mother and an Italian father, originally wanted to be a painter, a dream he shared with his maternal grandmother, Marie-Antoinette Cebron de Lisle, who took him to see the work of 18th-century French painters at the Louvre. “But she also taught me to observe the shape of the world around me,” Balzano says. As a teenager, he decided architecture might be a nice crossover genre, one incorporating elements of sculpture, design and even photography. After graduating from the prestigious École Penninghen nearly 15 years ago, he traveled through Italy shooting his favorite structures. “I wanted to analyze stone and see Classic and Modernist elements anew,” he says. In theory, now that Balzano is working for himself, he should once again have the freedom to go in search of inspiration. In reality, though, he can usually be found at his home and studio near Paris’s Parc Monceau. He admits that over the past couple of years the work space has overtaken the living one, and now nearly every surface is covered with prototype samples. “It’s not really even a flat anymore,” he says. “The workshop is all around.” So much for clean lines.
Illustration by Jordan Awan
Furry Accents Clockwise from top left: Louis Vuitton jacket, $7,850, louisvuitton.com. Dior Men jacket, price on request, (800) 9293467. Loewe shirt, $1,250, loewe.com. Rick Owens coat, $3,640, rickowens.eu. Gucci stole, $2,950, gucci.com. Prada sweater, $1,490, and hat, $480, prada.com.
HERBAL REFRESHMENT
IN 1605, AN ORDER of Carthusian monks living outside of Paris inherited a secret tonic recipe from a French diplomat. It called for 130 different herbs, likely including clove, thyme and star anise, and was thought to promote longevity. By 1764, they were selling a version of the concoction — also known as 110-proof green chartreuse — to residents of nearby villages. The piney, vegetal drink’s popularity got another boost in 1840, when the monks introduced yellow chartreuse, a milder tonic with notes of saffron and chamomile. Both versions are still solely produced by the same Carthusian order, which keeps the recipes closely guarded. Demand for the liqueur peaked in the 19th century, but now, given today’s taste for bitters and earthy elixirs that at least seem to lean in the direction of wellness, chartreuse is being embraced by a new generation of aperitif- and digestif-obsessed diners. More bartenders are conversant in the Last Word, a classic Prohibitionera cocktail containing chartreuse, gin and fresh lime juice, and are experimenting with chartreuse-based inventions of their own: Paul Einbund, the sommelier
and owner at the Morris in San Francisco, has bottles of green chartreuse that date back to 1912 and likes to make chartreuse slushies. As the liqueur ages, he says, “it begins to taste of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting,” or, in the case of yellow chartreuse, “coconut curry.” It’s no surprise, then, that chartreuse has also made the jump from the bar to the kitchen. The Morris’s head chef, Gavin Schmidt, cures salmon in chartreuse to create a sort of alpine gravlax. Lincoln Carson, the chef of the new Los Angeles brasserie Bon Temps, tops escargots vol-au-vents with a take on persillade using green chartreuse; the “long, foresty notes” of the liqueur pair perfectly with snails. And chefs Nina Compton of New Orleans’s Compère Lapin and Lisa Giffen of Audrey in Los Angeles incorporate chartreuse into chilled melon soups (the drink’s layers of flavor are most vivid at low temperatures). Compton uses yellow chartreuse to highlight the sweetness of the fruit, while Giffen garnishes a briny mix of clam and cucumber with a green-chartreuse-and-melon granita. It’s a complex dish that, in a single bite, takes you from the woods to the sea. — Merrell Hambleton
CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: SOA DAVIES FORREST; ILLUSTRATION REFERENCES CONCEPT 006:1017 ALYX 9SM, NORDSTROM.COM/NEWCONCEPTS; MODELS: JACKSON WAKEFIELD AT DNA MODEL MANAGEMENT, DANNY SINGH AT RED, MALLE GUEYE AT FUSION, TY BROWN SMITHERS AT RED, ZACHARY CHOU CHONG TING AT D1 AND NICK FLOHR AT TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY. GROOMING: MOIZ ALLADINA AT THE WALL GROUP. CASTING: MARGEAUX ELKRIEF
MINI MARKET
— Cody Delistraty
Chilled cucumber-and-clam soup with melon-chartreuse granita from Audrey in Los Angeles.
WHILE SOME LEGENDARY Manhattan department stores have recently been forced to close, Nordstrom, which began as a Seattle shoe emporium in 1901, is opening a seven-story women’s flagship by Columbus Circle in October. And starting this month at its men’s store across the street, shoppers will find a pop-up carrying an exclusive, 35-piece capsule collection by Matthew Williams, who runs the cultish street wear label 1017 Alyx 9SM and has designed accessories for Dior Men. The latest iteration of Nordstrom’s collaborative New Concepts series, launched by Sam Lobban, Nordstrom’s vice president of men’s fashion, earlier this year, Williams’s collection consists of sharp, practical pieces, including a long leather coat and matching gaiter pants, a crinkled nylon parka and a unisex fanny pack. Utilitarian touches like 3M zippers, plastic buckles and double-thick rubber soles (on the zip-up leather boots) give the items a functionality meant to withstand apocalyptic times. “I believe in climate change,” says Williams, who took care to make clothes that would last. Not only that but, as most of the pieces are black, they won’t go out of style. — Christoph Hargreaves-Allen
Photographs by Eric Chakeen Styled by Alex Tudela
NOTES ON THE CULTURE PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS
continued from page 11
Joseph Maida’s “#jelly #jello #fruity #fruto #green #thingsarequeer” (2014), from the artist’s “Things ‘R’ Queer” series.
After decades of being associated with retrograde ideas of American femininity, Jell-O becomes its own artistic medium.
THE WOBBLES York-based photographer Joseph Maida also questions who and what belongs in the kitchen in his 2014 “Things ‘R’ Queer,” a series of gelatin, meringue and plastic tableaus: a gelatin birthday cake atop a tennis racket, a fake hamburger with an electricity meter attached to it. They are, he writes, “historically ‘straight’ in their aesthetics and lack of manipulation” but “undoubtedly queer in their campy
visualization of a fantasy-cum-critique of contemporary material culture.” In one sense, these works clearly refute Jell-O’s consumerist legacy. But they’re also joyful celebrations of the material’s wiggly, neon charm. Consider, for instance, the Vancouver sculptor Sharona Franklin, who assembles layers of kaleidoscopic gelatin infused with medicinal herbs to underscore the limitations of “wellness culture,”
which she feels has been detrimental to her as a person suffering from degenerative disease. Her Instagram project (@paid.technologies) comments on the ways women with illnesses have historically been considered burdensome. “The use of gelatin is a protest to that,” she says. “A shrine to the animal cells that I — and many others — need to survive.” — Emma Orlow
CANDY LAND
Nazuna Kyoto Gosho’s Kashiwa Mochi guest room, with a rattan chair by Isamu Kenmochi and a paper floor lamp by Isamu Noguchi, opens onto a garden.
SOUTH OF THE KYOTO Imperial Palace, which has been rebuilt eight times (most recently in 1855), the streets are lined with machiya, or narrow wooden townhouses that date as far back as Japan’s Heian period (794-1185). Once home to artisans and merchants, many of the structures have since been abandoned because of the cost and difficulty of maintaining them. Recently, though, entrepreneurs have revived the area by converting machiya into restaurants and ryokan, the new Nazuna Kyoto Gosho among them. Nazuna is a young hotel company that also has a pair of properties — a reimagined 19th-century samurai’s house and a low-slung villa — in Obi, on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s main islands. Here, its developers combined two adjacent machiya, one a former lumber warehouse. The broad wooden beams and some of the mud walls of what is now the lobby are original, and the space is decorated with pieces of antique furniture discovered inside the building before the renovation, including a three-drawer credenza. The idea was to “create the feel of time standing still,” says the interior designer, Erina Ho, while adding a bit of color. For inspiration, she looked not to Japanese flowers or silks but to dessert, modeling the ryokan’s seven guest rooms after the traditional confections known as wagashi: There is a yellow-and-clear glass-blown sculpture reminiscent of kuzukiri (a sweet noodle dish) and a sliding door painted with ovals resembling bean-paste-filled pancakes. Even breakfast — an array of grilled Wagyu beef or fish, rice and miso soup — is served in striped, candy-like ceramic globes. Also on offer are matcha-making classes and, of course, plenty of complimentary sweets. — Sydney Rende
13
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: JOSEPH MAIDA, “#JELLY #JELLO #FRUITY #FRUTO #GREEN #THINGSAREQUEER,” 2014; VICTOR VIRGILE/GAMMA-RAPHO/GETTY IMAGES; ALESSANDRO VIERO/GORUNWAY; VICTOR VIRGILE/GAMMA-RAPHO/GETTY IMAGES; ESTROP/GETTY IMAGES; ALESSANDRO VIERO/GORUNWAY
POWDERED GELATIN MIXED with sweetener, artificial food coloring and flavoring first became a craze among Victorian-era New York City housewives, but it wasn’t until the early 1900s, soon after Jell-O was packaged in 1897 by the upstate carpenter Pearle Bixby Wait and his wife, May, that the chill-and-set treats — often filled with fruits and crowned with whipped cream — became associated with American female domesticity. Starting in the 1920s, Jell-O was advertised to women as an affordable diet trick; in the 1950s, as a dinner-party dessert; in the 1970s, as a quick treat for independent women who were too busy to cook. It’s fitting, then, that several queer and female artists are now revisiting Jell-O as both subject matter and material, creating work that challenges society’s fixations on traditionally feminine realms and behaviors. In January, at the Abrons Arts Center in downtown Manhattan, Alison Kuo caressed, slapped and shook a translucent blob of Jell-O in “The New Joys of Gellies,” a performance piece that the artist — a member of a Facebook group dedicated to Jell-O creations called Show Me Your Aspics — says connects “sacrifice” (the main ingredient of gelatin is ground-up animal parts) with “sensuality,” the sliminess reminiscent of wobbling flesh. Then there’s the Brooklyn conceptual duo Josie Keefe and Phyllis Ma (known together as Lazy Mom), who create surrealist animations and videos of gelatin molds filled with ingredients like beef ravioli and carrots. The New
Lace-ups, trainers and carryalls in strong shades pack an extra punch.
Bold Colors Photographs by Mari Maeda and Yuji Oboshi
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: GUCCI BAG, GUCCI.COM. BERLUTI BAG, BERLUTI.COM. HERMÈS BAG, HERMES.COM. PRADA SHOES, PRADA.COM. VERSACE SHOES, VERSACE.COM. MARNI SHOES, MARNI.COM. JIMMY CHOO BAG, JIMMYCHOO.COM. TOD’S SHOES, TODS.COM. JIL SANDER BAG, JILSANDER.COM. LOUIS VUITTON SHOES, LOUISVUITTON.COM
14 T QATAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
NOTES ON THE CULTURE
MARKET REPORT
Clockwise from top left: Gucci, $2,100. Berluti, price on request. Hermès, $5,400. Prada, price on request. Versace, $650. Marni, $890. Jimmy Choo, $1,175. Tod’s, $495. Jil Sander, $1,590. Louis Vuitton, about $1,190.
MASTERPIECE IN A BOTTLE Henry Jacques brings the scents of Paris to Qatar.
THE FRENCH HAUTE parfumerie Henry Jacques has brought its revered fragrances and immense savoirfaire to Qatari connoisseurs. Designed by Christophe Tollemer, the Parisian boutique opened its doors in Galeries Lafayette Doha at 21 High St., Katara Cultural Village. The space is inspired by an 18th-century French castle, gracefully blending the illustriousness of the past with modern-day elegance and charm. The house's products can be admired throughout
the store. From limited edition “Les Toupies,” or spinning tops, to the Renaissance Jewellery collection, each scent is presented in gem-encrusted flacons. With half a century of excellence and creativity behind it, the heart of Henry Jacques' offering is its unmatched service. Guided by the experts, clients can create their own individual scents — a ritual that is very much appreciated by those with a fine nose, and part of Middle Eastern traditions that date back through history. — Alexandra Evangelista
A TRIUMPHANT SCALE Modern Art are the works of Africa’s most prominent living artist, El Anatsui. The show is the acclaimed Ghanian artist's first-ever solo exhibition in the Middle East. Titled “Triumphant Scale,” the exhibition focuses on the triumphant and monumental quality of the artist’s sculptures. Various mediums all showcase the artist’s 50-year career. The collection includes Anatsui's signature bottle-cap series, which he began creating two decades ago; wood sculptures and wall reliefs from mid-1970s to the late 1990s; ceramic sculptures from the late 1970’s; as well as drawings, prints and books. Included in the exhibit is “Logoligi Logarithm,” a specially created installation that is related to Anatsui's 2010 work “Gli (Wall),” which displays an alluring play of light and material that resembles the refraction of sunlight in a mist. — Alexandra Evangelista
Artworks by El Anatsui in his first solo exhibition at the Arab Museum of Modern Art.
COMBINING STYLE AND TRADITION AT ETHAN ALLEN and AlBahie’s recent joint venture, located at the Ethan Allen Design Center in Medina Central at The Pearl, the furniture designer's custom pieces were spread out across four rooms. In partnership with the auction house AlBahie, the space was filled with Orientalist paintings, contemporary photographs, Bohemian glassware and handwoven carpets. Signature rooms highlighted furnishings that can be customized by Ethan Allen interior designers and complemented with signature artworks from AlBahie’s collections of carpets, paintings, and decorative objects to create a bespoke interior. — Alexandra Evangelista
Framed photographs, artworks and sculptures inside the Ethan Allen Design Center.
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FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: FRECH FRAGRANCE HENRY JACQUES IN ITS COUTIQUE IN QATAR; A MIXTURE OF FURNISHINGS INSIDE THE ETHAN ALLEN DESIGN CENTER IN QATAR; A "TRIUMPHANT SCALE" EXHIBITIED IN THE ARAB MUSUEM OF MODERN ART.
SPREAD ACROSS TEN separate gallery spaces at the Arab Museum of
NOTES ON THE CULTURE QATAR
THE OUTNET TURNS TEN
THE WRITER AMAL LINGAWI'S new title, “Hatha Rayi Esh Rayak?,” has launched as part of a partnership between Fnac and the Ministry of Culture and Sports. The book's launch event was part of an initiative to revive the culture of reading through relentless promotion of local and international authors. The book, whose title means “this is my opinion, what is yours?,” focuses on society and its acceptance of other people’s opinions. The book features the writer’s own experiences and perspectives about Amal Lingawi building relationships based on mutual respect. — enthusiatically
NET-A-PORTER’S SISTER site, The Outnet, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with the launch of 100 limited edition pieces to mark the special occasion. The new collection comprises exclusive designs from over 35 iconic designer brands as a tribute to the site's long-standing relationship with them. Extremely compelling and definitely exclusive, some renowned names included in the collection are Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Paco Rabanne, Delpozo, and Christopher Kane. Over the past 10 years, The Outnet has grown dramatically and has undeniably redefined the luxury discount model. Centered in London, the 10th anniversary campaign features a line up of world-renowned female icons from the fashion and art industry such as Alek Wek, Jessica Kahawaty, Lisa Eldridge, Quentin Jones and Paloma Faith – symbols of the site's continued appeal as a destination for The Outnet features some exclusive pieces smart, cultured and confident women. — Alexandra
Alexandra Evangelista
Evangelista
answers questions about the book.
for its 10th aniniversary.
“WHAT REMAINS” THE QATARI INTERDISCIPLINARY artist Sara Al Obaidly's latest exhibition shares pieces inspired by an 800 km journey by land, river and sea. In a creative mix of photographic works, sound design, film and installation, Al Obaidly captures the beauty and soul of her journey across the island of Madagascar in 2016. The exhibition, titled “What Remains,” serves as an exploration of what mankind will leave behind once we have fully exploited Earth’s natural resources in the name of progress. Aesthetics aside, Al Obaidly's work asks profound questions about human civilization’s impact on our environment. Her photographs and installations show a search for the connection between humans, the environment and all the footprints that we will leave behind. — Alexandra Evangelista
16 T QATAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
A photograph from Sara Al Obaidly's exhibition.
A TASTE OF THE WORLD ON ON E PLATE THE WORLD-RENOWNED chef and restaurateur Richard Sandoval has spiced up the menus on three dining spots in Doha. The founder and owner of RS Hospitality, Chef Sandoval visited Toro Toro Doha, Maya Restaurant and Lounge, and Zengo to introduce special menus. He began with Saturday Callejero or Street Food Night, at Maya Restaurant and Lounge, and brought a creative blend of pan-Latin styles and flavors to Toro Toro Doha.
Known mostly for his international flavors, Sandoval could not leave out a taste of Asia as he introduced panAsian cuisines to Zengo’s menu. The table was saturated with the aroma of fresh seafood ranging from sushi, sashimi and handcrafted dim sum to curry dishes, grilled entrees and wok dishes. — Alexandra Evangelista
Chef and restaurateur Richard Sandoval at Toro Toro Doha.
COUNTER-CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: A PHOTOGRAPH INSTALLATION AS PART OF "WHAT REMAINS" EXHIBITION; THE OUTNET FEATURES EXCLUSIVE PIECES FOR ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY; AMAL LINGAWI IN HER BOOK LAUNCHING; CHEF AND RESTAURATEUR RICHARD SANDOVAL AT TORO TORO DOHA.
A BOOK THAT SPARKS DIALOGUE
of a Legend Jean Schlumberger’s magnificent designs arrive at Qatar’s Desert Rose. By Alexandra Evangelista
From top: “Bird”, 1964, Enamel, lacquer, rubies, turquoise and 18 karat gold, 33.97 x 10.16 x 10.16 cm, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, 99.10.2.; “Flower Pot”, 1960, 18, 20 and 22 karat gold, amethyst, emeralds, diamonds, black garnet ore and terracotta, 18.42 x 10.16 x 10.16 cm, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, 99.18.
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF QATAR opened its doors to the vibrant and sculptural work of the late Jean Schlumberger who transformed the landscape of 20th-century fashion with jewelry and accessories inspired by natural forms. The exhibition is a narrative encapsulating the designer’s imaginative, witty and aweinspiring interpretations of animal and botanical subjects, particularly marine life and flowers, using a combination of precious metals, gemstones, as well as organic materials. Precious stones are also the center of Schlumberger’s designs, varying in diverse cuts, carat sizes, and colors lending a multi-faceted dynamism to each piece. These include his early jewelry designs inspired by objets trouvés (found objects) that he acquired in the sprawling Parisian flea markets in the mid-1930s, and incredibly unique and functional objects such as an 18-karat gold “Salt Cellar” and geometric designs of candlesticks and tabletop clocks created for Bunny Mellon’s home reflecting her interest in horticulture. Schlumberger’s works were also based on mundane everyday objects such as cigarette cases, pillboxes and vanity cases. The artist also tapped on the coasts of Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia, as inspirations for his works for the jeweler Tiffany & Co. Schlumberger’s humble beginning is clearly depicted in the collection. The artist has come a long way since his stints in banking and art reproduction in Paris which led him to create his very first brooches from porcelain flowers found at local flea markets. Eventually, these creations caught the eye of surrealist fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli which skyrocketed his career in crafting costume jewelry in the 1930s. He then established a private salon at New York’s Tiffany & Co. beginning in the 1950s and was appointed as the signature designer and vice president, along with his childhood friend Nicolas Bongard. At present, the French artist’s name echoes a special and legendary reputation in the art of custom jewelry. Debuting in 2017 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, the exhibition entitled the Magnificent Jewels of Jean Schlumberger: From the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Collection has since traveled to multiple countries including the Museum of Fine Art in St. Petersburg and The National Museum of China in Beijing.
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FROM TOP: “BIRD”, 1964, ENAMEL, LACQUER, RUBIES, TURQUOISE AND 18 KARAT GOLD, 33.97 X 10.16 X 10.16 CM, VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, COLLECTION OF MRS. PAUL MELLON, 99.10.2.; “FLOWER POT”, 1960, 18, 20 AND 22 KARAT GOLD, AMETHYST, EMERALDS, DIAMONDS, BLACK GARNET ORE AND TERRACOTTA, 18.42 X 10.16 X 10.16 CM, VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, COLLECTION OF MRS. PAUL MELLON, 99.18.
Works
NOTES ON THE CULTURE QATAR 18 T QATAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
Here in Qatar, the exhibition features more than 125 pieces from the Rachel Lambert Mellon Collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the largest and most comprehensive public collection of jewelry and art objects by Schlumberger. The show is on display from now until 15 January next year in the National Museum of Qatar. Jean Nouvel’s new architectural masterpiece serves as a fitting venue to for the artist's monumental collection. The National Museum inaugurated the collection in the presence of HE Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health, Mr. Ahmad Al Namla, Acting CEO of Qatar Museums and several VIP guests. “We are proud to present Magnificent Jewels of Jean Schlumberger as one of the first temporary exhibitions at the recently opened National Museum of Qatar,” said Sheikha Reem Al Thani, Director of Exhibitions at Qatar Museums. “Schlumberger’s dazzling jewelry and art objects, which were inspired by nature, will certainly captivate visitors, just as the museum has through its organic design, resembling a desert rose,” she says in reference to the various media depicting Qatar’s historical beginnings and its rich culture that is housed in the interlocking disks of the Desert Rose. Clockwise from top: A precious stone from the Magnificent Jewels of Jean Schlumberger: From the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Collection displayed at the National Museum of Qatar; “Cornflower” (Brooch), ca. 1957, 18 karat gold, platinum, diamond and sapphire, 4.76 x 4.76 x 1.59 cm, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2015.120.
IN FASHION
REELING IN THE YEARS
Polish, experimentation, sensuality and power: The spirit and silhouettes of the 1980s, ’70s, ’60s and ’50s get reimagined.
Lanvin dress, $3,990, (646) 439-0380.
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Photographs by Sean and Seng Styled by Malina Joseph Gilchrist
IN FASHION PEOPLE
Left: Michael Kors Collection coat, $5,990, michaelkors .com. Kwaidan Editions shirt, $1,021, barneys .com. Right: Michael Kors Collection coat, $6,990. Kwaidan Editions shirt, $959.
GUTTER CREDIT TK
Left: Alexander McQueen dress, $9,200, (212) 645-1797. Vintage Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. earrings, price on request, kentshire .com. Wing & Weft gloves, $375, wingweftgloves.com. Right: Dior top, $2,050, and skirt, price on request, (800) 929-3467. Verdura earrings, $7,750, verdura.com. Balenciaga bag, $1,350, (310) 854-0557. Falke tights, $28, amazon.com. Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello shoes, $825, ysl .com. Stylist’s own gloves.
MODELS: JORDAN DANIELS AND NATALIA MONTERO AT THE SOCIETY. CASTING: LARISSA GUNN. HAIR: BENJAMIN MULLER AT MANAGEMENT ARTISTS. MAKEUP: JANESSA PARÉ AT TOGETHER. PHOTO ASSISTANTS: SLOAN LAURITS AND ALVIN WONG. DIGITAL TECH: JONATHAN FASULO. STYLIST’S ASSISTANT: BERTILLE NOIRET. HAIR ASSISTANT: LAUREN BERRONES. MAKEUP ASSISTANT: NONA MAHMOUDI
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PEOPLE
IN FASHION
Left: Balenciaga coat, $3,200. Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello shoes, $645. Right: Louis Vuitton top and earrings, price on request, louisvuitton .com. Gucci pants, $6,300, and shoes, $695, gucci.com.
IN FASHION
The Future Is Green
Australian brand Strateas Carlucci was this season’s special guest at WHITE.
Sustainability charges forward in Italy’s fashion capital.
THE EXHIBITION OPENS with a walkthrough a forest of greens, where one’s senses are transported to the calm of nature complete with dewy aromas. A stark contrast awaits in the next room, where Matteo Ward begins a narration on the lives of the hundreds of thousands of workers in the clothes manufacturing industry. A screen separates the audience from projected human figures who remain faceless, representing the anonymity of these workers, many found in less than desirable work conditions around the world. The narrative continues with a sensory display, provoking the audience to dig deeper into the concept of sustainability. The opening gambit of GIVE A FOKus may have been a little dramatic, but just like the name of the exhibition, it was targeted at bringing attention to an issue within the fashion industry that has for years been considered an afterthought. Tackling the weighty issue of sustainability and introducing the notion of traceability, which is still very much in its infancy, were not easy tasks, but Italy’s vanguard fashion tradeshow WHITE Milano
has succinctly given life to the idea in the immersive exhibition. Under the creative direction of Ward, a sustainable fashion activist whose brand WRAD won this year’s Italian National Fashion Association (Camera Moda) Green Carpet Award, the exhibition takes visitors through hard-hitting facts and shows how affirmative actions, big or small, can make a difference in the future of fashion manufacturing. “The fashion system is undergoing a revolution and it has become necessary to re-access our activities to cater to the real needs of a worn-out planet and of an exploited society,” Ward explains. “We are stuffed with things that do not mirror our real identity.” The battle against mind-numbing consumption and a return to sustainable production has been an essential priority for the Italian industry in recent years. The previous fashion seasons have seen green initiatives and agendas included as part of Milan Fashion Week’s official calendar, where young designers are encouraged to pursue a green approach in developing their work. Last year, the Camera Moda officially launched the
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY WHITE MILANO
By Debrina Aliyah
IN FASHION PEOPLE QATAR 24 T QATAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
Green Carpet Awards Italia with celebrities including Colin Firth and his wife Livia at the forefront to promote the event. GIVE A FOKus shines the spotlight on traceability and blockchain technology, the new buzzword that is promising to guarantee worldwide relevance to both the Italian fashion system and the world of retail. “We are extremely glad that the Italians themselves have asked for this sort of development, as recent surveys have revealed. While most of the population expect the labels to be transparent in terms of their production chain and environmental or social footprint, only two Italians out of 10 think that the fashion industry satisfactorily informs the consumers on the impact of their production on the environment and on the world’s population,” Ward explains. The exhibition is an extension of innovative efforts by Brenda Bellei and Massimiliano Bizzi, co-founders of WHITE, that has roots going back to 2016. “The issue of sustainability is part of our DNA and we have always been promoting this as part of our talent scouting vision to buyers from across the globe,” Bellei says. “I believe that organizing an eco-sustainable society is becoming an essential requirement, at all levels and particularly in the fashion world.” The tradeshow’s visibility and size have made it an influential scouting ground for some of this decade’s most interesting designers and a platform of support for brands focused on sustainable production. This year’s highlight in spring was Australian brand Strateas Carlucci, an International Woolmark Prize winner, that uses only 100% traceable materials for its collections. “It’s not always easy to justify our price
points and we currently cater to a niche market that truly understands what they are buying and why it is so important that we are transparent in our works,” explains Peter Strateas, who founded the brand with Mario-Luca Carlucci. Finding the balance between commerciality and sustainability is something that many emerging brands juggle, but Bellei believes that it is a small struggle that will pay off. “For most of the emerging brands, it is an obligatory choice to face the demands of the market even if it is not easy to generate fashion products that are also sustainable and trendy. This is the challenge of the future.” And though sustainability seems to be the word on everyone’s lips, it is also evidently in contrast with the rise of consumerism and conscientious marketing of replaceable trends towards consumers every season. Are we looking at a rhetoric where major brands are just riding on the wave to sell even more products, cleverly conceived as “conscious” collections? “I think that if the big names in fashion could start the virtuous circle, establishing a production of eco-friendly garments and accessories, and pushing through marketing the eco-sustainable trend, consumers would also opt for a more informed and less consumerist and targeted purchase,” Bellei thinks. For its September edition, Ward leads the next chapter of the GIVE A FOKus with a narrative that spans five thematic areas— Water, Chemicals, Climate Change, Waste and People. Delving deeper into the issues of sustainable production, each thematic area is presented together with Italian companies that play integral roles in the fashion production system including Analytical
Clockwise from top: WHITE’s co-founders Bellei and Bizzi have been flying the sustainability flag for over a decade; Ward taking visitors through the exhibition.
From top: Spotlight on traceability and blockchain technology in raw materials; new sustainable materials include fabrics from orange fibers.
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Group, Econyl and Albini Group. Sustainable denimwear brand Boyish features as a highlight of this autumn edition with its breakthrough development of denim fabrication that is both eco-friendly and cruelty-free. WHITE will be presenting some 200 new brands where sustainability drove research and scouting initiatives. “All our project and collaborations are curated with clear intentions, business of course and the cultivating of fashion creativity, but more importantly a reflection of the times where we now more than ever must persevere on sustainability,� Bizzi affirms. Names to look out for include Munenori Uemuro, nana-nana, as well as Arabian designers Arwa Al Banawi and Nora Aytch, while a special section inside WHITE will serve to foster the dialogue between the emerging talents and international buyers. The upcoming edition will also see a special installation designed by art director Lucia Emanuela Curzi that embodies the different identities of the modern woman.
IN DISCOVERY
On Top of the World Reaching the highest of highs and conquering the world, one mountain at a time.
Qatari mountain climber, Fahad Badar, in his journey to the peak of Mont Blanc.
“IN MOUNTAIN CLIMBING, failing is easy. But I didn’t go up there to fail”, says Fahad Badar, the first-ever Arab man to double summit Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse in one trip. Badar's interest in mountain climbing was a slow burn, as it first sparked during his backpacking trip in Nepal, Laos and Cambodia a few years back. Whilst having a vision and a dream to climb the highest mountain in the world, this interest, no matter how compelling, has been pushed aside due to the daily demands of life. Although the case remains the same, Badar reached a turning point three years ago when he finally manifested the time to follow his dreams. Aware of the stakes, he put plans into action and allowed his lifestyle to make a 180-degree turn. One mountain at a time, Badar started out by climbing smaller mountains as a means to get the technical experience he needed.
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By Alexandra Evangelista
IN DISCOVERY
Above: Fahad Badar, all geared up during his climb at Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps. Below: Badar with a group of moutain climbers on a journey to Mont Blanc's summit.
PHOTO COURTESY OF FAHAD BADAR
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The first-ever summit that he reached was Mount Kilimanjaro, which is the highest mountain in Africa, standing at an altitude of 5,895 meters, or 19,340 feet. Mundane difficulties definitely greeted him face to face in his pioneer experience as he learned about the struggles of staying in a tent and doing extensive physical activities for seven days. Nonetheless, Badar reached its peak triumphantly and came down with more hunger to conquer more summits. Today, the high-altitude Qatari climber and banking executive lives a lifestyle that constantly demands self-discipline and sacrifice. Physical training is standard for his preparation as well as following a strict dietary plan. Breaking the common misconception about his workout routines, he stated, “This is something that most people need to understand, you don’t need to train for eight hours a day.” The professional mountain climber usually dedicates only an hour or two in his daily training. To him, proper nutrition and strength were essential. Badar needs both physical and mental strength, and he makes it a habit to research facts and get tips from previous mountaineers. Badar likes to imagine himself on the mountain and try to foresee challenges that he might encounter in reaching his goal. Inevitably, mental vulnerability arises when surrounded by an extreme environment that is just as difficult as the physical strains of the climb. Badar doesn't allow doubts or worries to disturb his concentration. “In the mountains, when unfortunate events happen, there is no time to reflect and be taken over by emotions. Toughness is a personality standard. You have to move and act fast,” he said in stressing the importance of possessing a survival mindset. From this point, his steps and his conquered mountains became bigger with Mount Everest, his holy grail, right under his belt, along with his recent technically challenging trek up the Matterhorn, a nearly-symmetrical pyramidal peak in the Pennine Alps standing at 15,000 feet high. When asked to map out his next great adventure, Badar reveals to the public that he will be leaving for Antarctica on Qatar National Day, December 18th, to make his journey to the center of the South Pole by the end of December. Badar's next climb is Mount Vinson, the most remote of all the seven summits, which stands at 4,897 metres high. This upcoming journey will mark Badar's fourth summit, where he will experience 24 hours of daylight and an average temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius. “Following your passion can be difficult but not impossible,” declares Badar, as he follows the footsteps of renowned mountaineers. Badar fuels his dreams with relentless effort and perseverance to achieve his mission to summit the highest mountains on the world’s seven continents.
ON ARCHITECTURE
THE SEARCH FOR immortality has always been a subtext of architecture. From the pyramids, thought to have been designed as massive stairways so the soul of the deceased pharaoh could ascend to the heavens, to the aspirationally named New York Coliseum, the 1956 exhibition space, demolished in 2000, that was Robert Moses’s bid to join the company of the Roman emperors, many structures are created with an eye toward a life everlasting. But Madeline Gins and her husband, Shusaku Arakawa (who went only by his last name), 1960s New York conceptual artists and amateur architects who are regarded as a bridge between the Dada and Fluxus movements, had a more literal, if whimsical, take on cheating death: The pair purported to believe that their structures could actually allow their inhabitants eternal life. Their philosophy, which claimed a vast array of fans, from the Italian novelist Italo Calvino (who wrote text for their gallery shows) to the poet Robert Creeley, was called Reversible Destiny. Living too comfortably was catastrophic to the human condition, they argued. Instead, the Long Island-born Gins, who was also a poet, and Arakawa, who came to New York from Japan in 1961 and attended art school, thought humans should live in a perpetual state of instability. They posited that buildings could be designed to increase mental and physical stimulation, which would, in turn, prolong life indefinitely. An aversion to right angles, an absence of symmetry and a constant shifting of elevations would stimulate the immune system, sharpen the mind and lead to immortality. They built their handful of realized works in the 1990s and the aughts after a long stint in the downtown scene, where Arakawa was known for his friendship with Marcel Duchamp and for once having lived in the TriBeCa loft of Yoko Ono, a Fluxus luminary. The couple first fully explored Reversible Destiny in what is regarded as their seminal gallery piece, “The Mechanism of Meaning,” an ever-evolving manifestocum-artwork begun in 1963, comprising 80 panels that they refined and added to over decades, many of them high-concept diagrams and puzzles with instructions and text (“A Mnemonic Device for Forgetting,” “Think One, Say Two”), made primarily of acrylic and mixed media on canvas. In an accompanying précis to the work, which was exhibited at the Guggenheim in 1997, they prescribed “no more irretrievable disappearances” and declared death “old-fashioned.” Critical opinion differs on how seriously the pair, The interior of the whose work is in the collection Bioscleave House of the Museum of Modern Art and (Lifespan Extending Villa) in East Paris’s Centre Pompidou, took Hampton, N.Y., built the grandiose quest to end death. in 2008 by the But if it was intended as metaphor, artists Arakawa and Madeline Gins. neither of them ever let on. The bumpy floors Indeed, though Arakawa himself of compacted earth died at 73, in 2010, and Gins four and the intensely colored walls were years later, at the age of 72, defying meant to be difficult death became the defining work to live with, thus of their lives. prolonging life.
For a pair of avantgarde artiststurned-architects, eternal life wasn’t just a dream — it was a possibility. As long, that is, as you were committed to an uncomfortable existence. By Marie Doezema Photographs by Matt Harrington
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DEATH IS FOR THE LAZY
are a metal climbing pole, a floor-to-ceiling built-in ONE OF THE few places to actually experience the ladder and gymnastic rings. Surfaces are painted couple’s philosophy is their first residential work, in 14 crayon-bright shades, including cantaloupe, the Reversible Destiny Lofts Mitaka — In Memory marigold and azure. Only the bedroom, with a of Helen Keller, a nine-unit apartment building flat floor and a futon, provides a respite from the in a suburb 20 minutes west of Tokyo, completed in constant visual and physical stimulation. 2005. The building, a multicolored jumble of The “study room,” a bright yellow sphere, has the stacked cubes, spheres and tubes (soon after its reverberating acoustics of a concert hall. All the completion, the Japanese novelist Setouchi apartments consist of largely the same components, Jakucho described it in a design magazine essay as configured differently, and some residents have “an ultrachromatic undying house”), is a defiant chosen to leave the study empty, naked in its statement in an otherwise drab landscape novelty; others have decorated the ceiling with of nondescript concrete apartment houses. The photographs to make a reclining gallery, and a few architects dedicated it to Helen Keller because, have lined the bowl-shaped floor they reasoned, she lived the ultimate with pillows, transforming the space Reversible Destiny life: Her deafness Living too and blindness required her to comfortably was into a ’60s-style crash pad. The constant change in elevations constantly re-evaluate the world. catastrophic can be disorienting, which is the Walking into apartment 302, to the human point. Depending on where you are, available for rent on Airbnb and the apartment can make you feel recognizable as the Tokyo flat where condition, like a giant, or a child. From inside the character Shoshanna briefly lived Arawaka and the circular sunken kitchen in the on the television series “Girls,” is like Gins argued. middle of the living room, the counter entering a Surrealist playground. The is level with your torso; on the other living room floor, made of hardened side of the counter, it only reaches your knees. The soil and cement, is an undulating topography of result is an exercise in a jarring sort of mindfulness, bumps, some the size of tennis balls, others as one that forces you to constantly recalibrate, large as grapefruits. There isn’t much traditional adapt and adjust. Waking up in the middle of the furniture; you are meant to splay your full form night and moving around is a bit like negotiating along the slopes and valleys of the floor, though like the surface of the moon. stretching out on a rocky beach, it takes a few tries The apartments come with directions — 32 in all. to find just the right angle. Electrical outlets dangle The preface suggests a resident be “a biotopologist,” on retractable cords from the ceiling, which has defined as someone who “produces and lives an inaccessible door that leads nowhere. Some of within a multidimensional interactive diagram.” the light switches are at shoulder-level, others Other directions include: “Go into this unit as only a foot or so from the floor. Instead of drawers or someone who is at the same time both 2 or 3 years closets, there are hooks from which to hang your old and 100 years old” and “Every month move belongings, and among the other accouterments
through your loft as a different animal (snake, deer, tortoise, elephant, giraffe, penguin, etc.).” Nobu Yamaoka, a filmmaker who lived in unit 201, a two-bedroom, between 2006 and 2010, with his wife and their two young children, took his mission as biotopologist seriously. During his time there, he worked on “Children Who Won’t Die,” a documentary released in 2010 that blends the intimacy of family life — the birth of his daughter, the death of his grandmother — with a philosophical exploration of Reversible Destiny. The film includes footage of Arakawa speaking at a conference, expressing his frustration with the status quo: “Even though we’ve been given these incredible organisms, we ignore them. We make fantastic highways for cars, leaving only a tiny space for people. We’re profoundly wrong about the way humans live.” Yamaoka says Reversible Destiny forever changed him, both emotionally and physically. The constant stimulus of merely living in the space was like practicing yoga; in the first few months, he lost weight, felt more energetic and was no longer bothered by hay fever. The only reason the family gave up the loft was because the children began attending school in a different neighborhood. Moving into a conventional home with muted colors, level floors and flat walls after living in Gins and Arakawa’s work was enervating. “It was so strange,” he says, “and I was so tired.” ALONG WITH PRIVATE residences, Arakawa and Gins also made public works, including the Site of Reversible Destiny Park in Yoro, about 30 miles northwest of Nagoya, which was completed in 1995. Part fun house, part obstacle course, the four-acre park, which is frequented as much by young couples as by families, has brightly colored buildings and
OPPOSITE PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ARAKAWA AND MADELINE GINS, “REVERSE–SYMMETRY–TRANSVERSE ENVELOPE HALL,” 1987, GRAPHITE ON PAPER © 2018 ESTATE OF MADELINE GINS, REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION OF THE ESTATE OF MADELINE GINS, PHOTO BY NICHOLAS KNIGHT; ARAKAWA AND MADELINE GINS, “SITE OF REVERSIBLE DESTINY–YORO PARK,” 1993-95, JAPAN © 1997 ESTATE OF MADELINE GINS, REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION OF THE ESTATE OF MADELINE GINS, PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SITE OF REVERSIBLE DESTINY–YORO PARK; ARAKAWA AND MADELINE GINS, “DRAWING FOR UBIQUITOUS SITE X,” 1990, GRAPHITE AND COLOR PENCIL ON PAPER © 2018 ESTATE OF MADELINE GINS, REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION OF THE ESTATE OF MADELINE GINS, PHOTO BY NICHOLAS KNIGHT; ARAKAWA AND MADELINE GINS, “REVERSIBLE DESTINY LOFTS MITAKA–IN MEMORY
ON ARCHITECTURE PLACES 30 T QATAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
The back of the Bioscleave House, with windows placed in purposefully disorienting spots. The only residential project Arakawa and Gins completed in the United States, it has never been occupied full time.
Clockwise from above: a 1987 drawing for an unrealized project by Arakawa and Gins; the interior of the Reversible Destiny Office — Yoro, part of a four-acre park they created in Gifu Prefecture, Japan; the artists’ “Drawing for a Ubiquitous Site X,” from 1990; a round-bottomed study, with a swing meant to be used as a hanging table, in one of the Reversible Destiny Lofts, completed in 2005 in Mitaka, a Tokyo suburb; a perception-defying cylindrical room in a permanent installation created in 1994 by the couple at the Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art, in Okayama Prefecture, Japan.
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OF HELEN KELLER,” 2005, TOKYO, JAPAN © 2005 ESTATE OF MADELINE GINS, REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION OF THE ESTATE OF MADELINE GINS, PHOTO BY MASATAKA NAKANO; ARAKAWA AND MADELINE GINS, “UBIQUITOUS SITE, NAGI’S RYOANJI, ARCHITECTURAL BODY,” 1994, PERMANENT INSTALLATION, NAGI MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, JAPAN © 1994 ESTATE OF MADELINE GINS, REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION OF THE ESTATE OF MADELINE GINS, PHOTO BY KATSUAKI FURUDATE, COURTESY OF THE NAGI MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
labyrinths, undulating hills and sloping paths — the sharp inclines, unexpected craters and blind corners can be perilous (helmets and sneakers are available upon request). The architects strewed decaying relics of domesticity — sinks, desks, bed frames, couches, mattresses, toilets — throughout the space, some planted amid the mazelike structures, others, like subterranean artifacts, buried but visible beneath transparent walkways. The detritus seems to pose existential questions: How much of this stuff do we need, and what does it say about us that our things last longer than we do? In 2008, after more than 40 years of collaboration, the couple completed work on their only realized American residential project, which they named the Bioscleave House (Lifespan Extending Villa) in East Hampton, N.Y. Commissioned by the Italian art collector Angela Gallmann, it is a 2,700-squarefoot addition to a 900-square-foot A-frame designed in the 1960s by Carl Koch, a pioneer of prefab construction. Bioscleave takes the concepts of the Mitaka lofts to the extreme. Painted inside and out in about four dozen vibrant shades — aquamarine, bubblegum pink and Kelly green among them — the house consists of four rectangular rooms around an open living area with a sunken kitchen in the middle. The hardened-soil floors of the main room are sloped at even sharper angles than in the Mitaka lofts, making the dozen candy-colored poles throughout the home not just decorative but necessary for balance. Windows are either above eye-level or near the floor, the light switches are installed askew and, as in the lofts, there are no internal doors. As might be expected from artists with no architectural training and no experience building in America, the project ran wildly over budget; Gallmann, frustrated with delays and rising costs, halted construction before it was completed. In 2007, an anonymous group of investors bought the house and completed it a year later, but it has been occupied only sporadically since. On the market earlier this year for $1.29 million (it did not sell), it sits in a neighborhood of modest midcentury summer houses and newer, grander construction — a ray of radicalism in a locale where money can buy virtually anything, except, perhaps, eternal life. Although the couple had, by all accounts, a symbiotic relationship, the quest for immortality did not end with Arakawa’s death. Gins’s final project, completed in 2013, was the “Biotopological ScaleJuggling Escalator,” commissioned by the Comme des Garçons creator Rei Kawakubo for the Manhattan outpost of her Dover Street Market boutique. The installation features a staircase enclosed in a pale yellow-and-green cavelike plaster tunnel, with walls of hot pink and bruised violet that lighten to a celestial white toward the ceiling. Four diorama installations, visible from the staircase, hold scaled-down scenes of classic Gins and Arakawa environments, complete with miniature figures exploring the alien-seeming topography. The work stands as a small but potent — and easily visited — reminder of what the pair spent so much of their lives chasing. They may not have cracked the riddle of immortality, but like the pyramids, the staircase is a place, at least for now, where the spirit can take flight.
IN FASHION
Collegiate-style knits — ribbed or brightly striped — are flying high for fall.
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THE GREAT OUTDOORS
PLACES
Photographs by Samuel Bradley Styled by Jason Rider
Priscavera top, $330, priscavera.com. Etro sweater, $1,160, (212) 317-9096. Max Mara turtleneck, $525, (212) 879-6100. Kiko Kostadinov skirt, about $1,047, Dover Street Market New York, (646) 837-7750. Tod’s boots, $1,375, tods.com.
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Missoni cape, $3,675, missoni.com. Sportmax sweater, $1,290, us .sportmax.com. Hermès dress, $3,700, hermes .com. Kiko Kostadinov skirt, about $697, Dover Street Market New York. Tod’s boots, $1,375. Opposite: Tod’s sweater, $790. Missoni jumpsuit (worn over dress), $2,750. Wales Bonner dress, $1,130, net-aporter.com. Tod’s boots.
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IN FASHION
IN FASHION
PLACES
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MODEL: NIKO RIAM AT APM. CASTING: NICOLA KAST. PRODUCTION: SHAY JOHNSON AT CARTEL & CO. HAIR: TAMAS TUZES AT L’ATELIER NYC. MAKEUP: LINDA GRADIN AT L’ATELIER NYC. BIRDS: FALCONRYEXCURSIONS.COM. PHOTO ASSISTANT: JOHN TEMONES. STYLIST’S ASSISTANT: BERTILLE NOIRET. PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: DREW DOMINGUEZ
Salvatore Ferragamo dress (worn as top), price on request, ferragamo .com. 8 Moncler Palm Angels sweater, $860, moncler.com. Kiko Kostadinov skirt, about $1,047, Dover Street Market New York.
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WANDERLUST
Puglia's Rustic Appeal CRUISING DOWN THE very simply named Strada Provinciale 1, a long narrow highway that runs through the heart of Puglia, you lose yourself in a spectacular panorama of rolling hay bales, ancient olive trees and looming historic villas. The landscape with the intermittent appearances of trulli, the region’s signature conical stone-roofed homes, is at its most glorious as the provincial freeway snakes past the tiny town of Cocolicho where even the locals often make pit stops to marvel at the sight. Fertile soils with all-year-long dry weather has blessed Puglia with exceptional produce and a rich history of agriculture marked by the popularity of its “masserias”, once noble homes turned farming estates. Home to luscious ruby primitivo grapes, delightfully juicy cherry tomatoes, gigantic sweet red onions and plump cherries that are totally worth staining your dress for, almost all of the terrain in the region is cultivated. While its coastal towns ooze the vibrancy of seaside glamor, the hilly inlands that border Basilicata and Campania offer an introspective glimpse into the identity of its people and its unique architecture. Whitewashed buildings and homes constructed to complement the geography of the lands and castles carved into rocks and cliffs are reminders of early human civilizations while modern additions are often built to accommodate the behemoth roots of centuries-old olive trees. On the trail of the Puglia aqueduct, the region’s charm unfolds beyond a typical postcard snapshot. STAY Rocco Forte Masseria Torre Maizza A former farmhouse converted into a posh resort that has just reopened its doors this spring with a revived Pugliese spirit. Suites and rooms are designed by Olga Polizzi, incorporating a curated collection of local elements and objects, while the sprawling property is a tranquil oasis to lose yourself among the shady olive groves. Also home to a picturesque and technically challenging nine-hole golf course that highlights the estate’s natural landscape. www. roccofortehotels.com/masseria-torre-maizza
Distinctive landscapes, traditions steeped in history, and the magnetic charm of its people define this well-heeled boot of Italy. Text and photographs by Debrina Aliyah One of the viewing points at Matera.
From top: A 16th-century picturesque estate setting lends Masseria Torre Maizza its Pugliese charm; mornings right out at sea on the terraces of Dimora Talenti.
Agriturismo Piccapane The farmhouse includes an excellent vegan restaurant with new interpretations of traditional local dishes. The eco-friendly property offers a range of activities that highlights the origins of the lands as well as a community base to promote “green conversations.” www.agricolapiccapane.com
Cibus Ceglie Messapica, home to a renowned cooking school and nicknamed the land of gastronomy, is the must-go for your Pugliese culinary experience. Lillino Silibello takes you through a cuisine that tells the story of the region within the stone walls of Cibus. Via Chianche di Scarano 7, Ceglie Messapica. +39 0831388980.
Dimora Talenti Perched on the cliffs of Polignano a Mare, this boutique bed and breakfast has arguably the best terrace in the small seaside town, where breakfast and sunset drinks take place. Rooms are designed to respect the original elements of the cliffside home with windows overlooking rocky beaches. www.dimoratalenti.it
Panificio di Gesu Altamura is home to the origincertified bread where flour percentages, water sources and crust size are essential for the European seal of recognition of authenticity. Get in early at Panificio di Gesu for a few banters with the head of the family, Domenico di Gesu, while waiting for the wood fire to simmer down for your fresh loaf of Pane Altamura. Via Pimentel Eleonora Fonseca 19, Altamura. +39 0803141213
LaBo’ Puglia is just as much about the people as the land, and here in this cozy little enoteca, the charm and conviviality of the locals set the tone for a great evening of small typical Pugliese dishes and excellent tipples. Via S. Giorgio 44, Trani. +39 0883954221 EXPLORE Puglia Aqueduct Completed just about a century ago, the aqueduct was conceived as a water source for the vast agricultural activities in a region that is notoriously dry. The longest of its kind in Europe, it runs all the way to Santa di Leuca, and alongside it winds a well-marked 250-kilometer bike trail. Pick your spot for a day out on the bike and discover nature reserves, sandy beaches and ancient ruins. www.pedalandseaadventures.com
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY DEBRINA ALIYAH
EAT
WANDERLUST
Itria Valley Home to Puglia’s iconic white villages, Itria Valley is splendid in white during the day and lights up with the moon at night. Martina Franca, Locorotondo and Alberobello are three stops to marvel at signature white facades. Alberobello, a UNESCO Heritage Site, has the highest concentration of trullis in the region, while the annual Valle D’itria Martina Franca Festival brings performing arts and major stars to the city. www.festivaldellavalleditria.it
Bruschetta from local tomatoes at Cantina Polvanera.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DEBRINA ALIYAH
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PLACES QATAR
Matera Matera has been going through a rejuvenation since it was named the 2019 European Capital of Culture after years of near languish — its famous cave dwelling homes abandoned by its residents in favor of modern apartments. From two vantage points, take in the spectacular vision of a once-buzzing city of cave homes and relive a slice of history with Giuseppe Leone, a local expert guide who will very gladly show you where to find grano arso, a typical Pugliese flour. www.southernvisionstravel.com
BY DESIGN
FINDING SHELTER
An exhibition in Milan explores the evolving concept of where we choose to live. By Debrina Aliyah
informality and spontaneity of Kahn’s concept of shelter sets the tone for Tod’s “No_Code Shelter: Stories of Contemporary Life” exhibition. The Italian luxury house partnered with architectural firm Studio Andrea Caputo to present a structure designed as a shelter without the confines of conventional rules, driven only by the theme of hybridization. A stripped-down version of the traditional yurt by Mai Ikuzawa.
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IN THE PAST FOUR decades, a dedicated group of researchers led by the author Lloyd Kahn has been obsessively documenting structures and buildings around the world. Ranging from a simple temporary hut by the beach to a large donut-shaped communal building for 300 people in China, the comprehensive study explored what the concepts of shelter and home mean to diverse communities. Photographing structures and interviewing builders, Kahn, along with fellow author Stewart Brand, launched several books detailing back-tobasics construction of DIY homes, which greatly influenced the 1970s communal movement throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. In stark contrast to modern-day real estate and urban planning, the
BY DESIGN PLACES QATAR
“It is an ongoing merging of relationships between two different worlds, the fascination with technology and the charm of traditional craftsmanship,” says Michele Lupi, Tod’s men’s collection visionary. Housed in the Le Cavallerizze in Milan’s Leonardo Da Vinci National Science and Technology Museum, the studio’s “shelter space” played host to five installations by five different designers from varied fields. Each installation is a personal interpretation of how these creatives view the concept of shelter and how they are reacting to the evolving contemporary life and the challenges of the future. Italian astronaut and aviator Maurizio Cheli’s shelter, “Musgum,” was produced by manually assembling layers of digitally produced units of polystyrene to create a large-scale structure with a large central opening for air circulation. Drawing from his experience as part of a NASA space shuttle mission, the installation defines how his passion for flying pushed him to explore outer space. “Flying has inspired me to see the world from another perspective. I define passion as a combination of guts and intelligence because our guts drive us toward the things that naturally attract us, and our intelligence, gives us the ability to make rational decisions. I’d say that I’ve always been driven to find something new,” explains Cheli, who also founded CFM Air, a start-up specializing in the design of advanced light aircraft. Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin of Studio Formafantasma’s fame interpret their shelter, “Persian Camp,” with notions of sustainability. Inspired by the form of Bedouin nomadic camps, latex is mounted onto scaffolding with a cedar wood base. The fabric covering the structure is a contemporary take on Persian carpets. “Environmental catastrophe will redefine the way we live on this planet, or die on it,” Trimarchi says.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TOD'S
40 T QATAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
Clockwise from top: “Persian Camp” by Trimarchi and Farresin made with fabric inspired by Persian rugs; the exhibition has no set pathway and allows visitors to explore at their own pace.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF TOD'S
Cheli’s “Musgum” was manually assembled.
BY DESIGN
cars for Lamborghini.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TOD'S
PLACES QATAR 42 T QATAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
“It’s important that we rethink our relationship with production and the way we approach consumerism.” The design duo is based in Amsterdam but is international in their reach, having presented and published internationally with permanent exhibits in the Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. “I believe that designers will be less important in the future, in terms of the media. I hope that in the future there will be more focus on other aspects such as the production process. The creator is important but I think there is too much sensationalism around the creator at the moment,” says Trimarchi. Car racer and graphic designer Mai Ikuzawa’s shelter, “Yurt”, is a skeletal representation of the nomadic yurt embodying the primitive nomadic need for shelter. A dense frame of crossed metal tubes is held together by a compression ring while the tempered glass floor adds a minimalist touch. “My passion for racing comes from my very unconventional childhood. My father was a very celebrated Japanese race driver and my grandfather was an artist. He would always make an effort to look very chic and sharp and I think I have inherited that aesthetic,” she explains. Car designer Marcello Gandini’s “Pitched Hut” is a hybrid of aluminum and birch logs while Olimpia Zagnoli’s “Casamance” is a structure of rosewood, Zebrano wood and metal tubes combined to recreate the basic function of collecting water. Within these five shelters, video installations feature authoritative visionaries including Petter Neby, Yong Bae Seok and Chris Bangle, who discuss the challenges of the future in contemporary life. Through these dialogues, the physical manifestations of the shelters, as well as narratives on homes across various geographical Clockwise from top: Zagnoli’s regions, the exhibition sheds light on “Casamance” recreates the function of water collection; how the definition of space will “Pitched Hut” by Gandini who continue to evolve. has designed revolutionary
FOOD MATTERS
AN UPRISING Why foam, derided in the last decade by chefs and diners alike, is ascendant once more.
IS UBIQUITY A CRIME? In food as in fashion, both fields with a historical hierarchy of high and low, proliferation is often equated with degradation: The more popular and widespread an idea, the less valued it is. The increasingly rapid dissemination of images and experiences in our modern age has made originality the most fragile of commodities — and radically shortened the distance from innovation to cliché. So it’s easy to forget that, a quarter of a century ago, the advent of edible foam — food transformed into froth, somewhere between soap suds and pure aura — was more than novel; it was defiant. At El Bulli, the now shuttered restaurant on Spain’s Costa Brava that was once considered the best in the world, the Catalan chef Ferran Adrià refused to be limited by the physical properties of food. In one of his early experiments, introduced in 1994, a dome of white foam rested over lobes of sea urchin, invisible except for the surrounding shell, its dark spines
forming a crown of thorns. Everything appeared in a state of suspension: the cloud alit, the shell’s tips balanced on two slender blocks. The sea urchin, however dramatically presented, was familiar, harvested from local waters. The surprise was that ghostly puff. Adrià had taken a prosaic, earthbound ingredient — a purée of white beans — and turned it into something enchanted and in-between, neither solid, liquid nor air, delivering flavor without density and almost evaporating rather than dissolving. Its existence was so brief, it was already memory the moment it touched the tongue. Other chefs around the world soon learned how to replicate the trick. Unlike Adrià’s more difficult technical feats — some of which could be executed only with highly specialized equipment like the micro-puréeing Pacojet or a freeze dryer, each costing thousands of dollars — making foam required nothing more than a tool filched from the pastry side of the kitchen: a pressurized whippingcream siphon into whose canister a liquid is poured and then charged with nitrous oxide, a gas without color or flavor. The higher the percentage of fat in the liquid, the more gas is absorbed; it then expands, generating bubbles. The result is a level of fluffiness unachievable by manual labor. With the help of this relatively cheap, portable gadget, foam was suddenly everywhere. The most
popular siphon became so common it was breezily referred to by its brand name: the iSi. Sometimes it was deployed as part of a larger culinary inquiry, intended to interrogate and upend our assumptions about what constitutes food in the first place. But often froth was simply that: insubstantial, a shortcut to sophistication, bypassing Adrià’s intensive trial-and-error phase. (To create the texture, Adrià had explored various tactics, including, possibly apocryphally, attaching a bicycle pump — in some versions of the story it’s an oxygen tank — to a tomato.) “Foam started out as an expression of joy,” says Alex Raij, who runs the Spanish spot La Vara and three other restaurants in New York City with her husband and co-chef, Eder Montero. “Then it became a crutch.” Serving food that looked like collapsing clouds became a kind of culinary virtue signaling, a lazy way to claim allegiance to Adrià and his intellectual curiosity without having to put in the work.
An orange made from foam.
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By Ligaya Mishan Photographs by Kyoko Hamada Food Styling by Michelle Gatton Prop Styling by Victoria Petro-Conroy
FOOD MATTERS THINGS
Within a decade, critics were bemoaning the trend, and Adrià himself had moved on. “Foams are out,” he told The New York Times in 2002; he was now making “air,” his term for a texture even closer to weightless. In 2011, El Bulli closed; it hadn’t turned a profit for years. (This wasn’t for lack of an audience: The wait list was reportedly millions long.) For those who had never had the privilege of dining at El Bulli — which is to say, all but a sliver of the world’s population — and who had encountered these kinds of avantgarde dishes only at the hands of mediocre imitators, if at all, how could foam be understood as anything but the emperor’s new food? To eat foam was to eat nothing: flavor reduced to implication, food deprived of substance and nutrients. As early as 2006, American chefs surveyed by the National Restaurant Association for its annual culinary forecast had declared the trend passé. The craze was over. WHY, THEN, IS foam now reappearing at new restaurants, from an effervescence of yuzu over oysters at Chateau Hanare in Los Angeles to an aerated lobster bisque presented
like a crashed ocean wave over a fillet of hake at Simon & the Whale in Manhattan? How is this most cerebral emblem of gastronomy relevant to our time, when comfort food is ascendant and high-end chefs are downshifting to fast-casual concepts, when even the most daring diners have retreated to more immediate and fundamental pleasures? Our obsession with provenance — where ingredients come from, how animals are raised and butchered, whether vegetables arrive in the kitchen with dirt still clinging to their roots — and our yearning to reconnect with the land both seem incompatible with a form of food that bears no visible relationship to its origins, more engineered than cooked. But foam isn’t, in fact, a modern invention. For centuries, we’ve found ways to put air into food, to build volume and evoke ethereality. An unknown cook in 17th-century Europe hit upon the notion of beating egg whites — causing the proteins to unfold and stretch out so they can trap air — until they stiffen into alpine peaks that defy gravity when the bowl is overturned; thus meringue was born. The French word “mousse,” as the former food editor Craig Claiborne pointed out in The Times
in 1971, “means froth, and that’s all it is — a bit of fluff made stable with a touch of gelatin.” From a scientific perspective, foam is a fairly routine component of our diet. Air is churned into ice cream and trapped when it’s frozen. An espresso is half judged by its crema, a latte by its halo of milk, a beer by its head. The quality of the bubbles in Champagne is so crucial to its charm that a laboratory in Reims, France, is dedicated to studying their consistency. Even something as solid as bread is technically foam: Yeast devours sugars and releases carbon dioxide, pockets of which get trapped inside a matrix of dough. To the French physical chemist Hervé This, who helped create and give name to the discipline of molecular gastronomy — the scientific study of what occurs during food preparation and consumption — foam is “an old story.” He proposed taking scientific equipment from the laboratory to the kitchen in the 1980s, “to enlarge the possibilities for the chef,” he says. On one level, it was about practicality: “Why wait for five minutes if you can get the same result in 30 seconds?” A siphon is no more radical than a microwave, and no less.
It might be expected for foam to once again be a showpiece at avant-garde restaurants, like the spiky hot-pink dragon-fruit cloud at the haute Bazaar by José Andrés in Miami Beach. But what’s noteworthy is its unheralded incorporation into dishes at less esoteric spots. At La Vara, Raij once honored a classic Spanish combination — a specialty of the region of Mallorca, where her husband worked as a young cook — by serving sobrasada, a pork sausage laced with paprika and creamy enough to spread like pâté, under a sluice of honey foam. (She credits the chef Wesley Genovart of SoLo Farm & Table in South Londonderry, Vt., for the idea of whipping the honey.) Nor are today’s foams always reliant on a siphon: Matt Griffin, the executive chef of Simon & the Whale, uses a hand blender so that his bisque still has a texture that suggests soup, albeit one with extraordinary lightness; Raij whips her honey in a stand mixer, like a meringue, preferring a looser structure to the iSi’s shaving-creamlike billows. Neither chef finds it necessary to note the presence of foam on the menu. For Raij, aerating is simply another technique, a way of “layering different densities of flavor” on a plate, applied as needed. Griffin sees his food as “rooted in the basics,” he says; it just so happens that “the basics are changing.” Foam may never again be the shocking thrill it was for the first tasters of meringue in the 17th century or for diners at El Bulli in 1994. Once revolutionary, then despised as a cheap trick and sleight of hand, it’s now joined the culinary canon, a mechanism rather than an end to itself. And in truth, it always was. While Adrià certainly wanted to break barriers, he wasn’t a provocateur; what guided his investigations was a desire to appeal to the senses. He was a chef. He made food, and he nourished us.
A foam pear alongside a (real) passion fruit and cherry.
IN FASHION
GILDING THE
Fall’s dark romance is embodied by moody floral prints embellished or paired with tough leather accents. Photographs by Arnaud Lajeunie Styled by Alex Harrington
LILY
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Left: Bottega Veneta dress, $5,400, bottegaveneta .com. Ulla Johnson top, $365, ullajohnson.com. Right: Marni dress, $2,490, marni.com. ChloĂŠ top, $2,595, (646) 350-1770.
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This page, from top: Alexander McQueen jacket, $5,990, (212) 645-1797. Prada skirt, $3,970, (212) 334-8888. Middle: Miu Miu dress, $2,150, miumiu.com. Valentino blouse (worn underneath), $2,980, (212) 355-5811. Right: Bottega Veneta coat, $10,900. Chanel dress, price on request, (800) 550-0005. Loewe boots, $1,400, loewe.com. Opposite: Valentino dress, $6,490. Stylist’s own flower brooches.
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MODELS: EVA NELSON AT MIDLAND, HAYLEY ASHTON AT VISION LA, MARIA FERNANDEZ ALVAREZ AT GUERXS AND OCEANNA MAWRENCE AT THE ESTABLISHMENT. CASTING DIRECTOR: ANITA BITTON. PRODUCTION LOS ANGELES: FRANCOIS BOULAIRE. HAIR: TAMAS TUZES AT L’ATELIER. MAKEUP: JEN MYLES AT STREETERS. TAILORING: ANETA VELIZAR. PHOTO ASSISTANT: MARK NAKAGAWA. STYLIST’S ASSISTANT: LUCA GALASSO. HAIR ASSISTANT: LOVETTE LIMONES. MAKEUP ASSISTANT: VALERIE VONPRISK
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By Nancy Hass Photograph by Sasha Lytvyn Styled by Todd Knopke
Louis Cartier, a scion of the Paris-based jewelry maker, first experimented with oval-face watches in place of the traditional round shape in the early 20th century, giving one as a gift to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia. But it wasn’t until the late 1950s that the company began truly stretching the form, introducing the gently curved design that would come to be called the Baignoire, for its resemblance to a cast-iron tub. Over the years, the company has further torqued the silhouette, which follows the contour of the wrist, molding it into the dramatic Baignoire Allongée and adorning it with precious stones. Now, Cartier has reimagined the manually wound watch anew, in a version suited to these strange times — in medium or extra large, studded with the house’s signature hobnails, or clous carrés, in rose gold. Sporting such a timepiece sends a signal: Here, business, like time itself, is not as usual. $32,700, (800) 227-8437.
Unconventional and modern, Gucci’s latest handbag creation is the perfect epitome of its current muse, Zumi Rosow. Simultaneously causing creative disruption in the field of acting and singing, Zumi also inspired the latest stylish accessory that combines two of the most historical house motifs. Its distinctive detail of interlocked Gs and horsebit hardware is a mix of gold and silver metals chosen by Alessandro Michele from a rare piece in the Gucci archives. The sophisticated top-handle version of the Gucci Zumi also has distinctive double-lift lock closures at the top, available in smooth and grainy leather. The fashionable handbag comes in the precious skins of python, elaphe, ostrich and crocodile. This classic piece also features a fun pop of strawberry patterns presented on small and mini sizes of the Gucci Zumi shoulder bag. Gucci Zumi Handbag, QAR 7,650
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PHOTO COURTESY OF GUCCI BY PROD
By Alexandra Evangelista
THINGS QATATR
IN BEAUTY
Charles Compagnon, French restaurateur, with a Santoni shoe.
Beauty,
in So Many Words An honest look into what beauty really means, inside and out.
THE SAYING “BEAUTY is in the eye of the beholder” has never been more relevant than now. Diversity and empowerment have paved the way to new perspectives on beauty, where subjective interpretations are just as celebrated as classic ideals. In a dialogue to explore the different facets of beauty from a creative viewpoint, Santoni worked with photographer and filmmaker Koto Bolofo to capture the beauty zeitgeist of our time. Simply entitled “On Beauty,” the project is a portfolio of images and short films that documents and collects distinctive thoughts from unexpected personalities across creative fields. Bolofo’s three-plus decades of experience in photographing people in their most honest selves set the tone for the project. Known for spending time in getting to know and connecting with his subjects, the photographer pursued discussions on notions of beauty before deciding on the best way to photograph the personalities. Bolofo himself has long been an artist enamored with finding different ways to define beauty, evident in his acclaimed works including “Black Beauty,” “Heat” and “Skin Deep,” all series of images juxtaposing skin colors and sculptural forms. In this project, art directed and edited by Tony Chambers, Bolofo focuses on the little details and the unexpected with a dash of the Santoni philosophy in simplicity. For artist Patricia Urquiola and her husband Alberto Zontone, photographed together in black and white, beauty is a mix of tangible and intangible values. “I find beauty evolves like waves. I grew up in
the north of Spain where the horizon has nothing to do with the sunrise or sunset. When I smile, I find a sense of beauty inside,” explains Urquiola. Creative director Sofia Sanchez de Betak lets her feet do the talking in a shot capturing the strength and grace of her muscular legs. “Beauty is innocence, truthfulness, the simple things in life, love, a sense of humor, nature. I think if you feel happy, at ease, comfortable and confident with yourself you will find beauty more easily. The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen is my daughter; she is delicious, beautifully delicious. Just as I find beauty in a pristine place untouched by humans, I find the same beauty in my daughter’s innocence,” she says. Fashion director of Highsnobiety, Atip Wananuruks, echoes this sentiment: “I find beauty in the things I see in my everyday life, from a baby’s smile or laugh to the mischievous glint in my grandparents’ eyes, to sunsets, to sunrises. What we appreciate in this age is we’ve come to see inner beauty.” He is photographed with his signature double man bun and his tattoos peeking out just under the sleeves. Jewelry designer Hannah Martin brings a spunky edge to her portrait, where she defines beauty as something that stirs from within. “I often find beauty in things on the edge, things on the boundaries, things that are not beautiful in a classical sense but move something inside me. I strive for my kind of beauty. I’ve always wanted to make jewelry that is sensual, sexy, rich – for me that is truly beautiful,” she says. Paris-based restaurateur Charles
PHOTOGRAPHS BY KOTO BOLOFO
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By Debrina Aliyah
it can ever be too beautiful but that is not the case if you are trying to fabricate beauty,” says the president of the Montenapoleone District. The series’ most colorful photographs are of James M. Bradburne, the museum director of the prestigious Milanese art gallery, Pinacoteca Brera. As an ode to his personality and his dynamic work, Bolofo draws out Bradburne’s analytical thoughts on beauty. “Beauty can be problematic because it is extremely context-specific. Things are beautiful when they appear in a certain way at a certain time. Something will appear beautiful when we are receptive to it. Beautiful moments emerge when there is a constellation of personal emotion and environmental suggestion. I often look for beauty in the structure of things and the structure of thoughts. Not only is beauty not absolute, we are not absolute. We are in a moving continuum in which we develop together,” he explains. Counterclockwise from top: Santoni's shoes on two stools shot by Koto Bolofo; Urquiola and her husband Zontone find beauty in everyday life; Guglielmo Miani on a stool wearing Santoni's shoes.
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Compagnon’s pursuit of beauty is represented by an image of just his footprint in Santoni’s signature burnt orange color. “Beauty has no limit. It is mostly about your own taste; the way you see life personally, the way you consider things; the traits you find in people, landscapes, food. You can acquire beauty if you know how to look for it. I don’t think anything can be too beautiful. It is something that is changing all the time and very personal,” says the pioneer behind Le Richer and Le 52 Fauborg Saint-Denis. The ever-gentlemanly Guglielmo Miani had no qualms in taking off his shoes for a candid shot while dressed in his usual repertoire of a made-tomeasure suit for Bolofo’s lens. For Miani, beauty is a state of mind. “I think we are born with a predisposition to see beauty in everything, but it is important to exercise your sensitivity. If something is natural and created spontaneously, I don’t think
MARKET REPORT THINGS QATAR
Modern Quartz Precious quartz shines in unexpected designs for a modern touch
Gold-tone choker, QR3,785, Alessandra Rich, Stone bangle, QR980, Forte Forte, Gold diamond ring, QR20,585, Suzanne Kalan, Rose gold diamond cuff, QR12,491, Selim Mouzannar, Gold, opal and diamond earring, QR900, WWake Rose gold diamond necklace, QR4,600, Ileana Makri, Gold, emerald and enamel ring, QR13,150, Foundrae Rose gold, chrysoprase and turquoise earrings, QR1,750, Pascale Monvoisin
PHOTO COURTESY OF ALESSANDRA RICH; SUZANNE KALAN; SELIM MOUZANNAR; WWAKE; ILEANA MAKRI; FOUNDRAE; PASCALE MONVOISIN
52 T QATAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
By Debrina Aliyah
54 Animal Kingdom 56 Utopia, Abandoned
“My Wife’s Lovers,” by Carl Kahler, 1891 In the late 1880s, Kate Birdsall Johnson, an eccentric San Franciscan heiress, hired Carl Kahler, an Austrian painter, to immortalize the nearly 350 cats she kept at her 3,000-acre estate, Buena Vista, outside Sonoma. The artist spent the next few years studying Johnson’s pets, who maintained a dedicated staff to attend to their every need, even providing exotic birds, such as parrots and cockatoos, to entertain them (the birds were kept in cages). The painting, thought to have been named by Johnson’s husband, inspired Anthony Cotsifas’s photograph for T’s story on the craft of needle-felting animals (Page 180).
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CARL KAHLER, “MY WIFE’S LOVERS,” 1891, OIL ON CANVAS, COURTESY OF SOTHEBY’S
September-October, 2019
RETOUCHING: ANONYMOUS RETOUCH. PHOTO ASSISTANTS: KARL LEITZ, CALEB ANDRIELLA AND MEGANE ROY. SET ASSISTANTS: TODD KNOPKE AND JAY JANSEN
W
ith each stab of the needle, the fibers catch, twist and snarl. From this violence might emerge the dainty pink nose of a mouse the size of a knuckle or a Japanese waxwing’s watchful ruby eye. In these stunningly realistic animal figures, meticulously sculpted from felt, it’s the details that astound, the transformation of a material so soft and inchoate — wisps of wool shape-shifting under a maker’s fingers — into something solid, structured and anatomically precise. Far from the pillowy curves of a child’s stuffed toy, these creatures are collectible works of art that have inspired cultish (adult) adoration: An iguana meditates, its skin like fissured, parched earth; an owl tilts its head, its wings both ponderous and light; a tiger half yawns, half roars, its teeth uncannily sharp. Felt-making is a prehistoric technology. For millenniums, such work didn’t require a needle, or any tool beyond human hands: One simply took wool, added moisture and sometimes whey and applied repeated
Curiously compelling, startlingly lifelike — the wild and wonderful new world of needle-felted animals. By Ligaya Mishan Photograph by Anthony Cotsifas Styled by Jill Nicholls
FROM WO
downward pressure until the material was densely interlocked. Felt was (and is) a sartorial staple of the Central Asian steppes, essential for warmth. The technique of needle-punching, which eliminated the need for moisture, was introduced in the mid-19th century, as part of the Industrial Revolution in Germany and England, where barbed needles lined enormous factory looms. Only in the past few decades has needle-felting gained recognition as a craft. In the 1980s, Eleanor Stanwood, an American fiber artist, began experimenting with the kind of small-scale needle-punching machine that factories use to produce fabric samples. Her husband, David Stanwood, an inventor, decided to see what he could do with a single hand-held needle, jabbing wool and shaping and sculpting it as it gained mass. Other artisans took the same approach to make felted creatures and figures, which in those early days were often left intentionally approximate, with minimal definition, giving them a comfortingly unreal, fairy-tale aspect. By contrast, a number of today’s felters in Japan, the United States and Europe are realists. The work of the Tokyo-based Terumi Ohta, who designs under the name TrueStyleLab and calls herself a “wool animal sculptor,” ranges from tiny hamsters to life-size elephants. Simon Brown, known as the Gentleman Felter, from the Northumberland coast of England, creates miniature owls, pigs and hares perched on the bristles of antique wooden scrub brushes (and has a following that includes Dame Judi Dench). These faithfully rendered animals come at a precarious moment in time, when it can be difficult to decipher the real from the fake, from the boasts of politicians to the ever-blurring borders of the virtual world. The very nature of this work — done by hand with a dangerous tool, demanding hours of keen attention before anything recognizable manifests — suggests a stubborn rejection of the speed of modern life. Yvonne Herbst, who was born in Germany and now lives in the Pacific Northwest, turned to felting after 10 years as a digital painter at Pixar. “I stabbed myself a lot,” she says. “My daughters sat next to me with Band-Aids.” After years working in animation, she found that the material itself was part of the appeal, “so warm to the touch,” she says, evoking its distinctly animal origins.
A group of detail-obsessed, small-scale artisans from around the globe are recreating the world’s natural wonders in felt. Clockwise from bottom left: fox and field mouse, the Gentleman Felter (@thegentlemanfelter); bear, Plum’s (@umeumezoozoo); raven, the Woolen Wagon (@neddsm); Bengal tiger, vermilion flycatcher, Florida grasshopper sparrow, red deer, peacock and Japanese macaque, Kiyoshi Mino (@kiyoshiminofelt); pigs, Piping Plover Love (@pipingploverlove); tortoise, Yvonne’s Workshop (@yvonnesworkshopfelts); bear, Lindsey Thomas Felt Arts (@lindseythomasmakes); meerkats and octopus, Yvonne’s Workshop.
OOL ALONE
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E
very felted figure begins with a close study of its living analogue. A wire armature typically acts as a skeleton; Heather Burke, of Piping Plover Love in Cape Cod, Mass., fashions hers as one unit, sometimes inserting toothpicks as little splints for stability. Often a coat of something sticky, such as beeswax or craft glue, is applied to make the felt cling to the wire. (Burke prefers to use pipe cleaners.) First come layers of coarse wool, bulking up the body, with the finer stuff reserved for the outer layers. Some artists use glass eyes and polymer clay like Fimo or Super Sculpey to mold beaks, tusks and talons. Others, like Burke, insist on using wool alone, to make the animal not just a specimen but an individual, or to simply “keep it pure,” as Burke says. For Ohta, one animal might take 150 hours. For Kiyoshi Mino, who used to run an organic farm with a dozen sheep in central Illinois, it could be three months, spent painstakingly refining each of a peacock’s tail feathers, say, with a purple inkblot eye in an ombré of greens and blues. His vivid beings — a life-size Andean mountain cat or blue-faced golden snub-nosed monkey — have drawn admirers from Japanese royalty to the Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Mass., which exhibits his work. Mino sees his animals as a kind of natural historical record, especially urgent for dwindling species. It’s an alternate form of taxidermy, without the price of an animal’s life. Yet so realistic are the animals that often viewers on Instagram, a vibrant platform for the medium, grow confused. Herbst once posted a picture of a mouse in progress, needle in its head, and was accused of torture. “Why would I be so inhumane and send baby rabbits out by mail?” she recalls being asked. “How dare I put a little bat under a glass dome — let it fly free!”
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IN THE 1950S, the small town of Ivrea, which is about an hour’s train ride north of Turin, became the site of an unheralded experiment in living and working. Olivetti, a renowned designer and manufacturer of typewriters and accounting machines, decided to provide for its employees through retirement. They were given the opportunity to take classes at an on-site sale and trade school; their lunchtime hours would be filled with speeches or performances from visiting dignitaries (actors, musicians, poets); and they would receive a substantial pension upon retirement. They would be housed, if they liked, in Olivetti-constructed modern homes and apartments. Their children would receive free day care, and expecting mothers would be granted 10 months maternity leave. July would be a time of holiday, so that workers with homes in the surrounding countryside could tend to small farms — it was important to the company that workers not feel a division between city and country. Italy’s best Modernist architects would be hired to design in the Modernist style: Factories, canteens, offices and study areas would be airy palaces of glass curtain walls, flat concrete roofs and glazed brick tile. It would be a model for the nation, and for the world. All of this was the initiative of Adriano Olivetti, who had inherited the company from his father, Camillo, who founded it in the early 20th century. Adriano, born in 1901, was a businessman of unusually wide learning, with strong inclinations toward humanism. He was a self-taught student of city planning, and he read extensively the architectural and urbanist literature of the day. He hired famous designers to work on his products, making some of them, such as the 1949 Lettera 22 typewriter and the 1958 Elea 9003 mainframe computer, into icons of design. Olivetti was a devout Christian and a socialist, but he was distant from the two main political parties, the Christian Democrats and the Communists, that occupied these poles in midcentury Italy. Instead, in 1946, he formed his own political party, Il Movimento Comunità, which was intended to shift power to the diverse social bases and competences of a broadly conceived community, away from the patronage and bureaucracy encouraged by Italy’s political parties, thereby charting a new course for not only the country but for the entire modern age. Though it was a failure, his ideas of increased welfare
LIVE TO WORK Ivrea, an Italian town run in its heyday by the typewriter manufacturer Olivetti, was once a model for workers’ rights and progressive design. Now, it is both a cautionary tale and a vision of an abandoned utopia — and evidence of a grand experiment in making labor humane. By Nikil Saval Photographs by Nick Ballón
The La Serra Complex in Ivrea, Italy, designed by Iginio Cappai and Pietro Mainardis, opened in 1976; it was a social gathering space for Olivetti employees that included a hotel and movie theater.
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provision became more common and acceptable in Italian politics. Today, the infrastructure the company built might sound like the standard “company town,” such as 19th-century Pullman, Ill., built by the Pullman railway company, but Olivetti was in fact different. In America, company towns first arose as a result of low-wage workers lacking both rights and basic amenities like transportation. The more dependent an employee was on the company he worked for, the more control the company had: Complacent workers whose boss is also their landlord don’t strike or ask for sick leave or better health care — or so the logic went. This era of company towns in America was effectively ushered out by modernity, as labor rights increased thanks to New Deal domestic policies — and also because, in some instances, workers began striking when employers attempted to evict them from company housing. The rise of mass transport also made proximity to the workplace less of an essential need. In Europe, however, the company town had its roots in the model estates of the Victorian era, where wealthy landowners housed workers and caretakers in paltry accommodations. At the dawn of the 20th century, and in a rapidly industrializing Italy especially, the fortunes of various small towns were, and for the most part remain, inextricably linked to private companies. The main draw of Rosignano Solvay, established in 1912 in southern Tuscany, for instance, is its beautiful white sand beaches, the blanching of the sand a result of toxic chemical waste from the still-operational Solvay plant, which gave the town its name. Colleferro, a dreary town just outside of Rome built around a munitions factory that closed in 1968, has been plagued for the last 70 years by occasional explosions. (There are still company towns in Italy — the designer Brunello Cucinelli has spent the last 30 years restoring the Umbrian hamlet of Solomeo to serve as his eponymous company’s headquarters, and Diego Della Valle, C.E.O. of the fashion brand Tod’s Group, relies on local craftsmen from Casette d’Ete, a region on the country’s east coast, where his company’s main factory is located.) But many of the best-known towns that orbit around a single industry or company can seem decidedly un-Italian: There is no ancient architecture or grand cultural tradition because much of what remains of their history is
For a time, Ivrea was likely the most progressive and successful company town in the world, representing a new and short-lived kind of corporate idealism.
contained almost exclusively within the 20th century. The people who still live in these towns are often descendants of the original company workers that inhabited them, even though the company has long since packed up and left. But Olivetti is unique among these places; for a time, it was likely the most progressive and successful company town anywhere in the world, existing not for the sake of control or convenience but rather representing a new and short-lived kind of corporate idealism, in which business, politics, architecture and the daily life of the company’s employees all informed one another. In 1960, Adriano died, and the company — already saddled with its ill-advised acquisition of the American typewriter company Underwood — went into a crisis. Adriano’s brother, Roberto, took over but lacked Adriano’s sense of
FROM ABOVE, IVREA is an hourglass, cinched in the middle where it is crossed by the Dora Baltea river. The northern side is the historic center, with the usual array of squeezed cobblestoned streets issuing into breathable piazzas. The southern side, with the buildings located at distances best traversed by automobile, sometimes set back from the Via Jervis and fronted by useless ceremonial greenery, is where the city’s decrepit industrial and managerial heritage lies. Via Jervis is the chief artery. It is a name that feels strange to say in Italian, though it is dedicated to the
the recent past. A former employee, Enrico Capellaro, who had started in manufacturing in the 1950s before working his way up to management, described his daily routine as fairly relaxed: Renowned Italian actors like Vittorio Gassman and comedians came through at lunchtime. New books and magazines could be consulted at the 30,000-volume library (which was open to all Ivreans). A Pullman bus would drive through town at midday, carrying workers home for lunch, if they wanted. The Social Services Building, built of sandy concrete and organized entirely around repeating hexagonal shapes, from spindly columns to large rooms, was across from the main factory buildings and was where the company offered health care to its workers. Two major additions to the red brick building, built between 1939 and 1949, look like perfect representations of a moment in architectural thought: The first is a long, low-slung block threaded with ribbon windows; the second, known as Ico Centrale, is a fully partisan Guglielmo “Willy” Jervis, who was captured by fascists in 1944 and executed by firing squad. To walk it, as I did from my guest home in an adjoining town, is to experience the desolation of an idea that has gone to seed. An office building from the 1980s looks faded and unremarkable without the hum of activity that must have once surrounded it. Tennis courts are covered with weeds. Ivrea had been a settlement since the fifth century B.C., and under the Roman Republic it went by the name of Eporedia. But it came into greater prominence during the Renaissance, when it fell under the sway of the Turin-based House of Savoy. A sterling example of this past lingers in the convent of San Bernardino, with its excellent frescoes of the life of Christ completed around 1490 by the minor Italian artist Giovanni Martino Spanzotti. It was to this convent that Camillo Olivetti, born and raised in the surrounding Alpine foothills that are visible from nearly anywhere in the town, moved his family when he established his typewriter company in a still-standing brick building. If you stand in front of the tan stucco of San Bernardino, you stare directly at the once-modern exteriors of Olivetti, whose glass exteriors were meant to exude the future and reflect the past. In contemporary Ivrea, however, it is hard to imagine the bustle of
Above, from top: Olivetti’s 1932 MPI typewriter; the interior of the town nursery. Opposite: the interior of the former La Serra Complex.
glazed, curtain-walled facade, shielded from the light by Corbusierstyle brises-soleil. A third building, also covered with a slick glassskinned facade, now houses a nursing school. The others are empty, filled with the detritus of companies past, having only recently been acquired by a developer who is attempting to secure contracts for new firms while preserving the buildings. These are glorious, light-filled spaces, unsung monuments to the rationalist,
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vision. Twenty-eight years later, Carlo De Benedetti, a figure imbued with the ethos of a corporate raider, began to streamline Olivetti, shedding its socialist impulses in a bid to compete in the computer age. His efforts failed. By the 1980s, Olivetti had become subject to the same global headwinds as many manufacturers, and the company foundered. In the early 2000s, it was merged with a telecom giant. At its peak in the 1970s, the company had 73,283 workers worldwide; today, it has around 400. But it’s the surrounding town that has been affected most deeply. Ivrea today has a population of 24,000, having lost a quarter of its residents since the 1980s. The average age is 48. In 2018, UNESCO declared Ivrea a World Heritage site; the effect has so far, for better or for worse, been unnoticeable. (“UNESCO’s ‘World Heritage’ listing is the kiss of death,” the acerbic Italian critic Marco D’Eramo wrote in a 2014 article for New Left Review. “Once the label is affixed, the city’s life is snuffed out; it is ready for taxidermy.”) Arriving by commuter rail from Turin, one would have no idea that one was in a former capital of industrial design. An eerie spellbound nothingness prevails. Except for a set of fading explanatory placards along the town’s main road, there are few signs pointing to the landmark buildings — a housing project designed by Marcello Nizzoli, the lead designer of the Lettera 22; the Olivetti Research Center, designed by the architect Eduardo Vittoria, where the Elea computer was conceptualized — once renowned as much for their design as for the part they played in a munificent private welfare state. Only one of the office buildings is still in use. A former factory has been converted into a gym. Many of the remaining dozen or so structures are empty, speechless monuments to an aborted utopia.
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with oval porthole-like windows and a secret armoire holding a vanity mirror, whose curved doors open perfectly into the concave surrounding space. It makes sense that Olivetti would be a symbol of historic pride. As a principal player in the 20th-century “miracle,” when Italy climbed out of the depths of fascism and the catastrophe of World War II to become the eighth largest economy in the world, it is essential to Italian identity. The nostalgia for this time in Ivrea can be intense. Stefano Sertoli, the recently elected mayor, mentioned how often he came across people with an incredibly precise recall for eras and moments in company history. Some 1,900 residents of the city are recipients of the spille d’oro, or “gold pins,” which represent 25 years of continuous service to the company. The legacy of Olivetti is, he said, “un patrimonio pazzesco” — an insanely rich heritage.
Housing from 1956 in the neighborhood called Canton Vesco, in central Ivrea. Opposite: the exterior of the La Serra complex.
popularly known as the Talponia, is a crescent-shaped block built into a hillside. Its roof is paved and walkable, its facade entirely glass, articulated into rectangles by dark gray metal framing. Originally intended for short business stays, it projects a spirit of efficiency, with modular furniture and bedrooms separated only by curtains. The Hotel La Serra, outside the main center, was built in the 1970s and betrays the influence of postmodernism. Composed of an irregular series of stacked, graduated floors, it is meant to look like a typewriter, but from the inside, the rooms feel like the tightly constructed cabin of a ship,
IF AMERICAN COMPANY TOWNS were tied to private industry’s desire to quell progressive movements, in Italy, the company town was just as influenced by the rise of fascism. Sabaudia, a coastal town near Rome, was created in 1933 as a result of orders from Benito Mussolini, who transported the urban poor from Rome to the coast in order to drain the surrounding malaria-infested marshlands. Monfalcone, near the border of Slovenia, became a part of Italy only after World War I but was soon converted into an important shipbuilding outpost by the fascist regime. Many of these towns began a slow decline in business and population following World War II, though it’s no accident that the best of Ivrea as imagined by Olivetti emerged as a postwar phenomenon, a place in direct ideological opposition to Mussolini’s government. If most company towns, both in Europe and America, were paternalistic in the extreme — some of them going so far as to pay workers with “company scrip,” which could only be used at company-owned stores — this was not the intention in Ivrea, thanks in no small part to Adriano, who combined in his person the grandiose impulses of a humanitarian, the self-obsession of an entrepreneur and the sententiousness of a rich autodidact. Inducted into an already successful company, he also, crucially, had experience working in a factory. Unlike the mechanical engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor from a generation earlier, who also came into factory life from an elite background but drew the conclusion that work needed to be rationalized within an inch of its life — leading to his concept of “scientific management” — Adriano arrived at a factory and experienced the full spectrum of alienation. He would later testify to knowing “the awful monotony and the weight of repeating actions ad infinitum, on a drill or a press.” His experience led him to the realization that “it was necessary to set man free from this degrading slavery.” Gastone Garziera, an engineer who had worked on computing and electronics in the 1960s and ’70s, recalled Adriano Olivetti’s “desire to lighten in any way possible” the burden of work. Adriano returned to Italy to take up the mantle of the family firm; he became president in 1938. He was committed to Modernism — not just as an architectural and aesthetic phenomenon but as a political program. Though he joined the Fascist Party during the years of Mussolini, he eventually sought to make contacts with Americans and supported the resistance, for which he was arrested. Adriano makes an indelible character in the Italian novelist Natalia Ginzburg’s marvelous “Family Lexicon” (1963), a memoiristic novel of life in Turin during the two World Wars:
He was fat and pale and his uniform fit badly over his round, fat shoulders. I’ve never seen anyone wear that gray-green outfit with a pistol at the waist more awkwardly and less martially than him. He had a pronounced melancholic air about him, which was perhaps because he didn’t like being a soldier in the least. He was shy and quiet, but when he did speak he talked for a long time in a low voice and said confusing and enigmatic things while staring off into space with his small blue eyes, at once cold and dreamy. This implicitly self-regarding personality expressed itself in the spirit of the company he led and in the products they created. As with the Bauhaus, the short-lived but highly influential German school of design, there was an attempt to unify aesthetically the entire production, from the products themselves to the advertisements for them, but with a markedly stronger emphasis on rendering the work environment itself a humane one. (The influence of the Bauhaus was in some cases direct: Alexander “Xanti” Schawinsky, an alumnus of the Bauhaus, designed a new typewriter for
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functionalist architecture that dominated progressive thinking in the midcentury. On the southern side of Ico Centrale, a perpendicular bend causes two portions of the building to face and reflect each other — the implicit idea being that employees on either side would have the opportunity to see each other in their daily work, and, even more implicitly, that the company was open and transparent to itself and the world. Olivetti also built housing and hotels, two of which are the most strange and wonderful buildings in any city. The West Residential Center,
Olivetti, the Studio 42, and consulted on the construction of the new headquarters. Herbert Bayer, one of his instructors, designed company advertisements.) Olivetti wanted to build, as the modernist architecture critic Mario Labó wrote, “a place of work ruled by progress, guided by justice, and fired by the light of beauty.” Workers became part of the management of the company through a system of co-determination, and thus helped build the welfare institutions that catered to them. In these years, Olivetti produced several of the products that brought it world renown. The lightweight and (relatively) portable Lettera 22, one of the most beautiful and functional machines ever made,
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Left: the West Residential Center, popularly known as the Talponia. Right: the entrance to another housing complex, Edificio 18, built in 1954 by Marcello Nizzoli. Opposite: the former Sertec building, designed by Ezio Sagrelli and built in 1968, which held Olivetti’s engineering offices.
became a popular typewriter for business as well as private use. Its baby blue coloration and the light, springy action of its rounded keys were part of the transformation from a typewriter as a loud, mechanical object for processing business to one that lent itself to contemplative, private writing. (It was the favorite of many American writers, including Thomas Pynchon, Sylvia Plath, Gore Vidal.) A couple of decades later, in 1968, and with the help of the designer Ettore Sottsass Jr., Olivetti would produce the apotheosis
of the typewriter-for-pleasure, the Valentine, a lollipop of a machine, the high point of Pop Art in design. Advertisements for the Valentine showed its users taking the typewriter to the beach. But by the ’70s, people were moving from typewriters to electronic devices, and though the company had created what is considered the first personal computer, the P101, the company’s success on this front had stalled. Some observers attribute Olivetti’s downfall less to company failings than to nefarious plotting by foreign powers. Mario Tchou, Olivetti’s brilliant chief computer programmer, died in a car accident, and Olivetti’s last independent president, Carlo De Benedetti, suggested that it was widely believed among Olivettians that “he had been killed by forces connected to American secret agents.” Garziera also vouched that the Americans were suspicious of computing advances falling into the hands of a country that was perpetually on the verge of Communism. And in 2019’s “The Mysterious Affair at Olivetti,” the journalist Meryle Secrest advances a circumstantial version of the same theory (without, it must be admitted, confirming it). Whatever
the reasons, the failure to achieve results in computing doomed the company, and — at least for the near term — Ivrea with it. HOW DOES A company town reinvent itself once the company leaves town? In some respects, Ivrea reflects broader trends in Italy, rather than circumstances unique to itself. Changes in technology may have made Olivetti obsolete, but the Italian economic miracle of the 1950s and ’60s peaked around 1970 anyway, when Fiat’s production headquarters, in nearby Turin, became one of the largest car factories in Europe (and during which time Olivetti was still one of the most successful manufacturers of typewriters and other business machines in the world). This growth was helped by a mass migration of workers from the country’s impoverished south to the heavily industrialized northwest. But as the ’70s turned into the ’80s, Turin, Ivrea and other cities and towns that had grown rapidly after World War II fell victim to the same economic trends that would stunt the growth of American manufacturing towns across the Rust Belt: Recurring recessions meant that costs were
is that of young Adriano in “Family Lexicon”: dreamy, speaking at once to everyone and no one, quietly saying “enigmatic things.” It may be the best example in history of a city organized around a single company and its vision, in which some profits
were reinvested into the life of the company’s workers and the surrounding community. At its best, the spirit of reinvestment can be given back, if perhaps never again at the level it once had. When I asked Pilo why he pursued his desires in Ivrea, he said simply that it was to “give back to the city that had gifted me a happy childhood and adolescence.” The children of Olivetti may yet restore the ideas that still whistle down the quiet streets of the town it once dominated.
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cut across all industries, labor was outsourced to cheaper countries and companies like Fiat and Olivetti began laying off thousands of workers, plunging the very concept of the company town into an existential crisis. There are, according to a 2016 Italian environmental association report, some 2,500 rural Italian towns that are nearly abandoned and depopulated, half-empty monuments to departed industry. Others, like Ivrea, are more of a nostalgic time capsule, less a ruin than a shell of the past trying to find ways to bring back their old glory. As major companies shrank in size or merged with larger corporations (Fiat now owns Chrysler), their corporate paternalism faded from view, replaced by more immediate economic concerns. This would end Olivetti’s well-intentioned experiment in humane labor. Now, as is the case in so many small municipalities in Italy and elsewhere in the world, Ivrea has experienced an alarming turn in its politics. After decades of center-left rule — including a stint by Adriano himself as mayor — last year the leadership shifted to the right, with a new government affiliated with the anti-immigrant party La Lega. I spoke with the new mayor, Sertoli, who had been part of the effort to secure UNESCO recognition for the city. He talked vaguely of the need to “bring back excellence” to the city, but also noted it was problematic that so many of Olivetti’s structures were in various private hands. The current holder of the Brick Factory building is Icona, a coalition attempting to redevelop the original Olivetti buildings in the hope of returning industry and innovation to the area. Icona’s slogan is “The Future Is Back Home.” The atrium connecting the Brick Factory to the others still has a mosaic tile statue of Camillo Olivetti. Other efforts at reviving Ivrea don’t take their cues from Olivetti at all. Gianmario Pilo, a book marketer in Turin whose father worked at the company for 35 years, has started a literary festival, La Grande Invasione, with the aim of jump-starting the cultural life of the town and encouraging younger residents to stay. He spoke about how his parents were always passionate readers, partly because of the company’s efforts to inculcate culture in its workers’ lives. The extraordinary achievement of Olivetti is also part of what overwhelms and partly vitiates the lives that have come after it. The afterglow that still hovers over Ivrea
OF A KIND
Marie-Hélène de Taillac’s gemstones
THE JEWELRY DESIGNER Marie-Hélène de Taillac’s love affair with gemstones began at the age of 7, when her mother, Marie-Cécile, gave her and her sister a tiny ruby and a sapphire each. “I was immediately enthralled,” the 54-year-old says. As a teenager, she read “La Vallée des Rubis,” Joseph Kessel’s 1955 memoir of his odyssey through Burma in search of an extraordinarily large ruby. “That book changed my destiny,” says de Taillac, who launched her namesake line in 1996, with offices in Paris and Jaipur, India. To source the brilliantly colored stones she uses in her spare, feminine designs — electric lavender tanzanite cabochon rings, a gold chain necklace twinkling with a rainbow of pomegranateseed-shaped jewels — she works with trusted dealers who deliver their treasures from all over the world. “Stones are very spiritual. They connect me instantly to nature,” she says. Though the jeweler — whose first monograph, “Gold and Gems: The Jewels of Marie-Hélène de Taillac” (Rizzoli), comes out next month — works with all kinds of stones, she certainly has her favorites, which she discusses here. — John Wogan Illustrations by Aurore de la Morinerie
Green tourmaline, Afghanistan. “This is a beautiful eau de Nil [a pale green resembling the Egyptian Nile]. It’s been my favorite color since childhood. I was shown the rough stone by an Afghan dealer in Jaipur and knew it had to be mine.”
Pink spinel, Burma. “This was given to me by a friend who said it was the most beautiful Burmese pink spinel he’d ever seen. It has a very delicate lilac shade, an amazing luster, and the shape is completely irregular. It seems full of life.”
Rubellite, Mozambique. “Rubellites can range from deep, dark red to fuchsia. I collected this particular one because of its color: It’s the perfect shade of pink, and one I often wear when I’m tired. It gives me strength and energy.”
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Emerald, Russia. “When I designed my first jewelry collection, in 1996, I fell in love with Russian emeralds. They adorned my first briolette necklace, which was cut at the Gem Palace in Jaipur.”
Paraiba tourmaline, Mozambique. “I’ve been fascinated by Paraiba tourmalines since I saw my first at a gem show in Arizona in 1997. They are the color of a lagoon. I often stare at one and feel transported.”
Red spinel, Burma. “Red is a very rare and difficult color to find in gems. This one reminds me of a poppy.”
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