Design Anthology UK Issue 10

Find an authorized dealer near you at CARLHANSEN.COM

Flagship Store, London 48A Pimlico Rd, London SW1W 8LP

E300-E350

Embrace Sofa by EOOS

2021

MODULAR CRAFT

A modular sofa with sophisticated carpentry details, the Embrace Sofa in FSC®-certified wood is designed to fit your needs. Balancing geometric lines with embracing comfort, the versatile furniture piece features wooden armrests and tables to ensure supreme adaptability wherever it is placed.

FSC® C135991

FROM THE EDITOR

H

ere we are! The big 1-0. When launching Design Anthology UK three years ago, little did we know how much inspiration the first ten issues of our magazine would provide, for both our team and our readers. We hoped it would, and we’re glad it has for so many of you. We also didn’t expect a pandemic, which has tested us like every other publishing business. But we made it, and we’re pleased to serve up our tenth issue, which, by the way, is one of my favourites.

But first, a little look back. One of our aims from the start was to promote meaning, beauty and innovation in the places we go, and the things we use every day. Issue 01 launched with a shoot of furniture and objects made of new materials that are better for our world. In issue 03 we examined the intersection of psychology and colour theory. Issues 04 and 05 explored the five human senses, and the connection between architecture and fashion. In issues 06 and 07, we responded to the Covid crisis with stories to soothe and calm, to remind us of the importance of home and all we have to be thankful for.

In between, we’ve highlighted many businesses, from fashion labels to clean beauty brands, that operate in an ethical way, or are trying very seriously to.

This leads us here, to issue 10, where we’ve partnered with French flooring brand Tarkett, which is committed to sustainable production practices and has launched a circular collection that is solid proof of its stance. On p24, we showcase our favourite materials from this collection in tandem with responsible fashion and beauty brands that are doing their part to make a change. We’re particularly proud of this story because it’s layered and beautiful, but more than anything, it highlights a drive to do better.

Thank you for your support so far.

Elizabeth Choppin Editor-in-Chief

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MASTHEAD

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December 2021

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Choppin elizabeth@designanthologyuk.com Art Director Shazia Chaudhry shazia@designanthologyuk.com

hello@astridmedia.co.uk astridmedia.co.uk

Media Sales, worldwide Rebecca Harkness rebecca@designanthologyuk.com

Sub Editor Emily Brooks Commercial Director Rebecca Harkness rebecca@designanthologyuk.com Editorial Concept Design Frankie Yuen, Blackhill Studio Words Charlotte Abrahams, Emily Brooks, Tami Christiansen, Philomena Epps, Amy Frearson, Nicola Leigh Stewart, Ella Marshall, Karine Monié, Alice Morby, Emma O’Kelly Images Patrick Degerman, Anders Hviid, Chantel King, Nathalie Krag/ Living Inside, Åke E:son Lindman, Genevieve Lutkin, Marton Perlaki, Ossip van Duivenbode Styling Grace Wright Hair and make-up Hannah Brooke Set design Annemarieke Kloosterhof

Subscribe Invest in an annual subscription to receive three issues, anywhere in the world. Visit designanthologyuk.com/ subscribe

Design Anthology UK is published triannually by Astrid Media Ltd

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Media Sales, US Alexi Simmons alexi@designanthologyuk.com Printer Park Communications Alpine Way London E6 6LA United Kingdom Reprographics Rhapsody Media 109-123 Clifton Street London EC2A 4LD United Kingdom Distributors UK newsstand MMS Ltd. Europe newsstand Export Press UK / EU complimentary Global Media Hub

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CONTENTS

Front cover Daniele Daminelli’s home in Treviglio, northern Italy, a poetic interpretation of past, present and future.

Image by Nathalie Krag/ Living Inside. See p54

Radar

Journey

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Hotel openings New design-centric destinations to explore, in Europe and beyond

46

Hotel, Palma Nordic design fills a series of historic buildings in the Mallorcan capital

Products Collections and collaborations of note

22 Read Delve into a selection of books on design, architecture and interiors 24

Responsible design Beauty and fashion inspired by Tarkett’s playful and principled flooring and its circular products

32 Q&A In conversation with Tarkett’s European design director Florian Bougault

Face values Treading lightly: enlightening fashion and beauty to complement Tarkett’s cradleto-cradle flooring products. See p24

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Home 54 Treviglio A designer’s northern Italian home plays theatrically with light and shade 68

Vals Reinventing Alpine hospitality with a home-away-from-home experience

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London An apartment by Hollie Bowden with a tougher edge amid its softness

CONTENTS

Art + Collecting

Style

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122 Most wanted A compilation of clothes and accessories that are beautiful, thoughtful and good

Diary The most compelling art and design events for the coming months

102 Virtual art How digital exhibition spaces and NFTs are shaking up the market

Architecture 108 Rotterdam A mirrored bowl that holds a publicly accessible storage depot for art

Pioneer 128

Paola Antonelli The MoMA curator and co-founder of @design.emergency seeks to make the power of design known to all

114 Skellefteå Sweden’s Sara Cultural Centre is helping to change perceptions about timber as a structural building material

Growth industry White Arkitekter’s Sara Cultural Centre – Sweden’s tallest all-timber building, and a blueprint for the future. See p114

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Slapstick from the Magnetic Edition - Photography by Andrew Bordwin

CARPET MAKERS

Edward Fields, a House of Tai Ping brand, has been creating area rugs for legendary interiors since 1935.

Available from authorized UK retailers and Tai Ping’s new London showroom at 85 Pelham Street SW7 2NJ. taiping-homeuk.com/edwardfields | edwardfields.com

Kipferl desk by Bohinc Studio. Read the full story on p14 Image by R. Reid

R ADAR Global design news

R ADAR / Products

SCP Ishinomaki Laboratory was founded in 2011 as a community workshop making functional furniture to help those whose lives had been devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake, going on to market its products worldwide. SCP’s Ten Years Later project is celebrating its milestone first decade by asking designers such as Philippe Malouin and Matthew Hilton to create a raft of new products; this bird-bath by ceramicist Reiko Kaneko sits one of her terracotta bowls on a cross-shaped cedar base. scp.co.uk

Isokon Plus Guardian of a beloved modernist plywood furniture archive, Isokon Plus also likes to invite designers to create new pieces that heed the spirit of the original products while moving the brand in new directions.

The Iso-lounge is the latest of these, a cantilevering chair designed by Jasper Morrison, whose simple

appearance belies a complex design: in some places the layers of plywood are thinner, allowing the chair to flex when the user sits on it, while others are thicker where added strength is required. isokonplus.com

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R ADAR / Products

Vaarnii Pine has not been the most fashionable of materials of late for furniture, but that may change thanks to new design brand Vaarnii. Describing its wares as “brutally Finnish”, it makes simple, honest furniture from Scots pine, Finland’s most populous tree species, celebrating the timber’s natural grain. The pieces tend to look back to a time before the Nordic country’s 20th-century modernist prowess: the joints of the 005 coffee table pictured, designed by Soft Baroque, are inspired by traditional log houses. vaarnii.com

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R ADAR / Products

Bohinc Studio “I wanted to create pieces that look like they are good enough to eat,” says designer Lara Bohinc about her latest collection, named Afternoon Tea in homage to a life of indulgent comfort. Nine new designs include the Profiterole table pictured, which is made from nero marquina marble and is also available in a white timber version. The collection is recognisably Bohinc’s, with a curvy presence that features globes, capsule shapes and hemispheres, often clustered together or stacked. bohincstudio.com

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La Chance Milan-based architect Hannes Peer’s latest furniture designs for La Chance have been launched. The Marmini daybed was inspired by artist Scott Burton’s early-1980s Rock Chairs – seating hewn from raw boulders – but here the idea has been refined, with a zig-zagging form of three wedges of marble in contrasting colours, topped by a layer of upholstery. A companion stool speaks the same visual language, with the three triangular shapes arranged more snugly to create a compact seat. lachance.paris

Gubi Named 1965’s Most Influential Lamp of the Year

by Industrial Design magazine, the Stemlite was originally created by US designer Bill Curry, but rereleased by Gubi as part of its archive collections. A long-out-of-production wall light has now been made available, which features an angled steel arm

topped by a mouth-blown glass shade. Curry is credited with inventing the ‘whole light’ design concept, where the base and shade are considered as one fluid piece, rather than as separate objects. gubi.com

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PARTNER CONTENT / Maison Matisse

The art of entertaining

Lay the table with a mini-masterpiece, with Maison Matisse’s handcrafted ceramics

F

ounded on the core values embodied by the work of Henri Matisse, Maison Matisse is a French design house known for its bold tableware, decorative objects and furniture.

Working with emerging designers alongside established talent such as Jaime Hayon, the Bouroullec brothers, Alessandro Mendini and Cristina Celestino, it has developed a design language that is at once contemporary and

rooted in craft tradition. Its La Musique and Intérieur aux Aubergines collections are made

by Italian artisanal workshops, each chosen for their ancestral know-how and confirming the skill found on the other side of the Alps.

The hope is that each ceramic piece, intended to be handed down through generations like a Matisse artwork, will transmit his philosophy of optimism, joy and generosity.

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Above Tableware from the La Musique collection, inspired by a 1939 Matisse painting of the same name

R ADAR / Products

Swarf Hardware Expanding its portfolio from cabinetry handles and knobs, Swarf Hardware has launched a windchime and shopkeeper’s bell created by artist and designer Yuri Suzuki. Described as “a celebration of the analogue”, the designs incorporate spun-brass bells and cut-out shapes in powder-coated aluminium.

Suzuki explores sound within his art, recently unveiling a public installation in London’s Mayfair consisting of a series of interconnected ‘speaking tubes’ through which people can communicate. swarfhardware.co.uk

Cassina Michael Anastassiades’ Ordinal dining table for Cassina is now available in a new palette of sumptuous marbles. Originally released in timber in 2019, the table has a slim profile with distinctive legs set at an angle to the top, intended to create more space for diners. The new marble incarnations

give the piece an even more monumental, sculptural look: choose from portoro silver (a black stone with silver veining), carrara white, calacatta gold or the opulent alpi green example pictured. cassina.com

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Sé Slovenian designer Nika Zupanc first designed a comprehensive collection of furniture, lighting and accessories for Sé back in 2014; now she has added two new pieces to the portfolio. Silence (pictured above, atop Ini Archibong’s Atlas bench) is a table lamp with a carrara marble base, topped with a bellshaped shade, while Grace is a modular sofa with chunky, fluted channels, inspired by seashells. New tables by Parisian designer Damien LangloisMeurinne have also been added to Sé’s collection. se-collections.com

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R ADAR / Products

Simpson Studio Architecture and design practice Simpson Studio is spotlighting the UK’s little-known marble quarries with a collection of furniture and accessories that incorporate native stones. The marble for the trays, side tables and candle feature Ledmore stone from north-west Scotland, or Ashburton from Devon.

Ledmore is more likely to be made into gravel, chipped and spread on to garden paths, but these products show what a waste that is: its distinctive lime-green and grey veining is incredibly arresting. simpson-studio.com

Pulpo Inspired by the colour-block work of German artist of Imi Knoebel, Sebastian Herkner’s new Imi stools for Pulpo are a colourful yet minimal accent piece.

The hand-made ceramic cylinders have been glazed in colours ranging from lavender to bubblegum pink, olive green, black, white and gold – shades

that are evocative of Knoebel’s abstract paintings.

The stools are available in a stack of either two or three sections, and custom colour combinations are available on request. pulpoproducts.com

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R ADAR / Products

The Invisible Collection Duncan Campbell and Charlotte Rey are the latest designers to work with The Invisible Collection, creating 12 pieces including this glossy Josef hall bench, inspired by the aesthetics of Secessionist Vienna. Typically bold and vibrant, in a palette of egg-yolk yellow, cobalt, aubergine and lilac, the Campbell-Rey collection also features Fabrizia, a skirted cocktail chair; Teddy, an asymmetrical sofa sitting on tiger-striped ball feet; and Magdalena, a chinoiserie mirror in a faux-tortoiseshell finish. theinvisiblecollection.com

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RADAR / Read

British Boutique Hotels

Come Together

Putting international travel plans on hold has had a welcome side-effect: many of us have discovered the wonders that lie on our doorstep in the UK, including some excellent hotels. Today’s boltholes seem to be continually upping their game when it comes to design nous, locavore dining, spa experiences and other personal touches, which is all good news for discerning guests. This book explores the best boutique getaways, including stalwarts such as Lime Wood in the heart of the New Forest to newcomers like The Mitre in Hampton Court. Enticing photography and advice on everything from the most divine fine-dining spots to the best places for a digital detox will have you ready to pack your bags and hit the road for your next trip.

Multigenerational homes were the norm in the past, and as demographics have shifted and land prices have risen, it is being reappraised as a model way to live. Gestalten’s book looks at collective living both within families and wider communities, and explores how to design the ideal space where all the generations in question have fulfilling lives. It argues that these living spaces need to be designed as more than just an extra-large family home, with flexibility the key way to cope with the changing needs of residents as they grow. Essays, profiles and case studies include a slick new take on the granny annexe in Seattle by Best Practice Architecture, and a look at how Asia is adapting its strong tradition for multigenerational living to suit 21st-century needs.

by Gina Jackson (Hoxton Mini Press)

edited by Joann Plockova (Gestalten)

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RADAR / Read

Rose Uniacke at Home

Dig It! Building Bound to the Ground

by Rose Uniacke (Rizzoli)

by Bjarne Mastenbroek (Taschen)

The restrained cotton slipcase of this book dedicated to the London home of interior and product designer Rose Uniacke gives strong clues as to what lies within: Uniacke is the authority on interiors that are totally luxurious yet barely ostentatious. The house in question was built as the home and studio of Victorian portraitist James Rannie Swinton, but had fallen into disrepair by the time the designer and her husband bought it in 2006.

François Halard’s photography captures it as it is now, with its breezily high-ceilinged rooms, sculpture, antique furniture and a lushly planted winter garden. The book includes conversations with architect Vincent van Duysen and garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith, both of whom contributed to the house’s transformation.

A collaborative effort between Dutch architect Bjarne Mastenbroek and photographer Iwan Baan, this book explores the many types of relationship that buildings can have with the earth they sit upon. Scanning the centuries and the globe, it is ambitious in its scale, seeking out all the examples the pair could find where the landscape merges with the building, many of which had never been documented before. There are churches carved from rocks – excavating downwards, rather than building upwards – in Lalibela, Ethiopia; low-slung desert modernist houses in Palm Springs; and the 1970s Gallo-Roman Museum in Lyon by Bernard Zehrfuss, near-invisibly built into a hill. “I hope this book…gives an understanding of how we can do more with less,” says Baan.

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Face values

Inspired by Tarkett’s playful and principled flooring, Design Anthology UK presents a story featuring its circular-designed products, alongside responsible fashion and ethical beauty brands that know how to do good, too Images / Chantel King Hair and make-up / Hannah Brooke Set design / Annemarieke Kloosterhof Styling / Grace Wright

Previous page Chizoba (left) wears: Skin: Mega Mist, C-Caf Cream, Eye Plump and Babe Balm Bronze, BYBI (bybi.com). Face: Slap Stick foundation and Trix Stick concealer, Lush (lush.com). Eyes: eyeliner in Success, Lush (as before); Spacejam glitter in Interstella, Lemonhead LA (getlemonhead.com); Im-Possible mascara, Kjaer Weis (kjaerweis.com). Lips: Plumper lip balm, BYBI (as before). Dress: Ssone (ssone.com)

Featuring iQ Natural homogeneous vinyl in Blue and iQ Surface homogeneous vinyl in Dimmed Multi, Tarkett (tarkett.co.uk) Facing page & above Skin: as previous page. Face: as previous page. Eyes: Im-Possible mascara and brow gel, Kjaer Weis (as before) Lips: Lip Light in Mystic and EyeLuminate in Extravert, Reckless Cosmetics (as before); Plumper lip balm, BYBI (as before). Dress: Stella McCartney (stellamccartney.com)

Suj (right) wears: Skin: Mega Mist, C-Caf Cream, Babe Balm and Eye Plump, BYBI (as before). Face: liquid foundation and concealer, Kjaer Weis (as before). Eyes: Im-Possible mascara and brow gel, Kjaer Weis (as before).

Lips: Lip Light in Call Me Never, Reckless Cosmetics (recklesscosmetics.uk); Plumper lip balm, BYBI (as before). Dress: Ssone (as before)

Featuring Veneto xf2 linoleum in 100% Linen; iQ Megalit homogeneous vinyl in Old Brick; and iD Square heterogeneous vinyl in Patine Chalk, Tarkett (as before)

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Facing page & above Skin: see pp24-25. Face: liquid foundation, concealer and cream blush in Joyful, Kjaer Weis (as before). Eyes: Eye-luminate in Dreamer and Bi, Reckless Cosmetics (as before); Independent liquid eyeliner, Lush (as before); eyeshadow in Spellbound and Im-Possible mascara, Kjaer Weis (as before). Lips: Buffer Natural Lip Scrub Exfoliator and Pumper lip balm, BYBI (as before). Blouse: LR.D (lr-d.com) Featuring Desso Metallic Shades carpet tiles in Dark Copper; iQ Natural homogeneous vinyl in Red; and iQ Surface homogeneous vinyl in Solid Peach, Tarkett (as before)

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Models: Chizoba and Suj at Milk Management. Hair and make-up assistant: Luca Chirico. Photography assistants: James Newlands and Imaani Erdogan

Facing page & above Skin: see pp24-25. Face: liquid foundation and concealer, Kjaer Weis (as before). Eyes: liquid eyeliner in Independent and Fantasy, Lush (as before); Glowjam glitter in Electric Daze, Lemonhead LA (as before); Im-Possible mascara and Brow Gel, Kjaer Weis (as before). Lips: Buffer exfoliator and Pumper lip balm, BYBI (as before). Top: The Array (the-array.com) Featuring Acczent Excellence Genius 70 heterogeneous vinyl in Granito Warm Grey and iQ Surface homogeneous vinyl in Vivid Accent, Tarkett (as before)

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RADAR / Q&A

Florian Bougault

The European design director of Tarkett explains how circular design and cradle-to-cradle principles help the flooring company tread lightly on the planet

Let’s start with the basics. When Tarkett says it makes circular flooring, what does that actually mean?

We believe that there is an urgent need to move away from a take-make-dispose model, towards a circular economy in which products can be recycled to create new products at the end of their use. Circular flooring means that we have a process in place for taking back old and used floors, and that we have the technology to recycle them into new flooring.

Tarkett’s long-term vision is for all of our flooring to be recyclable and recycled. By being able to recycle a product at the end of its use, we see tremendous benefits for the planet, such as a reduced carbon footprint, reduced need for landfill and reduced need for virgin materials.

What principles are at the heart of your manifesto? What motivates you as a brand?

As an organisation, we are committed to building a future that is suitable for both people and planet. We believe that we can do so by reducing our own carbon footprint and creating a circular economy supported by Cradle to Cradle principles; exceeding indoor air quality standards; and instituting healthy material norms with floors that are 100% phthalate-free.

What have been some of the flagship projects using your circular products?

To support architects and designers to specify truly sustainable products, we have recently

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RADAR / Q&A

launched our Circular Selection, a portfolio of products that are 100% recyclable post-use and completely phthalate-free. Recent projects completed with products from the Circular Selection include the new Tarkett Atelje, our showroom in Stockholm designed by Note Design Studio; Architectural Digest’s offices in Madrid; and Douglas House, one of The Office Group’s buildings in London.

Tarkett has established itself as playful and modern because of collaborations with studios like Note. Where has that vision come from?

We have a strong focus on combining original design and sustainability, and we aim to demonstrate the maximum potential of all our products, in response to the demands of the market. When collaborating with brands such as Note Design Studio or Studio 5.5, we look for a fresh outlook to create a new perception of our collections, and we always strive to be in the forefront of sustainable design.

How difficult is it to implement your circular production practices? Does it come at a cost?

Moving towards circular production is technologically challenging and also requires investment, which is why Tarkett is in many ways unique in the flooring industry – but we do what we do because we know that it is the best choice for both people and the planet.

We launched a groundbreaking technology in 2019 that gave us the ability to wash away adhesive and subfloor residue from uplifted vinyl floors. It allowed us to recapture 10,000 sqm of used vinyl flooring from one of IKEA’s stores in Sweden, process it at our recycling facility and use the resulting recycled material for flooring at a new IKEA store. It led to a saving of 96 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

Tarkett is also the only manufacturer in Europe that has the ability to fully recycle post-use carpet tiles in closed-loop. Our breakthrough recycling technology separates the yarn from the backing, and through collaboration with [Italian company] Aquafil, we can turn the old yarn into new Econyl yarn to be used in the production of new carpet tiles. The backing will be turned into new EcoBase carpet tile backing.

In October 2021, Tarkett announced a new partnership with the Swedish environmental company Ragn-Sells, aiming to develop carbon negative mineral fillers for vinyl flooring by 2025. The calcium is extracted from ash piles in Estonia and the calcium carbonate is produced using carbon capture technology. The calcium carbonate currently used by Tarkett is already carbon neutral, and with the calcium carbonate produced by Ragn-Sells, it is expected to generate a carbon negative footprint.

As told to Elizabeth Choppin

How do you balance sharing knowledge on circular design and production with the fact that it’s one of your unique selling points?

We want to help the whole industry move towards a healthier and more responsible future. In addition to our own products, Tarkett takes back products such as carpet tiles from competitors to recycle them as well, so we try not to limit our potential beneficial effect to our own products. In addition, Tarkett offers continuing professional development [CPD] training courses free of charge to architects and designers, including one that covers specifying sustainable floorcoverings.

Do you have advice for consumers looking to buy from circular brands?

Look under the surface of a brand to see its credentials: Tarkett has been passionate about becoming more circular for years, implementing recycling programmes, innovating sustainable technology and setting goals. We would advise consumers to look for information such as an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), a Material Health Statement (MHS) or Cradle to Cradle assessments that look at specific sustainability criteria such as renewable energy and climate requirements, water stewardship and social fairness. Finally, ask questions: if a product says it is recyclable, does this refer to installation waste or old floors as well? Where it is recycled and how is the recycled content used? This is important because the term ‘recycling’ is sometimes used when referring to waste-to-energy incineration. For anyone who is looking to specify Tarkett’s most sustainable products, we recommend choosing from our Circular Selection, which features our most sustainable products.

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Facing page Tarkett is the only manufacturer to master circular design for multiple types of flooring, from carpet tiles to vinyl and linoleum

PARTNER CONTENT / Roca

Space smarts

Roca’s next-generation WC offers innovation and performance to improve bathroom design

H

ow to improve a sleek bathroom design?

Invest in an In-Wash® In-Tank® WC from Spanish sanitaryware producers, Roca.

Its latest smart WC combines space-saving abilities with state-of-the-art technology.

InWash® In Tank® features the water tank integrated in to the bowl, eliminating the need for a separate cistern; this saves between ten and 20cm of space and makes installation and maintenance easier than ever. The new WC offers the same innovation and performance as its predecessor, with a hygienic rimless design combined with Vortex technology that reduces water consumption. Roca has also exclusively developed an additional layer of glazing that creates an ultra-smooth, easy to clean surface.

The true novelty, however, is that In-Wash® In-Tank® offers a fully personalised WC experience. Both the remote control and side panel adjust water and air temperature, and a sensor and LED light can be adjusted to different modes for comfort and control.

Roca’s sustainability commitment is inherent in its production processes, from reusing excess glazes to waste-management certification for its electrical components; plastic packaging has also been replaced with recyclable cardboard.

All in all, this is a next-generation product that creatively answers modern needs around design, space, functionality and environmental awareness in the WC.

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Facing page The space-saving design of In Wash® In Tank® means there is no need for a separate cistern Below A side panel adjusts water and air temperature

PARTNER CONTENT / Roca

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OAK. RHYTHMIC. OBJECT.

GALVINBROTHERS.CO.UK

Piaule Catskill. Read the full story on p44 Image by Sean Davidson

JOURNEY Distinctive destinations

JOURNEY / Openings

New hotels

Mr Tripper

Unique places to stay, in destinations of note

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JOURNEY / Openings

Souki Lodges & Spa, France After falling in love with the Cabrières region in the South of France, Fabien Morcel and Gilles Pascal not only moved to the area to settle down but also embarked on a three-year project to build Souki Lodges & Spa. Comprising just two cabins to reduce the hotel’s environmental impact on the natural area, the property sits perched on a hillside overlooking the unspoilt landscape and with open terraces and pools to immerse guests fully in nature.

Each cabin has been constructed from organic native timber, while inside natural materials such as wood and marble have been married with a mishmash of designer furniture and Moooi’s Perch pendants featuring rows of origami birds. souki-lodges.com

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JOURNEY / Openings

Babel, France patina by creative studio Rosatelier and create the backdrop for Indian artwork and Moroccaninspired headboards and carpets. In the restaurant, old meets new, with traditional French tomette tiles and vintage finds next to high-end fabrics from Dedar and bespoke Vanity Boum light fittings. babel-hotels.com

Benoit Linero

The opening of a new boutique bolthole in Paris’ Belleville neighbourhood is yet another sign of the area’s cool credentials. Designer Daphné Desjeux looked across the world to find inspiration for Babel, blending together an eclectic mix of styles to celebrate the diversity of the surrounding area. In the 31 guest rooms, walls in rich hues of red, blue and yellow have been finished with a unique aged

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JOURNEY / Openings

Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp, Belgium Named after its 200-year old garden, the Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp originally began life in 1238 as the Sint-Elisabeth hospital before also becoming a monastery and chapel in the 15th century. After being converted into a hotel in the 1990s, the property has been revived once more by Belgian design studio AIDarchitecten, which has stripped away the later additions to the building’s framework

to reveal ancient stonework and structures. In the former monastery, 108 rooms and suites have been individually decorated in a pared-back, wabi-sabiinspired style, with smooth grey walls, sleek light fittings and sculptural coffee tables, delivering a suitably tranquil, monastic feel. botanicantwerp.be

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JOURNEY / Openings

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JOURNEY / Openings

Château Voltaire, France For his first foray into the hotel world, fashion brand Zadig&Voltaire’s founder Thierry Gillier tapped artistic director Franck Durand to oversee the redesign of three 17th- and 18th-century buildings in the heart of Paris. Durand brought on board Festen Architecture to reimagine the historic interiors with a signature style of muted creamy tones and warm wood. The guest rooms have been imbued with a vintage feel (note the retro telephones and patterned carpets), which continues in the downstairs salon, where tapestry-covered armchairs sit beside bespoke Festen furniture. In the Coquille d’Or bar, black interiors and gilded shell details make a smouldering setting for after-dark cocktails. chateauvoltaire.com

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JOURNEY / Openings

Piaule Catskill, USA boulders and trees to put nature centre stage. In the main house, the colour palette mimics the natural exterior, with untreated white oak walls and floors made of local bluestone. Piaule furniture, notably solid oak beds and tables handcrafted from stormfelled hardwood, completes the natural aesthetic. piaule.com

Sean Davidson

After enjoying success with their cult homeware brand Piaule, the latest project from creatives Nolan McHugh and Trevor Brigg is Piaule Catskill, a striking modernist retreat set within 50 acres of woodland in upstate New York. The duo partnered with Garrison Architects to create the minimalist design of Piaule’s 24 guest cabins, which feature floor-to-ceiling windows and balconies built around

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JOURNEY / Openings

Dimora Palanca, Italy The 18th-century Florentine villa Dimora Palanca has hosted artists, academics and travellers in its lifetime, so it only made sense for architect Stefano Viviani and artist Paolo Dovichi to draw upon its heritage when redesigning the property as a fivestar hotel. Many of its historical features have been restored by local artisans, including ceiling frescoes, arched windows and parquet flooring, to which

Viviani has added minimalist furniture and sleek oversized light fittings. The finishing touch is Dovichi’s artwork – including a series of abstract landscapes created by placing Italian velvets, silks and linen behind sheets of plexiglass – which will be on permanent display throughout the hotel. dimorapalanca.com

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JOURNEY / Palma

Cultural composite

A Mallorcan boutique hotel with a Swedish owner makes for an intriguing blend of aesthetics, with a laid-back ambience at its heart

T

he hotel scene in the Mallorcan capital of Palma continues to boom, and, despite being a tiny city on a tiny island, its ability to offer an ever-evolving flux of accommodation belies its small size. As such, it was not a surprising choice for the Nobis Hospitality Group to land on this hub of renewal for the Swedish brand’s first place outside Scandinavia: what better place to re-enact the group’s penchant for transforming historical structures into contemporary hotels? The result is Concepció by Nobis, a new 31-room property that opened in summer 2021, and which reflects both the architectural diversity of Mallorca’s forward-thinking capital and the city’s rich cultural identity.

Named for the former market street on which it is located, on the edge of Palma’s Old Town, Concepció by Nobis is a three-floor structure drawn from a centuries-old merger of buildings that together once housed an urban chapel, residences, a warehouse and a soap factory.

After a development process that took nearly five years, Nobis, together with architects at Stockholm-based studio Wingårdhs, plus Spanish firms Jordi Herrero Arquitectos and Eduardo Garcia Acuña Arquitectos, have meticulously brought the building back to life with a reinvention that sees it take on an entirely new persona as a hotel. In its new guise, it’s a gutsy property that is animated by both Nobis’ signature aesthetic – a decidedly

contemporary flavour with some Scandinavian accents – and the building’s original features.

Words Ella Marshall

It’s also the kind of space that you feel would probably shed the “hotel” moniker if it could.

Expansive windows and floor-to-ceiling doors on the ground level sit perpetually ajar, unabashedly placed to beckon passers-by into a space and vibe that are evocative of a members’ club, not to mention fully Instagrammable – now almost a prerequisite for every new hotel.

In an age of hybrid working, Concepció’s breezy and ambient lounge strikes the right chord with its series of corners and alcoves, all equally suited to working and meeting, as well as moments of solace, spontaneous gatherings and shameless idling.

Images Courtesy of Design Hotels

Wingårdhs’ lead architect Helena Toresson worked hard to engineer this multifaceted functionality and has done so with aplomb while also incorporating the craft of local artisans in order to infuse the hotel with an unmistakably Mallorcan spirit. “Partly because it’s a way to the ensure we created a unique project, but also because it is a sustainable way to do things,” she explains. Case in point, the defining bespoke ceramic tiles that are present throughout Concepció’s many spaces, which are the brainchild of Wingårdhs. The practice enlisted local tile specialists Huguet to produce the green and white watercolour-style design.

Running uninterrupted across the hotel’s

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Facing page Tiles by native Mallorcan brand Huguet are used throughout, linking the hotel with local craft

JOURNEY / Palma

entrance floor and appearing as a smaller version in guest rooms and bathrooms, this handmade touch is an echo of the building’s original tiling and is a stylish representation of Concepció’s ease in contrasting old and new.

Modern accents such as these prove a stylish complement to the careful restoration of the building, in which great care was taken to preserve and renew architectural features that include cross vaults, beamed ceilings, interior arches and bay windows. “We found a concept based on the building, the city and the Nobis way of doing things,” says Toresson, “and with this method we found a unique expression.”

Layers of metal add a modern edge to the revived backdrop, as seen in a sculptural brassclad reception desk in the diminutive lobby, and a bar that is covered in hammered zinc at Xalest, the in-house restaurant overseen by chef Xema Álvarez. Anchoring these lively interiors is a flawless dynamic between bespoke items, natural materials such as wood, leather and wool, and an ambient palette inspired by both the Mediterranean sea and the dramatic Tramuntana mountains that rise up along the island’s northern coast.

It’s all united by a distinctly Scandinavian aesthetic, which emerges in the presence of Nordic-produced pieces throughout the property. In the lounge, rugs from Swedish family-owned company Ogeborg offer a welcome layer of texture under the room’s old pillars and vaults, while at Xalest guests sat atop J39 chairs by Børge Mogensen dine on modern Mallorcan cuisine. Guest rooms feature natural wood stools by Finnish brand Nikari, against bright-white walls lined with black doors and beams, dark and neutral

textiles and locally crafted carpentry. Subtle yet memorable details, like the bottles of recently released scents by Swedish brand Byredo placed in each guest bathroom – a sure crowdpleaser – are a further reminder of the hotel’s Scandinavian heritage.

Step outside, however, and an unmistakably Spanish essence prevails. From the top-floor tower that serves as an unofficial observation deck for vistas over the Old Town’s rooftops, to the multi-level outdoor terrace and pool, the centrally located property offers an oasis in the heart of the city. In successfully channelling Nobis’ trademark Scandi cool and accurately reflecting the duality of old and new Palma, Concepció by Nobis has announced its arrival as the city’s new haven.

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Above Nera stools by Zanat and a bespoke bed by Swedish brand Gemla in one of the guest rooms Facing page The vaulted all-day bar at the hotel’s in-house restaurant, Xalest

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“In its new guise, it’s a gutsy property that is animated by both Nobis’ signature aesthetic – a contemporary flavour with Scandinavian accents – and the building’s original features”

Facing page The Terrazza room includes its own 17 sqm terrace, with views of the surrounding historic buildings

Above Left to right: a shady colonnade around the pool area; Huguet’s tiles continue into the outdoor spaces

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An apartment in Treviglio. Read the full story on p54 Image by Nathalie Krag/Living Inside

HOME Timeless spaces

A dark drama

Designer Daniele Daminelli’s home in northern Italy plays theatrically with light and shade Words / Tami Christiansen Images / Nathalie Krag/Living Inside

HOME / Treviglio

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oung designer Daniele Daminelli’s home in Treviglio, northern Italy, is a poetic interpretation of past, present and future, submerged in a sea of dark blue. When he and his partner Giulia Crippa bought the apartment on a tree-lined historic promenade, it was love at first sight. “Light flooded the rooms, and everything was in fabulous condition, even the original windows and the parquet flooring,” says Daminelli, the founder of multidisciplinary design firm Studio 2046.

Elio Frisia, an engineer and architect who worked with the great Milanese builders of the 20th century, designed the villa in the 1930s for the managerial staff of Treviglio’s Gerosa glass factory opposite. He followed a rationalist style, with rigid shapes, large rectangular windows and the high-quality workmanship that is evident in all the details. The 180 sqm flat has now been transformed, including the removal of false ceilings, revealing rooms that are four metres high. “Our goal was to respect Frisia’s work as much as possible,” says Daminelli. “In our projects, we try to leave the given division of the rooms and thus their soul as untouched as possible.”

Previous page Daminelli has kept original features as far as possible, including the bedroom wardrobes Facing page Early 1990s steel dining chairs by Jordan Mozer are paired with two side-by-side marble tables of Daminelli’s design

Swimming in the ocean of time, everything here is submerged in a primeval dark blue and its various nuances. “I adore dark colours because they help create atmospheric rooms,” says Daminelli. In the living area, objects and memorabilia are juxtaposed against this moody backdrop: the rooms have mainly been furnished with Italian furniture and Swedish lighting from the mid 20th century. “I prefer to combine historical pieces by the masters of the 20th century with our contemporary Studio 2046 designs to create contrast,” says Daminelli, namechecking Gae Aulenti, Carlo Scarpa, Ignazio Gardella, Piero Portaluppi and Josef Hoffmann as among those he admires.

Mixing vintage and contemporary, old and new, classic and modern is in the DNA of Studio 2046. Before founding the company in 2017, Daminelli spent eight years working as an interior designer for Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran of Dimore Studio, and says that the experience “taught me immensely, giving me a strong foundation while enriching my culture in design.”

In the entry hall, lush flowering plants on the chinoiserie wallpaper bend gracefully. “All the colours in this apartment were derived from that wallpaper,” says Daminelli. Only a few monumental pieces of furniture, such as the wall of rosewood shelves in the living space, seem to break out of the deep blue that swallows almost everything. The designer was also inspired by the Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio, not just in his use of colour but in the dramatic play of light and darkness that provides such an alluring backdrop. Moving through the space in the apartment, sunshine fans out the blue base tone, changing over the course of a day and highlighting the lighter materials, such as the white marble top of the Saarinen Tulip table. This contemporary version of Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro – the treatment of light and shade for which the artist is known – has become something of a Studio 2046 trademark.

Here, the objective was to create rooms that had strong character with the use of colour and wallpaper, adding exceptional design pieces to great effect. One particular book, The Private World of Yves Saint Laurent & Pierre Bergé, proved to be a starting point for inspiration.

“The photos of the two of them at home in Paris simply captivated me: the entrance with its lavishly decorated wallpaper, those of travel and explorations of found objects from around the globe, the contrasts of materials and colours. The book reveals a similar view to the aesthetic of my projects.”

He doesn’t like to choose, but Daminelli says that “maybe” the 1940s sideboard in the dining area is his favourite piece: for him, it is “a unique example of excellent craftsmanship with perfect proportions”. A carved relief with a harvest scene decorates its front, while a cantilevered mirror casts light into the room. “I believe that well-designed objects and rooms are timeless and will always remain beautiful,” says the designer. “I do not create loud contradictions and contrasts, instead preferring to focus like a camera flash in the dark of history – capturing a subtle impression.”

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Facing page The apartment – one of three in the building – was constructed to house the managerial staff of Treviglio’s Gerosa glass factory

Above Daminelli’s dramatic use of light and shade is a signature of his practice, inspired by the work of Baroque painter Caravaggio

Above In the hallway, wallpaper by Braquenié, based on an 18thcentury original, inspired the apartment’s entire colour scheme

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Next page Architect Elio Frisia’s original 1930s windows frame the view. The Mantilla sofas were designed in the 1970s by Kazuhide Takahama

Above Daylight glints off the resin floor and dark painted ceiling in the hallway Facing page The children’s bedroom, with its original wardrobes and a vintage rug

Next page In the kitchen, the eye is drawn to the lighter, brighter elements: a marbletopped Saarinen table, and a lacquered 1970s cupboard by Kazuhide Takahama

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Facing page Mid-20th-century vitrine-like glass wardrobes bring a sense of theatre to the master bedroom; the chaise longue is by Marcel Breuer for Isokon

Above Daminelli has retained the original layout of the 1930s apartment, echoing the taste of its original era and layering vintage, antique and new pieces

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Mountain high

In the Swiss town of Vals, Brücke 49 is reinventing Alpine hospitality with a home-away-from-home experience Words / Karine Monié Images / Anders Hviid

HOME / Vals

“I

used to spend all my summer holidays in Switzerland with my grandparents,” recalls Danish-born Swiss citizen Ruth Kramer. “I wanted to share this with my husband.” After two successful careers – Kramer in fashion and her Danish husband Thomas Schacht in advertising – the couple knew they were ready to do something else. With the goal of achieving a life surrounded by nature, they decided to make the move to Switzerland, where they ended up taking on a very personal project, an intimate boutique and pension, high in the Swiss Alps.

Named after the stone bridge just across the road, Brücke 49 overlooks the Valser Rhine in the centre of Vals. This small hamlet has 1,000 people and the same number of sheep, and for wellness or architecture enthusiasts, it is better known for Therme Vals, the world-famous spa designed by architect Peter Zumthor.

Acquiring the property presented a unique opportunity for the couple. “We have always wanted to share a place and make a small sanctuary, where we could have nice meetings and good talks, over a wonderful breakfast in [beautiful] surroundings, with like-minded people,” says Kramer. “We saw the house and bought it three minutes after. Brücke was way too big of a house for us two to live in, so we

simply made a decision to try out our dream of a new kind of hospitality.”

Inspired by Parisian architecture, the fourstorey, 18th-century chalet once belonged to three families. “It has some grandeur, because the man who built it originally had seen and experienced the high-ceilinged living spaces and big windows in the French capital,” says Kramer. “He brought a bit of this inspiration back to Vals. There is wonderful light in the house because of this.”

With four rooms (the Suite, the Zervreila, the Tomül and the Valser), a living area and kitchen, as well as a garden and lots of terraces, the property is inviting, infused with the charm of the Swiss villages. The complete renovation was guided by the history of the house to preserve its original character while bringing in contemporary comforts. “Right away, you feel at home and just want to be inside,” says Kramer, who used warm colours, fabric and textures throughout.

Among the couple’s main sources of inspiration for the project are the homes of writer Karen Blixen and designer Finn Juhl, both in Denmark. The result is a subtle and balanced combination between Alpine architecture and Scandinavian aesthetic. Kramer and Schacht

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Previous page The 18thcentury chalet was inspired by high-ceilinged, light-filled Parisian architecture Facing page Left to right: rustic touches include a collection of wallmounted plates; a Ton bentwood chair and table by Danish brand KBH

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Facing page The kitchen in The Chammera, a two-bedroom apartment in the recently opened annexe, Brücke 49 Herberge. The table and chairs are by Carl Hansen & Søn

HOME / Vals

“The best thing is when guests have many plans, but in the end they just love to stay in their home away from home, here with us”

chose classic Danish furniture such as the Carl Hansen & Søn dining chairs, as well as fine linen for the beds. Guests have the opportunity to order some pieces directly from Kramer.

“My mantra has always been less is more,” she says about her style. “I love men’s clothing but I also love a bit of hippy.” Visually translated into functionality and long-lasting items, which will age gracefully, the spirit of Brücke 49 is best captured by French writer, Antoine de Saint-Exupery: “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

All the rooms have their own individual design, providing a personal experience for every guest.

“Each space makes me feel different when I sleep there,” says Kramer. “I love the artwork by Cooper and Gorfer in the library, which tells me a story about women and female beauty but also asks the question, ‘What do you hold close? Where is your secret place of belonging?

If you had to leave everything behind and begin again, who would you be?’ We did this here with Brücke 49 in Vals, and it showed us a totally new side of ourselves.”

Farrow & Ball paint on the walls seems to have always been there and perfectly harmonises with the natural materials including stone,

wood, linen and wool. “This, mixed with art and Danish porcelain, as well as a lot of books, reflect a sense of easily accessible luxury,” says Kramer. “The best thing is when guests have many plans, but in the end just love to stay in their home away from home, here with us.”

Thomas Schacht sadly died in May 2021, but not before the pair expanded their domain in this peaceful corner of the Swiss Alps. Recently completed, the neighbouring house, Brücke 49 Herberge, comprises two apartments and one studio suitable for families, while the related stable was transformed into a venue for bakery workshops, yoga sessions and small concerts.

Kramer lives only 300 metres above Brücke 49, allowing her to manage the pension every day – “it smells so fresh and airy when coming into the house in the morning” – and also runs the Brücke Butik shop next door, which sells products by Danish and international brands including Moshi Moshi Mind, Skagerak and her own label Kramer & Co. Kramer is also spreading her wings as an interior designer, and is currently working on a hotel in the woods in Blausee and a small hotel in Buchs. Brücke 49 was where it all started, though: “I feel so much at home and enjoy just taking care of this wonderful shelter in the mountains,” she says.

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Facing page A comfortable corner of The Stuba, one of the apartments at Brücke 49 Herberge

Above Owner Ruth Kramer's Danish heritage comes through in her interiors: the sofa is by Eilersen, while a Hay rice-paper pendant hangs above it

Facing page The Valser mountains surrounding the village offer what Brücke 49 describes as "extreme wellness", from skiing to its famous thermal spa

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Facing page A bedroom in The Chammera; the bed is by Fennobed, topped with linen from Ruth Kramer's own brand Kramer & Co

Above Functionality and longevity are as important as aesthetics, evidenced by the bathroom in The Stuba

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Feminine energy A west London apartment with a tougher edge amid its softness Words / Charlotte Abrahams Images / Genevieve Lutkin

HOME / London

H

ollie Bowden is best known as a creator of edgy, rather masculine interiors, but as the west London apartment she has designed for her cousin, the model Lizzie Bowden, proves, she is equally adept at boho-pretty.

“The brief was very much to make quite a girlie apartment with the essence of Notting Hill,” says Bowden, and she has certainly delivered.

This two-storey Victorian apartment on one of Notting Hill’s most prestigious roads is an eclectic treasure trove of a home, painted in shades of baby pink, peach and green. And the discoveries begin as soon as you step inside.

The small entrance lobby is home to a pretty antique console and a richly detailed painting of two circus horses, a find Bowden loves so much she wishes she had kept it for herself.

Follow the grey-green floor into the living space and you find a pair of large linen-covered sofas, a tapestry-covered ottoman, a romantic Swedish armoire, and the most beautiful 18thcentury fireplace. “That was the first piece we bought,” she says. “It’s made from pink marble and helped to create a decorative language for the rest of the apartment.”

The living room opens into the dining area and it is here that the inspiration for the unusual green floor is revealed. Beyond the French windows lies a communal garden – a wildlooking, tree-filled space that was the reason Lizzie Bowden first fell in love with the

apartment. “The original floor was mainly new and pretty awful,” Bowden says. “We talked about replacing it with stripped pine, but the views of the garden are so amazing as you walk through the house that we decided to paint it in Farrow and Ball’s Card Room Green, to lead you straight into it.”

The furniture in here speaks of gardens too. A set of the American designer Russell Woodard’s 1970s patio chairs sit around a vintage wooden table, and the pendant light is adorned with a delicate fern. But this is central London, not the English countryside, so there are edgier elements too – the Japanese stencils on the wall are arranged in a sharp geometric grid, and those woven Woodard chairs are made from spun fibreglass rather than the expected wicker.

“I wanted to toughen things up a bit with some unpredictable pieces,” Bowden explains.

That unpredictability continues downstairs where the language of the apartment shifts slightly towards boudoir glamour. A luxe, leopard print Stark carpet leads into the main bedroom where, taking centre stage, there is a gloriously sumptuous bespoke bed upholstered in thick channels of green velvet. “Years ago, Lizzie and I stayed in a hotel in Monaco and it had this incredible bed with a curved headboard,” says Bowden. “I remember feeling really cocooned and cosy in it. This is a recreation of it, combined with some elements from a beautiful antique bed I came across.”

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Previous page US designer Russell Woodard’s 1970s fibreglass patio chairs and a fern-draped light give the dining room an indooroutdoor feel Facing page The entrance, with its antique console and painting of horses Next page In the living room, the pink marble fireplace that Bowden sourced early on in the project helped to shape the apartment’s design language

HOME / London

Bowden’s boudoir touch is light and there are plenty of references to the antiques, natural materials and artisan objects found in the living space upstairs. Handmade Moroccan and old marble tiles line the walls and floor of the bathroom, the bed is draped in a heavy, embroidered suzani throw from Istanbul, and on the antique chest of drawers by its side stands an intriguing 1980s green-bronze face mask lamp designed by Garouste & Bonetti.

“It is a real challenge when you’re doing an eclectic project to create the right balance between eclecticism and harmony,” Bowden explains. “Anything goes – but everything also has to make sense.”

Bowden might be a self-described “collector, hoarder, magpie and beauty fundamentalist”, but she is also a deeply practical designer whose first consideration is always “how am I going to make this house function perfectly for the people who live here?”

This apartment is home not just to Lizzie Bowden but her young daughter, so the brief called for both a family home – with all the mess that brings – and a sophisticated, grownup space for entertaining friends. Creating this multifunctional home meant employing plenty of tricks of the trade, such as hiding the TV in that Swedish armoire and using the ottoman as a toy box. More importantly, though, it also meant going back to the bones of the place and sorting out the way the space flowed.

“The apartment is on the ground and lower ground floor,” Bowden explains. “When I first saw it, there was a double staircase running from the living room down into the basement where the bedrooms are, which took up so much room that it ruined both spaces, so the first thing we did was to remove one side of it.

It gave us extra room upstairs, but crucially, it also meant we could reconfigure the downstairs as well. Lizzie now has a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and a door into the garden, and there’s a dressing room, a bathroom, a bedroom for her daughter and a laundry room down there, too.”

Upstairs, the idea was to create a familyfriendly, open-plan living/dining/kitchen space. The living room already opened into the dining room, but the kitchen was separate.

Bowden was refused planning permission to remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room entirely, so instead she made a generous square arch. It’s a neat solution that delivers the same sense of openness, but also acts as a defining frame around both areas, giving each their own identity.

“This has been one of my favourite projects,” says Bowden. “I love how it looks – I’m doing up my own house at the moment, and it’s much more like this than the projects I’m best known for, but what I’m most proud of is how well it functions. We made a laundry room! That’s an amazing thing for a family to have.” There is indeed beauty in utility.

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Facing page Clockwise from top left: a bronze lamp by Garouste & Bonetti; the new laundry room, created by removing one of two staircases; the apartment’s softness and informality, exemplified by a velvet-upholstered chair in the bedroom; Bowden is a great collector, and the artwork was sourced from far and wide Next page The bespoke upholstered bed’s wrap-around design encourages a feeling of safety and sanctuary

Making places friendly

usm.com

Play around with colours, shapes and dimensions and design your own furniture with our online configurator USM Modular Furniture 49–51 Central St, London EC1V 8AB, 020 7183 3470, info.uk@usm.com

The Swan, No. 16, Group IX/SUW by Hilma Af Klint. Read the full story on p92 Image by Moderna Museet, Stockholm. © Hilma Af Kint, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2021

ART & COLLECTING A cultural review

ART & COLLECTING / Diary

Agenda

Sights to behold: a calendar of shows and fairs for the coming months Words / Philomena Epps

Women in Abstraction, Guggenheim Bilbao Until 27 February 2022

This survey exhibition reframes the history of abstraction through the work of over a hundred 20th-century female artists working across the visual and decorative arts, dance, photography and film. Attention is paid to the societal forces that led to the invisibility of the artists, in

addition to those who resisted gendered labels or adopted a non-gendered identity, alongside those who laid claim to a particularly female form of creation. Pictured above is Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian in her Tehran studio; opposite is Barbara Kasten’s Metaphase 3 from 1986.

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Estate of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian/ © Barbara Kasten Image courtesy of the artist and Bortolami Gallery, New York. Thomas Dane Gallery, London; Kadel Willborn Gallery, Düsseldorf

© 2021 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris 2021

ART & COLLECTING / Diary

Anni and Josef Albers: Art and Life, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris Until 9 January 2022

Anni and Josef Albers met at the Bauhaus School and married in 1925, moving to the US as refugees in 1933.

This show is dedicated to their artistic and romantic partnership and their mutual creativity, with over 350 works on show, from paintings to photographs, furniture,

drawings and textiles. Anni combined traditional craft and weaving with the process of abstraction in modern art in works such as 1962’s Intersecting (above) while her husband pioneered colour theory through his now-iconic series of paintings, Homage to the Square (1950-76).

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©2007 Philipp Scholz Rittermann. VG Bildkunst, 2021

ART & COLLECTING / Diary

LAS presents: Robert Irwin Light and Space, Kraftwerk Berlin 5 December 2021–30 January 2022

An East Berlin power station turned thriving cultural hub, the Kraftwerk building hosts this major site-specific installation by US artist Robert Irwin, a key figure in the West Coast’s Light and Space art movement. Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin) is comprised of blue-coloured

light tubes, typical of Irwin’s immersive environments, which challenge viewers’ perceptions by refocusing their eyes and their wider surroundings. Contemporary dance performances choreographed by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar will take place during the show’s two-month run.

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Martha Wilson in Halifax, Centre Pompidou, Paris

Alexander Calder, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin

The Centre Pompidou is the first French institution to dedicate a solo exhibition to the work of US feminist and conceptual artist Martha Wilson. The 40 works included in its survey are focused on the period from 1972 to 1974 when Wilson taught at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Here she experimented with makeup and postures, creating a series of photographic works that explored subjectivity, female archetypes and gender transformation, such as Portfolio of Models (1974), where she role-plays as “Goddess, Housewife, Working Girl, Professional, Earth Mother, Lesbian.”

Mies van der Rohe’s last solo project, the iconic Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, reopened in August following a restoration by David Chipperfield Architects. Alexander Calder’s monumental outdoor sculpture Têtes et Queue (1965) was installed when the gallery was inaugurated in 1968, and has been brought back in 2021, the starting point for a show of several more of the US artist’s mobiles and stabiles that viewers can experience in the museum’s infamous glass hall. The sculptures are also activated and set in motion once or twice a day, in order for viewers to fully appreciate their kinetic possibilities.

Until 31 January 2022

Until 13 February 2022

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© Courtesy Martha Wilson, mfc-michèle didier and P.P.O.W. Gallery; © 2021 Calder Foundation, New York/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe/ VG-Bildkunst Bonn, 2021

ART & COLLECTING / Diary

Photo: National Gallery/Hannu Aaltonen

ART & COLLECTING / Diary

The Modern Woman, Ateneum, Helsinki 11 February–27 March 2022

The 150 paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints in The Modern Woman are all drawn from Helsinki’s Ateneum art museum, holder of Finland’s largest collection of art.

Curated by the institution’s keeper of prints and drawings, Anu Utriainen, it explores 20th-century Finnish women

from two angles – artist and muse – considering their changing role and position in the face of social, political and cultural changes. Artists include Helene Schjerfbeck, the recent subject of a retrospective at London’s Royal Academy, whose Californian (1919) is pictured.

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Photo: Jack Hems. Courtesy the artist

ART & COLLECTING / Diary

Oscar Murillo, KM21, The Hague 9 December 2021–18 April 2022

Oscar Murillo (co-winner of the 2019 Turner Prize) has created a series of new large-scale paintings for his first solo exhibition in the Netherlands. Born in Colombia, Murillo is known for his wide ranging practice, spanning painting, work on paper, sculpture, installations and live

events, and he is particularly concerned with globalisation and cultural exchange. His recent Surge paintings feature layers of oil-stick marks that form a thick impasto – a reference to the flow of water as a metaphor for an energy force that ignores the constraints of borders.

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Courtesy Tracey Emin Studio. All rights reserved DACS 2021; Thomas Broadhead for OmVed Gardens; Courtesy of the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York; Photo: Pablo Leyva

ART & COLLECTING / Diary

Hockney to Himid, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester

Body Vessel Clay, Two Temple Place, London

Celebrating 60 years of British printmaking, this show draws on Pallant House Gallery’s own collection of wood engravings, etchings, lithographs and screen prints. There are over a hundred works on show from 90 artists, from towering greats of British art such as Barbara Hepworth to storied mid-20th-century figures including Eduardo Paolozzi, and YBAs such as Tracey Emin (pictured).

Subtitled Black Women, Ceramics & Contemporary Art, this show has been guest curated by writer and academic Dr Jareh Das. The 80 works, including artists such as Bisila Noha (pictured), explore how the medium has been reimagined by Black female artists over the last 70 years, and how it has been used to express personal and political ideas concerning class, gender and postcolonial thought.

Howardena Pindell, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh

Feliza Bursztyn: Welding Madness, Muzeum Susch, Swiss Alps

This is US artist, activist, writer and educator Howardena Pindell’s first solo institutional exhibition in the UK, bringing together work from her six-decade-long career.

Pindell’s practice addresses issues concerning racism, violence, exploitation and feminism, often drawing on lived experiences or research; she is particularly engaged with the status and historical exclusion of Black artists.

This winter, the restored 12th-century monastery turned museum is holding a solo exhibition dedicated to the Colombian modernist artist Feliza Bursztyn, a pioneer in kinetic sculpture who created immersive installations that utilised sound, light and movement. Over 50 sculptures, plus archival material and smaller works, will exemplify Bursztyn’s interdisciplinary and experimental approach.

Until 24 April 2022

29 January–24 April 2022

Until 2 May 2022

18 December 2021–30 June 2022

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ART & COLLECTING / Diary

Surrealism Beyond Borders, Tate Modern, London 24 February–29 August 2022

Arriving from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, this exhibition eschews surrealism’s Western European history in favour of an international approach.

Showing nearly 80 years of work produced by those living in over 45 countries, the survey offers a renewed appraisal

of how surrealism’s political interest in overthrowing the oppressive rules of modern society could be used as a tool and weapon in the struggle for freedom across the world.

Artists from locations as far flung as Mexico City, Cairo and Tokyo include Argentina’s Ad Minoliti (pictured).

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Photo: Shinjuku-I-Land Public Art Project / © 2021 Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

ART & COLLECTING / Diary

Robert Indiana: Sculpture 1958-2018, Yorkshire Sculpture Park 22 March 2022–8 January 2023

Next year will see the first European museum exhibition of sculpture by US artist Robert Indiana. Its 47 works – 34 of which are sculptures, with six of those shown in the open air and the rest being painting and prints – will trace the development of his sculpture against the

backdrop of six decades of social and political change.

Responding to Indiana’s iconic LOVE sculptures and the themes of acceptance, peace and anti-discrimination, the venue will also present a Summer of Love – a season filled with events, interventions and artist commissions.

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ART & COLLECTING / Virtual

Reality check

A new way of seeing, or a speculative bubble? How the virtual world is shaking up the art market

W

hen Martin Clausen and Kristian Snorre Andersen founded collectible design platform Adorno in 2017, virtual exhibitions weren’t really much of a thing. Cut to 2021, and that has completely changed. The regular schedules across the creative industries – fashion weeks, design festivals and art fairs – have been shaken up. This, obviously, has been partly through lack of option, with in-person events being a no-go during the pandemic, but it is also increasingly through disruptors who are presenting new ways of viewing and consuming the things we like to live among.

Digital exhibition spaces – and individual artworks – have been launched into the world en masse, sometimes in place of the physical experience, and sometimes alongside it. With the increase in demand for these kinds of virtual offerings, it seems as though the technology and imagination behind it has skyrocketed too, and what seemed revolutionary even at the beginning of 2020, now seems somewhat rudimentary.

For Adorno and Martin Clausen, it’s been imperative that they keep up. “We’ve always known that the best way of experiencing design and art is in real life,” he says. “But we set out to create the next best way, alongside our physical shows.” Since its beginnings, the company has invested heavily in staying at the forefront of technological developments. Of late, its budgets have swerved completely from the likes of PR and big exhibition spaces, and have instead been funnelled into 3D modelling and impressive production.

Its latest shows see collectors and visitors transported to an abandoned airport in Greece,

before arriving on the rooftop of a Manhattan high-rise. At each location, they can roam around and view pieces placed into the environment, chosen by selected curators. “It’s not just about having an online blog with images, but having some kind of an immersive virtual space where people can really experience and engage with the design,” says Clausen.

Words Alice Morby

Also taking advantage of these developing technologies is surface design specialist Giles Miller Studio, which launched its virtual gallery during this year’s London Design Festival in a bid to reach clients who may not be able to attend in person. The result, named V-Gallery, is set within a secluded wooded landscape and sees the studio’s work placed within a realistic gallery environment, complete with tour-guide-like voiceovers and a coffee bar where the studio’s new tile made from coffee waste is on show.

“Technology in this area has until now been lacking, but we felt the time was right for us to create a space which gives viewers a little more than the two-dimensional perspective our online presence has until now been able to offer,” says Miller, who adds that he felt it was important to steer clear of gimmicks. “If this format is harnessed to strengthen the presentation and conveyance of information, it will be hugely beneficial,” he says – referring to its place within a kit of parts, rather than a step towards a fully virtual future.

It’s a compelling argument, but of course there will always be purists. “The experience of appreciating physical works of art, whether it’s a sculpture, a drawing or an installation, can’t be replicated online, ever,” says Francesco

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Facing page A virtual space for Dutch design, part of Adorno’s Designing Futures, a virtual event at the 2021 London Design Festival

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ART & COLLECTING / Virtual

Dama of Galleria Lorcan O’Neill in Rome.

“Looking at a piece in person puts you right on the same spot its creator once stood. There’s tremendous power in that – it’s pure empathy.”

As such, Dama’s excitement about online viewing rooms and exhibitions has already died down. “During the pandemic, some galleries invested a hefty amount of money into them, and some thought the time of physical galleries was coming to an end. But within not even six months of that, we were desperate to visit a museum or a gallery in person and even the idea of scrolling over yet another online viewing room would make me queasy,” he says.

But beyond the actual experience of seeing the pieces themselves, it’s impossible not to look at the ways in which the rise of the online market has broadened the audience for collectible art and design. According to the Hiscox Online Art Trade Report, which published figures

relating to collectors during the pandemic, 82 percent of new art collectors (defined as those who had been buying for less than three years) bought works online between March and September 2020.

Above Giles Miller Studio’s V-Gallery, showing its surface design products to a gobal audience

Clausen says he sees this replicated through Adorno’s own network too: “Collectors are not only older, 60-plus-year-old people. In fact, over the past few years, we have seen our audience becoming younger.”

Facing page Norway’s virtual space at Adorno’s Designing Futures event, curated

by Kirsten Visdal

No examination of the impact of virtual reality on collecting would be complete without including a mention of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which have completely disrupted the art market. An NFT allows a digital artwork to be assigned a single owner, turning something otherwise easily reproducible into a one-of-a kind asset. In the same way that a physical work of art has a definitive owner, an NFT proves provenance and protects value.

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“When NFTs first came out, the majority of galleries dealing in physical artworks had a pretty cautious approach to them, while some auction houses, which don’t entertain relationships with living artists, plunged into the digital market,” says Dama.

One auction house in particular, Christie’s, was the first of its kind to sell a purely digital artwork when it raked in a massive $69.3m for Everydays: The First 5000 Days by an artist known as Beeple. The collage of digital images, one created every day over 5,000 days, was not only the most expensive NFT to ever change hands, but was among the most expensive works ever sold by a living artist.

It’s clear to see the lucrative appeal, but Dama remains suspicious. “One listens to the news of all these NFTs sold for millions of dollars and the suspicion automatically arises that we’re in front of massive speculative operations. It

certainly doesn’t make you think about democratisation,” he says.

Adorno has implemented NFTs into its own strategy, albeit in a slightly different way.

Alongside each physical piece sold will be a certificate of authenticity in NFT format, rather than the traditional printed copy. As well as attracting a younger, newer audience, Clausen says that attaching the NFT to something physical may also make it an accessible concept for the more traditional collector. “It’s very important to connect the dots between the physical and virtual in order to get the real value,” he adds.

But for Dama, the connection to an artwork exists beyond owning it – be it virtual or physical. “[We need to] get rid of the concept of owning an artwork and start focusing on appreciating it instead,” he says. “There’s a beautiful sense of freedom in that.”

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Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Read the full story on p108 Image by Ossip van Duivenbode

ARCHITECTURE Surveying the built environment

ARCHITECTURE / Rotterdam

Treasure chamber

Museum storage facilities are usually hidden from view, but a new publicly accessible depot designed by MVRDV is every bit as spectacular as the collection it holds

“T

he Depot is not a museum,” reads a panel of text affixed to the wall inside the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, the latest addition to Rotterdam’s Museumpark. You could be forgiven for thinking otherwise as you move through this vast bowl-shaped structure. The building’s primary function is to provide storage for a 151,000-piece art collection, yet nothing about it says “warehouse”. For a start, it’s open to the public. Secondly, climbing its vertigo-inducing atrium is a bit like being inside a huge exhibition case. With glass walls and vitrines all around – so high you have to stretch your neck to see them all – everything feels like a spectacle. According to Winy Maas of MVRDV, the architect behind this radical project, the aim was to reinvent the concept of art storage. “It’s a prison of art, but a prison that you can open,” he says. “It’s more like a bazaar, where you can see all the stuff inside.”

The ideas behind the Depot first began to formulate back in 2004. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen boasts one of the largest and most prestigious collections of art in the Netherlands, yet for more than 20 years it had been using external depots to store works, as the cellars under the building were deemed unsafe. Not only were they too small but, with most of Rotterdam set below sea level, they were prone to regular flooding. For practical purposes, the museum felt there was a need to consolidate its multi-billion-pound collection to a single location that also included state-ofthe-art restoration facilities. Why build an anonymous warehouse out of town, when there was space on site to create something that could be a tourist attraction in its own right?

MVRDV has taken this idea and run with it, creating a building that is now billed as the

world’s first publicly accessible art depot.

Organised over seven levels, it contains five climate-controlled zones for different types of storage. There are 14 compartments for the museum’s own use plus an additional six that – in a smart commercial move – are leased to private collectors. There are restoration labs for a range of mediums, film booths and study rooms, plus gallery spaces for small exhibitions.

Then, at the very top, a restaurant and events space open out to a rooftop garden planted with 100 birch and pine trees.

Words Amy Frearson Images Ossip van Duivenbode

From the outside, the building makes a strong statement. Its distinctive curving form and mirror-clad facade were actually designed in a gesture to neighbouring museums – the idea being that the building has no rear facade and simply reflects its surroundings – but the effect is perhaps more impactful than expected, and the spaceship-style entrances certainly add to this impression. There may be some that take the Depot too much at face value, which would be a shame when there is so much more complexity going on inside.

The layout of the atrium, in particular, is multilayered. Staircases cross it in different places, offering views into glass-fronted storage areas where works are visible rather than boxed up.

The glass vitrines, created by artist Marieke van Diemen, are carefully curated so that you walk over and under all kinds of artworks; van Diemen has envisaged it as a three-dimensional maze to explore. Meanwhile, lifts (for both artwork and people) whizz up and down as a backdrop. Maas says his dream was to create an environment where you might “walk between some Monets” on your way to the bathroom.

Together, all these details help to demystify the archive environment and make it feel inviting.

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Facing page MVRDV’s Depot is a mirrored receptacle for art, topped by a rooftop garden

“It’s a prison of art, but a prison that you can open.

It’s more like a bazaar, where you can see all the stuff inside”

Above A fraction of the Boijmans Van Beuningen collection of 151,000 works of art, which is stored in 14 climate-controlled zones

Facing page The atrium is criss-crossed with zig-zagging stairs, inspired by 18th-century architect Giovanni Piranesi’s fantastical prints

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Facing page Artist Marieke van Diemen has created a series of vitrines in the atrium, to house a changing display of artworks from the collection

Above Artist Olaf Mooij’s foam and leather car parked up in storage, alongside the spotted components for Yayoi Kasama’s Infinity Mirror Room

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Growth industry

How Sweden’s Sara Cultural Centre is changing perceptions about timber as a structural building material Words / Emma O’Kelly Images / Åke E:son Lindman and Patrick Degerman

ARCHITECTURE / Sweden

S

kellefteå in northern Sweden is going through a very modern evolution; known as Gold Town during the last century for its plentiful gold mines, this cold, remote city has, since then, been a place its inhabitants have wanted to escape from, not to. In 2023, however, Europe’s largest battery factory will bring new life to the unloved outpost, swelling its population from 70,000 to 90,000 people.

In anticipation of this influx, locals were asked what could make their city more appealing; their answer was a kulturhus, a cultural meeting point. Swedish firm White Arkitekter was asked what it would be made from; their answer was timber, sourced from local forests.

The result is the Sara Cultural Centre. Standing at 75m high it is the tallest all-timber tower in

the country, and has already become a landmark attraction, brightening Skellefteå’s unassuming skyline. Inside, it houses the 20-storey Wood Hotel, six stages, the Västerbotten Regional Theatre, the Anna Nordlander Museum, the Skellefteå Art Gallery and the City Library.

It may be the region’s tallest timber structure, but it’s not its first. Skellefteå has a rich heritage and a tradition for building in wood that dates back to the 17th century; once the nearby wooden church town, Bonnstan, was the meeting place for locals. Now it’s Sara.

“We wanted to reintroduce timber to the city centre on an entirely new scale and refine the distinct wooden tradition of Skellefteå to meet today’s needs,” says White Arkitekter director Robert Schmitz. Everything, from the frames,

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Above A 20-storey hotel rises up from the Sara Cultural Centre complex in Skellefteå, Sweden Facing page A glass facade wraps the building, with the timber left exposed within Previous page Open-plan spaces are made possible with the design of distinctive roof trusses combining timber and steel

ARCHITECTURE / Sweden

lift-shafts, floors, walls and roofs are made in wood and pre-fabricated cross laminated timber (CLT). There are some concrete and steel elements – the open, grandiose foyer would not have been possible without them – and a glass facade that tackles the harsh north winds and temperatures that drop to minus 31°C. Sara’s blend of complexity and simplicity exudes what the late Finnish designer Alvar Aalto referred to as the “deeply human” feeling of wood. If it can stimulate more timber construction in Sweden and beyond, then the region’s abundant forests are a new ‘green gold’.

CLT is a 1990s invention that is finally moving mainstream; it is made from a sandwich of planks, glued together in perpendicular layers, creating a product so strong that it can used structurally. There are some persistent myths

about timber – that it is not fire resistant, nor safe, nor durable – but Schmitz says that “we debunk these by proving the opposite. Projects like this are so important because they challenge public perceptions of what timber construction technology can achieve.” Next up for the practice is a 12m-high observation tower on southern Sweden’s Getterön nature reserve. Here, 140 wooden ‘ribs’ fold together to form an elegant hourglass silhouette. “With this project, we hope to show how timber architecture and engineering can create something fantastic that is sustainable both economically and ecologically,” says Schmitz.

Although timber towers are still unusual, perceptions are changing. This year in the US, wooden high-rises officially became part of the International Building Code. Portland firm

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Above An education room; the building is home to a theatre company, museum, gallery and the city library

ARCHITECTURE / Sweden

Lever Architecture was instrumental in the law change; for its 2016 project, Framework, the practice spent a $1.5m grant on timber building assemblies, testing fire, structural, seismic and acoustic elements. It met all the high-rise safety standards and, although the 12-storey tower was never built, was a catalyst project. “When you can show people images of a timber structure emerging intact from a twohour fire test, it makes an impact,” says Lever principal Thomas Robinson.

Robinson is inspired by the Pacific Northwest’s strong timber building tradition and pioneering US architects such as John Yeon and Pietro Belluschi, who developed a style fusing craft and modernism in the 1930s and 1940s. “There is a spirit of innovation and do-it-yourself independence in Oregon that is connected to

the land,” he says. In 2019, Lever remodelled the state’s 1970s Nature Conservancy HQ in Portland with juniper and cedar cladding, sourced from the organisation’s conservation sites. And when it opens in downtown Los Angeles in 2022, the practice’s Spring Street project will be one of the city’s first major CLT office buildings. “Advanced wood construction is on the rise, especially on the West Coast,” says Robinson. “We’re seeing major tech companies, developers, colleges and universities embrace mass timber.”

The more we see of first-of-a-kind wooden structures that are built quickly, sustainably and inexpensively, the more perceptions will change. Scandinavia and the Pacific Northwest are already on board. The rest of the world just needs to catch up.

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Above White Arkitekter's design celebrates the beauty of natural timber as well as its structural integrity

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Elettra jacket by Ulla Johnson. Read the full story on p127

STYLE Fashionable pursuits

Most wanted

Clothing, accessories and tech that are thoughtful, expressive, beautiful and good

STYLE / Products

Sirplus Starting life in Spitalfields Market selling boxers made from offcuts from the shirt-making industry, Sirplus has grown to become a leading light when it comes to sustainable menswear. Increased demand means it can no longer make every garment from surplus materials, but it supplements this approach with environmentally friendly fabrics and native

manufacturing where possible. New this season are a colour-block vest (opposite) made from British wool, and an orange corduroy workwear jacket/ overshirt (above), sourced from Italian overstock.

Ribbed lambswool vest, £125, corduroy overshirt, £195; sirplus.co.uk

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STYLE / Products

Hyde Wares Creative people can get pretty protective over their favourite pen, so Hyde Wares’ simple leather sleeve for that treasured possession is just the ticket. Its designer-maker is leatherworker Jonathan Hyde, who learned his craft living in Portugal. Now based in Sheffield, his raw materials are sourced from J&FJ Baker, the last remaining UK example of an

oak-bark tannery, which uses a highly traditional process. Hyde’s products are made with longevity in mind and will only improve with age; he will stamp a name or initials on the pen sleeve at no extra cost, so there’s no doubting who that pen belongs to. £30; hydewares.com

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STYLE / Products

La Boite Concept The coexistence of technology and craftsmanship is not new in the hi-fi industry, but no one does it with the added sheen of French elegance like La Boite Concept. Its new Square turntable features a minimalist design that is pleasingly off-centre; a veneered plywood top, available in oak or walnut, delivers stability and rigidity. If you need somewhere

to put it, the brand has also just launched its Lines acoustic cabinet, a modular system in matching oak and walnut or matt black, with shelves that are backed with felt so that they fit snugly in the frame to prevent unwanted vibration. €690; laboiteconcept.com

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STYLE / Products

Aarke There are endless ways to banish single-use plastic from your life, and a water carbonator (in lieu of endless disposable bottles of fizzy H20) is one of them. Swedish brand Aarke has rethought this normally utilitarian product as something a little slicker, with finishes including gold, white and matt black; its latest C3 model has had some subtle

functional upgrades, including less plastic used in its manufacture. Founded in 2013 by friends and designers Carl Ljungh and Jonas Growth, Aarke is feeding a growing market for kitchen countertop gadgets for those who are discerning about design. €199; aarke.com

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STYLE / Products

Ulla Johnson Perfect for pulling off a pattern-on-pattern layered look, Ulla Johnson’s patchwork Elettra jacket is made from a softly quilted cotton. The patches have been recycled from the brand’s past collections, so that nothing goes to waste. Need more of a coverup? Try the Sabreen coat, made from the same quilted material but in a longer style: both feature

full-length sleeves, a boxy silhouette and a hidden zip. Brooklyn-based Johnson set up her label in 1998, and is known for her folky prints, romantic ruffles and dedication to natural materials, from alpaca wool to crisp cotton poplin and printed silk. £565; ullajohnson.com

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PIONEER

A potent protagonist

Curator Paola Antonelli, whose deceptively simple aim is to make design’s power known to all Words / Alice Morby Image / Marton Perlaki

O

n 30 April 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic, Paola Antonelli and design critic Alice Rawsthorn created the Instagram handle @design.emergency. At a time of extreme uncertainty, the pair wanted to use the page to “explore design’s role in building a better future”.

Each week, they would invite pioneering individuals to tell their story, contributing to a wider conversation about the importance of design practice as a whole. Interviews have included medical illustrator Alissa Eckert, who helped to visualise the Covid-19 “spiky blob”, and more recently, Swiss artist Ursula Biemann, whose work aims to tackle the world’s ecological predicaments.

MoMA in the mid-1990s and now holds the role of senior curator of the institution’s architecture and design department. Her exhibitions have covered everything from sustainable materials, design and its relationship to violence, and the meaning of fashion and clothing. She’s even acquired video games for the museum, including Pac-Man and Tetris – which wasn’t without snark or remark from critics. Not that it bothered Antonelli; it’s all part of raising awareness of the design of everyday life.

Examining the role of the curator through Antonelli’s work feels in equal parts thrilling and settling. At the centre of an industry driven by commodity and luxury, she cashes in on design currency in places others perhaps didn’t know existed. She remains committed to making sure those who leave her shows, or watch her interviews, or simply scroll through her Twitter feed, feel they understand their own relationship with design.

Presenting projects that tackle the complex social, political, economic and ecological challenges faced by our contemporary world is what Antonelli does best; above all, though, her goal has been to make design known to the world. Trained as an architect in Milan, she joined

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