Habitus - Issue 37

#37 living in design

At home with architect and art collector John Wardle.

Marc Newson on global design.

Looking backwards, moving forward – the Nostalgia issue.

37 9 771836 055007 SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER | 2017 AUD$16.95 | NZ$16.95 | USD$17.95

#37 New concepts, creations, movements and forms of expression in the world of design.

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DESIGN NEWS Design can be practical, and design can be elaborate. Often it tends to be one or the other but there’s no reason it can’t be both. In our customary Design News pages, we’ve collated a selection of pieces that prove it.

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BOOK REvIEW Using three recent books as case studies, Sandra Tan explores concepts of nostalgia in architecture and design, our relationship with the past, and why we choose to dwell.

26 A warm invitation into the private homes of our contemporaries, join us as we learn how others lead their lives.

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JOHN WARDLE At home in Kew, Melbourne, architect John Wardle invites us into the house he has shared with his wife, Susan, for more than 25 years. Originally designed in 1951 by Horace Tribe, it has undergone two renovations since the Wardles took up residence.

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PENG LOH An unlikely insight into Singaporean raised and based – yet widely traveled – hotelier Peng Loh, and the nostalgic memories that inform his work and design decisions.

67 HOLLY RYAN A relatively recent move, jewellery designer and maker Holly Ryan’s new home along the banks of Brisbane is a dedicated mix of old and new. Much of her furniture pieces are orginal Mid-Century designs complimented by smaller ceramics and scultpural pieces she’s accquired over the years.

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HABITUS FAMILY ALBUM In the first edition of the Habitus Family Album, Stephen Todd has collected photographic evidence of pivotal moments in the lives of some of our favourite creatives from the region.

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PASSE COMPOSÉE Drawing inspiration from Patricia Urquiola, Felix Burrichter and their work for Cassina, we explore the concept of the past informing the future of design.

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MARC NEWSON As one of the world’s most celebrated designers, it’s fitting that Marc Newson sees design as a global industry. In an exceedingly rare glimpse into his private life, Stephen Todd is invited into the home he shares with wife Charlotte Stockdale and their two daughters.

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A place in which families are born, memories are made, and the future is found; explore with us these homes from accross the region.

114 COOGEE CASTLE Perched atop the dramatic cliffs of Australia’s Eastern Seaboard, a young family of five relax into a fresh interior scheme designed to aid them in the next phase of family life.

138 MT MARTHA HOUSE This beach front home in coastal Victoria spills down to the shore, both physically and visually. Yet it’s exactly the opposite of what you’d expect to see.

148 LIVING SCREEN HOUSE Memories were designed to be made in this North Bondi abode. The longtime residents of the area wanted a new home in which their young-adult offspring could live comfortably now and always return to.

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162 MANILA HOUSE In a city where space is a rare and coveted commodity, this modern take on a traditional Filipino home feels spacious and open.

178 GRACE HOUSE A home in Kew, Melbourne, initially designed in the 1980s by a well known and celebrated architect – to much industry acclaim – is sensitivley re-worked for its new owners.

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Frankie says Relax When Antoni Palleja was designing the WALLACE sofa for Carmenes, the brief was to create a sofa that was first and foremost extremely comfortable, without losing any innate elegance.

Somewhat reminiscent of 80s design, the solid form is loud and proud with exaggerated arms that can be toned up or down for different settings. Available from Ajar. ajar.com.au

Looking for a moment of pause? The VENA chair from Curious Grace could be the perfect solution. With a high backrest and sides, the design translates an intimate podlike shape into an elegant piece of furniture. Formed on a solid timber frame and available in a range of custom fabrics and colours. curiousgrace.com.au

The playful TRAMPOLĂ?N bench brings a little vibrancy to any waiting space. Designed by studio Cuatro Cuatros for Spanish retailer Missana, this three-seater exudes a jovial spirit in its twisted, Bauhaus-inspired form. The lightweight frame and removable seat and backrest help to create a seating alternative that can easily slip into any narrow hallway. missana.es

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Inspired by the majesty of Egypt and named after the Egyptian city Thebes, the THEBAN daybed from German brand E15, illustrates a perfect melding of strength and subtlety. Building on the founder’s strong understanding of architecture, this piece is a noble accompaniment to any poolside setting. livingedge.com.au

Finely crafted with a focal point on the arc form, the HALO range was designed by Laelie Berzon and Lisa Vincitorio of Something Beginning With. The designs carry a visual lightness complemented by their solid American oak and circular steel tube structures. somethingbeginningwith.com

Building on the wonderfully spirited collection of chairs CATIFA, designed by Lievore Altherr for Arper, Stylecraft is exhibiting six new colours to mix and match into their range. Now available in rose, petrol, yellow, ivory, dove grey and green, the new colours have been perfectly matched to compliment the existing collection with an expanding palette for the artistically minded. stylecraft.com.au

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A Touch of Greenery Fusing elements of a writing bureau, sideboard and cupboard, the S3 storage unit from Danish brand Andersen is the ideal amalgamation of beauty and utility.

Designed by byKATO and available from Danish Red, the directional geometric handles transform this unit into a salient expression of sleek European design. danishred.com.au

Revolutionising the art of music, while literally merging the two, the BEOSOUND SHAPE wireless speakers from Bang & Olufsen reinterprets a speaker system into a sculptural element of beauty. bang-olufsen.com

The CALA chair from designers Doshi Levien for Kettal, carves a graceful curve that perfectly compliments the organic form of the outdoor world. Latticed rope establishes a light airiness and spatial presence – helping the piece simultaneously stand out from and merge into its environment. ketall.com

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Australia’s design aesthetic, born somewhat from a place of isolation, is inspired from an extreme landscape and a resourceful approach to creation.

To celebrate this unique spirit, CULT has launched a locally focused brand NAU. Featuring a cast of Australia’s most brilliant designers from Adam Goodrum, Jack Flanagan, Adam Cornish and Gavin Harris, the collection pieces together a beautiful assembly of furniture, lighting and accessories. cult.com.au

The TWIN RANGE from Italian brand Flaminia, available from Parisi, cements the exceeding reputation of Italian craftsmanship. With fluid curves that compliment the movement of water, the selection of basins offer a welcome softening to the strict lines of the bathroom. parisi.com.au

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2 . portrait

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the luxury of time TexT Rachael BeRnstone | PhoTograPhy MaRnie hawson

Rachael Bernstone shares a rare glimpse into the private world of John Wardle, the celebrated Melbourne-based architect whose constant curiosity underpins a relentlessly inventive practice.

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or the most part, architect John Wardle is a forward thinker, a designer whose practices’ buildings – including the under-construction Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and the Melbourne School of Design – are shaped and crafted using the latest computeraided design technologies and innovative construction techniques.

In some ways though, John looks backwards and forwards, subconsciously, to advance and compress time. As founder and principal of John Wardle Architects (JWA), John maintains that good architecture needs sufficient time to percolate and evolve.

At JWA, there is a constant endeavor to expand time: ideas are given space to emerge; the client’s needs might change or become more readily understood; spatial outcomes and minute details are refined. “The design development stage can only benefit from an extended period of deliberation and consideration,” he notes. His own house in Kew, in Melbourne’s inner east, is an extreme example of the transmutations that can occur in the architect’s mind and a building over a prolonged timeframe.

Home to John and his wife Susan for more than 25 years, the house was originally

designed by Horace Tribe in 1951. Today, it’s almost unrecognisable as the building the Wardles purchased, having undergone two major renovations, most recently in 2000. At that time John was exploring “a fascination with a sense of enclosure”; a new wing was added to project the primary elevation outwards towards the street, partly to capture city views.

The resulting living room presents as a cross-section of the house. “All of the structure, internal finishes and furniture elements are capped by a single sheet of glass, which invites an understanding of the inner program,” says John.

Inside, the perimeter of this space is emphasised by articulated shelves and benches used for formal display, while a collection of contemporary furniture pieces – including a large sofa and iconic chairs such as the Fjord chair by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso and the Take a Line For a Walk armchair by Alfredo Häberli for Moroso – are arranged and rearranged to facilitate entertaining or relaxation modes. A grand piano takes centre stage: a house concert is being planned with an old friend, singersongwriter Rebecca Barnard, who will be joined by Monique diMattina.

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nostalgia

The Odyssey —

Marc Newson is Australia’s most well-known designer. Yet his peripatetic nature has led him far from these Fatal Shores.

TexT Stephen todd | phoTographY RichaRd Boll

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hat can I tell you about Marc Newson that you don’t already know? I can tell you he was once expelled from high school for dying his hair blue, red and silver. Maybe twice. I can tell you about that time in the late 80s when he drove me to a nightclub in his clunky Citroën DS 19. Backwards, through the darkened streets of Darlinghurst. I can tell you that when I proposed a Newson profile to my editor at The Australian in the early 1990s, she wanted my assurance that he wasn’t just a flash in the pan, another wide-eyed expat who would eventually fizzle into oblivion. He wasn’t and he didn’t, but you knew that already.

For anybody who’s spent the past three decades in a panic room, a recap. Marc Newson is one of the most prolific designers on the planet. He has devised luggage for Vuitton, cookware for Tefal, an aeroplane for the Cartier Foundation in Paris. He’s delivered a recording studio in Tokyo. A restaurant in London, two in New York, all three now defunct. Dish racks for Magis, ovens (Smeg), eyewear (Lanvin), sneakers (Nike), a shotgun for Beretta.

An updated Riva speedboat in very limited edition.

His 2007 exhibition at New York ’s Gagosian Gallery – which made Marc Newson the only industrial designer to figure in the same stable as Marcel Duchamp, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons – was described by The New York Times as “a new high” in the already frenzied design-art market. If you’re clever you can still spot a one-

off Newson door handle on what was once a fashion store on Oxford Street, Paddington, Sydney. Don’t say I sent you.

Marc’s latest creation is his third iteration of the cultish Atmos clock for Swiss timekeeper, Jaeger-LeCoultre.

The ultimate in geek chic, an Atmos is a torsion pendulum timepiece which derives its energy from changes in temperature and atmospheric pressure and can run for years without human intervention. It was invented in the early 17th century by a Dutchman by the name of Cornelis Drebbel who also, incidentally, built the world’s first navigable submarine – one of the few forms of motor transportation Marc hasn’t tackled. Watches and clocks he has a’plenty.

“Time,” he sighs. “It’s paradoxical really since I’ve designed so many timepieces, but the thing I would simply love to have more of is time. Not more time to do what I really love doing because in fact I’m already doing that. But today I’m having to do ten times more things in ten times less, um, time!”

In the weeks preceding our conversation, the 53-yearold designer Time magazine once listed among its 100 Most Influential People had been around the world – Milan, Tokyo, San Francisco, New York, Paris, Venice, Madrid and Geneva to be precise. When I finally get ahold of him, he’s just stepped back into his London studio which is housed in a red brick Edwardian building, a repurposed mail-sorting office ten minutes’ walk from Westminster Abby. “I’m back for a few days, which is about as much as I get to stay anywhere these days. It’s kind of non-stop.”

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nostalgia

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Building a Happy Home Architect Pat De Pont has designed a home for his brother and sister-in-law on family land full of memories.

Andrea Stevens discovers a house that embodies a 60-year site history and goes beyond the normal requirements of a three-bedroom home. text AndreA StevenS | photography Simon devitt

3 . on location

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