AUTUMN 2020 ONOFFICEMAGAZINE.COM
1O
#THE NOW ISSUE
A NEW WORLD Rocks and rovers: A Martian odyssey to the future
BEIGE REVOLUTION Reform Copenhagen dresses up Designers Remix’s airy HQ
FERMENTING FUTURES Natsai Audrey Chieza imagines a new material universe
SHAPE SHIFTERS Pearson Lloyd embraces agility in an Age of Uncertainty
Contents
Autumn 2020
OnGoing
26
21 ON OBJECT Rino Claessens’ ceramic stools
09 FROM THE EDITOR
Our Autumn Issue looks at what’s happening now
7
22 ONVIEW AORA’s online gallery
11 CONTRIBUTORS
92 COLUMN
The people who make this issue happen
Charlotte Fox Weber shares her thoughts on confinement
13 ON TREND
OnSite
What’s new in a changing world
16 ON LONDON Peter Murray on Covid’s legacy
38 SHOWROOM REMIX Putting a kitchen at its heart
19 ON TOPIC Pearson Lloyd on uncertainty
48 FACTORY RESET Two young designers from Kiev
rethink a Soviet-era building
“Living and working on Mars
48
would be about basic survival. It’s a very hostile environment”
OnTop
Profiles
57 TASTES AND TONES Various Associates’ interior
80 NATSAI AUDREY CHIEZA Meet the bio-designer known
for a Shenzhen restaurant
64 MILAN MIXER
88 DALE HARDIMAN
Visual Display’s theatrical store for Slowear features a bar
72 KEEP MOVING Vancouver’s Jaybird studio is tightly choreographed
for her work with bacteria dyes
Melbourne’s design leader
OnOff 94 PACKING MORE IN Ucon Acrobatics’ stylish backpacks reuse plastic bottles
Cover Story Image: Dmitrii Tsyrenshchikov
26 OF MARS AND MEN As three new spacecraft are
making their way towards the Red Planet, we examine the implications and possibilities for life and work on what could eventually prove to be our most distant workplace
98 ASMR AND MORE Japanese art studio Onesal’s
experimental films
105 DESIGN PRESCRIPTION Waterfrom Design’s wellbeing
store looks to past and future
110 WHAT'S ON YOUR DESK? Ruben Hughes tells us what he keeps to hand
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Autumn 2020
FROM THE EDITOR
The future is now
T
he Now Issue was initially inspired by the latest eyecatching designs and emerging trends we uncover during the annual buzz of Salone del Mobile. However, as we began working on this issue late 2019, and with coronavirus then posing various challenges for the design industry by spring 2020, we had to get creative and allow this issue to grow into something different than what we had set out to produce. While we hoped to create a design-heavy tome fit for Milan, it quickly became clear that our vision for this edition would have to take on a new meaning. When we launched our #DesignTogether campaign back in the midst of a nationwide lockdown, our aim was to unite the design industry during a time of growing uncertainty. In a similar spirit, the Now Issue hopes to bring the global creative community together through digital platforms and inspiring conversations, while also being a reminder of the resiliency of the human spirit through creativity in the age of coronavirus. A deep dive into the evolving trends shaping the industry, the themes we're exploring are also inspired by Twitter's cultural insights and trends as we uncover the fastest-growing conversations we're having now. We round up the industry's top macro-trends on page 13, from immersive entertainment and digital art to the agile workspaces helping us to create and make our mark, be it a podcast or a work of art. Thanks to a rise in creator platforms and flexible working, we now have more time for personal creative pursuits and are moving away from a culture of busy-
ness to one of pleasure. Continuing on page 22, a new type of digital gallery and workplace highlights why augmented reality continues to enter professional life and how this is helping artists break boundaries and innovate further. What would living and working on Mars look like? Is there life on the Red Planet? We attempt to answer these questions on page 26 as we escape the natural world into something more fantastical. With Mars having long exerted a fascination on humankind, we ask whether the fantasies we project on to it can live up to our expectations. As extreme weather like wildfires, and Covid-19 highlight the severity of climate change and ultimately nature's fragility, our focus on everyday wonder continues on page 98. An exploration of tactile textures found in nature and other-worldly landscapes, the photo essay celebrates the awe-inspiring beauty of the natural world, which after months of being confined to our homes, we perhaps appreciate more now than we have before. Elsewhere, we review fresh hospitality concepts (p64) and we also highlight the female forces, working in traditionally male-dominated industries, who champion holistic innovation and sustainability (p80). Likewise, both our workwear and wellbeing pages focus on the wellbeing of the planet and the self - think sustainable materials and rituals that favour wholebody health and honour ancient practices (p105). This issue is, much like the spirit we have witnessed recently, one of togetherness, kindness and hope. We might be apart in distance but are always together in the heart.
“The Now Issue is
a deep dive into
the evolving trends
shaping the industry"
Jessica-Christin Hametner jessica.hametner@onofficemagazine.com @onofficemag @jessica_christinh
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Autumn 2020
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Contributors
1
4
7
Dominic Lutyens (1) is
Sonia Zhuravlyova (2) writes
Ming Yang (3) is a freelance
a London-based design
about architecture and design for
writer and sustainability,
journalist who writes for BBC
titles such as Monocle and Dwell
fashion and design lover, based
Designed and The Financial
and has co-authored a book on
in London and Beijing. She
Times.
the history of post-war prefabs. 2
3
graduated from the LSE.
Alia Akkam (4)lives in Budapest.
Sheena Isokariari (5) is
Mandi Keighran (6) is a
Akkam is the author of the
a born and bred London
London-based freelance
forthcoming book Behind the Bar:
freelance content and
writer, editor and copywriter,
50 Cocktail Recipes From the
copywriter,.focusing on
specialising in design, travel
World's Most Iconic Hotels.
fashion, beauty and lifestyle.
5
6
and food.
Jan Henderson (7) is acting
Ting Jui Brook Lin (8) is a
editor of Indesign magazine,
London/Taipei based architect,
Dancing in the No Fly Zone, based
was previously editor
writer and film maker. Her
between Vancouver and London, She
at Architel.tv and inside, and
work has featured in N.A.W,
writes about architecture, culture
supports and contributes to
the Architectural Journal and
Australian design.
8
ArchFilmFest London.
Hadani Ditmars (9) is the author of
9
and politics, and is currently writing a travelogue of ancient sites in Iraq.
Autumn 2020
OnTrend
OnGoing
FURNITURE
Edition 2020 for Artefacto by Patricia Anastassiadis
Image: Salavdor Cordaro
When Brazilian architect and designer Patricia Anastassiadis introduced her third eponymous collection for Miami-based brand Artefacto earlier this year, she explored the sculptural forms of art to uncover what is truly at the root of her design DNA. Employing sleek shapes and abstract human forms, Anastassiadis’ latest launch comprises a range of tables, sofas and a chaise lounge. To create the superlative volumes, three complementing inclinations served as the initial inspiration: Japan-ness, evoking the serene simplicity of Japanese minimalism; Food for Thought, reconnecting us to our ancestral origins; and Arp, which pays tribute to the curious mind of FrenchGerman artist Jean Arp. Inspired by Arp’s abstract paintings and forms, Anastassiadis’ ergonomic pieces transport us to a simpler world, free from the artificialities of industrialised civilisation, and ultimately back to our roots to find meaning. artefacto.com
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Autumn 2020
OnTrend
OnGoing
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ART
Art of Bloom by Intertrend and Daikoku Design Institute In the growing field of immersive design, VR and other blended realities have provided ample opportunity to escape the real world into something more fanciful. Allowing artists to break away from traditional norms and embrace cutting-edge innovation, experiential installations, such as Art of Bloom, dreamt up by creative agency Intertrend and design firm Daikoku Design Institute, will thrive in a post-pandemic world. We expect to see a blend of both digital elements – art and design created specifically for the digital realm – coupled with physical interactions that offer unique, social-distanced visitor experiences, including bespoke products and botanical-inspired happy hours to awaken the senses and experience art in a new way. intertrend.com
RETAIL
Public Trade by Public Hotel Set in New York’s swish Public Hotel, Public Trade turns the hotel experience on its head with the launch of an immersive retail concept developed by Tania Schrager and Yelin Song. Founded on the hotel’s premise ‘luxury is for all’, Trade sees the boutique hotel streamlining its shopping experience by embracing current retail trends, which emphasise shareability. From Public-branded merchandise to tech-savvy goods, Trade offers a carefully curated selection of products to appeal to its hip millennial crowd. publichotels.com
DESIGN
Images: Brandon Shigeta, Public Hotel, Miyao Design
Gallery Gif by Miyao Design Studio As working from home is rapidly becoming the ‘new normal’, a growing number of people will have more time to pursue their creative pursuits in a postpandemic world. From digital art to podcasts, ‘what we are creating’ has never been a more popular topic of discussion than now. At Vladivostok-dwelling Gallery Gif, a hybrid showroom-cum-gallery, retail and exhibition spaces combine in one unique expanse to display a wide range of work that represents the culmination of various forms of creative endeavour. Attracting an artistic community in search of design discoveries and emerging talent alike, we expect flexible spaces to flourish, the kind that push ingenuity to the forefront and confidently rewrite the work playbook altogether. miyao.ru
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Autumn 2020
OnGoing
PETER MURRAY ON LONDON
The way we live now Not for the first time, crisis is changing the shape of London illustration by sam varghese
I
n 1665 London had the Great Plague. Then in 1666, it had the Great Fire. In 2017 the capital was shocked by the Grenfell Tower fire. In 2020 it faces up to the Covid-19 pandemic. During the plague, nearly 70,000 Londoners died – a whopping 15% of the population. Charles II and his courtiers self-excluded by moving to Hampton Court while local parishes provided food for those left in the city. The poor and needy bore the brunt of it. All trade with London was stopped and the Scottish border was closed. Fairs were stopped and unemployment rocketed. Sound familiar? Remarkably few people died in the Great Fire, but in the aftermath, there was a radical change in the way that new buildings were constructed. The Rebuilding of London Act came into force in 1667 and the role of district surveyor was created to enforce the new regulations. Following the Grenfell Fire, the Hackitt Report and the public inquiry, the way we build will once again be radically changed. It’s too soon to accurately predict what the long-term impact of Covid-19 will be. We are clearly in for a pretty rocky time for the economy but there will also be repercussions that will affect the way we live, how we design cities, deal with globalisation and wellbeing. We probably will all become germaphobes, but will our children be more susceptible to infections if they are brought up in germ-free environments? Will we stop travelling as much? Just in the short period we have been social distancing everyone’s skills at video conferencing and using digital communications have increased exponentially. We don’t know yet what the full implications of the Moore-Bick inquiry are into the Grenfell fire, but the evidence given so far presents a damning picture of the construction industry and the levels of competence within it. The changes to the Building Regulations promised by the government will certainly alter the way contracts
are managed. After the Great Fire, instead of the timber construction that fuelled the flames, all buildings would be in brick with windows and parapets to reduce the spread of the conflagration. Four sizes of houses were specified in the Rebuilding Act – the larger were restricted to four storeys in height whereas before the fire they might have been six. Ordinary streets and alleys contained two smaller types, limited to three storeys. Thus, the scale, the density and the look of the city changed dramatically. It has shaped London for the next couple of centuries. Although the safety of tall buildings has been called into question a number of times in recent years, most notably after 9/11 and Grenfell, this has done little to stop their construction and the increase in towers on the London skyline continues unabated. The spread of plague and viruses happens in places where large numbers of people are in close proximity to each other. In that way, they threaten the very idea of the city, which thrives on social interaction rather than social distancing. The unhealthy nature of the Victorian city led to the ideas of Ebenezer Howard. He believed that the overcrowding and deterioration of cities was one of the most troubling issues of his time. His ‘garden city’ concept combined the town and country in order to provide the working class with an alternative to working in cities. Similar thinking drove the spread of suburbia. Ever since 2000, the London Plan has been based on the idea of densifying the city and containing suburban sprawl. Will that change in the future? Some will desert the city, but like the merchants of the Square Mile who rebuilt their premises on the same plots of land that they had before the fire, rather than wait for a new masterplan to be drawn up, we will do little to change the form of the city. But we will change the way we use it.
“There will also be
repercussions that will affect how we design cities”
How will Covid-19 change city life?
@PGSMurray & @onofficemag
Image: Sam Varghese for United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives, Unsplash
OnGoing
Autumn 2020
Make possible Agility in the age of uncertainty
by luke pearson and tom lloyd of pearson lloyd
I
n April, and the early weeks of the crisis, we wrote for onofficemagazine.com about ‘make shift’ – the instinct we have to improvise in the face of adversity and how new habits and rituals emerged in response to the shock of Covid-19. Three months later, instability continues to hold. Regardless of second or third waves of infection, we are still in the earliest phases of our new world and the economic and social impact of the crisis is barely understood. Key elements of our social fabric that are the foundations of society, such as the need to meet and share and congregate seem under existential threat. In discussion with clients, friends and colleagues, we realise that what we used to call the future, a place where society does not really know how things will be, is perhaps no more than six months away. Even our short-term futures therefore remain unclear. So how can we learn to live and thrive in a new age of uncertainty? Chaos theory has long been used to understand and map not only the complex patterns of the natural world, but also diverse subjects such as road traffic patterns, and now the progress and outcomes of the pandemic itself. Research connecting chaos theory to modes of working may reinforce the relevance of agile thinking in how we might address the challenges that surround us. So, is it possible to acknowledge and embrace the unpredictability and endemic
nature of change and learn to benefit from it? To engage in the idea that we cannot know the future and understand that this may actually enhance our creativity? What can we learn from jazz? It is built on the premise of improvisation layered over structure in the search for different grades of harmonic, where there is a confidence to experiment and not know the answers. Great jazz music thrives within a mode that values both ambiguity and uncertainty. With the paradoxical guarantee of ‘black swan’ events such as Covid-19, we know that the path of history is both non-linear and unknown. Perhaps right now, the best way to view the world, to solve problems, to plan our future and respond to our new reality is less about experience and more about the ability to think freely and respond to change. Design has always been a risk-rich enterprise. We observe and identify both opportunities and challenges to model possible futures. At its best design thinking is a process of continual learning, reimagining and reframing the world at both micro and macro scales. Like great conversation, design thinking also benefits from the gathering of many voices in the development of an idea or proposition. So right now, we can only work together, embracing uncertainty, sure in the knowledge that no one has the answer but together – through the process of design – we can help shape the future.
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OnGoing
Autumn 2020
ON OBJECT
Image: Pierre Castignola
Break the mould Eindhoven-based designer Rino Claessens’ Scraped Earth project explores the problems and possibilities of ceramics. Following Claessens’ study of traditional ceramic production, the designer uncovered how its applications were limited to a certain size. This discovery influenced all of his ensuing work and ultimately led him to conceive his larger-than-life creations: five ceramic stoneware stools that expand the limits of size and material alike. Crafted using unconventional techniques by slip-casting and scraping clay around a foam mould, each stool comes in the colour of the material used to create it. Elevating everyday experiences, Claessens’ designs closely entwine the mind and body through the sensual tactility of ceramics. rinoclaessens.com
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Onview headline Digital native Incepted in one world, born into another, online gallery AORA carves out a space for connection and calm where we need it the most words by: sarah forman
i m a g e s b y : ao r a s pac e
OnView
Autumn 2020
AORA’s virtual exhibition rooms offer a familiar space,
Images: AORA/EBBA Architects, Ioana Lupascu, Marc Corfield-Moore, Gabriela Giroletti
displaying each piece of art within its own virtual alcove
I
n the heart of ancient Rome lies a palace buried beneath the ground, an incomplete architectural feat built by Emperor Nero that was stripped of its jewels, marble and ivory veneers not long after his death. Filled with earth, the Domus Aurea remained hidden until the 15th century, where at the birth of the Renaissance it was rediscovered, becoming a site of study for artists like Raphael and Michelangelo. This recovery, this wellspring of cultural production, was an important source of inspiration for these painters and sculptors, and nearly 600 years later it remains so for the digital pioneers behind AORA. Founded by curator Jenn Ellis and architect Benni Allan, AORA is an online gallery and interactive platform designed to bring together art, architecture and music to further a sense of calm and wellbeing, a need
institutions have been desperately trying to cater to since the outbreak of Covid-19. Years in the making, the idea for the space came from the realisation that while hospitals are often filled with artwork, rarely is it displayed in patient rooms, instead found in hallways and waiting areas. Ample research suggests that exposure to visual art and music has the capacity to reduce the length of a patient’s hospitalisation, with one Oxford study finding they can decrease levels of depression and curtail perceptions of pain. With this in mind, AORA has been a slowcooking labour of love for the long-time collaborators who found that as the UK and Europe began to slow down in March it was time for them to ramp up for their release. In mid-June, they launched their first exhibition showcasing 14 artists from around the world, each room accompanied by a piece of
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Autumn 2020
OnView
“AORA and its programming offer a sense of connection you might not find in a major museum or commercial gallery”
N itrous Flame, by Mark CorfieldMoore (2019), uses ikat textile in an echo of 17th century firework prints
A t The Foot of the Mountain, by Gabriela Giroletti (2018)
music selected for the show, accessible to anyone with an internet connection. “This idea of breaking down barriers is really important,” Allen explains when discussing the genesis of the gallery. “We’re really passionate about making this a world that is going to be seen and experienced by a lot more people and hopefully improve people’s lives through using it.” The three exhibition rooms themselves are disorienting yet familiar, each work within a perfectly lit alcove that creates an intimacy with the art no museum invigilator would allow for. Drawing inspiration from famous sites like the Domus Aurea and artists like James Turrell, it takes elements of well-known and varied architectural forms to complete something completely new, a digitally native invention derived from, and for, the world we live in. Information about each piece and the artist are available with a simple click, but the choice to read or simply experience is yours to make. “We don’t want anyone to feel intimidated,” Ellis reiterates, emphasising the importance of discovery and decision-making for visitors. In a world where many of us have been forced to connect with loved ones and the workplace through a screen, we may be feeling the digital drain that comes with moving life online. But what AORA is doing feels different in practice and effect. Its monthly Exchange events include Zoom panels with artists, cooking classes with professional chefs inspired by the work on view and movement courses modelled after pieces in the exhibition. In a ‘room’ full of strangers, the gallery and its programming offer a sense of connection you might not find in a major museum or commercial gallery, in a world designed for wellbeing found at the intersection of art and architecture.
SPACE
STATION
ON
words by by dominic lutyens
WORK
Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ. Right and below: NASA/JPLCaltech/University of Arizona, NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona, Alfred McEwen
28 Cover Story Autumn 2020
Cover Story
Autumn 2020
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Sedimentary bedrock within Becquerel crater on Mars
As spacecraft travel towards Mars, our obsession with the Red Planet has once again taken off. But what would be the reality of living – and working – there?
images by nasa
M
The Nili Fossae region is one of the most colorful of Mars
ars has long exerted a fascination on humankind even though the planet and fantasies we project on to it frequently fail to live up to our expectations. For centuries, astronomers, writers and rock stars alike have posed the red-hot question: is there life on the Red Planet (so-called because of the iron oxide on its surface that gives it a dramatic reddish glow)? There’s a rational basis to this line of enquiry, which perhaps explains why it is perennially intriguing: evidence of dried-out rivers and lakes on Mars’s mountainous surface suggest that it could be the only planet in the solar system, aside from Earth, to harbour intelligent life, although this remains frustratingly unproven. “Mars is very much in the air,” says Justin McGuirk, curator of Moving to Mars, an exhibition held at London’s Design Museum earlier this year. “There’s a cyclical interest in Mars – the last cycle being in the 1970s.” Yet the odds against populating Mars are extremely high, he stresses. “Living and working on Mars would be about basic survival,” he acknowledges. “It’s a very hostile, cold environment for humans. People like Elon Musk talk about a mass migration to Mars from Earth, but our exhibition wasn’t advocating this: we didn’t propose Mars as Planet B. We see it like a scientific research expedition to the Antarctic involving a small group of people.”
Cover Story
Interviewed in the exhibition catalogue, Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the 1990s sci-fi trilogy, Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars, concurs: “There’s nothing on Mars we can bring back that we don’t already have here… Really, it’s about scientific research. NASA will likely team up with other national space programmes some day and land scientists on Mars. At that point it will be like Antarctica – a research site where scientists and support workers arrive, work for a couple of years, then return to Earth.” Life on Mars would therefore be inextricably linked to work. “Lots of things have to be overcome on Mars,” says astronomer and writer, Stephen James O’Meara, author of new book Mars, published by Reaktion Books. “There are extreme swings in temperature – from as much as 70°F during the day to -150°F at night at the equator and much colder elsewhere. The average surface temperature on Mars is 57°F to -80°F.” Compared with Earth, Mars has a thin, low-pressure atmosphere that prevents liquid water from existing over large regions for extended periods. Unlike on Earth, there is no evidence that Mars has a structured global magnetic field that would shield it from harmful radiation from the Sun, although it does have localised pockets of magnetised fields. “You get up to 700 times more radiation on Mars than on Earth,” continues O’Meara. “There’s also almost no oxygen on Mars.” “There is no life on Mars that isn’t thoroughly sealed off,” says McGuirk. “Astronauts don’t feel wind in their faces or soil on their fingers. Their environments are thoroughly mediated and designed. Their hermetic habitations will need to recycle as much as possible and reduce waste.” Almost by default, Mars is a place where humankind could test ideas about sustainability. Yet, for better or worse, the obsession with investigating and colonising Mars is skyrocketing – never mind that it is 34 million miles from Earth when the two planets are nearest to each other and that the journey takes about seven months. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are developing the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, intended as the main crew vehicle for potential flights to Mars. This summer, the US and, for the first time, the United Arab Emirates and China propelled spacecraft to Mars. The US’s Perseverance rover incorporates devices for examining Martian soil for signs of microbe-like life. One reason for the continued interest in Mars is that inhabiting it is becoming more feasible. Another is that eminent scientists and engineers argue that is a necessity for humankind to colonise Mars – and so become a multiplanetary species – to ensure its survival. In 2017, at the Starmus astronomy and space exploration festival, Stephen Hawking pronounced apocalyptically that the human race would need to start colonising Mars and the Moon within 30 years to avoid being wiped out by overpopulation, climate change or an asteroid hitting Earth. Next year, the festival will celebrate the exploration of Mars to mark the 50th anniversary of the first soft landing on the Red Planet by Soviet robotic space probe Mars 3 in 1971. Meanwhile, a possibly highly optimistic Musk argues that humankind must colonise Mars to reduce the risk of its extinction. His California-based venture SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transportation
Autumn 2020
Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona, Candy Hansen. Right and below: NASA
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Sharp ridges, formed by wind erosion, are common on Mars
Sketch of Skylab, the first US space station, drawn in 1966
Images: Raeburn, Alastair Strong. Right and below: Ed Reeve, NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Cover Story
Autumn 2020
services company, aims to establish a city on Mars that will accommodate one million people. SpaceX is building its reusable Starship spacecraft, which will eventually be capable of transporting up to 100 people around the solar system. Each Starship will measure 9m in diameter and have an unusually large and sophisticated interior. It will contain 40 cabins, each with a window, electricity and connection to an intranet. Design was the main focus of Moving to Mars, which exhibited over 150 objects relating to the age-old cult of the Red Planet. It displayed early maps of Mars by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli created in the 1870s; sci-fi movies and novels, a prototype of the Rosalind Franklin rover, part of the international ExoMars programme led by ESA and the Russian Roscosmos State Corporation, scheduled to launch in 2022; state-of-the-art spacesuits; fashion designer Christopher Raeburn’s New Horizons collection made of repurposed solar blankets and parachutes – a make-do-and-mend approach suited to the reality of limited resources on Mars – and a hydroponic system for growing food in water containing added nutrients rather than in soil. Raeburn’s New Horizons collection was developed with London-based architect Hassell. The clothing is printed with images from Hassell’s Mars Habitat project, designed for NASA’s 2018 international 3D-Printed Habitat challenge. This competition invited architects to design a sustainable shelter for a crew of four astronauts, made of materials found on Mars and constructed using 3D printing. “In collaboration with structural engineers Eckersley O’Callaghan, we set out to design the perfect habitat for explorers on the Red Planet,” explains Xavier De Kestelier, one of its designers. Mars’s harsh conditions have led many to conclude that it is best to build dwellings for astronauts before they arrive on the planet – an approach reliant on the use of autonomous robots already placed on Mars. Another reason for this approach is that transporting prefabricated buildings from Earth to Mars would be prohibitively expensive, increasing fuel costs. “Mars Habitat’s robots would use loose rocks and dust found on Mars’s surface, called ‘regolith’, as a building material which would be 3D printed and bonded using microwave technology,” elaborates De Kestelier. “The robots then layer this to form a huge outdoor shell about 1.5m thick with several entrances and a central
“We didn’t want the clean-cut plasticky look in sci-fi movies. The floor is made of bamboo”
Self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover
Raeburn clothes are printed with images from Hassell’s project
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courtyard that draws indirect light inside while protecting the astronauts from deadly radiation. Under the shell would be interconnected inflatable pods with pressurised interiors to cope with the atmosphere outside. Spherical forms and curved interiors are best suited to this.” Another high-profile project constructed by robots using 3D-printed regolith is Foster + Partners’ Lunar Habitation, a lunar base for four astronauts, conceived for ESA in 2012. This would incorporate artificial skylights, computer workstations, hydroponic planters and a communal lounge. “Ultimately, our aim was to bring a more human element to space design – to go beyond ticking the boxes of safety and survival,” says De Kestelier. “We wanted to create a home away from home where astronauts can carry out the most important work in space exploration to date. Mars Habitat’s interior is tactile with curvy forms – we didn’t want the clean-cut, plasticky look you get in sci-fi movies. The floor is made of bamboo.” Space habitats were often designed by engineers rather
Autumn 2020
than architects and designers, he points out. “One exception is industrial designer Raymond Loewy who consulted on the plans for Skylab, America’s first space station, and made design recommendations to NASA from 1967 to 1973. He is best remembered for insisting that Skylab have windows. In the original design, the engineers thought them unnecessary but they ended up being the favourite spot for the astronauts to hang out.” Gianfranco Visentin, head of the Automation and Robotics Section at ESA, brings up other challenges involved with exploring Mars: “It’s very expensive – the journey there consumes huge amounts of fuel. And all work would have to be done by day because of extremely cold temperatures at night.” However, he notes that older people there would remain mobile longer due to Mars’ reduced surface gravity (about 38% of the gravity on Earth). Could this mean a later retirement age for Mars-based astronauts?” The Moving to Mars show demonstrated that people have historically vacillated between seeing the planet in a romantic or menacing light. In ancient times, Mars,
Foster + Partners' Mars Habitat
Steep slopes on Mars have active
explores extra-terrestrial habitats
landslides as shown here
Cover Story
Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona. Left and below: Robotics, Foster + Partners
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Images: Felix Speller. Top: Raeburn, Alastair Strong
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Autumn 2020
Bedroom in Hassell’s 3D-printed
Raeburn's New Horizons
Mars Habitat project for NASA
collection
named after the ancient Roman god of war, was regarded by many as sinister; some believed it was a place our spirits departed to after we died. But this perception was dispelled by scientific discoveries made during the Age of Enlightenment. In the 18th century, when GermanBritish astronomer William Herschel trained his telescope on Mars, he believed he detected seasons and seas. In 1877, Schiaparelli observed a network of lines on Mars which he called “canali”, meaning naturally formed channels. Mistranslated as (artificial) canals, this gave rise to a belief in the existence of Martians, a term that appeared in print for the first time the same year. The idea gained wider credence thanks to US astronomer and mathematician Percival Lowell, who zealously promoted this theory. Offsetting this rose-tinted view was HG Wells’ dystopian 1890s novel, The War of the Worlds, which imagines Martians invading Earth since resources on their planet were dwindling. By contrast, US writer Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote a series of romantic adventure stories in the 1910s set on Mars, kicking off with Under the Moons of Mars. His superhero, John Carter, gained superior strength and agility from the lesser gravity on Mars and fell in love with a Martian princess. In the space-age 1960s, technology made it possible for humans to observe the planet at close quarters: in 1964, NASA’s Mariner 4 spacecraft undertook the first successful fly-by exploration, zapping the first close-up photographs back to Earth. In 1976, NASA’s two Viking space probes mapped vast tracts of the Martian surface, observing that floods once carved deep river valleys and charting weather patterns. But experiments to detect signs of living organisms in soil samples proved fruitless. Yet conjecture about life on Mars thrilled many in the 1970s. David Bowie’s song Life on Mars from his 1971 album Hunky Dory yearningly asks: “Is there life on Mars?”, its sense of mystery accentuated by its surreal lyrics. The following year, Bowie adopted the persona of Ziggy Stardust – a fictional, androgynous rock star who acts as a messenger for extra-terrestrials, while his backing singers were called the Spiders from Mars. Futuristic visions of Mars dreamt up in the past aren’t totally irrelevant today, argues Stephen James O’Meara. “It will be important for dwellings on Mars to be space-saving. Beds that automatically fold up like the ones in cartoon The Jetsons have a place there.” Otherwise, he sees Martian dwellings resembling “a pie chart”: “They would be sliced into offices, laboratories, tool sheds, rover garages.” “Architects are also exploring greenhouse ideas, like biodomes [dome-shaped structures enclosing eco systems],” he adds. “Plants generate oxygen which helps scrub out high CO2 levels on Mars. Interiors need to be soothing, pleasing to the eye. They need to cut out angles to minimise accidents and conserve precious medical supplies. And it will be important to take into account cultural differences on Mars – should there be minimalist Japanese rooms not just cluttered British interiors? Psychology is an important consideration, too: astronauts work as a team so hierarchical, rectangular tables should be avoided in favour of democratic, round, Arthurian ones.”
Designers Remix founder Charlotte Eskildsen in the showroom kitchen created with Reform
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Pale lilac lounge chairs by Normann Copenhagen are accompanied by a cream-coloured side table by &Tradition
True colours Sustainable mindsets unite Danish fashion label Designers Remix and the Reform brand to create this newly redesigned Copenhagen-based showroom words by
images by
pau l s e p h to n
reform copenhagen
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hen the Danes experienced something of a renaissance in clothing design in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Charlotte Eskildsen’s founding of Designers Remix stood out, both for its iconic silhouettes and use of deadstock fabric; essentially, creating pieces entirely from offcuts and textiles destined for landfill. Since then, creative director Eskildsen has risen to be one of the country’s most eminent design forces, with pieces and collections that shine a light on the region’s signature contemporary styles. Most renowned though, is the label’s unmistakable association with high-quality design and sustainability, striking a balance between modernism and functionality. Which is why when seeking a collaborative partner to redesign the brand’s showroom in Copenhagen, Eskildsen naturally turned to custom-made carpentry brand Reform.
In the six years since its founding, the Danish brand has made waves through its architect-designed custom kitchen designs that focus on democratising great design and bringing people together through these spaces. Founded by Jeppe Christensen and Michael Andersen, the duo has been pioneering kitchen concepts as meeting hubs outside the home in new and non-traditional settings. As such, this isn’t the brand’s first fashion collaboration, having worked on the headquarters for designer Stine Goya back in 2018. The resulting brass and gold kitchen reflected Goya’s love of the colours, and Reform’s latest work with Designers Remix is equally expressive. Though it might seem strange for a fashion house to have placed so much focus on a kitchen, this is part of the reason that Reform was drawn to the project. “Kitchens are such a central part of most homes, and there is an increasing tendency for
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The warm tones of the kitchen complement the crisp white spaces of the showroom
“Designers Remix stood out, both for its iconic silhouettes and use of deadstock fabric”
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The duo paired shades of beige and blush in a “playful, puzzle-like way” that reflects the brand’s aesthetic
In Reform’s bathroom, nude-toned walls are offset against a clean white basin and surface
kitchens to become more like a piece of furniture than just a room for cooking. It’s interesting to explore the capacities of how and where to use them,” says Christensen. “Every fashion designer has their own design ethos, aesthetic and personal touch and when incorporating elements of that into the process of building a space there will always be a level of recognisability, even though the clothing is changing with each season,” he says. With Designers Remix, that ethos is one of beautiful modernism meeting functionality, and the new showroom is a perfect reflection of that balance. Set in the heart of Copenhagen’s inner city, on Toldbodgade, the head office and showroom sits a stone’s throw from the iconic Amalienborg, home to the Danish royal family. Inside the showroom, white walls cleanly frame the large, open space, creating a gallery-like setting and blank canvas on which to showcase new collections, while also allowing the Reform kitchen centrepiece to immediately capture one’s attention. In stark contrast to the crispness of the room, the kitchen is striking in presence, with a soft femininity, designed like a make-up palette of nudes. “I was very inspired by shades of beige and blush. To me, these are the colours of sustainability, the true colours of nature as seen in wood and untreated materials,” says Eskildsen. “I’ve used the shades of these colours in a playful, puzzlelike way and it really makes the kitchen stand out and become an important and central statement piece in the showroom.”
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The white walls and palette of soft tints have been used to create a consistent yet flexible look
“It is in the crossfire between functionality and aesthetics that interesting design pieces are created” With sustainability playing such a central role in everything the brand does, it was essential for this to manifest itself across the showroom in all aspects, as Eskildsen set out to create a coherent and contemporary universe where everything tells a story about Designers Remix. “I work with aesthetics and design every day, and I enjoy being in an environment that is visually inspiring. At the same time, I believe that there is a link between good and functional design. Functionality doesn’t have
to be at the cost of beauty, and it is in the crossfire between functionality and aesthetics that interesting design pieces are created,” says Eskildsen. Perhaps it is this unspoken mutual understanding that has historically created such a prolific culture of collaboration among the Danish design community. “What’s interesting about working with other Danish brands is that we often have similar values and share a progressive, modern drive with our love for the timeless
style of the classic, mid-century modern Scandinavian designers,” says Andersen. Strengthening the thread of Danish design throughout the space, pieces show up in the form of pale-lilac lounge chairs by Normann Copenhagen and eggshell cream side tables from &Tradition. Most interesting though, is a peach-coloured marble table, complementing Reform’s kitchen. “I designed and upcycled the marble table together with our architect,” explained Eskildsen, after being particularly
A luxurious peach-coloured marble table, upcycled by Eskildsen, echoes the shades used in the kitchen
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attracted to the idea of giving new life to the old and using marble plates by combining them with heavy concrete table legs. “I think that the contrast between the raw concrete and elegant marble plates is very interesting. We carefully selected the marble plates in shades of nude and blush, which matches the Reform elements and ensures consistency throughout the showroom,” she says. Also in stark contrast to the rest of the showroom is the nude-toned bathroom, visibly framed through a doorway, and another piece of Reform’s work in the new space. Designed to feel powder coated, like a woman’s powder room, the sustainable palette is contrasted with a white sink and other light finishes that add a contemporary chicness to the space. In the new Designers Remix showroom, Eskildsen has created a reflection of everything core to the brand and its identity, with a space that is timeless, functional and celebrating modern Danish design. Central to this synergy of functionality and aesthetics is the collaboration with Reform, a shining example in Danish design of the creative output that can be achieved when sustainable mindsets come together to engineer a space that can truly stand the test of time.
A warm colour palette
White walls and neutral flooring create
and curated objects
a gallery-style space that emphasises
dominate the kitchen
the brand’s fashion ensembles
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FACTORY FRESH Designers Artem Trigubchak and Lera Brumina have transformed a Soviet-era concrete factory in Ukraine for a new age
words by s o n i a z h u r av lyova
images by dmitrii tsyrenshchikov
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The finishes make reference to the nature of the materials company
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Soft colours and polished flooring contrast with the industrial look
oviet-era modernist architecture remains a polarising topic in Ukraine. To some, it is a hulking reminder of an unwelcome period in the country’s history; to others, its sharp, futuristic angles are a curiosity and a source of aesthetic pleasure. Many libraries, concert halls and markets still dot the country, but often they have fallen into disrepair or been lost to new development. Not so at the Kovalska concrete factory in the industrial neighbourhood of Obolon in Kiev, which was built between 1976 and 1978. A stout structure, its facade sports a grand neorealist mosaic depicting the young proletariat hard at work building the future. Luckily, despite being the country’s biggest manufacturer of building materials and a leading property developer (more than 70% of projects in the Ukrainian capital have been constructed using its reinforced concrete), Kovalska has a healthy respect for preserving Ukraine’s architectural heritage. “We live in a modern world, surrounded by high-rise buildings, bridges and highways. However, there are hundreds of unique buildings, parks and squares that keep the memory of the past,” said Sergey Pylypenko, CEO of Kovalska, recently. “While building Ukrainian cities, we try to keep a generational bridge by involving the practices of developed countries and skilled specialists to find optimal solutions.” To help bring the sales department at the factory into the 21st century, Kovalska hired up-and-coming Kiev-based designers Artem Trigubchak and Lera Brumina to give the interiors a much-needed refresh. They gutted the space and created a sharp, contemporary set-up that neatly references the nature of the company through their choice of materials and industrial textures. The project took an unexpected turn when the client decided that apart from a new sales floor, it would like to add a second floor for an administrative department, enlarging the space to 1,120sq m to accommodate 72 people. But the young designers weren’t phased by the project’s expansion.
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A bespoke round table in dark green adorns the meeting room
The base of the sofa and coffee table is made from paving stones
“We tend to split our work 50/50,” explains Brumina. “It’s quite intuitive; it quickly becomes clear who will take on which job. If there’s a meeting with 10 male engineers, maybe it’s better for Artem to lead the conversation; when it’s something that plays more to my strengths then I take on that. It’s a very collaborative way of working.” Despite the client being a well-established and conservative organisation, the pair – who normally work solo but partner up for bigger projects – managed to find subtly playful solutions to elevate the space. “Since our client is one of the leading manufacturers of concrete and other building materials, we used a large number of their products,” says Brumina. “For example, the partition in the waiting area is assembled from concrete floor slabs, and the base for the sofa and coffee table is made from paving stones. When we got to the factory to measure the space, we saw these bits of concrete and said, ‘Oh we’ll take it – it’s cool!’” The client gave an open brief, which the designers were free to interpret. The only specification was that some people had to sit close to others. “They were very easy to work with and accepted all of our design suggestions,” says Brumina, who enjoyed playing around with industrial finishes and textures during the design process. “In some places, we used sand and marble chips for the wall finishes. All of these materials have a rough texture, so we chose polished stainless steel and polycarbonate to create contrasting surfaces.” The various mixtures for the bespoke terrazzo flooring were specially developed by Kovalska itself. “We had lots of different samples – it was all an experiment that we produced together with the company,” says Brumina. “They really liked that we wanted to work together on this.” Brumina admits that the plentiful use of concrete has rendered the space a little cold. To mitigate this, the designers created custom lighting for the main sales floor. “We were making prototypes and every time we
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A Soviet-era neorealist mosaic, dating from the 1970s when the factory was built, marks the entrance
“The material is not precious in any way. But for us it’s an interesting element from the past”
brought a new one everyone thought we were wasting our time, because why not buy readymade lights? But lamps are usually too bright – they are not very atmospheric,” she explains. “What we wanted was not a clinical space but something softer and cosier. Not the whole lamp lights up – just a central strip and the light is defused throughout the lamp, creating a much more comfortable, and soft atmosphere.” To add warmth, the pair introduced soft shades of pink, light blue and pistachio to the walls and ceilings and designed tactile pieces of furniture, such as a round dark green table for a meeting room, inviting long communal tables and a dark-green leather sofa on the sales floor. The rest of the furnishings came from Hay, Muuto and Ikea. Workstations are split by translucent screens to help filter in light and both floors have their own small kitchens. During the renovation, the interior designers took special care that the addition of the second
floor was integrated smoothly into the context of the building and didn’t disrupt the brutalist facade. They paid further attention to all the details, such as preserving decorative columns, which are clad in shards of tiles. “It’s not precious in any way, it was a pretty cheap material even when it was first built,” says Brumina. “The people who work at the factory don’t really value it; but for us it’s an interesting element from the past that we think is worth preserving. We worked really hard to save them.” This ethos is reflected in the project as a whole, which was delivered earlier this year. The designers’ appreciation for Ukraine’s architectural heritage and a sensitive approach to creating a contemporary space that is comfortable to work in but doesn’t violate the architectural context means that this Soviet-era factory will continue to serve the employees of Kovalska for many years to come.
Twilight zone Various Associates’ design for a Shenzhen organic restaurant uses shape and shade to provide a dark, sophisticated backdrop suitable for a cuisine focused on authenticity of taste
words by
project type
m i n g ya n g
leisure
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Interventions featuring soft white light give a dramatic contrast with the rich dark interior
“Voisin Organique takes its diners on a journey into nature by fusing feelings to culture through the taste of food”
P
lanted in a trendy neighbourhood at the heart of China’s fast-paced city Shenzhen, is a tranquil eatery where time is slowed, and the sensation of nature is braised into each and every bite of modern Chinese cuisine. Voisin Organique, a restaurant unfolding from the ‘farm-to-table’ concept, takes its diners on a journey into nature by fusing feelings to culture through the taste of food. It is a space to escape to and a valley to wander in. “By simply believing in the richness embedded in the taste of food, we aim to use organic ingredients and continue exploring all its possibilities with our menus. We strive to give back to society, to contribute and uphold environmental sustainability in what we do,” explains Rosetta Lin, co-founder and executive chef of Voisin Organique. Situated in the urban complex Upper Hills, Voisin Organique is
surrounded by three central parks, as well as two majestic mountains. Echoing its surroundings, the restaurant enlisted Shenzhen-based architectural and interior design studio Various Associates to revive its interiors, creating a unique dining experience that would transport visitors into the natural landscape, while also emphasising Voisin Organique’s journey from farm to table. The 500sq m site is divided into a lounge, a fine dining enclave and 110sq m kitchen operation area. Taking the significant difference in ceiling height into account, a large pipe running across overhead and the L-shaped structure, Various Associates worked around the peculiarity of the site. Originating with an aesthetic theme based on ‘wandering in the valleys’, the designers carved the oddities into the characteristics of the space. The VO Lounge, situated
at the front of the house, features a wall-toceiling ensemble wrapped in rumpled silver foil that emits a dim yet glowing red light, much like the sunlight shining through the misty valleys of the surrounding hills. Wandering along the hallway into an everdeeper gloom, visitors are guided to a hidden fine dining area. Here soft white light falls from the brown-red heightened ceiling above. Darkness is intruded on by hints of white, like breezes of air, a glow of nature breaking through the rural landscape. At dawn and dusk alike, a brushed-up crowd adds a special lustre to the otherwise rustic interiors of Voisin Organique. A place of infinite imagination, weaving through the thread of the stories it tells, the simple yet avant-garde ambience of the restaurant is embellished with a sleek collection of all-black furniture. The dining chairs, crafted
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“This feeling of ecstasy is the same as if I were to immerse myself into art or music. I feel free”
The dark interior is embellished with a
Ingredients are sourced from Voisin Organique’s own EU
sleek collection of all-black furniture
organic-certified farm
in classic bentwood, come courtesy of Thonet and add to the modern and organic feel of the space. Following the stream of natural light, peeking out through the row of convex windows, a series of Vigna tables and chairs by Magis further adorn the space. Inspired by climbing ivy, the twirling steel rods of the frame hint at the inner ‘wanderland’ and encourage a lingering atmosphere. Meanwhile, the menu is devised by executive chef, Rosetta Lin, whose contemporary cooking style is informed by her artistic background. Much like art and music, cooking is another form of self-expression. “When you discover different ingredients and delve into their various combinations and formalities, it is an incredibly novel and creative
process. This feeling of ecstasy is the same as if I were to immerse myself into art or music. I feel free.” Voisin Organique’s dishes – infused with Lin’s childhood memories and topped with dashes of the paths she travelled on and the scents she discovered – then, each possess their own natural and unique flavour. Sourced from its own EU organic-certified farm, the Tesh Organic Farm, ingredients are picked by Voisin Organique’s co-founder Tina Chen and delivered daily to the kitchen. “We want people to enjoy our own produce of fresh, organic food served to their table,” says Chen. The menu reads healthy here; seasonal vegetables, osmanthus and chestnuts, just to name a few, as well as seafood and wild matsutake round off their seasonal offerings. In addition to the dining menu, the VO Lounge also
serves an exquisite tea experience, inspired by Song dynasty tea culture, all complete with organic ingredients, Chinese-style beverages and tapas. In the future, Voisin Organique is hoping to further expand its authentic dining experiences by hosting food markets and cooking classes for green-fingered fans, as well as nature and aesthetic workshops; to embody – and relish – a natural and healthier lifestyle. In an era of fast food and ready meals, and our attempt at catching up with the fast-paced world we live in, Voisin Organique brings back the intimacy of nature. With a respect for nature and the interdependency of life, this restaurant is a celebration of authentic food and a guiding light of the slow movement.
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words by
photos by
project type
alia akkam
a l e s s a n d r o s a l e t ta for dsl studio
r e ta i l
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Milan spritz An in-store bar is just one of a number of bespoke attractions designed to stir a sharp urban tone through Visual Display’s theatrical concept for a Milan menswear store
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ander through any of Slowear’s 30-odd shops around the world, and it soon becomes evident that the Venetian menswear brand – the Slowear Woman collection is also part of the portfolio – prizes timelessness. Each piece from the five labels under its umbrella – Incotex trousers, Zanone knitwear, Glanshirt shirts, Montedoro jackets and Officina Slowear accessories and footwear – is carefully tailored, flaunting durable fabrics that are the antithesis of high-street fast fashion. Craftsmanship is certainly at the core of the family-run business, which traces its roots to the 1950s when it first started making army uniforms, but Slowear also thrives
Deep green resin creates a visual continuity throughout
on innovation. Slowear18, the newest outpost in Milan, underscores this brazen streak. Found just next door to the original brick-walled Slowear boutique on Via Solferino in the Brera neighbourhood, Slowear18 is an adventurous concept store, a contemporary, all-day fusion of retail, coffee, and mixology courtesy of the Udine-based interior design and branding firm Visual Display. Come night-time, the upbeat cafe atmosphere morphs into a vibe that is even more buoyant, what with 3pm espresso pick-me-ups paving the way to aperitivos and glasses of effervescent Franciacorta served at a bar that is as important to Slowear18’s identity as the clothing
Arched windows in the early 20th century building, give a curated glimpse of the interior
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Framing and focused use of lighting set the scene as if on stage
“Situated in a building dating from the early 20th century, there is a juxtaposition between old-fashioned Milanese glamour and modernity” to peruse. Integrating the bar, says Giorgio Di Bernardo, CEO/founder of Visual Display, is “a way to give the customers a new immersive experience in Slowear style”. Throughout the 100sq m Slowear18, situated in a building dating from the early 20th century, there is a juxtaposition between old-fashioned Milanese glamour and modernity. The facade’s trifecta of original arches, for example, allow natural light to flood through the peekaboo windows. A series of additional arches, as at the bar, demarcate intimate, individual pockets of space within. Fitting rooms are tucked behind ultramarine bouclé-meets-linen cur tains spun from
Kvadrat’s Raas upholstery textile, a vivid hue punctuating the walls that seamlessly shift from warm white to grey. To lend an element of consistency, Visual Display also embraced touches of elegant brass, a nod to its appearance in other Slowear locations. Yet the project marks a fresh departure from the traditional aesthetic typically associated with Slowear, points out Di Bernardo. Visual Display wanted the design to reflect, he explains, “a more urban and youthful attitude”, feeling the need for it to stand apart from Slowear’s classic, warm wood-dominated look. This led to such bold choices as the generous application of solid green resin.
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It covers the floor, enlivens a staircase that leads down to the ho-hum not-for-the-public’s eyes technical areas, and carries through to the bar, too. It’s a rich, inviting hue, and it plays well with slightly synthetic, reflective materials such as the turquoise mirror that acts as an arresting backdrop for the bar’s bottles. “We spent a lot of time working on the layout to make the space functional for both the shop and the bar. Our goal was to make them coexist in a balanced way,” says Di Bernardo, noting how ultimately he hoped for visitors to choose how they wanted to inhabit Slowear18. One of his solutions to the challenge of articulating the store’s two disparate shopping and social strands is a dual exhibition system and chandelier. During the evening hours, it resourcefully transforms into a display case and counter. Di Bernardo dubs the lightweight structure, crafted from aluminium finished in liquid bronze, a “theatre machine”. In the mornings and afternoons, the apparatus rises to the ceiling, exposing a rack of clothing to contemplate. Once cocktail hour beckons, the contraption, encircled with a makeshift stand-up bar for noshing on cicchetti, precisely descends over the merchandise, protecting it from inevitable splatter now that guests are gathered around it to eat and drink. Cleverly, the transparent wrap-around capsule, fashioned from backpainted frosted acrylic glass, still provides a glimpse of that melange of jumpers and outerwear, so that there is never a loss of Slowear18’s connection to fashion. “In the middle of the project we had to modify the design because of some issues with the Italian safety regulations,” says Di Bernardo of the centrepiece fixture. “Once the drawing was approved, the contractor took almost four months to make it work perfectly.”
The smooth corners of
At night, the display
the bar are echoed in
descends to double up
the shape of the display
as a stand-up bar
Placed in the middle of the room, it’s an eye-catching fe a t u re th a t s tr a d d l e s Sl owe a r1 8 ’s c o n tr a s ti n g personalities, and hints at the drama that awaits at different turns. As Di Bernardo explains, Visual Display tackled the design “as if it were a theatrical stage, a work of scenes and levels that create unexpected perspectives and overlapping colours and materials. Even light changes colour and modulates during the day according to the use that is made of the space.”
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A cork wall behind an ‘altar’ displaying candles provides a visual focus within the black-painted studio interior
words by
photos by
project type
hadani ditmars
conrad brown
leisure
Core values Ste. Marie Design’s unconventional pilates and yoga studio in Vancouver is designed to lead its visitors on a theatrical journey to the heart of the body
Physicality, texture and contrast become a repeated motif in the design of the studio
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Jaybird’s cork wall cladding creates a mottled effect in a variety of browns, meant to evoke skin colours
“The embryonic experience is part sensory deprivation tank, part meditative journey”
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n the midst of the densely populated Vancouver neighbourhood of Yaletown, in between a high-end grocer and an uptown salon, Ste. Marie Design has reimagined a yoga studio as an urban womb. Jaybird, the first venture of the appropriately named pilates instructor Ariel Swan and her yogi partner Barbie Bent, encourages patrons to “get out of your head and into your body”. To that end, a tightly choreographed 227sq m of space, inspired by the yogic principal of flow, the dance work of Lucinda Childs and Yvonne Rainer and even the animate sculpture of
Constantin Brâncuşi, offers intuitive pathways to the inner self. The transition from the street is a dark, almost anonymous-feeling entranceway painted black. Once inside, patrons are embraced by a welcoming earth-toned common area and front desk that is part art gallery, part gathering and part retail space. A theatricalised proscenium leads the way into the studio itself, painted black, and devoid of mirrors but for a reflective ‘altar’ full of candles, the instructor’s lair. Here built-in wall stereos provide an audio immersive experience in which to exercise,
in candlelit darkness with infrared heat. The embryonic experience is part sensory deprivation tank, part meditative journey – and one that is increasingly popular in these fraught times. Swan says that the articulation of three distinct spaces has actually assisted with physical distancing requirements, as the studio reopens at a third of its capacity. “The layout allows clients to wait in line without feeling cramped and avoids bottlenecks,” she says. The new design replaces an existing studio of uninspired drywall painted white and
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bare industrial style ceilings, in an old 1930s warehouse – the kind that proliferated when the area was called Railtown, before becoming a des res destination in the 90s. But as with so many of Ste. Marie’s designs, this one is the antithesis of the generic, bare-boned West Coast minimalism that founder Craig Stanghetta likens to “an architectural recipe out here”. With the firm’s focus on creating a sense of ‘authenticity’ and ‘individual narrative’, it rejected the anonymous all-white transparency that is so commonly found in yoga studios, in favour of one that feels – as does the firm’s Chinatown restaurant Kissa Tanto – like a hidden treasure. Hospitality, says Stanghetta, is in Ste. Marie’s DNA, and a welcoming element is key – whether designing an eatery or a workplace or a workout space. In the new pandemic reality, it’s all about creating spaces “where people want to be”, he notes. Ultimately, it’s about designing desire. But for a tiny Jaybird sign outside, this is not a place that advertises itself. “You feel like you have to find it,” says Stanghetta, “you have to arrive here through a sequence of spaces – it’s tucked away.” Still the unconventional yoga studio, he maintains, has a point of view and an irreverent attitude. “It’s more like a restaurant or a club,” says the designer who has created many. “It has its own personality.” As led by project designer Jessica Bell, that personality is expressed in striking ways that make the most of a limited space and budget. The common area’s palette of browns from chestnut to mocha, meant to evoke skin colour, is graced by cork flooring throughout, its mottled natural patterning like an earthy marble. As one enters, the eye is drawn to the front desk of white-painted millwork and vertically striated charcoal pole wrap. A trapezoidal dark glass installation angled to resonate with the similarly shaped Jaybird motif – conceived by Glasfurd & Walker – hangs above it in a neon-lit plexiglass box. The semi-circular room boasts similar geometric patterning as well as three distinctive works by Londonbased artist Adam Hale, chosen for their subversion of traditional ideas of beauty and body image
Geometric wall
A Jaybird motif against
patterning in the
a neon plexiglass box
common area
marks the front desk
“They rejected the anonymous all-white transparency that is so commonly found in yoga studios, in favour of one that feels like a hidden treasure”
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Artwork by London-based Adam Hale continues the interior’s subversion of the conventions of beauty and body image
officially shunned by the “inclusive” mirror-free studio as well as their surreal ‘get out of your head’ qualities. One is a dadaesque figurative collage of what could be a stereotypical West Coast girl, deconstructed; another is a female head topped by an emerald plate and a glass-plated cover; a third shows a red-painted female lip, and scarlet-coloured fingernails with hawk’s feathers coming out of them. The works are strategically lit with overhead spotlights that cast a warm glow on the cork walls.
Behind the front desk, deep cabinetry masked by a faceted cork wall articulated by integrated one channel LED lighting has been carved out of the existing space. On the northern edge of the desk area, a vulvic vase filled with salmon-hued bulrushes appears as though pulled out into 3D form, while its south side is articulated by a theatrical proscenium sliced in half, breaking the fourth wall between patron and space. Once inside the all black – but for the repeated cork-clad wall with LED lighting at the
candle covered ‘altar’ – studio, the dreamlike sequencing continues. Pared down to its bare essentials, with the original 1930s oak flooring revealed, the room reflects the desired inner process of the practitioner. “We want clients to be able to find themselves and be themselves here,” says Swan of a studio that in the absence of light and mirrors is all about the haptic experience. “This space,” says Stanghetta, “is about being out of space. When all the lights are off, you’re just floating in there.”
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Images: Toby Coulson, Faber Futures
Fermenting the future Natsai Audrey Chieza, founder of Faber Futures, harnesses the power in natural systems and organisms to imagine a new material future – and designs the frameworks to bring this vision to life words by mandi keighran
Natsai Audrey Chieza has been researching the use of dyes derived from Streptomyces coelicolor (right)
Images: Oskar Proctor, Immatters Studio, Faber Futures
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“Nature is going to completely revolutionise how we design and build our environments”
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he lifecycle of the Streptomyces coelicolor bacteria is a fascinating and beautiful thing to see, a blossoming of vibrant blue, pink, and purple spots into a swirling galaxy of colour. These bacteria – which are found in the soil and decompose organic matter – are the surprising collaborator of biodesigner Natsai Audrey Chieza, who has been experimenting since 2011 with fermenting the bacteria to develop a chemical-free, colourfast dye that requires radically reduced water consumption. If a reliable, replicable system could be developed using this biotechnology, it has the potential to transform the fashion industry. “It is an unlikely partnership, but it’s one that completely transformed my practice as a materials designer,” said Chieza in her 2017 TED Talk. “From it, I understood how nature was going to completely revolutionise how we design and build our environments, and that organisms like coelicolor were going to help us grow our material future.” Chieza is the founder and CEO of Faber Futures, an award-winning futures agency at the intersection of design, nature and technology. Founded by Chieza in 2018, the London-based studio has a team of five designers, strategists and researchers working across a variety of projects, covering everything from studio-driven research, such as the aforementioned Project Coelicolor, to creative direction for music labels and ecology consultancy projects for
Project Coelicolor: Scale, Void, Assemblages, 2017, Faber Futures x Ginkgo Bioworks
Assemblage 002, 2019, is a reversible silk coat that illustrates dye protocols using pigment-producing bacteria
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Image: Luis Alberto Rodriguez
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clients, including Apple and Saudi Aramco. “At Faber Futures, we have a multidisciplinary approach to understanding how creativity can be an effective tool to mediate relationships between different spaces,” says Chieza. “Design has a role to play within a framework of other stakeholders who are involved in the business of building the future.” The goal is to understand how designers, scientists and others can work together in a more holistic way to develop new technologies and shape the interaction between those technologies and the people who use them. While biotechnology has played a key role in the pharmaceutical industry for decades, Faber Futures is working to bring it into more consumer markets, such as textiles, clothing and beauty. In doing so, Chieza hopes to elevate the technology beyond designing an organism to produce a particular molecule and transform it into a
craft-oriented mode of production to develop beautiful products – an approach that is particularly evident in Project Coelicolor, which Faber Futures is currently working to develop beyond the artisanal and into the industrial realm. While projects like this look at ways design can reshape production systems and materials, others are more focused on applying design thinking to creating more effective programmes and frameworks around which fruitful interactions can happen. “Design stopped being about making stuff a long time ago, but we still educate on the basis of consumer markets and that can be problematic as it limits our imagination as to what design can do,” says Chieza. Faber Futures has, for example, designed a residency programme for Ginkgo Bioworks, a Boston-based biotech company founded by scientists from MIT. Each year, a different creative practitioner is invited to situate
Faber Futures worked on the creative direction for artist Terrell Hines
“We still educate on the basis of consumer markets and that can be problematic as it limits our imagination as to what design can do”
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Project Coelicolor: Rise and Fall of a Micropolis, 2017, Faber Futures
The collaboration with Terrell Hines explores themes of futures and a
Images: Luis Alberto Rodriguez, Natsai Audrey Chieza
post-apocalyptic new normal
their design practice in the synthetic biology lab, creating a knowledge exchange between the two, often disparate, fields. In 2019, Andrea Ling – an artist and architect who explores living systems as a medium for design expression and how designers can work with autonomous organisms as design partners – spent three months at Gingko Biolabs researching how to design a world without waste. For the scientists, it offered the opportunity to see their work in a new, more material way; while having access to scientific expertise and a biotech toolkit proved revolutionary for Ling’s practice. “We are trying to create an environment where people can learn quickly from each other and have tangible ways of talking about what biotechnology is going to mean for design in the future,” she says. “As designers, we are curating this residency and calibrating it every year to make the experience a more productive one.” By fostering these kinds of relationships, Faber Futures hopes to see design integrated in the early stages of research – as Chieza describes it, “putting design upstream” – rather than being brought in at the end to package and communicate the outcome. The dizzying scope of Faber Futures’ work was recently showcased at London’s Design Museum in a display titled Bio-Logics: Designing With Nature. It presented the five projects developed from the time Chieza was a sole practitioner to the founding of the studio to highlight the way in which biodesign holds promise for the future of material innovation and beyond. “Rather than looking at biodesign as an opportunity to make more material to replace existing materials, we presented a display that started to uncover the logics of nature that we need to engage with,” says Chieza. “We are now at a critical moment where we are asking, ‘What’s next?’ We see designing for nature as the next framework for design, especially in the context of climate change and biodiversity loss. Design is a tool to ask fundamental questions and to invite dialogue – and we are asking the question: ‘What is the new toolkit for design?’”
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Top talent As a multi-talented designer, Dale Hardiman is helping to change the face of the Australian design community at breakneck speed words by jan henderson
Dowel Jones’s Hurdle high stool is the newest addition to the studio’s Hurdle family
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Autumn 2020
Dale Hardiman (right) with
The Never Grow Up bench was signed by
design partner Adam Lynch
visitors to the 2019 Milan Furniture Fair
Images: Cricket Studio (Hurdle stool and Never Grow Up bench); Lillie Thompson (portrait)
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t just 30 years of age Dale Hardiman has carved out a solid reputation as a design leader – some might say design maverick – as his talent and singular vision have propelled him to the apex of the Australian design community. Not only is he an outstanding product designer and partner in a highly successful furniture company but he is also a mentor, teacher and social media leader. As if this wasn’t enough, he has honed his skill as a curator, facilitating and instigating exhibitions and installations, with and for his peers, at a relentless speed. The Hardiman story began when he arrived at Melbourne’s renowned Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). There he completed an associate degree in design (furniture) in 2012 and was given a special mention in the ‘A Designer A Day’ competition run by Design Hub and the INDACO (industrial design, art, communication and fashion) department at the Polytechnic University of Milan. The following year, he completed his studies and received an industrial design degree with first class honours. A grand start to a future career that also saw the establishment of Dowel Jones, a design practice in partnership with fellow student Adam Lynch, in 2014. From humble beginnings Dowel Jones has grown exponentially, and today Hardiman and Lynch design, manufacture and sell furniture, lighting and accessories to a global market. Their atelier is based in Geelong, a country town an hour south west of Melbourne, and it is here that they work their magic while utilising local labour and materials that help the region to prosper.
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To complement the rigours of a business life, Hardiman’s other passion is design curation, and this began in his final year at RMIT. Having Dowel Jones for support enables him to explore this facet of his creativity and his enthusiasm for exhibitions is positively relentless. To date he has instigated, collaborated and brought to resolution a staggering 33 exhibitions, installations and other group events in Melbourne and Geelong – each a standalone presentation of a collective of furniture, lighting and object design. Hardiman is obsessed with collaborative engagement but also dedicated to the underlying ideas of sustainability, and it is the care for the environment and the imperative of sustainable design that has become the vital focus for his energy. For example, his contributions to Melbourne Design Week this year came in the guise of two very different
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Digital mirror from Open Garden
with Stephen Royce (below) and the
Blossom pendant and coffee table
“Hardiman’s capacity for work and his desire to present the Australian design
Images: Jonathon Griggs (Digital Mirror); Cricket Studio (Blossom)
aesthetic knows no bounds”
exhibitions both with reuse as a central theme. The first, organised with Tom Skeehan (a partnership formally known as Friends & Associates), was entitled Life & Death. This brought together 31 of Australia’s premier designers, architects and artists, each creating forms representing the life of an object, its functionality, utility and cultural intent, as well as its end of life, or death. The second was Open Garden, with Stephen Royce, showcasing a series of reflective and controlled lighting sculptures configured from more than 100 broken mobile phone LCD screens. Hardiman’s capacity for work and his desire to present the Australian design aesthetic knows no bounds and he moves between the structured world of his company and the ephemeral sphere of events effortlessly. The continuum of Hardiman’s activities is, of course, his love for design. Within Dowel Jones there are new collections on the showroom floor every year and this in turn manifests in increased sales. Not only does the company have excellent penetration of the Australian market but there is also a successful partnership with the Grand Rapids Chair Company
in the US. Products such as the now iconic Hurdle chair and Half Hurdle stool, Mr Dowel Jones, a standard lamp, the Never Grow Up bench through to the latest offering of the Sister Double sofa to join the Sister collection have each been lauded for their innovation and functionality. To say that Dale Hardiman is a man on the move would be an understatement. There is never a moment when he is not devising a new furniture collection, engaging with his ever-widening circle of peers and colleagues, creating a social media campaign, helping younger designers or conceiving ideas for events. Throughout his career, he has been constantly evolving, deepening his resolve and commitment to the environment and helping to bring together Australian designers as no-one else has done in the past. With all that he has accomplished in the last seven years, it is difficult to comprehend what more could be achieved, however, Hardiman is already planning for the next seven and beyond. With many disparate aspects to his life, Hardiman has already created a unique and vibrant career, with the underlying thread that unites everything being his passion for design.
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CHARLOTTE FOX WEBER ON CONFINEMENT
Inner space As our relationship with the outside world is transformed, we can learn from the time we spend looking inwards i l lu st r at i o n b y da n i e l b a r r e t o
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here isn’t a human being out there who hasn’t been affected somehow by this situation. We are all vulnerable. We are all helpless but also consequential in our decisions. We are social animals and being isolated and separated physically is brutal and grumpy-making. "Hell is other people", as Sartre said, and those of us confined with loved ones may feel deep resentment and entrapment. Hell is also loneliness and separation from loved ones, and liked ones too, and being apart from beloved friends and relatives is harrowing. Many of us miss the charm we’d get from lovely encounters with strangers and acquaintances. Interior freedom is in some ways all we have. Not just now but ever. The freedom to go to interesting terrain psychologically. The freedom to take in something new each day – whether it’s a phrase of music or a poem or a conversation with another human being. The freedom to reframe our understanding of a past even that has played on our minds recently. Confinement allows us to focus in interesting and also disturbing ways. Thoughts, feelings and struggles we’ve disavowed and pushed away come back and invade at these moments. Many of us are staggered by odd dreams and confused feelings about all sorts of moments from the past we thought we’d forgotten about or gotten past. Confinement makes some of us want to make amends with former friends we’ve fallen out with. Get in touch
with an ex. Pine for someone we once adored who is now so clearly unavailable. Confinement confronts us with our life choices in glaring ways. How did we end up in our living situation? What else could we have done with our lives? Confinement makes us aware of the ticking clock. Many of us experience what is called chronophobia. We dread time passing but we also are restless and feel stuck in time. Life feels fleeting. We don’t know how to picture the future and we feel nostalgic about the past. So, what can we do now? Keep making choices. Whether it’s the choice to be radically accepting about a part of yourself, the choice to brush your hair, the choice to contact a work acquaintance and admit that this time period is making you especially anxious, the choice to listen to Brahms, the choice to acknowledge that you are feeling great love for someone. Choose to admit that you are panicked. Choose to recognise moments of joy and calm. Choose to reopen your eyes to a photograph you’ve had for years or make the decision to study the colour of your eyes, or your partner’s eyes, closely and with total concentration. Keep making choices. It’s what we have and it’s how we grow, whatever the restrictions may be. It’s what makes us free. As Camus said: “Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.”
“Confinement
confronts us with our life choices. What
else could we have
done with our lives?”
Daniel Barreto for United Nations Covid-19 Response Global Call Out To Creatives, Unsplash
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Ucon Acrobatics’ adaptable Jacob bag is made from recycled PET bottles
Less is more Berlin-based brand Ucon Acrobatics is cleaning up the oceans one backpack at a time
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words by
images by
sheena isokariari
u c o n ac r o b at i c s
ow, more so than ever, the fashion industry and its environmental impacts on the planet is one of the many sustainability topics that is being discussed the world over for good reason. The pandemic has, in many ways, been a wake-up call for consumers and the fashion industry alike, with fast-fashion brands in particular spurred on for necessary change. Being in lockdown has given consumers muchneeded time to reflect and rethink shopping habits, inspiring some to embrace ‘buy less, buy better’ concepts.
Of course, this isn’t a new conversation: sustainability has been a buzzword in the fashion industry for a while, with many brands pledging to do better in all areas of the production process, from choosing superior materials to reducing plastic. A case in point is Ucon Acrobatics, a Berlin-based backpack brand out to make a difference. Set up in 2001 by Jochen Smuda and Martin Fussenegger, the business grew from the pair’s desire to develop a lifestyle brand that was driven by creativity, innovation and ethical production, and which would eventu-
ally become Ucon Acrobatics. With the help of talented artists and the wider design community, the duo transformed an old cowshed in Berlin’s Friedrichshain into the brand’s minimalist studio, home to Ucon Acrobatics’ first collection, comprising simple yet practical cotton bags that were created for design devotees and minimalist mavens alike. With around 140 million tonnes of plastic currently floating around in our oceans and a further six million tonnes added to this ‘plastic soup’ each year, Ucon Acrobatics is striving to be a part of the solution.
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“Ucon Acrobatics has made PET from recycled water bottles its primary material and also joined forces with Repreve, known for its recycled performance fibre”
Ucon Acrobatics’ Till bag
can be used as both a
handbag and backpack
When the brand designed its first backpack back in 2016, the team utilised primarily recycled plastics and reused materials, with around 20 plastic bottles making one new backpack. The brand’s Stealth Series, a collection of functional eco-friendly bags, was developed using a simple process which consists of three clear steps: first, collecting plastic bottles made out of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – a plastic from the polyester family – followed by washing out and removing all remaining contents, labels and lids. Bottles are then sorted by colour using a machine that decolourises and chemically shreds them. Finally, plastic particles are melted down and turned into small pellets, from which new threads are drawn. The final result is sleek and sustainable, in the form of Ucon Acrobatics’ backpack collection. The brand takes sustainability seriously. Since 2018, Ucon Acrobatics has manufactured its products with highest quantities of recycled parts. It has made PET from recycled water bottles its primary material and also joined forces with Repreve, widely known for its recycled performance fibre and sustainable textiles. Today, the brand’s continued journey – reduce, repair, reuse and recycle – is stronger than ever. As of July 2020, Ucon backpacks feature a laptop compartment consisting of upcycled neoprene, but the firm’s aim to extend its list of sustainable materials continues. Great products call for great materials – Ucon’s bags are just that: all fabrics are durable and made to last. Although the brand initially started out using cotton, the team soon found how the conventional cotton industry went against their principles due to its destructive agricultural practices involving large amounts of water and pesticides. As synthetic fibres are both more robust than cotton, and lighter, Ucon Acrobatics decided to work with mainly synthetic fibres instead. Committed to only using environmentally friendly products and packaging, the brand eliminated phthalate P7 and toxins from its entire collection, with all fabrics used thoroughly tested and certified by FuJian HJ Quality Inspection Technical Service, a third-party organisation specialising in testing, inspection, identification and technical services. Ucon proves to customers that fashion can be sustainable, stylish and affordable in equal measures, and that less, but better, is more. Think classic styles reworked into minimalistic aesthetics that are contemporary, functional and good for the planet. Pairing well with every item in your workwear wardrobe, these sustainable backpacks will see you through this season and beyond, proving that the search for your new bag has just got a whole lot easier.
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Pleasure principle Four short films by Japanese art studio Onesal – Air, Earth, Fungi and Rock – explore the use of visual ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) stimuli designed to provoke euphoria in viewers
images by onesal
Inspired by nature, architecture and time-lapse photography, Onesal creates sensual environments which blur the boundaries of nature and design and are given emphasis by crisp, defined sound effects, as in this still from the Fungi film
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Art Direction: Damian Sendin, Fede Kanno. Design: Damian Sendin, Fede Kanno, Alex Levinton, Nahuel Salcedo. Animation: Nahuel Salcedo, Damian Sendin, Alex Levinton, Lilen Herrera, Koji Obara. Simulation Artists: David Kvien, Alex Levinton, Nahuel Salcedo. Producers: Ailin Brunner, Lucia Gutkin, Feng Li. Sound: Echoic Audio
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In Onesal’s Rock short, shining scarlet crystals grow out of a background of plain dark rock, creating a rapidly moving visual drama, while in Air (left) blue balloons in a surreal landscape inflate and deflate
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Onesal’s Fungi, observed at a micro level moving and evolving against a background drawn from nature photography, is neither a plant nor an animal – at once offering an image of renewal while feeding from the dead
Capsule nostalgia The rich scents and brown hues of earth are a shared recollection of those who seek traditional remedies for wellbeing in East Asia
words by ting jui brook lin
images by wat e r f r o m d e s i g n
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Copper, concrete, acrylic
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tripped of all that might be expected of a traditional botanical pharmacy, Shuǐ Xiāng, or Aqua Health Clinic, dressed in turquoise and emitting a serene glow of chlorine blue, offers diagnoses for good health. Shuǐ Xiāng, a wellbeing concept store in Sanlitun, Beijing, that coalesces molecular treatments with traditional Chinese herb medicine, commissioned Taiwanese firm Waterfrom Design to translate its commercial ambition into spatial terms. Until recently, traditional herbology had been considered synonymous with salubrity. Generations sought consultation in the pharmacy, wherein they were diagnosed and provided with prescriptions drawing upon an encyclopaedia of classic herbal medicine, now 17 centuries old – Shennuns Pen-tsar Ching. A typical prescription might comprise dehydrated berries, or the bark and roots of various plant species, with each herb withdrawn from an individual ceramic dish, or a drawer of exotic wood, set within a wall of rich-brown lacquered cabinetry. The herbs would be simmered, brewing them to form a warm coffee-like liquid to be ingested. Developments in pharmaceuticals have meant that scented hardwood drawers are no longer required to protect the herbs from insects, nor to stabilise atmospheric fluctuations in temperature and moisture. As such, these relics of past herbal pharmacies are absent in the store, where materials such as concrete, copper, acrylic and glass line its interiors. Upon entry, visitors are received at a backlit acrylic-clad reception kiosk. The blue-painted planks of the lobby floor washed in dim, cool light. Situated within a high-rise, and occupying a ground level commercial unit, the 280sq m store is segmented by sweeping, geometric partitions. Comprising five treatment zones, each is framed within a fragmentary volume, partial arches that appear as glitches within a larger complex – related yet disrupted. Unifying these distinct areas are an array of light boxes, each one a presentation case of mosses and herbs, laid like luminous memorials throughout the space, or a
and glass line the interior
Treatment zones are
defined by partial arches
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Lightboxes are used to display
mosses as if in a museum
The orderly blue acrylic boxes are an echo of Damien Hirst’s Pharmacy
“Traditional herbal treatment is, after all, a fading art, but one that it seeks to capture and preserve in perpetuity”
museum’s antique displays. The light that filters through the varied opacities of their screens imbues the store with a sense of depth that belies its physical limits. While echoing qualities reminiscent of clinical and laboratory environments, the concept store simultaneously renders them with a palette that speaks of science fiction. Both the blue-hued acrylic boxes and the orderly herb specimens lend a touch of melancholic nostalgia. In the first treatment zone, positioned beneath a turquoise curved ceiling, traditional herb samples – each dehydrated and sealed within individual glass blocks – are stacked one on top of another in a manner evocative of the practices of taxidermy. The store percolates the idea of changing approaches towards notions of wellbeing, diagnosis and remedy. The materiality and aesthetics of the interior seemingly convey that traditional herbal treatment is, after all, a fading art, but one that it seeks to capture and preserve in perpetuity. These spatial qualities and aesthetics encourage comparison with Damien Hirst’s Pharmacy at the Newport Gallery in London, and themes within Hirst’s artwork of taxonomic processes – the scientific objectivity with which his animal carcasses are suspended in baths of formaldehyde. Likewise, Exhibition of Frozen Time, the project name given by Waterfrom to the store design, recognises a resonance between the contemporary ‘cure’ and traditional remedies for human wellness, making apparent that the specific spatial qualities and materiality of the ‘pharmacy’ are inextricably woven with conceptualisations of welfare. Perhaps by consciously fusing and withdrawing from associative spatial qualities of this kind, the designers share the utopian view that Hirst expressed in an interview with Stuart Morgan in 1995, when asked to elaborate on the ideas behind his work Pharmacy (1992): “Confidence that drugs will cure everything. It’s like readymade. Put one on the wall and it looks confident.”
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WHAT’S ON YOUR DESK?
Ruben Hughes The Copenhagen-based art director and photographer shares his designer desk essentials
OnOffice caught up with the New Yorker to chat everything from a typical working day to his must-have office accessories.
#WhatsOnYourDesk
What are your desk staples? Desk staples – fashion and travel magazines, various Japanese ballpoint pens, magnifying glass from Oliver Gustav, lamp from Lambert & Fils and desktop Mac. Are you a minimalist or maximalist? I would say that I maximise in the minimum amount of tools necessary. Everything has a function other than aesthetics. Even the art serves as a generator for new ideas. What is your favourite object on your desk? Months back, I picked up a magnifying glass from Oliver Gustav. I’m obsessed with details within photography and this little tool puts me even closer. Is design an expression of art? By designing anything, you’re expressing a type of art. How do you express yourself creatively? As an art director, I love to create work that feels honest, authentic and relevant. There are almost always hidden messages within my work. Describe your workspace in three words: Clean. Sophisticated. Functional.
Image: Polina Vinogradova
What is your dream project and why? At the moment, I don’t have a dream project. To be in the position that I am in is a dream. I find joy in everything that I’m currently working on. I was taught that you have to enjoy the process. When you’re not working and designing, what can we find you doing? I love my routines. You can find me picking up flowers and natural wine, swimming in one of Copenhagen’s harbours or taking a walk in the park. ruben-hughes.com @studiorubenhughes
