*Architecture � Design � Art � Travel � Entertaining � Beauty & Grooming � Transport � Technology � Fashion � Watches & Jewellery april

il 2021

THE GLOBAL
INTERIORS ISSUE
Showstopping design from six continents

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’
Makeovers for a trio
of midcentury marvels

LIFE LESSONS
Anupama Kundoo’s
architecture of happiness

HOMETOWN HERO
Rem Koolhaas’
visions of Rotterdam
 APRIL
DOUBLE-HEIGHT LIVING
SPACE AND A SWIMMING
POOL AT A NORFOLK
GRAIN STORE TURNED
INTO A FAMILY HOME BY
LONDON-BASED ARCHITECTS
31/44, SEE PAGE 138

GLOBAL INTERIORS
138 Hidden depth
125 Six continents of design


A grain store turns spacious
family home in Norfolk
Explore our world-beating new finds

ARCHITECTURE
152 High life
Uplift at John Lautner’s Garcia House

068 Back to the future

164 Content creator
Rem Koolhaas on the unbuilt big idea
Anupama Kundoo on architecture
that inspired his smallest new design
that builds happiness

088 Green room

186 Postmodern romance
Studio Shamshiri transforms a
Paolo Portoghesi on his career curves
midcentury Hollywood Hills gem

096 Gable service

ART


Young Projects delivers a contemporary
retreat in the Hamptons 079 Sharp objects
Wit and whimsy from Serban Ionescu
102 Escape artist 144 Outside edge
Kelly Wearstler makes over
a Malibu beach house Chilean artist Federico Assler’s
monumental outdoor pursuits

∑ 019
 APRIL
066 The Vinson View
Picky Nicky on design for the Covid era

MEDIA

146 Subscribe to Wallpaper* and save

Plus receive limited-edition covers

192 WallpaperSTORE*
Refined design, delivered to your door

RESOURCES

193 Stockists
What you want and where to get it

TOP, £1,350, BY JIL SANDER BY LUCIE AND LUKE MEIER. EARRINGS,

TECHNOLOGY

077 Special effects

PRICE ON REQUEST, BY VAN CLEEF & ARPELS, SEE PAGE 174

FASHION Open-source audio from Mod Devices

074 Crowning glory 082 Sound scape

Why jewellery label Third Crown rules Devialet’s eloquent speakers

108 Surreal deal

Standout new jewellery

174 Charm school

Effortlessly elegant womenswear

FOOD

194 Artist’s palate

Oliver Beer’s sesame and peanut candy

FRONT OF BOOK

045 Newspaper
Wearable art; perfectly sized bags;
São Paulo retail; Kyoto confectionery;
and Radnor’s New York design showcase ‘FIVE KISSES’ NECKLACE IN GOLDENED BRONZE, €2,800,
BY SAMUEL FRANÇOIS, SEE PAGE 108

022 ∑
 Wallpaper.com
@wallpapermag

EDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief
Sarah Douglas

Editor Digital Editor Executive Editor

TF Chan Elly Parsons Bridget Downing

Fashion Director Photography Director

Jason Hughes Holly Hay

Architecture Editor Design Editor Head of Interiors Fashion Features Editor Beauty & Grooming Editor
Ellie Stathaki Rosa Bertoli Olly Mason Laura Hawkins Mary Cleary

Transport & Technology Editor Watches & Jewellery Editor Arts Editor Entertaining Director
Jonathan Bell Hannah Silver Harriet Lloyd-Smith Melina Keays

Group Art Director Designer Assistant Photography Editor Producer Production Editor Sub Editor
David Graham Ben Rimmer Sophie Gladstone Tracy Gilbert Anne Soward Léa Teuscher

Contributing Editors

Nick Compton, Deyan Sudjic, Ekow Eshun, Marco Sammicheli, Tilly Macalister-Smith, Nick Vinson, Emma O’Kelly, Hugo Macdonald, Bodil Blain,
Alice Morby, Henrietta Thompson, Suzanne Trocmé

US Editor Michael Reynolds • New York Editor Pei-Ru Keh • Milan Editor Maria Cristina Didero • Paris Editor Amy Serafin • Germany Editor Sophie Lovell
Madrid Editor Maria Sobrino • Japan Editor Jens H Jensen • China Editor Yoko Choy • Singapore Editor Daven Wu • Australia Editor Elias Redstone
Latin America Editor Pablo León de la Barra • Buenos Aires Editor Mariana Rapoport

PUBLISHING & MARKETING

Managing Director
Malcolm Young

Associate Publisher Business Director

Lloyd Lindo Kelly Gray

Advertising Bespoke

Digital Advertising Director Senior Account Manager Bespoke Director Bespoke Editor
Chris Goh Tom Hemsley Sarah-Jane Molony Simon Mills

Watches & Jewellery Advertising Business Manager Digital Project Manager Bespoke Art Director Bespoke Producer
Advertising Director Amanda Asigno Arti Sisodiya Daniel McGhee Minna Vauhkonen
Silvia Blahutova

International Advertising Offices Corporate

usa germany, austria thailand Group Managing Director, International Business

Advertising Manager and switzerland Advertising Manager Tech Lifestyle Development Manager
Matt Carroll Advertising Manager Christopher Stephen Marsh Paul Newman Laura Gordon
Tel: 1.312 420 0663 Peter Wolfram Tel: 66.2 204 2699 Management Accountant Senior International
Tel: 49.89 9611 6800 Claire Glavin Circulation Manager
italy ingapore
Advertising Manager france Advertising Manager Production Manager Alice Stilwell
Paolo Cesana Advertising Manager Tim Howat John Botten Head of Print Licensing
Fashion Executive Magali Riboud Tel: 65.6823 6822 Rachel Shaw
Tel: 33.6 12 59 28 36 Ad Production Coordinator
Eleonora Armirotti ndia Chris Gozzett licensing@futurenet.com
Design Executive china Advertising Manager Endorsement Sales Director
Digital Production Manager
Marcella Biggi Advertising Manager Rachna Gulati Efi Mandrides
Sebastian Hue
Maggie Li Tel: 91.98111 91702
Commercial Executive Tel: 86.10 6952 1122
Paolo Mongeri 
Tel: 39.02 844 0441 Advertising Manager
Mamta Pillai
Tel: 971.5035 62723

Subscriptions
Editorial Complaints, We work hard to achieve the We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from responsibly managed, certified Order online at Wallpaper.com
highest standards of editorial content, and we are forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. The paper in this magazine was sourced and produced from
committed to complying with the Editors’ Code of sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict environmental and socioeconomic standards. The Manage your subscription at
Practice as enforced by IPSO. If you have a complaint manufacturing paper mill holds full FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification and accreditation. mymagazine.co.uk
about our editorial content, you can email the editors ISSN 1364-4475. All contents © 2021 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights
at contact@wallpaper.com or write to: Wallpaper*, reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without World Headquarters
161 Marsh Wall, London E14 9AP. Please provide the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is
details of the material you are complaining about registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All prices
161 Marsh Wall
Future plc is a public Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne
company quoted on the Non-executive chairman Richard Huntingford and explain your complaint by reference to the and credits are accurate at time of going to press but are subject to change. Future cannot accept any London E14 9AP
London Stock Exchange Chief financial officer Rachel Addison
Editors’ Code. We will endeavour to acknowledge responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information, or for unsolicited submissions. For full
(symbol: FUTR)
www.futureplc.com Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244 your complaint within five working days and we aim terms and conditions, see www.futureplc.com/terms-conditions. Printed by Walstead Roche.
United Kingdom
to correct substantial errors as soon as possible. Distributed by Marketforce. contact@wallpaper.com
 CONTRIBUTORS
MAZZI ODU
Writer
This month, the London-raised, Lagos-
based Odu interviewed the founders of
jewellery brand Third Crown (page 074).
‘Kristin and Kofi Essel are a beautiful
illustration of how a love story can evolve
into a brand with so much resonance for
many,’ she says. Odu is currently working
in collaboration with Kian Smith on the
Kingdoms Collection, a jewellery range
designed by leading creatives of African
descent using responsibly mined gold.

DAVID PLAISANT KEISUKE OTOBE

Writer Photographer
Rome-based architecture writer Plaisant ‘Every time I work with my scanner, it’s
was perfectly placed to explore the world a memorable experience,’ says Otobe of the
of Italian icon Paolo Portoghesi (page 186). technique behind his jewellery shoot for us
‘We were incredibly lucky to gain access (page 108). ‘The outcome is unpredictable;
to his wonderful house and gardens just I never have control over the process and
days before Italy’s lockdown last March,’ that’s the beauty of it.’ Based between
he says. And it wasn’t just the architecture three capitals (Beijing, London and Tokyo),
that made the experience memorable, as Otobe is working on his ‘I Am a Sculptor’
‘Portoghesi was also keen to show us his series, using his scanner ‘to change the
private zoo’. Plaisant is now working on a shape of an image exactly like a sculptor
book documenting the Roman palazzina. would do with “physical” materials’.

ELLY PARSONS
Digital Editor
Parsons, who joined us six years ago as
an intern, heads up our digital operation.
Masterminding a wealth of inspiring
content during the pandemic, she has set
Wallpaper.com on course to double its
traffic in a year. She has also grown our
combined social media following to a
fantastic 5.9 million. Having spent two
lockdowns working from her London sofa,
she says, ‘I finally invested in a desk this
month, using the W* House as inspiration.’

ROGER DAVIES SHAWN ADAMS

Photographer Writer
When the John Lautner Foundation asked This month, Adams gave us the lowdown
LA-based British photographer Davies to on a new-build home on Long Island by
shoot the Garcia House (page 152), he didn’t Brooklyn practice Young Projects (page
have to travel far. ‘It’s on Mulholland Drive, 096). ‘In a time when most of the world was
right around the corner from my home. under lockdown, it was refreshing to write
Every Lautner house I’ve photographed about a project in the Hamptons – I mean,
is more incredible than the last; he’s my I wouldn’t mind being able to walk to the
favourite architect,’ says Davies, who lives beach,’ he says. An advocate for diversity
with his wife and 16-year-old son, another and inclusion within the architecture
Lautner fan. ‘He was as excited as I was industry, Adams is currently working on
as he loves Lethal Weapon 2, in which the a new project with four other members
Garcia House had a starring role.’ of the New Architecture Writers group.

034 ∑ WRITER: LÉA TEUSCHER

 EDITOR’S LETTER

New horizons
Welcome to our annual Global Interiors presented over 12 pages and also starring
issue. Good design can enable, inspire and on our newsstand cover.
elevate our lives. This has been magnified Further alluring homes in the issue
over the last year, as circumstances have include a converted barn in Norfolk,
required us to stay at home, with more by London-based 31/44 Architects, and
opportunity than ever to contemplate the a family home in the Hamptons that
stuff that surrounds us. Marking a year pays homage to the area’s farmhouses,
since the pandemic turned the world upside by New York’s Young Projects.
down, this Global Interiors issue salutes the We call on three visionaries who have
design pieces that have brightened our days, changed architecture in very different ways.
Newsstand cover Limited-edition cover
and the luminous talents behind them. In a conversation with our architecture by Anupama Kundoo
Photography:
Roger Davies
We’ve broadened the scope of our editor Ellie Stathaki, Rem Koolhaas Architect Kundoo
Art Direction: headline interiors story, featuring designs discusses Boompjes, his first commission for designed this month’s
Michael Reynolds from six continents, rather than focusing Rotterdam and an early expression of his limited-edition cover,
a membrane structure
On the cover and top, on six specific countries as we did in now-famous vision for urban living. ‘Towers drawn in fountain pen
John Lautner’s 1962
Garcia House, which
previous years. Our head of interiors are the expression of capitalism and slabs ink on tracing paper.
has been sensitively Olly Mason worked with Berlin design are the main expression of socialism. In the The Wallpaper* logo
is partially concealed
restored and refurbished. studio Form & Rausch to create a visual 1980s, it was very interesting to try and by the cover artwork
Take a tour with us
feast, setting standout furniture pieces create a hybrid shape,’ he says. to highlight the idea
on page 152
against escapist backdrops that are modern We take a deep dive into the work of of porosity, ‘as we are
while rooted in geographical context. Anupama Kundoo, which is at once elegant, looking at the world
outside through windows
We also bring you a trio of midcentury resourceful, environmentally sound, and or façades that allow
Californian homes that have been given a celebratory of local knowledge. Above all, or don’t allow us this
new lease of life. In Malibu, Kelly Wearstler she believes that architecture should be contact’, says Kundoo.
See our interview with
transformed a long-neglected beach house a conduit to happiness: ‘There is no other the architect, page 164
with an illustrious pedigree into a striking aim: to be alive is to be happy.’ Limited-edition covers are
surf shack. In Los Angeles, meanwhile, And we look back on the career of available to subscribers,
just below the Hollywood sign, Studio Italian postmodernist master Paolo see Wallpaper.com/sub21
Shamshiri’s take on the former home of Portoghesi, a creator of Baroque-inspired
Robert Kennard (a leading Black architect buildings and advocate for the first Venice
of his generation) is an exercise in Architecture Biennale. Going against the
thoughtful luxury. Nearby, we revisit currents of his era, he championed ‘a bit
John Lautner’s Garcia House, an icon of of noise and colour in architecture’, a call
American architectural history that was for greater creative freedom that has proven
featured in Wallpaper’s January 2009 issue prescient when we consider the plurality
(W*118). Owners John McIlwee and Bill of contemporary architecture.
Damaschke, architects Marmol Radziner, As 2021 gathers momentum and
interior designer Darren Brown and optimism, this is a timely celebration of
environmental designer John Sharp offer design. We hope you enjoy the issue!
us a masterclass in sensitive reinvention, Sarah Douglas, Editor-in-Chief

038 ∑
 Newspaper*
Wallpaper’s hot pick of the latest global goings-on

Roll-neck, £2,300; trousers,

£1,150, both by Dior
For stockists throughout,
see page 193

Under canvas We like to wear our art on our sleeve

Model: Emmanuel Adjaye at Next Models. Photography assistant: Martin Eito

PHOTOGRAPHY: DOUGAL MACARTHUR FASHION: JASON HUGHES ∑ 045

 Newspaper

Clockwise from top, sweatshirt,

£1,100, by Loewe. Cardigan, £940,
by JW Anderson. Jumper, £1,200;
trousers, £840, both by Berluti
‘S28’ chair, £1,000, by Pierre
Chapo, from Béton Brut

F or S/S21, a host of menswear designers

used clothing as a canvas, interpreting
the gestural strokes of figurative
portraiture and the globulous bulges
a brow-furrowed face, inspired by
images in Anglada’s father’s comic book
collection. At Loewe, where Anderson
is also creative director, the designer
of ceramic forms within their folds. nodded to the figurative works of
At Dior, Kim Jones was compelled by Paul Cadmus, whose portraits paid
the bold brushstrokes of Ghanaian homage to the male form. A jacquard
portraitist Amoako Boafo, who had wool jumper translates the egg tempera
his first solo show at Mariane Ibrahim brushstrokes of Cadmus’ The Inventor
Gallery in Chicago last autumn. In a into fabric. Meanwhile, at Berluti, the
tactile and tonal twist, a figure inspired oozy, molten forms of ceramicist Brian
by Boafo’s oil on canvas Yellow Dress Rochefort inspired Kris Van Assche,
has been translated into an intarsia who transformed the colourful glazes
motif on a cashmere roll-neck. Jonathan and lava-like textures of the LA-based
Anderson showcased the work of sculptor’s pieces into prismatic jumpers.
Catalan illustrator Pol Anglada in his Their tactile fabrications evoke the
eponymous brand’s spring collection. appearance of Rochefort’s works, which
A fiery knit-weave cardigan features seem to overflow with dribbling glazes.

PHOTOGRAPHY: DOUGAL MACARTHUR FASHION: JASON HUGHES WRITER: LAURA HAWKINS ∑ 047
 Newspaper

A retail project in São Paulo fuses

physical and digital experiences

Mall wonders
Located on the former site of São Paulo’s
Fasano restaurant, which became
Wallpaper’s headquarters for a few
weeks in 2010 when we produced our
Born in Brazil issue (W*135), CJ Shops
is an exquisitely designed retail project
that matches luxury brands with the
finest local restaurateurs. Launched by
Brazilian real estate developer JHSF
and designed by Arthur Casas, the mall
features a glass rooftop canopy, which
maintains an open-air feeling while
protecting patrons from the elements,
and expansive green walls that celebrate
the region’s plant diversity. The roster
of brands includes Hermès, Balmain
(its first dedicated men’s store in Brazil),
and Isabel Marant and Ines de la
Fressange, which both opened their
first boutiques in Latin America within
the complex. Fasano is back on site with
stylish café Gero Panini and Selezione
Fasano, which is equal parts imported
Italian speciality food shop, enoteca and
interiors store. And as part of JHSF’s
‘phygital’ strategy, the company has also
included a showroom-style experience
that allows visitors to try on all the
clothing, shoes and jewellery offered
by the retailers on the mall’s digital
platform. Once items have been paid
for by mobile phone, shoppers can
take delivery at home or in hand. It’s
an exciting experience in both the
physical and digital worlds. cjfashion.com

born again The Greek-born, Paris-based architect

Rena Dumas, who died in 2009,
Furniture by Rena Dumas opened her own studio, Rena Dumas
is now coming together Architecture Intérieure (RDAI), in 1972,
and is perhaps best known for creating
for a new generation
the look of Hermès’ retail spaces.
Although Dumas designed furniture
and objects for select brands, in 1988 she
designed the ‘Okeanis’ table (pictured)
just for herself. Made up of two halves,
this is a double object that can be paired
or left apart. Parts of the tabletop can
fold up to provide a tray table and, with
the addition of a central leaf, it can be
transformed into a dining table or desk.
The table is now being reissued by
curated online platform The Invisible
Collection, alongside Dumas’ ‘Aria’
console and bedside table, from 1985, and
‘Lumière’ rug (pictured), also from 1988.
theinvisiblecollection.com

048 ∑ PHOTOGRAPHY: FRAN PARENTE, ALEX PROFIT WRITERS: SCOTT MITCHEM, NICK VINSON
 Clockwise from left, lip enhancers
in Rose Abricoté, Rose Tan and
Rose d’Été, £58 each; blush in
Rose Pommette, £63; Pommette
blush case, £3,020; blush, £63;
blush brush, £80, travel blush brush,
£41, all part of the Rose Hermès
collection, by Hermès

T
he latest launch from Hermès Beauty has us flushed
with excitement. Composed of eight blush shades,
two application brushes, a leather blush case and
three pink lip tints, the Rose Hermès collection comes
a year after Hermès Beauty’s inaugural Rouge Hermès
lipstick launch (see W*252). For Hermès Beauty’s
creative director Jérôme Touron, cosmetics that
enhance a natural, rosy flush were a logical progression
after the bold lip-defining hues of the previous
collection. ‘Rose Hermès initiates a subtle unveiling
of the complexion,’ says Touron. ‘It is a palette
of shades that sketches contours without fixing
them, animating the face and giving it movement.’
Photography: Neil Godwin at Future Studios for Wallpaper*

To create the collection, Touron and his team

scoured the Hermès archives, singling out shades of
pink on a diverse range of items, from riding caps
to parasols, which were then reimagined as cosmetic
hues. Even the textures of the products are derived
from the brand’s signature designs, with lip tints
boasting a smooth finish similar to their beloved
leather products, and blushes that are silky to
the touch, recalling the feel of a Hermès scarf.
The line’s refillable packaging is designed by the
brand’s creative director of shoe and fine jewellery
collections, Pierre Hardy, and features a delicate
scent created by in-house perfumer Christine Nagel.
The result is a range of timeless objects that are,
in Hardy’s words, both ‘desirable and discreet’.

050 ∑
 Newspaper

The latest collection from Hermès

Beauty takes a rose-tinted view

Pretty in pink

WRITER: MARY CLEARY

 Newspaper

A celebrated Kyoto restaurant offers a

custom-built outlet for its confections

Sweet spot
There is a new addition to Honke At the main branch of
Owariya, widely regarded as Kyoto’s Honke Owariya, located on
oldest soba confectioner and restaurant. Niomontsukinukecho in
Today, it is run by 16th-generation owner Kyoto, a wall of glass (above)
showcases the minimalist
Ariko Inaoka, who asked Osaka-based
interior of its new outlet
designer Teruhiro Yanagihara, creative dedicated solely to soba
director of ceramics brand 1616/Arita sweets, while a side door
Japan, to transform an empty bicycle (left) crosses a threshold
park next to the restaurant, housed of graphic tiles to lead into
in a 19th-century wooden machiya a walled garden
townhouse, into a dedicated sweet
shop. In the new space, a wall of glass
showcases a minimalist interior, the
contemporary lines of a concrete block
counter softened by plaster walls, walnut
door frames and atmospheric lighting
by New Light Pottery (see W*236).
Beneath an old shop sign on the wall,
wooden boxes display the confectionery
for which Honke Owariya is famed, from
soba rice cakes to melt-in-the-mouth
soba warabi-mochi. Meanwhile, a glass
side door slides open across a threshold
of graphic roof tiles (found buried in
the garden during renovations) onto
a walled garden that flows towards the
machiya entrance, connecting shop
to restaurant. honke-owariya.co.jp

PHOTOGRAPHY: TAKUMI OTA WRITER: DANIELLE DEMETRIOU ∑ 053

 Newspaper

Jacket, £5,770; skirt, £1,635;

‘11.12’ bag, £5,555, all by
Chanel. Bracelet, £32,700,
by Sophie Bille Brahe
Life’s too short to be toting
the wrong-sized bag

Balancing act
Model: Becky at Established Models. Photography assistant: Sami Weller

PHOTOGRAPHY: ALICE FISHER FASHION: JASON HUGHES ∑ 055

 Newspaper

Left, jumpsuit, £1,600;

bralette, £650; knickers,
£670; earring, £390; ‘Caro’
bag, £3,300, all by Dior
Below, jacket, £2,390; skirt,
£920; ‘Moonlight’ bag, £1,450,
all by Fendi. Earrings,
£585, by Completedworks
Below left, top, £810; trousers,
£845; ‘Cleo’ bag, £1,520,
all by Prada. Bracelet, £700,
by Alighieri

F
ashion frequently flirts with bag shapes,
from the spectacularly sizeable to
the ludicrously Lilliputian. But if recent
lifestyle changes have taught us
anything, it’s that our accessories should
provide ease to our existences. As a
result, we’re banishing styles that have
Mary Poppins-friendly proportions or
surface areas too miniscule to hold a
credit card, and instead we’re embracing
silhouettes that are proportioned to
perfection, opting for bags that nestle
ergonomically under the shoulder.
Some, like Chanel ‘11.12’ bag and Gucci’s
‘Jackie’, are brand signatures.  »

056 ∑ PHOTOGRAPHY: ALICE FISHER FASHION: JASON HUGHES WRITER: LAURA HAWKINS
 Newspaper

Top row, jacket, £1,950;

roll-neck, £365; ‘Triomphe’ bag,
£1,550, all by Celine by Hedi
Slimane. Necklace, £1,150,
by Alighieri. Bodysuit, £1,950;
skirt, £3,800; ‘Mors de Bride’
bag, £4,500, all by Hermès
Middle row, jacket, £2,200;
‘Jackie’ bag, £1,590, both
by Gucci. Earrings, £195,
by Completedworks.
Jumpsuit, £1,690, by Valentino.
‘Roman Stud’ bag, £2,100, by
Valentino Garavani. Earrings,
£295; bracelet, £395, both
by Alighieri. Jacket, £2,175;
‘Le Monogramme’ bag, £1,285,
both by Saint Laurent by
Anthony Vaccarello. Earrings,
£10,925, by Sophie Bille Brahe
Bottom row, jacket, £1,940;
‘Curve’ bag, £1,090, both
by Alexander McQueen.
Earrings, £350, by Alighieri.
Dress, £3,045; bag, £1,830,
both by Salvatore Ferragamo.
Earrings, £280, by Alighieri

Others, such as Prada’s U-shaped ‘Cleo’

and Hermès’ boxy ‘Mors de Bride’, are
new silhouettes. The former nods to
minimalist 1990s styles from the Milan
label’s archive, while the horsebit-
inspired closure of the latter’s offering
nods to the Parisian maison’s equestrian
heritage. The most striking shoulder
bags feature tactile fabrications and
graphic hardware details but err against
any other ostentation. Celine, Christian
Dior and Saint Laurent all laud the
logo or monogram in metal form, while
Valentino Garavani has sized up the
stud details synonymous with its
accessories to striking effect. Let these
bags take your utility-inspired dressing
to another dimension.

058 ∑
 Newspaper

The studio of Christo

and Jeanne-Claude, at
48 Howard Street, New
York, was filled with
drawings, photographs
and art materials

A recent sale at Sotheby’s in Paris

offering personal items belonging to
artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude
included many previously unseen works
and personal items from the couple’s
longtime studio at 48 Howard Street
in New York. Before the auction, we
secured special access for photographer
Brigitte Lacombe to visit and
photograph the studio almost as Christo
left it when he died in May last year –
with drawings, tables lined with pencils,
rulers and other materials, posters and
personal photographs pinned on the
walls, and postcards that the couple
received from their famous friends.
‘I was most excited about the chance to
see the studio and living space of these
great artists, which is largely untouched,’
says Lacombe. ‘It was very moving,
intimate and inspiring. It’s all about
the work and not about the presentation
Unwrapping the hidden world of its design. The bedroom, bathroom
of Christo and Jeanne-Claude and kitchen are all miniscule. Life and
work are indistinguishable.’ Also visible

Private lives are plans and drawings of the wrapped

Arc de Triomphe (a project Christo was
working on in his final days, and which
is still set to go ahead in September),
highlighting just how active the artist
was right up until the end.
christojeanneclaude.net

060 ∑ PHOTOGRAPHY: BRIGITTE LACOMBE WRITER: PEI-RU KEH

 Newspaper

A new school in Chile aims Commissioned by the Isabel Aninat mobility needs. ‘We proposed to
Echazarreta Foundation, a charity accommodate these varied programmes
to protect and inspire
that supports vulnerable people, in the manner of a walled citadel

Support act
including children and young people that would provide children with a
with disabilities, this new school, on protective environment, while allowing
the outskirts of Santiago in Chile, the coexistence of not only these
is designed by architect Sebastián diverse programmatic units, but also of
Irarrázaval. A crisp, white, concrete different forms of movement through
composition of low and tall volumes, the interior: some more hierarchical
the Integral Stimulation Center and orderly, others more free and
unites a variety of spaces, including labyrinthine to encourage fortuitous
classrooms, laboratories, a gymnasium, encounters,’ says Irarrázaval. The
a chapel and a heated pool, with two taller buildings flag up the main
functions divided into clusters and entrance and the chapel, respectively,
designed to cater to specific student while operating as orientation points for
groups and special educational and the school’s users. sebastianirarrazaval.net

Above, located in Talagante, well as facilities designed

on the outskirts of Santiago, to stimulate the cognition
Chile, a new school for of its pupils, including
children with special mobility classrooms, laboratories,
and educational needs offers a gymnasium, outdoor play
a protective environment, as areas and a heated pool

PHOTOGRAPHY: CRISTÓBAL PALMA WRITER: ELLIE STATHAKI ∑ 063

 Newspaper

The New York design company

that celebrates the homemade

Great American makers

When Susan Clark founded New York marble tables and lighting designed Above, in Radnor’s curated
design company Radnor in 2016, her by Clark, marking the first time the apartment at Manhattan
mission was to create elegant designer- Radnor founder has put her name development 180 East 88th
led furniture, lighting and accessories to products. There is also Roberts’ Street, from left, ‘Bone 01’
credenza, by Loïc Bard;
at an approachable level. Building first furniture collection, comprising
‘Pillar’ light, by Henry
on its practice of curating experiential a desk, a bedside table, an upholstered Wilson; ‘Pris’ floor lamp, by
showrooms in residential settings stool and a collection of rugs. All are Pelle; ‘Halyard Equ’ rug;
(it formerly occupied a two-bedroom exclusive to Radnor. Although the ‘Beau’ armchair, both by Bunn
apartment at the David Chipperfield- collection encompasses an international Studio; ‘Howard’ sectional
designed The Bryant), Radnor unveils mix of creatives, the company is sofa, by Egg Collective; woven
horsehair pillows, by Alexandra
a new home this month in a 4,000 sq ft regarded as a champion of American
Kohl; ‘Parallax’ coffee table,
apartment at 180 East 88th Street, a new manufacturing and design. ‘I hope by Karl Zahn; ‘Bone 02’ chair,
development in Manhattan’s Carnegie Radnor can help to contribute to by Loïc Bard; and ‘Core’ side
Hill. The airy space is designed in the history of American design,’ says tables, by Susan Clark, all
collaboration with Elizabeth Roberts Clark. ‘We’re based here, and I want prices on request, from Radnor
Architects and filled with nearly to make sure that whatever we’re
70 design works and collectibles. Some making is constantly thinking about
notable highlights include a table by the community of people who are
Karl Zahn (his first ever furniture in this with me, and making them
piece), as well as a series of solid milled as proud as they can be.’ radnor.co

064 ∑ PHOTOGRAPHY: MATTHEW WILLIAMS WRITER: PEI-RU KEH

 Column

THE VINSON VIEW

Quality maniac Nick Vinson on the who, what, when, where and why

NICKY’S HOME IMPROVEMENT WISH LIST

1. A version of the ‘butler box’ from the
Peninsula Hotel in Tokyo. Hotel staff access the
space from the corridor, guests from the room.
It’s used for deliveries and collections, such as
invitations, shoe shine, laundry; a button alerts
both parties if something is inside. I would swap
my apartment letter box for a domestic version
of this, ideally beside my door, for contactless
deliveries and to maintain privacy. And for
when I’m out, I’d like an additional street-side
delivery box with a digital entry system.
2. A dedicated area to open e-commerce
packages and prepare any returns, with space
to keep packaging for reuse and recycling.
3. A home office with: a giant desk, ideally the
‘Table En Forme Libre’ by Charlotte Perriand;
a smart and simple background for FaceTime
and Zoom; and flattering lighting.
4. My home office would be connected with
sliding doors to a space for working out and
stretching, with a projector for sessions with
my personal trainer and for online classes.
I’d add some weights, a Loro Piana cashmere
mat, a foam roller and a Theragun to get rid
of muscle tension.

01 Designs for Covid-era living

Picky Nicky on a radical rethink of our domestic space
Posh apartments used to be designed renovation includes sliding doors between
with separate entrances for residents and spaces, which he has found especially useful
tradesmen, as well as a room for a maid, for video calls. In his projects, meanwhile,
a reflection of how the occupants lived. Sestig has been responding to the increased
In the Covid era, as we work from home, use of e-commerce by adding exterior
work out at home, and shop from home, structures to apartment buildings and
reality for most of us is less about live-in offices to facilitate contactless delivery.
staff and more about online deliveries; that Architect Patrick McInerney is 02
tradesmen’s lift is more likely to be used by addressing similar concerns in California,
couriers delivering takeaways or packages, where couriers traditionally leave packages Contactless deliveries
while any spare rooms are put to new uses. on the front step of a freestanding home, The Bringme doorbell allows you to open
There are thousands of new-build now a magnet for thieves. McInerney is the front door via your phone and directs
apartments completing in London this interested in the hall as a transitional space. couriers to deliver parcels to the Bringme
year. Nina Coulter, director of residential His idea is for a double set of doors and box in your lobby. bringme.com
development sales at Savills in London, says an antechamber between, where packages
second or third bedrooms are already being can be received safely and without
marketed as offices. Design changes will intrusion. But his main Covid-era design
follow as developers cater for two people idea is that we take fitness out of the gym
working from home. Think built-in desk and into the work zone, to counteract the
spaces, and adaptable lighting to take effects of sitting at a desk. For me, it’s also
you between work and relaxation modes. about efficiency – desk to gym without
British architect and designer Jonathan leaving the room. Pop onto your Peleton for
Reed has clients who asked for a standalone 20 minutes or take a 4pm training session
office building at their home last year, with and get straight back to work. This calls
two bedrooms so assistants can work on site for an intelligent domestic design solution.
for longer periods without needing to come Charlotte Perriand, forever the pioneer, 03
into the house. The clients found ‘huge achieved just this in 1935 for La Maison du
efficiency’ in not leaving home to work. Jeune Homme, a concept complete with Virtual fitness
In 2019, Glenn Sestig moved into a 1972 an office, a gym and a giant commissioned Many gyms have helped clients work out
building by Ivan Van Mossevelde, in Deurle, painting by Fernand Léger. I am not exactly remotely. I take Zoom personal training
Belgium, making it both his home and a jeune homme anymore, but it would suit me sessions and classes with Marylebone’s
architectural studio. Part of his respectful nicely, especially if it includes the Léger. ∂ AMP, no matter where I am. amp.fit

066 ∑ ILLUSTRATOR: DANAE DIAZ

Architecture

BACK TO
THE FUTURE
Rem Koolhaas revisits his revolutionary but never-built 1980 Boompjes
development in a new, pocket-sized design project
WRITER: ELLIE STATHAKI
 An original drawing for
OMA’s unrealised Boompjes
project for Rotterdam.
Commissioned in 1980, the
project mixed housing and
workspace on a constrained
riverside site and combined
vertical and angled towers
with a horizontal slab

∑ 069
 Architecture

R
otterdam and OMA have long been intertwined. The main artwork for the the start of a long relationship between the city
The Dutch port city has been home to the Boompjes project is this 1982 and the architecture firm.
silkscreen triptych created
celebrated architecture practice for over four by Koolhaas with Italian
Rotterdam, devastated by bombing from both sides
decades now, and it is also co-founder Rem Koolhaas’ architect Stefano de Martino during the Second World War, presented a challenge
birthplace. Still, the architect didn’t spend a lot and an opportunity for architects and planners in
of time there until the 1980s. Instead, he followed a the second half of the 20th century – large parts of
more international trajectory in his early years. His it had to be entirely rebuilt. This was also the reason
childhood was mostly divided between Amsterdam and Koolhaas chose it as his Dutch base in 1980, shortly
Jakarta, and after graduating from the Architectural after the Boompjes commission (two more schemes,
Association in London, he moved to New York to the IJ-Plein housing and a commissioned study for the
attend Cornell. possible renovation of the Koepel Panopticon Prison
His book, Delirious New York, published in 1978 were also in the works in different parts of the country).
to much acclaim, was a kind of love letter to the great ‘It made the city very fertile ground for architecture.
American city, exploring its development as well I had more affinity and interest in Rotterdam. I started
as notions of urbanity and congestion that came an office there almost on a hunch,’ he says. So, in the
to define his career. OMA was established in 1975 1980s and early 1990s, the OMA headquarters was next
between New York and London (by Koolhaas together door to the Boompjes’ plot and the water (a London
with Elia Zenghelis, Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon office had opened in 1975, and Koolhaas and colleagues
Vriesendorp) and by the time of the book’s publication, travelled back and forth as needed).
the architect was heading back to Europe. ‘I was in a Due to its geographical constraints, the Boompjes
strange position, as the book made me relatively well site could only be experienced in two ways: either
known, but I had never built anything,’ he admits. He passing by the road running parallel to the plot on
decided to return to the Netherlands to pursue work; ground level, or approaching it from across the River
and if New York played a landmark role in making Maas via a bridge. These ‘unusually controlled’ views
Koolhaas architecture’s favourite theorist, Rotterdam stimulated Koolhaas’ imagination and informed the
allowed him to build, to turn theory into practice. design. This, combined with the fact that the city
Landing in Amsterdam in 1979, a meeting with authorities allowed him great flexibility, meant the site
a Rotterdam city councillor soon resulted in a ‘dream’ was ripe for experimentation. ‘We made the design so
assignment – and one of the first big commission that it was like an accordion. It could be spread wide
wins for OMA. ‘He was sitting in front of a map of or if you approached it from a single angle, you only
Rotterdam and asked, “So, where do you want to saw a very narrow side,’ he says.
build?” It was very generous. I saw a site on the river The project’s formal response reflects Koolhaas’
and the interesting thing about it was that it was architectural preoccupations at the time. The design
very constrained on one side by water, on the other incorporates a series of five tall, lean highrises set
by a bridge, on a third side by a road, and on the against a horizontal slab placed at the top. Some
fourth by a building,’ says Koolhaas. He picked the vertical elements are perpendicular to the slab, others
site and started designing. The scheme was named sit at an angle, while one is just slightly apart. The
Boompjes (‘little trees’ in Dutch) and mixed housing formation became a kind of urban screen, filtering light
and workspace along the Maasboulevard. It marked and framing views from the river to the city and the »

∑ 071
 Architecture

‘Towers are the expression of capitalism and

slabs are the main expression of socialism’
housing development and the future of living. ‘In
the 1980s, housing in the Netherlands meant social
housing,’ he says. ‘I had just come from America
and I was interested in less defined spaces, open spaces.
So the building had an industrial quality.’ The design –
including a range of private apartments from studios
other way round. ‘Of course, I had written a book about to larger duplexes and loft-style spaces – with its river
New York, but I was actually much more interested views, ‘was about flexibility, openness, an uncluttered
in another typology, the slab,’ says Koolhaas. ‘Towers space’. It also contained a gym and a library on site,
are the expression of capitalism and slabs are the main a particularly forward-thinking move at a time when
expression of socialism. In the 1980s, it was interesting amenities in larger-scale residential schemes were
to try to create a hybrid shape. Boompjes is a hybrid.’ anything but the norm.
The main artwork for the design, produced in 1982, Boompjes was sadly never built – ‘we presented it to
is a silkscreen rendering created by Koolhaas with the city a number of times; in the end they sold the site
Italian architect Stefano de Martino, and can still to a developer, but nothing came out of it’, Koolhaas
be found in the practice’s archives. It is a triptych,  concludes – but its ideas were pioneering, and live on.
a colourful, geometric composition that brings to In the late 1990s, OMA was commissioned to work on
mind abstract or constructivist art, and the work of another site by the river in Rotterdam, which faced
Piet Mondrian or László Moholy-Nagy. A print run a similar situation – again, approached by a bridge and
of a couple of hundred editions was produced and now its perception controlled by limited viewpoints. That
many of these sit in museum collections – at MoMA, project, just across the water from the Boompjes site,
the Centre Pompidou, CCA and The New Institute, for eventually became De Rotterdam, a mixed-use, ‘vertical
example. ‘We wanted to explain everything you need city’ completed in 2013 beside the Wilhelmina Pier. De Rotterdam image: courtesy of OMA, photography Ossip van Duivenbode
to say about this project in a single representation,’ says Now, Boompjes has one more incarnation. In 2019,
Koolhaas. The buildings’ colours nod to the passing American Express approached OMA, proposing an
ships’ bright hues; as port activity was ever-present artistic collaboration with Koolhaas on a new design
in the office views, it provided constant inspiration. for Amex’s exclusive Centurion Card. The practice
Beyond formal considerations, Koolhaas’ vision had been working with the card’s signature Roman
for the long and narrow site explored new models for references, when the client came across the Boompjes
project. It became a starting point for the new design,
with Koolhaas and his team adapting the triptych Top left, Koolhaas, captured
by his daughter, artist and
visual to the card’s specifications. Launching through photographer Charlie Koolhaas,
2021 and 2022, the result blends graphic design with in Amsterdam in February 2021
thought-provoking architecture that was ahead of its Top right, some of OMA’s
time, in the smallest item ever designed by Koolhaas. ideas for Boompjes live on in
De Rotterdam, a mixed-use
‘I see graphic design as a crucial domain to project ‘vertical city’ completed by
ideas in,’ says Koolhaas, who regularly explores two- OMA in 2013, on the other
dimensional design through OMA’s research and design side of the river
arm, AMO. ‘Architecture is also a domain to project Left, a new design for Amex’s
Centurion Card, created
ideas in. The similarity [between the disciplines] is in collaboration with
about ideas, and these can take any form.’ ∂ Rem Koolhaas and referencing
oma.eu; americanexpress.com the Boompjes triptych

072 ∑
 Jewellery

CROWNING
GLORY
The New York power couple bringing everyday
regal bearing to contemporary jewellery
PHOTOGRAPHY: TINO CHIWARIRO WRITER: MAZZI ODU

Kofi and Kristin Essel, the couple behind New York- is: as husband and wife, as male and female. But it’s also
based jewellery brand Third Crown, have developed about creating this genderless space.’ For Kofi, who
the kind of verbal overlaps and interweaving common studied at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology,
to successful life-work partnerships. Kofi, who grew and Kristin, who followed her degree in apparel design
up in Ghana, says, ‘Third Crown is about taking the at Florida State University with stints at David Yurman
aesthetic of a queen mother or a chief wearing all and Reed Krakoff, it has meant creating jewellery
those traditional rings that are huge and stacked up, that fits seamlessly into wearers’ everyday realities but
and when you see that person you just know who they doesn’t compromise the brand’s design language.
are.’ Kristin, whose parents are from Jamaica, adds, Actively rejecting the high jewellery scene and
‘When you go to Jamaica – real Jamaica, not the opting instead to create contemporary gold-plated
resorts – you see everyone in big gold chains and lots pieces, pieces you ‘can ride the train in’, was canny and
of jewellery. So we want to make sure that all our inclusive. And, rather than old-school suites or parures,
pieces are big and bold.’ They laugh, realising they have pieces are simply paired, creating mini sets. When
mirrored one another’s responses but posited them New York’s retail jewellery gatekeepers gave the brand
in two locations. However, they are not interested a lukewarm response, they pivoted, focusing instead
in leaning on nostalgia, but instead are committed on e-commerce. ‘It actually worked in our favour,’
to crafting something new from their New York base says Kristin. ‘Because once the pandemic hit and
that has resonance further afield. all the stores closed, everyone was shopping online.’
Third Crown wears its founders’ heritages lightly. The brand’s ethos and daring, elevated aesthetic has
While cultures of origin inform the brand’s overall attracted an A-list clientele that includes Beyoncé,
aesthetic, geometry, architecture and travel also Solange and Cardi B. ‘I feel that what we’re bringing
inspire pieces that are simultaneously audacious and to the table is different, and the artists that have
timeless. ‘Our first collection was “Arc” and it was a worn us are just an extra nod,’ says Kofi.
little translation of that shape of the Arc de Triomphe,’ The death of George Floyd in May last year and
says Kofi. ‘We like to think of all our collections as the attention it garnered for Black-owned creative
chapters in a book.’ Like a book, where the characters businesses was bittersweet. ‘It was quite unfortunate
evolve with time and circumstance, Third Crown’s that it took someone’s death for people to recognise
initial design theses have grown into collections that Black creatives,’ says Kofi. But Kristin adds that they
form an elegant continuum. Thus the ‘Arc’ morphed used the moment to pay their success forward, adding,
into the ‘Marcy’, a curvier iteration, and in the case ‘We made sure to donate a lot of the money we earned
of the ‘Hedron’ and ‘Prizm’ collections, tetrahedron from the exposure to help others’. Future plans
forms were reinterpreted to include bevelling details are informed by their new Brooklyn atelier, where a
and a custom chain link. collaboration with fashion designer Jonathan Simkhai
Since launching in 2013, Third Crown has remained is in progress. Kofi is also keen to forge new links
wholly authentic to its ethos while nimble in execution. with Ghana. ‘One thing I really want to be able to
‘A strong part of our brand DNA is the power of the do is source gold from the motherland,’ he says. ∂
pair,’ says Kofi. ‘Us coming together is what the brand thirdcrown.com

The brand’s daring, elevated aesthetic has attracted

an A-list clientele that includes Beyoncé and Cardi B
Small gold-plated/silver-plated
brass cuffs, $380 each;
large gold-plated brass cuff,
$440; gold-plated/silver-
plated brass rings, $220 each,
all part of the ‘Marcy’
collection, by Third Crown

∑ 075
 Technology

SPECIAL
EFFECTS
Mod Devices’ open-source
pedals play a different tune

Our tech landscape may be dominated by carefully

manicured walled gardens overseen by zealous tech
titans, but at the coalface of creative tinkering,
restrictions are the death of innovation. The future of
sound is open source. The Berlin-based Mod Devices
subscribes to the ethos that systems should be open to
those with the time and skills to make a change. Mod
builds effects processors for musicians of all stripes,
with each device a building block for an unlimited
sonic world. In layman’s terms, its digital boxes sit
between instrument and amplifier, allowing players
to layer different effects in infinite numbers of ways,
as well as create their own. ‘I play the guitar and have
tinkered with computers since 1990,’ says Gianfranco
Ceccolini, who set up Mod Devices in Brazil in 2014.
‘When the first digital multi-effects units emerged in
the 1990s, I tried many of them and was disappointed.
They might have been digital, but the products were
still very analogue, with pre-defined functions and
no way to reprogramme them.’ Ceccolini’s dream was
a processor that could run his own software.
Mod’s first product was the Quadra, a compact
box aimed primarily at guitarists and bass players
that wanted convenience and flexibility in one small
package. Today, the company is 13-strong and has three
core products, the Duo, Duo X and the new Dwarf,
along with a burgeoning range of accessories. Half the ‘I believe this is what makes our products so minimalistic Above, the aluminium Mod Dwarf,
workforce is based in Berlin’s House of Music, a former compared to what they offer in terms of features. currently available to preorder
from Mod Devices, offers
train depot that’s home to a number of music tech Ruggedness and durability are also important, because monthly releases, so you’ll never
firms, while the rest work remotely around the world. a musician needs to trust their equipment absolutely. get bored with your sounds
Mod’s devices come to life when connected to a In some ways, making hardware has never been so easy,’
computer. Using a skeuomorphic interface, users he adds. ‘3D printing, fast prototyping and low-volume
build up complex chains of effects from around 400 production are all accessible realities.’
options, from delays and reverbs through to synthesisers To date, Mod has crowdfunded its prototypes,
and sequencers. The resulting virtual ensemble, or building up a buzz before selling through selected
pedalboard, is saved into the pedal, which can be used dealers. ‘We’re essentially a new segment for musical
as a standalone device away from the computer, with instruments, standing between traditional self-
Retouching: RGBerlin

a variety of ways to tweak and shape the sounds. contained devices and laptops,’ says Ceccolini. ‘In the
Mod’s industrial and graphic design ethos grew future, more and more creative people will be able to
out of its ‘off-the-shelf ’ approach, bringing together use technology that was designed with a very specific
high-quality components with a Braun-like simplicity. use in mind. Our purpose is to enable anyone to achieve
‘We’re highly driven by function,’ says Ceccolini. any sound in any musical context.’ ∂ moddevices.com

PHOTOGRAPHY: STUDIO AMOS FRICKE WRITER: JONATHAN BELL ∑ 077

 Art

Sharp objects
The whimsical works of Serban Ionescu cut
across the border lines between design and art

Inspired by a summer job as a model maker at an Above, Ionescu’s ICES

architectural firm, Serban Ionescu went on to study (In Case of Emergency
Sculptures), 2020, are small
architecture at Pratt Institute, where he thrived handheld works that can
creatively and discovered a fondness for the work of be utilised in the event of
Lebbeus Woods and John Hejduk. ‘But the negative an emergency, a comment
on the shifting notions
side of architecture school is that it builds up this of sculpture over time
amazing kind of naivety that you’re going to change
Right, Aza, showing as
the world,’ he reflects. Graduating in 2007, he was soon part of the group exhibition
disheartened by the difficulty of making a dent in the ‘Objects: USA 2020’ at
profession, and set his sights on being an artist instead. R & Company New York

Growing up in his native Romania, Ionescu could

draw before he learned to speak (between the ages of
three and five, he drew exclusively in aerial view, taking
after his engineer parents who taught him about plan,
elevation and section). Drawing became his way of
unlearning the lessons of architectural school. He drew
and painted and sculpted, bringing the three together
in his 2016 Pinocchio Chair – pieces of plywood, painted
Photography: John Watts, Joe Kramm

baby blue, bubblegum pink and bright red, and with

the likeness of the puppet carved into the seatback.
It established a cartoonish style that has characterised
Ionescu’s work since, a combination of design and art
that makes him one to watch on the creative scene.
Today, the now Brooklyn-based Ionescu often works
with sheets of powder-coated steel, and his output
stretches across scales: the largest, Chapel for an Apple
(2020), is a 20ft-tall folly nestled in a field in Hudson »

WRITER: TF CHAN ∑ 079

 Art
Left, the 20ft-tall Chapel for an
Apple, on a hillside in Hudson,
originated as an improvised
paper model in Ionescu’s
studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn
Below, the anthropomorphic
Folk sculptural chairs are
made from wood and steel,
with whimsical expressions
carved into the seatbacks

‘The mix of colour, architecture and abstract forms create

relationships in a way that I have never seen before’
in upstate New York. Its outline evokes both a
prototypical chapel and the area’s industrial heritage;
there’s a viewing platform, an apple-shaped entrance
and Lego-like colours for a dash of whimsy. Among
the smallest are his ICES (In Case of Emergency
Sculptures), with a rough resemblance to Swiss army
knives. These are ‘objects of dormant utility’, says
Ionescu, pointing to the uncertainties of the pandemic
era and the evolving definitions of design and art.
His rising stature is reflected by his inclusion in
the group show ‘Objects: USA 2020’, currently on at
New York’s R & Company. One of 50 contemporary
‘object makers’ to participate, Ionescu created a new
piece, Aza, ‘furniture, architecture and sculpture
crashing into one’. The gallery’s principal, Zesty
Meyers, has worked with Ionescu for two years. ‘Every
time you look at his work, you find new interesting
details,’ Meyers enthuses. ‘The mix of colour,
architecture and abstract forms create relationships
in a way that I have never seen before.’
Meanwhile, Ionescu’s first solo exhibition in Europe
is about to open at Antwerp’s Everyday Gallery.
Titled ‘In Order of Appearance’, it features smaller-
scale pieces that show ‘how a cast of characters
Photography: Sara Fox, John Watts

becomes things, becomes furniture’. Stuck in Toronto

for ten months during the pandemic, Ionescu set
out to create at least one drawing a day and has since
accumulated more than 500. What began as a personal
project is now poised to occupy gallery walls, offering
an opportunity for viewers to glimpse into his fertile
imagination. ‘It’s going to show a bit more of how
things come together,’ he says. ∂
r-and-company.com; everydaygallery.art; serbanionescu.com

080 ∑
 Technology

Sound
scape
French brand Devialet teams
tech with aesthetics to
reshape audio experience
PHOTOGRAPHY: CAMILLE SAVIOZ WRITER: JONATHAN BELL

Timeless technology is something of an

oxymoron in our accelerated age. Consumers
are conditioned to expect rapid tech
advancements expressed in a swift turnover
of products, with annual upgrade cycles the
de facto method of signalling how our devices
get faster, smaller (or bigger), better, sleeker
and more efficient. It’s a gallop, not a canter,
that goes against the ethos of luxury design,
with its emphasis on craft, care and attention
to detail. It’s a rare brand that manages
to dovetail both qualities into its products.
From its inception, French audio specialist
Devialet set out to make art out of audio.
The company was founded in 2007 by Pierre-
Emmanuel Calmel, Emmanuel Nardin
and Quentin Sannié, combining knowledge
of acoustics, industrial design and finance,
respectively. Its most important invention
was a patented new form of amplification,
Analog Digital Hybrid (ADH). This uses
modern digital amplifiers to boost signal,
rounding off the process with a traditional
analogue amplifier for output. The result
is less noise and distortion, doing away with
speaker hiss, and creating crisp sound with
a full dynamic range regardless of volume.
The team worked to translate innovation
into tangible and highly desirable products,
while high-profile investors came on board,
including Bernard Arnault, Jay Z’s Roc Nation
entertainment conglomeration, Renault,
and Foxconn.
Devialet eventually debuted a series of
high-grade amplification products, starting
with the D-Premier model in 2012. These
were soon followed by the original Devialet
Phantom, a compact all-in-one speaker
system that compressed the team’s know-how
into an elegantly portable package. Devialet’s new Phantom I
Introduced in 2015, it cemented Devialet’s compact speaker, in matte
black, at the company’s
claim to be the first choice of aesthete production facility south-east
audiophiles. Then, as now, Nardin was in of Paris. Its technology
control of every aesthetic decision. ‘Every means sound waves travel
away from the rounded device
Devialet product has a certain timeless
quality,’ he explains. ‘The new Phantom 1  »
in a perfectly balanced way
∑ 083
 Technology

This picture, a medium woofer in

production for the Phantom I
Below, work-in-progress design

‘Our idea was – and remains – to design products

with full conviction and no compromises’
follows this logic. It is now over five years wireless device, which still manages to offer
since the original was launched, and the utmost in fidelity. Exceptional sound
Phantom 1 reinvigorates the product and quality is a given. But if you’re the kind
emphasises the qualities that define it.’ of person who gets a kick out of the carat
Updating the Phantom series would of your cables, Phantom’s plug-and-play
present a challenge for any designer. Nardin simplicity probably won’t suffice.
is quick to point out that the original speaker That’s not to say the product can’t be
‘upended’ the high-end audio market, making improved. Enter Phantom 1. Nardin asserts
a splash with its distinctive form. Those that this new model is a revolution, not
who are truly passionate about buying into an evolution, explaining that many elements
and building ultra-high fidelity have a tricky have been improved, from the internal
relationship with industrial design. Beyond software to the build quality and the tactile
a certain price point, customers want to feel of the materials themselves.
see their speakers, not just hear them; the Designed to work as a single unit or in
experience of the Phantom is shaped by the a pair, the new Phantom 1 continues to include
sculptural qualities of the device itself. Yet for Devialet’s key innovations, the ADH system
those audiophiles determined to embark on among them. The units also incorporate
the never-ending quest for audio perfection, two powerful woofers for an extremely deep
aesthetics become subsumed by a deluge and dense bass sound – the kind you can
of minutiae – cabling, stands, the resonance physically feel. As well as the bass drivers,
of certain woods, the shape of your room, Phantom 1 has an aluminium tweeter and
the construction of your house, the purity of medium driver, with all speakers carefully
the materials used to carry the signal. This arranged within the compact, pebble-like
is an infinite rabbit hole that Devialet, to its object. Speaker placement and projection are
credit, deftly side-stepped with its all-in-one, extremely important; another proprietary  »

∑ 085
 Technology
Left, a pair of Phantom I
speakers demonstrate the
design’s sculptural appeal.
A mainly monochromatic
colour palette is intended
to express simplicity and
make for enduring appeal,
says Devialet co-founder
and chief design officer
Emmanuel Nardin, below

technology, the Active Cospherical Engine, The company’s production facility in Le In the Phantom, the firm might have found
ensures sound waves travel away from the Châtelet-en-Brie, near Paris, is more lab than its enduring icon, but it’s also clear that its
rounded forms of the device in a perfectly factory, with robots and skilled technicians core technology still has a long way to go in a
balanced way. Connectivity is via Bluetooth, carefully assembling the Kubrickian forms of world increasingly obsessed with high-quality
WiFi, Airplay or Spotify’s Connect system, the Phantom from high-quality components sound. ‘Our idea was – and remains – to
controlled by a dedicated mobile app. The from France and other European countries. design products with full conviction and no
smaller Phantom 11 (formerly the Reactor) Machining, polishing, balancing and final compromises,’ Nardin says, ‘and to be
shares the original’s design language and testing take place at the same facility. comfortable with a certain level of risk.’ The
is best described as the ultimate wireless The new material finishes of Phantom 1 team was joined by CEO Franck Lebouchard
speaker, offering 350 watts of power in its double down on the luxury. In the past, in 2018 and now covers all bases in the sphere
most simple form and designed for a multi- special editions, such as the Gold Phantom of premium sound. As well as the Phantom 1
room system. Opéra de Paris model, were explicitly targeted and the Phantom 11, there is the Expert Pro
One of the key questions for Devialet at a more lifestyle audience, with hand- amplifier range (extending all the way up
was how to take the Phantom’s singular and applied gold alloy to enhance the casing. to the Expert 1000 Pro Dual system, which
refined form to another level. Industrial From the outset, Phantom 1 demonstrates costs a shade under £25,000), and the Gemini
designers often struggle with the central a more tactile approach. ‘We’ve chosen wireless earbuds.
dichotomy of their profession; do you design materials that create a strong contrast, from The company has also branched
for sustainable longevity, or should you sate high-tech matte composites to metallic ones,’ out into small-scale vinyl production, with
the market’s relentless desire for novelty? says Nardin. ‘The white polycarbonate shell a new label, The Lost Recordings, publishing
Devialet’s decision to subtly enhance, rather has the feel of ceramic – it’s luxurious to look heavyweight pressings of cult albums in
than completely overhaul, the appearance at and touch. We want our colours to endure collaboration with musician Frédéric D’Oria
of its flagship product is driven by both and to imply simplicity.’ The relatively Nicolas’ Fondamenta label; remastered
necessity and pragmatism. ‘Phantom was monochromatic approach – matte black, dark concerts by the likes of Dave Brubeck and
born out of functionalism,’ says Nardin, chrome, white/light chrome and with flashes Ella Fitzgerald showcase the capabilities of
‘it’s a very robust design. Ultimately, it’s of gold – also allows the Phantom 1 to be Devialet’s systems. In addition to power-
the market that decides, not the designer, accommodated in every kind of interior. boosting special editions in the years to come,
whether we have a product that’s as iconic For Nardin, Devialet ‘has been a designer’s the company’s uncanny ability to condense
as a Porsche 911.’ He acknowledges the ‘push dream’, he says. ‘I was a design consultant audio quality into small packages will bear
and pull between technology and design’, for 20 years. As a consultant, you are always fruit in less visible ways, as new partners seek
stressing that the speaker’s ‘form factor serves making compromises to mitigate risk to to share its secrets. Nardin and his colleagues
the acoustic performance – the architecture someone else’s brand and image. When I may have taken risks to get this far, but you
is very sophisticated. Any evolution of this decided to embark on this project in 2007, it can be sure your ears are in good hands. ∂
form is therefore cosmetic, by and large.’ was a dream to work without concessions.’ Phantom 1, from £1,890, devialet.com

086 ∑
 In Residence

Ledgewood, originally designed by

Robert Kennard in 1961, opens onto
a sheltered pool courtyard, remodelled by
landscape design studio Terremoto
 US Homes 1: The Angeleno Abode

Green room
Studio Shamshiri gets a midcentury
Hollywood Hills gem ready for its close-up
PHOTOGRAPHY: STEPHEN KENT JOHNSON PORTRAIT: SAM FROST
ART DIRECTION: MICHAEL REYNOLDS WRITER: TILLY MACALISTER-SMITH

∑ 089
090 ∑
 In Residence

N
estled in the verdant Hollywood the house.’ Nataf ’s challenge was to treat the
Hills, shaded by lush foliage and architecture with reverence and sensitivity
giant palms, is Ledgewood, a single- while updating the house for contemporary
storey, modestly sized 2,298 sq ft house. life. ‘I wanted to keep the essence, and I knew
The 1961 building actually has a lot to shout what I wanted eventually,’ he says. But
about: its designer and initial owner was although he was seasoned in interior design,
Robert Kennard, an associate of Richard ‘I didn’t know how to get there right away’.
Neutra and a leading Black architect of He appointed Shamshiri to redesign,
his generation. Not grand by Hollywood renovate and restore the property. Considered
standards, this handsome jewel box of California design royalty, Shamshiri is one
a property is situated in perhaps the least of the most influential forces in American
inconspicuous of locations – just below design today. A founder of Commune Design
the Hollywood sign. and a set designer in earlier years, the Iranian-
Six decades on, Ledgewood maintains Italian founded Studio Shamshiri with her
a confident, graceful presence, thanks to brother Ramin in 2016 and has since designed
two great creative minds: its current owner, homes for Paul McCartney and the actor
French-Tunisian entrepreneur Franck Nataf, Anne Hathaway, a flagship store for jeweller
and designer Pamela Shamshiri. Nataf, Irene Neuwirth, the Maison de la Luz hotel
the founder of LA-based Exquisite Surfaces (see W*243) and more.
(which has become design world shorthand Wallpaper’s US Editor Michael Reynolds
for exemplary European and North African has collaborated with Shamshiri extensively,
flooring and surfaces in stone, wood, Top, the northern side of the living room is furnished and styled the shoot on these pages. He
terracotta and tile, see W*225), bought the with a Christopher Farr x Studio Shamshiri ‘Tibetan affectionately describes her as ‘a triple threat
Tantric’ rug and Poul Kjærholm lounge chairs
house in 2017 from Kennard’s daughter, after with a magnetic, rockstar personality. Firstly,
Above, the new kitchen is split into two adjoining areas,
a year of searching for the perfect property. she is beautiful. Secondly, she is nurturing
with appliances hidden at the back, and a large kitchen
Then in her sixties, the daughter had lived island at the front and compassionate, with a maternal, salt-of-
in the house since she was eight years old. Opposite, thanks to a new row of glazed sliding doors the-earth vibe. On top of all of that, she
‘She had kept it exactly as he intended,’ and floor-to-ceiling windows, Robert Kennard’s long is incredibly talented with exquisite taste.’
says Nataf. ‘She is also part of an architectural hallway now opens up onto the courtyard garden ‘Pam was already a friend,’ says Nataf,
foundation that preserves midcentury although the pair had never worked together
architecture in the city, so she had a book on a personal project until Ledgewood. They
of every receipt for every purchase made for first met years before, when Pamela was still »
 In Residence

Above, the master bedroom suite, with at Commune, and in time they became each would Robert Kennard have done if he were
a leather-panelled wall, teak millwork other’s clients and collaborators. ‘When I got doing it now?”’ says Shamshiri. ‘The liberties
and a painting by James Brown. Its
bathroom, below, is clad in zellige tiles
the house, she was the first person I showed it we take tend to be with the kitchens and
Opposite, Pamela Shamshiri at Ledgewood
to,’ says Nataf. ‘Her own place is close by and bathrooms, because we use those spaces so
it just reminded me of her. She knows exactly differently now, and the outdoors.’ Updating
this type of architecture and its challenges.’ the kitchen – ‘the trickiest part of the house
By coincidence, Shamshiri had recently to resolve’ – involved a major overhaul,
viewed the house for herself as she was also relocating it from its former central location
on the hunt. ‘We were both going through in the house and splitting it into two
life transitions, setting ourselves up for the adjoining areas: one that discreetly houses
next chapter. I love translating those life appliances and a second, clean space with
moments into interiors, because that’s the a large island and open vertical shelving.
purpose and point of a home,’ says Shamshiri. Featuring Exquisite Surfaces’ range
‘I knew Franck needed something that was throughout the house was a natural move,
very indoor-outdoor, elegant and family- although the surfaces were utilised in a new
friendly, but really pretty slick. He is very light. ‘I really wanted to show their materials
stylish and he lives his life a certain way,’ in the context of California modernism,
she says, reeling off a verbal tearsheet of as opposed to the historical homes that you
inspirations including Craig Ellwood, see them in more often,’ says Shamshiri.
James Bond, Tom Ford’s A Single Man, and Particularly inviting is the master bathroom,
John Lautner. with its sunken soaking tub and steam
Having deftly restored many homes by shower that looks out onto the Hollywood
prestigious architects, including Archibald Hills. Shamshiri suggested using traditional
Quincy Jones, Stanford White, Nigel Coates handmade Moroccan zellige tiles, which
and Rudolph Schindler, Shamshiri knew the have a natural variation in colour that creates
balancing act that was required. ‘Buildings warmth, but cut unusually small, and stacked
like this one have so much DNA in them vertically to accentuate the geometry of
and it can be overwhelming being a steward the house. ‘It was very laborious but Franck
of one. I free myself up by thinking, “What was game,’ she laughs. Shamshiri pushed »
∑ 093
 In Residence

Nataf ’s comfort zone with colour; she

chose to mirror the sultry, leafy exterior
Respect for the natural world plays directly
into design elements, too. ‘You enter the ‘I feel like I’m suspended
landscaping by local studio Terremoto
with a deep turtle green used throughout
house on the axis of its long hallway, the
life thread of the house, and we replaced
in a tranquil tree
the interior, from the lounge to the master
bedroom, where it is complemented with a
all the glass on the left and opened up the
hallway as much as possible to the outside,
house when I’m sitting
chestnut leather-panelled wall. ‘Midcentury so as you’re travelling linearly up and down in the living room;
houses are generally not done with a lot of the house, there is always a garden on one
colour. I had to hold Franck’s hand on that side,’ says Shamshiri. the entire house is very
one, but he really did let go,’ says Shamshiri. ‘I feel like I’m suspended in a tranquil tree
‘If it was anyone but Pam, I would be house when I’m sitting in the living room, Zen and meditative’
second guessing everything,’ confides Nataf. with the green walls hitting the green leaves
‘I have a very strong opinion, but I trust her outside,’ says Nataf. ‘The entire house is very
taste entirely. The only restriction was the Zen and meditative; you feel very calm there.
budget! I’d say, “As long as it fits the budget, The past year, little by little I have been
I’m good with whatever you want to do!”’ noticing how all these considerations work
Pieces such as Poul Kjærholm wicker and perfectly.’ The renovations concluded just
metal lounge chairs, a Christopher Farr x before the world ground to a halt in early
Studio Shamshiri ‘Tibetan Tantric’ rug and 2020 due to the pandemic. ‘Before the
vintage objects dress the rooms. Due to pandemic, I barely spent any time in the
space constraints, each piece of furniture house as I am a big traveller, often spending
was specifically sourced for a set position. time in New York and Paris. But it quickly
Consistent with Studio Shamshiri’s ethos, became my sanctuary,’ says Nataf.
conscientiously selecting and responsibly ‘Franck called me right away when Covid
sourcing materials was important. ‘All the happened and he was so happy to be nesting
cabinetry was made locally, primarily oiled there,’ says Shamshiri. ‘I was thinking about
and using low-VOC sealers,’ says Shamshiri. how efficient his space is, there isn’t a wasted
‘The stone did come from far away, as corner, and it feels spacious and appropriate.
everything for Exquisite Surfaces comes from There is no excess but it feels luxurious. I love Above, a ‘Flag Halyard’ armchair by Hans Wegner in
Europe, but the zellige tiles use the oldest that and I want to carry that forward and the main living room, which, like the rest of the house,
is painted in a deep turtle green to mirror the lush
of production techniques and we wanted encourage people to live that way.’ ∂ exterior. It also features new teak cabinetry, in keeping
to support the original artisans doing that.’ studioshamshiri.com; xsurfaces.com with the modernist heritage of the house

094 ∑
 Architecture

US Homes 2: The Hamptons House

Gable service
A Long Island new-build looks on point but offers up some curve appeal
PHOTOGRAPHY: ALAN TANSEY WRITER: SHAWN ADAMS
 Consisting of six gabled
volumes wrapped in dark
grey Accoya timber, Six
Square House sits in a verdant
two-acre plot on Long Island

∑ 097
 Architecture

A
s you enter the Hamptons, if you aren’t too accommodating a garage. Approaching the scheme Above, highlighting the flow
distracted by the bone-white beaches and from the polished concrete path, you’re greeted by of the ceiling’s geometry,
the large open-space living
cerulean waters, you’ll start catching glimpses two symmetrical gables. These elevations are ‘a false area comes with a refined
of the farmhouses that populate the rural landscape introduction to the building’. As you walk around white oak floor and a kitchen
in this part of America. Peppered across the clustered the house, the geometry departs from the traditional with natural ash millwork
by Brooklyn furniture makers
villages at the eastern end of Long Island, these pitched form and transforms into a dynamic sculpture Chapter & Verse
houses hint at the area’s rich agricultural history. with sweeping curves. Despite appearing three-
Playing on the area’s vernacular, the New York- dimensionally complex, the more fluid portions of
based practice Young Projects has reimagined the Six Square House were simple to construct. Made
conventional barn as a bold structure in its latest from entirely straight joints, the roof is a masterful
project, Six Square House. Consisting of six gabled sequence of ‘ruled surfaces’.
volumes, the elegant 3,500 sq ft family home features The six volumes are skilfully wrapped in a skin
an eclectic mix of architectural expressions. of charred Accoya timber, a dark slatted façade that
The plan is a ‘clustered grid, which sets up an contrasts perfectly with the bright Western red cedar
interesting dialogue between the spaces,’ says Bryan of the central courtyard’s entertaining space. This
Young, the founder and principal of Young Projects. accentuates the dichotomy between the external and
It’s a symmetric pattern of squares that intersect, internal elements. From the outside, one can read each
leaving trilateral voids that invite nature into the module. However, inside, there is an unexpected sense
scheme. Five of the tessellating modules collectively of continuity. ‘It is a smooth, unfolding interior that
provide two bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, is embraced by the complex geometry,’ explains Young.
a porch, and living areas, and enclose a triangular Internally, the form of the ceiling creates a harmonious
courtyard, while the sixth sits away from the rest, fluidity. ‘As you move through the rooms, there is »

∑ 099
 Architecture

Above, the central open-air this sense of spatial ambiguity,’ he continues.

dining area is clad in Western Having owned the plot for several years, the client
red cedar, in a nod to the
material used in the existing
was keen that the new building emphasise the
19th-century farmhouse that foliage that has always defined the land. Taking
sits at the front of the site this into account, Young Projects teamed up with
Left, the master bathroom the Minneapolis-based landscape specialists Coen +
features a large window that Partners to sensitively choreograph intricate scenes
perfectly frames the garden,
which is scattered with across the site. ‘In a way, you can read the house
oak, beech and ginkgo trees as a lens that looks back at the garden and begins to
engage you with the surrounding context; a lens that
allows you to experience the surrounding environment
in a way that is structured and intentional,’ explains
Young. The outdoor porch carefully captures four
ginkgos, while the master bedroom enjoys a direct
view of a mature beech tree. The living room volume
and its corner window look out onto an oak tree as
the diagonal ridgeline directs your eyes towards the
farmhouse. As you move through the kitchen, past
the milled island, another ginkgo can be seen in the
triangular court, reinforcing the sense of nature
seen throughout the scheme.
A well-orchestrated Hamptons home that ‘pushes
the potential of the vernacular into unknown territory’,
Six Square House both successfully acknowledges
existing typologies while at the same time providing
something new and refreshing. It showcases the
practice’s innovative approach to the creative process,
reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of Young’s work
(which spans material research, furniture design and
art installations) while challenging the architectural
conventions of Long Island. ∂
young-projects.com

100 ∑
US Homes 3: The Surf Shack

Escape artist
Kelly Wearstler makes over a midcentury
Malibu beach house
PHOTOGRAPHY: THE INGALLS PORTRAIT: JOYCE PARK WRITER: TF CHAN
 In Residence
This page, Wearstler
photographed in September
2020 in the lounge of
her Malibu beach house
Opposite, the entryway
features a Chuck Moffit
bench, a ‘No.2’ chair by
Comme des Garçons, and
a blackened redwood
console from Base 10’s
‘Kodama’ series
 In Residence

S
tretching across a triple lot on Malibu’s Broad Above left, the family room Tobia Scarpa for Cassina, and a 1950s ‘Control’ lamp,
Beach, this 1953 residence is the kind of rare find features an iroko side table by American designer Mitchell Bobrick, that she has
by Arno Declercq, vintage
that sets the imagination racing. A timber-sided tessellated coffee tables
had for 12 years. Many of these were drawn from her
structure that stands out among its more contemporary clad in tortoiseshell, a pair extensive collection of vintage pieces, a reflection
neighbours, the four-bedroom house comes with of 1968 ‘Pulkka’ lounge of Wearstler’s upbringing (her mother worked as an
chairs by Ilmari Lappalainen,
generous gardens at one end, and a spacious deck, and a vintage Turkish rug
antiques dealer) and longtime passion. ‘I shop all over
rolling sand dunes and unobstructed ocean views at the world, and anytime I see anything that is unusual,
Above right, timber cabinetry
the other. It also has a Hollywood pedigree: believed in the original galley kitchen I buy and store it in my warehouse,’ she explains.
to have been built by Frank A Garbutt, a co-founder Opposite, a lacquered steel Having selected key pieces that would set the tone,
of Paramount Pictures, for his daughter, it was later and white plaster ‘Caféstuhl’ she turned to Joel Chen, owner of fabled LA antiques
acquired by actor Carroll O’Connor, star of the 1970s by Lukas Gschwandtner under emporium JF Chen, for the rest. ‘I’ve been purchasing
the stairway
sitcom All in the Family. Yet, before designer Kelly things for projects from him for as long as I remember.
Wearstler moved in last spring, the house had been He has a 30,000 sq ft store that stayed open [during
on the market for three years, drawing little interest. the pandemic] because there’s a lot of room for social
Wearstler, like many other affluent Angelenos, distancing. So I went and got a few pieces from him.’
was in search of a beach house where her family could Wearstler also introduced works by emerging
pass the pandemic months. She had already seen this talents to bring a fresh eclecticism to the house: in the
property from the outside, as a good friend had once entryway, Californian designer Chuck Moffit’s black
rented three doors down, and she was charmed by leather bench on a delicate bronze frame contrasts with
its original architecture, expansive windows and scenic LA studio Base 10’s burly console, made of salvaged
location. ‘It even has a driveway where you can take redwood and blackened using a combination of natural
your boat down from the house and just go all the alchemical patination and shou sugi ban. Another
way to the ocean,’ she enthuses, pointing out that her charred wood piece, a side table formed of three
family are avid surfers. She tracked down the owner tapered cylindrical volumes, is a contemporary take on
of the house and asked if he might be willing to let it a Senufo table by Belgian designer Arno Declercq,
for a few months; he agreed, with the caveat that he’d while a steel chair with a seat, seatback and armrests
still be able to show the house to potential buyers. in white plaster, evoking a sculpture in progress, comes
Knowing this would be a fixed-term stay did not courtesy of Austrian designer Lukas Gschwandtner
prevent Wearstler from giving the house an extensive (see W*258). From Angeleno ceramic artist Caroline
overhaul. Out went the white shag carpet, and in came Blackburn, Wearstler selected a richly textured vessel
a mix of Californian and European midcentury pieces that beautifully complemented the organic forms of
that looked at home amid the original timber panelling the living room furniture.
and shoji screen doors and ceilings: in the living room, Working with landscape designer Art Luna and
for instance, Wearstler put 1970s seating by Afra and local nursery Inner Gardens, Wearstler introduced »
∑ 105
Photography: Mark Durling. Florist: Sophia Moreno-Bunge In Residence

‘It was about bringing together old spirit and new spirit to
create unique experiences that make every room memorable’
lush tropical foliage in and around the building. Plants The family also made ample use of the outdoor spaces,
were particularly abundant in the solarium-turned- setting up a big volleyball net and a place to have
dining room, housed in a mix of early California and bonfires – as the pandemic eased, it proved a perfect
contemporary pots, overrunning the dining table and set-up for entertaining friends from their quarantine
huddling up to an enormous Isamu Noguchi lamp pod. ‘I have two boys who are in high school, and
suspended in the centre. With the windows open, [the pandemic] has been such an odd time for kids
they would sway in the ocean breeze, further blurring whose school and social lives came to a standstill,
the boundaries between outdoors and in. so I wanted to make it a really memorable experience
The house is an apparently effortless melange of for them,’ Wearstler recalls.
design styles, rich in texture and mindful of context. As it turns out, her reinvention of the house
Yet it diverges from Wearstler’s previous work (and, Above left, tropical plants,
made an impression in more ways. Blown away by her
indeed, her usual LA home, a Spanish Colonial Revival surrounded by Danish design, the owner commissioned new photographs for
building dating back to 1926) in its bohemian energy midcentury chairs, in the a real estate listing website, and found a buyer in just
and intimacy. The spaces here were deliberately crafted solarium-turned-dining room a month – a young Silicon Valley type with a love of
with the expectation of an extended lockdown, Above right, a Mario Bellini surfing, who was inspired by Wearstler to retain and
dining table from 1987
emphasising ease of use and suited to relaxation and in the office, alongside a restore the midcentury building. ‘You could have built
play. The office, despite its statement green marble painted woven canvas by a house three times the size of this one, which is what
table by Mario Bellini, is configured simply for the one artist Jean Alexander Frater everybody unfortunately does on Broad Beach. But
or two days a week when Wearstler would work from Opposite, top, the lounge he’s not tearing the house down, just fixing up the
features a fibreglass table by
home (on other days, she made the 70-minute drive Aschberg Magnuson, a pair of
original bathrooms and doing a little more landscaping.
to her studio, which continued to operate at 30 per cent Illum Wikkelsø’s ‘Hoop’ chairs, That was amazing to hear,’ says Wearstler (who took
capacity). Meanwhile, a family room comprises low- and a pendant lamp that her furniture back, as there are quite a few pieces she
is original to the house
slung seating for just four: an Italian cognac leather ‘would never part with’). Looking back at her Broad
Bottom, the living room
sofa and a pair of Finnish lounge chairs, perfect for includes a 1970s sofa and
Beach days, she relished the opportunity to breathe life
evenings spent playing cards and board games. chaise longue by Afra and back into an underappreciated building that was unlike
The virtues of the house became evident over Tobia Scarpa, a ‘2750’ lounge anywhere she had lived before: ‘It was about bringing
time. Wearstler found an affinity for cooking during chair by Dan Johnson, a together old spirit and new spirit to create unique
Mitchell Bobrick ‘Control’
lockdown and took pleasure in the way the house’s floor lamp, and a ceramic experiences that make every room memorable.’ ∂
galley kitchen opened into the family room. artwork by Caroline Blackburn kellywearstler.com

∑ 107
 Jewellery

M/G Tasaki
‘Sliced’ necklace in freshwater
pearls and yellow gold, £8,070
SURREAL DEAL
We’re besotted with the bold and the beautiful
Photography Keisuke Otobe Jewellery Hannah Silver

Fabio Salini
Earrings in carbon fibre, pink
titanium, pink sapphire, white gold
and diamonds, price on request

∑ 109
 Jewellery

Buccellati
‘Hawaii’ diamond necklace
in yellow and white gold,
£69,000; ‘Hawaii’ diamond
earrings in yellow and white
gold, £17,000

∑ 111
 Jewellery

Louis Vuitton
‘LV Volt’ cuff in 18ct yellow gold
with 84 diamonds, £20,400

112 ∑
Jewellery

Bernardaud
‘Alba’ ring in enamelled
porcelain, €102
 Newspaper

Roberto Coin
‘Octopus’ ring in rose gold with
diamonds and black sapphires,
AED58,440 ($16,000)

∑ 115
 Jewellery

Hermès
‘Galop d’Hermès’ double
bracelet inrose gold and
black spinels, £73,000

∑ 117
 Jewellery

Francesca Villa
‘Abracadabra’ necklace in pink
gold with vintage vari-vue,
€700, from Objet d’Emotion

118 ∑
 Newspaper

Nyukkin
‘Character 002’ slim bracelet
in polished steel with Moment
inlay in Kuma, €489

120 ∑
 Jewellery

Marion Vidal
‘Pluton’ necklace in enamelled
ceramic with jersey ribbon
and brass clasp, €345
 Jewellery

Francis de Lara
‘Eve’ eyewear in yellow gold
with tourmaline, cognac
diamonds, pink sapphires and
gold cabochons, £19,800
For stockists, see page 193

122 ∑
 GLOBAL INTERIORS
We’ve searched pole to pole and pillar to post for the sleek, the chic and the unique

From left, ‘No Waste’ chair,

price on request, by Taller
Capitan (South America).
‘Dislocation’ table, $3,500,
by Buzao (Asia). ‘57t’ light,
from £345, by Omer Arbel,
for Bocci (North America).
‘Lean’ side table, from £860,
by Okha (Africa). ‘Arch
Pendant 01’ light, NZ$1,620
($1,177), by Douglas and Bec
(Oceania). ‘Sumo’ sofa, from
€5,064, by Piero Lissoni,
for Living Divani (Europe)

ARTWORK: FORM & RAUSCH INTERIORS: OLLY MASON

∑ 125
 Global Interiors

AFRICA
From left, ‘Lebone’ lamp, Murrmurr. ‘Talking
price on request, by Table’ side table, $1,500,
Inès Bressand, for Mabeo. by Lani Adeoye, for
‘Yang Kapa Yang’ seat, Studio Lani. ‘LM’ stool,
price on request, by NGN210,600 ($553),
Atang Tshikare. ‘Sohori’ by Nifemi Marcus-Bello,
table, from GHS200 ($35), for Nmbello Studio.
by Tekura. ‘New Moon’ Umthwalo II, price on
sofa, ZAR37,600 ($2,566), request, by Zizipho Poswa,
by Mia Senekal, for from Southern Guild
EUROPE
From left, ‘Alltubes’
cabinet, €6,200, by
Muller Van Severen. ‘Nemi’
rug, part of the Spectrum
collection, €18,000, by
Jan Kath. ‘Spool’ table,
£943, by Piero Lissoni,
for B&B Italia. ‘Echoes’
lounge chair, £1,699,
by Christophe Pillet, for
Flexform. ‘Koishi’ tables,
price on request, by
Jean-Marie Massaud,
for Poliform. ‘Milana’
lighting system, price
on request, by Jaume
Ramírez, for Marset.
‘Kartta’ glass sculpture,
from €500, by Santtu
Mustonen, for Iittala.
‘Ruff’ armchairs, from
£1,380 each, by Patricia
Urquiola, for Moroso
Global Interiors
Global Interiors
SOUTH AMERICA
From left, ‘Miranda’ Cristaleria San Carlos.
lounge chair, from ‘Adobe’ floor lamp, $1,300,
COP1,403,300 ($396), by Guilherme Wentz,
by Simón Ballen Botero, for Wentz. ‘Daiki’ outdoor
for Perceptual. ‘Judd, armchair, from £5,208;
Again’ table, $4,000, by footstool, from £2,688,
Juan García Mosqueda both by Marcio Kogan/
and Maximiliano Ciovich, Studio MK27, for Minotti.
for It Met Studio. ‘Fuso’ ‘TM3’ side table, from
glasses, price on request, CLP850,000 ($1,194), by
by Ries Studio, for Rodrigo Bravo, for Bravo
ASIA
From left, ‘Mün’ floor
lamp, £630, by OEO
Studio, for Stellar Works.
‘Mazha 3.0’ lighting
system, price on request,
by Mario Tsai Studio.
‘Dragonfly’ dining chair,
from €352, by District
Eight. ‘Quadrangle’ table,
CNY18,800 ($2,900),
by Singchan Design.
‘Elio’ lamp, $1,200, by
Palaash Chaudhary and
Utharaa L Zacharias,
for Soft-Geometry.
‘Elements’ coat stand,
price on request, by
Shin Azumi, for Ariake.
‘Constellation C030’
side table, price on
request, by David/Nicolas,
for Carpenters Workshop
Gallery. ‘Tako’ armchair,
from JPY148,000
($1,400), by Naoto
Fukasawa, for Maruni
Global Interiors
 Global Interiors

NORTH AMERICA
From left, ‘Avio’ sofa Emeco. ‘Origo’ pendants,
system, from £4,520, MXN6,400 each ($314),
by Piero Lissoni, for Knoll by Studio Davidpompa.
International. ‘Chamfer 1’ ‘Procedencia’ vessel,
table, $18,500, by part of the Discarded
Christopher Stuart, from collection, $800,
The Future Perfect. ‘Bridge by Sofía Véliz. ‘Marble
Handled’ vessel, $1,195; Plinth’ side table, from
‘Stav’ vessel, $925, both $1,387, by Timothy
by Simone Bodmer-Turner. Oulton, for RH Modern.
‘Parrish’ chair, $590, ‘Matinee’ chair, $750,
by Konstantin Grcic, for by Bernhardt Design
 Global Interiors

136 ∑
OCEANIA
From left, ‘Isabella’ chair, ($19,600), by Nick Rennie,
in ‘Hallingdal 65’ fabric for New Volumes. ‘Vase
by Kvadrat, from £1,390, Versa’ vase, A$180
by Simon James, for ($141), by Dean Toepfer.
Resident. ‘Breeze’ side ‘Solute’ floor lamp, price
table, €560, by Ross on request, by Liam
Gardam. Mobile, price on Fleming and Dean Toepfer,
request, by Daniel Emma. for Jam Factory
‘Thimble’ stool, A$320
For stockists,
($250), by Dowel Jones.
see page 193
‘Wyrie’ table, A$24,995
 Architecture

Hidden depth
A disused grain store in rural Norfolk gets a new life as a family home
PHOTOGRAPHY: NICK DEARDEN WRITER: CLARE DOWDY

London-based architecture practice 31/44 grain store, sitting between other farm
is used to getting the most out of tight, buildings and a listed parish church. The area
urban spaces. Its Red House, in East Dulwich was familiar to Luke as he had grown up
in south London, picked up a RIBA London nearby. Before starting the work, ‘we spent
Award and a Manser Medal, and No.49, two summers in a camper van in the field,
in Lewisham, won a RIBA National Award. getting a feel for the land’, he says. The
‘We’re used to doing very difficult sites 450 sq m steel-framed barn, which had been
that have a direct relationship with perhaps built around 1990, had little historical
30 neighbours,’ says 31/44 director Will interest or architectural distinction but local
Burges. So designing a house in the English planners stipulated that its frame had to
countryside was ‘slightly liberating’, he be retained. Early concept work was carried Above, the house is wrapped
adds. ‘It was just about the preservation out by architect and family friend Michael in corrugated metal and
of the immediate environment.’ Loates-Taylor of TaylorMadeSpace, then 31/44 larch louvres, echoing its
previous incarnation as
Burges and his team were commissioned handled the architectural character and
an agricultural building
by a London-based family to create a detailing of the final scheme. A priority for
Opposite, the capacious
weekend retreat in a tiny Norfolk hamlet. 31/44 was to define an appropriate language family living area offers
Luke and Klara Hawes had spotted a disused for a modern barn. ‘The materials are very » far-reaching rural views
∑ 139
 Architecture

Above, the indoor swimming basic choices,’ says Burges, citing the concrete, it was very mute and didn’t give away its
pool, which is separated plywood and acoustic straw ceiling. ‘But domesticity,’ says Burges. 31/44 introduced
from the open-plan living
space by a glazed wall
the level of execution is finessed to make a pale green metal-clad drum, reminiscent
it feel more domestic.’ The planners also of a grain silo, at the front entrance. Within
wanted the scheme to look like an agricultural this drum, a helical staircase leads up to the
building from the outside, so Burges wrapped first floor, where windows are hidden behind
it in corrugated metal walls with larch louvres a veil of timber.
above. The Haweses were after a capacious The hallway leads to the main living area:
family living space and an indoor swimming a vast, double-height, open-plan kitchen/
pool, with other rooms on a more modest dining/living space. Swathes of glazing give
scale. From the quiet road, it’s intentionally views of the garden and pool. At first-floor
difficult to identify the house’s entrance. height, concrete frames support boxes of
‘We liked the idea that as you drove up to it, natural birch ply, creating a house within »

∑ 141
 Architecture

Left, a metal-clad drum,

reminiscent of a grain
silo, conceals a helical
staircase that leads up
to the first floor
Below, the view from
the pool through to
the open-plan kitchen

a barn. The box at the rear contains the and thickness of the louvres, the screwheads
master bedroom, which has views over (small, flush and discreet) and the colour
the garden and down to the pool and living of the pool. Klara specified lighting by the
space. The bedroom is linked by a glass likes of Flos, Foscarini and Muuto.
bridge to the timber-framed structure, which The project’s landscaping was inspired
houses a guest room and a bedroom for by Klara’s passion for Mediterranean gardens
each of the couple’s two sons, all of which and plants, as well as family trips to Greece
are plastered rather than ply. and Spain, hence the olive and palm trees.
This project balances the industrial with She also wanted to replicate the link between
the domestic in both atmosphere and scale. indoor and outdoor spaces found in the
To achieve that, the architects have opened homes of southern Europe. At the rear, 31/44
up internal views. ‘Where you see pockets of accommodated this by ‘tweaking the walls
the big space, it doesn’t feel too overwhelming, back further, to get the garden furniture
it feels more domestic,’ says Burges. As under the overhang’, says Burges.
Luke and Klara are both designers (Luke Luke and Klara initially planned to
is a director at industrial design firm use the house just as a retreat for weekends
PriestmanGoode and Klara runs her own and holidays, but as the project neared
design company), they were fastidious completion in early 2020, they decided
about the fixtures, fittings and detailing of instead to relocate there full-time, just before
their project, such as the colour of the ply the UK went into its first lockdown. ∂
(whitewash rather than yellow), the depth 3144architects.com

142 ∑
Art Icon
 OUTSIDE EDGE
Chilean artist Federico Assler is a master builder of monuments with a common purpose
PHOTOGRAPHY: MARCOS ZEGERS WRITER: BENOîT LOISEAU

Federico Assler’s monumental concrete sculptures Opposite and above, Federico Two years later, in 1954, he returned to Chile, still
may have made him a fixture on the Chilean art scene, Assler photographed last year intoxicated by the wonders of the Florentine High
with some of his artworks at
but don’t call him a sculptor. ‘I’m a constructor,’ he his workshop in Kawelluco,
Renaissance, and enrolled at the Catholic University
offers instead, speaking on the phone from his in Pucón, central Chile, which of Valparaíso’s School of Architecture, on the
home in Cajón del Maipo, south-east of Santiago and was designed by Santiago- Pacific coast. Soon after, much to his engineer father’s
based architect Cazú Zegers
flanked by the Andean mountains. ‘I believe that in 2017
chagrin, he transferred to the School of Fine Arts’
art – any form of art – is a construction.’ painting department, in nearby Viña del Mar, where
Born in Santiago in 1929, the artist didn’t last he was mentored by German artist Hans Soyka.
long at the international school chosen by his parents, As a painter, Assler emerged from the 1950s
who were of German and British origin. ‘I was a very Grupo Rectángulo; a movement of Chilean artists,
bad student,’ says the nonagenarian in a soft English including Ramón Vergara Grez and Elsa Bolívar, whose
accent before switching to Spanish: ‘Me echavan! [They geometrical abstraction shifted the country’s then-
kicked me out!]’ he laughs. His first job was as a dominant figurative paradigm. It took Assler another
technical illustrator at one of Chile’s largest furniture 12 years – and about as many international biennials,
manufacturers, which was then innovating with wood from Paris to São Paulo – to finally turn his attention
as a result of steel shortages caused by the Second to sculpture. ‘I was very interested in nature,’ the
World War. Eager to see the world, he quit after six artist remembers of that period, which also involved a
months and travelled to Italy by way of Argentina, stint as director of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo
with nothing but a few pesos and a sleeping bag. de la Universidad de Chile, from 1965 to 1968. »

∑ 145
 S  ubscribe and save A Wallpaper* subscription ensures:
* Collectable, artist-designed covers
Wallpaper* subscribers enjoy exclusive, * 12 issues a year for £100 / $140 / €180
* Delivery every month
limited-edition, artist-designed covers Our limited-edition covers, available only to
subscribers, are created by a leading artist, designer
or architect each month. Past contributors range
from Jony Ive to Jenny Holzer, Yayoi Kusama to
Tom Sachs, Isaac Julien to Karl Lagerfeld. See just
a few of our favourites here, and subscribe for many
To subscribe, visit wallpaper.com/sub21 more unique artworks to come.

Alan Fletcher Dieter Rams Noé Sendas Karl Lagerfeld Barbara Kruger David Hockney
W*94 W*95 W*192 W*127 W*141 W*154

Yayoi Kusama Richard Rogers Linder & Paolo Roversi Rick Owens Jeremy Deller Conrad Shawcross
W*159 W*172 W*174 W*186 W*189 W*205

Tom Sachs Jenny Holzer Jony Ive Lorna Simpson Isaac Julien Doug Aitken
W*215 W*220 W*225 W*228 W*243 W*248

Offer closes 31 October 2021. For full terms and conditions, visit magazinesdirect.com/terms
 Art Icon

‘I abandoned painting because I felt it necessary to

take the work out of the studio.’ After experimenting
with chipboard – likely inspired by his factory days
– his aha-moment came in 1970 when he discovered
concrete, a material best suited to the outdoors.
His now-signature technique consists of assembling
polystyrene moulds – based on preliminary sketches
and sculpted with hot wires – which he then fills with
a mixture of concrete and powder pigments. ‘I need the
colours,’ he says. The resulting organically shaped casts,
which range from off-black hues to earthy reds and
light creams, have since graced parks and plazas from
Tenerife to Santiago. ‘I’ve always wanted sculptures
to go to the city, to the street, not the museum,’ insists
Assler. He moved to Spain in 1972 (soon before
Pinochet assumed power in Chile) and spent much
of the following decade based near Madrid, where he
became acquainted with Spanish contemporaries like
the late Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida, best known
for his colossal steel installations. ‘Encountering
a historical work on the street forces you to think.’
His greatest influence, however, is Henry Moore, his
‘spiritual father’. The Chilean artist was only 22 when
he stumbled across a reclining bronze – ‘una maravilla!’
– at the 1951 Festival of Britain, whose combined
celebration of art, architecture and industrial design Top and above, sculptural works, in
inspired the nascent British ‘constructionist’ Assler’s signature off-black and earthy red
hues, inside and outside his Cajón del
movement (its terminology appears to have stuck with Maipo studio, which is in the process of
the young Assler). In 1991, while teaching at Brighton » becoming a foundation and museum

∑ 147
 Art Icon

OUTDOOR SCULPTURES
BY FEDERICO ASSLER

Clockwise from left, Two Standing

Figures, on show at Yorkshire Sculpture
Park, UK, in 1991; Homenaje al Hormigón,
in Huechuraba, Chile; Hito Geográfico
Centro de Chile, in Coronel, Chile

Assler’s greatest project remains unrealised:

a sculpture, rising in the middle of the arid Andean
plateau, like the vestige of an ancient civilisation
Polytechnic (now part of the University of Brighton), workshop in the town of Pucón, in central Chile’s
Assler was invited to create a new work for the Lake District, overlooked by the snow-capped Villarrica
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield and close volcano. He is currently developing a sculptural
to where Moore grew up in Castleford. addition to the Cerro Dominador solar power plant,
There, he erected two concrete figures, nearly located in the northern region of Antofagasta, in the
5m tall and reminiscent of crooked tree trunks Atacama Desert – one of the driest places on Earth.
standing opposite one another: ‘The only sculpture Part of Chile’s national renewable energy programme,
to emerge from the ground,’ he says, confessing that and estimated to have cost $1bn, the plant is unique
it required moving a work by Barbara Hepworth. to South America. ‘There’s nothing quite like it,’ the
Curator Clare Lilley remembers this moment fondly: artist enthuses. His contribution consists of a concrete
‘It was extraordinary to watch Federico work with sculptural diptych made of an 8m-tall grey column
such intensity and skill. For many years, this extremely and a 3m x 3m red-toned circular shape, which will be
handsome sculpture reminded people of sunrise and housed at the site’s observation tower.
sunset, and it was enjoyed by hundreds of thousands For Assler, working in the desert is a dream come
of visitors.’ true. But his greatest project, however modest, remains
Assler received the Chilean National Prize for unrealised: a sculpture, rising in the middle of the arid
Plastic Arts in 2009 in recognition of his career Andean plateau, ‘where there’s absolutely nothing’,
achievement (it has since been awarded to artist like the vestige of an ancient civilisation. ‘I hope I have
Alfredo Jaar and photographer Paz Errázuriz, among time to make it,’ he says. One such ‘construction’ might
others). Today, the 91-year-old is still at work, receive fewer accolades than in a well-kept public
commuting between his 5,000 sq m studio, Roca Negra, space, but that’s beyond the point. ‘Why does one make
in Cajón del Maipo – set to become a foundation an artwork?’ he muses, ‘To this day, I don’t understand
and museum, displaying some 400 works – and his it. It’s a mystery… el arte.’ ∂

148 ∑
 APRIL IS ALL ABOUT...
THE REGENERATION GAME

p152
NEW WAVE
John Lautner’s curvaceous Garcia House gets a makeover

p164
WONDER WALLS
Anupama Kundoo on architecture to make you feel good

p174
SHAPE UP
Easy pieces for effortless elegance

p186
POETIC LICENCE
Paolo Portoghesi on postmodern liberty

p194
CRUNCH KICKS
Oliver Beer’s sesame and peanut candy

∑ 151
 HIGH LIFE
Uplifting restoration at John Lautner’s 1962 Garcia House in LA
Photography Roger Dav ies Art Direction Mich a el R ey nolds Writer Pei-Ru K eh

Completed by architect
John Lautner in 1962,
the otherworldly Garcia
House, balanced 60ft
above its lofty site in the
Hollywood Hills, has
been lovingly restored and
refurbished over almost
two decades by its current
owners, inside and out

152 ∑
In Residence
154 ∑
 In Residence

P
erched nimbly on one side of the Hollywood have made different decisions if we had tried to do Above, the Garcia House is
Hills along Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, the work before we moved in.’ also known as the Rainbow
John Lautner’s futuristic Garcia House is Aided by the expertise of architecture firm House, thanks to its glass
one of the most enduring specimens of the Marmol Radziner, which oversaw the renovation of façade dotted with colourful
midcentury modern movement. Completed Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House in Palm Springs stained glass windows,
in 1962 for the jazz musician, conductor among many other gems of the era, the couple were and its vast arched roof
and Hollywood composer Russell Garcia fully committed to restoring the house to as close to Opposite, the living room
and his wife Gina, the almond-shaped house is its original state as they could get it. features stained walnut
as well known for the steel caissons that hoist it 60ft ‘We did not change one piece of its footprint. cabinetry installed by the
above the canyon below as it is for its part in 1989’s We didn’t do anything that compromised the structural architects Marmol Radziner
Lethal Weapon 2, where it appears to come crashing integrity,’ says McIlwee, who has served on the board for the owners when they
first started renovating the
down in a foul blow to the film’s villains. of The John Lautner Foundation since purchasing the
house. Furnishings include
Special effects and celebrity aside, the Garcia house. ‘In fact, there was an owner in the 1980s who an ‘Arco’ lamp by Achille &
House, which is, in fact, standing tall and well, now had removed some load-bearing walls and we put those Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, a
serves as a piece of living history, with its V-shaped back.’ Whenever there was a question, they deferred to coffee table by Charles Hollis
supports, parabolic roof and stained-glass windows. the original plans, which were passed on by the house’s Jones, and a banquette
The house’s current owners, entertainment business previous owner, the actor and director Vincent Gallo. upholstered in Romo fabric,
manager John McIlwee and Broadway producer From reinstating the terrazzo floors and restoring while the photograph is by
Bill Damaschke, have been on a mission to restore the light fittings, some of which hang from 40ft up, Terry Richardson
and revive the house since they purchased it in 2002, to rehabilitating the 55ft expanse of windows and
while living there full time. even reducing the interior square footage upstairs to
Wallpaper* first reported on the house in our maintain the original transparency of the house,
January 2009 issue (W*118), when McIlwee and McIlwee and Damaschke’s painstaking renovation feels
Damaschke were enjoying the fruit of their ambitious natural and seamless. Complemented by an eclectic,
restoration efforts. ‘When we first saw the place in earth-toned assortment of contemporary design pieces
2002, it was a little bit of a shambles,’ recalls McIlwee that were selected with the advice of interior designer
now. ‘It was 25 years of neglect. Structurally, the Darren Brown, the rejuvenation of the Garcia House
house was perfect. The whole house sits on caissons transcends time. ‘A lot of the things we did made it
and not one part of it touches the ground. However, feel symmetrical and original,’ says McIlwee. ‘We have
the roof was a big issue because it had deteriorated,’ people coming to the house and asking if we had to
he continues. ‘There was a leak by a window and it renovate much. It’s the biggest compliment, and the
ate through a portion of the house. We came in, took craziest thing, because we had to do so much work.’
out some old carpet, painted the house and lived in Rather than stopping there, the couple have
it for a year. That was critical for us because we would continued to dedicate time and effort to expand »
156 ∑
 In Residence
The 55ft expanse of windows fills
the home with light. Seen here are
club chairs, ottomans and a sofa by
Saporiti, with custom drum tables
by Darren Brown, who worked with
the owners on the property’s interiors
 upon their labour of love. In 2008, they added a pool ‘I wouldn’t say I was doing a 1980s look – it’s more Above, the dining table,
(which was part of Lautner’s original design, but never of a mood: Malibu, the ocean waves, the palms, the custom-designed by
built because the Garcias ran out of money). In 2019, textures, soft tones, a lightness.’ He continues, ‘I had Darren Brown, is surrounded
they reunited with Brown to redecorate the interior, been begging John and Bill to pursue Ed Paschke for by 1974 Saporiti dining
this time making the most of their growing personal years, but only work made from 1980 on, when the chairs with curved profiles
art collection. They also overhauled the landscaping artist began to focus on electronic media, abstraction, that recall the house’s
with the aid of environmental designer John Sharp to roofscape. The chandelier
television waves and flashes. That is how the paintings
is original to the house
fully shepherd the house into the 21st century. ended up in the media room. Much of Paschke’s
In its present incarnation, the interiors of the work from this period includes fame, violence, sex Opposite, a traversing wall
Garcia House lean on a strong 1980s Italian aesthetic and money – perfect metaphors for decorating!’ and the main chimney stack
that represents the evolution of the couple’s taste The tasteful hedonism overflows into the outside, were built out of lava rock
brought from Hawaii. In the
in art and design. ‘John and Bill had become serious where Lautner’s original design for a pool stands true
foreground stands a custom
art collectors, and I suggested the place could use to form. Almond-shaped, just like the pool at another selenite gemstone totem,
a bit of fluff,’ Brown recounts. ‘The idea was not to Lautner great, Silvertop, and built from his sketches one of a series installed into
reinvent the house but to make it look fresher. that the couple handed over to Marmol Radziner, the bedrock across the site
‘In 2006, they had what I call client design fatigue. the pool took four years to complete, due to changing by environmental designer
They asked me to help bring it to the finish line,’ building codes, and ‘just about killed me’, quips John Sharp, and intended to
he adds. ‘The general vibe was leaning towards an McIlwee. ‘It took two years to get a permit.’ encourage positive energy
earthy luxury sparseness, so we pushed it a bit further Originally intended for another part of the property
towards hyper-disco in the master bedroom with the (a lot that was sold by earlier owners in the 1970s), the
Lucite bed frame and large-scale pattern rug and fur.’ pool had to be relocated to where it stands today; it
The house’s renewed sophistication is signalled ended up being a better location, since it gets sunshine
by the acquisition of 1974 Saporiti dining chairs from 7am to 7pm daily. ‘Our decision for the shape
that flank a dining table, custom-designed by Brown; and position of the pool was based on Lautner’s plans
the finesse continues through to the 1980s neon- and a response to the challenges of building into a
coloured paintings by artist Ed Paschke, a leader steeply sloped site,’ says architect Leo Marmol. ‘We
in the Chicago Imagist movement, that adorn the wanted the pool to feel like it had always been there.’
upstairs media room. ‘You also have to go out from the living room and
‘When I came across the chairs, I made the obvious traverse the entire property to get there,’ adds McIlwee.
connection between their wave shape and the curve ‘You have to walk through the yard and garden.’
of the house, and away we went,’ recounts Brown. That walk down the garden path today involves »

158 ∑
In Residence
 This page, in the master
bedroom, a photograph
by Diane Arbus, with
a Venini lamp on a custom
table by Darren Brown
Opposite, top, the bedroom
features a Lucite four-poster
by Charles Hollis Jones,
a dining table by Paul Evans,
and artwork including
a painting by Kirsten
Everberg above the bed
Opposite, bottom,
Ed Paschke’s Labula, 1980,
takes centre stage in the
media room, with tables
by Silas Seandel

160 ∑
 In Residence

‘Lautner’s designs open up an entirely new world of thinking,

so living here, you can’t help but think bigger’
In Residence

meandering round an extensive collection of plants, Above, Sharp’s planters and added custom art installations, including selenite
composed by Sharp. Ranging from dozens of varieties lush scheme, including agave, gemstone totems that are installed into the bedrock
of agave and cacti to a huge rubber tree, originally cacti and succulents, line the of the site, ‘so the whole property is being charged
planted underneath the house by the Garcias and now path to the swimming pool with protection and positivity’, and a series of oversized
towering all the way up to the top, the bounty of Opposite, the almond-shaped planters that line the walkway leading towards the
greenery transforms the dramatic terrain and enhances swimming pool was added pool. ‘We call them ancient future planters,’ says Sharp.
the house’s legacy. in 2008 using Lautner’s ‘They’re massive, with hanging succulents, and give
‘We really focus on how the landscape plays original plans. Poolside a really supernatural feel.’ Next to the historic rubber
an intricate role in bringing these architecturally is a Tucci umbrella, with tree is another group of planters, housing flowering
significant properties back to life,’ says Sharp. ‘From an seating upholstered in epiphyllum that were collected by McIlwee’s mother.
experiential perspective, it does take you to an entire Sunbrella fabric, and custom ‘It’s not just landscape. What we wanted to create was
tables by Darren Brown
new realm.’ For example, he explains, ‘the rubber tree an exterior experience,’ Sharp emphasises. ‘To work
had gotten so large, it looked like the house was on the Interior styling: Blake on a house like this was truly inspiring and an honour.
and Laura Bachman
ground, but really it is floating in the air on the side The end result was the labour of lots of people who
Curator and art advisor:
of the hill. Our goal was to look at how we could create Simon Oldfield came together to make something magical happen.
a landscape that could work with the architecture and Anyone who goes to the house can feel it.’
emphasise the significance of the house.’ While some storied midcentury houses have been
Approaching the landscape as a canvas where you bequeathed to museums and institutions for care,
could add colour and shape, Sharp created a concept McIlwee and Damaschke’s stewardship of the Garcia
that brings together texture, colour and seasonality House imbues it with a living, breathing quality
in consistent harmony, while nevertheless changing that builds on its history to create an even richer
year round. ‘We called the concept we came up with environment than you might ever expect.
“the Dawn of Jurassic”,’ says Sharp. ‘The idea was that, ‘Lautner’s designs open up an entirely new world of
if the Garcia House was a spaceship, and that spaceship thinking, so naturally, living here, you can’t help but
was to land on another planet, this is where it landed. think bigger,’ McIlwee reflects. ‘Most of the people who
It’s as if this was a foreign place. There are Australian own these properties share our enthusiasm. We share
ferns and ghost euphorbias that are 10ft tall and take this belief that we are the stewards of the place and
you into another world. The entire palette is unique.’ have a responsibility to maintain it. The properties are
Aside from the vegetation, which almost cascades important, especially for California. These collections
in waves down the topography of the site, Sharp also of houses are our landmarks.’ ∂
∑ 163
 CONTENT
CREATOR
From craft-inspired baked kiln homes to comforting
jali-walled classrooms, architect Anupama Kundoo
explores groundbreaking techniques to design
happiness-inducing buildings for every context.
Photography: Alka Hingorani

She talks with writer and trained architect

Shumi Bose about design for contented living
Portrait M a x Cr easy

164 ∑
 Architecture
This page, Anupama Kundoo,
photographed at home
in Berlin in February 2021
Opposite, the Volontariat
Home for Homeless Children
in Puducherry, completed
between 2008 and 2010.
Bicycle wheels provided the
formwork for windows in
kiln-inspired mud-brick and
mud-mortar buildings
that were then fired in situ
 T
en years ago, Anupama Kundoo and I discussed the labels
and descriptors that had thrown us together: female
architect, Indian architect, architect of the Global South,
architect working with traditional-slash-vernacular-slash-
regional-slash-‘indigenous’ techniques.
Each of these labels elicits a special appreciation of Kundoo’s work,
while at the same time producing a particular kind of frustration –
they constrain and diminish. At the time, she conceded to the
description of lyrical modernist – for here is a practitioner driven to
understand materiality, technology and capital utility, in the manner
Photography: Sonja Winkler, Andres Herzog, Javier Callejas

of the early modernists; how to maximise the efficiency of resource

and labour, while at the same time providing a sense of joy, beauty and
identity. For Kundoo, though, none of this would qualify her work
as regional or vernacular. Rather, it is born of a wilfully objective
assessment of resource and circumstance. ‘I don’t see happiness as
something frivolous. There is no other aim: to be alive is to be happy.
When we are not happy, it indicates that something in us is not alive.’
From a broad portfolio of built works, two are particularly
emblematic of Kundoo’s approach. An orphanage, or home for
homeless children, built for the charity Volontariat in 2008, is one
of her most photogenic projects, and is beloved by students as an
example of unique but wholesome architecture. Developed with
‘I managed to find a way that I could
pioneering ceramicist Ray Meeker, individual building units were just focus on proactivity… to actually
effectively designed as large-capacity kilns, which were themselves
fired in situ to produce a sort of home-baked house. Modelled after build what I want the world to be’

166 ∑
 Architecture
This page, the Shah Houses in Opposite, top and bottom,
Brahmangarh, completed in the Volontariat Home domes.
2003, combine locally available Each was fired while stuffed
basalt with hollow terracotta with raw ceramics, so the
tubes, made by local potters, making of the home produced
for vaulted ceilings other goods simultaneously

catenary structures to provide maximum stability, the finished homes recreated 1:1 fragments – memorably, a vaulted terracotta ceiling –
resemble mosaic molehills. Local artisans stuffed a great many ceramic from Wall House, inviting the visitor into lived space.
objects – from building elements to handcrafts for sale – into the Her next offering at the Biennale, in 2016, was less poetic: a
kiln houses, to be fired during the ‘baking’ process. As such, the ferrocement house, buildable in less than a week. Rectilinear and
project allowed the use of local materials while supporting artisanal visibly contemporary, the Full Fill Home doubled down on refined
production. The result is the emergence of a new building technology, building technologies, and the promise of both utility and satisfaction.
which ennobles knowledge latent in the community. Kundoo denies any posturing loyalty to low-tech or ‘traditional’
While recalling its technical challenges with love and seriousness, methods, adhering to a holistic but essentially modern approach.
Kundoo is a little tired of the attention garnered by the project’s Kundoo’s philosophy has broadened and grown branches over a
appearance. But its visual appeal is instant and powerful; its unusual career spanning three decades. And she has had ample time to review
form and texture draw us in, while the production narrative explains that growth while preparing for a current exhibition at Louisiana
the ethos of the project. Not only does the aesthetic of this building Museum of Modern Art in Denmark (until 16 May), a generous and
signify a different way of doing things, its construction and operation tactile survey of her work so far. ‘Time’ recurs as a motif throughout,
align graciously too, along with the decisive utility of both notably in ‘Taking Time’, Kundoo’s own short but inspiring essay
contemporary and traditional technologies. This quality is evident written for the occasion. As Kundoo writes, the work of [an
in much of Kundoo’s work – at once sublime and pragmatic. architect’s] lifetime is part of a large collective action in time and
Kundoo’s own residence, Wall House (2000), also illustrates space. As such, it is essential to claim not only space but time
her experimentation with innovative techniques – such as the too – puritanical ethics be damned. After all, ‘who are we to manage
repurposing of artisan-made terracotta bowls, embedded in the ceiling time?’ she says, laughingly. ‘Time is managed by the sun.’
to cut mass, regulate humidity, and enhance comfort, or the use Graduating from architecture school in 1989, Kundoo eschewed
of perforated ferrocement louvres. With typical intimacy, Kundoo the frenetic pace of Bombay (as it was then) and gravitated towards
exhibited fragments of Wall House as her debut at the Venice rural South India. Based near the former French-Indian territory
Architecture Biennale, in 2012, underlining that for her at least, real of Pondicherry (now Puducherry), she gave herself the permission to
life and architectural inquiry are very much intertwined. Spectacular take time – a decade, no less – to develop her own agenda, away from
without being ostentatious, the collaboratively built installation the competitive commercial jobs sought by her peers. These years  »
168 ∑
 Architecture
Wall House, Kundoo’s
Auroville home completed
in 2000 and revisited as an
installation for the Venice
Biennale in 2012. Repurposed
terracotta bowls embedded
in the ceiling reduce mass
and regulate humidity
Photography: Javier Callejas
 were not spent idly; having established her own office at the age of 23, productivity for its own sake. It’s hard to imagine where she has found
Kundoo applied herself to the collective intellectual and structural the time to do nothing, given a prolific output, a string of teaching
development of Auroville – a uniquely experimental town straddling positions and research projects between Sydney, Madrid, Berlin and
Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, continuously in the making, and New York, and a slew of studies on sustainability. In an interview
founded in 1968 ‘to realise human unity’. ‘I managed to find a way with Martha Thorne, executive director of the Pritzker Prize, Kundoo
that I could just focus on proactivity, on positive action, rather than deftly reframes the trifecta of practice, research and teaching as
resisting and fighting against the grain; to manifest the opposite ‘function, mind and spirit’. The conversation prompts a confounding
of some things, to actually build what I want the world to be.’ realisation: to date, Kundoo has never been recognised with an award,
Kundoo’s experimental and resourceful approach began with the for her built work or her groundbreaking research – nor any of the
construction of her own humble residence in Auroville, the Hut in special recognitions reserved for the still-marginalised categories of
Petite Ferme (1990) – a thing of bravery and simplicity. The image women and minority architects. More notably, her work has enabled
is undeniably romantic: this barefoot architect goddess, riding around unprecedented collaboration between students, architects, engineers
the lushness of Tamil Nadu on a motorbike, befriending local and artisans, between hemispheres and across materials.
craftsmen and building from the heart, retiring to her hammock This is the real prize: that at almost all scales and regardless
Photography: Javier Callejas, Andreas Deffner

to dream up idealistic futures. But it happened, and the approach of the client, Kundoo’s approach allows for uncommon transfer
that it forged for Kundoo is anything but sentimental. Living in of knowledge. The Nilgiri Mountains of Tamil Nadu are home to
this engineered cobweb, with only slatted palm stems against the the Keystone Foundation, developed incrementally by Kundoo and
elements, Kundoo ran an office of some two dozen architects, her team over the last 20 years. Supporting the organisation’s mission
producing ambitious experiments and radical techniques. Combining to enhance quality of life for indigenous and tribal communities,
modern materials with the skills of artisanal communities to meet Kundoo’s intervention is based on a model of restraint. ‘This is
climactic, ecological and socio-economic needs, the office tested the not about making stunning buildings,’ she says. ‘I don’t mind being
use of round wood, thatch and rammed earth alongside concrete and invisible where necessary.’ Empowering local builders to use their
ferrocement; Kundoo estimates she completed 35 buildings during this knowledge of rammed earth, and encouraging skill exchanges rather
time, each innovating and paving the way for future constructions. than top-down design solutions, the project has grown into a bricolage
She speaks with glee about taking time to do nothing, to of honey and coffee production facilities, a tribal development centre
contemplate the richness of doing nothing, to reject the oppression of and guest houses, carefully imbricated in the landscape.  »

170 ∑
 Architecture

Kundoo designed our

limited-edition cover,
a play on the idea of porosity
(details on page 038).
Available to subscribers,
see wallpaper.com/sub21
Opposite, Wall House
Above and left, Hut in
Petite Ferme, Kundoo’s
low-impact Auroville home
built in 1990, with an upper
floor of split palm stems
 My most recent conversation with Kundoo was – like the first – long,
frank, passionate and enlightening. The Covid lockdown has, despite With Kundoo’s urban co-housing, ‘the
its horrors, given us an abundance of time, and she is comfortable
making use of it. ‘I’m getting into AI, I’m zooming out with poetry;
footprint is small, but you have a good
I’m zooming in with anthropology,’ she enthuses – and she’s not
talking about the video conferencing software. ‘This is what is going
time. I want the human to feel well’
on in my head.’ She’s still working on futuristic visions, although she
doesn’t believe in vast distances between dreams and reality.
Already with several residential schemes under her belt, Kundoo its urbane neighbours. Gently angled classroom walls provide
is designing ecological co-housing models on dense urban sites, enclosure without suffocation, while cost-saving terracotta ‘jali’ walls
‘where the footprint is small, but you have a really good time. I want allow the building to breathe and retain a connection to context.
the human to feel well, individually and collectively.’ Reflecting on her career, Kundoo toys with the idea of writing not
The challenge of urban inequality is vividly present in India’s a memoir but a self-help book, in which the structured yet sprawling
metropolises, and so Kundoo’s attention to it comes as no surprise. A complexity of architecture might offer a way of thinking about life.
Photography: Javier Callejas

recent project, the Sharana Daycare Centre in Puducherry, negotiates ‘I do feel like I can offer some way forward. I have imagined scenarios
not only the complexity of the city, but how to provide a humane, I would like to see happen.’ This instinct reflects the generosity that
appealing quality of space, even to the most disadvantaged client. drives her work: to enable others with knowledge, and to place faith
Kundoo is not shy of concrete and render where necessary, and her in the positive act of creation. Others may struggle with labels, but for
aim was to produce a building with dignity, which its low-income user this architect, the category of ‘happy’ would seem to fit best. ∂
group would view with pride. The result is a handsome school for ‘Anupama Kundoo: Taking Time’ is at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art,
young children with strained home lives, which holds its own against Denmark, until 16 May, louisiana.dk; anupamakundoo.com

172 ∑
 Architecture

This picture, at Sharana Opposite, Mitra Youth Hostel

Daycare Centre for in Auroville, completed in
disadvantaged children 2006. The design includes
in Puducherry, completed terraces and public space for
in 2019, terracotta lattice interaction, and shared
walls create a sense of bathrooms and kitchens
openness and a connection
with the outdoors,
while providing shade
and ventilation
Fashion

CHARM SCHOOL
We’re offering a few lessons in the fine art
of apparently effortless elegance
Photography V incent Le Ch a pela in Fashion Jason Hughes
 This page, jacket, £595, by Paul Smith
Rouge Allure Velvet Le Lion de Chanel limited edition lipstick in Rouge Fauve, £33, by Chanel
Opposite, jacket, £3,105, by Lanvin. Shoes, £595, by Jimmy Choo. Necklace, £1,760, by Kloto
‘CH111’ chair (throughout), £3,750, by Hans J Wegner, for Carl Hansen & Søn

∑ 175
 This page, jacket, £895; top, £225; skirt, £325, all by Max Mara. Shoes, £660,
by Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello. Earrings, price on request, by Chopard
Opposite, jacket, £2,763, by Petar Petrov. Trousers, £450, by Marni.
Shoes, £600, by Acne Studios. Bracelet, £855, by Tom Wood

176 ∑
Fashion
Fashion
 This page, jacket, price
on request; trousers, £1,100,
both by Louis Vuitton.
Necklace, £295, by Rejina Pyo
Opposite, jacket, £1,210, by
Paco Rabanne. Shoes, £595,
by Jimmy Choo. Necklace,
£395, by Rejina Pyo

∑ 179
 This page, jacket, £10,790; skirt, £4,325; cuff, £1,260, all by Chanel
Opposite, jacket, £1,600, by Boss. Earring, £6,550, by Sophie Bille Brahe

180 ∑
Fashion
Fashion
This page, jacket, £7,400, by Hermès. Shoes, £660, by Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello. Earrings, £8,340, by Chaumet
Opposite, jacket, £3,170, by Gucci. Necklace, £770, by All Blues

∑ 183
184 ∑
 Fashion

This page, jacket, £2,325, by Bottega Veneta. Necklace, £525, by Tom Wood
Opposite, apron, £2,160; trousers, £1,097, both by Peter Do. Shoes, £600, by Acne Studios.
Earrings, £10,925, by Sophie Bille Brahe. Bracelet, £855, by Tom Wood
For stockists, see page 193

Models: Hayett McCarthy at IMG,

Georgina Hill at jM Scouting,
Coumba Samba at Anti-Agency
Photography assistant: Barney Couch
Interiors: Olly Mason
Architecture Icon
POSTMODERN
ROMANCE
A love affair with the Baroque, a playful sense of irony,
a captivation with curves and a passion for patterns define
the life and work of Italian architect Paolo Portoghesi
Photography Leona r do M agr elli Writer david plaisant

This page and opposite,

octogenarian architect Paolo
Portoghesi photographed in
the gardens of his home in
Calcata, Lazio, which feature a
series of steps that echo the
geometric patterns found
inside Francesco Borromini’s
Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza in Rome

∑ 187
Architecture Icon

D
o you know that I’ve always been rather Above and opposite, it took collaborators of Portoghesi, were not always kind.
fascinated by wallpaper?’ says Paolo Portoghesi more than ten years to In his History of Italian Architecture 1944-1985, Manfredo
complete the Mosque of
gently, almost as if trying to break the ice. Rome, the city’s only Islamic
Tafuri asserted that Portoghesi’s work showed ‘a taste
The 89-year-old architect, historian, poet, designer temple. Taking influences for excess but lacked any excitement’.
and mercurial icon of modern Italian culture shares from Baroque and Islamic It is perhaps Portoghesi’s obsessive exploration of
architecture, Portoghesi played
a house with wife Giovanna in Calcata, a medieval with curves and geometric
Italian, and specifically Roman, Baroque architecture
hilltop town near Rome that has, in recent years, patterns, creating soaring that led to his isolation and categorisation as an
been repopulated by artists. The interiors feature a lot vaulted ceilings and an internal adherent of historicism, a doctrine that was the very
of wallpaper, mostly in patterns by William Morris, forest of tree-like columns and antithesis of 20th century architecture. Portoghesi
Ottoman-style hoop chandeliers
covering what empty wall space there is in the various was born and raised in central Rome, and the city’s
libraries, studies, nooks and awkward anterooms. monuments and their makers clearly cast a long
Everywhere are objects, miniscule and large, sought- shadow. He speaks of the precise moment when, as
after and found by chance, geological and zoological, a young boy, he was struck by the cupola of Francesco
in equal measure. The almost ludicrously decorative Borromini’s 1642 church of Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza,
home-cum-museum of a polymath architect and which was near his school. ‘It was problematic for me,
historian might feel oppressive, or at least too strictly but I was enchanted,’ he says. Borromini’s manipulation
preserved in aspic, but this house is far from stuffy. of geometry and perspective was full of paradoxes, such
Here, where every inch creates a patterned juxtaposition as the harmony between sharp points and soft curves:
of past and present, where Portoghesi passes nimbly ‘I saw that poetry is expressed through architecture.’
through the warrens and menageries, everything, The main reception room of the house at Calcata
including the walls and those Morris prints, seem to is dominated by a metal and glass screen, fixed on
be very much alive. a wall, which provides an alluring backdrop. It is »
Despite an architectural legacy that spans at least
six decades – ranging from the radical, concrete curves
of Casa Baldi (1959-61) on the outskirts of Rome to the
elaborately sinuous interior of the Mosque of Rome
‘Postmodernism represented liberty.
(completed in 1994) – Portoghesi remains a contentious Of course, liberty can make you do irrational,
figure in modern Italian architecture. The country’s
merciless theorists, often contemporaries, peers and absurd things, but we all need a spectacle’
∑ 189
 Architecture Icon
Right and below, Casa Baldi
(1959), on Via Sirmione
on the outskirts of Rome,
was built for a film director,
with Portoghesi taking
inspiration from the work of
17th century Italian architect
Francesco Borromini
Opposite, the Sala Portoghesi,
at the Terme Tettuccio spa
in Montecatini, designed by
Portoghesi in 1987

the Past). The fair was centred around the ‘Strada

Novissima’ exhibition, for which he wrangled
submissions from some of the world’s most prominent
architects, among them Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas,
Arata Isozaki, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown,
and Ricardo Bofill. Portoghesi created a street lined
with the contributions of each participant architect,
and the exhibition is considered by many as a rallying
point for the postmodernist movement and certainly
one of its most intellectually rigorous manifestations.
‘Sometimes you need a bit of noise and colour
in architecture,’ says Portoghesi. During the 1980s,
when postmodernism seized the architectural upper
hand, he edited the ravishingly eclectic, large-format
architectural quarterly magazine Eupalino. Looking
inside any of the magazine’s 12 issues is a trip into the
mind of the editor and a taste of the spirit of those
times. ‘It was an era of optimism,’ he says. ‘Edonismo
Reaganiano [Reagan-era hedonism].’ He felt relieved
that the privations of modernism were gone.
Le Corbusier, according to Portoghesi, managed to
create astonishing works of art, but the modernism
he spawned lacked expression and ultimately ruined
the modern city. Indeed, ‘Strada Novissima’ offered a
counter to Le Corbusier, who hated the closed-in ‘rue
corridor’ and advocated endless, open streets stretching
into the horizon. Portoghesi champions the opposite,
saying, ‘It’s the very closing of the street that makes
it beautiful. It’s how you create a gathering space.’
inspired by the false apse of the church of Santa Adjacent to the complex of dwellings that forms
Maria at San Satiro in Milan, which was completed Portoghesi’s house is an expansive garden containing
in 1482 and features an early example of trompe l’œil, various follies, fountains, temples and a library, as
attributed to High Renaissance architect Donato well as an impeccably-kept zoo. As tropical birds flap
Bramante. As Portoghesi opens a secret mirrored and squawk in their elaborate enclosures, he bends
door within the screen, he marvels at Bramante’s down to mimic the quacking of one of the geese that
trick of making only nine metres of depth appear are allowed to roam free. Reflecting on a movement
to be more like 80. that he acknowledges is once again in fashion,
A playful sense of irony defines Portoghesi’s Portoghesi remains enthusiastic: ‘Postmodernism
work and best explains his role as a pioneer of Italy’s represented liberty,’ he says. ‘It was freedom to explore
postmodernist movement. In 1980, he spearheaded the past or the future. Of course, liberty is dangerous,
the creation of the first Venice Architecture Biennale, it can make you do irrational, absurd things. But
entitled La Presenza del Passato (The Presence of we all need a spectacle.’ ∂

∑ 191
 Shop now at store.wallpaper.com

‘Equilibri’ vase, ‘Nimbus’ mirror,

Visionnaire Menu
—— €1,740 —— —— €1,009 ——
‘Turner’ bookcase,
Poltrona Frau
—— €7,369 ——

‘Triadic Ballerina’ vase ‘Shorebird’,

Vista Alegre Normann Copenhagen
—— €261 —— —— €60 ——

‘Art’ book,
‘Store’ jar, Phaidon
Established & Sons —— €70 —— ‘Parrot’ lamp,
—— €120 —— Tobias Grau
—— €958 ——

‘Wiggle’ side chair,

Vitra
—— €859 ——
‘Touch Half Moon’ stool,
Zanat
—— €444 ——

‘Saguaro’ rug,
Missoni Home
—— €9,900 ——
 Stockists

Jacket, £2,700, by Dior.

Earrings, £10,925,
by Sophie Bille Brahe,
see page 174

A Chopard
chopard.com J Muller Van Severen
mullervanseveren.be S
Acne Studios Completedworks Jam Factory Murrmurr Saint Laurent by
acnestudios.com at Net-a-Porter j-a-m.com.au murrmurr.co.za Anthony Vaccarello
net-a-porter.com

N
ysl.com
Alexander McQueen Jan Kath
alexandermcqueen.com Cristaleria San Carlos jan-kath.com Salvatore Ferragamo
san-carlos.com.ar ferragamo.com
Alighieri Jil Sander by Lucie New Volumes
alighieri.co.uk
All Blues at Browns Fashion D and Luke Meier
jilsander.com
newvolumes.com
Nmbello Studio
Samuel Francois
samuelfrancoisjewelry.com
brownsfashion.com Daniel Emma Jimmy Choo nmbello.com Simone Bodmer-Turner
daniel-emma.com jimmychoo.com simonebodmerturner.com
Ariake Nyukkin
ariakecollection.com Dean Toepfer JW Anderson nyukkin.com Singchan Design
deantoepfer.com jwanderson.com singchandesign.com

O
Atang Tshikare

K
atangtshikare.com Dior Sofía Véliz
sofiaveliz.com
B
dior.com
Objet d’Emotion
District Eight Kloto objetdemotion.com Soft-Geometry
districteight.com kloto.com soft-geometry.com
B&B Italia Okha
bebitalia.com Douglas and Bec Knoll International okha.com Sophie Bille Brahe
douglasandbec.com knoll-int.com sophiebillebrahe.com

P
Berluti

L
berluti.com Dowel Jones Southern Guild
doweljones.com southernguild.co.za
Bernardaud Paco Rabanne

E
bernardaud.com Lanvin Stellar Works
pacorabanne.com
lanvin.com stellarworks.com
Bernhardt Design Paul Smith
bernhardtdesign.com Emeco Living Divani Studio Davidpompa
paulsmith.com
emeco.net livingdivani.it davidpompa.com
Béton Brut Perceptual

F
betonbrut.co.uk Loewe Studio Lani
perceptual.co
loewe.com studio-lani.com
Bocci Petar Petrov
bocci.com
Boss
Fabio Salini
fabiosalini.it
Louis Vuitton
louisvuitton.com
petarpetrov.com
Peter Do
T
M
hugoboss.com Fendi peterdo.net Taller Capitan
fendi.com @taller_capitan
Bottega Veneta Poliform
bottegaveneta.com Flexform poliform.it Tekura
Mabeo
flexform.it mabeofurniture.com designtekura.com
Bravo Prada
bravo.io Francis de Lara prada.com The Future Perfect
Marion Vidal
francisdelara.com thefutureperfect.com

R
Buccellati marionvidal.com

G
buccellati.com Tom Wood at Browns Fashion
Mario Tsai Studio
mariotsai.studio brownsfashion.com
Buzao
Rejina Pyo

V
buzao.me
Gucci Marni rejinapyo.com

C gucci.com marni.com
Resident

H
Marset resident.co.nz Valentino
marset.com valentino.com
Carl Hansen & Søn RH Modern
carlhansen.com Maruni rh.com Van Cleef & Arpels
Hermès
maruni.com vancleefarpels.com
Carpenters Workshop Gallery hermes.com Roberto Coin

W
carpentersworkshopgallery.com

I
Max Mara robertocoin.com
Celine by Hedi Slimane maxmara.com
Ross Gardam
celine.com M/G Tasaki rossgardam.com.au Wentz
Iittala
Chanel tasaki-global.com wentz.design
iittala.com
chanel.com Minotti
It Met Studio
Chaumet minotti.com
itmetestudio.com
chaumet.com Moroso
moroso.it

∑ 193
 Artist’s Palate

OLIVER BEER’S
#119

Sesame and peanut candy

For a 2019 solo exhibition at the Met Breuer, titled ‘Vessel

Orchestra’, artist Oliver Beer presented 32 hollow objects
from the Met’s collection, suspending a microphone in
each to unexpectedly transform cultural artefacts into
musical instruments. It’s an approach echoed in his favourite
nibble, a Korean candy bar (gangjeong) with a ‘super
crispy percussion crunch’. His preferred recipe, by
YouTuber Maangchi, sees freeze-dried berries added
to the more traditional mix of peanuts and sesame seeds.
Beer is part of British Art Show 9, southbankcentre.co.uk;
ropac.net. For Beer’s recipe, visit Wallpaper.com ∏

194 ∑ PHOTOGRAPHY: FRANÇOIS COQUEREL FOOD: LEI SAITO WRITER: TF CHAN

.
9000