•
BORN A DECEMB ER 20 11 DISPLAY UIITIL JAIIUARY 11 0
How can design reinvent itself for the 21st century? Yoshiyuki Miyamae Melds Tradition With Color at Issey Miyake
Josephus Thimister Crafts a Collection for Fallen Angels
Hermes Petit h Looks Back to Expand the House's Future
CHANEL CHANEL BOUTIQUES • 800.550.0005
3
H
g ~ w z ~
tJ
0
"'0 ~
0
/
0
_j
:;..'
w
z
<(
'
J
J: 0
........ 0
0
::>
0
., z z c
:1
.... . ~
•::> ~
c
.. %
0
z
~
..
"c :1
~
..ii ::>
c 0
.... a:
<
::e
0
0 (/) (/)
w :::)
(!)
hivemodern.com
gj chair + gj table, design 1963 by grete jalk - made in denmark by lange production
hiV~
lange production knoll herman miller kartell flos vitra artifort foscarini fritz hansen moooi emeco bensen and more! v1sit hivemodern.com or call toll free 1 866 663 4483
No.91 19
IDEAS I N DESIGN Mexico City's Rojkind Architects proves the power of local collaborative spirit, Yves Behar crafts a cell phone with luxury timepieces in mind, how the U.K. capital triumphantly t urned out for the London Design Festival, and more.
DEPARTMENTS Masthead 12 Letter 14 Contributors 16 Travel 2a Product 30 Transport 32 Limited 34 Art 36 Interiors 38 Materials 48 Books 50 Architecture 52 Talent: Fashion 54 Talent: Design sa Survey 62 Sources 110 Forecast 112 68
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE With his fee t planted firmly in tradition, Yoshiyuki Miyamae, the new head ofwomenswear at Issey Miyake, reaches for the future. WORDS: SAMEER REDDY. PHOTOS: OGATA.
74
COVER YOUR HEAD By exploring Germanic folklore traditionsincluding towering bridal crowns and intricate Palm Su nday ornaments-we illuminate the 2011- 2012 collection ofArmani Casa textiles by Venetian house Rubelli. PHOTOS: ROBERT BARTHOLOT. STYLING: HARAJ,D ERATH.
80
PLANET CAPTAINS Italy-based Changedesign combined multiple t rades- industrial design, fashion, graphics, engineering, and architectureto create a breakth rough lighting pr oject for Foscarini. WORDS: TIM MCKEOUGH. PHOTOS: DAVlDE LOVATT!.
COI\fEI\fS
No.91 84
INTO THE LIGHT With a career spanning ready-to-wear, couture, and interior design, Josephus Thimister delivers his passions. A cocktail of influences in the borderlands between good and evil results. PHOTOS: WENDELIEN DAAN.
STYLING: JOS VAN HEEL. INTERVIEW: DAN RUBINSTEIN.
92
UP, UP,ANDAWAY Part creative exercise and part research project, a new venture by Hermes called Peti t h connects its storied past t o luxury's uncertain future. PHOTOS: CHRISTOPHE URBAIN. INTERVIEW: DAN RUBINSTEIN.
98
COLOR AND CHEMISTRY Fusing vivid digi tal printing with meticulous tailoring and postmodern intea·ests, London-based Basso & Brooke create garments worthy of the Internet age. WORDS: BECKY SUNSHINE. PHOTOS: AMBER ROWLANDS.
102
PUFF LOVE The cocoon-like quilt ed winter coats of yesteryear have evolved into shapecreating statements of style by the likes of Vivenne Westwood and Jil Sander. PHOTOS: JAI ODF.LL. STYLING: LINNEA OLSON-SCHWARTZ.
On the cover (back to front): I Iermes Petit h workshop in Pantin, a suburb of Paris. Photographer: Christophe Urbain. Silk-cotton Colville fabric in Argento, Arm ani
Casa by llubelli (available in the U.S. exclusively through Donghia). Photographer: Robert Bartholot. Stylist:
Harald Erath. Model: Felix at Viva Models Berlin. Grooming: /larm Neitzel. Photography Assistant: Claudia
Brijbag. Pierre FaVJ·esse's Wildtoys protol)•pe. Photographer: Franck Juery.
COI\fEI\fS
PRESIDENT
SURFACE IS PRINTED IN THE U.S. AND PUBLISHED BY:
MARK STRAUSS ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
EDITOR-IN -CHIEF
MELANIE BROWN mbrown@sllrfacema,g.com
DAN RUBINSTEIN
INTERIORS MANAGER
MATTHIAS ERNSTBERGER
ADRIANA GELVES a,
[email protected]
FASH ION DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE
ACCOUNT MANAGERS
JIM HORAN
[email protected] KEN STUBBLEFIELD
[email protected] ITALIAN REPRESENTATIVE
RICCARDO LAURERI
[email protected] EUROPEAN REPRESENTATIVE
t.AU RANT 130UAZIZ
[email protected] SALES ASSISTANT
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
LINNEA OLSON-SCHWARTZ STYLE DIRECTOR
GREGORY WEIN ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR
JADA VOGT ASSISTANT EDITOR
SPENCER BAILEY TEXT EDITOR
DAVID COBB CRAIG
SANDOW MED IA LLC 3731 NW 8th Avenue Boca Raton. Florida 33431 CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF SANDOW MEDIA
ADAM I. SANDOW CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
CHR IS FABIAN VICE PRESIDEN T OF IN FORMATION TECHNOLOGY
TOM COOPER DIRECTOR OF MANUFACTURING AND DISTRIBUTION
FERNMESHULAM Surface (109 1-806X) is published six times a year by the Interior Design Media Group LLC. The Interior Design Media Group LLC
BOOKINGS DIRECTOR
is a division of Sandow Media LLC.
DREW LINEHAN AT TR EW PRODUCTIONS
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION:
SURFACE .MAGAZINE
ASHLEY TEATER
[email protected]
DIGITAL IMAGING
P.O. Box 6238
ROBIN LIPNER
Harlan, Iowa 51593-1738
SALES ASSOCIATE
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
CONTINENTAL U.S.: 866-812-2951
XIANGZHU
MARINA CASHDAN CHR IS KAYE MONICA KHEMSUROV JOHN MORGAN NON IE NIESEWAN D SUSANNA SIREFMAN JONATHAN SCHULTZ JILLSINGER DAVID SOKOL CAROLINE VAN HOEK
INTERIOR DESIGN MEDIA GROUP LLC ASSISTANTTO PRESIDENT
KA LYCA REI MURPH DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
TINA BRENNAN DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH
WING LEUNG DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCE MARKETING
KATITUCKER PRODUCTION MANAGER
SARAH DEN'I'RY
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
ROBERT BARTHOLOT WENDELl EN DAAN HENRI QUE GENDRE ROLAND HALBE DEAN KAUFMAN DAVID SCHULZE YOSHIAKI SEKINE INTERNS
AVA BURKE SILVIA CALLEGARI ALEXANDER CRAIG SAYAKASEKINE ALLIE WEISS
Stlrfgce
INTERNATIONAL: 515-247-2984
Slii'C!IStserv@cdsfll/fillment.com U.S. ONE-YEAR:$1 9.95 INTERNATIONAL ONE-YEAR: $79.95 CANADA ONE-YEAR: $59.95 SINGLE COPIES (SHIPPED WITHIN THE U.S.]: $6.95 U.S. ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICE 360 Pa·k Avenue South. 17th Floor New York. New York 10010
[email protected] [email protected] swfacemag.com twitter.comj~lllfacemag
facebook.com/surfacemag
LETTER
14
REFRES~R
Change can be nasty business. Messy busibrand's signature techniques and processes. ness. But there's nothing to design without We followed Miyamae through the intense period leading up to his first show in Parisit. The only thing designers and brands can do is make the right decisions on how to face in the factory, where vibrant silks are printed, change-and how to move forward. and the atelier, where the looks were just Tn this issue, we highlight talents and projHOW DO DESIGNERS STAY coming together. While the change that propelled these ects that accomplish what most managers RELEVANT? THEY MASTER dream about, applyingjust the right amount brands came from within, sometimes the best way of accelerating innovation still of change without losing what makes brands THE ART OF CHANGE. and reputations respected in the first place. comes from without. Consider t he Veniceand-Milan-based studio ChangedesignLet's begin with Pascale Mussard, co-aJt istic director of Hermes and a sixth-genBY DAN RUBINSTEIN known for thei r sport-performance gear eration member of the storied family. The for Dainese-who were tapped to create house has faced enormous challenges in a new light for Foscarini (page 80). It fearecent years, but instead of playing it safe Mussard and her crafts- t ures the simplicity of form we're acc ustomed to from the famed men have launched an entire new line (hitting New York th is fall) Italian brand, but with a technical process behind it that's truly out that upcycles the brand's materials and objects into modern-day of this world. treasures. While reusing materials is definitely "green:' the venture Lastly, you sometimes have to respect a designer whose only is much more than that, as you'll see on page 92. constant is change. Take Paris-based Josephus Thimister: his Speaking of overcoming challenges, we also visited the house of narrative-laden, artistically driven themes make an impact each Issey Miyake and their new womenswear designer Yoshiyuki season. We went to the shores of the Netherlands to capture the Miyamae (page 68). After training under Dai Fujiwara for years, designer's emotional wares (page 84). As T've said, change can be the young talent is forging his own direction without utilizing the nasty. And risky. But we wouldn't have it any other way.~
COURSE
A tribute to light Ellio tt Er wiLL, 2011
Karim Rashid: Doridc
CONTRIBUTORS
Paris-born, New York City- based photographer ALEX ANTITCH, who captured the emerging designs of Cote and Tim Coppens in this iss ue's Talent: Fashion section (page 54), co-runs th e Ace Collective"a communal project committed to tracing the fi ne line between theatrical artifice and lived experience," he says- with fellow creative Christophe Rihet. Ace's goal for t his issue (and in general): "to be able to translate a designer or artist to the world without any limit of expression." 01
04
For th is issue, British photographer
AMBER ROWLANDS, whose work has app-
05
ESCAPE ARliSTS
eared in Time, The Telegraph (U.K.), and i-D, snapped pattern masters Bruno Basso and Chris Brooke of the fash ion label Basso & Brooke at their London studio (page 98). Rowlands' portfolio spans documentary, portraiture, and still-lifes, and for inspiration she often returns to the hamlet ofPin Mill, located on the Orwell River in Suffolk (above), where she owns a houseboat. Says Rowlands: "It's a wondetful place to escape from the world." ~
South Af1ica-bom, Berlin-based illusos TIFFANY JOW, a recent graduate of the ~ trator FRANK VON GRAFENSTEIN has been a1t history master's program at Richmond, ~ ILLUSTRATIONS BERND SCHJFFERDECKER The American International University in z drawing collage-style portraits for Surface's Forecast column since its inception in this London, spent much of th e last year as a cura- ~ year's March/ April issue. Of his style, von torial assistant for the exhibition "Postmod- ~ Grafenstein says, "I like to keep it simple." So far, his subjects have inc- ern ism: Style and Subversion, 1970-1990" at the Victoria and Albert u luded fashion misfit Smli Recht, designer Jay Osgerby, Cooper-Hevtitt Museum. For this iss ue, Jow wrote the Talent: Fashion section (page ~ director Bill Moggridge, and Memphis-movement player Peter Shire. 54). "It's always real ly interesting for me to uproot th e stories and In this issue, he depicts the rising architect David Adjaye (page 112). motives behind emerging designers' collections," she says. 02
Surface's style director GREGORY WEIN, a two-year veteran of the magazine, styled this issue's Talent: Fashion section (page 54), Product spread (page 30), and Alejandro Ingelmo pictorial (page 42)the last being his favorite contribution. "Alejandro is tru ly a silent star;' says Wein. '1iis footwear makes people stop in their tracks and ask, 'Who designed your shoes?"' Wein's especially taken with Ingelmo's S/ S 2012leather/silver-metallic Icon heels (above). 03
os Brooklyn-based photographer TOM HAYES has become Surface's 0: w CD go-to lensm:m for shooting the magazine's Materials and Books ~ columns (pages 48 and 50, respect ively). "It's all about allowing the ::l products to speak for themselves while keeping aligned to a clean ~ grid;' he says. For contrast, Hayes enjoys escaping t he city for the count1yside; in July, he went kayaking on Lake Champlain (above). ~ "Trips like t hese;' he says, "bring balance to my life." i£
1"""\
/""'l""f"'-
:. ....... I"")
!\: : !··: i_._,.,. . . . :i :·../ i ... ,.'"'...."t····' i ...
!... ." :•••
• •
•
•
;•••• ._
: ·: 1r·.. 1 i\ :...: ··.l
I
.....: .i .i \i..l···\..i .... .i
i
:-···· r·--: : .-. r·· ··r·~:·· ~
......
r·~
41• ••• :
:.. ~. :-··
·.:
.. :
! :
·:
••••
BEAUTY & PERFORMANCE
Toðerwith Bernhard Willhelm Shop online at camper.com
I
akingcare
Scantling by Mathias Hahn
F +1 ~ 304 6959
marse}
[email protected] wwwfinarset.com
\
/
\
19
DEAS N DESGN LOCAL FABRICATION AND DIGITAL I
NIKE MASTERMINDS A JACKET FOR N(]JlJRNAL~N\J I NG BUFFS
11AT©~ I I'fSSTY~
A\DSAFETV. When developing Nike's new, nighttime-friendly Vapor Fl ash Jacket. lead designer Raegen Salchow and her team sought to. as she puts it. "provide a zero-distraction experience for the runner." To achieve that, they employed "retroreflection"-a technology that throws back light with rninirnurn scattering. They also kept aesthetics in mind. "We didn't want to make it look like a standard safety vest." says Salchow. Constructed of durable polyester-twill with laminated reflective backing, the reversible jacket has a less reflective side, plus a drop-tail hem and a hood with a reinforced brim-Carolyn Stanley
IDEAS IN DESIGN
20
A COLLECTIVE FRQMDOWN UNDER LIN I<S
AUSTF?t1UI\S PAST TO THE PRESEf\f BY CREATING WORLD-CLASS INDIGENOUS DESIGN .
A BACK@LNTRY BEASf MAI<ES ITS lEGENDARY ANCESTOR PROUD. Automakers tread lightly when redesigning an iconic vehicle. Not so at Land Rover. The brand's Jeep-like Defender. a presence on expeditions for more than 60 years. was reinterpreted as the DC 100 (left) and open-top DC100 Sport for the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Says Jaguar/Land Rover director of advanced design Richard Wooley: "Any potential replacement has to be a thoroughly modem and relevant design." With lightweight, recycled materials and Wade Aid, a sonar feature for fording water. the DC 100 lives up to that credo.-Jonathan Schultz
!ESI RASSENB~SAN
IPHOI\E ALTERNA-nVE.
Lou Weis, creative director of Broached Commissions, is intrigued by origins. In 2009, he founded his design company with local ta lents Adam Goodrum, Trent Jansen, and Charles Wilson under the premise that they use Austra lia's history as a starting point then "fuse th is with contemporary methodology," says Weis. who believes that even in the hyper-competitive global market there's a place for meaningful. considered, limitededition designs. For the justreleased inaugural collection, designers Max Lamb, Lucy McRae. and Chen Lu joined the com pany's members in exploring 1788-1840.-Gwen Webber
When Copenhagen-based cell-phone company JEsir approached the Switzerland-born designer and Fuseproject founder Yves Behar to create its (and his) first phone. they told Behar they wanted to manufacture "something locally," he says. ·and something that would last 10 or 20years."ln response, he turned to the watch industry. "There's something to be said about how well watches survive our lifestyles:· says Behar. "You bang them around. you drop them. you get in the shower with them, you jump in the sea with them. Watches survive these things that phones never do.· Having previously designed watches for BMW Mini and lssey Miyake. Behar took the techniques he'd learned and adapted them to a phone. Then JEsir partnered with craftspeople in Switzerland. France, and the Netherlands. Behar's audio experience-namely creating Bluetooth headsets and speakers for Jawbone-also aided him. The result is the JE+Y. a phone that. like a luxury timepiece. is fetching, long-lasting, and intricately manufactured. Featuring 38 custom-made miniscrews (18 of which secure each key) and a sapphire crystal screen. the phone comes in surgical-grade stainless steel. 18-karat gold, and-coming soon-matte black.-S.B.
D !I
The days of moving your furniture to vacuum are over
It's time to let the robots do the work for you™ iRobot•Roomb~
Scan to learn more
~FM ~.
the vacuum cleaning robot, automatically cleans under and around furniture.
iRobot www.irobot.com/surface
C 2011 /Aobot Corporab·on. AJI Rights Reserved. iRobot $nd Roornb8 are registered trJideroorks o f IRobot Corporation. Evoll/6 and 'Ws time to let the robots do the work for you' artt tndtt~Mrks &I /Robot Corporation.
IDEAS IN DESIGN
22
TRADE SHOWS ARE BORING. THIS YEARJS LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL SHOWS HOW A CITY CAN THROW ITS WEIGHT BEHIND DESIGN. In lean times. what hope does a major c ity have to compete on the design calendar with Milan, the 800-pound gorilla of design weeks? This year's 300-event-strong, publicly-supported London Design Festival leveraged the city's architectural landmarks, youth culture, arts institutions. and corporate presence to its advantage. (1) At the Bloomberg HO. the latest iteration of the company's "Waste Not, Want It" ar ts projec t asked designers to create year-long, site -specific installations integrated into the office's interior. repurposing the company's technica l waste- keyboard s, wires, packaging. One result: Fabien Cappello's Cloister bench, which used 100 shipping pallets. (2) At St. Paul's Ca thedral, archi tect John Pawson collaborated with Swarovski to create "Perspectives," a work that placed a mirror and massive Swarovski lens at the base of the building's renowned Geometric Staircase, reflecting a swirling vision of the vertical space back to the viewer. (3) Known for its utilitarian industrial designs, firm Barber Osgerby introduced ·Ascent; a series of limited-edition objects at gallery Haunch of Venison that appropriated the studio's highly engineered forms. (4) Design performance remained relevant with Paul Cocksedge's "Change the Record" event at Concrete, a basement space under the restau rant Pizza East. The designer used heat to quickly warp vinyl records into iPhone amplifiers. (5) The experiential Sweet Shoppe by consultancyThe Future Laboratory and retail designers Campaign used immersive sets and actors to lead participants through an hour-long experience. gauging their retail psychographies. Think David Finc her's The Game meets Willy Wonka. (6) Finally, Established & Sons showed that there's nothing wrong with a plain-old showroom. They invited J apan's Nendo to use thousands of small maps of the city to create the first in a series of projects called ·My London," exploring concepts of urbanity. -Dan Rubinstein
COUNTERTOPS I VANITY TOPS I FLOORS I WALLS I MOSAICS
COSENTINO'
IJ SILESTONE' NATURAL QUARTZ
senSa ,. cOUIWio>iO
NATURAL GRANITE
--eJX) RECYCLED SUR~J\CES
SCA LEA SEMI PRECIOUS STOt£S
1.866.COUNTERTOPS I e-mail:
[email protected] www.cosentinogroup.net
NATURAL ST!l~E
NATURAL MARStE
- designed by n. gallizia -designed by s. bigi, nlssa chairs - designed by m. marconato & t. zappa two hundred lexington avenue, new york, ny 10016 696 0211 www.aterer-nyc.com il}
[email protected]
28
TRAVEL
A Deluxe Destination
BRUDNIZKI'S LONDON DESIGN GUIDE
Pizza East Portobello, designed by Brudnizki and opened this May, is a favorite eatery of the designer. He particularly enjoys the salt-baked salmon and bone-marrow bruschetta. 01
FOR I NTERIOR DESIGNER MARTIN BRUDNIZKI, THE CAPITAL OF ENGLAND IS MORE THAN A HOME. IT'S AN ETHOS. PHOTOS
PAUL PLEWS
Swedish-born Martin Brudnizki moved to London m ore than 20 years ago and has since achieved recognition as one of the city's top talents. That his firm has grown from only two employees at its founding, in 2000, to 30 today is a telling sign of his success. Now, with three major restau rant projects opening this fall- redos ofLe Caprice ("one of the grand old dames of London," he says) and Rib Room ("a dark, masculi ne look"), along with the new 34 ("a sort of Edwardian, early Art Deco space")- Brudnizki solidifies hi s position atop the totem pole of movers and shakers who make up this designcentric city. For Brudnizki, who studied architecture and design at the American University in London, pursuing a career in the field was a given. He grew up in a "relatively creative family," he says, and was encouraged by his mother to sketch from a young age. Inspired by a friend who left Sweden for the U.K. to study interior design, Brudnizki got the itch to do the same. "So off I went to London," he says. "And I stayed." During the past decade, he and his firm have produced a slew of lauded hospitality projects, both at home (Scott's and St. Pancras Grand) and abroad (Miami's Soho Beach House and the Ivy in Dubai). Though Brudnizki's portfolio is diverse, all his work maintains colonialstyle qualities that are, as he puts it, "very British in essence." His tradem ark aesthetic-which he defines as "minimalism deluxe" -is essential to Brudnizki, who lives in the upscale Parsons Green neighborhood and works in nearby Chelsea. "Minimalism stands for the clarity of interior architectural de tails- how you deal with a space, volume, the skirtings, the doors, the window frames," he says. "Deluxe is the materials, the finishes, the furn it ure you put into it, the luxury." The result: panache that's decidedly emblematic of the city Brudnizki calls hom e.- SPENCER BAILEY
310 Portobello Road; 44-20-89694500; pizzaeastportobello.com 02 When hunting for desig ner threads, Brudnizki heads to Hostem, where he recently purchased Adam Kimmel's cashtweed scarf. He recommends the shop for its "avant-garde labels, innovative designers, and fantastic products.· 41-43 Redchurch Street 44-20-7739-9733; hostem.co.uk 03 At the workshop Unto This Last, named after an 1860 book by John Ruskin that advocates the work of local craftsmen, more than 2,000 made-to-order products are available. Brudnizki, who's a fan of the shop's furniture and homedecor items, also enjoys it for its "feel-good factor." 230 Brick Lane; 44-20-7613-0882: untothislast.co.uk Brudnizki's top local bookshop is the red-paneled Heywood Hill in Mayfair, famous for employing the British writer Nancy Mitford from 1942 to 1945. His most recent purchase: The Hare with Amber Eyes, by Edmund de Waal. 04
10 Curzon Street: 44-20-7629-0647: heywoodhill.com
u; ;;; w ..... Q. ..... ::>
~
u; w
"'J: 0.....
;t ;t
0
z
05 Brudnizki's art space of choice is the Timothy Taylor Gallery. Exhibits this year included black-and-white photographs by Lee Friedlander (pictured) and Hans Hartung paintings.
15 Carlos Place: 44-20-7409-3344; timothytayforgallery.com
8u ::; 1/)
~
"'...,
~
"'f:? "' ...fr 1/)
"
w
< N
!::/ Q.
u;
5 J:
Q.
AI\EW UGHT On September 8, Surface hosted a Fashion's Night Out celebration at the Soiio sh owroom ofltalian lighting brand Flos, shining lights by the likes of Marcel Wanders and Jasper Morrison on the award-winning womenswear designer Wayne's fall/winter 2011 creations. Ba1-terhouse provided wine and prosecco for the guests, including graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, trio Rich Brilliant Willing, architect Gisue Hariri, and furniture-design stars David Weeks and Brad Ascalon. Combining friends, fashion, and fix lures, the event offered a bright kick-off to New York Fashion Week. Event photography by Jakob Layman, airhornphoto.com.
BAATERHOUS."
WAYNE
30
PRODUCT
Give Them a Hand AS THE DAYLIGHT SHORTENS, EMBRACETHEDARK~TH
BLACK-AS-NIGHT TIMEPIECES THAT REFLECT SLIVERS OF STAINLESS STEEL AND WHITE GOLD. PHOTOGRAPHY JUSTIN FANTJ, EDITOR GREGORY Wl:I N
TOP ROW FROM L EFT: 18-karat white gold mechanical Calatrava on an alligator strap, PATEK PHILIPPE. Stainle.~s-steel analog 360 SV on a leather strap, NOOKA. Ceramic Chrono quartz mo vemen t on a bracelet, FENDI. Stain less-steel quartz-movement Bold on a TR90/polyurethane bracelet, MOVADO. Stainless-steel automatic Portofino on an alligator strap, IWC. BOTTOM ROW FROM LEFT: Stainless-steel automatic Clipper Classic on a leather strap, HERMES. White gold manual Altiplano on an alligator strap, PIAGET. S tainless-steel quartz-movement De Ville Hour Vision Orbis on an alligator strap, OMEGA. S tainless-steel manual Pam 112 Luminor Base on a calfskin strap, PANERAI.
TRANSPORT
32
(CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT) Moray Callum at Ford's studios in Dearborn, Michigan. The Evos concept. Digital instrumentation behind the steering wheel is framed in a trapezoidal cutout. mirroring the car's grille. The driver's seat. unlike the rest of the interior. is swathed in red. Included in the design: two sets of gullwing doors.
Evolution Resolution FORD'S LATEST P ROTOTYPE
DNA v.rill be harvested to create a number of new Ford vehicles, too-t he first examHERALDS A NEW, GLOBAL ERA ples of which are set t o debu t at January's North American Internat ional Auto Show OF UNIFIED CAR CULTURE. in Detroit. Though the Evos is not destined for proPORTRAIT PETER BAKF.R duction, it serves as a Rosetta Ston e whose distinct elements will be rendered "portaThree years ago, a New Yorker could drive ble," according to Moray Callum, who heads along London's M25 and see Fords that Ford's design studios in Michigan, California, looked nothing like their counterparts on and South America. "We came up v.rit h six elManhattan's Tenth Avenue. But as Ford ements, and most of these you can see in the consolidates its product portfolio- a strat- projects t hat we have going on in the studio," egy called One Ford-a Focus hatchback he says. The challenge: to make those elein Shanghai is now indistinguishable from ments look good on both family haulers and one in Houston. That shift has freed the sports cars. As Callum puts it, "It's impormanufact urer to start making tru ly global tant that we're cognizant of what can travel well style-wise across the range." These cues design statements. The Evos, a sensu ous fastback concept in clude a revised trapezoidal grille, an evowith gullwing doors unveiled at the Frank- lut ion from the one worn by the 2012 Focus, fu rt Motor Show in September, is t he com- and headlamps as thin as turn signals- a pany's latest effort in this vein. Strands of its testament to t he strength of the light beam
they project. Each element is intended to convey "premium," a trait often promised but rarely delivered by mass-market automakers, le t alone one of Detroit's Big Three. Premium details not slated for production include its gulhving doors. Ford wanted the Frankfurt throngs to appreciate the trapezoidal motifs and muscular contours of the console, which echo t he concept's exterior cues. Inaugurating a design language in any industry has its risks, not least being that the new look goes over gangbusters in one market but tanks in another. Callum and Ford know this. They wouldn't have undert aken One Ford- or made the Evos ~ its ambassador-had consumers not been ::2 on board. "Globally, tastes are surprisingly ~ aligned in terms of what p eop le expect 5 and what people think is true to the brand," 0 says Callu m. "Tt's a brave new world for us." ~ -JONATHANSCHULTZ
a.
34
LIMITED
The Casein Question
(CLOCKWISE. FROM TOP LEFT) Brass Grid-
lock objects for Malouin's Nextl evel Gallery show. A prototype of the sand machine from his Lobmeyr hourglass project in his studio. Philippe Malouin. Prototypes of his 1:4 bowls for KM & EM. The designer's sketchbook.
PHILIPPE MALOUIN ARUGES CONVICINGLY FOR A NEW BREED OF M INIMALISM. PHOTOS PAUL PLEWS
When Philippe Malouin graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven three years ago, it was at the height of the design world's craze for all things crafty and imperfect. To understand how he ended up designing a chainmail rug requiring 3,000 hours of construction or a series of scaffolding furniture even more complex than his breakout, look to his family- every one of his close relatives is a lav.'Yer. Or trace his enthusiasm for the precise and the geometric back to his younger days studying chemistry and math in his native Montreal- followed by the pursuit of his industrial design degree. "I struted off making boring shit, like gas canisters for Ski-Doos;' Malouin says. "But it taught me how to use materials and gave me a basic technical knowledge." Malouin, in other words, is no conceptualist. While his peers at Eindhoven were turning out cracked vases ••.1HH and sofas made from dog poop, he was learning how to augment his intellectual, type-A design sensibility with a hands-on, process-based approach. It's a sophisticated alchemy that early on won him a stint in Tom Dixon's office and, since founding his London studio in 2009, a place in galleries such as Fumi, Cm·wan, and Rossana Orlru1di. , 'This fall, Malouin takes a stab at incorporating larger nruTatives into his minimalist repertoire. During Vienna Design Week, he launched a new collaboration with LobmeYl· of three oversize hourglasses that SYlTIbolically illustl·ate t he staggering amount of time that goes into handcrafting the Austriru1 glassmaker's wares. Each one shows time with progressively intricate engravings that took a LobmeYl· artisan five, 10, or 20 minutes to complete. Paired with the hourglasses: a sculptural brass sand-dune-making machine.
1
f His new series of Gridlock objects, on view through November 26 at Paris's Nextl.evel Gallery, are rendered in brass and aggregate concrete rather than alu minum and glass. In shapes that reference Aztec pyramids and Scarpa buildings, the pieces are meant to reflect the Brutalist architecture of his adopted city. "Brutalism means something to me personally;' says Malouin. "It was extremely important in Canada at the same time as it was in the U.K." The commission that will take Malouin into 2012 has even greater ties to his roots: He's been asked to contribute furniture for the interior of the Quebec Government Office in London. Since he's never done any work back in Canada, he views the job as something of a validation. Says Malouin, with a laugh, "When I first decided to go t o design school, my dad was like, 'What the fuck do you want to design for? Yo u're not an artist."' Good thing he didn't listen. -MONICA KHEMSUROV
HOTEL
AMERICANO CHELSEA
NEW YORK
518 West 27'h Street, New York f.lY 10001
FOR BOOKING hotel-americano.com 212.216.0000
GRUPOHAB I TA
ART
36
(TOP TO BOTTOM) Portrait o f the artist.
"No Title (Under the Table)" (2003). as seen at Spruth Magers Munich. "Folding Tables and Chairs" (2008). as seen at the De Pont Museum o f Contemporary Art.
IN THE GALLERIES
"GRAPHIC DESIGN NOW IN PRODUCT ION" Walker Art Center, Minnesota. October 22-January 22. 20 12
,
Organized with the Cooper-Hewitt, this exhibit consumes 10,000 square feet of gallery space to showcase graphic design's evolving mediums.
Wonder Lands "AZZEDINE A LAIA: 2001 - 2011 " Groninger Museum. The Netherlands. December 11 - May 6. 201 2 The follow-up to a 1998 exhibit this review catalogs the Tunisia-born Ala'ia's couture since 2001.
"MAURIZIO CATTELAN A L L" Guggenheim Museum, New York. November 4-January 22. 2012
Included in this retrospective of the Italy-born Cattelan's hyperrealistic work is a site-specific installation in the museum's rotunda.
"SHEVIRAT HA-KELIM: THE BREAKING OF THE VESSELS" Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Israel. November 2- April 15, 201 2 Jewish history and mysticism are front and center at this show of German artist Anselm Kiefer's work.
ROBERT THERRIEN'S EXTRAORDINARILY ORDINARY OBJECTS TAKE VIEWERS DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE. Childlike fantasies (and anxieties) surface in the work of Robert Therrien. The Chicago-born, L.A.-based artist, who has been working since the 1970s, warps scale and distorts context to give ubiquHous objects an otherworldly or uncanny feel. At consecutive shows this fall, one at Gagesian Gallery in Beverly Hills (through Oct. 29), the other at Spriith Magers in Berlin (opening Nov. 15), his works epitomize this. In "No Title (Folding Table and Chairs ITT, Green)" (2008)-part of an ongoing series shown at Spriith Magers- Therrien manipulates the scale of an otherwise o1·dinary institutional-green folding table and chairs, depicted with rust and all, so that they're three times typical size. The chair seats are eye-level and the table top is almost lO feet high, makjng one feel Lilliputian. In adjusting scale so dramatically, Therrien forces viewers to see beauty and potential humor in the details of eve1yday objects. "The simplicity of the objects allows people to read into [the art] however they want," says the soft-spoken Therrien, who's known to work slowly
and methodically. At Gagosian, Therrien's "No Title" (2006- 07), a nine-foot stack of oversize dinner plates that teetered precariously in the airy gallery, was both amusing and profound. Therrien's king-size art is balanced with human-scale work that is equally compelling. And eerie. One example: a piece at Gagosian, titled "No Title (Pink Spiral Bed)" (2011), comprising life-size beds coiled into delicate spirals. Another: "Transparent Room" (201.0), the centerpiece of the Sprlith Magers show and an evolution of "Red Room" (2000- 07), an iconic work of Therrien's that's part of the Tate collection. Jn "Transparent Room," a collection of translucent items are placed in a simple glass house, the disparate pieces becoming a unified whole. Jn blurring the distinction between the real and the remade, Therrien takes the viewer into a space between physical reality and one of his making. "Looking at the world through the eyes of a child is an experience we can all relate to," said Andreas Gegner, director of Spriith Magers London and organizer of the Berlin show. ··'That's why his works have an immediate emotional impact on the viewer. Looking at the world as a child makes you see it anew and gives you new insight into the reality of objects."-MARINA CASHDAi"'
9-Lithophane braided hanging lamp 88"x9 'h"0
INTERIORS
38
Phantom oftheOpera AT T HE H ISTORIC PALAIS GARNI ER IN PARIS, ODILE DECQ HAS CREAT ED A SUAVE RESTAURANT T HAT AMPLIFIES T HE BUILDING AROUND IT. PHOTOS ROLAND I·IALBE
When the Palais Garnier, the 1,900-seat opera house more commonly known as the Paris Opera, opened in 1875, it was considered highly experimental by the architectural standards of the day. Tapped by Napoleon III to design it, the building's visionary architect Charles Gamier not only created a structure that harked back to the Nco-Baroque style- an unusual architectural move in the late-19th century. He also implemented modern technologies, using, for example, metal instead of wood girders to support the building's massive framework. More than a century later, the French architect Odile Decq has to similar effect designed L'Opera, the Palais's first restaurant. Says Decq: "I though t, 'If Palais Garnier was Baroque, then I can play my own game and not be so serious."' That's not to say, though, that Decq was given free rein over the restaurant's design. Paris is known for strict guidelines for work on historic monume nts, and this project was no exception. According to L'Opera's owner Pier re-Fran<,:ois Blanc, approvals from the opera took nearly two years, and from France's National Commission for Histolical Monuments, two more. After that, construction took another year. More than just a modern-day alteration, l:Opera is a coming-home of sorts. Gam.ie1~s layout induded a restaurant that was never built due to lack of funds. Then two similar plans hatched in the 20th century also failed. The first was led by the Swiss composer Rolf Liebermann in 1974, the other by Yves Saint Laurent part ner Pierre Berge in 1992. With reverence for Garnier's design, Decq outfitted the two-story, 11,800-square-foot space respectfully yet with a soup<;on of spu nk- or, as Blanc describes it, an ''audacious" aesthetic. Custom-made Corian-and-
39
steel tables and Poltrona Frau seats add refreshing accents, while the red color scheme is a personalized touch. "Usually the red of the opera is more dark, serious, silent, sensuous," says Decq. "This red is more bright, lively. This is my red." (Red is common in many of Decq's projects, including Rome's Museum of Contemporary Art.) The design also adheres to local landmark constraints that forbid touching the original architecture. More than 3,000 square feet of glass, arrayed in undulating cu1ves on steel plates, establishes an unobtrusive facade. Indoors, a steel-framed plaster formation, which Decq calls "the phantom," creates a mezzanine that seamlessly wraps around the room. "It's like something flying in the space," she says. "Something temporary. Something just passing and, after that, leaving." L'Opcra isn't a pop-up, though. By contract, the restaurant will remain for at least the next two decades. Decq's fantastical design could turn heads for that long. Or longer.-SPENCER BAILEY
INTERIORS
40
MANDARIN ORIENTAL, PARIS LOCATION: Paris, France DESIGN: Age nee Jouin Manku
\\Then asked to design the restaurant and bar spaces in the new 138-room Mandarin Oriental in Paris, Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku of the firm Agence Jouin Manl
JOSEFINE/ ROXY LOCATION: Belo Horizonte, Brazil DESIGN: Fred Mafra
For the Tron-like Josefine/Roxy nightclub, Brazilian architect Fred Mati·a found inspiration from, he says, "the structural forms of a cathedral"- in pa1ticular, Renaissancestyle arches. After taking these cues, Mafra then added a contemporary n"'ist: hexagonal, honeycomb-like LED ceiling displays. Composed of two dance floors, three bars, four private VIP areas, and two smoking lounges (each with its own retractable roof), the club is a 10,700-square-foot temple of neon and sound. Developing such anambi tious interior came from years of practice. Mafra had designed a previous club in the same space in 2007, a11d this go-round allowed him to experiment more \'lith light and form. Says Mafra: "It teases you to leave reality behind."-S.B.
41
M.N.ROY
HOTEL LONE
LOCATION: Mexico City; Mexico
LOCATION: Rovinj. Croatia
DESIGN: Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig God elroy
DESIGN: 3LHD
When creating Hotel Lone on the Istrian Peninsula, Croatian firm 3LHD looked to the site's natural and manmade surroundings on the Adriatic coast. The 248-room hotel's Y-shaped structure, with its curving terraces and six-story, glass-ceilinged lobby, recalls the sleek forms of 1970s modern buildings that dot the landscape. Inside, mirrored surfaces heighten sweeping views by refracting slivers of the nearby forest and seaside. In the public spaces, neutral-colored seating and lamps by Patricia Urquiola, David Rowland, and Richard Shultz are amped up by punchy yellow tones. Integrated subtly into this serene environment are specially commissioned installations by mixed-media artist Silvio Vujicic, including a geometric sculpture floating in the lobby. Vujicic also created screen-printed panels in each bedroom, offering a nod to traditional art of the region- and in their minimalist purity, a calm oasis to nod offin.-AVA BURKE
From the street, M.N. Roy, a recently completed 2,100· square-foot club in Mexico City's Rom a neighborhood, looks li ke a crumbling, ramshackle house. A fitting tribute, perhaps, to its namesake, Manabend ra Nath Roy, who as a leftwing Indian revolutionary founded the Mexican Communist Party within the building's walls 100 years ago. Enter the space these days, and the des ign is quite a surprise-what one of its architects, the France-born, Mexico-based Ludwig Godefroy, describes as "transgressive." Says Godefroy: "When you're right in front of the house, you' re like, 'Am I sure this is where Twas invited?' But then you go inside and you understand."
Designed by Godefroy and fellow expat (and now Mexican citizen) Emmanuel Picault, the club, which inhabits a rustic, stripped-down, MexicaJ1·vernacular aesthetic, is meant to be a spirited ode to the country the two architects call home. Made from simple, locally sourced materials-pine (as seen above), black-pigmented concrete, volcanic stone, copper sheets-the space is "!Eke a Mayan or Aztec temple," says Picault, who in 2007 designed Reves, a bar in the nearby Polanco neighborhood. "We're two French guys working in Mexico, so you might assume our clients want something of Paris or of Europe:' he says. "We prefer to use the possibilities of Mexico. Maybe that's why the place looks so playful and dramatic."-S.B.
PROMOTION
Alejandro lngelmo has shoemaking in his blood. His great-grandfather is the founding talent behind Cuba's esteemed lngelmo Shoes factory and shop, known for its superbly crafted men's wingtips. Born in Miami to a fourth generation of cobblers. lngelmo's c hildhood was spent in his parents' warehouse. "Growing up around shoes, I had little interest in making a ca reer of it." says the 37 -year- old. After moving to New York in 2005 to study interior design. however. a shoe-design course showed him where his real talent lies: making kicks that push boundaries. Following a stint at Donna Karan Collection, lngelmo launched his own women's line. He soon realized the Italian-sourced leather and mirrored metallics he was using could also be applied to a men's collection. which he launched the next year with dress shoes and bronzed, python-clad, sci-fi-inspired trainers. Lining the walls of his recently opened SoHo boutique are his signature towering stilettos and leather-lined sneakers with intricate double-stitching and buff-leather soles. Heels are enveloped in matte-black snakeskin and prints. which make an inaugural appearance via zebra and spotted calf-hair. "I design what my customer wants:· says lngelmo. "Rather than looki ng for the next trend. I get my inspiration from them." Set to expand next spring with a line of leather. canvas. and nylon men's bag s. the hands-on lngelmo heritage lives on. His family, he believes. would be proud. ·1may come from a tradition of shoemaking," says lngelmo. ·but I'v e made my mark in a completely new direction." alejandroingelmo.com
48
MATERIALS
02
01
03
06
OS
Fast-Action Heroes WHEN APPLIED, THESE BREAKTHROUGHS OFFER QUICK, SIMPLE SOLUTIONS. P HOTO TOM HAYES
Tn this column, we ask Material Connexion vice president Andrew Dent, Ph.D., to select six innovations set to influence what designers will be using tomorrow.
Solar energy in the past has relied on silicon technology. This meant rigid panels that limited installation to conventional buildings. Konarka Technologies is changing that with Power P lastic, an organic 01
photovoltaic panel that can be printed onto any flexible plastic, making it adaptable for soft-sided structures like canopies and tents-and even ba<.:kpacks. 02 Acoustics Streamer, a textured, translucent, lightweight polyester textile by Annette Douglas Textiles Acoustics, combines a high level of sound absorption with low flammability. An ideal window treatment fo1· offices and hotels- or any place that needs to block noise while Jetting in natural light-it also has fl ame- retardant qualities that can meet the most sttingent of fire codes. 03 Inax's Ecocarat Precious Mosaic Vele wall tiles aren't just decorative. They also regulate the hum idity of a room, allowing moistu re in and out as conditions change. The key ingredient: allophane, a micro-porous natural clay. Benefits go beyond comfort, too. Reduced moisture inhibits mold grov.rth and hinders the spread of dust mites and toxins.
Japan-based Ror ie manufactures titanium accessories like tableware and jewelry. Now the company has come up with a proprietary technique of finely etching and color ing even the thinnest sheet of titanium without compromising its strength or corrosion-resistance. This anodizing process is the result of manipulating the film of natu r ally occurring oxides on the metal's sutface. 04
os Taica Corporation's SN Sheet offers a fast, easy solution for eliminating excess vibrations from audio electronics. The foam silicone sheet has a high level of damping properties effective under any device. Improved sou nd performance also resu Its. 06 Kerfkore Company's Kerfed FoamkoreGreen is a multitasker that creates seamless curves. Made of a polystyrene core with a eucalyptus-fiber face, its backing is 60 percent lighter than particle board and can be bent to an eight-inch radius.-CAROLYN STANLEY
fabulous orm follows fine-tuned functior1ality Introducing Planar's Clanty"' Matrix. the world's only ADA-compliant video wall. Bring compelling digital imagery into your designs with Planar's unique. modular media wall solution. planardigitalsignage.com
50
BOOKS
Super Models
-
THESE TITLES EXTOL NOTEWORTHY, VISUALLY STUNNING SUBJECTS-EVEN A MODERN-DAY ADONIS.
01
KNOLL TEXTILES (Yale University Press) chronicles the work of the storied company from 194{), when Hans Knoll founded it, to today. Published as a catalog in conjw1ction with a recent exhibition at New York City's Bard Graduate Center, this opus is the size of an encyclopedia- and it's just as useful as one.
02
··some people have made the comparison between my body and that of another DavidMichelangelo's masterpiece in Florence- but that's justa happycoincidence."Sowrites the blue-eyed British model DAVID GANDY in his book from Rizzoli, a collaborative effort \\'ith Dolce & Gabbana. Fleshy photo spreads inside suggest he's being modest.
03
While much of contemporary design, photography, and art appears straightforward on the s ul"face, visual su rprises frequently reveal themselves on closer inspection. ERRA1"'IC (Gestalten) celebrates that depth in exemplary pieces, including, on the cover, Fiona Banner's ''Jagum~' (2010) at Tate Britain.
04
The di gital age has revolutionized one of the most t radi t ional forms of image-making: collage. CUT & PASTE (Laurence King Publishing) shows how, with experimental works that include compositions by Bela Borsodi, far right, and John Stezaker.
OS
Written and edited by landscape designer Diana Balmori and architect J oel Sanders, GROUNDWORK (The Monacelli Press) explores projects in which their two respective disciplines meet in new ways. 1\venty-five examples are featured, including Sn0hetta's Petter Dass Museum in Norway.
06
Manuel Lima, the New York- based founder ofvisualcomplexity.com, works at the forefront of network science and information visualization. App ropriately, his book VISUAL COMPLEXITY (Princeton J\rchitectw-al Press) cuts through digital cl utte r, using colorful examples to illustrate these fields.
03
04
"' ~::i 06
~ ~
0
if
is
,
lo T / H / E G / L / 0 / B/ A/ L F/ 0 / R / U / M F/ 0 / R D / E / S/ I/G/ N 30. November- 4. December 2011 Preview Day 29. November Miami Beach / USA
designmiarni.corn
Design Miam·
ARCHITECTURE
52
Wintertime Wrap FOR A MONGOLIAN MUSEUM, MAD ARCHITECTS DEVISED A COLD-WEATHER REFUGE. PHOTOS IWAN BAAN
How do you design an art museu m for a barely-developed city? That was the major challenge Beijing-based MAD Architects' principals Ma Yansong, Qun Dang, and Yosuke Hayano faced when tackling the recently completed, state-run Ordos Art and City Museum in Inner Mongolia Yansong's solution: to create a public space that responds to the region's arid landscape. ''I imagined I was designing this very abstract metal shell that la11ded on a wavy desert,'' says Yansong, who adds that he also found inspiration from
"Dome Over Manhattan," Buckminste r Fuller and Shoji Sadao's landmark 1960 proposal. "For me, the dome means separation,'' he says. "It isolates one space from another. At the same time, it provides protection." Creating such a structure was unprecedented for MAD, which was founded in 2004 and had, until this year, realized only three small-scale projects. Two were natureinspired clubhouses, both completed in 2006; the other, a courtyard renovation finished in 2009. This fall marks a new age for the burgeoning finn- and for the 36-year-old Yansong, a Yale grad and former Zaha Hadid project designer. Along with Ordos, MAD will soon add to its growing roster the Absolute Towers near Toronto and the China Wood Sculpture Museum in Harbin, both of which are set for completion next year. The Ordos m useum was a particularly big win for Yansong, who was awarded t he project in 2005 by Ordas's coal-rich gove1·nment. At the time, MAD had five people on staff, and Ordos was "almost like a desert,'' says Yansong. Circumstances have changed dramatic.ally in the six years since. Nowadays MAD e mploys 50 people and has a satellite office in Tokyo, and Ordos is a bustling boomtovm, home to new government buildings, residential
neighborhoods, and office towers. "First time I went, there was no airport," says Yansong. "Now they're building a second one." Similar prosperity is reflected in the 443,700-square-foot, 131-foot-tall museum, which consists of two multi-level galleries housing traditional and contemporary art, offices, a restaurant, and a gift shop- in short, all cultural-institution staples. Central to the cocoon-shaped creation, though, is an otherworldly, canyon-like corridor, a space Yansong likens to a "shopping-mall experience," albeit an inspiring one-"a place to come enjoy,'' he says, ''then maybe go to an exhibition." For Ordas's new residents adapting to long, harsh winters, it's sure to provide a welcome reprieve. Early next year, when the galleries open to the p ublic, it'll become a stop for far-flung travelers, too.-SPENCER BAILEY 01 The undulating, desert-like granite courtyard that surrounds the building is meant to mimic the original site's hilly landscape. 02 The firm used fiberglass-reinforced gypsum for the corridor's interior paneling. resulting in "a symbolic. future-city feeling," says Yan song.
03 Overhead skylights bring natural light into the public areas, while making the space feel "closed and isolated from real ity; says Yansong.
04 Integrated into the project is an underground parking garage with an entrance that. as Yansong puts it. "peels off the landscape."
os Aside from the main entrance. which is made up of highly reflective polished copper. notched aluminum panels cover most of the facade. 06 Adjacent to the museum's offices is a naturally lighted, woodpaneled "interior garden" that Yansong describes as a "buffer zone."
TALENT: FASHION
54
Drawn Together COTE FUSES STYLE AND A SENSE OF SECURITY INTO ITS LATEST UNDERTAKING. PHOTOS ALEX ANTITCH STYLING GREGORY WF.TN
The theme of "cote," a rarely used English word meaning refuge, runs t hrough the seams of Tomaso Afonssi and Francesco Ferrari's womenswear labeL The Milanbased designers' liberal application of fab r ics li ke extra-fine cupro, cash me re, melange cotton, and tulle transmits a sense of emotional protection on its cust omers and empowers them to indulge fearlessly in fashion. Th is romanticized view of their craft fuels Afonssi, 25, and Ferrari, 28, who both claim a life-long passion for making clothes. After studying at Istituto Marangoni in Milan, the duo launc hed Cote in January 2010 and revealed their genius at the Fashion Week in Milan t hat September with a self-made installation. Composed of t he collect ion's garments, hung from a whitewashed room's ceiling via transparent thread and illuminated with spotlights, the showcase displayed models p ropped up on platforms, exemplifying the wearability of each piece. This season, the pair devised a series of plunging backlines, wide-leg tro users, floor-length frocks, and two-tone ski rts over a boxy silhouette, making for innovative armor t r ue to Cote's found ing philosophy. Accessories of red, gray, and black lizard leather add a fin ishing touch to each look, while stand-alone collars, like their trademark "cut-shirt," can be mixed with everything from T-shirts to evening d resses. The collection also marks Afonssi and Ferrari's inaugural venture into pn"lta-porter and outerwear, where coats and jackets speak to both Cote's credo and protect against the cold with laye rs of cashmere and outer shells of fur. "For us, fashion is an out let that allows us to be ourselves," says Afonssi. "With that confidence, we are able to achieve great th ings with our work." -TIFFANY J OW
55 Crepe top with nude sheer backing and crepe-silk skirt, both COTE. Metal bracelet, UA SOPHIA. Nylon sheer back-seam pantyhose,
SPANX. Cotton neck piece, cotton-
nylon pullover, ond wool trousers, all COTE. OPPOSITE: Cnttonlnng-sleeve sheer button-down, woxed-cotton
skirt, and leather skinny-belt, all COTE. Leather Yumi Mary Jane heels, CASTANER. Nylon tight-end tights, SPru'IIX.
TALENT: FASHION THIS PAGE: Wool snap duffel with shearling hood and nylonjLycra vulture tights, both TIM COPPENS. Leather-rubber Romain Kremer
56 derby shoes, CAMPER TOGETHER. NylonjLycra vulture turtleneck and wool cuffed hybrid trousers, both TIM COPPENS. Leather Clopton mid-top
sneaker, WESC. OPPOSITE: Cavalry twill-color block-snap jacket and Merino wool-leather long-sleeve crewneck with zips, both TIM COPPENS.
57
TIM COPPENS BRINGS HIS PERFORMANCE-WEAR PAST INTO A LINE OF THE PRESENT. Before launching his eponymous label this year, Belgium-born, New York- based Tim Coppens worked behind t he scenes at top men's performance brands. A graduate of Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts, he spearheaded conceptual development of sportswear at Bogner, Adidas, and Ralph Lauren's RLX, where he discovered new ways to create a world of his own around clothing. "Generally it's about a certain rebelliousness, whether it's manifested in a cont rolled, rational way or totally random," says Coppens, who was born to a pair of artists. ''There's always an edge." In April, without the aid of a proper studio or employees, the 36-year-old designer single-handedly financed and showed his 45-piece fall/ winter 2011 collection exclusively to Barneys New York, which immediately signed on to launch the line. "My past helped set me apart from the typical rou te a fashion designer takes," says Coppens. "The research, innovation, possibility, capability, and resources to try new thi ngs were really interesting for me." Coppens's technical, construction-focused backgrow1d is apparent in his collection's classic pieces, which exude a subtle sense of functionality in a complex mixture ofMerino knits, virgin wool, baby camel, lamb leather, suede, and nylon. "I always knew I wanted to s tar t my own collection," he says, noting a c urrent interest in industrial electronics and the work of L.A.-based artist Mike Kelley. "Formerly, I'd immersed myself into an established brand and worked around t hat world. My own label is different. The world I create around my clothes is a mix of architecture, art, and music," he says. "I spend a lot of ti me on construction and maintain an overview from the vety first to the last step of production." - T.J.
HAIR: DEYCKE HEIDORN using Shu
Uemura Art
oj'Hair at See Management. MAKE-UP: NATASHA SMEE using Christian Dior at The Wall Group. MODELS: BRIAN and JASON at New
York Models
and JUDITH and MALU at M.use. PHOTO ASSISTANT: ZORAN JELEN! C.
TALENT: DESIGN
58
Craft to the Future PIERRE FAVRESSE BRINGS A CABINETMAKER'S MENTALITY TO DESIGNER OBJECTS. PHOTOS FRANCK JUE RY
Lots of designers have grand ambitions to realize some day, but for now, this 32-yearold Frenchman is keeping his creations decidedly down -to-earth. "I'm still young, so I need to start with simple stuff/' says Pierre
Favresse. "When I say simple stuff, I mean objects without mood. Having mood means adding $10,000 or $15,000 to the cost of an object, and manufactu rers first need to gain confidence and trust you." Tt was that li ne of thinking that Favresse followed t o design the pared-down Pharo, a competition-winning lamp that's now produced by Ligne Roset's Cinna brand. Resembling a residential fl oodlight, the industriallooking lamp sits on a simple tubular-steel base that conceals the cord and points up from the floor. "I realized that light could come from somewhere else" than tihe ceiling, wall, or table, says Favresse. "When it's on the fl oor, you get new kinds of shadow, like yo u're an actor on the stage in a theater. It gives a new atmosphere." Pharo is simultaneously tough in mater iality yet elegant in execution- a trait that Favresse learned early in his education. After attending Paris' Ecole Boulle, where he studied the art of fine cabinetmaking,
Favresse turned toward more conceptual work following gr aduation. "I discovered that when you're a cabinetmaker, you can't focus on both creation and realization," he says, pointing out that most people expected him to produce traditional-looking furniture. So he decided to head back to school-the Ecole Nationale Su perieure des Arts Decoratifs-and study more progressive design. Emerging a few years later with w1assai!able designer credentials, Favresse went to work for Mathie u Lehanneur in Paris. There he helped lead Lehanneur's science-focused work, eventually rising to studio head. Five years later, in 2010, he went solo, launching a studio that frequently blends technology and craft. His LC Chair, for instance, mixes resin, linen, and cork with a manufacturing process normall y used for bu ilding racingsailboat masts. "I'm also interested in the concepts of energy and time," says Favresse. His Jean Clock
59 (TOP LEFT) Tidelight (2010). manufactured by Petite Friture. (OPPOSITE) Pierre Favresse in his Paris studio and. behind him, the Pearl light (2011). made in collaboration with Emmanuelle Dupont ror Specimen and Triode Design.
/
demons trates t his by offering a physical representation of t h e fragi li ty of time: analog clock anus inside a delicate blown glass bulb. Not only is th e glass container fragile, but "there's also a parallel with the glass b lower," says Favresse. "In lO seconds, th e bulb passes from liquid glass to solid glass" as it's b e ing shaped, making its form unalterable. The piece can a lso be completed only at certain ti m es of day. "You can only put the clock inside t he bulb at midnight or half pas t 12," he says. "It's like a model boat in a bottle. In the end, it's so fragile and so light, it's almost nothing." Noteveryonewould agree. With a masterful mix of concept and materiality, Favresse's creation is clearly something. -TIM MCKEOUGH
(CLOCKWISE FROMTOP RIGHT) At Favresse's studio, a reed spool. a plywood sample. and Japanese paper for the Perch reading chair, as well as the first Pharo lamp prototype (at right). The LC Chair prototype (2010]. An in-the -works Wildtoys prototype. Jean Clock (201 1).
TALENT: DESIGN
60
FELIX DE PASS attracts an audience by f ollowing his instincts. Working as an industrial designer comes naturall y for th is London-based 27-yearold. With a father who's an interior designer, "I've always understood space and objects," says Felix de Pass. "Making things and taking th ings apart have always been there my whole life. I naturally flowed into design." Perhaps that's one of the reasons his creations appear so simple and unpretentious they almost look inevitable. An alum of London's Royal College of Art, de Pass burst onto the international scene earlier this year when Established & Sons introduced his A-Bench, his first product for a major manufacturer. "The concept was to be economical in the use of materials. It's essentially two planes of wood, both exactly the same, with an angle to them for comfort," he says. ''It's an economical way of making comfort. It's j ust one component, repeated. Yo u can use it from any angle-it doesn't have a back or any side to it. It's for short rests." His Boundary Desk system is just as intelligent-it starts as a sim ple table, b ut concealed alu minum tracks u nder the t op accept a range of custom components, allowing users to add storage d rawers and privacy screens to suit individual preferences. "I wanted a fully functional desk system, b ut there wasn't a Jot on the market for that kind of scale. The big desks tend to be pretty hefty. I wanted to get that kind of function, but in a more domestic product that you'd want to have in your home," he says. "I find it inspir ing to answer all these little questions and needs," says de Pass. "I t ry to look at the essentials and what's really required. I never try to add stuff if there's no point in it. I boil things down to their essence." -T.M.
(CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) Desklamp (2009). Rail storage shelf (2009) with Boundary desk (2009}. winner or a Royal College or Art Helen Harnlyn Design Award. A-Bench (20 11} for Established & Sons. Notch coat stand (201 0). rna de or beech.
61
DAVE KEUNE pushes
the possibilities of familiar forms. '\1\lhile plenty of designers spend their days sculpting swoopy, curvaceous cuts, Dave Keune is interested in doing precisely the opposite- raucous arrangements of straight lines and preschool shapes make up much of his expanding oeuvre. "It's more challenging to design with straight lines than with bends and organic curves, where you can blend everything together," says the 33-year-old, Amsterdam-based designer who graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2001. He points to his Match tables for Perlci, which have ash-wood bases that resemble clusters of pick-up sticks. That design direction also has a practical side: "When it comes to manufacturing, straight lines are much easier to produce," he says. Keune's latest collection, Standard Primitives, which he launched during the Milan furniture fair in April, uses a few basic threedimensional shapes-a cone, sphere, and cube- which can be assembled into a range of lamps and furniture. "I went totally basic and presented people with building blocks in primitive shapes," he says. "They can mix and match eve1ything they like. That was a challenge for me too, because I had to work with basic shapes, which is even more difficult than working with straight lines" to come up with custom creations. The objective, he notes, is to show consumers that they needn't follow trends dictated by mass-market furniture brands. Says Kew1e: "'\1\lhen people interact with the parts of a product, they develop a much sh·onger bond with it."- T.M.
(CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) Dave Keune·s Standard Primitives laminated-paper large lamp and ash. aluminum. ar1d PMMA table. Standard Primitives oak-veneer and PMMA small lamp. From the same collection. a chest made from EchoPanel.
SURVEY
62
01
02
Simply Speaking A CRACK, A CREASE, A CHAPEAU: THESE LIGHTING DESIGNS EMBRACE SIMPLICITY ANDECONOMY,ANDTHENADD DOSES OF WHIMSY.
01
One way to speed up the transition to LEDs: make appealing bulbs. Working in collaboration with Foreverlamp, Alessi has laun ched AlessiLux, a series of bulbs that includes the droid-like U2Mi2 by Belgian-born, Milanbased Fn\tieric Gooris.
02
For Established & Sons' Dame by Luca Nichetto, the Italian designer borrowed a techniquefor the first time ever in lightingfrom automotive manufactming, creating a design that diffuses light through a decorated innerthermoformed shade. But the inspiration for the form-which is available in three configurations-didn't come from Detroit; instead, it came from trad itional Murano glass lanterns.
03
Also for Established & Sons, the Corner Light by American industrial design talent Peter Bristol (known for his Microsoft computer mice) takes advantage of
03
63
a rarely used living space: the upper corner of a ceiling. A fabric diffuser is available in two sizes and is held in place by a small metal bracket.
04
The master reductionist French duo of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have created the Piani desk lamp for Flos. Its simple valettray-like design (the prototype was shown in three sizes) comes in various colors (such as black, white, green, and red) and materials (including plastic, oak, and basalt).
04
Bridging the gap between art and design, Flos's Wall Rupture by lighting designer and artist Thierry Dreyfus is part of the brand's Soft Architecture collection and was inspired by his glittering Hommage table shown last year a tArt Basel Miami Beach.
os
Its name a play on the piece's obvious inspiration, the Behive by Berlin-based Werner Aisslinger for Foscarini is made of layers of polycarbonate stacked rings that gradually decrease in diameter, allowing the light source to remain hidden while creating a unique glow.
06
06
SURVEY
64
07
08
GOBLETS OF FIRE For his latest fixtures~ Paris-based designer Arik Levy combined centuries-old techniques with a mid-20 th century palette. This Israel·born talent could be described as a sculptor. Or an artist Or- what he's best knO\vn as-a designer. Levy's new limited-edition Well of Life lighting units for Ldesign, the collaborative company he co-founded with artist Pippo Lionni in 1997, suggest he's a hybrid of all three. "My career has not really changed;' says Levy, "but the sculpture work, the attwork, and the design work have merged and taken a strong force." Levy's approach to creating the handmade clay fixtures was twofold. First, he wished to invoke contemporary primitivism, he says, and second, "I wanted to revive th e colors of the '50s and the '60s in a new way." The result is a light that, from the outside, "looks like a rhinoceros," says Levy, and from the inside "makes a halo of color." (Tt comes in four shades- red, green, orange, and blue- and four sizes.) Manufactured by ceramist Jean-Paul Aiello, who runs the Terres et Formes workshop in Gardanne, France, each light, says Levy, "has a very, very close relationship to what's happening every second of making it:' -SPENCER BAILEY
09
65
10
By way of a faceted aluminum dish, the hanging Lunatic by Mun ich-based Tngo Maurer reflects the light of two LEDs for a glare-free effect.
07
Spanish designer and artist Javier Mariscal brings his anthropomorphic Mr. Light for Nemo-Cassina Lighting to life in two versions, short and tall. The adjustable diffuser, inspired by the work of Man Ray, can be tilted along one axis or taken off for a respectful tip of the hat.
os
Without straying into actual denim-clad lighting, the Pipe lamps (in three sizes) in Diesel's Successful Living collection by Foscarini have a feel similar to apparel. The dark version uses rubber-like ink on screenprinted silk, and the light version uses natural linen.
09
The duo-toned Bluff City pendants by Jonah Takagi for Roll & Hill- available in 8- and 14-inch versions-have a powder-coated metal cage and a copper-plated socket. Inspired by the Postmodern Memphis movement, the pendants have two different dual-color options in each size.
10
Also by Javier Mariscal, this time for Artemide, the fully adjustable Lotek lamp (available in black, gray, and a multicolored version) appears at first to be what it's called, but it is in fact combined with contemporary features such as LEDs and touch-sensor switching.
11
12
SURVEY
12
Designer Hector Serr-ano began sketching the polished, paintedmetal Carmen lamp for FontanaArte after watching the Crusades-era film Kingdom of Heaven and being impressed by the medieval armor of the Muslim leader Saladin.
13
A collaboration between Spanish ceramist Xavier Maflosa and Berlin-based design studio Mashallah, t he Pleat Box for Marset combines and contrasts established notions of materiality. Digitally created to resemble a textile before be ing cast in ceramic, the creased shade comes in multiple configurations of glazes, s uch as white, terra-cotta, and gray on lhe outside, and on the inside, white or 18-karat gold.
14
With its small footprint, the Quart lights by New York Citybased Rich Brilliant Willing can adapt to a variety of environments, much like the Piana by the Bouroullccs. Materials include marble, oak, aluminum, and steel.
15
Three shades are better than one: Known for his usc of asymmeb·ical and inte rlocking designs, Philippe Nigro has created the Stripes lamp in brushed stainless steel fo r his frequent client, Ligne Roset.
66
13
14
15
RAISING A GLASS TO DESIGN To celebrate the September/ October issue of Surface, the magazine gathered its network of designers, architects, artists, photographers, and editors at Mister H, the nightclub at the new Mondrian SoTio hotel. Toasting with rum cocktails crafted with Brugal, more than 450 of the magazine's friends turned up at the red-tinged, Asiantoned speakeasy. Among the guests: July/ August issue coverboys Gregory Buntain and Ian Collings of Fort Standard, footwear designer Alejandro Ingclmo, rising fashion star Jonathan Simkhai, and arch itect Antonio Pio Saracino. Event photography by Sam Hollenshead (samhoflensheadcom) and Kyle Dean Reinford (kytedeanreinfordphotographycom).
MONDR IAt\ ;iOHO
W ITH HIS FEET PLANTED FIRM LY IN T RAD ITION. THE NEW HEAD OF WOMENSWEAR AT ISSEY M IYAKE REACHES FOR THE FUTURE. SAMEER REDDY EXPLORES TH E PROCESS-ORIENTED HOUSE AS IT PREPARES FOR THE NEW TALENT'S RUNWAY DEBUT. PHOTOGRAPHER OGATA CAPTURES THE BRAND'S INNER WORKINGS IN TO KYO AND KYOTO. The Japanese appreciation for a foreign fashion personality is passionate. During visits to Tokyo, Karl Lagerfeld has to fend off frenzied mobs of fans, and a recent Marc Jacobs book signing had Japanese Jacobites lined up and down the block When it comes to homegrown design talent, though, the response is more low-key, with the spotlight shining mostly on sartorial innovation. The house of Tssey Miyake is arguably at the forefront of this. ~ Since its founding in 1970, the brand has built its ~ reputation on a visionary approach to fabrics and silhouettes, adapting traditional teclmiques for avant-garde applications. After Miyake stepped down as designer in 1999 (he remains chairman and continues to oversee all collections), Naoki Takizawa took ove1~ followed by Dai Fujiwara, who stepped d0\"111 this year. Today, the guiding force for womenswear is Yoshiyuki Miyamae, a 10-year veteran of the brand. (The men's line has its own design team.)
Miyamae's first collection- pre-spring 2012- revealed clues about the direction he plans to take. Although he's continuing the Miyake design narrative, Miyamae espoused a younger, more delicate aesthetic. Central to this: intricate gradient color effects, transparency, and attenuated, unexpectedly on-trend waists (transparent tights with color-blocked designs could easily be one of spring's most-wanted accessories). Wearable in the most poetic sense of the word, the collection expressed Miyamae's core philosophy. As he puts it, "I prefer to focus on how people will feel in my creations. Twant to focus not on superficial design elements but on t h e garments' ultimate destination: the wearer." The spring/summer 2012 collection, titled Bloom Skin, is an evolution of the concepts first presented in pre-spling. Miyamae's design process begins with a mood board- populated, he says, "with flowers, transparent objec.1:s, layered lights,
,
70 (PREVIOUS. LEFT TO RIGHT) At the lssey
Miyake office in Tokyo. designer Yoshi-
line. An Emerge suit jacket-the first sample for the line-paired with a Petal
yuki Miyamae sketching for the collec-
Tattoo shirt. At a traditional Japanese
tion and working on the image board. Miyamae checks a dress sample from the spring/summer 2012 collection .
dye house in Kyoto. Miyamae and his assistant check a Petal Tattoo fabric sample. Pattern-makers in the design
(THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
office at the lssey Miy ake headquarters.
RIGHn Nobutaka Kobayashi and his
Miyamae sketches a dress and jumpsuit for Bloom.
staff present printed-jersey fabric samples to Miyamae for the Blossom
'\
and women's bodies." This is not to say that his inspirations tend to be conventional and narrative-driven. "I use a mood board to share the images inside my head wi t h my team, but there is no specific living person who inspires me," he says. "Instead, there exists an ideal imaginary woman who has the maturity to appreciate the values of things-the craftsmanship and design t hat went into creating a garment- and who can look beyond their superficial elements." After organ izing his initial instincts, t he designer set off on an intensive search across Japan for factories specializing in traditional artisanal techniques. Unlike those who shape fabric to fit a preconception, Miyamae tailors his ideas to find a material's fullest potent ial. "We studly •vith craftsmen and create new textiles;' he says, "and images tend to develop automatically, which eventually leads to the inspiration for the collection and then the designs." Accompanied by Miyake's texti le designer, Nobutaka Kobayashi, Miyamae sought partners who could apply techniques mined from Japan's rich textile history to create an inimitable take on the possibilities of the present. "After the effects of the earthquake and
71 (FROM LEFT} In Kyoto. a craftsman creates a screen print made of highdensity polyester. for Bloom. Kobayashi and Miyamae check print quality at the Kyoto factory. The first fabric samples from the collection. displayed after testing the printing process.
t sunami in Japan earli er this year, Twanted to create something that had the feeling of optimism, of looking f01ward with a positive energy and lightness:' says Miyamae. "It was important for me to preserve the quality of something 'Made in Japan."' The results are impressive, both aesthetically and technologically. Describing one of the collection's foundational fabrics, Kobayashi says, "One of the facto r ies, using innovative t echnology, wove extremely dense fabric from incredibly thin polyester yarn, achieving a bouncy, jellylike texture after special processing. It swings elegantly, captuting the wind, and breathes well. In addition, we have ptinted astonishi ngly delicate color g~·adations on the textile, t hanks to silkscreening techniques of specialized artisans in Kyoto." The traditional printing technique involves 10 layers of ink, creating gradients in yellow, pink, and blue. The large silkscreen frames can accommodate a complex pattern and allow a large area to be treated at once- something possible in only a few factories in Japan. The fabric is applied to kin etic designs, including jumpsuits, dresses, skirts, tun ics, and sa.rouel pants. The same factory also assisted with another innovation,
the "opal treatment," which is used for tunics, shirts, and dresses. A lightweight blend of cupro and polyester is saturated in vru;ed layers of dye and then a chemical solution is applied in certain areas, causing the fabric to become transparent. After choosing his materi als, Miyamae develops silhouettes, fi rst v.rith sketches and then by draping. This oftentimes means integrating a fabric's potential for movement into a design. His favorite Bloom Skin dress silhou ette is reminiscent of a balloon. "I wanted to focus on the beauty of a woman's skin or the presence of her body, which can be felt or glimpsed through the airy fabric:· he says. " If you walk while wearing the dress, a breeze wafts around you, filling the fabric with wi n d and gently caressing you r skin while exaggerating your physical beauty." Another form of kinetic appeal is provided courtesy of pleats, a Miyake signatut-e that Miyamae says has ·'gradually been established in women's lives as a kind of fashion prod uct, a new basic. Unlike other pleated fabrics, ou r process is un ique in that each garment is cut and sewn first, and then pleated." (Typically garments ru·e created by
72 (FROM LEFT) At
the lssey Miyake offices in Tokyo, a model in a blouse from Bloom in jersey. First sample of the Bloom jumpsuit. Bloom fabric samples and paper prototypes.
the reverse process.) The brand works \'lith special factories in Kyoto that use a heat process to create and seal the pleats into the polyester fabric, and then reduce the garments down to their intended size. In this collection, pleats did double duty, appearing in multilayered, scarf-like pieces, \'lith ties at the neck and at the bottom, that could function as accessories or as tops. Fans of Miyake's Pleats Please line should stay tuned- Miyamae plans a future evolution that \'Viii introduce an artisanal, handcrafted adaptation to the industrial technique. Another technique is applied to a group known as the "flap flap;' sure to be a favorite \'lith Japanese businessmen and women. Dresses, jackets, and pants feature seams replaced \'lith interlocking paper lace, enabling the garments to fold neatly and lie completely fiat. Tf these avant-garde creations sound difficult to wear, the tights from pre-spring and Miyamae's design ideology suggest otherwise. His intuitive focus on the experience of the wearer translates into complex constructions that are intended to delight the consumer, not just the designer. Yukie Sudo, an editor at Japanese fashion magazine So-en and a member of the jury of the So-en contest, which helped
launch Miyamae's career, grasped his potential early on. Describing the t hought process that led to his winning the award, she says, "He was selected because his design aesthetic valued not only beauty, but also experimental approaches in materials and forms." Tt's a subtle but significant shift away from the work of his predecessor, Fujiwara, under whom the house occasionally became mired in conceptual concei ts. Miyamae's work, by contrast, treads a complex path towards streamlined, seemingly simple results that have multiple levels of appeal. Which mirrors the house's founder in many ways. The intersection of external and internal beauty is one aspect, Miyamae's investment in fabrication techniques another. Most important: a passion for the process of design. This form of sartorial consciousness resonates with fashion's current resurgence of craft, and it's one that Miyamae movingly articulates. "We believe that putting emphasis on the item's creation rather than [commerce] \"'i ll stimulat e consumers more," he says. "There is nothing better than a world where people prefer a designer who is involved in making things for tornorrow."~
73 (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFn Miyamae and Mizuki Narusawa fit a model in the Bloom jumpsuit. Model in the Bloom jumpsuit. Jersey from the Blossom line.
)
ITA LY-BASED CHANGE DESIGN CO M BI NED MULTIPLE T RADES-I NDUSTRIAL DES IGN, FASH ION, GRAPHICS, ENGINEERI NG, A ND ARCH ITECTURE -TO CREATE A BR EA KTHROUG H LIGHTING PROJ ECT FOR FOSCAR INI. TI M MCKE OUGH V ISITS THE LAMP 'S LAUNC HPAD. PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVIDE LOVATT!. Planet, a pendant lamp from the Italian lighting company Foscarini, looks out-of-this-world for a reason. Stitched with h igh-performance thread that creates an exoskeleton that does away with the need for an internal frame, it was directly inspired by next-generat ion spacesuit design. The idea that a dining room can share technology with ast ronauts might seem farfetched, but for Italian designer Renato Montagner and his firm Changedesign, such a crossover is merely business as usual. "In Changedesign, we have a fashion designer, a graphic designe1~ an engineer, and an architect," says Montagner, who divides h is t ime between the firm's offices in Venice and Milan. "Our challenge is to design around the human body. This can be clothing, objects, or something else," says the 48-year-old, whose multidisciplinary approach to design comes from experience. As ru1 architecture student in the 1980s in Venice, Montagner, who was born and raised in the city, got restless with Italian traditions. "I was a little t ired and frustrated by architecture school, Venice, and
82 (PREVIOUS) Left to right. Renato Montagner. Francesca Tosin, and Francesco Bortolan Arpa thread graphic designs on Planet prototypes at Changedesign's studio in Venice.
(THIS PAGE. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFl] A "material test" from the beginning of the Planet project On a studio workstation, red string used for concept designs and papers detailing the lamp. A board at the
Palladio," he says, "so I moved to San Francisco." There he fell in with the surfing and skateboarding crowd and also became aware of a wave of emerging architects. "Eric Owen Moss and Frank Gehrythat movement of American architectu re that was so new and different from European culture;' he says. "They used different materials- not bricks, which is what I had stu died." Inspired, he ret urned to Italy's Veneto region, home base to many sports-equipment manufacturers, and began working in the ath letic industry. The use of innovative materials became his focus. As he puts it, "Materials are at t he root of a good project." When Montagner founded Changedesign in 2000, "it was really about industrial and performance design," he says. "It was about carbon fiber, new teclmologies, and new techniques for bonding and stitching fabrics." Today, Changedesign is best known for products like helmets, back protectors, and motorcycle jackets for Dainese, as well as undetwear packaging for Fila and product displays for Pirelli and the bicycle-components company Campagnolo.
studio. used to hang sketches. materials. and supplier contacts. Left to right Daniele Orfano. Francesca Tosin, Francesco Bortolan. and Anna Larese brainstorm at the studio's main workstation.
The firm also designs furniture and lighting. "Planet is the first complete and mature object that represents a heritage of sports and performance but, in the end, stands on its own," says Montagner. "T t's the first project of Changedesign that melds evetything together." It didn't hurt that the lamp also received an indirect assist from NASA and MIT. Looking for manufacturing help to develop a new breed of spacesuits that offer a closer-fitting form, almost like a second skin, the institutions tu rned to Dainese, where Montagner is creative director. "We have the skills to design something that combines textiles, plastic, and metal," he says. "We started to experiment with putting different layers together and creating a kind of skeleton using fabric, stitching, and different bonding techniques." Montagner believed that the idea of a structural skin could also be used to create a different kind of light fixture. Turning to Alessandro Vecchiato and Carlo Urbinati, the cofounders of Foscarini, he presented his proposal. The pair hopped on board. Says Vecchiato: "Changedesign differs from other designers we work with,
83
especially considering their expertise in texti les and t heir experience in fashion design . They came to us with a piece of t issue and a fascinating concept that captured our imagination. From then on, lots of development and engineering work had to be done to make this idea come true. Usually an embroidery element constitutes an aesthetical and decorative value, but in this project it also constitutes a techn ical need." Borrowing from Changedesign's sports background once again, Planet is made in an Italian factory that normally manufactures th ermo-taped ski jackets. To build the light fixtures, flat panels are first stitched with intricate, wing-like patterns. The loose pieces are then expanded around a spherical form and heated, melting t he thread. Once cooled, it hardens, retaining th e round shape. " It's the same as the human body-the skeleton, the fat, and the skin," says Montagner. "Everything together creates th e structure of the lamp." Planet was introduced at Milan's Euroluce fair this spring and goes into
(CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT) Francesca Tosin working at a hot press, surrounded by
A mood board Changedesign used for designing a Dainese motorbike
the studio's materials archive-clothes, suit s, and helmets realized over the
collection . Work-in -progress fabric and color schemes used for the
years-and library. Renato Montagner.
Planet lamp.
production this winter in two pendant versions. This brand ofboundary-blending design can also be seen in Changedesign's own fash ion company, Virus Plus. Its pieces, including suit jackets made from technical waterpr oof fabr ics, are designed with a focus on performance-to look good in the office or on a bike. Last year, Virus Plus put out a vin tage- looking Ducati motorcycle and th en devel oped a Top Gun-style bomber jacket to go with it. This year, the company offered a carbon-fiber racing bicycle, with wind - and waterp roof jackets and vests to match. Next up? A surfboard and seaworthy apparel. Despite his architectural past, Montagner now teaches fashion design at the Domus Academy and Politecnico di Milano. But he's clear that Changedesign will never be limited to clothing. With a singular focus on improving human experience, he says, "we can approach everything from lamps to motorcycles to interiors."~
Orylag fur reversible long cape, THIMISTER. OPPOSITE: Mud-silk
crossed-back jacket and shorts, both THIMISTER PREVIOUS SPREAD
FROMLEFT: Felted wool-silk peignoir coat, suede shorts, suede greige small boots, and mud-silk low decollete overalls, all THIMISTER.
Mohair/silk hand-knit sweater and gazar-lave shorts, both THIMJSTER OPPOSITE: Mohair/$ilk hand-knit hooded cape, leather shorts, and wede greige small boots, all THIMISTER. FOLLOWING SPREAD: Mohair/silk hand-knit hooded cardigan and leather shorts, both THIMISTER.
GROOMING: T, TSET, OTTE VAN SAAR-
LOOSfor Laura Mercier at House ofOrange, Amsterdam. MODEL: JACO at Republic Men, Amsterdam. PHOTO ASSISTANTS: WOUTER DE WIT and HUMPHREY KHOUW. SPECIAL THANKS: TIMBOEKTOE.
JOSEP~S
MIMISTER INTERVIEW DAN ItUBINSTEIN
Combining the material awareness ofa decorator with the Throughout all your collections, do you think there's a rebellious nature of an artist, Dutch-born, Paris-based signature technique that's clearly yours? Josephus Thimister; 49., has created collections for both men and women over the past two decades, reflecting myri- It's always the opposite. It's always the yin-yang thing. I'm ad roots and influences. After studying fine art in Antwerp very poetic and, at the same tin1e, very rough, earthy. I and assisting Karl Lagerfeld, he designed for Jean Patou. think I'm sophisticated, but on the other side, very rough. I He then took a two-year break from fashion, working as a can be very light, play \'lith chiffons, and I can be very heavy, decorator before joining Balenciaga. In 1997, he began his in a constructed way. It's rarely in the middle. own house, producing both couture and ready-to-wear. We spoke with Thimister about his fall collection (titled "Snow What do you look for in materials for your collections? Mystic Circles of Fallen Angels"), the nature of sin, ancesI have no system, actually. Every collection is different, tral sheep, and his love ofNordic light. even if after working for so many years you know that Did your early work in interiors influence your fashion? when you lose yourself you can catch yow·self up to some tricks. But there's always a structW'e. Sometimes I just For me, they're exactly the same thing. Most designers draw a collection completely and fill it in afterwards with can be good decorators, and good architects can often be fabrics and draping. Sometimes it's just one piece that I good fashion designers. The only difference is that I did drape, and then one idea fills up another one, and then I the fine-art fashion tiling to start with and then started in draw the collection as I'm draping. interior design. The one element in interiors that's very in1portant is the way the light works. How it works on a Where did this season's inspiration of angels come from? person when they move, for me, is the same thing. How the sw1 goes around the space or changes from day to We live in a very difficult period for a lot of people and night is important in clothes, too. there are a lot of disasters going on. I think fashion is always the mirror of society and we're in the margins Do you miss doing interiors? Do you think about it? of society. You see it in history: Fashion is always walking a bit in front of what will happen in society. The last No, because I'm very spoiled. All day long I'm playing with collection is about this very dark period, but there's an elements like material, light, construction, and propor- enormous incoming light, too. If people really want to tions- it's always the same thing. The only difference is an find light, they can find it- even ifit's not easy. element that's very important to me: smell. Perfume. Vle underestimate very strongly ow· earliest memories. I'm The idea of fallen angels is very tied to the concept of sin. very attached to smell myself. There's one thing that you can play with in interior decoration that you can't play I don't believe in sin myself. I don't believe in sin at all. I \'lith in clothes, and that's smell. I always cheat a little and believe in freedom. I've done a lot of work by myself by throw a bit of incense in every show I have. not working and having a wonderful yoga. teacher for many years. I don't believe in suffering. I just believe that Why did you choose a palette of almost all neutral tones? p-eople make themselves free, and the way they can take care of things can make them free. I rarely use a lot of black, but in the last season I used a lot of it. And white, which I almost never use. I felt it was Could you describe the range of materials this season? all about justice, camera obscura, the very black-andwhite optical thing. I'm also always very influenced by I used some very sophisticated things, like lacquered my origins, the northern light-the very dark, gray, heavy, Chinese silk, which has been made for centuries. It's cloudy-but not as a depression. It's almost touchable, mud silk, a silk that's treated with a certain thing from very reachable. In general, I don't think about color. It potatoes. They bury the silk in the mud for two months, comes naturally. For example, this season I wanted to July and August, in China. Then they dig it up, wash it, use a lot of color and really paint with it, and in the end it and lacquer it on the mud side. Another material is felt. came back to only three or four colors. Which is strange, I met this girl from Lithuania who does felt, and she only because I don't particularly like black. uses material from very old races of sheep. I use a lot of natW'al, untreated materials. I don't like synthetics. What's your creative process in yow· studio? How would you describe your niche? I suffer! [Laughs] No, actually I have a very nice studio. I've been able to work with the same people for 35 years. It's for people who are very conscious about what's hapI'm actually alone with my assistant in the studio, and pening in this world, about society. It's for people who eve1y two weeks there's somebody else coming in for a have a little intellectual insight- people who understand work in progress. It's like a creative factory. It gives me clothing and the craftsmansllip of it-and for the love of new energy, and it gives those who work with me new it. For me, the beginning of everything is love. Otl1e1wise, energy, too. It's a very interesting way of working. I wouldn't do it.~
PART CREATIVE EXERCISE AND PART RESEARCH PROJECT. A NEW VENTURE BY HERMES CALLED PETIT H CONNECTS ITS STORIED PAST TO LUXURY'S UNCERTAIN FUTURE. DAN RUBI NSTEI N SPEAKS W ITH CO -ARTISTIC DIRECTOR PASCALE MUSSARD ON W HY THE LINE'S UPCYCLED OBJECTS ARE SO VITA L TO T HE HOUSE'S L EGACY. PHOTOS BY CHRIST OPH E U R BAI N.
/
Future students of luxury fashion and design will likely use the house of Hermes in this decade as a case study. How did a legendary French luxury-goods manufacturer survive hostile takeovers, an unparalleled economic crisis, and the fast-fashion craze while staying true to itself? Did it call for drastic action? For co-artistic director Pascale Mussard, the answer is: maybe. Earlier this year; she launched a new sub-brand called Petit h, which culls materials from the disparate products the company produces and upcyc/es them into limited-edition andjor one-offgifts, accessories, and toys to be sold in shops around the globe. While Petit h, which arrives in New York in November; uses rejected materials .from the brand's notoriously particular artisans, don't think these creations are objects to be looked down on. Co.f.fee-cup holders in duo-toned alligator; a vivid chest of drawers decorated in repurposed calfskin and beach towels, a massive resin -filled donkey that required more than 60 hours to create- and that's just a sampling. The Paris nerve center (shown here) brings together artisans- most of whom are lifetime Hermes talents-for the first time.
/
Mussard e.:'
93 IBELOWl Co-artistic di rector Pascale Mussard in the office of the Petit h workshops in Pantin. a suburb of Paris.
94
with perfection and imperfection." We take so much time to select the most beautiful silk, or the most beautiful linen, or the most beautiful leather, or anything. So it's too bad to get rid of one p:ut of it; we are not inventing a11 object with it. A second thing is that I had the luck to work with all the crafts of the company. Every metier has its own skill, and they try to be the best in their skill, which is silk or leather or silver or crystal, but they r:u·ely interact. It was interesting for me to bring two crafts together. Then, four or five years ago, we had a seminar, and the woman in charge of p:ut of Hermes said, "Maybe in two, three, lO-we don't know-ye:u·s, maybe we won't be able to throw things away, because we won't be allowed to, or
((It just shows that Hermes is something different) that we have the opportunity to have fantasy and play) but in a serious way.))
What was your creative process like?
First, I asked designer Gilles Jonemann, who I had met at a conference, "Do you want to follow me for one month :u1d go everywhere we produce Hermes products- in leather, in silk, in porcelain, and in crystal?" So we went and we put all the discard ed things we liked maybe there will be a material that we won't be al- in his truck, went to his atelier, and I prepared a collowed to have anymore." And I said, "Now is the time. lection with him of about 60 or 70 pieces. When Twas I have to do this project." It came to me, and I said, "I ready, I wrote a long letter to my family saying that it have to try to find in which ways we can work, which was my dream . I showed the pieces because I really materials we can use. If one day we have no more wanted them to understand that I was not playing with leather"- ! don't think that would happen, but you our name, that I was not playing with our pursuit of exnever know- "we have to find another way." Like my cellence, that I was not doing it to be politically correct great-grandfather, Emile Hermes, when he suddenly by recycling. It was more that I wanted them to agree discovered, thanks to the U.S. and Canada, that horses tha t I was not against Hermes. I needed to have their would disappear and cars would come, he right away blessing. They said, "Okay, you can try, but do it for thought, "I do my best to have the best stitches, it's too real." Because I needed hands. Hermes hands. bad that T hide them. l'm going to show them. Tf we The second issue, which was as important as the have cars, we're going to be traveling more." So he in- firs t one, was the question of intellectual property, vented bags and t hings to carry, and everything grew and this is where [Petit h managing director] Cyril from that. I'm trying to be a little like him. Petit his [Febl comes in, because at that time he was in charge a way for me to really think, and to stop and to test of the legal department. He proposed that I meet all every possibility of our materials. I think it's only at the creators- those still alive, of course- and I read Hermes that we can have all these skilled crafts and tlhem the letter. They all more or less agreed, and they different fabrics, leathers, a11d materials. signed a letter giving me the opportunity to try. I really thanked them, because I know that if you make a It's almost like you're preparing for a future that may or beautiful spoon and you cut it and you do something e[se with it, I know that it's your property, your baby. may not come. And I'm touching their babies. Exactly. In a way, yes. Are some materials more difficult to work with in Are supplies becoming more difficult to source? tlhis way? Yes. For example, silk. Before, it was in China; now we're growing it in Brazil. And it's beautiful in quality, it's wonderful, it's great, but at a certain point, for the agricultural people, silk maybe won't give them as much money as other crops. We have the responsibility to develop, to invent, and this is why creation is so important for Hermes. But in fields such as crystal, you have glass, which is less expensive, as it's easier to put into a machine. I t hink t hat, in crystal, there's a beautiful craft to it. It's time to invent something that can use t he tech nique but maybe make something else with it that you will use more readily.
It's true. With some, I was astonished. For example, \vith textiles, I don't want to make clothes, because we have wonderful people-Veronique [Nichani:u1] for the men's collection a11d now Christophe [Lemaire] for the women's-who do that. But I have a lot of tex1:iles, so I thought maybe I c:u1 do very e~"Y things, like ponchos, aprons, accessories. It's really difficult because sometimes I w:u1t to do more, but I have to stop myself. The pieces :u·e planned in an organic way-some as oneoff's. some in limited quantities. Was this because of the materials used?
95 (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT) Leather scraps in the Petit h workshop. Chest
A stuguevieille. Porcelain knife restsmade from coffee cups-designed by
leather and crocodile skin. Seamstress Clelia Bellet at work in the Petit h
of drawers, clad with leather and terry c loth, designed by Christian
Gilles Jonemann. Coffee-cup holders, designed by the Petit h team, in
workshops, with Marjolijn Mandersloat's crocodile giraffe nearby.
96 (CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT) A race car
change tray made of crocodile and
Swift-calfskin pets designed by Adrien Rovero. A fawn. made of
leather, designed by Jonemann. Leftover straps, stored for designers
buffalo leather and Togo calfskin. designed by Mandersloot.
to use during the creation process.
97
I could do another stuffed panda, for example, but in a different color. But to be honest, I did a giraffe because I prefer to change. For the next sale in Paris, we have another kind of animal: a giraffe in crocodile. We used that material because there was this special order and I had this big-scaled crocodile and they would not use it for a bag because it's too big-scaled, and the point is not to make another bag in crocodile. So we had the idea of making a giraffe- it was in another skin, by the way, in the beginning, with two colors-and then I said, "Well, why don't we do it in this?" So you can't go back and make it again because you don't have the same materials. Exactly. It's like the mobile in crystal. I said, "I can't ask you to break more glasses because I want to make a second one." Do you have a favorite piece? No. There are some that I would love to receive as a present. rLaughs] For example, the doorstop, which is in crystal with the Kelly bag handle. I also like the swing and I like one very nice object we just did, a very simple hanger. But I have no favorites. I like the soft clock, more because of the story of its hands. An old craftsman brought me these hands, which were letter openers, and it's more the story that they have a second life, a second sense. Sometimes I say to the materials, "You are lucky, because you nearly died! You were almost burning and now you are so beautiful." Are there pieces you've designed yourself?
I realize now that I'm inside the company that there's something that makes Hermes, Hermes. Everyone says, 'This is Hermes; this is not Hermes.' I don't understand what is Hermes and what is not Hermes. Can you explain it? I have been born in it, but I don't understand." He said, "Don't worry, it's so easy. You only have to remember one thing: it's an Hermes product if you can repair it." I've always kept that in my mind. He was so right: If you know how to repair something, you know how to make it. Ifyou repair it, it's because you want to keep it. It's all about quality and functionality, usefulness, and integrity in selecting tl1e materials tl1at are going to last. The second thing I learned much later. It's something that I always have in my bag. It's a paperthatJean-Louis Dumas, his son, gave to me one day. I asked the same question I had asked his fat her, and he said, "Hermes is natural beauty transformed to become useful and functional; it's tradition that's shaken up by ideas to become a tradition that's alive; it's working with craftsmen in the search for something that's perfect, but with the spirit of an apprentice; it's rare materials, time, and handwork; and it's men and women who are working for the people, for time, and for a way to live." For me, as part of the family, he said, "Fantasy, honesty, and work, work, work." Is that what luxury means to you? Maybe it's not a statement for luxury. For me, it's really that I want to give back what I've been given, but more as an example for my children or for when I leave Hermes, so I can give this small remembrance of what I have been given. This is very important because it's a
((Ifyou know how to repair something, you know how to make it. If you repair it, irs because you want to keep it.''
With Gilles, it's a conversation together. For example, I'll say, "We don't have frames at Hermes, or we don't have candelabras," because I really like to do something new that we don't have. The idea is not to copy. I don't want to copy myself. I did not design anything, no. I just push and say, "Why don't family business. Some of t!he luxury houses in France we do that?" have lost t heir soul, lost t heir spirit, and I hope that Hermes won't lose it, because it has been so well-planted. V.That does this say about luxury today? Do you think this will be ongoing? Do you know how I don't think it's a marker or a statement. For me, it was long you're going to continue? more about giving back what I have been given. I was never thinking about luxury, because I don't think of Yes, I think it can continue, but I've also planted a good Hermes as a luxury. The point is that I wanted to make seed. It's a good strut. Maybe it's a different way to imagthe most beautiful things-well, not me, but I want to be ine a collection when you're in our business, I think. part of it. It just shows that Hermes is something differ- Everyone cru1 do it in a different rhythm, and this is, by ent, that we have the opportunity to have fantasy and the way, the real luxury that I have: to take time and to decide or to say that we're not ready. play, but in a serious way. Your question brings me back to two very impottant things I've been told. One was by my great-uncle J ean- So it's like research and development for the brand? Louis Dumas, who was the president of Hermes until recently. He was the president when I started, in 1978. I think that ethic is a very important word. And showing His father was still there- Robert Dumas- and I had just care to everything. These are two words that are not just joined Hermes. I joined Hermes because I worked for a words. We really have to try our best to live up to tl1em. woman as her assistant. I came to Robert after my first Maybe in that way it's a statement that all the luxury day, and I said, "You have to explain something to me. compru1ies should have. ~
0
"You have to find what satisfies you;' says Chris Brooke, one half of the nine-year-old, London-based fashion house Basso & Brooke. "Tf it doesn't provoke a reaction, if we start to compromise just to be commercial, then we're not really interested. This is not about making money. Fashion, we find, is a great vehicle with which to explore creativity." Their great breakthrough was producing the first 100-percent digitally printed fashion collection, which won the U.K.'s Fashion Fringe Award in 2004. They've since become darlings of the London print-fashion scene and gained a fan in Michelle Obama, who wore a piece of theirs for an evening of poetry and music atthe White House in 2009. Brazil-born Bruno Basso, 33, and British Chris Brooke, 37, live and work from their home in South East London. As one would expect, it's chock-full of their trademark color and prints as well as their contemporary art and ceram ics collections, which include works by Ettore Sottsass,Andreas Gursky, Gerrit Rietveld, and Matteo Thun. Shown during London Fashion Week in September, their spring/ summer 2012 collection was inspired, printwise, by Basso's travels by car from London through Siberia to Beijing. Amped up with a hit of tropical brights, the collection explores the way colors change throughout the day. Sil houettes- Brooke's domain- were simple and polished. Also particularly strong: draped silk dresses, masculine pants, and sleeveless blazers. Says Basso: "It all started when we set up a website in 2003 to showcase our creativity-Chris's illustrations and my graphics-exploring digital print but with no specific purpose. Clothes were just a creative consequence." Their first foray into fashion was for the upscale London erotic boutique Coco de Mer. "We began with printed silk scarves," says Brooke. Their aim was to make something precious yet playful. "It was a tiny beginning;' he says, "but just the right spark to get us thinking about what to do next." Scarves were then turned into cushions and bolsters, and the shop kept reordering. "We loved their audience: people who understood luxury and were intelligent;' says Brooke. The pair began to collaborate with Dutch and Italian companies that use Japanese inks and offer muse Lun-quality printing on silk and georgette. The line expanded to silk pajamas, robes, and women's boxers. "Just for the experience, we applied for the Fashion Fringe competition," says Basso. "We were just so excited about the process and that people wanted a piece of what we were doing." With Brooke's background in womenswear- he's a 1997 Central Saint Mrutins m~i:er's graduate-ru1d Basso's in journalism ru1d advertising, the duo offer what they believe is a fresh approach. "Vlhen we launched, digital printing, as we were doing it, was really new," says
100 {PREVIOUS FROM LEFD ChriS Brooke
Silk (SIS 2012) (OPPOSITE. CLOCKWISE
(left) and Bruno Basso. Furoshiki print
FROM TOP LEFT) Initial fabrics. studies.
(S/S 2009]. Tea Time printed satin robe embroidered with Swarovski
and sketches for S/S 20 12. Basso at work in his studio. Nice Weather
crystals (SIS 2007] (THIS PAGE. CLOCK· WISE FROM RIGHT) The Great Egret print (SIS 2009). Various SIS 201 2 fabrics Staring at the Sun silk shirt and Purple Flora corseted strapless dress (S/S 2012). Soft Constructivist silk shirt-
for Ducks print (S/S 2009). Vitraux Ill wool trench coat (A/W 2009]. Printed leather shoes (SIS 20061. Feathered Constructivist silk shirt and Imaginary People draped skirt (SIS 2012].
dress and silk/wool pants (S/S 201 2).
Brooke in his studio. Mikado print (SIS 2009). Fresh Splash silk/wool coat
Tip pi silk jersey top and silk/wool skirt (AIW 2011). Electric Sunburst printed
(A/W 2011 1. Swarovski-embroidered Ascii silk coat (A/W 2007].
Basso. "It offers such incredible possibilities with color and precision." But with one being a highly technical pattern-cutter and designer, the other a graphics expert, how do th ey collaborate to create a coherent collection? The sh01t answer: separately. Each works in his own studio and has a different method of research, each producing his own sketchbook "The thing is, we don't truly know what the other one does- since we have different areas of expertise," says Brooke. "We offer each other opinions- we edit together, and we put the collection together, but we have different skill-sets- and that works really well." Brooke tends to focus on the exploration of technique. Basso, on th e other hand, claims not to know how to cut a dress. He simply knows what he likes. ''We know what pleases us;• says Basso. "Our work is built in synergy." The result: clean, simple silhouettes that are deceptively complex in their engineering and that perfectly fit their placed print. Basso adds that Photoshop has allowed endless scope, providing accuracy and a higher quality of saturated color. "We discuss so much of this together and for some reason it just works in this very fluid way;' says Basso. "It could be simplifying the placement of print and ensuring the garment works perfectly with that. It really is quite mathematical. We spend much of our time calculating prints and how and where they sit on a garment Chris is very logical and, I'd say, quite a purist. He's great at problem-solving-like shifting a seam to keep a print uninterrupted." For Basso, inspiration lies in details. "The one thing I come back to is my love of Memphis design and people like Oscar Niemeyer," he says. "Still, it's essential to keep things always looking new. I like to freshen up people's eyes, and I'm mostly concerned with the social context of image. We're always looking for that emotional response." The pair has also created bespoke home products, such as printed silk qu il ts, cushions, and upholstered seating. Brooke says it's something t hey'd love to explore fmther. "Our dream is to design a hotel suite," he says. "Can you imagine how amazing a room fu ll of our prints would look?" (;I
D WINTER COATS
OF YESTERYEAR
STATEMENTS OP. STYLE BY THE LIKES D AND JIL SAND
.
BY LINNEA OLSO -SCHWARTZ. HI MIYAKAWA.
Waxed leather jacket and jersey drPSS, both H£1,;\fUT LANG. Cashmere seamless hooded pullover, TOM SCOTT. F:laphe-nappa leather duvet boot.~, DEVT KROELL. OPPOSITE: Nylon de capo stole and polyester quarter pants, both ISSEY MIYAKE. PREVIOUS SPREAD:
Nylon/ silk harmonograph quilted down coat, THIIEEAJWOUR Mink-python boots, DEVT KilO ELL.
Nylon-square puffer coat, VTVTENNE WESTWOOD.
Wool-crepe pants, COSTU~dE NATIONAl. Elaphe-nappa leather du1•et boots, DEVT KROELL OPPOSITE: Nylon zigzag stole, ISSEY MIYAKR Polyamide puffer top, JIL SANDER. Leather obtuseangle pants, THREEASFOUR.
SOURCES
110
IDEASINDESIGN P. 19
ART P. 36
ARCHITECTURE P. 52
FENDI tendi.com
.'ESIR aesir-copenhagen.com
GAGOSIAN GALLERY gagosian. com
MAD ARCHITECTS i-mad.com
FRANCESCO SCOGNAMIGUO
francescoscognamiglio.com
BARBER OSGERBY
GRONINGER MUSEUM
barberosgerbycom BLOOMBERG bloomberg.com
groningermuseum.nl
TALENT: FASHION P. 54
ISSEY MIYAKE isseymiyake.com
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
CASSIA thecomer.com
TESS GIBERSON tessgiberson.com
BROACHED COMMISSIONS
guggenheim.org
CASTANER stevenalan.com
THREEASFOUR threeasfour.com
broachedcommissions.com CAMPAIGN campaigndesign.co.uk CONCRETE concretespace.co.uk
SPRUETH MAGERS
COTE co-te.com
TOM SCOTT tomscottnyc.com
spruethmagers.com
LIA SOPHIA /iasophia.com
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
TEL AVIV MUSEUM OF ART
SPANX spanx.co m
viviennewestwood.co. uk
ESTABLISHED & SONS
tamuseum.com
TIM COPPENS timcoppens.com
estabfishedandsons.com
WALKER ART CENTER walkerart.org
WESC wesc.com
fabiencappello.com
INTERIORS P. 38
TALENT: DESIGN P. 58
THE FUTURE LABORATORY
3LHD 3/hd.com
DAVE KEUNE davekeune.com FELIX DE PASS fe fixdepass.com
thefuturelaboratory.com
AGENCEJOUIN MANKU
HAUNCH OF VENISON
patrickjouin.com
PIERRE FAVRESSE
haunchofvenison.com HECTOR ESRAWE esrawe.com JOHN PAWSONjohnpawson.com LAND ROVER landrover.com
EMMANUEL PICAULT
pierrefavresse. com
chicbyaccident.com FRED MAFRA fredmafra.com.br
SURVEY P.62
HOTEL LONE lonehotel.com
ALESSI atessi.com
LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL
JOSEFINE/ROXY josefine.com.br
ARIK LEVY arik/evy.fr
tondondesigntestival.com NENDOnendojp NIKE nike.com
t:OPERA operadeparis.fr
ARTEMIDE artemide.us
LUDWIGGODEFROY
DIESEL diese/.com
fudwiggodetroy.com
ESTABLISHED & SONS
PAUL COCKS EDGE
MANDARIN ORIENTAL PARIS
establishedandsons.com
pautcocksedge.co.uk
mandarinoriental.comlparis ODILE DECO odbc-paris.com
FLOSflos.it
ROJKIND ARCHTECTS
rojkindarquitectos.com ST. PAUL.:S CATHEDRAL stpau/s.co.uk SWAROVSKI Svtarovski.com YVES BEHAR fuseproject.com
FON TANA ARTE f ontanaarte.it FOSCARINI toscarini.com
ALEJANDRO INGELMO P. 42
LDESIGN ldesign.fr
ADIDAS SLVR slvrstore.adidas.com
LIGNE ROSET ligne-roset-usa.com
ALEJANDRO INGELMO
MARSET marset.com NEMO-CASSINA nemo.cassina.it
TRAVEL P. 28
alejandroingetmo.com A.P.C. apc.fr
HEYWOOD HILL heyvtoodhill.com
ASOS asos.com
richbrilliantwilling.com
HOSTEM hostem.co.uk
COSTELLO TAGUAPIETRA
ROLL & HILL rol/andhil/.com
RICH BRILLIANT W ILLING
MARTIN BRUDNIZKI mbds.net
costellotagliapietra.com
PIZZA EAST PORTOBELLO
JUDITH LE18ERjudith/eiber.com
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE P. 68
pizzaeastportobello.com
MCM mcmworldwide.com
ISSEYMIYAKE
TIMOTHY TAYLOR GALLERY
NARS narscosmetics.com
isseymiyake.com
timothytaylorgallery.com
SPANX spanx.com
UNTO THIS LAST
untothistast.co.uk
FORECAST P. 112 DAVID ADJAYE adjaye.com
FABIEN CAPPELLO
COVER YOUR HEAD P. 74 MATERIALS P. 48
ARMANI CASA armanicasa.com
ANNETTE DOUGLAS TEXTILES
DONGHIA donghia.com RUBELLI rubelli.com
PRODUCT P. 30
ACOUSTICS dougtas-textiles.ch
FENDI fendi.com
HORIE horie.cojp
HERMES hermes. com
INAX inax-usa.com
PLANET CAPTAINS P. 80
IWCiwc.com MOVADO movado.com
KERFKORE kerfkore.com
CHANGEDESIGN changed.it
KONARKA TECHNOLOGIES
FOSCARINI toscarini.com
NOOKAnooka.com
konarka.com
OMEGA omegawatches.com
MATERIAL CONNEXION
IN TO THE LIGHT P. 84
PAN ERAipanerai.com
materialconnexion.com
THIMISTER thimister.com
PATEK PHILIPPE patek.com
TAIGA CORPORATION
PIAGET piaget.com
taica.co.jp
TRANSPORT P. 32
BOOKS P.50
UP, UP, AND AWAY P. 92 HERMES hermes.com
FORD MOTOR COMPANY
GESTALTEN g estalten.com
COLOR AND CHEMISTRY P. 98
ford. com
LAURENCE KING PUBLISHING
BASSO & BROOKE
laurenceking.com
bassoandbrooke.com
LIMITED P. 34
THE MONACELLI PRESS
NEXT LEVEL GALLERY
randomhouse.comlmonacelli
PUFF LOVE P. 102
nextlevelga/erie.com
PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS
BAND OF OUTSIDERS
PHILIPPE MALOUIN
papress.com RIZZOLI rizzofiusa.com
forwardforward.com
phi/ippemalouin.com VIENNA DESIGN WEEK
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
viennadesignweek.at
yatepress.yale.edu
costumenational.com DEVI KROELL de vikroel/.com
COSTUME NATIONAL
DESIGN MIAMI designmiami.com
-
~INNOVATIVE
ADVANICED SUSTAINABLE We Offer Material Solutions For Your Ideas We are an international material consultancy with a library of 6,500+ innovative materials. Reach us at: info@materia lconnexion.com I www.materialconnexion.com N w York • Bangkok • Beijing • Cologne • Daegu • lstanbll • Milan • Seoul
FORECAST
11 2
I
While anyone would be gratejitl to receive Design Miami's annual Designer of the Year Award and join the ranks of recipients like Konstantin Grcic, Marc Newson, and Zaha Hadid, for David Adjaye the honor also represents a particularly uncanny mom-ent of professional synergy. Having spent the better part of his career designing in and around the art world-traversing the same borders that Design Maimi purports to blur-the Tanzania-born, London-based architect is now gearing up to produce his own series of limited-edition .furniture. Adjaye has never been one to limit himself to a single creative role, whether it's mas- ~ terminding a 10-year documentary photoresearch project on urban Africa's built landscape- released this month as a book, African Metropolitan Architecture (Rizzoli)-or designing the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., scheduled for completion in 2015. He calls his practice "holistic." A more apt description may be superhuman. Hi. David. What are you doingJ:ight now? I'm getting ready to go see the launch of t he Bouroullec Brothers' Textile Field installation a t the Victoria and Albert Museum. I just got back yesterday from a business trip to New York, where the Designer of the Year Award was announced, and before that I was in Tibet. I'd been wanting to visit that region's monasteries for a long time, so I was there looking at the buildings and the landscape. Since Tibet is more than 4,000 feet above sea level, I was interested in seeing how a mountain country like that works. Where will you t ravel to next?
housing and a children's museun1 for a community in Harlem. After that we'll begin a large body of work in Accra and Lagos involving some master-planning and significant developments in the education and commercial sectors. And I'm also thinking about a new furniture series for next year, as it's been a while since my 2007 Monoforms collection for Albion Gallery. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I will say that texture plays an important role. We're also working on some project-specific pieces with normal furniture companies, so in the next couple of years you'll see both mainstream Adjaye furniture and one-off designs. What can you tell us about your inst allation for Design Miami?
~NGRY
FOR
MO~ POLYMATH DAVIDADJAYE CATAPULTS TO HOUSEHOLD NAME STATUS, THE RESULT OF AST EADYDIETOF ART, DESIGN, AND GLOBAL AWARENESS.
T'm making what T call archi-fumiture: these very large-scale objects that are a bit like pavilions but smaller. I call the installation Genesis because it's the first time I've combined furn iture and the notion of space into one seamless obje<.:t. You look at this th ing, you encounter it, you can view from it, you can relax in it. It operates on a lot of scales, an d it's made out of one material. Do you have a five -year plan? I just want to ge t through everything I've got on my plate. My top priority is delivering an important, high-quality building for the Smithsonian on the National Mall in Washington. It's the very last site on the Mall that you <.:an put a full building on. After this, t he Mall will fi nall y be complete, 200 years after its inception. What's your ultimate career goal?
Just being acknowledged as a significant This weekend I'll be at the Isbanbul Biennial. INTERVIEW MONTCA KHEMSUROV contributor t o the development of culture I'm really looking forward t o it because it ILLUSTRATION FRAi'IK VON GRAFENSTEIN through architecture. It's a big goal, but a seems to be t he best pla<.:e to get a sense of simple one. the cunent emerging art scenes in Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. There's a real buzz How do you p lan to retire? about the work coming out of that region. For me, art is more than just a hobby; it's actually integral to my intellectual inquiry. It's one By the beach, in my own shack, overlooking the ocean, with lots of of the things I look into as much as theory, or th e latest philosophi- coconut trees, on the coast of West Africa somewhere. But honestly, cal concerns, or the latest scient ific concerns. Art is a constant diet I doubt I'll retire at all. I'm not the retiring type, because work isn't th at one needs in order to under stand what's happen ing in the really work for me. It's a way of I ife. visual world. What would you like it to say on your tombstone? What are your plans for t he coming year? "David Adjaye, architect, global citizen." But T don't know what We're just now completing two community libraries in Washington, I'm going to think in 20 years, or what burial is even going to be D.C., and we're getting ready to st art construction on oUt· first major abou t by then. My tombstone might be a piece of digi tal software. building in New York City, the Sugar Hill project. It's low-income Whoknows?O