In a nod to her European heritage (it may be Autumn here in Australia, but it’s Spring in Europe!) Anne-Claire of anaca studio has launched a pastel green version of the Camille sofa – a classic design in a fresh, trans-seasonal colourway, for a relaxed look no matter the weather.
This fresh green Camille, along with the rest of the anaca studio furniture collection, are given a fresh focus in these new colours. A modernist-inspired home designed by Damien Lui from Honto Architecture provides an elegant yet relaxed setting that perfectly complements the furniture’s style.
“From a designer’s perspective, I’ve enjoyed playing with colour and context to reframe Anaca Studio’s range, which is exceptionally adaptable” says Anne-Claire, “I was inspired by a fresh palette and wanted to dress the Camille sofa in a lighter colour to show its versatility. While I love the more masculine and luxurious vibes of the classic Navy blue, this fresh green gives the Camille a gentler, more relaxed character.”
anaca studio designs versatile, sustainably-produced pieces designed to last a lifetime. Their home wares come in all kinds of aesthetically minimalist aesthetics, offering cool comfort throughout the seasons.
“I’m inspired by minimalism, modernism, and simplicity of forms, so Honto Architecture’s house felt like the ideal place to show the collection in a home setting.”
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Andy’s primary goal was to create a protected courtyard house, forming an open ‘U’ shape to capitalise on the northern sun. This provides refuge from the bitter southern winds and storm fronts typical of the area. Large retractable sliding doors allow fine tuning dependent on weather conditions. The pavilions are heavily articulated, morphing and twisting whole volumes toward view, sun and protective opportunities. With such vast views the idea was to create very specific alignments to create powerful and memorable images in the mind of the occupants.
Often when a building has wall to wall glass and only faces one direction, it can become tiresome and leaves the observer feeling disconnected. According to Andy, much time was spent carefully aligning every window to very specific framed views and their precise composition. “We took compass headings, aligned satellite images with detailed surveys to ensure the various points of interest were captured,” he says. “The extreme ends of the two main pavilions focus like telescopes on the ocean and the farmlands respectively, while the bedrooms offer built in window seats and other personal moments for reflection.”
The detailing is “painstakingly minimal,” says Andy, to give a calming uncluttered feeling. “We were interested in the house being a very dynamic place for occupants to move through and but be quite dynamic when viewed as an object in the landscape. For example there are many optical refinements in the house such as the tapered ‘forced perspective’ hallway and the out of parallel walls of the main living area all subtly playing with how the users perceive the landscape.”
Externally the whole building shape constantly changes as one moves around it and elements like the angled columns – sometimes looking like they form a wishbone ‘V’, at other angles like an ‘X’ and yet at other like two separate parallel columns. The house can be viewed from above and below, so every surface is on show and had to be highly detailed. The black metal skin wraps the roof, walls and underbelly with geometric precision. Andy notes that: “The house was very much designed for the user-experience from the inside out, however the resulting negative space between the pavilions also had to work and provide inviting outdoor spaces.” Here, converging walls create canyon like spaces that lead inhabitants into specific pinch points that then open out again into private outdoor space.
Being such an unusual site, Andy’s design had to be 100 per cent site responsive, to the most extreme extent. Andy himself notes that: “Landscape is king!” and how the whole design was governed by the site conditions with its problems and opportunities. Throughout the process, Andy continuously asked himself “How best to provide protection and still maintain a strong sense of connection to the landscape,” and “How to strengthen and heighten the sense of place and enhance the experience of being in this unique farm meets the ocean setting”. Fully exposed on an elevated position facing south, the idea of creating a courtyard space came fairly quickly providing a protected and private inner sanctum with huge prospect across the 150-acre property and to the greater landscape beyond.
The result of Andy’s intensive research and development is a home that allows an an art-and-design-loving family who love a bit of danger and excitement to live their best residential life.
Atelier Andy Carson
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What inspired the peels ceramic cups?
The experience of my daily life, the action of eating sweet potato is the origin of design for hand feeling conversion. It is observed that people would use the peels of sweet potato or fruits as utensils [when] eating them. This concept is converted to the design of pottery cup. The local vegetables and fruits selected are separated by the arrangements and features of peel texture and six textures of fruits and vegetables are placed on the cup with the same specification. In addition to the visual affection to the looks of cups, the thought in memory will be reinforced as touching the cup. We intend to keep the particularities of outer and inner surfaces. Furthermore, the space between these two surfaces is empty. That is, a user will not worry about being scalded when his or her hands direct contact the cup with hot drink within.
How does your work evoke sensory experiences and emotions?
I treat all life experiences as an origin of inspiration. They are all transformed into memories, even if only in my brain. Some of these touching memories are personal, others interactive, but all close to life and feelings, and the experience may be similar to or different from that of others. These elements with shared feelings provide me with a creative base. Despite my enormous enthusiasm for creation, I continue to deepen my belief in persistent creation through unexpected experiences, which can be considered the catalyst and opportunity for design. On the bases of life, creation is boundless. Art and creation are indeed a part of my life. Through my life experiences, I have unlimited space to continuously create. As for creation, with my belief in “mutual affection,” by focusing on and paying attention to the use of materials, I seek to present the shared affection between the known and the unknown. I have my memory bank; so do the users. Through my creation, the triggered mutual affection comes from the touching moments and pleasures of past memories. From a shallow impression, a deeper and more thrilling mutual affection can be extended.
What materials do you use and what is your process?
I most often use natural materials like ceramic, glass, wood, and metal. In the creative process, I sometimes start with the inspiration and then search for suitable or value-adding materials to create. Other times, I may be interested in some material and then create with it. In the process, besides doing research based on different needs and corresponding to the properties of the materials, I also think about the plasticity and the possibility of composite media. To be loyal to the original creation and present the complete concept, the categories of materials have no limitations.
Where have you exhibited your work?
I have been invited to join exhibitions over ten countries and cities where my design has won the attention of both consumers and the media, including Dubai (Design week), Paris (MAISON&OBJET), Milano (SaloneSatellite), Essen, London, New York, Tokyo, Bangkok, Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan…ext.
What else are you working on now?
Besides founding ViiCHENDESIGN, I am also the art design director of HEY SHENG CHI SI, where I am responsible for design cooperation with the international brand, exhibition planning, and pop-up store operation. I am also a college lecturer and a mother. In the future, in addition to focusing on creating more experimental designs, I will continue to pursue more diverse roles and cooperation. Besides the executed and projected design service and international exhibition/forum, I plan to make publications about the new series and more diverse product categories for a cross-national double brand cooperative project.
ViiCHENDESIGN
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In this way, the symbols of Australiana were useful foils to vacuity on the ground-floor showroom. Rather than overwhelming visitors with a landscape of product, much of the flagship is taken up by indoor gardens of native flora. Upon entering, it feels like stepping into a beer garden under a tree canopy, filled with the resilient gums and galvanised water tanks of our dry outback setting. Even in the bathroom, a central lemon tree grounds the project in the wide Australian imagination. Materials such as steel and spotted gum are designed to get better with time and develop their own character through wear.
“The galvanised water tanks that sit at the heart of the project are a nod to the Australian pioneer, the recluse farmer who valued water above all else and who had to innovate and adapt to survive the Australian environment,” says Gilbert. “The softness and tactility of the ground floor is easy to relate to; the major goal here is to create a space that does not dictate to the user or place expectations on them. Instead, the space is there to support, providing moments of rest and opportunities to linger, so that thoughts can be slowly considered and decisions made.
“We wanted to enable consumers to have a tangible experience that they could take home regardless of whether they were in the research or selection phase of their renovation. Each product on display (in the market place or in a design capsule) comes with a product card with key information and a barcode on the back. This card can then be scanned at one of the design kiosks to create a product list with more extensive product information.”
Upstairs is a formal departure from the rugged textures and loose program of the ground floor. The former is more direct and deliberately sophisticated to reflect its floorplan of boardrooms, private meeting spaces and executive lounges. This is where the more brightly coloured Clark retail space is located, as well as corporate spaces whose luxe material palette of predominantly green velvet reflects a different audience.
Above and below, Caroma on Collins is highly sustainable, using very little power while capturing and re-using rainwater for its continued operation – important for a brand that has revolutionised the way we use water.
Caroma on Collins
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Photography by Patrick Reynolds[/caption]
The home is designed around three distinct positive spaces - a lanai (open-sided veranda), the bedrooms and the garage. All designed as simple box forms, they are clad with weathered plank skins referencing agrarian wooden crates, almost appearing as if ready for the tractor to forklift. As Nicola states, “The giant crates form edges to the negative spaces and frame views of the site.”
These boxes surround the primary negative space, the living room, situated between the lanai and bedroom box. An impressive raked ceiling caps this room propped up like the lid of a large crate. Surrounded by generous lofty glazing the south light is captured along with tree top views. “The intention of the expansive roof is to give the building a scale appropriate to the scale of the land.”
Additional design elements incorporated in the openness of the home cater to the seasonal weather including adjustable shutters to control rain and wind ingress and deep eaves atop all of the glass sliding doors and opening windows to ensure dry thresholds.
The initial client brief specified separating two of the four bedrooms into an adjoining pavilion. “They were then advised by others to attach the bedrooms to the house. We convinced them to keep a level of separation and now two of the beds are accessed via the external entrance deck.” A resulting degree of independence was achieved aligning with the original thought process.
The house is elevated on a blockwork plinth with the aim of lifting it potentially out of the sometimes-soggy land. Essentially a floating appearance results from the raised height allowing enhanced views of the vineyard and a sense of balance is achieved between the occupants and nearby horse-riders.
“The design allows spaces to overlap and share experiences. Not only inside and outside space, but living and sleeping, bathing and sleeping, bathing and outdoors. We work in layers from a solar and seasonal point of view, and also for privacy,” says Nicola.
Incorporating home with outdoor lifestyle really feels at the essence of this design to the extent of it sitting magnificently within its environment almost in disguise.
Herbst Architects
Photography by Patrick Reynolds[/caption]
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For instance, the house features tall and wide recessed openings throughout not only to maximize visual connection to its surrounding but also to let the house breath by bringing protected light and air into the home. The articulation of the openings allows the architecture to create an “uninterrupted and boundless relationship between outside and inside of the house”, says Tamara.
To achieve this connection, Tamara and team have developed a strategic palette of colour, shape and materiality. The house for example, uses contrasted but complementary materials of warm orange wood and cool grey concrete. These materials, kept in their original raw condition, create integrity and honesty to the architecture through their unique natural characteristics.
The entrance to the home leads directly into a kitchen and dining area, lined on both sides by glass doors that pivot open to allow air to waft through the space. Here, rows of pivoting glass doors can be opened to allow air to flow through living spaces that open onto courtyards, terraces and lush gardens.
A short set of steps then leads up from the tiled dining area to a lounge connected to an open-air patio sheltered beneath an overhanging corner of the first floor. All of the main living spaces can be opened up to the central yard, which contains a lawn, swimming pool and several seating areas. Built-in furniture throughout the interior helps to create a clean and uncluttered feel, with teak wood joinery, polished-concrete flooring and exposed plaster on the walls introducing various tones and textures which pair nicely with the local plant life.
By seamlessly connecting indoor and out, Tamara’s design is a beautiful sensitive response to the site’s stunning natural features, ultimately providing a range of comfortable spaces that can be used year round in this tropical climate.
Tamara Wibowo Architects
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A love of 1920s furniture design and style drew principal and lead designer of Infinite Design Studio, Michelle Macarounas, to an Art Deco heritage building (now her home) in Sydney’s Coogee. With more than twenty years under her design belt, Michelle approached the project with a clarity and resolve that comes only from extensive experience. She knew what design elements of the era would work in the building, and what parts had the potential to turn comical. “Cliche and themed was not on the agenda,” Michelle recalls. “For us the design was about paying respect to Art Deco with small, unobtrusive referencing.”
Respecting the period features of the home and finding inspiration from the Art Deco philosophy was key for Michelle and her team, but they also had to consider contemporary needs and modern use of space. As such, a number of features were used to marry the traditional and the modern day. “Bringing more contemporary lines to the existing design was a natural progression,” Michelle tells. “While keeping the depth of the dark veneers with fresh monochromatic finishes gave a wink to the original time of the home and allowed for consistency to flow throughout,” she adds. In reference to the shiny, lacquered look that characterises 1920s furniture design, key pieces and joinery were finished with glass polyurethane for added flair. In this home, an intrinsic sense of drama is never far from the surface.
Michelle’s advice to others looking to pay homage to Art Deco and mirror key elements of 1920s furniture design? Keep it simple. “When you’re looking to reference any period of time [in designs], it’s important to be subtle,” she says. “The charm of a small link to a period or style gives a much greater impression than a themed cliche design,” Michelle explains. “Play with new ways of using the finishes and fixtures of the time to give a modern edge.”
Kirsten Stanisich, director at SJB Interiors, also favours a less is more approach when it comes to reinterpreting traditional designs for a contemporary audience. She says the best designs don’t aim to recreate projects from previous decades – it just doesn’t work like that. “We don’t really approach any of our projects in a literal way of reproducing a past period,” she explains. “We take cues and reference ideas where we think they are appropriate and interesting, and give us an opportunity to develop our design thinking.” Collections, Kirsten offers, can be a more authentic, less calibrated way of engaging with design elements from eras gone by. “Look at collecting some original Art Deco pieces, whether that is furniture or objects,” she suggests. “Contrasted against a contemporary space, the setting will really highlight the beauty of the individual pieces.”
Rather than requests to imitate old school Art Deco features, FMD Architects faced a different challenge when they took on a project in Melbourne a few years ago. Deco Residence was built in 1930 and as the name suggests, retains all the architectural features of the era. The brief was to modernise the building to meet the needs of a young family of five, while also restoring the home’s features to their former glory. Modern details needed to defer to the more dominant historical characteristics, rather than take over or further muddy the waters. Director of FMD Architects, Fiona Dunin, approached this balancing act delicately, and suggests that others in a similar position do the same. “Respect the Art Deco details and understand they are of their time,” Fiona says. “Don’t reproduce them. Rather, restore what is there, then reinterpret them in a contemporary way.”
New sculptural elements were introduced throughout the home to counterbalance the dramatic period details and 1920s furniture designs. In the master bedroom, a bespoke bedhead and storage unit anchors the bed in the middle of the space, while a curved mirrored wall in the main ensuite responds to the curves in the home’s original design. Where Art Deco details were particularly striking, Fiona and the team stripped back any other elements that could take away from the architectural impact.
Design is in a constant state of flux and so too are the art and design movements that we so often consign to the past. While new designs become old and old designs are born again, there’s plenty of ways that Art Deco and 1920s furniture design can, and is, being reinterpreted for a new wave of avid followers.
Former Glory Inc.
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Haus Tambaran, Sepik, by Betramz, via Wikimedia Commons[/caption]
While construction techniques and building styles have passed from generation to generation, modern materials such as corrugated iron and concrete have changed the architectural landscape. However vernacular forms and iconography still inform a selection of contemporary buildings that purposefully draw on the country’s legacy of architecture and art.
When Papua New Guinea became a sovereign state in 1975, the government initiated a building program to foster the ideals of nationhood. Parliament Haus, built in 1979, embodied the vision of national identity, pride and progress. The brief asked for a building inspired by Papua New Guinea’s “worthy traditions of art and architecture… using solid local materials… so that the substance of the Parliament will also be of the country.” The front entrance of Parliament Haus is modelled on the haus tambaran and decorated with a 63-foot-high mosaic that represents Papua New Guinea’s multiplicity of cultures.
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4. Parliament Haus, Steve Shattuck, via Wikimedia Commons[/caption]
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High Commission, Nick-D, via Wikimedia Commons[/caption]
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APEC Haus, Jim Fitzpatrick Architects (Concept Design and Project Design Director), Conrad Garget (Executive Architects)[/caption]
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And as you enter Pip’s first foray into a permanent bricks-and-mortar store, you get that same sense of being welcomed into someone else’s home. ‘Welcomed’ being the operative word. Regular collaborators Christina Symes and Jessica Stewart of We Are Triibe designed the space to a specific brief that drew as much from this idea of creating a warm and welcoming space as it did from homes previously featured on the Journal. “That was a big driving force [for the physical space] and what’s been the inspiration behind IN BED in general: the creative people’s home, how creative people create a home,” says Pip.
“The intention was to create a space that felt more residential [than] retail,” continues Christina. “We divided the store into ‘home’ themes, whereby we created a bedroom area, kitchen area, living and dining area and an area for sleepwear items, which allows the customer to better visualise those items in their environment.”
The single floor space is layered with different iterations of dark timber to a striking and distinctive effect. There’s no Scandinavian blonde wood in sight. Custom joinery by Exit Eighty Six runs the long side of the interior in amongst dark wall panelling and furniture. “Taking inspiration from the IN BED Journal and their overall brand aesthetic, we created a palette of natural and warm tones through layered materials,” says Christina.
Upstairs, you can find Pip, her husband/ IN BED General Manager Eddie and the rest of the tight knit team. Pip, however, might be downstairs ‘on the floor’ more often than not: meeting her customers, establishing herself and her brand in this new iteration, and making herself available. Not because that’s the smart thing to do, but “because I want to”.
IN BED
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