Collection Content Design Products Furniture The Loafer Chair Manifests In Elegance by Thida Sachathep 31 January Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, formerly known as the SAS Royal Hotel, has been an institution of the Danish design scene since Arne Jacobson. Recognised around the world as the finest examples of modernist architecture and interiors, it was fittingly refurbished in 2018 by Danish design studio, Space Copenhagen. The renovation carried out by Space Copenhagen co-founders Signe Bindslev Henriksen and Peter Bundgaard Rützo saw a continuation of an unwavering modernist aesthetic that was in total harmony with the contemporary design landscape. With the aim of reinstating Jacobson’s original proposals, part of this reconditioning also included the hotel’s iconic lobby. “The SAS Royal Hotel lobby is an essential part of their legendary interior. It’s enormous and elegant. We wanted to design a piece of furniture that could create a sense of intimacy in this very open space, “explains Bindslev. Completely upholstered in opulent fabric, the Loafer chair is semi-circular in form. Not only does its shape nod to Jacobson’s existing pieces, but it also enhances the hotel’s interior by taking inspiration from the lobby’s iconic motifs. “The design had to relate the signature spiral staircase and circular columns of the space. A comfortable design that would somehow also make you feel protected. Sitting alone or in a group, without feeling too exposed,” clarifies Peter. Injecting colour into the hotel’s lobby without compromising its functionality, the Loafer Chair is generously padded with high-resistance foam to cater for a high-traffic environment. Suitable for a boutique, luxurious hotel, club, lounge or even private living spaces, the chair offers ultimate elegance with the freedom for users to lounge in style. Two and three-seater Loafer launched late last year and continue to capture the same understated elegance, linear look and plush appearance. It is available from CULT in showrooms across Australia. CULT cultdesign.com.au We think you might also like Richard Munao’s thoughts about The Changing Landscape Of Design Consumption In Australia. abc Architecture Around The World Homes Primary Slider Dome-Shaped Ceilings In Taiwan’s Sunny Apartments by Rossara Jamil 31 January The interior architecture of apartments can present a whole range of merits and challenges. If you’re lucky, light and air flow sufficiently into the various spaces for comfortable living. Others may not be so lucky where light flows through one or two openings. The Sunny Apartment in Taichung, Taiwan, was one such space. Very Studio|Che Wang Architects presented a dramatic overhaul to an apartment typical of Taiwanese housing development. The transformation drew the attention of the judges at the INSIDE World Festival of Interiors, where it was announced the winner of the Residential category. The design team converted the 2,153sqft nondescript, interior into a unique abode for a family - one that is literally a 'sunny apartment'. With windows located at one end, a major challenge of the original layout was its lack of light and ventilation in the living and dining areas. Bedrooms occupy all three sides of the apartment, rendering the middle section of the public space dim. The design team’s strategy centred upon three key elements: flowing space, flowing air and sound fields. The kitchen across the living area is opened up for cross-ventilation of light and air. The boundaries of the rooms were all reworked to eschew the typical boxy spaces and create a living area with a faceted boundary. Within this space, the design team carved out pentagon-shaped pockets of spaces outlined by the meticulously constructed arches and dome-shaped ceilings to produce two key elements: space and air. Lighting fitted between the gaps of the domes enhance the light needs of the spaces. The areas cater to different functions including dining, music and reading. As for the third element, sound fields, the dome shape of each area creates sound fields to define the various functions. In keeping with the soft feel of the arches, the curves of light that shoot across the space and the recessed lights that twinkled from the ceiling, the design team furnished the spaces with streamlined furnishings in understated colours. Greys and browns accented with black surfaces ground the space, while modern lines add to the timeless vibe. Other elements, such as the desk in the reading area, have been built in to blend with the white walls and ceiling. The project demonstrates how challenges to a space can be overcome with creative thinking. The result is a home that caters to the various lifestyle needs of a family while keeping it flowing freely, yet clearly and well organised to serve specific functions within one shared space. Very Studio|Che Wang Architects facebook.com/verystudio Photography by Studio Millspace & Te-Fan Wang We think you might also like Symbiotic House by C.H.I Design Studioabc Design Hunters People Primary Slider Jade Sarita Arnott Breaks The Model by Alice Blackwood 30 January When the Rana Plaza factory complex collapsed in 2013, killing over 1000 Bangladeshi garment workers, Jade Sarita Arnott felt devastated. It had not been her relatives who’d perished in the disaster, but the event confirmed that she’d made the right choice in disbanding her fashion label, Arnsdorf, the year before. A trained artist and fashion designer, Jade had stepped away from her business, disillusioned by the endless cycle of seasonal garment releases and the punishing pressure to constantly reinvent and re-launch. She couldn’t see how the fashion industry’s traditional working model could sustain itself. There was some measure of relief there, too, in not being involved in an industry that could so easily ignore human rights. “While I’d never manufactured in Bangladesh,” says Jade, “I’d just had children and had so much maternal grief for these people, the lives that were lost. I felt I could not be part of that,” she says. The question that hung in the balance was this: could she be part of the change? A multidisciplinary creative with natural entrepreneurial nous, Jade studied creative arts at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, before pursuing the infamously tough fashion design degree at RMIT University. Business success fell upon her, in many ways, and the launch of Arnsdorf in 2006 taught Jade many things. The enduring influence of art and sculpture shaped many of her design ideas. The everyday archetypal garments that fill our wardrobes – suit trousers, jeans, t-shirts, jackets and coats – became a feast for the imagination. She reinterpreted and subverted: a trench coat came with an attached trench coat scarf, a leather jacket with a leather jacket scarf. “It was built around the respect for those items that have survived in people’s wardrobes for decades, even centuries,” she says. Arnsdorf took off, touted by media as ‘the new one to watch’. Growth was exponential but as Jade points out, success can also be disillusioning. In 2012 she found herself at a crossroads. The label was gaining international momentum, but “it felt like I was caught up in a never-ending cycle of rushing for the next deadline”, she says. “The pace of each fashion cycle, marking down three months of every season – things completely lost their value. It just didn’t make sense any more.” She quietly wound down her Arnsdorf operations and took a four-year hiatus from fashion. This coincided with time spent living in New York with her boyfriend (now husband), Andrew. A myriad of new vocations emerged, with studies in furniture design and photography, a home renovation and parenthood. She spent some time working with creative enterprises and had the opportunity to contemplate alternative business models and imaginative approaches to customer engagement. In 2015 Jade found herself back in Melbourne with a new-found sense of perspective and maturity. She looked beyond what she’d perceived as the limitations of the fashion industry and sought to “break the model” with the relaunch of Arnsdorf in 2016. Vertically integrating her business, Jade fashioned a one-stop-shop, setting up her own factory of cutters and machinists. “The foundation and structure of the business came first. We set up sustainable and ethical production, sourcing certified organic fabrics and deadstock fabrics.” Consumers were similarly undergoing an “awakening”, Jade says, increasingly aware of what they were putting into and onto their bodies. Their demand for transparency, and a strong sense of social responsibility resonated with Jade’s own vision for Arnsdorf. A brand was reborn. Today, Jade maintains tight control over her supply chain, embedding meaning and purpose into her work through a fluid and iterative working process. She is supported by her Collingwood-located studio and home base in Kew. The studio is the epicentre of her working operation, a hive of activity where design, sampling and production happen in tandem. Home, away from the working chaos, is where the seeds of new ideas are planted. “I do a lot of sketching,” she says. “And sometimes in the initial design stage, I’ll work from home to get away from the hustle of the factory and find some peaceful time to concentrate and get inspired.” From home, she moves back into the studio to cut out toiles and samples. Her art studies are ever-present, manifesting through sculptural processes, like “draping fabrics on mannequins and embodying the toiles, turning them inside out and pushing the ideas further”. The meditative to-and-fro between home and work is vital to her creative process. “It’s the balance of solitary practice, of getting in the flow and generating ideas in an almost meditative state,” she says. “Then taking those ideas and working collaboratively with the team on fabrications, talking through construction.” A jigsaw puzzle of ideas and ingenuity coming together piece by piece. The vision of that time-transcendent piece still looms large for Jade, who continues her exploration of modern archetypal garments. But now, with renewed clarity. “The mission is to create greater transparency, so we educate the wider public of how much it costs to make a garment ethically and sustainably.” Once armed with that knowledge, Jade says, fashion-conscious customers will be better able to navigate the retail landscape and question the origins of what they put onto their body. Arnsdorf arnsdorf.com.au Photography by Benjamin Hosking We think you might also like Viktor&Rolf's outlook on whether or not fashion can be art. abc Places Architecture ARC - Feature A Mid-Century Material Palette Meets A Mediterranean Influence by Kirsty Sier 29 January The Italian word piccolina translates to ‘little one’. This was what Sandra Foti’s grandmother called her when she was growing up and, years later, it was what Sandra called her first gelato store in the inner-north Melbourne suburb of Collingwood. It is a name that honours family and memory, and harks back to a time when Sandra first fell in love with traditional Italian gelato. It is that sense of time-travelling that Hecker Guthrie wanted to capture when engaged to design the third iteration of Piccolina in the more coastal Melbourne suburb of St Kilda. It is here, by the sea, that the existing brand identity was able to fully embrace the store’s Mediterranean heritage, paying homage to the client’s roots and a very Italian sense of la dolce vita. Walking into Piccolina is like walking joyfully back into the mid-1950s; a version of the decade that is stripped down to the essentials: sun, sand, colour and community. The new St Kilda store is washed in a mid-century palette of sea green timber woodwork and internal joinery. This saturation is balanced with more subtle elements that nonetheless speak specifically to an era: square-cut warm white Italian tiles that cover serving areas and soft curves etched into the store’s interior detailing. In fact, a curved counter is the only truly prominent design feature of the store. Easily seen from the street through the wide-open entrance, the central counter – covered in tiles and punctuated with pozzetti, the sunken metal containers traditionally used to store gelato and regulate its temperature – welcomes in passers-by from the street and ushers them immediately into a ceremony of sharing. This wide and white-tiled space is what fills the space and catches the eye, keeping gelato at the centre of the experience. Other thoughtful details support this hub and fill out the theme: sculptural feature wall lighting from Volker Haug, green timber portal frames, touches of crisp terrazzo, a simple seating arrangement of timber stools against a mirrored wall, and a minimal menu design of individual letters placed on white railings. Although the shop is small – a hole-in-the-wall gelataria that you might find in Florence – it feels spacious because of bright, fresh details that rejoice in a theme without overpowering the senses. Hecker Guthrie heckerguthrie.com Photography by Shannon McGrath We think you might also like High St Society by Ricci Bloch Architecture + Interiorsabc Homes Architecture ARC - Feature CO-AP Designs Modern Terrace Houses In Sydney’s Inner East by Thida Sachathep 29 January For the first time over a decade, the City of Sydney is building a new town centre. What used to be an industrial site is now undergoing one of Australia’s largest urban redevelopments, transforming into Green Square Town Centre. At the edge of this suburban renewal, four new four-bedroom terraces designed by CO-AP have replaced a former chocolate factory. These terraces follow a type of model for medium density houses that can accommodate the growing demand of urban living, which in this case, is in Green Square. Missing middle housing can be categorised as multi-unit or clustered housing types suitable for single-family households, and are highly compatible with neighbourhoods as it diversifies the community. The model implies that houses within this category are well designed, comfortable, usable and of high quality while appealing as an affordable option. For the four Portman Street Terraces, CO-AP aimed at increasing the density of the site by implementing a terrace house typology already existing within the area. With corrugated iron roofs the Victorian Terrace typology is present in the modern design. This style of architecture is characterised by rows of terraced houses on narrow streets that spread across the suburbs after the Industrial Revolution. Additionally, a brickwork porch remains, and the interiors are fitted with large format oak parquetry that subtly juxtaposes with raw concrete and terrazzo in the kitchen and bathrooms. Double hung timber windows have been converted to double sliding balcony doors. The interior references the site’s industrial provenance through materiality such as pre-cast concrete, and steel plate windows for privacy and increased shade. Having an abundance of natural light flood into the space through an internal void also illuminates the staircase, corridor and ground floor kitchen. This lightwell acts as a thermal chimney allowing for heat to rise and vent out through the dormer windows on the upper floors. Sustainability design features that are synonymous with the CO-AP team ensured that passive measures such as correct orientation, sun shading and cross-ventilation have been included. CO-AP co-ap.com Photography by Ross Honeysett Dissection Information Joinery in Ash Whit and Sarsen Grey from Laminex Joinery finishes in London Grey from Caesarstone O.Novo toilet pan and hand basin by Villeroy & Boch Oven, cooktop, washer and dryer supplied by Miele Integrated refrigerator from Fisher & Paykel A-joint dining table and bench from Henry Wilson Hiroshima dining chair by Naoto Fukasawa for Maruni No.B9 Le Corbusier arm chair by Thonet Outdoor lighting supplied by Bega Indoor track lighting from Brightgreen 699 Superleggera chair by Gio Ponti for Cassina Coffee table by Vader Almedia for Sollos Tapware supplied by Grohe We also think you might like 5 Inspiring Terrace Renovationsabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Take A Moment To Make A Moment by Susan Muldowney 28 January If you want to give an architect the dream brief, make it as open as possible. That’s exactly what the residents of Edsall Street in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern presented to architects Gilad Ritz and Jean-Paul Ghougassian, shortly after buying their Victorian cottage in 2015. A skylight in the bathroom was one of their few design stipulations. Apart from that, Ritz&Ghougassian was free to create what the studio describes as its “essay on architecture” – a harmonious layering of four distinct spaces, each flowing seamlessly into the next. Trust between architect and client was vital to the success of this renovation. Owners Julien and Kristy-Lea, who share the home with their Staffordshire terrier, Zeus, had previously worked with Ritz&Ghougassian on the design of their hospitality projects, including Bentwood café in Fitzroy and Penta in Elsternwick. There were no other architects they would entrust with their home. “We always look for architects who are passionate about their work,” explains Julien. “We know Ritz&Ghougassian and we love their taste. We understood their vision and had total trust in them.” However, the open brief was not without its challenges. The house sits on a 375-metre-squared sloping block at the boundary of a commercial zone and the architects needed to balance the desire for natural light with the less-than-desirable view of a neighbouring liquor store. The residence also has a heritage overlay and the local council took close to nine months to approve the final plans. It was worth the wait. Since forming their studio in 2015, Ritz&Ghougassian have forged a distinct reputation for architectural rigour and design finesse. This is perhaps a consequence of their complementary backgrounds – Gilad leads the studio’s architectural projects and Jean-Paul specialises in interior architecture. They have brought the best of both worlds to Edsall Street. Early design conversations centred around creating singular spaces within a home that is largely open plan. “We wanted there to be a sense of one activity for each space,” says Jean-Paul. “We didn’t want it to feel like just one big open space at the back.” The solution, he goes on to explain, was to dislocate the envelope vertically so one part of the house looks on to the other. The first part – the original front section of the residence – was restumped, reroofed and its decaying walls were repaired. The rest of the house was flattened and replaced by three spaces: a kitchen and dining area, a sunken living room and a master bedroom upstairs. Much of the heritage details in the front of the house, which now consists of three bedrooms and a bathroom, have been preserved or overlaid with contemporary touches, such as black steel shrouds around existing fireplaces. The floors feature smooth blackbutt timber boards with a matte finish to celebrate their natural characteristics. “We like to keep timber in its natural state,” says Gilad. “We like the fiddleback effect.” The junction between the old house and the new is characterised by what Gilad describes as a ‘Ma’ moment – a Japanese term often applied by architect Isozaki Arata to signify the space between objects or structural elements. “It’s like a moment of pause,” says Gilad. “In this case, it marks the transition from the old to the new section and, in this moment, you can look out the windows to the garden of native plants. We wanted to create connections between the exterior and interior.” The movement from old to new is also delineated by a change from weatherboard to masonry walls. “We chose masonry because it suggests the idea of protection from the elements and it also allowed us to wrap the material from outside to inside so we could bury windows in between,” says Gilad. This is achieved through a cavity between the internal and external masonry walls. “Glass doors in the kitchen and living area that lead to the courtyard slide inside the cavities when they’re opened,” adds Gilad. “It’s like they disappear.” The cavities are not the only clever nooks within the home. A small glass alcove near the back of the house, for example, adds more width to the living area and brings more northern light into the space. “I think of light as another material,” says Gilad. “It creates shadow and texture.” Concrete is also a material favoured by Ritz&Ghougassian and they have incorporated it into the flooring of the kitchen and living areas. The blackbutt floor in front of the house is referenced through joinery in the kitchen, master bedroom and staircase. “We’ve worked with joiner Adrian Hall on other projects and we love that he is a perfectionist,” says Gilad. “We purposely sat the joinery off the masonry walls in the bedroom so that it looks like a piece of furniture. No design detail within Edsall Street has been overlooked. The vertical air grills carved into the timber joinery, for example, reference a series of soaring blackbutt battens on the exterior walls. They are designed to help slice up the view of commercial buildings to the west and to create a screen to prevent overlooking to the east. The battens also created an unexpected issue for the owners shortly after moving back into their home. “The tannins from the blackbutt bled down onto the masonry bricks on the west wall,” says Julien. “I called The Graffiti Eaters to remove it and they did an amazing job. It’s all sorted now. “What we love most about the house is the way that every space flows into the next one so naturally,” adds Julien. “We recently got back from an overseas holiday and when we walked in the front door, we felt exactly the same way as we when we first moved in after the renovation. The only difference was that it was winter when we got back, so I had a new appreciation of the under-floor heating.” Ritz&Ghougassian ritzghougassian.com Photography by Tom Blachford Dissection Information Blackbutt veneer joinery with gloss finish from Timberwood Panels Concrete blocks from Austral Masonry Extrasoft sofa for Living Divani from Space Furniture Daybed PK80 by Fritz Hansen from CULT Downlights form Euroluce Cooktop, oven, steam oven and fully integrated dishwasher form Gaggenau Fully integrated refrigerator form Fisher & Paykel Classic duo rectangle bath with Satin Chrome Overflow from Kaldewei We think you might also like How Architects Are Modernising Heritages Houses abc Collection Content Design Accessories Design Products Finishes Furniture Habitus Loves Lighting Primary Slider Habitus Loves… A Man Cave by Holly Cunneen 25 January The Centquatre Sofa from DOMO A strong and minimalist structure, with comfortable and generous cushions, the Centquatre sofa is casual in its design and appearance. The cushions are filled with a blend of newly washed and dusted duck down feathers for softness and synthetic fibres for resilience. DOMO WoodWall Eveneer and natural timbers from Elton Group Produced from high quality timber veneer, WoodWall is applied directly to plaster or plasterboard with no requirement for any heavy substrate such as MDF and at less than half the cost of traditional veneered panelling. Elton Group The ICONS Collection from DOMO Sika Design looked to the past to some of Denmarks most skilled and important architects and designers when establishing their ICONS Collection. The designers were all significant to Danish design history with their experimenting and ground-breaking designs. DOMO The Rondo Leather Armchair and Sofa from Spence&Lyda A collaboration that celebrates the art of leather working, the Rondo Collection features a sofa and chair designed by Lucy Kurrein for Molinari Living that was inspired by punching bags. Spence & Lyda Photography by Andres Ripamonti The Harmon Side Table from Camerich The Harmon Side Table is available in a walnut top and a leather body. The top can also be done in marble for an extra modern feel. It looks great paired with the Harmon Ottoman. Camerich The Wing Lux Desk from Apato The Wing Lux is a compact desk that can be flexibly placed at different angles. The orientation of the drawers can be easily changed by swivelling the rotatable tabletop. The attention to detail, evident inside the drawers, the accompanying wooden accessories tray and the triangular joints heightens the user experience. Apato The W102 CHIPPERFIELD desk lamp from Euroluce The W102 CHIPPERFIELD adjustable task lamp designed by David Chipperfield for WASTBERG, comprises of a forged copper base, and spun copper shade and stems. The head can be adjusted 140 degrees (+/-) horizontally, and ball bearing construction allows the smooth movement of the arms. Euroluce The Coledale Rug from Designer Rugs Coledale was created as a 'post-script' to the Sandscript Collection by Caroline Baum – a revisit of the inspirations of the original designs with an updated twist. Based on the eroded rock platforms of its namesake suburb, this textural and organic design maintains Baum's signature coastal style mixed with all the opulence of a handknot rug. Designer Rugs The Mito Lighting Series by Tom Fereday from Rakemba Lighting The Mito lighting series was designed to celebrate the natural beauty and character of raw materials. Minimal in design, Mito juxtaposes precision manufacturing techniques with natural hand finished timbers and stones to create a truly sculptural light. Tom Fereday Photography by Fiona Susanto The Porthole Infuser from Top3 by design A must for every “foodie”. The Porthole is a simple, beautiful infusion vessel designed by Martin Kastner of Crucial Detail design studio. It can be used to create striking cocktails, oils, teas, dressings, lemonade, coffee, or any other type of cold infusion. Top3 by design abc Collection Content Design Products Furniture Onsa; Welcoming You With Open Arm(rest)s by Thida Sachathep 24 January Put simply, the Onsa Chair by Walter Knoll is anchored on a reinterpreted Japanese aesthetic for today’s contemporary contexts. Inspired by Japan’s regional approach to flora – where the visual representation of flowers embodies the principles and practice of Zen, the chair looks like a flower that is stretching toward the sun. Mauro Lipparini the designer of Onsa, believed that the form of the chair is a personification of the water lily, especially when it blooms to “welcome the morning light,” physically opening up like a “chalice”. Possessing a heightened degree of comfort and harmony as users sink into Onsa, the seat bucket with armrests encourages all users to lean back. Alternatively, the backrest smoothly moves into any position simply by triggering a leather strap in the seat. The armrests itself offers optimal support and moves with the chair. Additionally, the adjustable backrest function and height-adjustable stool ensures an ideal posture when lying down or sitting up. The foam-moulded seat, back and wadding adds a level of balance as it takes the pressure off so it is easy to unwind. It is an occasional leather chair that “whispers a hushed aesthetic of poetically balanced lines,” whose subtlety encourages materials to express themselves, explains Mauro as he discusses the driving force behind the Onsa Chair. Onsa, whether Congress Curry Leather or Elen Tan, is highly recommended for daydreaming. It is available at Living Edge showrooms across the Asia Pacific. Living Edge livingedge.com.au Photography courtesy of Living Edge We also think you might like A Year Of Architecture and Interior Product Designabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Surprises Await In This Port Melbourne House By Pandolfini Architects by Rebecca Gross 24 January Located in the bayside suburb of Port Melbourne, this is home to architect Dominic Pandolfini and his family of four. Dominic, the founder of Pandolfini Architects, transformed the worker’s cottage into a family home filled with natural light and spaciousness despite the confines of the long narrow site and strict heritage and planning controls. Spliced with skylights and courtyards, the house has a series of surprises beyond its traditional façade. The century-old house had been largely untouched when Dominic purchased it. He carefully restored the front with a crisp, light palette, and designed a two-storey extension that’s not visible from the street. A courtyard in the middle of the house separates the old and new forms, reducing the visibility of the extension from the street and bringing natural light into the centre of the plan. The extension consists of a double- and single-storey volume spliced by a large skylight that spans the width of the building. A change in ceiling height helps to define the kitchen and dining from the living area, above which a gabled roof enhances the sense of volume. The gable is a nod to the traditional pitched roofs of the heritage houses, and its form is emphasised at the rear of the house where black zinc cladding frames full-height glazing. The upstairs bedroom also has a gabled roof, and a wall of joinery separates the bedroom and bathroom, mimicking the pitch of the roof and playfully highlighting its triangular form. Like these cupboards, materials are used throughout the house to define elements. American oak cabinetry extends beneath the stairs and along the wall of the kitchen and living area providing cupboards and drawers. The refrigerator and kitchen island are clad in detailed timber; the bannister is a black steel plate, and the walls of the skylight are clad with black zinc to accentuate the gabled form. “External materials of black zinc and textured concrete render are used internally to reinforce the sense of exiting one space and transitioning into another,” says Dominic. “The alterations and additions to this once dark and cramped terrace house have successfully created spaces full of natural light and with unexpected volume that is typically found in much larger, less confined projects,” says Dominic. Pandolfini Architects pandolfini.com.au Photography by Rory Gardiner Dissection Information Kitchen and bathroom terrazzo tiles by Signorino Tiles Euroluce downlights and wall lights from Flos Boci pendant light from Hub Semi pendant Gubi by Criteria Collection Sanitaryware supplied by Roger Seller Timber veneer in Oak Rift by Fethers Oven, cooktop and dishwasher supplied by Miele Integrated fridge from Fisher & Paykel Engineered timber floors in Pale Oak by Woodcut We think you might also like Triangle House by Molecule Studioabc Happenings What's On Have You Heard? Saturday Indesign Is Here by Aleesha Callahan 23 January Searching for an injection of creative inspiration? Saturday Indesign 2019 is here. Mark 22 June in your calendar with ink. [caption id="attachment_118495" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Zip Water x SJB installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] Taking place in Melbourne, you’ll be able to explore a selection of key areas across the city in a one-day format designed to inspire and delight. We’ll get you from A to B so you won’t miss any of the jam-packed, energy-filled design celebrations. Add into the mix that there will be plenty of people in town for the INDE.Awards and the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Conference. The result? Melbourne will be on a bona fide design buzz, so if you’re in town, don’t miss it! [caption id="attachment_118498" align="alignnone" width="1100"] WorkLife talk at SID 2017.[/caption] But what exactly is Saturday Indesign all about? You can expect interactive installations, creative collaborations, and the perfect backdrop to connect with the community. Get out of your workspace and into the industry in a festive and fun way. It’s not just about mingling, while you’re out and about you are also learning and absorbing from the industry’s leading suppliers. Develop your professional knowledge with the latest and greatest from the best brands in the design sphere. [caption id="attachment_118494" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Earp Bros x Tom Fereday installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] At Saturday Indesign you never know who you might meet on the street. [caption id="attachment_118496" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Abey Australia at SID 2017.[/caption] TL;DR Save the date for Saturday Indesign, (re)ignite your passion for the design industry while absorbing valuable design knowledge at the same time. This is an industry event made for you. More info to be released soon… Be an early adopter and register your Saturday Indesign 2019 interest now.abc Collection Content Design Hunters Design Products Furniture People Sarah Ellison Has Turned Her Career Into One Long Lesson by Holly Cunneen 23 January Sarah Ellison is well travelled when it comes to Australia. She was born in Byron Bay, grew up in Perth, and spent the past 20 years living in Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Just recently, she and her family moved back to Byron. So when she says her second collection of furniture, Golden, under the moniker Sarah Ellison Studio, is her take on contemporary Australian design with a coastal edge, you can trust she knows what she’s talking about. Add to that the eight years she spent as the style editor for a leading Australian interior design and lifestyle magazine, and her background and education in fashion design, and you really know you’re in safe hands. Sarah began Sarah Ellison Studio officially in 2017 when she decided to take the plunge and to commit to ideas that up until then seemed like cloudy, aspirational dreams. She had a sound knowledge of the industry and knew exactly the niche she wanted to fill. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85216,85212"] “I [was] using all this incredible high-end furniture in my photo shoots that I wanted for myself but it was so expensive. And I found that for good Australian designers the entry level for their pieces was still very high. I wanted to try and design something that was of that calibre, but more affordable,” says Sarah. There was plenty of design at the top of the market, and it was just as healthy at the bottom, but no one really spoke to design-conscious consumers somewhere in the middle. “I felt like there was nothing cool on offer in that middle market, so that was where we started with the brand,” she adds. Despite a background on the creative side of things, her business plan was textbook. Golden is a small series of furniture designed by Sarah and manufactured by specialists in Indonesia. In that way, Sarah Ellison Studio is governed by practicality. Sarah isn’t an industrial designer and nor is her business partner who comes instead from a fashion PR background. So they outsource that aspect of the business. And while Sarah investigated manufacturing locally, economically it wasn’t conducive to the price point at which she wanted to her pieces to sit. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85209,85211"] The use of rattan champions the collection, a material Sarah always had in mind to work with but in a very specific way. Brass accents elevate the designs and bypass ‘trend’ territory. Channelling 70s glamour and the work of Milanese designer Gabriella Crespi, the second collection intentionally makes a louder statement than that of the first. The New Ware Collection was Sarah’s debut to market, so is understandably more pragmatic in approach. “For the first collection, I felt I couldn’t really show my style by doing just one line of things, so it had to be a little bit of everything sprinkled together to create the whole look.” Interestingly, it’s strikingly different both in aesthetic and material choices. As is The Beach Club, her collaboration with Terranova tiles. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85220,85215"] It’s a unique – and refreshing – point of difference, one Sarah attributes to her background as a stylist and style editor: one week’s project could be so vastly different to the next. And given there are no plans to set aside her styling jobs, her third collection could very well be vastly different again in style or materiality from her first and second. For some designers, materials are chosen for their functional attributes or visual suitability to a design. For Sarah, it can be the other way around. “Material is really key for me: finding a material that I love and then working out what I can do with it within the restraints of our brand,” she says, citing coloured concrete, limestone, onyx and glass as areas of interest. Clearly, it’s of no consequence where Sarah is located, her ability and desire to design and create is often inspired by her surrounds. In that way, a change of scenery might be a spark in the ignition of the next chapter of Sarah Ellison Studio – whatever that may be. Sarah Ellison Studio sarahellison.com.au Photography by Dave Wheeler [gallery size="full" columns="2" ids="85218,85210,85219,85221"] We think you might also like Screen House by Warc Studioabc Places Around The World Architecture ARC - Feature Café Oriente Is Seoul’s Semi-Underground Coffee Shop by Thida Sachathep 22 January Café’s, from the very first Ottoman coffee houses, have always occupied a unique stance within society. The design of such spaces is driven by the need to express and preserve individuality in the face of urban surroundings. In The Architecture Of Public Display by Christoph Grafe, it is stated that; The café is many things: an object of nostalgia, a stage for inventing oneself, a place for creating relationships and a home, in the words of the Austrian critic, Alfred Polgar, “for all who wish to be alone but need sociability for this”. Grounded by a similar understanding, the Labotory design team behind Café Oriente say a space of this kind needs not only to “deliver beautiful visuals but also offer a unique emotional experience”. Café Oriente is located amidst Itaewon, Seoul, an area that was avoided for political reasons in the three decades prior. What used to be a United States Military Base has now revolutionised into one of the most vibrant parts of Seoul, grabbing the attention of tourists and university students alike. Found at the very end of Hannam-Dong’s narrow alley, the café is somewhat sunken into the ground. Informed by the client’s desire to have a space “where the oriental aesthetics are implied,” local interior design practice, Labotory, pairs the traditional Hanok (a Korean house) aesthetic with a contemporary minimalist design. Korean architecture places a lot of emphasis on positioning the house amongst the surroundings. In this case, synonymous with a Hanok, the café layout is designed around a front courtyard. The expandability of this space serves as a bridge between the interior and the exterior, decorated with a small garden that has been styled underneath customer café seats. Cement plastered walls, terrazzo and stone tiles, and exposed concrete curved ceiling form the framework of textures evident in Hanoks around Korea. Where natural wood was used for the barista bar, it was also introduced as wall panels and furniture to add a sense of familiarity and warmth. The semi-subterranean space has a repeating motif of curves, seen once at the awning that meets the ceiling as guests move indoors and again as a seating arrangement. The curved ceiling adds depth and appears as though it is floating. The ceiling, which is backlit with a white hue, resembles the cream colour of traditional Korean paper and contrasts subtly with granite. Providing a refined sense of nuance for all visitors, Café Oriente successfully shows respect to the country and to the architecture it resides in. Labotory labotory.com Photography by Yongjun Choi We think you might also like A Cultural Guide To Café Designabc 1 2 3 4 Next Page → TOP
Architecture Around The World Homes Primary Slider Dome-Shaped Ceilings In Taiwan’s Sunny Apartments by Rossara Jamil 31 January The interior architecture of apartments can present a whole range of merits and challenges. If you’re lucky, light and air flow sufficiently into the various spaces for comfortable living. Others may not be so lucky where light flows through one or two openings. The Sunny Apartment in Taichung, Taiwan, was one such space. Very Studio|Che Wang Architects presented a dramatic overhaul to an apartment typical of Taiwanese housing development. The transformation drew the attention of the judges at the INSIDE World Festival of Interiors, where it was announced the winner of the Residential category. The design team converted the 2,153sqft nondescript, interior into a unique abode for a family - one that is literally a 'sunny apartment'. With windows located at one end, a major challenge of the original layout was its lack of light and ventilation in the living and dining areas. Bedrooms occupy all three sides of the apartment, rendering the middle section of the public space dim. The design team’s strategy centred upon three key elements: flowing space, flowing air and sound fields. The kitchen across the living area is opened up for cross-ventilation of light and air. The boundaries of the rooms were all reworked to eschew the typical boxy spaces and create a living area with a faceted boundary. Within this space, the design team carved out pentagon-shaped pockets of spaces outlined by the meticulously constructed arches and dome-shaped ceilings to produce two key elements: space and air. Lighting fitted between the gaps of the domes enhance the light needs of the spaces. The areas cater to different functions including dining, music and reading. As for the third element, sound fields, the dome shape of each area creates sound fields to define the various functions. In keeping with the soft feel of the arches, the curves of light that shoot across the space and the recessed lights that twinkled from the ceiling, the design team furnished the spaces with streamlined furnishings in understated colours. Greys and browns accented with black surfaces ground the space, while modern lines add to the timeless vibe. Other elements, such as the desk in the reading area, have been built in to blend with the white walls and ceiling. The project demonstrates how challenges to a space can be overcome with creative thinking. The result is a home that caters to the various lifestyle needs of a family while keeping it flowing freely, yet clearly and well organised to serve specific functions within one shared space. Very Studio|Che Wang Architects facebook.com/verystudio Photography by Studio Millspace & Te-Fan Wang We think you might also like Symbiotic House by C.H.I Design Studioabc Design Hunters People Primary Slider Jade Sarita Arnott Breaks The Model by Alice Blackwood 30 January When the Rana Plaza factory complex collapsed in 2013, killing over 1000 Bangladeshi garment workers, Jade Sarita Arnott felt devastated. It had not been her relatives who’d perished in the disaster, but the event confirmed that she’d made the right choice in disbanding her fashion label, Arnsdorf, the year before. A trained artist and fashion designer, Jade had stepped away from her business, disillusioned by the endless cycle of seasonal garment releases and the punishing pressure to constantly reinvent and re-launch. She couldn’t see how the fashion industry’s traditional working model could sustain itself. There was some measure of relief there, too, in not being involved in an industry that could so easily ignore human rights. “While I’d never manufactured in Bangladesh,” says Jade, “I’d just had children and had so much maternal grief for these people, the lives that were lost. I felt I could not be part of that,” she says. The question that hung in the balance was this: could she be part of the change? A multidisciplinary creative with natural entrepreneurial nous, Jade studied creative arts at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, before pursuing the infamously tough fashion design degree at RMIT University. Business success fell upon her, in many ways, and the launch of Arnsdorf in 2006 taught Jade many things. The enduring influence of art and sculpture shaped many of her design ideas. The everyday archetypal garments that fill our wardrobes – suit trousers, jeans, t-shirts, jackets and coats – became a feast for the imagination. She reinterpreted and subverted: a trench coat came with an attached trench coat scarf, a leather jacket with a leather jacket scarf. “It was built around the respect for those items that have survived in people’s wardrobes for decades, even centuries,” she says. Arnsdorf took off, touted by media as ‘the new one to watch’. Growth was exponential but as Jade points out, success can also be disillusioning. In 2012 she found herself at a crossroads. The label was gaining international momentum, but “it felt like I was caught up in a never-ending cycle of rushing for the next deadline”, she says. “The pace of each fashion cycle, marking down three months of every season – things completely lost their value. It just didn’t make sense any more.” She quietly wound down her Arnsdorf operations and took a four-year hiatus from fashion. This coincided with time spent living in New York with her boyfriend (now husband), Andrew. A myriad of new vocations emerged, with studies in furniture design and photography, a home renovation and parenthood. She spent some time working with creative enterprises and had the opportunity to contemplate alternative business models and imaginative approaches to customer engagement. In 2015 Jade found herself back in Melbourne with a new-found sense of perspective and maturity. She looked beyond what she’d perceived as the limitations of the fashion industry and sought to “break the model” with the relaunch of Arnsdorf in 2016. Vertically integrating her business, Jade fashioned a one-stop-shop, setting up her own factory of cutters and machinists. “The foundation and structure of the business came first. We set up sustainable and ethical production, sourcing certified organic fabrics and deadstock fabrics.” Consumers were similarly undergoing an “awakening”, Jade says, increasingly aware of what they were putting into and onto their bodies. Their demand for transparency, and a strong sense of social responsibility resonated with Jade’s own vision for Arnsdorf. A brand was reborn. Today, Jade maintains tight control over her supply chain, embedding meaning and purpose into her work through a fluid and iterative working process. She is supported by her Collingwood-located studio and home base in Kew. The studio is the epicentre of her working operation, a hive of activity where design, sampling and production happen in tandem. Home, away from the working chaos, is where the seeds of new ideas are planted. “I do a lot of sketching,” she says. “And sometimes in the initial design stage, I’ll work from home to get away from the hustle of the factory and find some peaceful time to concentrate and get inspired.” From home, she moves back into the studio to cut out toiles and samples. Her art studies are ever-present, manifesting through sculptural processes, like “draping fabrics on mannequins and embodying the toiles, turning them inside out and pushing the ideas further”. The meditative to-and-fro between home and work is vital to her creative process. “It’s the balance of solitary practice, of getting in the flow and generating ideas in an almost meditative state,” she says. “Then taking those ideas and working collaboratively with the team on fabrications, talking through construction.” A jigsaw puzzle of ideas and ingenuity coming together piece by piece. The vision of that time-transcendent piece still looms large for Jade, who continues her exploration of modern archetypal garments. But now, with renewed clarity. “The mission is to create greater transparency, so we educate the wider public of how much it costs to make a garment ethically and sustainably.” Once armed with that knowledge, Jade says, fashion-conscious customers will be better able to navigate the retail landscape and question the origins of what they put onto their body. Arnsdorf arnsdorf.com.au Photography by Benjamin Hosking We think you might also like Viktor&Rolf's outlook on whether or not fashion can be art. abc Places Architecture ARC - Feature A Mid-Century Material Palette Meets A Mediterranean Influence by Kirsty Sier 29 January The Italian word piccolina translates to ‘little one’. This was what Sandra Foti’s grandmother called her when she was growing up and, years later, it was what Sandra called her first gelato store in the inner-north Melbourne suburb of Collingwood. It is a name that honours family and memory, and harks back to a time when Sandra first fell in love with traditional Italian gelato. It is that sense of time-travelling that Hecker Guthrie wanted to capture when engaged to design the third iteration of Piccolina in the more coastal Melbourne suburb of St Kilda. It is here, by the sea, that the existing brand identity was able to fully embrace the store’s Mediterranean heritage, paying homage to the client’s roots and a very Italian sense of la dolce vita. Walking into Piccolina is like walking joyfully back into the mid-1950s; a version of the decade that is stripped down to the essentials: sun, sand, colour and community. The new St Kilda store is washed in a mid-century palette of sea green timber woodwork and internal joinery. This saturation is balanced with more subtle elements that nonetheless speak specifically to an era: square-cut warm white Italian tiles that cover serving areas and soft curves etched into the store’s interior detailing. In fact, a curved counter is the only truly prominent design feature of the store. Easily seen from the street through the wide-open entrance, the central counter – covered in tiles and punctuated with pozzetti, the sunken metal containers traditionally used to store gelato and regulate its temperature – welcomes in passers-by from the street and ushers them immediately into a ceremony of sharing. This wide and white-tiled space is what fills the space and catches the eye, keeping gelato at the centre of the experience. Other thoughtful details support this hub and fill out the theme: sculptural feature wall lighting from Volker Haug, green timber portal frames, touches of crisp terrazzo, a simple seating arrangement of timber stools against a mirrored wall, and a minimal menu design of individual letters placed on white railings. Although the shop is small – a hole-in-the-wall gelataria that you might find in Florence – it feels spacious because of bright, fresh details that rejoice in a theme without overpowering the senses. Hecker Guthrie heckerguthrie.com Photography by Shannon McGrath We think you might also like High St Society by Ricci Bloch Architecture + Interiorsabc Homes Architecture ARC - Feature CO-AP Designs Modern Terrace Houses In Sydney’s Inner East by Thida Sachathep 29 January For the first time over a decade, the City of Sydney is building a new town centre. What used to be an industrial site is now undergoing one of Australia’s largest urban redevelopments, transforming into Green Square Town Centre. At the edge of this suburban renewal, four new four-bedroom terraces designed by CO-AP have replaced a former chocolate factory. These terraces follow a type of model for medium density houses that can accommodate the growing demand of urban living, which in this case, is in Green Square. Missing middle housing can be categorised as multi-unit or clustered housing types suitable for single-family households, and are highly compatible with neighbourhoods as it diversifies the community. The model implies that houses within this category are well designed, comfortable, usable and of high quality while appealing as an affordable option. For the four Portman Street Terraces, CO-AP aimed at increasing the density of the site by implementing a terrace house typology already existing within the area. With corrugated iron roofs the Victorian Terrace typology is present in the modern design. This style of architecture is characterised by rows of terraced houses on narrow streets that spread across the suburbs after the Industrial Revolution. Additionally, a brickwork porch remains, and the interiors are fitted with large format oak parquetry that subtly juxtaposes with raw concrete and terrazzo in the kitchen and bathrooms. Double hung timber windows have been converted to double sliding balcony doors. The interior references the site’s industrial provenance through materiality such as pre-cast concrete, and steel plate windows for privacy and increased shade. Having an abundance of natural light flood into the space through an internal void also illuminates the staircase, corridor and ground floor kitchen. This lightwell acts as a thermal chimney allowing for heat to rise and vent out through the dormer windows on the upper floors. Sustainability design features that are synonymous with the CO-AP team ensured that passive measures such as correct orientation, sun shading and cross-ventilation have been included. CO-AP co-ap.com Photography by Ross Honeysett Dissection Information Joinery in Ash Whit and Sarsen Grey from Laminex Joinery finishes in London Grey from Caesarstone O.Novo toilet pan and hand basin by Villeroy & Boch Oven, cooktop, washer and dryer supplied by Miele Integrated refrigerator from Fisher & Paykel A-joint dining table and bench from Henry Wilson Hiroshima dining chair by Naoto Fukasawa for Maruni No.B9 Le Corbusier arm chair by Thonet Outdoor lighting supplied by Bega Indoor track lighting from Brightgreen 699 Superleggera chair by Gio Ponti for Cassina Coffee table by Vader Almedia for Sollos Tapware supplied by Grohe We also think you might like 5 Inspiring Terrace Renovationsabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Take A Moment To Make A Moment by Susan Muldowney 28 January If you want to give an architect the dream brief, make it as open as possible. That’s exactly what the residents of Edsall Street in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern presented to architects Gilad Ritz and Jean-Paul Ghougassian, shortly after buying their Victorian cottage in 2015. A skylight in the bathroom was one of their few design stipulations. Apart from that, Ritz&Ghougassian was free to create what the studio describes as its “essay on architecture” – a harmonious layering of four distinct spaces, each flowing seamlessly into the next. Trust between architect and client was vital to the success of this renovation. Owners Julien and Kristy-Lea, who share the home with their Staffordshire terrier, Zeus, had previously worked with Ritz&Ghougassian on the design of their hospitality projects, including Bentwood café in Fitzroy and Penta in Elsternwick. There were no other architects they would entrust with their home. “We always look for architects who are passionate about their work,” explains Julien. “We know Ritz&Ghougassian and we love their taste. We understood their vision and had total trust in them.” However, the open brief was not without its challenges. The house sits on a 375-metre-squared sloping block at the boundary of a commercial zone and the architects needed to balance the desire for natural light with the less-than-desirable view of a neighbouring liquor store. The residence also has a heritage overlay and the local council took close to nine months to approve the final plans. It was worth the wait. Since forming their studio in 2015, Ritz&Ghougassian have forged a distinct reputation for architectural rigour and design finesse. This is perhaps a consequence of their complementary backgrounds – Gilad leads the studio’s architectural projects and Jean-Paul specialises in interior architecture. They have brought the best of both worlds to Edsall Street. Early design conversations centred around creating singular spaces within a home that is largely open plan. “We wanted there to be a sense of one activity for each space,” says Jean-Paul. “We didn’t want it to feel like just one big open space at the back.” The solution, he goes on to explain, was to dislocate the envelope vertically so one part of the house looks on to the other. The first part – the original front section of the residence – was restumped, reroofed and its decaying walls were repaired. The rest of the house was flattened and replaced by three spaces: a kitchen and dining area, a sunken living room and a master bedroom upstairs. Much of the heritage details in the front of the house, which now consists of three bedrooms and a bathroom, have been preserved or overlaid with contemporary touches, such as black steel shrouds around existing fireplaces. The floors feature smooth blackbutt timber boards with a matte finish to celebrate their natural characteristics. “We like to keep timber in its natural state,” says Gilad. “We like the fiddleback effect.” The junction between the old house and the new is characterised by what Gilad describes as a ‘Ma’ moment – a Japanese term often applied by architect Isozaki Arata to signify the space between objects or structural elements. “It’s like a moment of pause,” says Gilad. “In this case, it marks the transition from the old to the new section and, in this moment, you can look out the windows to the garden of native plants. We wanted to create connections between the exterior and interior.” The movement from old to new is also delineated by a change from weatherboard to masonry walls. “We chose masonry because it suggests the idea of protection from the elements and it also allowed us to wrap the material from outside to inside so we could bury windows in between,” says Gilad. This is achieved through a cavity between the internal and external masonry walls. “Glass doors in the kitchen and living area that lead to the courtyard slide inside the cavities when they’re opened,” adds Gilad. “It’s like they disappear.” The cavities are not the only clever nooks within the home. A small glass alcove near the back of the house, for example, adds more width to the living area and brings more northern light into the space. “I think of light as another material,” says Gilad. “It creates shadow and texture.” Concrete is also a material favoured by Ritz&Ghougassian and they have incorporated it into the flooring of the kitchen and living areas. The blackbutt floor in front of the house is referenced through joinery in the kitchen, master bedroom and staircase. “We’ve worked with joiner Adrian Hall on other projects and we love that he is a perfectionist,” says Gilad. “We purposely sat the joinery off the masonry walls in the bedroom so that it looks like a piece of furniture. No design detail within Edsall Street has been overlooked. The vertical air grills carved into the timber joinery, for example, reference a series of soaring blackbutt battens on the exterior walls. They are designed to help slice up the view of commercial buildings to the west and to create a screen to prevent overlooking to the east. The battens also created an unexpected issue for the owners shortly after moving back into their home. “The tannins from the blackbutt bled down onto the masonry bricks on the west wall,” says Julien. “I called The Graffiti Eaters to remove it and they did an amazing job. It’s all sorted now. “What we love most about the house is the way that every space flows into the next one so naturally,” adds Julien. “We recently got back from an overseas holiday and when we walked in the front door, we felt exactly the same way as we when we first moved in after the renovation. The only difference was that it was winter when we got back, so I had a new appreciation of the under-floor heating.” Ritz&Ghougassian ritzghougassian.com Photography by Tom Blachford Dissection Information Blackbutt veneer joinery with gloss finish from Timberwood Panels Concrete blocks from Austral Masonry Extrasoft sofa for Living Divani from Space Furniture Daybed PK80 by Fritz Hansen from CULT Downlights form Euroluce Cooktop, oven, steam oven and fully integrated dishwasher form Gaggenau Fully integrated refrigerator form Fisher & Paykel Classic duo rectangle bath with Satin Chrome Overflow from Kaldewei We think you might also like How Architects Are Modernising Heritages Houses abc Collection Content Design Accessories Design Products Finishes Furniture Habitus Loves Lighting Primary Slider Habitus Loves… A Man Cave by Holly Cunneen 25 January The Centquatre Sofa from DOMO A strong and minimalist structure, with comfortable and generous cushions, the Centquatre sofa is casual in its design and appearance. The cushions are filled with a blend of newly washed and dusted duck down feathers for softness and synthetic fibres for resilience. DOMO WoodWall Eveneer and natural timbers from Elton Group Produced from high quality timber veneer, WoodWall is applied directly to plaster or plasterboard with no requirement for any heavy substrate such as MDF and at less than half the cost of traditional veneered panelling. Elton Group The ICONS Collection from DOMO Sika Design looked to the past to some of Denmarks most skilled and important architects and designers when establishing their ICONS Collection. The designers were all significant to Danish design history with their experimenting and ground-breaking designs. DOMO The Rondo Leather Armchair and Sofa from Spence&Lyda A collaboration that celebrates the art of leather working, the Rondo Collection features a sofa and chair designed by Lucy Kurrein for Molinari Living that was inspired by punching bags. Spence & Lyda Photography by Andres Ripamonti The Harmon Side Table from Camerich The Harmon Side Table is available in a walnut top and a leather body. The top can also be done in marble for an extra modern feel. It looks great paired with the Harmon Ottoman. Camerich The Wing Lux Desk from Apato The Wing Lux is a compact desk that can be flexibly placed at different angles. The orientation of the drawers can be easily changed by swivelling the rotatable tabletop. The attention to detail, evident inside the drawers, the accompanying wooden accessories tray and the triangular joints heightens the user experience. Apato The W102 CHIPPERFIELD desk lamp from Euroluce The W102 CHIPPERFIELD adjustable task lamp designed by David Chipperfield for WASTBERG, comprises of a forged copper base, and spun copper shade and stems. The head can be adjusted 140 degrees (+/-) horizontally, and ball bearing construction allows the smooth movement of the arms. Euroluce The Coledale Rug from Designer Rugs Coledale was created as a 'post-script' to the Sandscript Collection by Caroline Baum – a revisit of the inspirations of the original designs with an updated twist. Based on the eroded rock platforms of its namesake suburb, this textural and organic design maintains Baum's signature coastal style mixed with all the opulence of a handknot rug. Designer Rugs The Mito Lighting Series by Tom Fereday from Rakemba Lighting The Mito lighting series was designed to celebrate the natural beauty and character of raw materials. Minimal in design, Mito juxtaposes precision manufacturing techniques with natural hand finished timbers and stones to create a truly sculptural light. Tom Fereday Photography by Fiona Susanto The Porthole Infuser from Top3 by design A must for every “foodie”. The Porthole is a simple, beautiful infusion vessel designed by Martin Kastner of Crucial Detail design studio. It can be used to create striking cocktails, oils, teas, dressings, lemonade, coffee, or any other type of cold infusion. Top3 by design abc Collection Content Design Products Furniture Onsa; Welcoming You With Open Arm(rest)s by Thida Sachathep 24 January Put simply, the Onsa Chair by Walter Knoll is anchored on a reinterpreted Japanese aesthetic for today’s contemporary contexts. Inspired by Japan’s regional approach to flora – where the visual representation of flowers embodies the principles and practice of Zen, the chair looks like a flower that is stretching toward the sun. Mauro Lipparini the designer of Onsa, believed that the form of the chair is a personification of the water lily, especially when it blooms to “welcome the morning light,” physically opening up like a “chalice”. Possessing a heightened degree of comfort and harmony as users sink into Onsa, the seat bucket with armrests encourages all users to lean back. Alternatively, the backrest smoothly moves into any position simply by triggering a leather strap in the seat. The armrests itself offers optimal support and moves with the chair. Additionally, the adjustable backrest function and height-adjustable stool ensures an ideal posture when lying down or sitting up. The foam-moulded seat, back and wadding adds a level of balance as it takes the pressure off so it is easy to unwind. It is an occasional leather chair that “whispers a hushed aesthetic of poetically balanced lines,” whose subtlety encourages materials to express themselves, explains Mauro as he discusses the driving force behind the Onsa Chair. Onsa, whether Congress Curry Leather or Elen Tan, is highly recommended for daydreaming. It is available at Living Edge showrooms across the Asia Pacific. Living Edge livingedge.com.au Photography courtesy of Living Edge We also think you might like A Year Of Architecture and Interior Product Designabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Surprises Await In This Port Melbourne House By Pandolfini Architects by Rebecca Gross 24 January Located in the bayside suburb of Port Melbourne, this is home to architect Dominic Pandolfini and his family of four. Dominic, the founder of Pandolfini Architects, transformed the worker’s cottage into a family home filled with natural light and spaciousness despite the confines of the long narrow site and strict heritage and planning controls. Spliced with skylights and courtyards, the house has a series of surprises beyond its traditional façade. The century-old house had been largely untouched when Dominic purchased it. He carefully restored the front with a crisp, light palette, and designed a two-storey extension that’s not visible from the street. A courtyard in the middle of the house separates the old and new forms, reducing the visibility of the extension from the street and bringing natural light into the centre of the plan. The extension consists of a double- and single-storey volume spliced by a large skylight that spans the width of the building. A change in ceiling height helps to define the kitchen and dining from the living area, above which a gabled roof enhances the sense of volume. The gable is a nod to the traditional pitched roofs of the heritage houses, and its form is emphasised at the rear of the house where black zinc cladding frames full-height glazing. The upstairs bedroom also has a gabled roof, and a wall of joinery separates the bedroom and bathroom, mimicking the pitch of the roof and playfully highlighting its triangular form. Like these cupboards, materials are used throughout the house to define elements. American oak cabinetry extends beneath the stairs and along the wall of the kitchen and living area providing cupboards and drawers. The refrigerator and kitchen island are clad in detailed timber; the bannister is a black steel plate, and the walls of the skylight are clad with black zinc to accentuate the gabled form. “External materials of black zinc and textured concrete render are used internally to reinforce the sense of exiting one space and transitioning into another,” says Dominic. “The alterations and additions to this once dark and cramped terrace house have successfully created spaces full of natural light and with unexpected volume that is typically found in much larger, less confined projects,” says Dominic. Pandolfini Architects pandolfini.com.au Photography by Rory Gardiner Dissection Information Kitchen and bathroom terrazzo tiles by Signorino Tiles Euroluce downlights and wall lights from Flos Boci pendant light from Hub Semi pendant Gubi by Criteria Collection Sanitaryware supplied by Roger Seller Timber veneer in Oak Rift by Fethers Oven, cooktop and dishwasher supplied by Miele Integrated fridge from Fisher & Paykel Engineered timber floors in Pale Oak by Woodcut We think you might also like Triangle House by Molecule Studioabc Happenings What's On Have You Heard? Saturday Indesign Is Here by Aleesha Callahan 23 January Searching for an injection of creative inspiration? Saturday Indesign 2019 is here. Mark 22 June in your calendar with ink. [caption id="attachment_118495" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Zip Water x SJB installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] Taking place in Melbourne, you’ll be able to explore a selection of key areas across the city in a one-day format designed to inspire and delight. We’ll get you from A to B so you won’t miss any of the jam-packed, energy-filled design celebrations. Add into the mix that there will be plenty of people in town for the INDE.Awards and the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Conference. The result? Melbourne will be on a bona fide design buzz, so if you’re in town, don’t miss it! [caption id="attachment_118498" align="alignnone" width="1100"] WorkLife talk at SID 2017.[/caption] But what exactly is Saturday Indesign all about? You can expect interactive installations, creative collaborations, and the perfect backdrop to connect with the community. Get out of your workspace and into the industry in a festive and fun way. It’s not just about mingling, while you’re out and about you are also learning and absorbing from the industry’s leading suppliers. Develop your professional knowledge with the latest and greatest from the best brands in the design sphere. [caption id="attachment_118494" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Earp Bros x Tom Fereday installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] At Saturday Indesign you never know who you might meet on the street. [caption id="attachment_118496" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Abey Australia at SID 2017.[/caption] TL;DR Save the date for Saturday Indesign, (re)ignite your passion for the design industry while absorbing valuable design knowledge at the same time. This is an industry event made for you. More info to be released soon… Be an early adopter and register your Saturday Indesign 2019 interest now.abc Collection Content Design Hunters Design Products Furniture People Sarah Ellison Has Turned Her Career Into One Long Lesson by Holly Cunneen 23 January Sarah Ellison is well travelled when it comes to Australia. She was born in Byron Bay, grew up in Perth, and spent the past 20 years living in Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Just recently, she and her family moved back to Byron. So when she says her second collection of furniture, Golden, under the moniker Sarah Ellison Studio, is her take on contemporary Australian design with a coastal edge, you can trust she knows what she’s talking about. Add to that the eight years she spent as the style editor for a leading Australian interior design and lifestyle magazine, and her background and education in fashion design, and you really know you’re in safe hands. Sarah began Sarah Ellison Studio officially in 2017 when she decided to take the plunge and to commit to ideas that up until then seemed like cloudy, aspirational dreams. She had a sound knowledge of the industry and knew exactly the niche she wanted to fill. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85216,85212"] “I [was] using all this incredible high-end furniture in my photo shoots that I wanted for myself but it was so expensive. And I found that for good Australian designers the entry level for their pieces was still very high. I wanted to try and design something that was of that calibre, but more affordable,” says Sarah. There was plenty of design at the top of the market, and it was just as healthy at the bottom, but no one really spoke to design-conscious consumers somewhere in the middle. “I felt like there was nothing cool on offer in that middle market, so that was where we started with the brand,” she adds. Despite a background on the creative side of things, her business plan was textbook. Golden is a small series of furniture designed by Sarah and manufactured by specialists in Indonesia. In that way, Sarah Ellison Studio is governed by practicality. Sarah isn’t an industrial designer and nor is her business partner who comes instead from a fashion PR background. So they outsource that aspect of the business. And while Sarah investigated manufacturing locally, economically it wasn’t conducive to the price point at which she wanted to her pieces to sit. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85209,85211"] The use of rattan champions the collection, a material Sarah always had in mind to work with but in a very specific way. Brass accents elevate the designs and bypass ‘trend’ territory. Channelling 70s glamour and the work of Milanese designer Gabriella Crespi, the second collection intentionally makes a louder statement than that of the first. The New Ware Collection was Sarah’s debut to market, so is understandably more pragmatic in approach. “For the first collection, I felt I couldn’t really show my style by doing just one line of things, so it had to be a little bit of everything sprinkled together to create the whole look.” Interestingly, it’s strikingly different both in aesthetic and material choices. As is The Beach Club, her collaboration with Terranova tiles. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85220,85215"] It’s a unique – and refreshing – point of difference, one Sarah attributes to her background as a stylist and style editor: one week’s project could be so vastly different to the next. And given there are no plans to set aside her styling jobs, her third collection could very well be vastly different again in style or materiality from her first and second. For some designers, materials are chosen for their functional attributes or visual suitability to a design. For Sarah, it can be the other way around. “Material is really key for me: finding a material that I love and then working out what I can do with it within the restraints of our brand,” she says, citing coloured concrete, limestone, onyx and glass as areas of interest. Clearly, it’s of no consequence where Sarah is located, her ability and desire to design and create is often inspired by her surrounds. In that way, a change of scenery might be a spark in the ignition of the next chapter of Sarah Ellison Studio – whatever that may be. Sarah Ellison Studio sarahellison.com.au Photography by Dave Wheeler [gallery size="full" columns="2" ids="85218,85210,85219,85221"] We think you might also like Screen House by Warc Studioabc Places Around The World Architecture ARC - Feature Café Oriente Is Seoul’s Semi-Underground Coffee Shop by Thida Sachathep 22 January Café’s, from the very first Ottoman coffee houses, have always occupied a unique stance within society. The design of such spaces is driven by the need to express and preserve individuality in the face of urban surroundings. In The Architecture Of Public Display by Christoph Grafe, it is stated that; The café is many things: an object of nostalgia, a stage for inventing oneself, a place for creating relationships and a home, in the words of the Austrian critic, Alfred Polgar, “for all who wish to be alone but need sociability for this”. Grounded by a similar understanding, the Labotory design team behind Café Oriente say a space of this kind needs not only to “deliver beautiful visuals but also offer a unique emotional experience”. Café Oriente is located amidst Itaewon, Seoul, an area that was avoided for political reasons in the three decades prior. What used to be a United States Military Base has now revolutionised into one of the most vibrant parts of Seoul, grabbing the attention of tourists and university students alike. Found at the very end of Hannam-Dong’s narrow alley, the café is somewhat sunken into the ground. Informed by the client’s desire to have a space “where the oriental aesthetics are implied,” local interior design practice, Labotory, pairs the traditional Hanok (a Korean house) aesthetic with a contemporary minimalist design. Korean architecture places a lot of emphasis on positioning the house amongst the surroundings. In this case, synonymous with a Hanok, the café layout is designed around a front courtyard. The expandability of this space serves as a bridge between the interior and the exterior, decorated with a small garden that has been styled underneath customer café seats. Cement plastered walls, terrazzo and stone tiles, and exposed concrete curved ceiling form the framework of textures evident in Hanoks around Korea. Where natural wood was used for the barista bar, it was also introduced as wall panels and furniture to add a sense of familiarity and warmth. The semi-subterranean space has a repeating motif of curves, seen once at the awning that meets the ceiling as guests move indoors and again as a seating arrangement. The curved ceiling adds depth and appears as though it is floating. The ceiling, which is backlit with a white hue, resembles the cream colour of traditional Korean paper and contrasts subtly with granite. Providing a refined sense of nuance for all visitors, Café Oriente successfully shows respect to the country and to the architecture it resides in. Labotory labotory.com Photography by Yongjun Choi We think you might also like A Cultural Guide To Café Designabc 1 2 3 4 Next Page → TOP
Design Hunters People Primary Slider Jade Sarita Arnott Breaks The Model by Alice Blackwood 30 January When the Rana Plaza factory complex collapsed in 2013, killing over 1000 Bangladeshi garment workers, Jade Sarita Arnott felt devastated. It had not been her relatives who’d perished in the disaster, but the event confirmed that she’d made the right choice in disbanding her fashion label, Arnsdorf, the year before. A trained artist and fashion designer, Jade had stepped away from her business, disillusioned by the endless cycle of seasonal garment releases and the punishing pressure to constantly reinvent and re-launch. She couldn’t see how the fashion industry’s traditional working model could sustain itself. There was some measure of relief there, too, in not being involved in an industry that could so easily ignore human rights. “While I’d never manufactured in Bangladesh,” says Jade, “I’d just had children and had so much maternal grief for these people, the lives that were lost. I felt I could not be part of that,” she says. The question that hung in the balance was this: could she be part of the change? A multidisciplinary creative with natural entrepreneurial nous, Jade studied creative arts at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, before pursuing the infamously tough fashion design degree at RMIT University. Business success fell upon her, in many ways, and the launch of Arnsdorf in 2006 taught Jade many things. The enduring influence of art and sculpture shaped many of her design ideas. The everyday archetypal garments that fill our wardrobes – suit trousers, jeans, t-shirts, jackets and coats – became a feast for the imagination. She reinterpreted and subverted: a trench coat came with an attached trench coat scarf, a leather jacket with a leather jacket scarf. “It was built around the respect for those items that have survived in people’s wardrobes for decades, even centuries,” she says. Arnsdorf took off, touted by media as ‘the new one to watch’. Growth was exponential but as Jade points out, success can also be disillusioning. In 2012 she found herself at a crossroads. The label was gaining international momentum, but “it felt like I was caught up in a never-ending cycle of rushing for the next deadline”, she says. “The pace of each fashion cycle, marking down three months of every season – things completely lost their value. It just didn’t make sense any more.” She quietly wound down her Arnsdorf operations and took a four-year hiatus from fashion. This coincided with time spent living in New York with her boyfriend (now husband), Andrew. A myriad of new vocations emerged, with studies in furniture design and photography, a home renovation and parenthood. She spent some time working with creative enterprises and had the opportunity to contemplate alternative business models and imaginative approaches to customer engagement. In 2015 Jade found herself back in Melbourne with a new-found sense of perspective and maturity. She looked beyond what she’d perceived as the limitations of the fashion industry and sought to “break the model” with the relaunch of Arnsdorf in 2016. Vertically integrating her business, Jade fashioned a one-stop-shop, setting up her own factory of cutters and machinists. “The foundation and structure of the business came first. We set up sustainable and ethical production, sourcing certified organic fabrics and deadstock fabrics.” Consumers were similarly undergoing an “awakening”, Jade says, increasingly aware of what they were putting into and onto their bodies. Their demand for transparency, and a strong sense of social responsibility resonated with Jade’s own vision for Arnsdorf. A brand was reborn. Today, Jade maintains tight control over her supply chain, embedding meaning and purpose into her work through a fluid and iterative working process. She is supported by her Collingwood-located studio and home base in Kew. The studio is the epicentre of her working operation, a hive of activity where design, sampling and production happen in tandem. Home, away from the working chaos, is where the seeds of new ideas are planted. “I do a lot of sketching,” she says. “And sometimes in the initial design stage, I’ll work from home to get away from the hustle of the factory and find some peaceful time to concentrate and get inspired.” From home, she moves back into the studio to cut out toiles and samples. Her art studies are ever-present, manifesting through sculptural processes, like “draping fabrics on mannequins and embodying the toiles, turning them inside out and pushing the ideas further”. The meditative to-and-fro between home and work is vital to her creative process. “It’s the balance of solitary practice, of getting in the flow and generating ideas in an almost meditative state,” she says. “Then taking those ideas and working collaboratively with the team on fabrications, talking through construction.” A jigsaw puzzle of ideas and ingenuity coming together piece by piece. The vision of that time-transcendent piece still looms large for Jade, who continues her exploration of modern archetypal garments. But now, with renewed clarity. “The mission is to create greater transparency, so we educate the wider public of how much it costs to make a garment ethically and sustainably.” Once armed with that knowledge, Jade says, fashion-conscious customers will be better able to navigate the retail landscape and question the origins of what they put onto their body. Arnsdorf arnsdorf.com.au Photography by Benjamin Hosking We think you might also like Viktor&Rolf's outlook on whether or not fashion can be art. abc Places Architecture ARC - Feature A Mid-Century Material Palette Meets A Mediterranean Influence by Kirsty Sier 29 January The Italian word piccolina translates to ‘little one’. This was what Sandra Foti’s grandmother called her when she was growing up and, years later, it was what Sandra called her first gelato store in the inner-north Melbourne suburb of Collingwood. It is a name that honours family and memory, and harks back to a time when Sandra first fell in love with traditional Italian gelato. It is that sense of time-travelling that Hecker Guthrie wanted to capture when engaged to design the third iteration of Piccolina in the more coastal Melbourne suburb of St Kilda. It is here, by the sea, that the existing brand identity was able to fully embrace the store’s Mediterranean heritage, paying homage to the client’s roots and a very Italian sense of la dolce vita. Walking into Piccolina is like walking joyfully back into the mid-1950s; a version of the decade that is stripped down to the essentials: sun, sand, colour and community. The new St Kilda store is washed in a mid-century palette of sea green timber woodwork and internal joinery. This saturation is balanced with more subtle elements that nonetheless speak specifically to an era: square-cut warm white Italian tiles that cover serving areas and soft curves etched into the store’s interior detailing. In fact, a curved counter is the only truly prominent design feature of the store. Easily seen from the street through the wide-open entrance, the central counter – covered in tiles and punctuated with pozzetti, the sunken metal containers traditionally used to store gelato and regulate its temperature – welcomes in passers-by from the street and ushers them immediately into a ceremony of sharing. This wide and white-tiled space is what fills the space and catches the eye, keeping gelato at the centre of the experience. Other thoughtful details support this hub and fill out the theme: sculptural feature wall lighting from Volker Haug, green timber portal frames, touches of crisp terrazzo, a simple seating arrangement of timber stools against a mirrored wall, and a minimal menu design of individual letters placed on white railings. Although the shop is small – a hole-in-the-wall gelataria that you might find in Florence – it feels spacious because of bright, fresh details that rejoice in a theme without overpowering the senses. Hecker Guthrie heckerguthrie.com Photography by Shannon McGrath We think you might also like High St Society by Ricci Bloch Architecture + Interiorsabc Homes Architecture ARC - Feature CO-AP Designs Modern Terrace Houses In Sydney’s Inner East by Thida Sachathep 29 January For the first time over a decade, the City of Sydney is building a new town centre. What used to be an industrial site is now undergoing one of Australia’s largest urban redevelopments, transforming into Green Square Town Centre. At the edge of this suburban renewal, four new four-bedroom terraces designed by CO-AP have replaced a former chocolate factory. These terraces follow a type of model for medium density houses that can accommodate the growing demand of urban living, which in this case, is in Green Square. Missing middle housing can be categorised as multi-unit or clustered housing types suitable for single-family households, and are highly compatible with neighbourhoods as it diversifies the community. The model implies that houses within this category are well designed, comfortable, usable and of high quality while appealing as an affordable option. For the four Portman Street Terraces, CO-AP aimed at increasing the density of the site by implementing a terrace house typology already existing within the area. With corrugated iron roofs the Victorian Terrace typology is present in the modern design. This style of architecture is characterised by rows of terraced houses on narrow streets that spread across the suburbs after the Industrial Revolution. Additionally, a brickwork porch remains, and the interiors are fitted with large format oak parquetry that subtly juxtaposes with raw concrete and terrazzo in the kitchen and bathrooms. Double hung timber windows have been converted to double sliding balcony doors. The interior references the site’s industrial provenance through materiality such as pre-cast concrete, and steel plate windows for privacy and increased shade. Having an abundance of natural light flood into the space through an internal void also illuminates the staircase, corridor and ground floor kitchen. This lightwell acts as a thermal chimney allowing for heat to rise and vent out through the dormer windows on the upper floors. Sustainability design features that are synonymous with the CO-AP team ensured that passive measures such as correct orientation, sun shading and cross-ventilation have been included. CO-AP co-ap.com Photography by Ross Honeysett Dissection Information Joinery in Ash Whit and Sarsen Grey from Laminex Joinery finishes in London Grey from Caesarstone O.Novo toilet pan and hand basin by Villeroy & Boch Oven, cooktop, washer and dryer supplied by Miele Integrated refrigerator from Fisher & Paykel A-joint dining table and bench from Henry Wilson Hiroshima dining chair by Naoto Fukasawa for Maruni No.B9 Le Corbusier arm chair by Thonet Outdoor lighting supplied by Bega Indoor track lighting from Brightgreen 699 Superleggera chair by Gio Ponti for Cassina Coffee table by Vader Almedia for Sollos Tapware supplied by Grohe We also think you might like 5 Inspiring Terrace Renovationsabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Take A Moment To Make A Moment by Susan Muldowney 28 January If you want to give an architect the dream brief, make it as open as possible. That’s exactly what the residents of Edsall Street in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern presented to architects Gilad Ritz and Jean-Paul Ghougassian, shortly after buying their Victorian cottage in 2015. A skylight in the bathroom was one of their few design stipulations. Apart from that, Ritz&Ghougassian was free to create what the studio describes as its “essay on architecture” – a harmonious layering of four distinct spaces, each flowing seamlessly into the next. Trust between architect and client was vital to the success of this renovation. Owners Julien and Kristy-Lea, who share the home with their Staffordshire terrier, Zeus, had previously worked with Ritz&Ghougassian on the design of their hospitality projects, including Bentwood café in Fitzroy and Penta in Elsternwick. There were no other architects they would entrust with their home. “We always look for architects who are passionate about their work,” explains Julien. “We know Ritz&Ghougassian and we love their taste. We understood their vision and had total trust in them.” However, the open brief was not without its challenges. The house sits on a 375-metre-squared sloping block at the boundary of a commercial zone and the architects needed to balance the desire for natural light with the less-than-desirable view of a neighbouring liquor store. The residence also has a heritage overlay and the local council took close to nine months to approve the final plans. It was worth the wait. Since forming their studio in 2015, Ritz&Ghougassian have forged a distinct reputation for architectural rigour and design finesse. This is perhaps a consequence of their complementary backgrounds – Gilad leads the studio’s architectural projects and Jean-Paul specialises in interior architecture. They have brought the best of both worlds to Edsall Street. Early design conversations centred around creating singular spaces within a home that is largely open plan. “We wanted there to be a sense of one activity for each space,” says Jean-Paul. “We didn’t want it to feel like just one big open space at the back.” The solution, he goes on to explain, was to dislocate the envelope vertically so one part of the house looks on to the other. The first part – the original front section of the residence – was restumped, reroofed and its decaying walls were repaired. The rest of the house was flattened and replaced by three spaces: a kitchen and dining area, a sunken living room and a master bedroom upstairs. Much of the heritage details in the front of the house, which now consists of three bedrooms and a bathroom, have been preserved or overlaid with contemporary touches, such as black steel shrouds around existing fireplaces. The floors feature smooth blackbutt timber boards with a matte finish to celebrate their natural characteristics. “We like to keep timber in its natural state,” says Gilad. “We like the fiddleback effect.” The junction between the old house and the new is characterised by what Gilad describes as a ‘Ma’ moment – a Japanese term often applied by architect Isozaki Arata to signify the space between objects or structural elements. “It’s like a moment of pause,” says Gilad. “In this case, it marks the transition from the old to the new section and, in this moment, you can look out the windows to the garden of native plants. We wanted to create connections between the exterior and interior.” The movement from old to new is also delineated by a change from weatherboard to masonry walls. “We chose masonry because it suggests the idea of protection from the elements and it also allowed us to wrap the material from outside to inside so we could bury windows in between,” says Gilad. This is achieved through a cavity between the internal and external masonry walls. “Glass doors in the kitchen and living area that lead to the courtyard slide inside the cavities when they’re opened,” adds Gilad. “It’s like they disappear.” The cavities are not the only clever nooks within the home. A small glass alcove near the back of the house, for example, adds more width to the living area and brings more northern light into the space. “I think of light as another material,” says Gilad. “It creates shadow and texture.” Concrete is also a material favoured by Ritz&Ghougassian and they have incorporated it into the flooring of the kitchen and living areas. The blackbutt floor in front of the house is referenced through joinery in the kitchen, master bedroom and staircase. “We’ve worked with joiner Adrian Hall on other projects and we love that he is a perfectionist,” says Gilad. “We purposely sat the joinery off the masonry walls in the bedroom so that it looks like a piece of furniture. No design detail within Edsall Street has been overlooked. The vertical air grills carved into the timber joinery, for example, reference a series of soaring blackbutt battens on the exterior walls. They are designed to help slice up the view of commercial buildings to the west and to create a screen to prevent overlooking to the east. The battens also created an unexpected issue for the owners shortly after moving back into their home. “The tannins from the blackbutt bled down onto the masonry bricks on the west wall,” says Julien. “I called The Graffiti Eaters to remove it and they did an amazing job. It’s all sorted now. “What we love most about the house is the way that every space flows into the next one so naturally,” adds Julien. “We recently got back from an overseas holiday and when we walked in the front door, we felt exactly the same way as we when we first moved in after the renovation. The only difference was that it was winter when we got back, so I had a new appreciation of the under-floor heating.” Ritz&Ghougassian ritzghougassian.com Photography by Tom Blachford Dissection Information Blackbutt veneer joinery with gloss finish from Timberwood Panels Concrete blocks from Austral Masonry Extrasoft sofa for Living Divani from Space Furniture Daybed PK80 by Fritz Hansen from CULT Downlights form Euroluce Cooktop, oven, steam oven and fully integrated dishwasher form Gaggenau Fully integrated refrigerator form Fisher & Paykel Classic duo rectangle bath with Satin Chrome Overflow from Kaldewei We think you might also like How Architects Are Modernising Heritages Houses abc Collection Content Design Accessories Design Products Finishes Furniture Habitus Loves Lighting Primary Slider Habitus Loves… A Man Cave by Holly Cunneen 25 January The Centquatre Sofa from DOMO A strong and minimalist structure, with comfortable and generous cushions, the Centquatre sofa is casual in its design and appearance. The cushions are filled with a blend of newly washed and dusted duck down feathers for softness and synthetic fibres for resilience. DOMO WoodWall Eveneer and natural timbers from Elton Group Produced from high quality timber veneer, WoodWall is applied directly to plaster or plasterboard with no requirement for any heavy substrate such as MDF and at less than half the cost of traditional veneered panelling. Elton Group The ICONS Collection from DOMO Sika Design looked to the past to some of Denmarks most skilled and important architects and designers when establishing their ICONS Collection. The designers were all significant to Danish design history with their experimenting and ground-breaking designs. DOMO The Rondo Leather Armchair and Sofa from Spence&Lyda A collaboration that celebrates the art of leather working, the Rondo Collection features a sofa and chair designed by Lucy Kurrein for Molinari Living that was inspired by punching bags. Spence & Lyda Photography by Andres Ripamonti The Harmon Side Table from Camerich The Harmon Side Table is available in a walnut top and a leather body. The top can also be done in marble for an extra modern feel. It looks great paired with the Harmon Ottoman. Camerich The Wing Lux Desk from Apato The Wing Lux is a compact desk that can be flexibly placed at different angles. The orientation of the drawers can be easily changed by swivelling the rotatable tabletop. The attention to detail, evident inside the drawers, the accompanying wooden accessories tray and the triangular joints heightens the user experience. Apato The W102 CHIPPERFIELD desk lamp from Euroluce The W102 CHIPPERFIELD adjustable task lamp designed by David Chipperfield for WASTBERG, comprises of a forged copper base, and spun copper shade and stems. The head can be adjusted 140 degrees (+/-) horizontally, and ball bearing construction allows the smooth movement of the arms. Euroluce The Coledale Rug from Designer Rugs Coledale was created as a 'post-script' to the Sandscript Collection by Caroline Baum – a revisit of the inspirations of the original designs with an updated twist. Based on the eroded rock platforms of its namesake suburb, this textural and organic design maintains Baum's signature coastal style mixed with all the opulence of a handknot rug. Designer Rugs The Mito Lighting Series by Tom Fereday from Rakemba Lighting The Mito lighting series was designed to celebrate the natural beauty and character of raw materials. Minimal in design, Mito juxtaposes precision manufacturing techniques with natural hand finished timbers and stones to create a truly sculptural light. Tom Fereday Photography by Fiona Susanto The Porthole Infuser from Top3 by design A must for every “foodie”. The Porthole is a simple, beautiful infusion vessel designed by Martin Kastner of Crucial Detail design studio. It can be used to create striking cocktails, oils, teas, dressings, lemonade, coffee, or any other type of cold infusion. Top3 by design abc Collection Content Design Products Furniture Onsa; Welcoming You With Open Arm(rest)s by Thida Sachathep 24 January Put simply, the Onsa Chair by Walter Knoll is anchored on a reinterpreted Japanese aesthetic for today’s contemporary contexts. Inspired by Japan’s regional approach to flora – where the visual representation of flowers embodies the principles and practice of Zen, the chair looks like a flower that is stretching toward the sun. Mauro Lipparini the designer of Onsa, believed that the form of the chair is a personification of the water lily, especially when it blooms to “welcome the morning light,” physically opening up like a “chalice”. Possessing a heightened degree of comfort and harmony as users sink into Onsa, the seat bucket with armrests encourages all users to lean back. Alternatively, the backrest smoothly moves into any position simply by triggering a leather strap in the seat. The armrests itself offers optimal support and moves with the chair. Additionally, the adjustable backrest function and height-adjustable stool ensures an ideal posture when lying down or sitting up. The foam-moulded seat, back and wadding adds a level of balance as it takes the pressure off so it is easy to unwind. It is an occasional leather chair that “whispers a hushed aesthetic of poetically balanced lines,” whose subtlety encourages materials to express themselves, explains Mauro as he discusses the driving force behind the Onsa Chair. Onsa, whether Congress Curry Leather or Elen Tan, is highly recommended for daydreaming. It is available at Living Edge showrooms across the Asia Pacific. Living Edge livingedge.com.au Photography courtesy of Living Edge We also think you might like A Year Of Architecture and Interior Product Designabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Surprises Await In This Port Melbourne House By Pandolfini Architects by Rebecca Gross 24 January Located in the bayside suburb of Port Melbourne, this is home to architect Dominic Pandolfini and his family of four. Dominic, the founder of Pandolfini Architects, transformed the worker’s cottage into a family home filled with natural light and spaciousness despite the confines of the long narrow site and strict heritage and planning controls. Spliced with skylights and courtyards, the house has a series of surprises beyond its traditional façade. The century-old house had been largely untouched when Dominic purchased it. He carefully restored the front with a crisp, light palette, and designed a two-storey extension that’s not visible from the street. A courtyard in the middle of the house separates the old and new forms, reducing the visibility of the extension from the street and bringing natural light into the centre of the plan. The extension consists of a double- and single-storey volume spliced by a large skylight that spans the width of the building. A change in ceiling height helps to define the kitchen and dining from the living area, above which a gabled roof enhances the sense of volume. The gable is a nod to the traditional pitched roofs of the heritage houses, and its form is emphasised at the rear of the house where black zinc cladding frames full-height glazing. The upstairs bedroom also has a gabled roof, and a wall of joinery separates the bedroom and bathroom, mimicking the pitch of the roof and playfully highlighting its triangular form. Like these cupboards, materials are used throughout the house to define elements. American oak cabinetry extends beneath the stairs and along the wall of the kitchen and living area providing cupboards and drawers. The refrigerator and kitchen island are clad in detailed timber; the bannister is a black steel plate, and the walls of the skylight are clad with black zinc to accentuate the gabled form. “External materials of black zinc and textured concrete render are used internally to reinforce the sense of exiting one space and transitioning into another,” says Dominic. “The alterations and additions to this once dark and cramped terrace house have successfully created spaces full of natural light and with unexpected volume that is typically found in much larger, less confined projects,” says Dominic. Pandolfini Architects pandolfini.com.au Photography by Rory Gardiner Dissection Information Kitchen and bathroom terrazzo tiles by Signorino Tiles Euroluce downlights and wall lights from Flos Boci pendant light from Hub Semi pendant Gubi by Criteria Collection Sanitaryware supplied by Roger Seller Timber veneer in Oak Rift by Fethers Oven, cooktop and dishwasher supplied by Miele Integrated fridge from Fisher & Paykel Engineered timber floors in Pale Oak by Woodcut We think you might also like Triangle House by Molecule Studioabc Happenings What's On Have You Heard? Saturday Indesign Is Here by Aleesha Callahan 23 January Searching for an injection of creative inspiration? Saturday Indesign 2019 is here. Mark 22 June in your calendar with ink. [caption id="attachment_118495" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Zip Water x SJB installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] Taking place in Melbourne, you’ll be able to explore a selection of key areas across the city in a one-day format designed to inspire and delight. We’ll get you from A to B so you won’t miss any of the jam-packed, energy-filled design celebrations. Add into the mix that there will be plenty of people in town for the INDE.Awards and the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Conference. The result? Melbourne will be on a bona fide design buzz, so if you’re in town, don’t miss it! [caption id="attachment_118498" align="alignnone" width="1100"] WorkLife talk at SID 2017.[/caption] But what exactly is Saturday Indesign all about? You can expect interactive installations, creative collaborations, and the perfect backdrop to connect with the community. Get out of your workspace and into the industry in a festive and fun way. It’s not just about mingling, while you’re out and about you are also learning and absorbing from the industry’s leading suppliers. Develop your professional knowledge with the latest and greatest from the best brands in the design sphere. [caption id="attachment_118494" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Earp Bros x Tom Fereday installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] At Saturday Indesign you never know who you might meet on the street. [caption id="attachment_118496" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Abey Australia at SID 2017.[/caption] TL;DR Save the date for Saturday Indesign, (re)ignite your passion for the design industry while absorbing valuable design knowledge at the same time. This is an industry event made for you. More info to be released soon… Be an early adopter and register your Saturday Indesign 2019 interest now.abc Collection Content Design Hunters Design Products Furniture People Sarah Ellison Has Turned Her Career Into One Long Lesson by Holly Cunneen 23 January Sarah Ellison is well travelled when it comes to Australia. She was born in Byron Bay, grew up in Perth, and spent the past 20 years living in Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Just recently, she and her family moved back to Byron. So when she says her second collection of furniture, Golden, under the moniker Sarah Ellison Studio, is her take on contemporary Australian design with a coastal edge, you can trust she knows what she’s talking about. Add to that the eight years she spent as the style editor for a leading Australian interior design and lifestyle magazine, and her background and education in fashion design, and you really know you’re in safe hands. Sarah began Sarah Ellison Studio officially in 2017 when she decided to take the plunge and to commit to ideas that up until then seemed like cloudy, aspirational dreams. She had a sound knowledge of the industry and knew exactly the niche she wanted to fill. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85216,85212"] “I [was] using all this incredible high-end furniture in my photo shoots that I wanted for myself but it was so expensive. And I found that for good Australian designers the entry level for their pieces was still very high. I wanted to try and design something that was of that calibre, but more affordable,” says Sarah. There was plenty of design at the top of the market, and it was just as healthy at the bottom, but no one really spoke to design-conscious consumers somewhere in the middle. “I felt like there was nothing cool on offer in that middle market, so that was where we started with the brand,” she adds. Despite a background on the creative side of things, her business plan was textbook. Golden is a small series of furniture designed by Sarah and manufactured by specialists in Indonesia. In that way, Sarah Ellison Studio is governed by practicality. Sarah isn’t an industrial designer and nor is her business partner who comes instead from a fashion PR background. So they outsource that aspect of the business. And while Sarah investigated manufacturing locally, economically it wasn’t conducive to the price point at which she wanted to her pieces to sit. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85209,85211"] The use of rattan champions the collection, a material Sarah always had in mind to work with but in a very specific way. Brass accents elevate the designs and bypass ‘trend’ territory. Channelling 70s glamour and the work of Milanese designer Gabriella Crespi, the second collection intentionally makes a louder statement than that of the first. The New Ware Collection was Sarah’s debut to market, so is understandably more pragmatic in approach. “For the first collection, I felt I couldn’t really show my style by doing just one line of things, so it had to be a little bit of everything sprinkled together to create the whole look.” Interestingly, it’s strikingly different both in aesthetic and material choices. As is The Beach Club, her collaboration with Terranova tiles. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85220,85215"] It’s a unique – and refreshing – point of difference, one Sarah attributes to her background as a stylist and style editor: one week’s project could be so vastly different to the next. And given there are no plans to set aside her styling jobs, her third collection could very well be vastly different again in style or materiality from her first and second. For some designers, materials are chosen for their functional attributes or visual suitability to a design. For Sarah, it can be the other way around. “Material is really key for me: finding a material that I love and then working out what I can do with it within the restraints of our brand,” she says, citing coloured concrete, limestone, onyx and glass as areas of interest. Clearly, it’s of no consequence where Sarah is located, her ability and desire to design and create is often inspired by her surrounds. In that way, a change of scenery might be a spark in the ignition of the next chapter of Sarah Ellison Studio – whatever that may be. Sarah Ellison Studio sarahellison.com.au Photography by Dave Wheeler [gallery size="full" columns="2" ids="85218,85210,85219,85221"] We think you might also like Screen House by Warc Studioabc Places Around The World Architecture ARC - Feature Café Oriente Is Seoul’s Semi-Underground Coffee Shop by Thida Sachathep 22 January Café’s, from the very first Ottoman coffee houses, have always occupied a unique stance within society. The design of such spaces is driven by the need to express and preserve individuality in the face of urban surroundings. In The Architecture Of Public Display by Christoph Grafe, it is stated that; The café is many things: an object of nostalgia, a stage for inventing oneself, a place for creating relationships and a home, in the words of the Austrian critic, Alfred Polgar, “for all who wish to be alone but need sociability for this”. Grounded by a similar understanding, the Labotory design team behind Café Oriente say a space of this kind needs not only to “deliver beautiful visuals but also offer a unique emotional experience”. Café Oriente is located amidst Itaewon, Seoul, an area that was avoided for political reasons in the three decades prior. What used to be a United States Military Base has now revolutionised into one of the most vibrant parts of Seoul, grabbing the attention of tourists and university students alike. Found at the very end of Hannam-Dong’s narrow alley, the café is somewhat sunken into the ground. Informed by the client’s desire to have a space “where the oriental aesthetics are implied,” local interior design practice, Labotory, pairs the traditional Hanok (a Korean house) aesthetic with a contemporary minimalist design. Korean architecture places a lot of emphasis on positioning the house amongst the surroundings. In this case, synonymous with a Hanok, the café layout is designed around a front courtyard. The expandability of this space serves as a bridge between the interior and the exterior, decorated with a small garden that has been styled underneath customer café seats. Cement plastered walls, terrazzo and stone tiles, and exposed concrete curved ceiling form the framework of textures evident in Hanoks around Korea. Where natural wood was used for the barista bar, it was also introduced as wall panels and furniture to add a sense of familiarity and warmth. The semi-subterranean space has a repeating motif of curves, seen once at the awning that meets the ceiling as guests move indoors and again as a seating arrangement. The curved ceiling adds depth and appears as though it is floating. The ceiling, which is backlit with a white hue, resembles the cream colour of traditional Korean paper and contrasts subtly with granite. Providing a refined sense of nuance for all visitors, Café Oriente successfully shows respect to the country and to the architecture it resides in. Labotory labotory.com Photography by Yongjun Choi We think you might also like A Cultural Guide To Café Designabc 1 2 3 4 Next Page → TOP
Places Architecture ARC - Feature A Mid-Century Material Palette Meets A Mediterranean Influence by Kirsty Sier 29 January The Italian word piccolina translates to ‘little one’. This was what Sandra Foti’s grandmother called her when she was growing up and, years later, it was what Sandra called her first gelato store in the inner-north Melbourne suburb of Collingwood. It is a name that honours family and memory, and harks back to a time when Sandra first fell in love with traditional Italian gelato. It is that sense of time-travelling that Hecker Guthrie wanted to capture when engaged to design the third iteration of Piccolina in the more coastal Melbourne suburb of St Kilda. It is here, by the sea, that the existing brand identity was able to fully embrace the store’s Mediterranean heritage, paying homage to the client’s roots and a very Italian sense of la dolce vita. Walking into Piccolina is like walking joyfully back into the mid-1950s; a version of the decade that is stripped down to the essentials: sun, sand, colour and community. The new St Kilda store is washed in a mid-century palette of sea green timber woodwork and internal joinery. This saturation is balanced with more subtle elements that nonetheless speak specifically to an era: square-cut warm white Italian tiles that cover serving areas and soft curves etched into the store’s interior detailing. In fact, a curved counter is the only truly prominent design feature of the store. Easily seen from the street through the wide-open entrance, the central counter – covered in tiles and punctuated with pozzetti, the sunken metal containers traditionally used to store gelato and regulate its temperature – welcomes in passers-by from the street and ushers them immediately into a ceremony of sharing. This wide and white-tiled space is what fills the space and catches the eye, keeping gelato at the centre of the experience. Other thoughtful details support this hub and fill out the theme: sculptural feature wall lighting from Volker Haug, green timber portal frames, touches of crisp terrazzo, a simple seating arrangement of timber stools against a mirrored wall, and a minimal menu design of individual letters placed on white railings. Although the shop is small – a hole-in-the-wall gelataria that you might find in Florence – it feels spacious because of bright, fresh details that rejoice in a theme without overpowering the senses. Hecker Guthrie heckerguthrie.com Photography by Shannon McGrath We think you might also like High St Society by Ricci Bloch Architecture + Interiorsabc Homes Architecture ARC - Feature CO-AP Designs Modern Terrace Houses In Sydney’s Inner East by Thida Sachathep 29 January For the first time over a decade, the City of Sydney is building a new town centre. What used to be an industrial site is now undergoing one of Australia’s largest urban redevelopments, transforming into Green Square Town Centre. At the edge of this suburban renewal, four new four-bedroom terraces designed by CO-AP have replaced a former chocolate factory. These terraces follow a type of model for medium density houses that can accommodate the growing demand of urban living, which in this case, is in Green Square. Missing middle housing can be categorised as multi-unit or clustered housing types suitable for single-family households, and are highly compatible with neighbourhoods as it diversifies the community. The model implies that houses within this category are well designed, comfortable, usable and of high quality while appealing as an affordable option. For the four Portman Street Terraces, CO-AP aimed at increasing the density of the site by implementing a terrace house typology already existing within the area. With corrugated iron roofs the Victorian Terrace typology is present in the modern design. This style of architecture is characterised by rows of terraced houses on narrow streets that spread across the suburbs after the Industrial Revolution. Additionally, a brickwork porch remains, and the interiors are fitted with large format oak parquetry that subtly juxtaposes with raw concrete and terrazzo in the kitchen and bathrooms. Double hung timber windows have been converted to double sliding balcony doors. The interior references the site’s industrial provenance through materiality such as pre-cast concrete, and steel plate windows for privacy and increased shade. Having an abundance of natural light flood into the space through an internal void also illuminates the staircase, corridor and ground floor kitchen. This lightwell acts as a thermal chimney allowing for heat to rise and vent out through the dormer windows on the upper floors. Sustainability design features that are synonymous with the CO-AP team ensured that passive measures such as correct orientation, sun shading and cross-ventilation have been included. CO-AP co-ap.com Photography by Ross Honeysett Dissection Information Joinery in Ash Whit and Sarsen Grey from Laminex Joinery finishes in London Grey from Caesarstone O.Novo toilet pan and hand basin by Villeroy & Boch Oven, cooktop, washer and dryer supplied by Miele Integrated refrigerator from Fisher & Paykel A-joint dining table and bench from Henry Wilson Hiroshima dining chair by Naoto Fukasawa for Maruni No.B9 Le Corbusier arm chair by Thonet Outdoor lighting supplied by Bega Indoor track lighting from Brightgreen 699 Superleggera chair by Gio Ponti for Cassina Coffee table by Vader Almedia for Sollos Tapware supplied by Grohe We also think you might like 5 Inspiring Terrace Renovationsabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Take A Moment To Make A Moment by Susan Muldowney 28 January If you want to give an architect the dream brief, make it as open as possible. That’s exactly what the residents of Edsall Street in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern presented to architects Gilad Ritz and Jean-Paul Ghougassian, shortly after buying their Victorian cottage in 2015. A skylight in the bathroom was one of their few design stipulations. Apart from that, Ritz&Ghougassian was free to create what the studio describes as its “essay on architecture” – a harmonious layering of four distinct spaces, each flowing seamlessly into the next. Trust between architect and client was vital to the success of this renovation. Owners Julien and Kristy-Lea, who share the home with their Staffordshire terrier, Zeus, had previously worked with Ritz&Ghougassian on the design of their hospitality projects, including Bentwood café in Fitzroy and Penta in Elsternwick. There were no other architects they would entrust with their home. “We always look for architects who are passionate about their work,” explains Julien. “We know Ritz&Ghougassian and we love their taste. We understood their vision and had total trust in them.” However, the open brief was not without its challenges. The house sits on a 375-metre-squared sloping block at the boundary of a commercial zone and the architects needed to balance the desire for natural light with the less-than-desirable view of a neighbouring liquor store. The residence also has a heritage overlay and the local council took close to nine months to approve the final plans. It was worth the wait. Since forming their studio in 2015, Ritz&Ghougassian have forged a distinct reputation for architectural rigour and design finesse. This is perhaps a consequence of their complementary backgrounds – Gilad leads the studio’s architectural projects and Jean-Paul specialises in interior architecture. They have brought the best of both worlds to Edsall Street. Early design conversations centred around creating singular spaces within a home that is largely open plan. “We wanted there to be a sense of one activity for each space,” says Jean-Paul. “We didn’t want it to feel like just one big open space at the back.” The solution, he goes on to explain, was to dislocate the envelope vertically so one part of the house looks on to the other. The first part – the original front section of the residence – was restumped, reroofed and its decaying walls were repaired. The rest of the house was flattened and replaced by three spaces: a kitchen and dining area, a sunken living room and a master bedroom upstairs. Much of the heritage details in the front of the house, which now consists of three bedrooms and a bathroom, have been preserved or overlaid with contemporary touches, such as black steel shrouds around existing fireplaces. The floors feature smooth blackbutt timber boards with a matte finish to celebrate their natural characteristics. “We like to keep timber in its natural state,” says Gilad. “We like the fiddleback effect.” The junction between the old house and the new is characterised by what Gilad describes as a ‘Ma’ moment – a Japanese term often applied by architect Isozaki Arata to signify the space between objects or structural elements. “It’s like a moment of pause,” says Gilad. “In this case, it marks the transition from the old to the new section and, in this moment, you can look out the windows to the garden of native plants. We wanted to create connections between the exterior and interior.” The movement from old to new is also delineated by a change from weatherboard to masonry walls. “We chose masonry because it suggests the idea of protection from the elements and it also allowed us to wrap the material from outside to inside so we could bury windows in between,” says Gilad. This is achieved through a cavity between the internal and external masonry walls. “Glass doors in the kitchen and living area that lead to the courtyard slide inside the cavities when they’re opened,” adds Gilad. “It’s like they disappear.” The cavities are not the only clever nooks within the home. A small glass alcove near the back of the house, for example, adds more width to the living area and brings more northern light into the space. “I think of light as another material,” says Gilad. “It creates shadow and texture.” Concrete is also a material favoured by Ritz&Ghougassian and they have incorporated it into the flooring of the kitchen and living areas. The blackbutt floor in front of the house is referenced through joinery in the kitchen, master bedroom and staircase. “We’ve worked with joiner Adrian Hall on other projects and we love that he is a perfectionist,” says Gilad. “We purposely sat the joinery off the masonry walls in the bedroom so that it looks like a piece of furniture. No design detail within Edsall Street has been overlooked. The vertical air grills carved into the timber joinery, for example, reference a series of soaring blackbutt battens on the exterior walls. They are designed to help slice up the view of commercial buildings to the west and to create a screen to prevent overlooking to the east. The battens also created an unexpected issue for the owners shortly after moving back into their home. “The tannins from the blackbutt bled down onto the masonry bricks on the west wall,” says Julien. “I called The Graffiti Eaters to remove it and they did an amazing job. It’s all sorted now. “What we love most about the house is the way that every space flows into the next one so naturally,” adds Julien. “We recently got back from an overseas holiday and when we walked in the front door, we felt exactly the same way as we when we first moved in after the renovation. The only difference was that it was winter when we got back, so I had a new appreciation of the under-floor heating.” Ritz&Ghougassian ritzghougassian.com Photography by Tom Blachford Dissection Information Blackbutt veneer joinery with gloss finish from Timberwood Panels Concrete blocks from Austral Masonry Extrasoft sofa for Living Divani from Space Furniture Daybed PK80 by Fritz Hansen from CULT Downlights form Euroluce Cooktop, oven, steam oven and fully integrated dishwasher form Gaggenau Fully integrated refrigerator form Fisher & Paykel Classic duo rectangle bath with Satin Chrome Overflow from Kaldewei We think you might also like How Architects Are Modernising Heritages Houses abc Collection Content Design Accessories Design Products Finishes Furniture Habitus Loves Lighting Primary Slider Habitus Loves… A Man Cave by Holly Cunneen 25 January The Centquatre Sofa from DOMO A strong and minimalist structure, with comfortable and generous cushions, the Centquatre sofa is casual in its design and appearance. The cushions are filled with a blend of newly washed and dusted duck down feathers for softness and synthetic fibres for resilience. DOMO WoodWall Eveneer and natural timbers from Elton Group Produced from high quality timber veneer, WoodWall is applied directly to plaster or plasterboard with no requirement for any heavy substrate such as MDF and at less than half the cost of traditional veneered panelling. Elton Group The ICONS Collection from DOMO Sika Design looked to the past to some of Denmarks most skilled and important architects and designers when establishing their ICONS Collection. The designers were all significant to Danish design history with their experimenting and ground-breaking designs. DOMO The Rondo Leather Armchair and Sofa from Spence&Lyda A collaboration that celebrates the art of leather working, the Rondo Collection features a sofa and chair designed by Lucy Kurrein for Molinari Living that was inspired by punching bags. Spence & Lyda Photography by Andres Ripamonti The Harmon Side Table from Camerich The Harmon Side Table is available in a walnut top and a leather body. The top can also be done in marble for an extra modern feel. It looks great paired with the Harmon Ottoman. Camerich The Wing Lux Desk from Apato The Wing Lux is a compact desk that can be flexibly placed at different angles. The orientation of the drawers can be easily changed by swivelling the rotatable tabletop. The attention to detail, evident inside the drawers, the accompanying wooden accessories tray and the triangular joints heightens the user experience. Apato The W102 CHIPPERFIELD desk lamp from Euroluce The W102 CHIPPERFIELD adjustable task lamp designed by David Chipperfield for WASTBERG, comprises of a forged copper base, and spun copper shade and stems. The head can be adjusted 140 degrees (+/-) horizontally, and ball bearing construction allows the smooth movement of the arms. Euroluce The Coledale Rug from Designer Rugs Coledale was created as a 'post-script' to the Sandscript Collection by Caroline Baum – a revisit of the inspirations of the original designs with an updated twist. Based on the eroded rock platforms of its namesake suburb, this textural and organic design maintains Baum's signature coastal style mixed with all the opulence of a handknot rug. Designer Rugs The Mito Lighting Series by Tom Fereday from Rakemba Lighting The Mito lighting series was designed to celebrate the natural beauty and character of raw materials. Minimal in design, Mito juxtaposes precision manufacturing techniques with natural hand finished timbers and stones to create a truly sculptural light. Tom Fereday Photography by Fiona Susanto The Porthole Infuser from Top3 by design A must for every “foodie”. The Porthole is a simple, beautiful infusion vessel designed by Martin Kastner of Crucial Detail design studio. It can be used to create striking cocktails, oils, teas, dressings, lemonade, coffee, or any other type of cold infusion. Top3 by design abc Collection Content Design Products Furniture Onsa; Welcoming You With Open Arm(rest)s by Thida Sachathep 24 January Put simply, the Onsa Chair by Walter Knoll is anchored on a reinterpreted Japanese aesthetic for today’s contemporary contexts. Inspired by Japan’s regional approach to flora – where the visual representation of flowers embodies the principles and practice of Zen, the chair looks like a flower that is stretching toward the sun. Mauro Lipparini the designer of Onsa, believed that the form of the chair is a personification of the water lily, especially when it blooms to “welcome the morning light,” physically opening up like a “chalice”. Possessing a heightened degree of comfort and harmony as users sink into Onsa, the seat bucket with armrests encourages all users to lean back. Alternatively, the backrest smoothly moves into any position simply by triggering a leather strap in the seat. The armrests itself offers optimal support and moves with the chair. Additionally, the adjustable backrest function and height-adjustable stool ensures an ideal posture when lying down or sitting up. The foam-moulded seat, back and wadding adds a level of balance as it takes the pressure off so it is easy to unwind. It is an occasional leather chair that “whispers a hushed aesthetic of poetically balanced lines,” whose subtlety encourages materials to express themselves, explains Mauro as he discusses the driving force behind the Onsa Chair. Onsa, whether Congress Curry Leather or Elen Tan, is highly recommended for daydreaming. It is available at Living Edge showrooms across the Asia Pacific. Living Edge livingedge.com.au Photography courtesy of Living Edge We also think you might like A Year Of Architecture and Interior Product Designabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Surprises Await In This Port Melbourne House By Pandolfini Architects by Rebecca Gross 24 January Located in the bayside suburb of Port Melbourne, this is home to architect Dominic Pandolfini and his family of four. Dominic, the founder of Pandolfini Architects, transformed the worker’s cottage into a family home filled with natural light and spaciousness despite the confines of the long narrow site and strict heritage and planning controls. Spliced with skylights and courtyards, the house has a series of surprises beyond its traditional façade. The century-old house had been largely untouched when Dominic purchased it. He carefully restored the front with a crisp, light palette, and designed a two-storey extension that’s not visible from the street. A courtyard in the middle of the house separates the old and new forms, reducing the visibility of the extension from the street and bringing natural light into the centre of the plan. The extension consists of a double- and single-storey volume spliced by a large skylight that spans the width of the building. A change in ceiling height helps to define the kitchen and dining from the living area, above which a gabled roof enhances the sense of volume. The gable is a nod to the traditional pitched roofs of the heritage houses, and its form is emphasised at the rear of the house where black zinc cladding frames full-height glazing. The upstairs bedroom also has a gabled roof, and a wall of joinery separates the bedroom and bathroom, mimicking the pitch of the roof and playfully highlighting its triangular form. Like these cupboards, materials are used throughout the house to define elements. American oak cabinetry extends beneath the stairs and along the wall of the kitchen and living area providing cupboards and drawers. The refrigerator and kitchen island are clad in detailed timber; the bannister is a black steel plate, and the walls of the skylight are clad with black zinc to accentuate the gabled form. “External materials of black zinc and textured concrete render are used internally to reinforce the sense of exiting one space and transitioning into another,” says Dominic. “The alterations and additions to this once dark and cramped terrace house have successfully created spaces full of natural light and with unexpected volume that is typically found in much larger, less confined projects,” says Dominic. Pandolfini Architects pandolfini.com.au Photography by Rory Gardiner Dissection Information Kitchen and bathroom terrazzo tiles by Signorino Tiles Euroluce downlights and wall lights from Flos Boci pendant light from Hub Semi pendant Gubi by Criteria Collection Sanitaryware supplied by Roger Seller Timber veneer in Oak Rift by Fethers Oven, cooktop and dishwasher supplied by Miele Integrated fridge from Fisher & Paykel Engineered timber floors in Pale Oak by Woodcut We think you might also like Triangle House by Molecule Studioabc Happenings What's On Have You Heard? Saturday Indesign Is Here by Aleesha Callahan 23 January Searching for an injection of creative inspiration? Saturday Indesign 2019 is here. Mark 22 June in your calendar with ink. [caption id="attachment_118495" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Zip Water x SJB installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] Taking place in Melbourne, you’ll be able to explore a selection of key areas across the city in a one-day format designed to inspire and delight. We’ll get you from A to B so you won’t miss any of the jam-packed, energy-filled design celebrations. Add into the mix that there will be plenty of people in town for the INDE.Awards and the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Conference. The result? Melbourne will be on a bona fide design buzz, so if you’re in town, don’t miss it! [caption id="attachment_118498" align="alignnone" width="1100"] WorkLife talk at SID 2017.[/caption] But what exactly is Saturday Indesign all about? You can expect interactive installations, creative collaborations, and the perfect backdrop to connect with the community. Get out of your workspace and into the industry in a festive and fun way. It’s not just about mingling, while you’re out and about you are also learning and absorbing from the industry’s leading suppliers. Develop your professional knowledge with the latest and greatest from the best brands in the design sphere. [caption id="attachment_118494" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Earp Bros x Tom Fereday installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] At Saturday Indesign you never know who you might meet on the street. [caption id="attachment_118496" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Abey Australia at SID 2017.[/caption] TL;DR Save the date for Saturday Indesign, (re)ignite your passion for the design industry while absorbing valuable design knowledge at the same time. This is an industry event made for you. More info to be released soon… Be an early adopter and register your Saturday Indesign 2019 interest now.abc Collection Content Design Hunters Design Products Furniture People Sarah Ellison Has Turned Her Career Into One Long Lesson by Holly Cunneen 23 January Sarah Ellison is well travelled when it comes to Australia. She was born in Byron Bay, grew up in Perth, and spent the past 20 years living in Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Just recently, she and her family moved back to Byron. So when she says her second collection of furniture, Golden, under the moniker Sarah Ellison Studio, is her take on contemporary Australian design with a coastal edge, you can trust she knows what she’s talking about. Add to that the eight years she spent as the style editor for a leading Australian interior design and lifestyle magazine, and her background and education in fashion design, and you really know you’re in safe hands. Sarah began Sarah Ellison Studio officially in 2017 when she decided to take the plunge and to commit to ideas that up until then seemed like cloudy, aspirational dreams. She had a sound knowledge of the industry and knew exactly the niche she wanted to fill. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85216,85212"] “I [was] using all this incredible high-end furniture in my photo shoots that I wanted for myself but it was so expensive. And I found that for good Australian designers the entry level for their pieces was still very high. I wanted to try and design something that was of that calibre, but more affordable,” says Sarah. There was plenty of design at the top of the market, and it was just as healthy at the bottom, but no one really spoke to design-conscious consumers somewhere in the middle. “I felt like there was nothing cool on offer in that middle market, so that was where we started with the brand,” she adds. Despite a background on the creative side of things, her business plan was textbook. Golden is a small series of furniture designed by Sarah and manufactured by specialists in Indonesia. In that way, Sarah Ellison Studio is governed by practicality. Sarah isn’t an industrial designer and nor is her business partner who comes instead from a fashion PR background. So they outsource that aspect of the business. And while Sarah investigated manufacturing locally, economically it wasn’t conducive to the price point at which she wanted to her pieces to sit. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85209,85211"] The use of rattan champions the collection, a material Sarah always had in mind to work with but in a very specific way. Brass accents elevate the designs and bypass ‘trend’ territory. Channelling 70s glamour and the work of Milanese designer Gabriella Crespi, the second collection intentionally makes a louder statement than that of the first. The New Ware Collection was Sarah’s debut to market, so is understandably more pragmatic in approach. “For the first collection, I felt I couldn’t really show my style by doing just one line of things, so it had to be a little bit of everything sprinkled together to create the whole look.” Interestingly, it’s strikingly different both in aesthetic and material choices. As is The Beach Club, her collaboration with Terranova tiles. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85220,85215"] It’s a unique – and refreshing – point of difference, one Sarah attributes to her background as a stylist and style editor: one week’s project could be so vastly different to the next. And given there are no plans to set aside her styling jobs, her third collection could very well be vastly different again in style or materiality from her first and second. For some designers, materials are chosen for their functional attributes or visual suitability to a design. For Sarah, it can be the other way around. “Material is really key for me: finding a material that I love and then working out what I can do with it within the restraints of our brand,” she says, citing coloured concrete, limestone, onyx and glass as areas of interest. Clearly, it’s of no consequence where Sarah is located, her ability and desire to design and create is often inspired by her surrounds. In that way, a change of scenery might be a spark in the ignition of the next chapter of Sarah Ellison Studio – whatever that may be. Sarah Ellison Studio sarahellison.com.au Photography by Dave Wheeler [gallery size="full" columns="2" ids="85218,85210,85219,85221"] We think you might also like Screen House by Warc Studioabc Places Around The World Architecture ARC - Feature Café Oriente Is Seoul’s Semi-Underground Coffee Shop by Thida Sachathep 22 January Café’s, from the very first Ottoman coffee houses, have always occupied a unique stance within society. The design of such spaces is driven by the need to express and preserve individuality in the face of urban surroundings. In The Architecture Of Public Display by Christoph Grafe, it is stated that; The café is many things: an object of nostalgia, a stage for inventing oneself, a place for creating relationships and a home, in the words of the Austrian critic, Alfred Polgar, “for all who wish to be alone but need sociability for this”. Grounded by a similar understanding, the Labotory design team behind Café Oriente say a space of this kind needs not only to “deliver beautiful visuals but also offer a unique emotional experience”. Café Oriente is located amidst Itaewon, Seoul, an area that was avoided for political reasons in the three decades prior. What used to be a United States Military Base has now revolutionised into one of the most vibrant parts of Seoul, grabbing the attention of tourists and university students alike. Found at the very end of Hannam-Dong’s narrow alley, the café is somewhat sunken into the ground. Informed by the client’s desire to have a space “where the oriental aesthetics are implied,” local interior design practice, Labotory, pairs the traditional Hanok (a Korean house) aesthetic with a contemporary minimalist design. Korean architecture places a lot of emphasis on positioning the house amongst the surroundings. In this case, synonymous with a Hanok, the café layout is designed around a front courtyard. The expandability of this space serves as a bridge between the interior and the exterior, decorated with a small garden that has been styled underneath customer café seats. Cement plastered walls, terrazzo and stone tiles, and exposed concrete curved ceiling form the framework of textures evident in Hanoks around Korea. Where natural wood was used for the barista bar, it was also introduced as wall panels and furniture to add a sense of familiarity and warmth. The semi-subterranean space has a repeating motif of curves, seen once at the awning that meets the ceiling as guests move indoors and again as a seating arrangement. The curved ceiling adds depth and appears as though it is floating. The ceiling, which is backlit with a white hue, resembles the cream colour of traditional Korean paper and contrasts subtly with granite. Providing a refined sense of nuance for all visitors, Café Oriente successfully shows respect to the country and to the architecture it resides in. Labotory labotory.com Photography by Yongjun Choi We think you might also like A Cultural Guide To Café Designabc 1 2 3 4 Next Page → TOP
Homes Architecture ARC - Feature CO-AP Designs Modern Terrace Houses In Sydney’s Inner East by Thida Sachathep 29 January For the first time over a decade, the City of Sydney is building a new town centre. What used to be an industrial site is now undergoing one of Australia’s largest urban redevelopments, transforming into Green Square Town Centre. At the edge of this suburban renewal, four new four-bedroom terraces designed by CO-AP have replaced a former chocolate factory. These terraces follow a type of model for medium density houses that can accommodate the growing demand of urban living, which in this case, is in Green Square. Missing middle housing can be categorised as multi-unit or clustered housing types suitable for single-family households, and are highly compatible with neighbourhoods as it diversifies the community. The model implies that houses within this category are well designed, comfortable, usable and of high quality while appealing as an affordable option. For the four Portman Street Terraces, CO-AP aimed at increasing the density of the site by implementing a terrace house typology already existing within the area. With corrugated iron roofs the Victorian Terrace typology is present in the modern design. This style of architecture is characterised by rows of terraced houses on narrow streets that spread across the suburbs after the Industrial Revolution. Additionally, a brickwork porch remains, and the interiors are fitted with large format oak parquetry that subtly juxtaposes with raw concrete and terrazzo in the kitchen and bathrooms. Double hung timber windows have been converted to double sliding balcony doors. The interior references the site’s industrial provenance through materiality such as pre-cast concrete, and steel plate windows for privacy and increased shade. Having an abundance of natural light flood into the space through an internal void also illuminates the staircase, corridor and ground floor kitchen. This lightwell acts as a thermal chimney allowing for heat to rise and vent out through the dormer windows on the upper floors. Sustainability design features that are synonymous with the CO-AP team ensured that passive measures such as correct orientation, sun shading and cross-ventilation have been included. CO-AP co-ap.com Photography by Ross Honeysett Dissection Information Joinery in Ash Whit and Sarsen Grey from Laminex Joinery finishes in London Grey from Caesarstone O.Novo toilet pan and hand basin by Villeroy & Boch Oven, cooktop, washer and dryer supplied by Miele Integrated refrigerator from Fisher & Paykel A-joint dining table and bench from Henry Wilson Hiroshima dining chair by Naoto Fukasawa for Maruni No.B9 Le Corbusier arm chair by Thonet Outdoor lighting supplied by Bega Indoor track lighting from Brightgreen 699 Superleggera chair by Gio Ponti for Cassina Coffee table by Vader Almedia for Sollos Tapware supplied by Grohe We also think you might like 5 Inspiring Terrace Renovationsabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Take A Moment To Make A Moment by Susan Muldowney 28 January If you want to give an architect the dream brief, make it as open as possible. That’s exactly what the residents of Edsall Street in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern presented to architects Gilad Ritz and Jean-Paul Ghougassian, shortly after buying their Victorian cottage in 2015. A skylight in the bathroom was one of their few design stipulations. Apart from that, Ritz&Ghougassian was free to create what the studio describes as its “essay on architecture” – a harmonious layering of four distinct spaces, each flowing seamlessly into the next. Trust between architect and client was vital to the success of this renovation. Owners Julien and Kristy-Lea, who share the home with their Staffordshire terrier, Zeus, had previously worked with Ritz&Ghougassian on the design of their hospitality projects, including Bentwood café in Fitzroy and Penta in Elsternwick. There were no other architects they would entrust with their home. “We always look for architects who are passionate about their work,” explains Julien. “We know Ritz&Ghougassian and we love their taste. We understood their vision and had total trust in them.” However, the open brief was not without its challenges. The house sits on a 375-metre-squared sloping block at the boundary of a commercial zone and the architects needed to balance the desire for natural light with the less-than-desirable view of a neighbouring liquor store. The residence also has a heritage overlay and the local council took close to nine months to approve the final plans. It was worth the wait. Since forming their studio in 2015, Ritz&Ghougassian have forged a distinct reputation for architectural rigour and design finesse. This is perhaps a consequence of their complementary backgrounds – Gilad leads the studio’s architectural projects and Jean-Paul specialises in interior architecture. They have brought the best of both worlds to Edsall Street. Early design conversations centred around creating singular spaces within a home that is largely open plan. “We wanted there to be a sense of one activity for each space,” says Jean-Paul. “We didn’t want it to feel like just one big open space at the back.” The solution, he goes on to explain, was to dislocate the envelope vertically so one part of the house looks on to the other. The first part – the original front section of the residence – was restumped, reroofed and its decaying walls were repaired. The rest of the house was flattened and replaced by three spaces: a kitchen and dining area, a sunken living room and a master bedroom upstairs. Much of the heritage details in the front of the house, which now consists of three bedrooms and a bathroom, have been preserved or overlaid with contemporary touches, such as black steel shrouds around existing fireplaces. The floors feature smooth blackbutt timber boards with a matte finish to celebrate their natural characteristics. “We like to keep timber in its natural state,” says Gilad. “We like the fiddleback effect.” The junction between the old house and the new is characterised by what Gilad describes as a ‘Ma’ moment – a Japanese term often applied by architect Isozaki Arata to signify the space between objects or structural elements. “It’s like a moment of pause,” says Gilad. “In this case, it marks the transition from the old to the new section and, in this moment, you can look out the windows to the garden of native plants. We wanted to create connections between the exterior and interior.” The movement from old to new is also delineated by a change from weatherboard to masonry walls. “We chose masonry because it suggests the idea of protection from the elements and it also allowed us to wrap the material from outside to inside so we could bury windows in between,” says Gilad. This is achieved through a cavity between the internal and external masonry walls. “Glass doors in the kitchen and living area that lead to the courtyard slide inside the cavities when they’re opened,” adds Gilad. “It’s like they disappear.” The cavities are not the only clever nooks within the home. A small glass alcove near the back of the house, for example, adds more width to the living area and brings more northern light into the space. “I think of light as another material,” says Gilad. “It creates shadow and texture.” Concrete is also a material favoured by Ritz&Ghougassian and they have incorporated it into the flooring of the kitchen and living areas. The blackbutt floor in front of the house is referenced through joinery in the kitchen, master bedroom and staircase. “We’ve worked with joiner Adrian Hall on other projects and we love that he is a perfectionist,” says Gilad. “We purposely sat the joinery off the masonry walls in the bedroom so that it looks like a piece of furniture. No design detail within Edsall Street has been overlooked. The vertical air grills carved into the timber joinery, for example, reference a series of soaring blackbutt battens on the exterior walls. They are designed to help slice up the view of commercial buildings to the west and to create a screen to prevent overlooking to the east. The battens also created an unexpected issue for the owners shortly after moving back into their home. “The tannins from the blackbutt bled down onto the masonry bricks on the west wall,” says Julien. “I called The Graffiti Eaters to remove it and they did an amazing job. It’s all sorted now. “What we love most about the house is the way that every space flows into the next one so naturally,” adds Julien. “We recently got back from an overseas holiday and when we walked in the front door, we felt exactly the same way as we when we first moved in after the renovation. The only difference was that it was winter when we got back, so I had a new appreciation of the under-floor heating.” Ritz&Ghougassian ritzghougassian.com Photography by Tom Blachford Dissection Information Blackbutt veneer joinery with gloss finish from Timberwood Panels Concrete blocks from Austral Masonry Extrasoft sofa for Living Divani from Space Furniture Daybed PK80 by Fritz Hansen from CULT Downlights form Euroluce Cooktop, oven, steam oven and fully integrated dishwasher form Gaggenau Fully integrated refrigerator form Fisher & Paykel Classic duo rectangle bath with Satin Chrome Overflow from Kaldewei We think you might also like How Architects Are Modernising Heritages Houses abc Collection Content Design Accessories Design Products Finishes Furniture Habitus Loves Lighting Primary Slider Habitus Loves… A Man Cave by Holly Cunneen 25 January The Centquatre Sofa from DOMO A strong and minimalist structure, with comfortable and generous cushions, the Centquatre sofa is casual in its design and appearance. The cushions are filled with a blend of newly washed and dusted duck down feathers for softness and synthetic fibres for resilience. DOMO WoodWall Eveneer and natural timbers from Elton Group Produced from high quality timber veneer, WoodWall is applied directly to plaster or plasterboard with no requirement for any heavy substrate such as MDF and at less than half the cost of traditional veneered panelling. Elton Group The ICONS Collection from DOMO Sika Design looked to the past to some of Denmarks most skilled and important architects and designers when establishing their ICONS Collection. The designers were all significant to Danish design history with their experimenting and ground-breaking designs. DOMO The Rondo Leather Armchair and Sofa from Spence&Lyda A collaboration that celebrates the art of leather working, the Rondo Collection features a sofa and chair designed by Lucy Kurrein for Molinari Living that was inspired by punching bags. Spence & Lyda Photography by Andres Ripamonti The Harmon Side Table from Camerich The Harmon Side Table is available in a walnut top and a leather body. The top can also be done in marble for an extra modern feel. It looks great paired with the Harmon Ottoman. Camerich The Wing Lux Desk from Apato The Wing Lux is a compact desk that can be flexibly placed at different angles. The orientation of the drawers can be easily changed by swivelling the rotatable tabletop. The attention to detail, evident inside the drawers, the accompanying wooden accessories tray and the triangular joints heightens the user experience. Apato The W102 CHIPPERFIELD desk lamp from Euroluce The W102 CHIPPERFIELD adjustable task lamp designed by David Chipperfield for WASTBERG, comprises of a forged copper base, and spun copper shade and stems. The head can be adjusted 140 degrees (+/-) horizontally, and ball bearing construction allows the smooth movement of the arms. Euroluce The Coledale Rug from Designer Rugs Coledale was created as a 'post-script' to the Sandscript Collection by Caroline Baum – a revisit of the inspirations of the original designs with an updated twist. Based on the eroded rock platforms of its namesake suburb, this textural and organic design maintains Baum's signature coastal style mixed with all the opulence of a handknot rug. Designer Rugs The Mito Lighting Series by Tom Fereday from Rakemba Lighting The Mito lighting series was designed to celebrate the natural beauty and character of raw materials. Minimal in design, Mito juxtaposes precision manufacturing techniques with natural hand finished timbers and stones to create a truly sculptural light. Tom Fereday Photography by Fiona Susanto The Porthole Infuser from Top3 by design A must for every “foodie”. The Porthole is a simple, beautiful infusion vessel designed by Martin Kastner of Crucial Detail design studio. It can be used to create striking cocktails, oils, teas, dressings, lemonade, coffee, or any other type of cold infusion. Top3 by design abc Collection Content Design Products Furniture Onsa; Welcoming You With Open Arm(rest)s by Thida Sachathep 24 January Put simply, the Onsa Chair by Walter Knoll is anchored on a reinterpreted Japanese aesthetic for today’s contemporary contexts. Inspired by Japan’s regional approach to flora – where the visual representation of flowers embodies the principles and practice of Zen, the chair looks like a flower that is stretching toward the sun. Mauro Lipparini the designer of Onsa, believed that the form of the chair is a personification of the water lily, especially when it blooms to “welcome the morning light,” physically opening up like a “chalice”. Possessing a heightened degree of comfort and harmony as users sink into Onsa, the seat bucket with armrests encourages all users to lean back. Alternatively, the backrest smoothly moves into any position simply by triggering a leather strap in the seat. The armrests itself offers optimal support and moves with the chair. Additionally, the adjustable backrest function and height-adjustable stool ensures an ideal posture when lying down or sitting up. The foam-moulded seat, back and wadding adds a level of balance as it takes the pressure off so it is easy to unwind. It is an occasional leather chair that “whispers a hushed aesthetic of poetically balanced lines,” whose subtlety encourages materials to express themselves, explains Mauro as he discusses the driving force behind the Onsa Chair. Onsa, whether Congress Curry Leather or Elen Tan, is highly recommended for daydreaming. It is available at Living Edge showrooms across the Asia Pacific. Living Edge livingedge.com.au Photography courtesy of Living Edge We also think you might like A Year Of Architecture and Interior Product Designabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Surprises Await In This Port Melbourne House By Pandolfini Architects by Rebecca Gross 24 January Located in the bayside suburb of Port Melbourne, this is home to architect Dominic Pandolfini and his family of four. Dominic, the founder of Pandolfini Architects, transformed the worker’s cottage into a family home filled with natural light and spaciousness despite the confines of the long narrow site and strict heritage and planning controls. Spliced with skylights and courtyards, the house has a series of surprises beyond its traditional façade. The century-old house had been largely untouched when Dominic purchased it. He carefully restored the front with a crisp, light palette, and designed a two-storey extension that’s not visible from the street. A courtyard in the middle of the house separates the old and new forms, reducing the visibility of the extension from the street and bringing natural light into the centre of the plan. The extension consists of a double- and single-storey volume spliced by a large skylight that spans the width of the building. A change in ceiling height helps to define the kitchen and dining from the living area, above which a gabled roof enhances the sense of volume. The gable is a nod to the traditional pitched roofs of the heritage houses, and its form is emphasised at the rear of the house where black zinc cladding frames full-height glazing. The upstairs bedroom also has a gabled roof, and a wall of joinery separates the bedroom and bathroom, mimicking the pitch of the roof and playfully highlighting its triangular form. Like these cupboards, materials are used throughout the house to define elements. American oak cabinetry extends beneath the stairs and along the wall of the kitchen and living area providing cupboards and drawers. The refrigerator and kitchen island are clad in detailed timber; the bannister is a black steel plate, and the walls of the skylight are clad with black zinc to accentuate the gabled form. “External materials of black zinc and textured concrete render are used internally to reinforce the sense of exiting one space and transitioning into another,” says Dominic. “The alterations and additions to this once dark and cramped terrace house have successfully created spaces full of natural light and with unexpected volume that is typically found in much larger, less confined projects,” says Dominic. Pandolfini Architects pandolfini.com.au Photography by Rory Gardiner Dissection Information Kitchen and bathroom terrazzo tiles by Signorino Tiles Euroluce downlights and wall lights from Flos Boci pendant light from Hub Semi pendant Gubi by Criteria Collection Sanitaryware supplied by Roger Seller Timber veneer in Oak Rift by Fethers Oven, cooktop and dishwasher supplied by Miele Integrated fridge from Fisher & Paykel Engineered timber floors in Pale Oak by Woodcut We think you might also like Triangle House by Molecule Studioabc Happenings What's On Have You Heard? Saturday Indesign Is Here by Aleesha Callahan 23 January Searching for an injection of creative inspiration? Saturday Indesign 2019 is here. Mark 22 June in your calendar with ink. [caption id="attachment_118495" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Zip Water x SJB installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] Taking place in Melbourne, you’ll be able to explore a selection of key areas across the city in a one-day format designed to inspire and delight. We’ll get you from A to B so you won’t miss any of the jam-packed, energy-filled design celebrations. Add into the mix that there will be plenty of people in town for the INDE.Awards and the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Conference. The result? Melbourne will be on a bona fide design buzz, so if you’re in town, don’t miss it! [caption id="attachment_118498" align="alignnone" width="1100"] WorkLife talk at SID 2017.[/caption] But what exactly is Saturday Indesign all about? You can expect interactive installations, creative collaborations, and the perfect backdrop to connect with the community. Get out of your workspace and into the industry in a festive and fun way. It’s not just about mingling, while you’re out and about you are also learning and absorbing from the industry’s leading suppliers. Develop your professional knowledge with the latest and greatest from the best brands in the design sphere. [caption id="attachment_118494" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Earp Bros x Tom Fereday installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] At Saturday Indesign you never know who you might meet on the street. [caption id="attachment_118496" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Abey Australia at SID 2017.[/caption] TL;DR Save the date for Saturday Indesign, (re)ignite your passion for the design industry while absorbing valuable design knowledge at the same time. This is an industry event made for you. More info to be released soon… Be an early adopter and register your Saturday Indesign 2019 interest now.abc Collection Content Design Hunters Design Products Furniture People Sarah Ellison Has Turned Her Career Into One Long Lesson by Holly Cunneen 23 January Sarah Ellison is well travelled when it comes to Australia. She was born in Byron Bay, grew up in Perth, and spent the past 20 years living in Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Just recently, she and her family moved back to Byron. So when she says her second collection of furniture, Golden, under the moniker Sarah Ellison Studio, is her take on contemporary Australian design with a coastal edge, you can trust she knows what she’s talking about. Add to that the eight years she spent as the style editor for a leading Australian interior design and lifestyle magazine, and her background and education in fashion design, and you really know you’re in safe hands. Sarah began Sarah Ellison Studio officially in 2017 when she decided to take the plunge and to commit to ideas that up until then seemed like cloudy, aspirational dreams. She had a sound knowledge of the industry and knew exactly the niche she wanted to fill. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85216,85212"] “I [was] using all this incredible high-end furniture in my photo shoots that I wanted for myself but it was so expensive. And I found that for good Australian designers the entry level for their pieces was still very high. I wanted to try and design something that was of that calibre, but more affordable,” says Sarah. There was plenty of design at the top of the market, and it was just as healthy at the bottom, but no one really spoke to design-conscious consumers somewhere in the middle. “I felt like there was nothing cool on offer in that middle market, so that was where we started with the brand,” she adds. Despite a background on the creative side of things, her business plan was textbook. Golden is a small series of furniture designed by Sarah and manufactured by specialists in Indonesia. In that way, Sarah Ellison Studio is governed by practicality. Sarah isn’t an industrial designer and nor is her business partner who comes instead from a fashion PR background. So they outsource that aspect of the business. And while Sarah investigated manufacturing locally, economically it wasn’t conducive to the price point at which she wanted to her pieces to sit. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85209,85211"] The use of rattan champions the collection, a material Sarah always had in mind to work with but in a very specific way. Brass accents elevate the designs and bypass ‘trend’ territory. Channelling 70s glamour and the work of Milanese designer Gabriella Crespi, the second collection intentionally makes a louder statement than that of the first. The New Ware Collection was Sarah’s debut to market, so is understandably more pragmatic in approach. “For the first collection, I felt I couldn’t really show my style by doing just one line of things, so it had to be a little bit of everything sprinkled together to create the whole look.” Interestingly, it’s strikingly different both in aesthetic and material choices. As is The Beach Club, her collaboration with Terranova tiles. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85220,85215"] It’s a unique – and refreshing – point of difference, one Sarah attributes to her background as a stylist and style editor: one week’s project could be so vastly different to the next. And given there are no plans to set aside her styling jobs, her third collection could very well be vastly different again in style or materiality from her first and second. For some designers, materials are chosen for their functional attributes or visual suitability to a design. For Sarah, it can be the other way around. “Material is really key for me: finding a material that I love and then working out what I can do with it within the restraints of our brand,” she says, citing coloured concrete, limestone, onyx and glass as areas of interest. Clearly, it’s of no consequence where Sarah is located, her ability and desire to design and create is often inspired by her surrounds. In that way, a change of scenery might be a spark in the ignition of the next chapter of Sarah Ellison Studio – whatever that may be. Sarah Ellison Studio sarahellison.com.au Photography by Dave Wheeler [gallery size="full" columns="2" ids="85218,85210,85219,85221"] We think you might also like Screen House by Warc Studioabc Places Around The World Architecture ARC - Feature Café Oriente Is Seoul’s Semi-Underground Coffee Shop by Thida Sachathep 22 January Café’s, from the very first Ottoman coffee houses, have always occupied a unique stance within society. The design of such spaces is driven by the need to express and preserve individuality in the face of urban surroundings. In The Architecture Of Public Display by Christoph Grafe, it is stated that; The café is many things: an object of nostalgia, a stage for inventing oneself, a place for creating relationships and a home, in the words of the Austrian critic, Alfred Polgar, “for all who wish to be alone but need sociability for this”. Grounded by a similar understanding, the Labotory design team behind Café Oriente say a space of this kind needs not only to “deliver beautiful visuals but also offer a unique emotional experience”. Café Oriente is located amidst Itaewon, Seoul, an area that was avoided for political reasons in the three decades prior. What used to be a United States Military Base has now revolutionised into one of the most vibrant parts of Seoul, grabbing the attention of tourists and university students alike. Found at the very end of Hannam-Dong’s narrow alley, the café is somewhat sunken into the ground. Informed by the client’s desire to have a space “where the oriental aesthetics are implied,” local interior design practice, Labotory, pairs the traditional Hanok (a Korean house) aesthetic with a contemporary minimalist design. Korean architecture places a lot of emphasis on positioning the house amongst the surroundings. In this case, synonymous with a Hanok, the café layout is designed around a front courtyard. The expandability of this space serves as a bridge between the interior and the exterior, decorated with a small garden that has been styled underneath customer café seats. Cement plastered walls, terrazzo and stone tiles, and exposed concrete curved ceiling form the framework of textures evident in Hanoks around Korea. Where natural wood was used for the barista bar, it was also introduced as wall panels and furniture to add a sense of familiarity and warmth. The semi-subterranean space has a repeating motif of curves, seen once at the awning that meets the ceiling as guests move indoors and again as a seating arrangement. The curved ceiling adds depth and appears as though it is floating. The ceiling, which is backlit with a white hue, resembles the cream colour of traditional Korean paper and contrasts subtly with granite. Providing a refined sense of nuance for all visitors, Café Oriente successfully shows respect to the country and to the architecture it resides in. Labotory labotory.com Photography by Yongjun Choi We think you might also like A Cultural Guide To Café Designabc 1 2 3 4 Next Page → TOP
Architecture Homes Primary Slider Take A Moment To Make A Moment by Susan Muldowney 28 January If you want to give an architect the dream brief, make it as open as possible. That’s exactly what the residents of Edsall Street in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern presented to architects Gilad Ritz and Jean-Paul Ghougassian, shortly after buying their Victorian cottage in 2015. A skylight in the bathroom was one of their few design stipulations. Apart from that, Ritz&Ghougassian was free to create what the studio describes as its “essay on architecture” – a harmonious layering of four distinct spaces, each flowing seamlessly into the next. Trust between architect and client was vital to the success of this renovation. Owners Julien and Kristy-Lea, who share the home with their Staffordshire terrier, Zeus, had previously worked with Ritz&Ghougassian on the design of their hospitality projects, including Bentwood café in Fitzroy and Penta in Elsternwick. There were no other architects they would entrust with their home. “We always look for architects who are passionate about their work,” explains Julien. “We know Ritz&Ghougassian and we love their taste. We understood their vision and had total trust in them.” However, the open brief was not without its challenges. The house sits on a 375-metre-squared sloping block at the boundary of a commercial zone and the architects needed to balance the desire for natural light with the less-than-desirable view of a neighbouring liquor store. The residence also has a heritage overlay and the local council took close to nine months to approve the final plans. It was worth the wait. Since forming their studio in 2015, Ritz&Ghougassian have forged a distinct reputation for architectural rigour and design finesse. This is perhaps a consequence of their complementary backgrounds – Gilad leads the studio’s architectural projects and Jean-Paul specialises in interior architecture. They have brought the best of both worlds to Edsall Street. Early design conversations centred around creating singular spaces within a home that is largely open plan. “We wanted there to be a sense of one activity for each space,” says Jean-Paul. “We didn’t want it to feel like just one big open space at the back.” The solution, he goes on to explain, was to dislocate the envelope vertically so one part of the house looks on to the other. The first part – the original front section of the residence – was restumped, reroofed and its decaying walls were repaired. The rest of the house was flattened and replaced by three spaces: a kitchen and dining area, a sunken living room and a master bedroom upstairs. Much of the heritage details in the front of the house, which now consists of three bedrooms and a bathroom, have been preserved or overlaid with contemporary touches, such as black steel shrouds around existing fireplaces. The floors feature smooth blackbutt timber boards with a matte finish to celebrate their natural characteristics. “We like to keep timber in its natural state,” says Gilad. “We like the fiddleback effect.” The junction between the old house and the new is characterised by what Gilad describes as a ‘Ma’ moment – a Japanese term often applied by architect Isozaki Arata to signify the space between objects or structural elements. “It’s like a moment of pause,” says Gilad. “In this case, it marks the transition from the old to the new section and, in this moment, you can look out the windows to the garden of native plants. We wanted to create connections between the exterior and interior.” The movement from old to new is also delineated by a change from weatherboard to masonry walls. “We chose masonry because it suggests the idea of protection from the elements and it also allowed us to wrap the material from outside to inside so we could bury windows in between,” says Gilad. This is achieved through a cavity between the internal and external masonry walls. “Glass doors in the kitchen and living area that lead to the courtyard slide inside the cavities when they’re opened,” adds Gilad. “It’s like they disappear.” The cavities are not the only clever nooks within the home. A small glass alcove near the back of the house, for example, adds more width to the living area and brings more northern light into the space. “I think of light as another material,” says Gilad. “It creates shadow and texture.” Concrete is also a material favoured by Ritz&Ghougassian and they have incorporated it into the flooring of the kitchen and living areas. The blackbutt floor in front of the house is referenced through joinery in the kitchen, master bedroom and staircase. “We’ve worked with joiner Adrian Hall on other projects and we love that he is a perfectionist,” says Gilad. “We purposely sat the joinery off the masonry walls in the bedroom so that it looks like a piece of furniture. No design detail within Edsall Street has been overlooked. The vertical air grills carved into the timber joinery, for example, reference a series of soaring blackbutt battens on the exterior walls. They are designed to help slice up the view of commercial buildings to the west and to create a screen to prevent overlooking to the east. The battens also created an unexpected issue for the owners shortly after moving back into their home. “The tannins from the blackbutt bled down onto the masonry bricks on the west wall,” says Julien. “I called The Graffiti Eaters to remove it and they did an amazing job. It’s all sorted now. “What we love most about the house is the way that every space flows into the next one so naturally,” adds Julien. “We recently got back from an overseas holiday and when we walked in the front door, we felt exactly the same way as we when we first moved in after the renovation. The only difference was that it was winter when we got back, so I had a new appreciation of the under-floor heating.” Ritz&Ghougassian ritzghougassian.com Photography by Tom Blachford Dissection Information Blackbutt veneer joinery with gloss finish from Timberwood Panels Concrete blocks from Austral Masonry Extrasoft sofa for Living Divani from Space Furniture Daybed PK80 by Fritz Hansen from CULT Downlights form Euroluce Cooktop, oven, steam oven and fully integrated dishwasher form Gaggenau Fully integrated refrigerator form Fisher & Paykel Classic duo rectangle bath with Satin Chrome Overflow from Kaldewei We think you might also like How Architects Are Modernising Heritages Houses abc Collection Content Design Accessories Design Products Finishes Furniture Habitus Loves Lighting Primary Slider Habitus Loves… A Man Cave by Holly Cunneen 25 January The Centquatre Sofa from DOMO A strong and minimalist structure, with comfortable and generous cushions, the Centquatre sofa is casual in its design and appearance. The cushions are filled with a blend of newly washed and dusted duck down feathers for softness and synthetic fibres for resilience. DOMO WoodWall Eveneer and natural timbers from Elton Group Produced from high quality timber veneer, WoodWall is applied directly to plaster or plasterboard with no requirement for any heavy substrate such as MDF and at less than half the cost of traditional veneered panelling. Elton Group The ICONS Collection from DOMO Sika Design looked to the past to some of Denmarks most skilled and important architects and designers when establishing their ICONS Collection. The designers were all significant to Danish design history with their experimenting and ground-breaking designs. DOMO The Rondo Leather Armchair and Sofa from Spence&Lyda A collaboration that celebrates the art of leather working, the Rondo Collection features a sofa and chair designed by Lucy Kurrein for Molinari Living that was inspired by punching bags. Spence & Lyda Photography by Andres Ripamonti The Harmon Side Table from Camerich The Harmon Side Table is available in a walnut top and a leather body. The top can also be done in marble for an extra modern feel. It looks great paired with the Harmon Ottoman. Camerich The Wing Lux Desk from Apato The Wing Lux is a compact desk that can be flexibly placed at different angles. The orientation of the drawers can be easily changed by swivelling the rotatable tabletop. The attention to detail, evident inside the drawers, the accompanying wooden accessories tray and the triangular joints heightens the user experience. Apato The W102 CHIPPERFIELD desk lamp from Euroluce The W102 CHIPPERFIELD adjustable task lamp designed by David Chipperfield for WASTBERG, comprises of a forged copper base, and spun copper shade and stems. The head can be adjusted 140 degrees (+/-) horizontally, and ball bearing construction allows the smooth movement of the arms. Euroluce The Coledale Rug from Designer Rugs Coledale was created as a 'post-script' to the Sandscript Collection by Caroline Baum – a revisit of the inspirations of the original designs with an updated twist. Based on the eroded rock platforms of its namesake suburb, this textural and organic design maintains Baum's signature coastal style mixed with all the opulence of a handknot rug. Designer Rugs The Mito Lighting Series by Tom Fereday from Rakemba Lighting The Mito lighting series was designed to celebrate the natural beauty and character of raw materials. Minimal in design, Mito juxtaposes precision manufacturing techniques with natural hand finished timbers and stones to create a truly sculptural light. Tom Fereday Photography by Fiona Susanto The Porthole Infuser from Top3 by design A must for every “foodie”. The Porthole is a simple, beautiful infusion vessel designed by Martin Kastner of Crucial Detail design studio. It can be used to create striking cocktails, oils, teas, dressings, lemonade, coffee, or any other type of cold infusion. Top3 by design abc Collection Content Design Products Furniture Onsa; Welcoming You With Open Arm(rest)s by Thida Sachathep 24 January Put simply, the Onsa Chair by Walter Knoll is anchored on a reinterpreted Japanese aesthetic for today’s contemporary contexts. Inspired by Japan’s regional approach to flora – where the visual representation of flowers embodies the principles and practice of Zen, the chair looks like a flower that is stretching toward the sun. Mauro Lipparini the designer of Onsa, believed that the form of the chair is a personification of the water lily, especially when it blooms to “welcome the morning light,” physically opening up like a “chalice”. Possessing a heightened degree of comfort and harmony as users sink into Onsa, the seat bucket with armrests encourages all users to lean back. Alternatively, the backrest smoothly moves into any position simply by triggering a leather strap in the seat. The armrests itself offers optimal support and moves with the chair. Additionally, the adjustable backrest function and height-adjustable stool ensures an ideal posture when lying down or sitting up. The foam-moulded seat, back and wadding adds a level of balance as it takes the pressure off so it is easy to unwind. It is an occasional leather chair that “whispers a hushed aesthetic of poetically balanced lines,” whose subtlety encourages materials to express themselves, explains Mauro as he discusses the driving force behind the Onsa Chair. Onsa, whether Congress Curry Leather or Elen Tan, is highly recommended for daydreaming. It is available at Living Edge showrooms across the Asia Pacific. Living Edge livingedge.com.au Photography courtesy of Living Edge We also think you might like A Year Of Architecture and Interior Product Designabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Surprises Await In This Port Melbourne House By Pandolfini Architects by Rebecca Gross 24 January Located in the bayside suburb of Port Melbourne, this is home to architect Dominic Pandolfini and his family of four. Dominic, the founder of Pandolfini Architects, transformed the worker’s cottage into a family home filled with natural light and spaciousness despite the confines of the long narrow site and strict heritage and planning controls. Spliced with skylights and courtyards, the house has a series of surprises beyond its traditional façade. The century-old house had been largely untouched when Dominic purchased it. He carefully restored the front with a crisp, light palette, and designed a two-storey extension that’s not visible from the street. A courtyard in the middle of the house separates the old and new forms, reducing the visibility of the extension from the street and bringing natural light into the centre of the plan. The extension consists of a double- and single-storey volume spliced by a large skylight that spans the width of the building. A change in ceiling height helps to define the kitchen and dining from the living area, above which a gabled roof enhances the sense of volume. The gable is a nod to the traditional pitched roofs of the heritage houses, and its form is emphasised at the rear of the house where black zinc cladding frames full-height glazing. The upstairs bedroom also has a gabled roof, and a wall of joinery separates the bedroom and bathroom, mimicking the pitch of the roof and playfully highlighting its triangular form. Like these cupboards, materials are used throughout the house to define elements. American oak cabinetry extends beneath the stairs and along the wall of the kitchen and living area providing cupboards and drawers. The refrigerator and kitchen island are clad in detailed timber; the bannister is a black steel plate, and the walls of the skylight are clad with black zinc to accentuate the gabled form. “External materials of black zinc and textured concrete render are used internally to reinforce the sense of exiting one space and transitioning into another,” says Dominic. “The alterations and additions to this once dark and cramped terrace house have successfully created spaces full of natural light and with unexpected volume that is typically found in much larger, less confined projects,” says Dominic. Pandolfini Architects pandolfini.com.au Photography by Rory Gardiner Dissection Information Kitchen and bathroom terrazzo tiles by Signorino Tiles Euroluce downlights and wall lights from Flos Boci pendant light from Hub Semi pendant Gubi by Criteria Collection Sanitaryware supplied by Roger Seller Timber veneer in Oak Rift by Fethers Oven, cooktop and dishwasher supplied by Miele Integrated fridge from Fisher & Paykel Engineered timber floors in Pale Oak by Woodcut We think you might also like Triangle House by Molecule Studioabc Happenings What's On Have You Heard? Saturday Indesign Is Here by Aleesha Callahan 23 January Searching for an injection of creative inspiration? Saturday Indesign 2019 is here. Mark 22 June in your calendar with ink. [caption id="attachment_118495" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Zip Water x SJB installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] Taking place in Melbourne, you’ll be able to explore a selection of key areas across the city in a one-day format designed to inspire and delight. We’ll get you from A to B so you won’t miss any of the jam-packed, energy-filled design celebrations. Add into the mix that there will be plenty of people in town for the INDE.Awards and the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Conference. The result? Melbourne will be on a bona fide design buzz, so if you’re in town, don’t miss it! [caption id="attachment_118498" align="alignnone" width="1100"] WorkLife talk at SID 2017.[/caption] But what exactly is Saturday Indesign all about? You can expect interactive installations, creative collaborations, and the perfect backdrop to connect with the community. Get out of your workspace and into the industry in a festive and fun way. It’s not just about mingling, while you’re out and about you are also learning and absorbing from the industry’s leading suppliers. Develop your professional knowledge with the latest and greatest from the best brands in the design sphere. [caption id="attachment_118494" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Earp Bros x Tom Fereday installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] At Saturday Indesign you never know who you might meet on the street. [caption id="attachment_118496" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Abey Australia at SID 2017.[/caption] TL;DR Save the date for Saturday Indesign, (re)ignite your passion for the design industry while absorbing valuable design knowledge at the same time. This is an industry event made for you. More info to be released soon… Be an early adopter and register your Saturday Indesign 2019 interest now.abc Collection Content Design Hunters Design Products Furniture People Sarah Ellison Has Turned Her Career Into One Long Lesson by Holly Cunneen 23 January Sarah Ellison is well travelled when it comes to Australia. She was born in Byron Bay, grew up in Perth, and spent the past 20 years living in Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Just recently, she and her family moved back to Byron. So when she says her second collection of furniture, Golden, under the moniker Sarah Ellison Studio, is her take on contemporary Australian design with a coastal edge, you can trust she knows what she’s talking about. Add to that the eight years she spent as the style editor for a leading Australian interior design and lifestyle magazine, and her background and education in fashion design, and you really know you’re in safe hands. Sarah began Sarah Ellison Studio officially in 2017 when she decided to take the plunge and to commit to ideas that up until then seemed like cloudy, aspirational dreams. She had a sound knowledge of the industry and knew exactly the niche she wanted to fill. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85216,85212"] “I [was] using all this incredible high-end furniture in my photo shoots that I wanted for myself but it was so expensive. And I found that for good Australian designers the entry level for their pieces was still very high. I wanted to try and design something that was of that calibre, but more affordable,” says Sarah. There was plenty of design at the top of the market, and it was just as healthy at the bottom, but no one really spoke to design-conscious consumers somewhere in the middle. “I felt like there was nothing cool on offer in that middle market, so that was where we started with the brand,” she adds. Despite a background on the creative side of things, her business plan was textbook. Golden is a small series of furniture designed by Sarah and manufactured by specialists in Indonesia. In that way, Sarah Ellison Studio is governed by practicality. Sarah isn’t an industrial designer and nor is her business partner who comes instead from a fashion PR background. So they outsource that aspect of the business. And while Sarah investigated manufacturing locally, economically it wasn’t conducive to the price point at which she wanted to her pieces to sit. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85209,85211"] The use of rattan champions the collection, a material Sarah always had in mind to work with but in a very specific way. Brass accents elevate the designs and bypass ‘trend’ territory. Channelling 70s glamour and the work of Milanese designer Gabriella Crespi, the second collection intentionally makes a louder statement than that of the first. The New Ware Collection was Sarah’s debut to market, so is understandably more pragmatic in approach. “For the first collection, I felt I couldn’t really show my style by doing just one line of things, so it had to be a little bit of everything sprinkled together to create the whole look.” Interestingly, it’s strikingly different both in aesthetic and material choices. As is The Beach Club, her collaboration with Terranova tiles. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85220,85215"] It’s a unique – and refreshing – point of difference, one Sarah attributes to her background as a stylist and style editor: one week’s project could be so vastly different to the next. And given there are no plans to set aside her styling jobs, her third collection could very well be vastly different again in style or materiality from her first and second. For some designers, materials are chosen for their functional attributes or visual suitability to a design. For Sarah, it can be the other way around. “Material is really key for me: finding a material that I love and then working out what I can do with it within the restraints of our brand,” she says, citing coloured concrete, limestone, onyx and glass as areas of interest. Clearly, it’s of no consequence where Sarah is located, her ability and desire to design and create is often inspired by her surrounds. In that way, a change of scenery might be a spark in the ignition of the next chapter of Sarah Ellison Studio – whatever that may be. Sarah Ellison Studio sarahellison.com.au Photography by Dave Wheeler [gallery size="full" columns="2" ids="85218,85210,85219,85221"] We think you might also like Screen House by Warc Studioabc Places Around The World Architecture ARC - Feature Café Oriente Is Seoul’s Semi-Underground Coffee Shop by Thida Sachathep 22 January Café’s, from the very first Ottoman coffee houses, have always occupied a unique stance within society. The design of such spaces is driven by the need to express and preserve individuality in the face of urban surroundings. In The Architecture Of Public Display by Christoph Grafe, it is stated that; The café is many things: an object of nostalgia, a stage for inventing oneself, a place for creating relationships and a home, in the words of the Austrian critic, Alfred Polgar, “for all who wish to be alone but need sociability for this”. Grounded by a similar understanding, the Labotory design team behind Café Oriente say a space of this kind needs not only to “deliver beautiful visuals but also offer a unique emotional experience”. Café Oriente is located amidst Itaewon, Seoul, an area that was avoided for political reasons in the three decades prior. What used to be a United States Military Base has now revolutionised into one of the most vibrant parts of Seoul, grabbing the attention of tourists and university students alike. Found at the very end of Hannam-Dong’s narrow alley, the café is somewhat sunken into the ground. Informed by the client’s desire to have a space “where the oriental aesthetics are implied,” local interior design practice, Labotory, pairs the traditional Hanok (a Korean house) aesthetic with a contemporary minimalist design. Korean architecture places a lot of emphasis on positioning the house amongst the surroundings. In this case, synonymous with a Hanok, the café layout is designed around a front courtyard. The expandability of this space serves as a bridge between the interior and the exterior, decorated with a small garden that has been styled underneath customer café seats. Cement plastered walls, terrazzo and stone tiles, and exposed concrete curved ceiling form the framework of textures evident in Hanoks around Korea. Where natural wood was used for the barista bar, it was also introduced as wall panels and furniture to add a sense of familiarity and warmth. The semi-subterranean space has a repeating motif of curves, seen once at the awning that meets the ceiling as guests move indoors and again as a seating arrangement. The curved ceiling adds depth and appears as though it is floating. The ceiling, which is backlit with a white hue, resembles the cream colour of traditional Korean paper and contrasts subtly with granite. Providing a refined sense of nuance for all visitors, Café Oriente successfully shows respect to the country and to the architecture it resides in. Labotory labotory.com Photography by Yongjun Choi We think you might also like A Cultural Guide To Café Designabc 1 2 3 4 Next Page → TOP
Collection Content Design Accessories Design Products Finishes Furniture Habitus Loves Lighting Primary Slider Habitus Loves… A Man Cave by Holly Cunneen 25 January The Centquatre Sofa from DOMO A strong and minimalist structure, with comfortable and generous cushions, the Centquatre sofa is casual in its design and appearance. The cushions are filled with a blend of newly washed and dusted duck down feathers for softness and synthetic fibres for resilience. DOMO WoodWall Eveneer and natural timbers from Elton Group Produced from high quality timber veneer, WoodWall is applied directly to plaster or plasterboard with no requirement for any heavy substrate such as MDF and at less than half the cost of traditional veneered panelling. Elton Group The ICONS Collection from DOMO Sika Design looked to the past to some of Denmarks most skilled and important architects and designers when establishing their ICONS Collection. The designers were all significant to Danish design history with their experimenting and ground-breaking designs. DOMO The Rondo Leather Armchair and Sofa from Spence&Lyda A collaboration that celebrates the art of leather working, the Rondo Collection features a sofa and chair designed by Lucy Kurrein for Molinari Living that was inspired by punching bags. Spence & Lyda Photography by Andres Ripamonti The Harmon Side Table from Camerich The Harmon Side Table is available in a walnut top and a leather body. The top can also be done in marble for an extra modern feel. It looks great paired with the Harmon Ottoman. Camerich The Wing Lux Desk from Apato The Wing Lux is a compact desk that can be flexibly placed at different angles. The orientation of the drawers can be easily changed by swivelling the rotatable tabletop. The attention to detail, evident inside the drawers, the accompanying wooden accessories tray and the triangular joints heightens the user experience. Apato The W102 CHIPPERFIELD desk lamp from Euroluce The W102 CHIPPERFIELD adjustable task lamp designed by David Chipperfield for WASTBERG, comprises of a forged copper base, and spun copper shade and stems. The head can be adjusted 140 degrees (+/-) horizontally, and ball bearing construction allows the smooth movement of the arms. Euroluce The Coledale Rug from Designer Rugs Coledale was created as a 'post-script' to the Sandscript Collection by Caroline Baum – a revisit of the inspirations of the original designs with an updated twist. Based on the eroded rock platforms of its namesake suburb, this textural and organic design maintains Baum's signature coastal style mixed with all the opulence of a handknot rug. Designer Rugs The Mito Lighting Series by Tom Fereday from Rakemba Lighting The Mito lighting series was designed to celebrate the natural beauty and character of raw materials. Minimal in design, Mito juxtaposes precision manufacturing techniques with natural hand finished timbers and stones to create a truly sculptural light. Tom Fereday Photography by Fiona Susanto The Porthole Infuser from Top3 by design A must for every “foodie”. The Porthole is a simple, beautiful infusion vessel designed by Martin Kastner of Crucial Detail design studio. It can be used to create striking cocktails, oils, teas, dressings, lemonade, coffee, or any other type of cold infusion. Top3 by design abc Collection Content Design Products Furniture Onsa; Welcoming You With Open Arm(rest)s by Thida Sachathep 24 January Put simply, the Onsa Chair by Walter Knoll is anchored on a reinterpreted Japanese aesthetic for today’s contemporary contexts. Inspired by Japan’s regional approach to flora – where the visual representation of flowers embodies the principles and practice of Zen, the chair looks like a flower that is stretching toward the sun. Mauro Lipparini the designer of Onsa, believed that the form of the chair is a personification of the water lily, especially when it blooms to “welcome the morning light,” physically opening up like a “chalice”. Possessing a heightened degree of comfort and harmony as users sink into Onsa, the seat bucket with armrests encourages all users to lean back. Alternatively, the backrest smoothly moves into any position simply by triggering a leather strap in the seat. The armrests itself offers optimal support and moves with the chair. Additionally, the adjustable backrest function and height-adjustable stool ensures an ideal posture when lying down or sitting up. The foam-moulded seat, back and wadding adds a level of balance as it takes the pressure off so it is easy to unwind. It is an occasional leather chair that “whispers a hushed aesthetic of poetically balanced lines,” whose subtlety encourages materials to express themselves, explains Mauro as he discusses the driving force behind the Onsa Chair. Onsa, whether Congress Curry Leather or Elen Tan, is highly recommended for daydreaming. It is available at Living Edge showrooms across the Asia Pacific. Living Edge livingedge.com.au Photography courtesy of Living Edge We also think you might like A Year Of Architecture and Interior Product Designabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Surprises Await In This Port Melbourne House By Pandolfini Architects by Rebecca Gross 24 January Located in the bayside suburb of Port Melbourne, this is home to architect Dominic Pandolfini and his family of four. Dominic, the founder of Pandolfini Architects, transformed the worker’s cottage into a family home filled with natural light and spaciousness despite the confines of the long narrow site and strict heritage and planning controls. Spliced with skylights and courtyards, the house has a series of surprises beyond its traditional façade. The century-old house had been largely untouched when Dominic purchased it. He carefully restored the front with a crisp, light palette, and designed a two-storey extension that’s not visible from the street. A courtyard in the middle of the house separates the old and new forms, reducing the visibility of the extension from the street and bringing natural light into the centre of the plan. The extension consists of a double- and single-storey volume spliced by a large skylight that spans the width of the building. A change in ceiling height helps to define the kitchen and dining from the living area, above which a gabled roof enhances the sense of volume. The gable is a nod to the traditional pitched roofs of the heritage houses, and its form is emphasised at the rear of the house where black zinc cladding frames full-height glazing. The upstairs bedroom also has a gabled roof, and a wall of joinery separates the bedroom and bathroom, mimicking the pitch of the roof and playfully highlighting its triangular form. Like these cupboards, materials are used throughout the house to define elements. American oak cabinetry extends beneath the stairs and along the wall of the kitchen and living area providing cupboards and drawers. The refrigerator and kitchen island are clad in detailed timber; the bannister is a black steel plate, and the walls of the skylight are clad with black zinc to accentuate the gabled form. “External materials of black zinc and textured concrete render are used internally to reinforce the sense of exiting one space and transitioning into another,” says Dominic. “The alterations and additions to this once dark and cramped terrace house have successfully created spaces full of natural light and with unexpected volume that is typically found in much larger, less confined projects,” says Dominic. Pandolfini Architects pandolfini.com.au Photography by Rory Gardiner Dissection Information Kitchen and bathroom terrazzo tiles by Signorino Tiles Euroluce downlights and wall lights from Flos Boci pendant light from Hub Semi pendant Gubi by Criteria Collection Sanitaryware supplied by Roger Seller Timber veneer in Oak Rift by Fethers Oven, cooktop and dishwasher supplied by Miele Integrated fridge from Fisher & Paykel Engineered timber floors in Pale Oak by Woodcut We think you might also like Triangle House by Molecule Studioabc Happenings What's On Have You Heard? Saturday Indesign Is Here by Aleesha Callahan 23 January Searching for an injection of creative inspiration? Saturday Indesign 2019 is here. Mark 22 June in your calendar with ink. [caption id="attachment_118495" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Zip Water x SJB installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] Taking place in Melbourne, you’ll be able to explore a selection of key areas across the city in a one-day format designed to inspire and delight. We’ll get you from A to B so you won’t miss any of the jam-packed, energy-filled design celebrations. Add into the mix that there will be plenty of people in town for the INDE.Awards and the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Conference. The result? Melbourne will be on a bona fide design buzz, so if you’re in town, don’t miss it! [caption id="attachment_118498" align="alignnone" width="1100"] WorkLife talk at SID 2017.[/caption] But what exactly is Saturday Indesign all about? You can expect interactive installations, creative collaborations, and the perfect backdrop to connect with the community. Get out of your workspace and into the industry in a festive and fun way. It’s not just about mingling, while you’re out and about you are also learning and absorbing from the industry’s leading suppliers. Develop your professional knowledge with the latest and greatest from the best brands in the design sphere. [caption id="attachment_118494" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Earp Bros x Tom Fereday installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] At Saturday Indesign you never know who you might meet on the street. [caption id="attachment_118496" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Abey Australia at SID 2017.[/caption] TL;DR Save the date for Saturday Indesign, (re)ignite your passion for the design industry while absorbing valuable design knowledge at the same time. This is an industry event made for you. More info to be released soon… Be an early adopter and register your Saturday Indesign 2019 interest now.abc Collection Content Design Hunters Design Products Furniture People Sarah Ellison Has Turned Her Career Into One Long Lesson by Holly Cunneen 23 January Sarah Ellison is well travelled when it comes to Australia. She was born in Byron Bay, grew up in Perth, and spent the past 20 years living in Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Just recently, she and her family moved back to Byron. So when she says her second collection of furniture, Golden, under the moniker Sarah Ellison Studio, is her take on contemporary Australian design with a coastal edge, you can trust she knows what she’s talking about. Add to that the eight years she spent as the style editor for a leading Australian interior design and lifestyle magazine, and her background and education in fashion design, and you really know you’re in safe hands. Sarah began Sarah Ellison Studio officially in 2017 when she decided to take the plunge and to commit to ideas that up until then seemed like cloudy, aspirational dreams. She had a sound knowledge of the industry and knew exactly the niche she wanted to fill. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85216,85212"] “I [was] using all this incredible high-end furniture in my photo shoots that I wanted for myself but it was so expensive. And I found that for good Australian designers the entry level for their pieces was still very high. I wanted to try and design something that was of that calibre, but more affordable,” says Sarah. There was plenty of design at the top of the market, and it was just as healthy at the bottom, but no one really spoke to design-conscious consumers somewhere in the middle. “I felt like there was nothing cool on offer in that middle market, so that was where we started with the brand,” she adds. Despite a background on the creative side of things, her business plan was textbook. Golden is a small series of furniture designed by Sarah and manufactured by specialists in Indonesia. In that way, Sarah Ellison Studio is governed by practicality. Sarah isn’t an industrial designer and nor is her business partner who comes instead from a fashion PR background. So they outsource that aspect of the business. And while Sarah investigated manufacturing locally, economically it wasn’t conducive to the price point at which she wanted to her pieces to sit. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85209,85211"] The use of rattan champions the collection, a material Sarah always had in mind to work with but in a very specific way. Brass accents elevate the designs and bypass ‘trend’ territory. Channelling 70s glamour and the work of Milanese designer Gabriella Crespi, the second collection intentionally makes a louder statement than that of the first. The New Ware Collection was Sarah’s debut to market, so is understandably more pragmatic in approach. “For the first collection, I felt I couldn’t really show my style by doing just one line of things, so it had to be a little bit of everything sprinkled together to create the whole look.” Interestingly, it’s strikingly different both in aesthetic and material choices. As is The Beach Club, her collaboration with Terranova tiles. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85220,85215"] It’s a unique – and refreshing – point of difference, one Sarah attributes to her background as a stylist and style editor: one week’s project could be so vastly different to the next. And given there are no plans to set aside her styling jobs, her third collection could very well be vastly different again in style or materiality from her first and second. For some designers, materials are chosen for their functional attributes or visual suitability to a design. For Sarah, it can be the other way around. “Material is really key for me: finding a material that I love and then working out what I can do with it within the restraints of our brand,” she says, citing coloured concrete, limestone, onyx and glass as areas of interest. Clearly, it’s of no consequence where Sarah is located, her ability and desire to design and create is often inspired by her surrounds. In that way, a change of scenery might be a spark in the ignition of the next chapter of Sarah Ellison Studio – whatever that may be. Sarah Ellison Studio sarahellison.com.au Photography by Dave Wheeler [gallery size="full" columns="2" ids="85218,85210,85219,85221"] We think you might also like Screen House by Warc Studioabc Places Around The World Architecture ARC - Feature Café Oriente Is Seoul’s Semi-Underground Coffee Shop by Thida Sachathep 22 January Café’s, from the very first Ottoman coffee houses, have always occupied a unique stance within society. The design of such spaces is driven by the need to express and preserve individuality in the face of urban surroundings. In The Architecture Of Public Display by Christoph Grafe, it is stated that; The café is many things: an object of nostalgia, a stage for inventing oneself, a place for creating relationships and a home, in the words of the Austrian critic, Alfred Polgar, “for all who wish to be alone but need sociability for this”. Grounded by a similar understanding, the Labotory design team behind Café Oriente say a space of this kind needs not only to “deliver beautiful visuals but also offer a unique emotional experience”. Café Oriente is located amidst Itaewon, Seoul, an area that was avoided for political reasons in the three decades prior. What used to be a United States Military Base has now revolutionised into one of the most vibrant parts of Seoul, grabbing the attention of tourists and university students alike. Found at the very end of Hannam-Dong’s narrow alley, the café is somewhat sunken into the ground. Informed by the client’s desire to have a space “where the oriental aesthetics are implied,” local interior design practice, Labotory, pairs the traditional Hanok (a Korean house) aesthetic with a contemporary minimalist design. Korean architecture places a lot of emphasis on positioning the house amongst the surroundings. In this case, synonymous with a Hanok, the café layout is designed around a front courtyard. The expandability of this space serves as a bridge between the interior and the exterior, decorated with a small garden that has been styled underneath customer café seats. Cement plastered walls, terrazzo and stone tiles, and exposed concrete curved ceiling form the framework of textures evident in Hanoks around Korea. Where natural wood was used for the barista bar, it was also introduced as wall panels and furniture to add a sense of familiarity and warmth. The semi-subterranean space has a repeating motif of curves, seen once at the awning that meets the ceiling as guests move indoors and again as a seating arrangement. The curved ceiling adds depth and appears as though it is floating. The ceiling, which is backlit with a white hue, resembles the cream colour of traditional Korean paper and contrasts subtly with granite. Providing a refined sense of nuance for all visitors, Café Oriente successfully shows respect to the country and to the architecture it resides in. Labotory labotory.com Photography by Yongjun Choi We think you might also like A Cultural Guide To Café Designabc 1 2 3 4 Next Page → TOP
Collection Content Design Products Furniture Onsa; Welcoming You With Open Arm(rest)s by Thida Sachathep 24 January Put simply, the Onsa Chair by Walter Knoll is anchored on a reinterpreted Japanese aesthetic for today’s contemporary contexts. Inspired by Japan’s regional approach to flora – where the visual representation of flowers embodies the principles and practice of Zen, the chair looks like a flower that is stretching toward the sun. Mauro Lipparini the designer of Onsa, believed that the form of the chair is a personification of the water lily, especially when it blooms to “welcome the morning light,” physically opening up like a “chalice”. Possessing a heightened degree of comfort and harmony as users sink into Onsa, the seat bucket with armrests encourages all users to lean back. Alternatively, the backrest smoothly moves into any position simply by triggering a leather strap in the seat. The armrests itself offers optimal support and moves with the chair. Additionally, the adjustable backrest function and height-adjustable stool ensures an ideal posture when lying down or sitting up. The foam-moulded seat, back and wadding adds a level of balance as it takes the pressure off so it is easy to unwind. It is an occasional leather chair that “whispers a hushed aesthetic of poetically balanced lines,” whose subtlety encourages materials to express themselves, explains Mauro as he discusses the driving force behind the Onsa Chair. Onsa, whether Congress Curry Leather or Elen Tan, is highly recommended for daydreaming. It is available at Living Edge showrooms across the Asia Pacific. Living Edge livingedge.com.au Photography courtesy of Living Edge We also think you might like A Year Of Architecture and Interior Product Designabc Architecture Homes Primary Slider Surprises Await In This Port Melbourne House By Pandolfini Architects by Rebecca Gross 24 January Located in the bayside suburb of Port Melbourne, this is home to architect Dominic Pandolfini and his family of four. Dominic, the founder of Pandolfini Architects, transformed the worker’s cottage into a family home filled with natural light and spaciousness despite the confines of the long narrow site and strict heritage and planning controls. Spliced with skylights and courtyards, the house has a series of surprises beyond its traditional façade. The century-old house had been largely untouched when Dominic purchased it. He carefully restored the front with a crisp, light palette, and designed a two-storey extension that’s not visible from the street. A courtyard in the middle of the house separates the old and new forms, reducing the visibility of the extension from the street and bringing natural light into the centre of the plan. The extension consists of a double- and single-storey volume spliced by a large skylight that spans the width of the building. A change in ceiling height helps to define the kitchen and dining from the living area, above which a gabled roof enhances the sense of volume. The gable is a nod to the traditional pitched roofs of the heritage houses, and its form is emphasised at the rear of the house where black zinc cladding frames full-height glazing. The upstairs bedroom also has a gabled roof, and a wall of joinery separates the bedroom and bathroom, mimicking the pitch of the roof and playfully highlighting its triangular form. Like these cupboards, materials are used throughout the house to define elements. American oak cabinetry extends beneath the stairs and along the wall of the kitchen and living area providing cupboards and drawers. The refrigerator and kitchen island are clad in detailed timber; the bannister is a black steel plate, and the walls of the skylight are clad with black zinc to accentuate the gabled form. “External materials of black zinc and textured concrete render are used internally to reinforce the sense of exiting one space and transitioning into another,” says Dominic. “The alterations and additions to this once dark and cramped terrace house have successfully created spaces full of natural light and with unexpected volume that is typically found in much larger, less confined projects,” says Dominic. Pandolfini Architects pandolfini.com.au Photography by Rory Gardiner Dissection Information Kitchen and bathroom terrazzo tiles by Signorino Tiles Euroluce downlights and wall lights from Flos Boci pendant light from Hub Semi pendant Gubi by Criteria Collection Sanitaryware supplied by Roger Seller Timber veneer in Oak Rift by Fethers Oven, cooktop and dishwasher supplied by Miele Integrated fridge from Fisher & Paykel Engineered timber floors in Pale Oak by Woodcut We think you might also like Triangle House by Molecule Studioabc Happenings What's On Have You Heard? Saturday Indesign Is Here by Aleesha Callahan 23 January Searching for an injection of creative inspiration? Saturday Indesign 2019 is here. Mark 22 June in your calendar with ink. [caption id="attachment_118495" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Zip Water x SJB installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] Taking place in Melbourne, you’ll be able to explore a selection of key areas across the city in a one-day format designed to inspire and delight. We’ll get you from A to B so you won’t miss any of the jam-packed, energy-filled design celebrations. Add into the mix that there will be plenty of people in town for the INDE.Awards and the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Conference. The result? Melbourne will be on a bona fide design buzz, so if you’re in town, don’t miss it! [caption id="attachment_118498" align="alignnone" width="1100"] WorkLife talk at SID 2017.[/caption] But what exactly is Saturday Indesign all about? You can expect interactive installations, creative collaborations, and the perfect backdrop to connect with the community. Get out of your workspace and into the industry in a festive and fun way. It’s not just about mingling, while you’re out and about you are also learning and absorbing from the industry’s leading suppliers. Develop your professional knowledge with the latest and greatest from the best brands in the design sphere. [caption id="attachment_118494" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Earp Bros x Tom Fereday installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] At Saturday Indesign you never know who you might meet on the street. [caption id="attachment_118496" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Abey Australia at SID 2017.[/caption] TL;DR Save the date for Saturday Indesign, (re)ignite your passion for the design industry while absorbing valuable design knowledge at the same time. This is an industry event made for you. More info to be released soon… Be an early adopter and register your Saturday Indesign 2019 interest now.abc Collection Content Design Hunters Design Products Furniture People Sarah Ellison Has Turned Her Career Into One Long Lesson by Holly Cunneen 23 January Sarah Ellison is well travelled when it comes to Australia. She was born in Byron Bay, grew up in Perth, and spent the past 20 years living in Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Just recently, she and her family moved back to Byron. So when she says her second collection of furniture, Golden, under the moniker Sarah Ellison Studio, is her take on contemporary Australian design with a coastal edge, you can trust she knows what she’s talking about. Add to that the eight years she spent as the style editor for a leading Australian interior design and lifestyle magazine, and her background and education in fashion design, and you really know you’re in safe hands. Sarah began Sarah Ellison Studio officially in 2017 when she decided to take the plunge and to commit to ideas that up until then seemed like cloudy, aspirational dreams. She had a sound knowledge of the industry and knew exactly the niche she wanted to fill. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85216,85212"] “I [was] using all this incredible high-end furniture in my photo shoots that I wanted for myself but it was so expensive. And I found that for good Australian designers the entry level for their pieces was still very high. I wanted to try and design something that was of that calibre, but more affordable,” says Sarah. There was plenty of design at the top of the market, and it was just as healthy at the bottom, but no one really spoke to design-conscious consumers somewhere in the middle. “I felt like there was nothing cool on offer in that middle market, so that was where we started with the brand,” she adds. Despite a background on the creative side of things, her business plan was textbook. Golden is a small series of furniture designed by Sarah and manufactured by specialists in Indonesia. In that way, Sarah Ellison Studio is governed by practicality. Sarah isn’t an industrial designer and nor is her business partner who comes instead from a fashion PR background. So they outsource that aspect of the business. And while Sarah investigated manufacturing locally, economically it wasn’t conducive to the price point at which she wanted to her pieces to sit. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85209,85211"] The use of rattan champions the collection, a material Sarah always had in mind to work with but in a very specific way. Brass accents elevate the designs and bypass ‘trend’ territory. Channelling 70s glamour and the work of Milanese designer Gabriella Crespi, the second collection intentionally makes a louder statement than that of the first. The New Ware Collection was Sarah’s debut to market, so is understandably more pragmatic in approach. “For the first collection, I felt I couldn’t really show my style by doing just one line of things, so it had to be a little bit of everything sprinkled together to create the whole look.” Interestingly, it’s strikingly different both in aesthetic and material choices. As is The Beach Club, her collaboration with Terranova tiles. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85220,85215"] It’s a unique – and refreshing – point of difference, one Sarah attributes to her background as a stylist and style editor: one week’s project could be so vastly different to the next. And given there are no plans to set aside her styling jobs, her third collection could very well be vastly different again in style or materiality from her first and second. For some designers, materials are chosen for their functional attributes or visual suitability to a design. For Sarah, it can be the other way around. “Material is really key for me: finding a material that I love and then working out what I can do with it within the restraints of our brand,” she says, citing coloured concrete, limestone, onyx and glass as areas of interest. Clearly, it’s of no consequence where Sarah is located, her ability and desire to design and create is often inspired by her surrounds. In that way, a change of scenery might be a spark in the ignition of the next chapter of Sarah Ellison Studio – whatever that may be. Sarah Ellison Studio sarahellison.com.au Photography by Dave Wheeler [gallery size="full" columns="2" ids="85218,85210,85219,85221"] We think you might also like Screen House by Warc Studioabc Places Around The World Architecture ARC - Feature Café Oriente Is Seoul’s Semi-Underground Coffee Shop by Thida Sachathep 22 January Café’s, from the very first Ottoman coffee houses, have always occupied a unique stance within society. The design of such spaces is driven by the need to express and preserve individuality in the face of urban surroundings. In The Architecture Of Public Display by Christoph Grafe, it is stated that; The café is many things: an object of nostalgia, a stage for inventing oneself, a place for creating relationships and a home, in the words of the Austrian critic, Alfred Polgar, “for all who wish to be alone but need sociability for this”. Grounded by a similar understanding, the Labotory design team behind Café Oriente say a space of this kind needs not only to “deliver beautiful visuals but also offer a unique emotional experience”. Café Oriente is located amidst Itaewon, Seoul, an area that was avoided for political reasons in the three decades prior. What used to be a United States Military Base has now revolutionised into one of the most vibrant parts of Seoul, grabbing the attention of tourists and university students alike. Found at the very end of Hannam-Dong’s narrow alley, the café is somewhat sunken into the ground. Informed by the client’s desire to have a space “where the oriental aesthetics are implied,” local interior design practice, Labotory, pairs the traditional Hanok (a Korean house) aesthetic with a contemporary minimalist design. Korean architecture places a lot of emphasis on positioning the house amongst the surroundings. In this case, synonymous with a Hanok, the café layout is designed around a front courtyard. The expandability of this space serves as a bridge between the interior and the exterior, decorated with a small garden that has been styled underneath customer café seats. Cement plastered walls, terrazzo and stone tiles, and exposed concrete curved ceiling form the framework of textures evident in Hanoks around Korea. Where natural wood was used for the barista bar, it was also introduced as wall panels and furniture to add a sense of familiarity and warmth. The semi-subterranean space has a repeating motif of curves, seen once at the awning that meets the ceiling as guests move indoors and again as a seating arrangement. The curved ceiling adds depth and appears as though it is floating. The ceiling, which is backlit with a white hue, resembles the cream colour of traditional Korean paper and contrasts subtly with granite. Providing a refined sense of nuance for all visitors, Café Oriente successfully shows respect to the country and to the architecture it resides in. Labotory labotory.com Photography by Yongjun Choi We think you might also like A Cultural Guide To Café Designabc 1 2 3 4 Next Page → TOP
Architecture Homes Primary Slider Surprises Await In This Port Melbourne House By Pandolfini Architects by Rebecca Gross 24 January Located in the bayside suburb of Port Melbourne, this is home to architect Dominic Pandolfini and his family of four. Dominic, the founder of Pandolfini Architects, transformed the worker’s cottage into a family home filled with natural light and spaciousness despite the confines of the long narrow site and strict heritage and planning controls. Spliced with skylights and courtyards, the house has a series of surprises beyond its traditional façade. The century-old house had been largely untouched when Dominic purchased it. He carefully restored the front with a crisp, light palette, and designed a two-storey extension that’s not visible from the street. A courtyard in the middle of the house separates the old and new forms, reducing the visibility of the extension from the street and bringing natural light into the centre of the plan. The extension consists of a double- and single-storey volume spliced by a large skylight that spans the width of the building. A change in ceiling height helps to define the kitchen and dining from the living area, above which a gabled roof enhances the sense of volume. The gable is a nod to the traditional pitched roofs of the heritage houses, and its form is emphasised at the rear of the house where black zinc cladding frames full-height glazing. The upstairs bedroom also has a gabled roof, and a wall of joinery separates the bedroom and bathroom, mimicking the pitch of the roof and playfully highlighting its triangular form. Like these cupboards, materials are used throughout the house to define elements. American oak cabinetry extends beneath the stairs and along the wall of the kitchen and living area providing cupboards and drawers. The refrigerator and kitchen island are clad in detailed timber; the bannister is a black steel plate, and the walls of the skylight are clad with black zinc to accentuate the gabled form. “External materials of black zinc and textured concrete render are used internally to reinforce the sense of exiting one space and transitioning into another,” says Dominic. “The alterations and additions to this once dark and cramped terrace house have successfully created spaces full of natural light and with unexpected volume that is typically found in much larger, less confined projects,” says Dominic. Pandolfini Architects pandolfini.com.au Photography by Rory Gardiner Dissection Information Kitchen and bathroom terrazzo tiles by Signorino Tiles Euroluce downlights and wall lights from Flos Boci pendant light from Hub Semi pendant Gubi by Criteria Collection Sanitaryware supplied by Roger Seller Timber veneer in Oak Rift by Fethers Oven, cooktop and dishwasher supplied by Miele Integrated fridge from Fisher & Paykel Engineered timber floors in Pale Oak by Woodcut We think you might also like Triangle House by Molecule Studioabc Happenings What's On Have You Heard? Saturday Indesign Is Here by Aleesha Callahan 23 January Searching for an injection of creative inspiration? Saturday Indesign 2019 is here. Mark 22 June in your calendar with ink. [caption id="attachment_118495" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Zip Water x SJB installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] Taking place in Melbourne, you’ll be able to explore a selection of key areas across the city in a one-day format designed to inspire and delight. We’ll get you from A to B so you won’t miss any of the jam-packed, energy-filled design celebrations. Add into the mix that there will be plenty of people in town for the INDE.Awards and the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Conference. The result? Melbourne will be on a bona fide design buzz, so if you’re in town, don’t miss it! [caption id="attachment_118498" align="alignnone" width="1100"] WorkLife talk at SID 2017.[/caption] But what exactly is Saturday Indesign all about? You can expect interactive installations, creative collaborations, and the perfect backdrop to connect with the community. Get out of your workspace and into the industry in a festive and fun way. It’s not just about mingling, while you’re out and about you are also learning and absorbing from the industry’s leading suppliers. Develop your professional knowledge with the latest and greatest from the best brands in the design sphere. [caption id="attachment_118494" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Earp Bros x Tom Fereday installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] At Saturday Indesign you never know who you might meet on the street. [caption id="attachment_118496" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Abey Australia at SID 2017.[/caption] TL;DR Save the date for Saturday Indesign, (re)ignite your passion for the design industry while absorbing valuable design knowledge at the same time. This is an industry event made for you. More info to be released soon… Be an early adopter and register your Saturday Indesign 2019 interest now.abc Collection Content Design Hunters Design Products Furniture People Sarah Ellison Has Turned Her Career Into One Long Lesson by Holly Cunneen 23 January Sarah Ellison is well travelled when it comes to Australia. She was born in Byron Bay, grew up in Perth, and spent the past 20 years living in Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Just recently, she and her family moved back to Byron. So when she says her second collection of furniture, Golden, under the moniker Sarah Ellison Studio, is her take on contemporary Australian design with a coastal edge, you can trust she knows what she’s talking about. Add to that the eight years she spent as the style editor for a leading Australian interior design and lifestyle magazine, and her background and education in fashion design, and you really know you’re in safe hands. Sarah began Sarah Ellison Studio officially in 2017 when she decided to take the plunge and to commit to ideas that up until then seemed like cloudy, aspirational dreams. She had a sound knowledge of the industry and knew exactly the niche she wanted to fill. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85216,85212"] “I [was] using all this incredible high-end furniture in my photo shoots that I wanted for myself but it was so expensive. And I found that for good Australian designers the entry level for their pieces was still very high. I wanted to try and design something that was of that calibre, but more affordable,” says Sarah. There was plenty of design at the top of the market, and it was just as healthy at the bottom, but no one really spoke to design-conscious consumers somewhere in the middle. “I felt like there was nothing cool on offer in that middle market, so that was where we started with the brand,” she adds. Despite a background on the creative side of things, her business plan was textbook. Golden is a small series of furniture designed by Sarah and manufactured by specialists in Indonesia. In that way, Sarah Ellison Studio is governed by practicality. Sarah isn’t an industrial designer and nor is her business partner who comes instead from a fashion PR background. So they outsource that aspect of the business. And while Sarah investigated manufacturing locally, economically it wasn’t conducive to the price point at which she wanted to her pieces to sit. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85209,85211"] The use of rattan champions the collection, a material Sarah always had in mind to work with but in a very specific way. Brass accents elevate the designs and bypass ‘trend’ territory. Channelling 70s glamour and the work of Milanese designer Gabriella Crespi, the second collection intentionally makes a louder statement than that of the first. The New Ware Collection was Sarah’s debut to market, so is understandably more pragmatic in approach. “For the first collection, I felt I couldn’t really show my style by doing just one line of things, so it had to be a little bit of everything sprinkled together to create the whole look.” Interestingly, it’s strikingly different both in aesthetic and material choices. As is The Beach Club, her collaboration with Terranova tiles. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85220,85215"] It’s a unique – and refreshing – point of difference, one Sarah attributes to her background as a stylist and style editor: one week’s project could be so vastly different to the next. And given there are no plans to set aside her styling jobs, her third collection could very well be vastly different again in style or materiality from her first and second. For some designers, materials are chosen for their functional attributes or visual suitability to a design. For Sarah, it can be the other way around. “Material is really key for me: finding a material that I love and then working out what I can do with it within the restraints of our brand,” she says, citing coloured concrete, limestone, onyx and glass as areas of interest. Clearly, it’s of no consequence where Sarah is located, her ability and desire to design and create is often inspired by her surrounds. In that way, a change of scenery might be a spark in the ignition of the next chapter of Sarah Ellison Studio – whatever that may be. Sarah Ellison Studio sarahellison.com.au Photography by Dave Wheeler [gallery size="full" columns="2" ids="85218,85210,85219,85221"] We think you might also like Screen House by Warc Studioabc Places Around The World Architecture ARC - Feature Café Oriente Is Seoul’s Semi-Underground Coffee Shop by Thida Sachathep 22 January Café’s, from the very first Ottoman coffee houses, have always occupied a unique stance within society. The design of such spaces is driven by the need to express and preserve individuality in the face of urban surroundings. In The Architecture Of Public Display by Christoph Grafe, it is stated that; The café is many things: an object of nostalgia, a stage for inventing oneself, a place for creating relationships and a home, in the words of the Austrian critic, Alfred Polgar, “for all who wish to be alone but need sociability for this”. Grounded by a similar understanding, the Labotory design team behind Café Oriente say a space of this kind needs not only to “deliver beautiful visuals but also offer a unique emotional experience”. Café Oriente is located amidst Itaewon, Seoul, an area that was avoided for political reasons in the three decades prior. What used to be a United States Military Base has now revolutionised into one of the most vibrant parts of Seoul, grabbing the attention of tourists and university students alike. Found at the very end of Hannam-Dong’s narrow alley, the café is somewhat sunken into the ground. Informed by the client’s desire to have a space “where the oriental aesthetics are implied,” local interior design practice, Labotory, pairs the traditional Hanok (a Korean house) aesthetic with a contemporary minimalist design. Korean architecture places a lot of emphasis on positioning the house amongst the surroundings. In this case, synonymous with a Hanok, the café layout is designed around a front courtyard. The expandability of this space serves as a bridge between the interior and the exterior, decorated with a small garden that has been styled underneath customer café seats. Cement plastered walls, terrazzo and stone tiles, and exposed concrete curved ceiling form the framework of textures evident in Hanoks around Korea. Where natural wood was used for the barista bar, it was also introduced as wall panels and furniture to add a sense of familiarity and warmth. The semi-subterranean space has a repeating motif of curves, seen once at the awning that meets the ceiling as guests move indoors and again as a seating arrangement. The curved ceiling adds depth and appears as though it is floating. The ceiling, which is backlit with a white hue, resembles the cream colour of traditional Korean paper and contrasts subtly with granite. Providing a refined sense of nuance for all visitors, Café Oriente successfully shows respect to the country and to the architecture it resides in. Labotory labotory.com Photography by Yongjun Choi We think you might also like A Cultural Guide To Café Designabc 1 2 3 4 Next Page → TOP
Happenings What's On Have You Heard? Saturday Indesign Is Here by Aleesha Callahan 23 January Searching for an injection of creative inspiration? Saturday Indesign 2019 is here. Mark 22 June in your calendar with ink. [caption id="attachment_118495" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Zip Water x SJB installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] Taking place in Melbourne, you’ll be able to explore a selection of key areas across the city in a one-day format designed to inspire and delight. We’ll get you from A to B so you won’t miss any of the jam-packed, energy-filled design celebrations. Add into the mix that there will be plenty of people in town for the INDE.Awards and the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Conference. The result? Melbourne will be on a bona fide design buzz, so if you’re in town, don’t miss it! [caption id="attachment_118498" align="alignnone" width="1100"] WorkLife talk at SID 2017.[/caption] But what exactly is Saturday Indesign all about? You can expect interactive installations, creative collaborations, and the perfect backdrop to connect with the community. Get out of your workspace and into the industry in a festive and fun way. It’s not just about mingling, while you’re out and about you are also learning and absorbing from the industry’s leading suppliers. Develop your professional knowledge with the latest and greatest from the best brands in the design sphere. [caption id="attachment_118494" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Earp Bros x Tom Fereday installation at Saturday Indesign 2017.[/caption] At Saturday Indesign you never know who you might meet on the street. [caption id="attachment_118496" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Abey Australia at SID 2017.[/caption] TL;DR Save the date for Saturday Indesign, (re)ignite your passion for the design industry while absorbing valuable design knowledge at the same time. This is an industry event made for you. More info to be released soon… Be an early adopter and register your Saturday Indesign 2019 interest now.abc Collection Content Design Hunters Design Products Furniture People Sarah Ellison Has Turned Her Career Into One Long Lesson by Holly Cunneen 23 January Sarah Ellison is well travelled when it comes to Australia. She was born in Byron Bay, grew up in Perth, and spent the past 20 years living in Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Just recently, she and her family moved back to Byron. So when she says her second collection of furniture, Golden, under the moniker Sarah Ellison Studio, is her take on contemporary Australian design with a coastal edge, you can trust she knows what she’s talking about. Add to that the eight years she spent as the style editor for a leading Australian interior design and lifestyle magazine, and her background and education in fashion design, and you really know you’re in safe hands. Sarah began Sarah Ellison Studio officially in 2017 when she decided to take the plunge and to commit to ideas that up until then seemed like cloudy, aspirational dreams. She had a sound knowledge of the industry and knew exactly the niche she wanted to fill. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85216,85212"] “I [was] using all this incredible high-end furniture in my photo shoots that I wanted for myself but it was so expensive. And I found that for good Australian designers the entry level for their pieces was still very high. I wanted to try and design something that was of that calibre, but more affordable,” says Sarah. There was plenty of design at the top of the market, and it was just as healthy at the bottom, but no one really spoke to design-conscious consumers somewhere in the middle. “I felt like there was nothing cool on offer in that middle market, so that was where we started with the brand,” she adds. Despite a background on the creative side of things, her business plan was textbook. Golden is a small series of furniture designed by Sarah and manufactured by specialists in Indonesia. In that way, Sarah Ellison Studio is governed by practicality. Sarah isn’t an industrial designer and nor is her business partner who comes instead from a fashion PR background. So they outsource that aspect of the business. And while Sarah investigated manufacturing locally, economically it wasn’t conducive to the price point at which she wanted to her pieces to sit. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85209,85211"] The use of rattan champions the collection, a material Sarah always had in mind to work with but in a very specific way. Brass accents elevate the designs and bypass ‘trend’ territory. Channelling 70s glamour and the work of Milanese designer Gabriella Crespi, the second collection intentionally makes a louder statement than that of the first. The New Ware Collection was Sarah’s debut to market, so is understandably more pragmatic in approach. “For the first collection, I felt I couldn’t really show my style by doing just one line of things, so it had to be a little bit of everything sprinkled together to create the whole look.” Interestingly, it’s strikingly different both in aesthetic and material choices. As is The Beach Club, her collaboration with Terranova tiles. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85220,85215"] It’s a unique – and refreshing – point of difference, one Sarah attributes to her background as a stylist and style editor: one week’s project could be so vastly different to the next. And given there are no plans to set aside her styling jobs, her third collection could very well be vastly different again in style or materiality from her first and second. For some designers, materials are chosen for their functional attributes or visual suitability to a design. For Sarah, it can be the other way around. “Material is really key for me: finding a material that I love and then working out what I can do with it within the restraints of our brand,” she says, citing coloured concrete, limestone, onyx and glass as areas of interest. Clearly, it’s of no consequence where Sarah is located, her ability and desire to design and create is often inspired by her surrounds. In that way, a change of scenery might be a spark in the ignition of the next chapter of Sarah Ellison Studio – whatever that may be. Sarah Ellison Studio sarahellison.com.au Photography by Dave Wheeler [gallery size="full" columns="2" ids="85218,85210,85219,85221"] We think you might also like Screen House by Warc Studioabc Places Around The World Architecture ARC - Feature Café Oriente Is Seoul’s Semi-Underground Coffee Shop by Thida Sachathep 22 January Café’s, from the very first Ottoman coffee houses, have always occupied a unique stance within society. The design of such spaces is driven by the need to express and preserve individuality in the face of urban surroundings. In The Architecture Of Public Display by Christoph Grafe, it is stated that; The café is many things: an object of nostalgia, a stage for inventing oneself, a place for creating relationships and a home, in the words of the Austrian critic, Alfred Polgar, “for all who wish to be alone but need sociability for this”. Grounded by a similar understanding, the Labotory design team behind Café Oriente say a space of this kind needs not only to “deliver beautiful visuals but also offer a unique emotional experience”. Café Oriente is located amidst Itaewon, Seoul, an area that was avoided for political reasons in the three decades prior. What used to be a United States Military Base has now revolutionised into one of the most vibrant parts of Seoul, grabbing the attention of tourists and university students alike. Found at the very end of Hannam-Dong’s narrow alley, the café is somewhat sunken into the ground. Informed by the client’s desire to have a space “where the oriental aesthetics are implied,” local interior design practice, Labotory, pairs the traditional Hanok (a Korean house) aesthetic with a contemporary minimalist design. Korean architecture places a lot of emphasis on positioning the house amongst the surroundings. In this case, synonymous with a Hanok, the café layout is designed around a front courtyard. The expandability of this space serves as a bridge between the interior and the exterior, decorated with a small garden that has been styled underneath customer café seats. Cement plastered walls, terrazzo and stone tiles, and exposed concrete curved ceiling form the framework of textures evident in Hanoks around Korea. Where natural wood was used for the barista bar, it was also introduced as wall panels and furniture to add a sense of familiarity and warmth. The semi-subterranean space has a repeating motif of curves, seen once at the awning that meets the ceiling as guests move indoors and again as a seating arrangement. The curved ceiling adds depth and appears as though it is floating. The ceiling, which is backlit with a white hue, resembles the cream colour of traditional Korean paper and contrasts subtly with granite. Providing a refined sense of nuance for all visitors, Café Oriente successfully shows respect to the country and to the architecture it resides in. Labotory labotory.com Photography by Yongjun Choi We think you might also like A Cultural Guide To Café Designabc 1 2 3 4 Next Page →
Collection Content Design Hunters Design Products Furniture People Sarah Ellison Has Turned Her Career Into One Long Lesson by Holly Cunneen 23 January Sarah Ellison is well travelled when it comes to Australia. She was born in Byron Bay, grew up in Perth, and spent the past 20 years living in Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Just recently, she and her family moved back to Byron. So when she says her second collection of furniture, Golden, under the moniker Sarah Ellison Studio, is her take on contemporary Australian design with a coastal edge, you can trust she knows what she’s talking about. Add to that the eight years she spent as the style editor for a leading Australian interior design and lifestyle magazine, and her background and education in fashion design, and you really know you’re in safe hands. Sarah began Sarah Ellison Studio officially in 2017 when she decided to take the plunge and to commit to ideas that up until then seemed like cloudy, aspirational dreams. She had a sound knowledge of the industry and knew exactly the niche she wanted to fill. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85216,85212"] “I [was] using all this incredible high-end furniture in my photo shoots that I wanted for myself but it was so expensive. And I found that for good Australian designers the entry level for their pieces was still very high. I wanted to try and design something that was of that calibre, but more affordable,” says Sarah. There was plenty of design at the top of the market, and it was just as healthy at the bottom, but no one really spoke to design-conscious consumers somewhere in the middle. “I felt like there was nothing cool on offer in that middle market, so that was where we started with the brand,” she adds. Despite a background on the creative side of things, her business plan was textbook. Golden is a small series of furniture designed by Sarah and manufactured by specialists in Indonesia. In that way, Sarah Ellison Studio is governed by practicality. Sarah isn’t an industrial designer and nor is her business partner who comes instead from a fashion PR background. So they outsource that aspect of the business. And while Sarah investigated manufacturing locally, economically it wasn’t conducive to the price point at which she wanted to her pieces to sit. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85209,85211"] The use of rattan champions the collection, a material Sarah always had in mind to work with but in a very specific way. Brass accents elevate the designs and bypass ‘trend’ territory. Channelling 70s glamour and the work of Milanese designer Gabriella Crespi, the second collection intentionally makes a louder statement than that of the first. The New Ware Collection was Sarah’s debut to market, so is understandably more pragmatic in approach. “For the first collection, I felt I couldn’t really show my style by doing just one line of things, so it had to be a little bit of everything sprinkled together to create the whole look.” Interestingly, it’s strikingly different both in aesthetic and material choices. As is The Beach Club, her collaboration with Terranova tiles. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="85220,85215"] It’s a unique – and refreshing – point of difference, one Sarah attributes to her background as a stylist and style editor: one week’s project could be so vastly different to the next. And given there are no plans to set aside her styling jobs, her third collection could very well be vastly different again in style or materiality from her first and second. For some designers, materials are chosen for their functional attributes or visual suitability to a design. For Sarah, it can be the other way around. “Material is really key for me: finding a material that I love and then working out what I can do with it within the restraints of our brand,” she says, citing coloured concrete, limestone, onyx and glass as areas of interest. Clearly, it’s of no consequence where Sarah is located, her ability and desire to design and create is often inspired by her surrounds. In that way, a change of scenery might be a spark in the ignition of the next chapter of Sarah Ellison Studio – whatever that may be. Sarah Ellison Studio sarahellison.com.au Photography by Dave Wheeler [gallery size="full" columns="2" ids="85218,85210,85219,85221"] We think you might also like Screen House by Warc Studioabc Places Around The World Architecture ARC - Feature Café Oriente Is Seoul’s Semi-Underground Coffee Shop by Thida Sachathep 22 January Café’s, from the very first Ottoman coffee houses, have always occupied a unique stance within society. The design of such spaces is driven by the need to express and preserve individuality in the face of urban surroundings. In The Architecture Of Public Display by Christoph Grafe, it is stated that; The café is many things: an object of nostalgia, a stage for inventing oneself, a place for creating relationships and a home, in the words of the Austrian critic, Alfred Polgar, “for all who wish to be alone but need sociability for this”. Grounded by a similar understanding, the Labotory design team behind Café Oriente say a space of this kind needs not only to “deliver beautiful visuals but also offer a unique emotional experience”. Café Oriente is located amidst Itaewon, Seoul, an area that was avoided for political reasons in the three decades prior. What used to be a United States Military Base has now revolutionised into one of the most vibrant parts of Seoul, grabbing the attention of tourists and university students alike. Found at the very end of Hannam-Dong’s narrow alley, the café is somewhat sunken into the ground. Informed by the client’s desire to have a space “where the oriental aesthetics are implied,” local interior design practice, Labotory, pairs the traditional Hanok (a Korean house) aesthetic with a contemporary minimalist design. Korean architecture places a lot of emphasis on positioning the house amongst the surroundings. In this case, synonymous with a Hanok, the café layout is designed around a front courtyard. The expandability of this space serves as a bridge between the interior and the exterior, decorated with a small garden that has been styled underneath customer café seats. Cement plastered walls, terrazzo and stone tiles, and exposed concrete curved ceiling form the framework of textures evident in Hanoks around Korea. Where natural wood was used for the barista bar, it was also introduced as wall panels and furniture to add a sense of familiarity and warmth. The semi-subterranean space has a repeating motif of curves, seen once at the awning that meets the ceiling as guests move indoors and again as a seating arrangement. The curved ceiling adds depth and appears as though it is floating. The ceiling, which is backlit with a white hue, resembles the cream colour of traditional Korean paper and contrasts subtly with granite. Providing a refined sense of nuance for all visitors, Café Oriente successfully shows respect to the country and to the architecture it resides in. Labotory labotory.com Photography by Yongjun Choi We think you might also like A Cultural Guide To Café Designabc 1 2 3 4 Next Page →
Places Around The World Architecture ARC - Feature Café Oriente Is Seoul’s Semi-Underground Coffee Shop by Thida Sachathep 22 January Café’s, from the very first Ottoman coffee houses, have always occupied a unique stance within society. The design of such spaces is driven by the need to express and preserve individuality in the face of urban surroundings. In The Architecture Of Public Display by Christoph Grafe, it is stated that; The café is many things: an object of nostalgia, a stage for inventing oneself, a place for creating relationships and a home, in the words of the Austrian critic, Alfred Polgar, “for all who wish to be alone but need sociability for this”. Grounded by a similar understanding, the Labotory design team behind Café Oriente say a space of this kind needs not only to “deliver beautiful visuals but also offer a unique emotional experience”. Café Oriente is located amidst Itaewon, Seoul, an area that was avoided for political reasons in the three decades prior. What used to be a United States Military Base has now revolutionised into one of the most vibrant parts of Seoul, grabbing the attention of tourists and university students alike. Found at the very end of Hannam-Dong’s narrow alley, the café is somewhat sunken into the ground. Informed by the client’s desire to have a space “where the oriental aesthetics are implied,” local interior design practice, Labotory, pairs the traditional Hanok (a Korean house) aesthetic with a contemporary minimalist design. Korean architecture places a lot of emphasis on positioning the house amongst the surroundings. In this case, synonymous with a Hanok, the café layout is designed around a front courtyard. The expandability of this space serves as a bridge between the interior and the exterior, decorated with a small garden that has been styled underneath customer café seats. Cement plastered walls, terrazzo and stone tiles, and exposed concrete curved ceiling form the framework of textures evident in Hanoks around Korea. Where natural wood was used for the barista bar, it was also introduced as wall panels and furniture to add a sense of familiarity and warmth. The semi-subterranean space has a repeating motif of curves, seen once at the awning that meets the ceiling as guests move indoors and again as a seating arrangement. The curved ceiling adds depth and appears as though it is floating. The ceiling, which is backlit with a white hue, resembles the cream colour of traditional Korean paper and contrasts subtly with granite. Providing a refined sense of nuance for all visitors, Café Oriente successfully shows respect to the country and to the architecture it resides in. Labotory labotory.com Photography by Yongjun Choi We think you might also like A Cultural Guide To Café Designabc 1 2 3 4 Next Page →
