Tabla de contenidos para November - December 2015 en AZURE

→ azuremagazine.com Skull Set The Museum of Arts and Design in New York presents Japanese Kōgei: Future Forward, an exhibition that focuses on the kōgei genre of traditional craft. The show features work by a dozen artists who put a modern twist on techniques rooted in the past, including Katsuyo Aoki’s ornate skull Predictive Dream XII. It runs until February 7. DAILY POSTS During December, we’ll be covering some of the best industry trade shows, including IIDEXC anada in Toronto and Design Miami. Plus: check out our annual gift guide for stylish seasonal giving. PRODUCT GUIDE Our guide to the best offerings on the market is updated regularly. Before the end of the year, we’ll feature textiles and furnishings for the modern office, as well as surfacing and architectural products.…

DECEMBER 2 AND 3 IIDE XCANADA TORONTO “NO ONE REALLY KNOWS what the future of the workplace will be, but it will be everywhere.” This is the statement IIDEX is making with its 2015 edition. Returning to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the second year, along with Construct Canada, the show is also returning to its contract furniture roots. A special feature playfully entitled Go Away! will challenge our preconceptions of how and where we work. The 186-squaremetre environment, by local firm Quadrangle Architects, will model the best designs for workspaces, drawing from the collections of Keilhauer, Haworth, Steelcase and Teknion to build the experience. Keynote speaker Clive Wilkinson may address similar ideas: the California architect is best known for the office spaces he has crafted for some of…

DISFRUTAR MEANS “TO ENJOY” in Spanish. It’s an appropriate name for a restaurant that encapsulates several aspects of the original modernist city plan for the area. The Eixample district of Barcelona was originally mapped out in the 1850s by urban planner Ildefonso Cerdá, but in its built form it never turned out quite as he envisioned. Had his scheme been followed, Disfrutar would today be located inside a building half as tall and not nearly as deep. Significantly, it would also back on to a public courtyard garden and be enclosed on only one or two sides – an urban fabric that Cerdá understood as an ideal way to provide Barcelonians with the health benefits of “sun, space and green.” It’s never too late to attempt to right a wrong,…

“INVENTIONS TO STAY and inventions to go” is the concept for LittleBits Store, the first retail venture for the wildly popular online startup LittleBits Electronics. The pop-up shop was designed by two Montreal studios, SSSVLL and Daily tous les jours, who turned a storefront in SoHo, New York, into a playful tool shed. The interactive space is designed to show what can be done with the snap-together components geared toward getting kids (or anyone) to build their own electronic gadgets. Complete with pegboards and workbenches, the interior doubles as a lab for tinkerers to geek out together using the colour-coded DIY circuit modules. “People are often afraid of the blank canvas,” says Mouna Andraos, co-founder of Daily tous les jours, a studio best known for its interactive installations in public…

PROJECT: CHAPULIN RESTAURANT, MEXICO CITY A WHIMSICAL ARRAY of materials merges history and modern aesthetics at Chapulín, a restaurant in Mexico City by Mob Studio and SAMA Architects. The mélange of cladding may seem chaotic, but that’s exactly the intent. “The playful selection of materials emphasizes each area of the restaurant,” says Mob’s Ximena Bermeo, “and the warm textures and colour play a fundamental role on the walls and ceilings.” The main entry’s curving hallway is a charcoal sea of 11,000 custom clay tiles, handmade by Oaxacan women in a ceramics workshop run by a local artist. The dark walls are offset by wooden planks on the floor and ceiling, which provide a baseline for the entire space. Moving into the bar and dining area, a sculptural ceiling in walnut…

→ WE ASKED: WHAT IS THE MOST SPECTACULAR INTERIOR IN YOUR CITY? “The restaurant Spring at Somerset House is one of the most beautiful in London. And the design shops Mint, Darkroom, and Clerkenwell London are all extraordinary, in different ways.” London-based writer Ellen Himelfarb toured Peter Zumthor’s remote studio in the Swiss Alps for “Master Zumthor.” → Page 82 “I always take my guests to Zagreb Fair’s pavilion, built in the late 1950s. It’s a powerful structure, designed by Croatian architect Ivan Vitić. It has been converted into a skating rink, but all of the original modernist details are there.” For “Hotel Adriatic,” writer Maroje Mrduljaš stayed at the art-rich establishment in the historical part of Rovinj, Croatia, along the northern Adriatic Sea. → Page 58 “I love the…

COPENHAGENERS take great pride in their city’s appearance, and in the quality of life it offers. And so they should. Some of the most iconic contemporary architecture in the world can be found there. Buildings and local monuments regularly show up as backdrops in such television series as The Bridge and The Killing. Cirkelbroen, or the circle bridge, is the city’s latest eye-catching public project to be realized, and it, too, is destined to become a dramatic tableau. You couldn’t blame location scouts for the choice. Designed by artist Olafur Eliasson, the roughly 40-metre-long structure is located in a picturesque part of the inner harbour that straddles Christianshavn Canal. It provides a new shortcut between Christiansbro and Applebys Plads, two residential areas that have been built up over the past…

THE OVERSTUFFED ARMCHAIRS in the brasserie suggest that the recently reopened Hotel Adriatic is all about the intimate atmosphere of a conservative sitting room. But once inside the 18-suite establishment – which sits at the corner of a downtown street in Rovinj, Croatia – the tones become muted and monochromic, in stark contrast to the colourful facades of the nearby square. While visitors sip Aperol Spritz at the bar, they can take in one of the many art installations found throughout the hotel. One in particular – an invisibly suspended row of six taxidermy owls frozen in midflight – is the work of Slovenian artist Jasmina Cibic. Clearly not the usual type of tourist novelty, the Adriatic is a carefully orchestrated experience, the vision of Zagreb firm 3LHD Architects. Located…

1 Marmor by Swatch From the Swiss brand’s Exotic Charm collection. The faux-marble effect on the silicone strap and the face is contrasted by lemon-yellow hands. $85, swatch.com 2 Mòltair by Nomad Samuel Wilkinson is the first designer to work with this new Scottish watch company. The coarse steel case sits on a black leather strap with aluminum block hands. $370, nomadwatches.com 3 BN0171 by Braun The German brand’s trademark yellow second hand stands out against the stone-grey ceramic case and bracelet of this unisex watch. $575, braun-clocks.com 4 Marble by AÃRK Australian design firm Daniel Emma’s first watch uses real Carrara marble for the face, paired with a calfskin leather strap. $247, aarkcollective.com 5 Helvetica 1 Smart Watch by Mondaine This limited edition watch looks like a classic analog…

ACCRA, GHANA’S SUN-BAKED CAPITAL of 2.3 million people, is better known on the continent for its bustle than its beauty. While it has its share of towers (including not a few hotels clustered around the airport in the core), it has little in the way of architectural icons. However, a new structure rising in the heart of the city’s growing business district is poised to change that reputation. Designed by Italian architect Mario Cucinella, One Airport Square contains nine floors of office space, with 2,000 square metres of retail. It’s also the first project in the country to receive a four-star rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa, thanks to several intelligent features that pair energy efficiency and a uniquely Ghanaian panache. “We set out to establish an…

Born 1981, Pompaples, Switzerland Location Renens, Switzerland Education Bachelor’s (2004) and master’s (2006) in industrial design from ECAL (Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne) Occupation Industrial designer Selected awards 2006 Jury prize, Design Parade, Villa Noailles, France; Solutions légères, for the collective Inout, Biennale du Design, Saint-Étienne; 2011 Swiss federal design prize Selected exhibits 2008 Droog’s A Touch of Green, Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta, Milan; 2013 Mountain Climbers, Design Miami, Basel, Switzerland; 2015 Aspartame limited edition, Brand New World, Dušan, Milan Selected clients Atelier Pfister, Campeggi, Centre Pompidou, Cristalleries Saint-Louis, Droog, Hermès STARTING POINT I started in design really young. In Switzerland, mandatory school ends at about 14. Most people at that point continue with their studies or learn a profession. It was not so common to do internships, but I was…

EARLIER THIS YEAR, Bossa opened in the heart of São Paulo, helmed by onthe-rise chef William Ribeiro, who serves up bossa nova cuisine, which mixes foreign influences with such traditional foods as mocotó and bean-based feijoada. What’s also new is the addition of an upstairs recording studio that joins two disparate businesses in one building. Local architect Marcelo Rosenbaum established the general organization of both spaces, including the glazed box of the studio, which overlooks a double-height lobby topped by a roof full of skylights. But many of the most eye-catching effects are by Rio de Janeiro multimedia artist Muti Randolph, widely known as a music club lighting expert. He designed the sleek, narrow volume to cantilever slightly at the front, and extend to the back by 35 metres. As…

AND THE WINNERS ARE… In February, Zaha Hadid will become the first woman honoured with the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. The trailblazer established her practice in London in 1979, and she became the first female recipient of the Pritzker Prize in 2004. World renowned for her curvaceous buildings (which often prove difficult to realize, as with her recently scrapped Tokyo stadium) she has also put her stamp on products from furniture to footwear. In September, French architect Dominique Perrault was awarded the prestigious Praemium Imperiale. Most recognized for his home country’s National Library, he is also responsible for Berlin’s Velodrome and Olympic pool. The Japanese imperial family bestows the annual award in the categories of architecture, painting, sculpture, music and theatre/film. An eye-inspired optometry…