Tabla de contenidos para Issue 3 en Design Anthology, Asia Pacific Edition

Creating innovative retail interiors is always part art, part science, but when space is severely limited it is even more important to get the balance right. The Good Design Store at Hong Kong’s PMQ offers a masterclass in striking the perfect mix of quiet efficiency and maximum style while retaining a distinctive Japanese experience, making the tiny 27-square-metre store one of our favourite spots in the city. The store, designed by Hong Kong-based General Store Ltd, reflects a unique design brief that follows the Japanese aesthetic of wabi sabi, a complex traditional design philosophy that embraces imperfection with unpretentious rustic elegance. ‘It was about preserving the essence of the historical building rather than covering the space in non-related materials,’ explains GDS manager Junko Gennami. ‘It was important from the very…

Ten years ago, few could have imagined The Nielson Tower, Makati Manila’s oldest building and a former control tower of the airport’s passenger terminal,would become one of the city’s hottest destinations. Indeed, when influential Manila-based chef and restaurateur Colin Mackay attended a birthday party there a decade ago, the building housed the Ayala Foundation’s archives and was occasionally rented out for private events. Mackay remembers that first visit in delicious detail. ‘I fell in love with the building,’ he recalls of the 1937 Art Deco structure situated across from the Peninsula Hotel. ‘There was no kitchen, so we feasted on salad, followed by slow roast lamb shanks with buttery mashed potatoes.’ Mackay, who made his name with the renowned Sala Restaurant established in 1996, was certain he had found the…

On the eve of interdisciplinary design firm EDGE Design Institute’s (EDI) 20th anniversary, Design Anthology’s editor-in-chief speaks with founder Gary Chang about the evolution of his practice, travel, and living large in small spaces. On the sunny afternoon that we meet in EDI’s office, Gary Chang appears to be in a jovial mood, and it’s clear early on in our conversation that he’s not going to allow me to subject him to a standard Q&A session. The Hong Kong architect, who has become famous the world over for his ingeniously designed apartment in Hong Kong’s Island East, has an ingenuous and infectious laugh, and we spend much of our time together giggling like a pair of teens. When asked how his company started, Chang informs me that it all began…

When the Muslim Moors crossed from North Africa to conquer much of the coveted Iberian Peninsula, including Seville, in the early eighth century, they became the latest rulers in a line that included the Romans, Suebi and Visigoths — and they changed the look and layout of the city forever. Situated on the plain of the Río Guadalquivir, Seville was for a long time an important port town and was once the capital of the powerful Umayyad Caliphate. The old town, one of the largest in Europe, still shows signs of the city’s past, with several iconic examples of Moorish architecture. Aesthetically beautiful and utterly charming, they were also very advanced at the time of construction in terms of climate control. Walking through the romantic, narrow and winding streets is…

If you’re staying anywhere near the old town then you won’t need to venture far to find great food. Seville is a city of people passionate about eating, drinking, and socialising. At around 8pm the Sevillanos start to head out to the many tapas bars that the city is famous for that line the narrow, winding streets, and will stay out to the wee hours of the morning washing it down with a sherry or two. Bar Antojo 44 Calle Calatrava / equipompuntor.com Located nearby the open square Alameda de Hercules, between the river and the Macarena neighbourhood, is Bar Antojo. One of four properties by the Equipo Mpuntor group, Antojo is a spacious and relaxed environment to enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner. The interiors are cosy and inviting,…

Award-winning architects Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz founded multidisciplinary firm Cruz y Ortiz arquitectos in 1974. From their offices in Seville and Amsterdam, their 30-strong team works on a variety of projects as diverse as master planning, landscaping, architecture and interior design. Over the years, the team has completed a series of high-profile projects in Spain and internationally, including the new Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Olympic stadium in Seville, the Ministries building in Seville (facing page, top), Santa Justa train station in Seville (facing page, middle) and the Marine World Museum in Doñana, southern Spain (facing page, bottom). Cruz and Ortiz share with Design Anthology some of their favourite cultural destinations in Seville. Centre of Andalusian Contemporary Art: Housed in a 15th-century former monastery, an impressive sight itself, on the…

Mathias Helleu’s apartment is on the 23rd floor of an old building in Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan district, where hip art galleries and antique dealers combine with dried seafood vendors and Chinese temples to fill the narrow streets. The interior of his 85-square-metre space is likewise an eclectic mix of many pieces from different places and times. He describes it as ‘accumulations of books, objects and paintings. A few are very big and people might think they are too big for the place, but I like to play with proportions.’ Helleu has worked in Hong Kong and London for many years, and is a partner in a contemporary art gallery in New York, which partly explains the many framed photographs and sketches atop shelves and leaning against windows. Despite the…

In the design world recently, the word ‘chamber’ has become associated with the expressive eclecticism and opulently open-minded cosmology of the medieval and Renaissance chamber (or cabinet) of curiosities — personalised interiors filled with personal objects. But since September, the word also bespeaks an ambitiously ranged environment for the display of art and design that was established by Argentinean Juan Mosqueda beneath the New York High Line in Chelsea. Mosqueda’s conception of Chamber is one that mashes up retail, design incubation and gallery with sprawling collections that will be renewed by a different curator (whether artist, architect or designer) every year and a half or thereabouts, and be accompanied by a specially designed book and bespoke fragrance each time. The inaugural capsule collection is curated by, and reflects the tastes…

Seville enjoys a subtropical Mediterranean climate, with dry summers and wet winters. The annual average temperature is 25 °C (77 °F) during the day and 13 °C (55 °F) at night. It also has the second-hottest summer of continental European cities, after nearby Córdoba. Summer is June to August, with average daily temperatures of 32–35°C (90–95 °F), and winter is December to February with average daily temperatures of 16–18°C (61–65 °F) The city has several great annual events that you may want to plan your trip around: The Seville Fair (locally known as the Feria de abril de Sevilla) usually begins two weeks after Easter Holy Week. Though it started as a livestock fair to trade bulls, the fair in later years became an annual celebration of Catholic forces retaking…

YC Chen, a former associate creative director at Leo Burnett, has finally found his true calling. As founder and creative director of hoo, he approaches interior design from an outsider’s perspective, where his eye for styling, honed through 11 years in advertising, adds a particular flair to his work. An acronym for ‘home of one’, hoo encapsulates Chen’s focus on customisation and designing for the individual. ‘We’re all about tailor-made homes. hoo is more of a brand than just a service provider. I have two professional designers in my team. My role is overseeing the overall direction, and like with an advertisement or editorial spread, to ensure that the mood and tone is just right,’ he says. hoo has since completed more than 30 projects in Hong Kong, and Chen’s…

The modern house has become an inflexible beast. The liberation of the open plan and free facade initially brought optimism, yet all too often a ‘modern’ approach results in a strangely rigid and over-familiar aesthetic, indelibly associated with wealth and privilege rather than the original crusading social consciousness. Every now and again, however, a rigorously modern approach is used to make the most of an awkward site or an unusual brief. Copper Lane is a modest development in a backyard plot in North London. Designed by London-based studio Henley Halebrown Rorrison, this is a domestic project with a bold agenda. Working for seven adult clients, who between them have six teenage children, the practice has built six houses in arrangement around a single shared core, a dense solution that makes…

Cities are where it’s at. Most of us live in one, or want to. We are drawn by the bright lights and opportunity, with concentrations of people and activity meaning a richer and more vibrant experience in both sensory and economic terms. But how much is too much? When does a city’s popularity become its curse? These are important questions. For while the ingredients of a successful city, those that make it distinctive, loved by its population as well as the rest of the world, are complex and individual, there are common themes: a robust economy, providing employment opportunities to an innovative and productive workforce. A strong sense of character and place. A buzz, brought on by a confluence of people and activity, hive-minded to the business of living —…

Bottega Veneta Home Earlier this year Bottega Veneta unveiled the latest additions to its coveted home collection. The new designs display the brand’s signature use of colour, texture, quality materials, excellent craftsmanship and timeless design. ‘The evolution of our Home collection has been purposefully gradual and deliberate, as we have never been interested in doing anything flashy or of-the-moment,’ says creative director Tomas Maier. ‘Some of these new pieces are more rustic, others more refined, but each one is versatile, functional and beautifully crafted to last a lifetime.’ The Bottega Veneta Home Collection can be ordered through Bottega Veneta boutiques. bottegaveneta.com Egg Collective New York-based Egg Collective, founded in 2011 by designers Stephanie Beamer, Crystal Ellis and Hillary Petrie, is committed to building high-quality, contemporary, American-made furniture. Each of its…

Young Hong Kong designers Wilson Lee and Alex Siu founded their studio WALL in 2010 after working together for Gary Chang at Edge Design Institute. Design Anthology sat down with them to discuss their latest project Stack, a hole-in-the-wall pancake restaurant in Hong Kong’s Sai Ying Pun. Design Anthology:Thirty square metres is a pretty small restaurant — what was your first reaction when the client approached you to design a restaurant that size? Wilson: Actually we already knew the owners, we have some mutual friends. One day we bumped into them on the street, just downstairs from our office, and they said they had a restaurant project we might be interested in. And actually the size is quite normal in Hong Kong. Alex: I think the first impression was even…

In a rented ground-floor apartment in downtown Taipei’s historical Da’an district — a former community of military dependents — designers Shih-Jie Lin and Ting-Liang Chen have carved out a small but very stylish space where they can live and work. Ganna Design Studio, all of 53 square metres plus an additional 30 square metres of outdoor space, was renovated over a period of four months at a cost of approximately USD60,000 and completed in early 2013. The designers have deliberately retained many of the historical elements from the original building and have strived to achieve a balance of classic and modern elements. By opening up windows to the surrounding outdoor space, they have maximised the natural light inside, which helps to make the space feel more open. Their use of…

Eames Demetrios has just completed an Asian tour to launch an eco-friendly version of the Eames Molded Fiberglass Chair, followed by a visit to Australia for a number of Eames-related events. Back home in Los Angeles, he returns to one of his day jobs as director of the Eames Office, a responsibility that he shares with his three sisters and brother. They work with manufacturers such as Herman Miller and Maharam on preserving and communicating the copyrighted designs of Charles and Ray Eames, with the majority of their work education packaged in a lively, intuitive way. Demetrios’ mother, the late Lucia, previously took care of the Eames Foundation, an organisation that runs the Eames’ former home. After its conversion into a museum, it was declared a National Historic Monument in…

Alfonso XIII Hotel 2 Calle San Fernando / hotel-alfonsoxiii-seville.com Nearby the Plaza de España in a Mudéjar-style palace is the Alfonso XIII, easily Seville’s most luxurious hotel and one of the most prestigious in Spain. Built in 1928 to King Alfonso XIII’s commission, originally to house VIP guests at the Ibero-American Expo or World Fair of 1929, it has since had its interiors refurbished by HBA. The San Fernando restaurant, which overlooks the stunning inner courtyard, enjoys an excellent reputation, and the new Ena restaurant with a tapas menu by Catalan chef Carles Abellan has a more casual atmosphere. Casa Numero 7 7 Calle Virgenes / casanumero7.com Located in Seville’s historic Santa Cruz neighbourhood, Casa Numero 7 was built in 1847 originally as a private residence and was…

After a restless 12-hour flight from Hong Kong, the Edwardian edifice that houses the Rosewood London on High Holborn is as welcome as it is impressive. My driver takes me through the arched former carriage-way to an inner courtyard that feels like the perfect respite from the bustling streets just metres away. There I am greeted by two friendly doormen dressed as vintage-inspired dandies, outfitted in caps, tweed trousers and camel overcoats. Sartorially speaking, this is a strong first impression. My bags are whisked away inconspicuously, and I am ushered into the lobby via the Bronze Gallery — a long narrow vestibule panelled with rose bronze-framed fenestrations and a black and white mosaic floor — which acts as a layer of the hotel’s dermis, providing circulation to the dining outlets.…

In China, and Asia on the whole, size is often equated with status and luxury. In space-obsessed Hong Kong, a large apartment on a recognisable street immediately conveys an image of blingy chandeliers, Fendi Casa and Carrara marble countertops. In Europe and the United States, however, there is a movement towards smaller, more efficient and highly sustainable homes by people who can afford premises ten times the size. Whether they want to live completely off-grid in rural environments without electricity, or they prefer multifunctional spaces, or they wish to spend their money on other things yet be in the middle of the action, everyone seems to have their own reasons for downsizing. And Spain-based American documentary filmmaker Kirsten Dirksen has made it her life’s work to document the movement, posting…