Tabla de contenidos para #16 en Design Anthology, Asia Pacific Edition

When we launched Design Anthology four years ago, we were routinely informed that nobody would take notice of us until we’d made it to the one-year mark. Understandably so — many magazines barely make it past their first issue, and businesses in any industry often struggle to survive the first year. First milestone, tick. Then we were informed that the real test was in fact two years. Second milestone, tick. But then because we only publish four issues per year, it would be when we’d published ten issues that we would start to be taken seriously. Well, third milestone, tick. With the publication of this issue (our sweet 16th!) we’re happy and relieved to be celebrating our four-year anniversary. I think, or at least I hope, it’s safe to say…

Androgyne: Fashion + Gender by Patrick Mauriès (Thames & Hudson) ‘Ladies and Gentlemen…and others’, starts one chapter in this book on the topic of androgyny, in which author Patrick Mauriès delivers the compelling cultural history of gender bending and blending dating back to the late 19th century with the writings of Oscar Wilde up until today. Pairing contemporary fashion photography with 19th-century fine art and complemented by occasional deep delves into literature, Mauriès explores with great insight what he identifies as the ‘timeless human drive to escape from defined categories’. Not coincidentally, it’s become an obsession of contemporary fashion houses as of late. Think Jean Paul Gaultier’s winter 2011 haute couture runway show that ended with a willowy blond man-bride in a diaphanous gown or the 2016 Diesel ad campaign…

Colours are cultural. Fully appreciating this, Dr Pairoj Pittayamatee set out on a journey to identify those that best represent the long-standing history and cultural identity of his native Thailand. The result is a comprehensive compilation known as Thaitone — a colour scheme that maps and documents the colours that appear throughout traditional Thai adornment. ‘Thai traditional colours symbolise our belief and our way of life — namely Thais’ mellow personality and philosophy of coexisting with the environment in harmony,’ explains Pittayamatee. Made of natural ingredients, he observes, the colours possess a pastel quality and the names assigned to each echo natural origins: a pale orange named ‘albino Thai buffalo’ or a light gold hue called ‘soft moonlight’. The preservation of these distinctly Thai colours and the received wisdom they…

David Rockwell has done it again, this time with the new Dream Hollywood Hotel. The 178-room property, swaddled by the Hollywood Hills, pays homage to the city’s iconic Mid-century Modern architecture, while also providing a hot new party location for Angelenos in the form of a rooftop bar, lounge and adjoining pool surrounded by cabana alcoves — all designed to maximise views of the iconic Hollywood sign and city skyline. Guest rooms here are very SoCal, inspired by the clean fluidity of the architecture that defines the city. InterContinental Robertson Quay is the brand’s second location in Singapore. Situated on the banks of the Singapore River in one of the city’s most vibrant nightlife and dining precincts, the hotel’s location offers one of the best jumping-off points in the Garden…

The Kafka Bookstore in Ho Chi Minh City is listed at address 54/2. On the main street, however, one will only find buildings numbered 54 and 55. But a closer look reveals a passage between the buildings leading to an almost-hidden narrow parallel street, where, at the very end and fully assuming its half-address position, sits the quiet little independent bookshop with ornate tilework floors and an upstairs reading room that extends out to a terrace draped in flowering vines. This is urban exploration at its most gratifying. The cultural capital of Asia’s most rapidly urbanising country, Ho Chi Minh City is made up of networks of these alleys, called hem , , mixing business,social and residential life into every corner of the city. The blurred line between personal and…

Philippine craftsmanship is finally stepping into the global spotlight, thanks in part to one exquisite brand: Bea Valdes. ‘Beadwork is our signature, but it’s really anything crafted by hand,’ she says of her eponymous line of minaudières, bejewelled accessories and objets d’art. Bea’s sister Marga, the brand’s marketing maven, recalls that at their first trade shows, ‘buyers would ask if the brand was Italian or French. To have a luxury accessories brand made in the Philippines with this skill and craft level was an alien concept to them! But now, after nearly a decade, it’s no longer so unfamiliar.’ Production happens in an airy industrial Manila studio, flooded with natural light. Along one wall, prototypes and components — glass drops,vintage fabric, semi-precious stones — are meticulously archived and peep out…

Panida ‘Oum’ Tosnaitada practically grew up in her grandfather’s printing factory, where she’d play in the afternoons and during school holidays. With its sights, sounds and smells permanently ingrained in her memory, Tosnaitada claims she can still remember the different clang the printing machines made when they printed in black and white versus colour, and the full olfactory spectrum of ink and paper smells that filled the air. The factory may be long gone, but the memories remain. In a slowly gentrifying strip of Bangkok’s old town lies a row of six interlinking shophouses that Tosnaitada’s Chinese immigrant grandfather purchased over time as his publishing business grew. Charming, they nonetheless sat deserted for decades before the family handed her the keys and a green light for her ambitious vision. The…

What happens when two of the most dynamic and creative worlds overlap? This Taipei apartment is a case study in the coming together of high fashion and interior design. Inspired by the process of pattern making — the translation of a designer’s creative vision into garment form — the home’s interiors by Taipei-based studio Waterfrom Design took cues from silhouetting, folding and draping techniques to create a space that is at once comfortable and chic. ‘We don’t want to create designs where the ideas are clear from the outset,’ explains designer Nic Lee. ‘We want to create works in which, after having been lived in, the effects of time will lead to the spaces having different expressions and emotions.’ The interiors therefore sought to appeal to the sensibilities and affinities…

When people ask why my favourite European city is Rome, I usually talk about its place as Italy’s cultural and historical centre, its admirable sense of self-preservation and uniquely ancient-urban texture. Charming cobblestone streets almost too narrow for cars connect mediaeval churches and piazze scattered about like pepperoni on a pizza. That today’s Rome is only one manifestation of itself sat atop millennia of ancient history fascinated me as a young architect-to-be, and during my studies there I indulged in all the best of Italy’s architectural history, from a castello in Verona to the churches of Florence and the bridges of Venice, somehow missing the allure of one all-important city: Milan. From my perspective then, I found nothing to love about Milan; it had lost the scale and proportion that…

The fashion pack has never been known for restraint, so it’s no surprise that soon after turning its sartorial eye on the Salone del Mobile in Milan, the biggest furniture fair in the world began to morph into a celebration of creativity on a broader — and grander — scale. There is no doubt that the fair remains the most important appointment in the global furniture design calendar. Over six days last year, 343,602 people from 165 countries visited the fairground in Rho, where more than 2,000 exhibitors were on show. Founded in 1961 with the intention of promoting Italian furniture and furnishings, the fair runs in conjunction with several other major trade shows including the biennial Euroluce and EuroCucina. Forward-thinking fashion brands have focused on getting in on the…

‘W hen we saw her works, we thought it was really something different,’ recalls Parisian gallerist Didier Jean Anicet. ‘She plays with conventions, she’s always looking for more and pushing limits.’ He is pointing to a series of unusual metal chairs designed by Japanese fashion legend Rei Kawakubo. Better known as the founder of cult brand Comme des Garçons, Kawakubo is among many fashion designers who have left an indelible mark on the world of interior design. Anicet recently discovered a near-forgotten trove of furniture that Kawakubo created between 1983 and 1993, and mounted an exhibition in his Paris gallery A1043. The stark pieces on display include a chair with two simple chains slung across that act more as an obstacle than a back support, and a chair with an…

The Murray building — a Modernist icon knit into the tangling road network that races up the slope of Hong Kong Island — is one of eight former government buildings scattered across the city that have been released for heritage redevelopment under the Conserving Central programme. This includes the now-familiar PMQ mixed-used venue for arts and design, and Tai Kwun — the Central Police Station, Central Magistracy and Victoria Prison currently in the midst of a decade-plus, US$230 million redevelopment under the supervision of Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. The Murray, similarly, once played host to key decision-making bureaus of the central government but was relieved of its official duties on completion of the nearby Tamar Park Complex in 2011, at which point its new identity was decided —…

Nothing about open-air creative mall ChangChui is what you might expect. First, there’s the out-of-the-way location — an 11-rai plot of land (roughly 1.7 hectares) sandwiched between an elevated expressway and a busy road on what many Bangkokians consider the wrong side of the river. Then there’s the architecture: a mismatched collection of outbuildings built from corrugated metal and discarded doors and windows that were found lying about. Perched in its heart, however, is the true pièce de résistance — a decommissioned 1970s-era Lockheed TriStar, with its distinctive engine in the tail, transported here from nearby Don Mueang Airport. At the centre of this maelstrom of madness is Somchai ‘Lim’ Songwattana, the 58-year-old CEO and art director of Flynow, the contemporary Thai fashion brand he established more than three decades…

It’s not just the latest fashion collections that are likely to the catch the eye of well-heeled shoppers in Tokyo’s upmarket Aoyama district: the buildings in which they are housed are just as captivating. Over the past decade, the central shopping neighbourhood has slowly but steadily evolved into a pioneering showcase of award-winning fashion flagship architecture. And today, a stroll along Aoyama’s main street — the zelkova tree-lined Omotesandō — is akin to exploring an open-air architecture museum, with both sides lined with conceptual stand-alone flagships for global fashion brands created by an impressive roll call of top Japanese and international architects. ‘The unique features of Tokyo — small plot sizes, low-rise,dense neighbourhoods — produce a very interesting pedestrian experience for shoppers and architecture fans,’ explains Darryl Jingwen Wee, an…