Tabla de contenidos para #17 en Design Anthology, Asia Pacific Edition

It’s said that a change is as good as a holiday. We set out to bring you both with this issue — a slightly refreshed layout, courtesy of our new art director (the change) and a bevy of wanderlust-inducing locales (the holiday, or at least a virtual one). Among the line-up of features in this issue that you can enjoy from the comfort of your armchair are the latest happenings from Semarang, Singapore, Jakarta and Seoul — and that’s just our Dossier section. Also, don’t miss the excerpt of an interview with legendary Japanese designer Kenya Hara. You’ll find the rest of the conversation on our website. We’re excited to report on the growing trend — of which we wholeheartedly approve — of heritage properties in China being restored and…

Barber Osgerby, Projects by Jana Scholze (Phaidon) Long-time collaborators Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby founded their eponymous studio just over a decade ago, based on a research-led approach to creating improved everyday design objects, from furniture and household objects to public installations. This monograph represents a comprehensive catalogue of the duo’s portfolio so far, including a number of designs created in partnership with some of the world’s leading manufacturers and institutions. Six essays based on conversations with leading figures in the art and design world accompany the imagery-driven text, providing insight into the studio’s process and working method. Iconic designs such as their Loop table, the London 2012 Olympic Torch and the Tip Ton chair are but a few of their outputs discussed in this 360-degree view. Contemporary Korean Photography…

A wave of entrepreneurs, creatives and social innovators — from new-age hawkers to upstart product designers — is shaking up the status quo in Singapore and creating demand for a new breed of private members’ clubs. Enter The Straits Clan. Housed in a heritage shophouse, the club provides an environment conducive to creative connections. Managed by lifestyle company The Lo & Behold Group under the direction of Wee Teng Wen, the clubhouse celebrates contemporary living in South East Asia while offering an update to the colonial-era hallmark. ‘We had a vision of creating a private members’ club that sought to challenge what that has traditionally stood for,’ explains Wee. ‘We wanted a club that is a modern representation of how we live, work and play in our part of the…

When Sasha Young founded online artisan design company Wright & Smith, she envisioned a new way of buying beautifully crafted accessories and furniture, all without having to leave your armchair. But less than two years on, her offline business is bigger than the online. ‘My original idea was to create a global forum of makers so customers could access a collection of exceptional handcrafted pieces and learn about their individual creative stories,’ says the Singapore-based entrepreneur. Instead, the online business acted as a trigger, sparking a genuine interest that has translated into unexpected design projects. ‘The website has become a good shop window for projects — and a reminder that the way people still buy design is often about touching it.’ One example is a recent commission to join a…

Hong Kong’s Canton Road is known as a fashion district, so Canadian brand Ports 1961 was set on standing out. The brief for its facade, conceived by fellow Canadians UUfie and inspired by a floating iceberg, has been expertly realised by JEB Custom Projects and local architecture firm eightsixthree as a series of angled glass blocks finished on one side with satin stainless steel. ‘The blocks were originally cast as flat surfaces and used with grouting,’ explains JEB’s project manager Nick Hinton. ‘So we turned them on a forty-five-degree angle to give them some articulation and create cubes.’ Pairs of blocks were cut at 45-degree angles and joined with UV glue to form a right angle, then fixed to a custom facade structure. The building’s age, however, meant that additional…

Design Anthology: I’m curious about your creative process. How do you work together, given your different backgrounds and training? Jonathan Levien: I think it’s a reconciliation of each other’s approach. When we’re just sitting face-to-face around a table with our sketchbooks out and materials and what-have-you, I think the real genesis happens. The spark occurs when we’re interpreting each other’s language or ideas, and quite often it’s a misinterpretation that leads to something else. Like Nipa will be pouring through her art references and redrawing them as a way of learning about them and getting closer to the thinking behind those artworks, and then that’ll kind of morph into an object — I’ll look at her drawing and I’ll say well there’s a light idea in there, maybe because I’m…

On the outskirts of Shanghai’s ever-expanding megalopolis, far from the bustle of Nanjing Road and the heaven-leaning skyscrapers of The Bund, sits a little backwater village. Built along a series of interconnecting canals, Zhujiajiao has more than 1,700 years of history to its credit and, on the weekends, attracts throngs of day-trippers and nostalgia seekers. A safe distance from the crowds, the nearby Ahn Luh Zhujiajiao (‘Ahn’ means tranquil and harmonious, while ‘Luh’ indicates a place of retreat) extends the offer to transport guests to another place in history. Stepping through a discreet gate, guests turn to face a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring relic of ancient Chinese architecture, dating back to the Ming Dynasty. A phalanx of flying phoenix cleaves to the imposing structure’s upturned eaves, while a pair of carved lions…

The surfboards propped in the entryway of this peaceful 650-square-metre house set in the lush rainforests of Queensland’s Noosa National Park set the tone for what’s in store. The spectacular location uniquely combines treescapes and seascapes, and left an immediate impression on its owners — two Australian sisters with young families looking for a coastal retreat. Originally built in the early 1980s, the three-storey house has been given a new lease on life by Melbourne-based Mim Design, which has instilled the interiors with a sense of natural luxury and homey comfort. ‘This is our fourth project with this client, and we’ve been able to immerse them in the feeling of living within a rainforest and the luxury of a unique, relaxing and authentic home,’ says principal designer Miriam Fanning. ‘We…

Design Anthology: When did you first know that design was your chosen career path? Furong Chen: A few years ago, I participated in an exhibition called Metaphysics. We drove a van and travelled more than 10,000 kilometres across China looking for special local creators. We shot a documentary throughout the journey and in the end made an exhibit in Shanghai of all the ‘designers’ we encountered. One was disabled, and he developed mechanical prosthetics for himself and people all over the world. Another was making a mechanical walking elephant for his sixtieth birthday, and another was living in the mountains and doing a lot of sculpture just for fun. I thought they were all good designers and living a very natural life. I love design too, and I want to…

British designers Lizzie Deshayes and Tim Butcher, who founded interiors house Fromental in 2005, have been travelling to China since the 90s. Some years ago, they were exploring the side streets of Wuxi, a tier-3 city near Shanghai now at the centre of China’s silk industry, when they stumbled upon a little bookshop. Inside this bookshop, they discovered tomes of classical Chinese illustrations,each as intriguing and beguiling as the last.This is where their love story with the Chinese aesthetics that regularly inform their work today began, and where they discovered the gloriously understated art of ink master Qi Baishi. The 19th-century artist’s elegant and playful gestural language resonated deeply with the pair, who continue to explore and infuse their work with China’s philosophically rich art history. Qi is particularly noted…

Design Anthology: Can you tell us about your time with Zaha Hadid and her influence on your work? Ma Yansong: Actually she was my professor at school. We did a design studio together and she saw my early work and then introduced me to a lot of contemporary art. She was the first architect that introduced me to art. I think many people think architecture is a profession with very closed boundaries but she was very open. By looking at art, we’re not only talking about beauty, history, society but also it makes you think you need to be honest with yourself. It’s very personal. Architecture can be very personal as well. Her early career wasn’t easy, but I don’t think she cared so much. As an artist, just to…

Despite being Central Java’s capital and largest city, Semarang still manages to fly just under the international tourism radar. Blame this on the city’s blue-blooded sisters Yogyakarta and Surakarta (better known as Jogja and Solo), who have been hogging the spotlight. Next to these two genteel cities, the port of Semarang comes off as a business hub and industrial centre. But it’s not without its charms and a vast cultural offering, from its UNESCO-listed Old Town to delectable cuisines to exquisite batiks. And more recently, a thriving cafe culture and dining scene. ‘Semarang’s local food and beverage scene has really flourished in the last three years,’ says architect Chrisye Octaviani of Bitte Design Studio. The Jakarta-based practice was founded by Octaviani and fellow architecture graduate Agatha Carolina in 2013 after…

I was asked to be the art director of MUJI in 2001, a time when the brand was already successful. At that time, my role was to explain the MUJI concept to the world. I was trying to find the best way to explain the concept and it was then that I found the word ‘emptiness’, and thought emptiness was the opposite of simplicity. Examples of simplicity first emerged in the Western context one hundred and fifty years ago as part of the modernist movement. The world of design had begun with an extremely flamboyant and decorative aspect. Kings were symbols of great power and in order to show their great power, decoration was used. Everything that was produced in those times was very decorative. In China, they created highly…

Louise Olsen, Stephen Ormandy and Elyse Graham may have taken different creative paths, but they have all ended up in the same place: resin. Olsen and Ormandy are the design duo behind well-known Australian brand Dinosaur Designs, and their story began with a market stall. ‘We took to the markets to make some money to support our art careers because we were just starting out,’ recalls Ormandy. The pair set up their stall next to pop artist Geoffrey Rose, who worked in resin. ‘We were making things in Fimo clay and hand painting everything. He told us to try resin and it worked, because you can reproduce it.’ Smooth-surfaced, chunky jewellery in a technicolour rainbow of shades came first, followed by graceful, organically shaped homewares. ‘We started something that no…

The iconic Paper Moon restaurant in Milan is a stalwart of the local dining scene and is known to all who frequent the city for its annual fashion and design weeks. First opened in 1977 by the Galligani family, the brand has since seen international success via a chain of far-flung franchises. Across the way from the restaurant’s original location on via Bagutta — at the heart of Milan’s fashion district — is the family’s latest addition, Paper Moon Giardino. Tucked away in a long-abandoned 200-year-old neoclassical palazzo built by architect Nicola Dordoni for a noble family, the space came with a sizeable garden and partially intact ceiling frescos. Enter Ed Ng and Terence Ngan of Hong Kong-based studio AB Concept. A few eyebrows raise, understandably. How did a design…

That the most exclusive accommodation in Bolivia is a caravan says as much about the country’s paucity of luxury lodgings as it does the thrilling off-road adventures in store for travellers to this surreal, landlocked nation high in the Andes. It’s an other-worldly setting for a retro-deluxe Airstream camper built for earthly comforts, while channelling a space capsule transported in from another galaxy. Getting to it involves hurtling in a 4x4 across the dazzling expanse of the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flats. Spread across some 11,000 square kilometres and at 3,600 metres above sea level, Bolivia’s greatest attraction is a blinding-white saline sea devoid of life — except for a few hapless llamas, lizards and rabbit-like viscacha stranded on Incahuasi, a bizarre island where cacti forests tower…

For Manila-based art patron Jam Acuzar, Bellas Artes Projects started five years ago as a ‘fun weekend thing’ that she did with an assistant. Today, the non-profit foundation is one of the region’s most exciting and experimental cultural platforms, with its headquarters in Bagac, Bataan and an outpost in upscale Makati, which is home to Manila’s rapidly growing gallery scene. The foundation’s success so far is due in no small part to the uniqueness of the Bataan site — on which Jam’s father, Jose Acuzar, has amassed no fewer than 45 antique Spanish-Filipino houses, known collectively as Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar — and the calibre of creative talent it has tended to attract. ‘For artists, the Las Casas site is full of possibilities,’ says Jam. She also notes her…

Set back from the chaos of a major road in central Dhaka is a low-slung 1950s pavilion that attracts little interest from passers-by. There is no grand entrance and the concrete and corrugated-brick pavilion, home to the University of Dhaka’s Faculty of Fine Arts, is hidden among the park-like grounds. Yet it is an architectural treasure — Bangladesh’s first modernist building — designed by Muzharul Islam, the nation’s most feted architect. Well-preserved and still in use today, the building and its surrounds host students in breezy classrooms flanked by a wall of windows or under wide verandas and shady trees, where they sketch and paint. A few minutes’ walk away, another of Islam’s buildings — the university’s library — was completed around the same time. Extensive renovations have, however, detracted…