AUGUST 2021
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CONTENTS AUGUST 2021
VOLUME 92 NUMBER 9
08.21
ON THE COVER In northern India, the roof of the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School by Diana Kellogg Architects is fitted with mosaic tiles made from broken recycled ceramic and serves as an outdoor learning space, a stage for perfor mances, or a play area. Photography: Vinay Panjwani.
features 84 A GOLDEN EGG by Rebecca Dalzell
The Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School, an oval sandstone building in northern India by Diana Kellogg Architects, brings education and sustainable design to the region’s daughters. 92 MOONSTRUCK by Mairi Beautyman
The lunar phases inspire Onion’s design of Sala Samui Chaweng Beach Resort on Ko Samui island in Thailand. 102 HOMETOWN HERO by Edie Cohen
RUTH MARIA MURPHY/LIVING INSIDE
Rottet Studio’s founder reimagines the historic Colombe d’Or hotel complex in Houston to honor her city’s past— and its glorious renaissance.
112 BREAKING WITH CONVENTION by Dan Rubinstein
At the Sonica head quarters near Dublin, Kingston Lafferty Design proves—and insists—that corporate can be far from staid. 120 LOFTY PURSUITS by Vera Sacchetti
In Milan, Tommaso Spinzi transforms an airy industrial space into his own apartment— and a showcase of the vintage, contemporary, and repurposed. 128 GETTING INTO SHAPE by Nicholas Tamarin and Annie Block
A new post-pandemic restaurant archetype emerges around the globe.
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CONTENTS AUGUST 2021
VOLUME 92 NUMBER 9
walkthrough 37 SEA AND BE SEEN by Jesse Dorris
rising giants 45 STARTING THE CLIMB by Mike Zimmerman
departments 19 HEADLINERS 25 DESIGNWIRE by Annie Block 28 PINUPS by Rebecca Thienes 33 CREATIVE VOICES Housework by Jesse Dorris
An exhibition at and by Egg Collective in New York critiques the “motherhood penalty,” which can negatively affect a woman’s professional life. 61 MARKET by Rebecca Thienes, Georgina McWhirter, and Nicholas Tamarin 79 CENTERFOLD Where the Wild Things Are by Colleen Curry
A gravity-defying canopy by Ross Barney Architects welcomes visitors to a Chicago zoo. 140 BOOKS by Stanley Abercrombie 141 CONTACTS 143 INTERVENTION by Mairi Beautyman
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e d i t o r ’s welcome
ready for takeoff Whoo-hoo! We are crossing the line again (actually, I have to change that to a gleeful plural: lines). Three continents plus multiple capitals, industrial centers, and iconic locales covering numerous industry sectors, all in live action. If our August coverage is a trustworthy forecaster, then September may prove a full-fledged back-to-school month. And, from the looks of it, back to everything else, too, including our fall back-to-work issue—and high time for it! Admittedly, it’s a bit early to count all our chickens, but we can venture that the rough sum of COVID effects is a wrap, and the info gleaned can be banked on. The Top 100 Giants survived. Our young guns got creamed, unsurprisingly, but are already growing a brand-new pair of sea legs. Resi exploded, and some of that category’s trends may well help our entire industry more than prosper moving forward. Work and play are changing literally by the minute, and last time I checked, change is where we all thrive. Health/wellness is front and center in everyone’s mind and is pretty much assured a capital position in every design category. We can’t yet hang a “post-” sign in front of “pandemic,” but I would advise everyone and the cat to get real busy, real fast. My team and I are right here, ready to show off your work and talents. Which brings me back to our August labor of love (also proving my above prose) and its innovation-, diversity-, and creativity-filled pages crossing all lines, divisions, and boundaries—as design ought always do. In Ireland, Kingston Lafferty Design takes the Sonica headquarters to the future with mirror, glass, and a shocking orange hue the firm describes as so strong you’ll see it from space. Speaking of the solar system, Onion’s design for Sala Samui Chaweng Beach Resort in Thailand was inspired by the moon, and I assure you that, once on that satellite, you’ll never want to get off. And then we take a delicious global tour of restaurants that are so yummy—design- and foodwise—they can only be described as out of this world. So jump on board; we are taking off! xoxo
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“We seek to bring something new to everything we do, always pushing ourselves to be better, to listen, to understand, to encapsulate the wants, needs, and desires of our clients while instilling an unexpected sense of fun, imagination, delight, and magic”
Kingston Lafferty Design “Breaking With Convention,” page 112 founder, creative director: Róisín Lafferty. firm site: Dublin. firm size: Eight designers. current projects: Barrington Hall restoration in Essex, U.K.; SISU Aesthetic Clinics throughout the U.S.; a luxury furniture collection. honors: Créateurs Design Award finalist. singer: At 25, Lafferty was accepted into the Dublin Gospel Choir. celebrity: She has performed with Outkast, Duran Duran, and Ennio Morricone. kingstonlaffertydesign.com
RUTH MARIA MURPHY
headliners AUG.21
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h e a d l i n e rs
Spinzi “Lofty Pursuits,” page 120 founder: Tommaso Spinzi. firm site: Milan and Carate Urio, Italy. firm size: Four architects and designers. current projects: Residences in Carate Urio and Vaduz, Liechten stein; a creative hub in St. Moritz, Switzerland. owns: In addition to cars, Spinzi collects motorbikes and Italian midcentury furniture. stars: He works with design, fashion, and automotive brands on campaigns and photo shoots both as creative director and model. spinzi.com
Onion “Moonstruck,” page 92 founder, design director:
Siriyot Chaiamnuay. founder, design director:
Arisara Chaktranon. firm site: Bangkok. firm size: 15 architects and designers. current projects: Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok; hotels throughout Thailand. on the job: Chaiamnuay worked for Zaha Hadid Architects in London early in his career. in school: Chaktranon gained an interdisciplinary master’s degree at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands. onion.co.th
Diana Kellogg Architects “A Golden Egg,” page 84 founder and principal:
Diana Kellogg. firm site: New York. firm size: Six architects and
designers. current projects: Kuchaman Fort
hotel in Nagaur, India, and Limi Valley School in Karnali, Nepal. honors: Rethinking the Future Architecture Award; Muse Design Award. in the air: Kellogg so loves the view from on high, she actually had flying lessons. on canvas: She’s an enthusiastic painter of birds and landscapes. dkarchitects.com
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Rottet Studio “Hometown Hero,” page 102 founding principal, president: Lauren Rottet, FAIA, FIIDA. design director, associate principal: Chris Evans. senior associate: Amber Lewis. firm sites: Houston; New York; Los Angeles. firm size: 75 architects and designers.
current projects: Vinson & Elkins office in Houston; Central Park Tower in New York;
Hotel Santa Teresa in Cartagena, Colombia.
honors: Interior Design Best of Year Awards; NYCxDesign Awards. island: Rottet looks forward to paddleboarding in St. Barts. mountains: Evans just returned from a week of hiking in the Rockies. lake: Lewis envisions a romantic getaway on a wooden boat in Como, Italy. rottetstudio.com
h e a d l i n e rs
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THE FUTURE OF WORK IN THE AGE OF COVID-19 In the future, we will neither need nor want designers and architects to work as they did in the 20th century.
Join Dr. Daniel Susskind—TED speaker, Economics fellow at Oxford University, and best-selling author—as he explores the future of work and outlines how we can all prepare to flourish in the decades to come. AUGUST 16, 2021 | 12PM ET REGISTER INTERIORDESIGN.NET / DESIGNHACKATHON
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the power of reinvention Talk about prescient. It was 2016 when artist Taryn Simon mounted An Occupation of Loss at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. It encompassed the presence and sounds of professional mourners inside tall reverberating columns designed in collaboration with Shohei Shigematsu of OMA, blending sculpture, architecture, and performance in an exploration of grief. Cut to 2018, when Simon visited Mass MOCA, the former factory campus turned museum in North Adams, to install different work but also scout outdoor sites in hopes of displaying her towers there someday. That day turned out to be right now. With COVID-19, artist and institution saw not only the timeliness of the installation, now called The Pipes, but also that it could serve the needs of the public in the wake of the pandemic. “Its simultaneous togetherness and isolation felt resonant in new ways,” curator Alexandra Foradas says. The columns are composed of pouredconcrete modules that had been disassembled and stored; the sections were strapped to a fleet of flatbeds, trucked to Massachusetts, and unloaded and slotted together on top of each other via crane, the column tops open to the air. The goal is for visiting musicians and community members to explore the acoustic spaces— to play, reflect, or just stargaze.
WILL MCLAUGHLIN/COURTESY OF TARYN SIMON
From top: The Pipes is an interactive installation by Taryn Simon on long-term view at Mass MOCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, that has been reincarnated from its previous appearance, 2016’s An Occupation of Loss at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. The 11 poured-concrete structures are 22 feet tall (instead of the 45 feet they were in NY), each with an 8-foot diameter, a built-in bench inside, and sonic properties similar to those of an upside-down well. AUG.21
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flights of fancy
From the quiet skies during the height of COVID to the busy ones of today, air travel, Forbes reports, recovered to, even surpassed at some points, pre-pandemic levels over the July 4th holiday. SFO Museum, a division of San Francisco International Airport, its 30 terminal galleries representing the first and only accredited museum located at an airport, is helping to ease the stress and strife of long
Clockwise from bottom: “Flight Patterns—Airline Uniforms from the 1960s–70s,” on view at Harvey Milk Terminal 1, Level 2, Departures, at SFO Museum in San Francisco through March 13, features dresses by Jean Louis and Mae Hanauer hats for United Air Lines in 1968. Emilio Pucci for Braniff International Airways, 1972. Dalton Apparel for TWA, 1968. Dresses by Evan-Picone’s Frank Smith and Borsalino hats for Pan Am, 1971. United flight attendants on a Douglas DC–8 to commemorate 40 years of their profession, 1970.
security lines and crowded baggage claims with “Flight Patterns—Airline Uniforms from the 1960s–70s.” Celebrating the opening this spring of the newest gallery in Harvey Milk Terminal, designed by Gensler, the 17 uniforms on display “represent some of the brightest and boldest items from our permanent collection—perfect for the ina ugural show in this exciting new space,” curator of exhibitions Daniel Calderon says. Bright and bold indeed—the outfits. . .and those who designed them. Streamlined and dashing in red and white are a pair of 1968 United Air Lines uniforms by French-born Jean Louis, who dressed the likes of Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe. Braniff International Airways went even bigger name, commissioning Emilio Pucci for uniforms in 1968 and again in 1972. Additional pieces are from Northwest Orient Airlines, Pan American World Airways, and Trans World Airlines. 26
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CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM: COURTESY OF SFO MUSEUM (4); COLLECTION OF UNITED AIRLINES ARCHIVES
d e s i g n w ire
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bright idea Fabio Hendry coats tubes in a baked-on 3-D printing by-product, yielding functional art that’s squiggly yet stonelike
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Hotel Object 02, 04, 01, and 03 sconces in copper tubing, waste nylon powder, and silica sand in Pink, Cream, Anthracite, and Aqua, and Native Object 13 table lamp in Sand by Hot Wire Extensions. Through Adorno, adorno.design
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p i n ups
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Abide in Pink and Abide Triangle in Blue and Yellow in marble and Maharam’s Checker cotton-polyester by Merve Kahraman. mervekahraman.com
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c r e at i v e voices
housework An exhibition at and by Egg Collective in New York critiques the “motherhood penalty,” which can negatively affect a woman’s professional life
ORI HARPAZ
From left, curator Tealia Ellis Ritter joins Egg Collective partners Crystal Ellis, Stephanie Beamer, and Hillary Petrie in their New York showroom.
In 2011, Stephanie Beamer, Crystal Ellis, and Hillary Petrie founded the New York–based design studio Egg Collective as a space to investigate the responsible potential of materials and blur boundaries between applied and fine art objects. Eight years later, after fashioning an airy showroom in the corner storefront of an historic 1893 TriBeCa building, Egg Collective has become a crucial resource in the movement to rethink the roles of female-identified artists and designers and remove gender barriers in their fields. The studio launched its “Designing Women” showcase in 2016, just as the #MeToo movement gathered force. For “Designing Women III: Mother,” which ran in the showroom this spring and is viewable online through Labor Day, the three partners worked with curator Tealia Ellis Ritter to take a hard look at the “motherhood penalty,” a term coined by sociologists for the disadvantages in pay, perceived competence, and benefits that mothers encounter in the workplace, particularly felt in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. With brilliant archival work by the likes of Gae Aulenti and Lucia DeRespinis juxtaposing new classics from Loretta Pettway Bennett, Carmen Winant, and others, the exhibition—like Egg Collective itself—is ample evidence of the extraordinary past, dazzling present, and auspicious future of those both creative and female. Beamer and Petrie tell us more about the show.
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How did “Designing Women” begin? Stephanie Beamer: The first iteration gathered mostly local, female designers and business owners with singular voices to highlight the work women were doing. We didn’t fully grasp how few of us were connecting with each other, not as fans but as a community that could support each other. We didn’t realize it would become a series. But the power of figuring that out led to the second iteration in 2018, which cast a wider net geographically and historically. Why focus on mother hood for 2021? Hillary Petrie: When women become mothers, their careers can fade out, and it’s an incredible loss
of creative capital and contribution to the world. We wanted to dig into finding those historical designers and artists who are mothers, because it’s not something that is in any way promoted. And the women we work with today have found that discovery process really interesting. What are some of your favorite pieces that turned up in this discovery process? SB: The Maria Pergay Drape cabinets—to think of a door in that way just blows my mind. Her ability to create otherworldly, maximalist objects and her attention to material really presses the boundaries of what they can do. HP: We’d only seen Lella Vignelli’s Metaphora table
in photographs before. It was very satisfying to place the base elements in different configurations and move them around. The table has inspired so many contemporary works today, so to see what I consider the original is very fun. Are you showing a few of your own pieces? SB: We have a new version of our Isla coffee table, which is composed of a stainless-steel base and a top in Madre Parola quartzite. When we saw that stone, we were like, ‘Yep.’ We also developed the Landry bookshelf for this show. Our clients asked us for a larger version of the 2019 unit, which the walnut couldn’t do, so we
iterated an adaptable wallmounted model. Are there any motherdaughter teams in the exhibition? HP: Rachel Cope of Calico Wallpaper brought her 6-year-old daughter, Willow, to do a site-specific installation of oil sticks across her linen wallpaper. They did it in a weekend. And
Konekt, a furniture and lighting studio in Philadelphia, is led by mother and daughter Helena and Natasha Sultan. Their Armor chain mail floor lamp is inspired by a pot scrubber. Helena’s mother was also an artist, and so in Konekt the creative practice is picked up. You hope it continues on. —Jesse Dorris
c r e at i v e voices From top: Luna Paiva’s bronze sculpture Yucca and Katrina Vonnegut’s Bow oak chair flanking Egg Collective’s 2021 wall-mounted version of the 2019 Landry bookcase. Maria Pergay’s Drape Cabinet A and B beneath Salte and Kick, prints by Hannah Whitaker.
NICOLE FRANZEN
Opposite, clockwise from left: A detail of Beads I, in peach pits, by Elizabeth Atterbury. The DV1 Divider by Kai Avent-deLeon backing Kelly Behun’s Charm table. Untitled photographs by Tahereh Fallahzadeh on Duet, a site-specific installation by Rachel Cope of Calico Wallpaper. Eva Zeisel’s Jug in front of Egg Collective’s custom rope curtain. A detail of Jean Pelle’s Lure Radiata sconce. Charlotte Perriand’s table, chairs, and stool with Loretta Pettway Bennett’s Flow Plans quilt. Renate Müller’s play sculpture Universe II: Shadows on the Moon and Carolyn Salas’s TBT hand-tufted wool and cotton hanging.
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NICOLE FRANZEN
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sea and be seen site: cannes, france A spiral stair leads to the second-floor stockroom at Forte_Forte, a new women’s fashion boutique by in-house designer Robert Vattilana.
DANILO SCARPATI
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Clockwise from top left: Brass display racks and fittings are custom. With treads and spiral enclosure painted the same color, the stair has a sculptural presence. The terrazzo-style stone com posite on the floor and walls is also on the cash wrap and planter. The corner boutique is steps from La Croisette, the famous beachfront promenade. The composite incorporates flecks of crystal.
In 2002, Italian siblings Giada and Paolo Forte launched a fashion collection of hand-finished Tshirts, designed in a few rooms of their mother’s house. Their warehouse was the garage; their studio faced the garden in which they’d played all day as kids. Some two decades later, Forte_Forte is a true force in fashion, with a headquarters in Venice and boutiques throughout Europe and Japan offering women’s clothing, accessories, and shoes. “Each of our stores creates a physical and metaphysical link between spaces and collections,” says the company’s art director (and Giada Forte’s life partner) Robert Vattilana. This is particularly true of the newest boutique, which opens this summer in Cannes, France. The 970-square-foot corner storefront—just a few steps
from La Croisette, the fabled seafront promenade— functions like an aquarium: Full-length white curtains frame three large windows, while a glass front door offers an enticing view of the spiral staircase leading to the second-floor stockroom. Vattilana painted the suspended treads and their semicircular enclosure a rich green to reference the nearby mountains; support hardware is finished with sunny brass. The lowest steps are cast concrete mixed terrazzo-style with white stones and what appear to be flecks of salt and deep-jade crystals. The same composite, in a matte finish, clads the floors. Milled with vertical lines for extra sheen, it also covers the principal walls. And it’s used for a large free-form planter and the massive cash wrap, the latter trimmed with brass that complements the twisting, vinelike display racks and fittings.
w a l k through
DANILO SCARPATI
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w a l k through
Clockwise from top left: Brassclad doors and crisp curtains define fitting rooms. The glass entry door frames the stair. Handmade ceramic tiles with a crackle finish cover walls. Floor-toceiling curtains backdrop the display unit, which incorporates a stand for a figurine.
Brass-wrapped doors conceal the fitting-room area, an intimate space lined with handmade ceramic tiles, their intense blue-green crackle finish inspired by the Mediterranean Sea. “The depth of the shade is reminiscent of the freshness and wonder of being immersed in marine worlds,” the designer notes, an effect heightened by aqua curtains and upholstery. Lush monstera plants evoke the Fortes’ childhood garden—but with a light touch. “We really wanted the purity of the lines and the poetics of the materials to do the talking,” Vattilana confides. And they do, eloquently.
DANILO SCARPATI
—Jesse Dorris
40
INTERIOR DESIGN AUG.21
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Bentwood of Chicago
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r i s i n g giants
starting the climb The headquarters of an alternative technology company in Austin, Texas, is by Revel Architecture & Design [10]. GARRETT ROWLAND
AUG.21
INTERIORDESIGN.NET
45
r i s i n g giants
We’ve been following our Interior Design Giants since the pandemic began, tracking their business trend data for signs of economic impact brought on by COVID-19. Our previous reports this year on the Top 100 Giants and Healthcare Giants did show some cracks, but the dam age was far less than expected. In some areas, those Giants even flourished. But the third in the group, the Rising Giants, the 93 largest firms behind the top 100, have had a harder time mid- and post-pandemic, but there are still a few bright spots to note. The initial stats: The Rising Giants logged $521 million in 2019 and forecast $547 million in 2020. But that, naturally, was pre-pandemic thinking. The actual 2020 number was $314 million. Fees fell particu larly short in their usually robust corporate office segment, as well as in hospitality, retail, and govern ment. A lot of these losses stand to reason: Remote workplaces and the decrease in travel changed everything. A tough blow, but 69 percent of these firms predict a 10 percent gain, to $340 million, for 2021 fees. Vaccination rates are increasing, states are removing restrictions, and on-site work is resuming. So, what will 2021 look like? The Rising Giants still expect corporate offices to make up more than 20 percent of business, expecting some growth in the technology space. About half the firms sur veyed expect no change or a dropoff in jobs surrounding coworking spaces, a possible signal that many still expect to stay home in 2021. But a significant gain, to the tune of 20 percent, is forecasted for healthcare-sector work. Furniture & fixtures/construction products were also hit hard in 2020, with totals falling from $18.5 billion in 2019 to $10.2 billion in 2020. The dollar split between F&F and con struction generally remains consis tent year to year, but even that shifted, with F&F spending rising
46
INTERIORDESIGN.NET
AUG.21
18 percent and accounting for a third of this pie. But the Rising Giants are optimistic going forward, with a forecast of $13.2 billion for 2021. The next set of data shows just how mad the scramble for work turned out to be in 2020. Total square foot age of all jobs fell from 301 million to 170 million, the lowest total in five years. But total jobs for 2020 came in at 12,039, an almost identi cal total from 2019’s 12,068. Firms were able to lock up whatever work they could. Four out of 10 of those jobs were new construction, 49 per cent renovation, and 10 percent re freshes of completed projects. For 2021, firms are predicting an uptick to 13,400 jobs. The Rising Giants got gritty and took on more smaller projects to keep their favorite staf fers intact. This loyalty to talent— key to a service industry—is likely to pay dividends for years to come. In terms of where the work was, it was mostly domestic; nine out of 10 projects were in the U.S. The firms seeing growth potential here drop ped slightly from 94 to 87 percent, but most agree that the Southwest has the best prospects. Internation ally, work decreased from 16 percent to 9 in 2020, and only a third of firms expect growth there, compared to 40 percent last year. This signals that these business trends are less about domestic vs. international and more about challenging conditions every where (restrictions on international travel, supply line stresses). If you’re a designer, you probably had no issues finding work, since design staff numbers only fell from 2,739 in 2019 to 2,600; in fact, re cruiting qualified staff has become much less of a challenge for the Ris ing Giants. Firms pulled in $177,000 in fees per design staffer, down 11 percent. But hourly billing rates didn’t change much: principal/partner was $250, project manager/director $173, designers $130, and other staff $100. More good news is that if you worked at a firm in 2020, you probably made the same amount you
did in 2019, as annual salaries stayed largely unchanged year to year. Another highlight is that although the Rising Giants continue to struggle with clients’ willingness to pay what a project is worth, they’re far more likely than last year to understand design value. But 2020 did show a rise in difficulty finding new clients, with closer to half of firms agreeing this is impacting the bottom line. Creating new business/diversifying has surged to the forefront of prac tice issues (44 percent last year, 58 this year). But the downturn has al lowed firms space to rethink strate gies. “I’m looking forward to inter nally examining the way we work,” Hayley Morgan Heider, associate at Looney & Associates, says. “After 15 years, I’m seeing a big shift in how work gets done.” Design Republic principal Barry Ludlow concurs: “The willingness of people, be they real estate brokers, owner’s reps, clients, to say, ‘This is all new. There are no experts. How can we do this better together?’ The sharing of informa tion and creation of thought leader ship has been amazing to watch. Hopefully, this collaboration makes us all better going forward.” While the numbers aren’t necessarily bright spots as we look backward, there are key learnings they tell us about the future of our Rising Giants. More than any other group, they skillfully adapted, they reframed, and they are preparing to thrive. Unsurprisingly, 87 percent of the Rising Giants reported that the un certain economy has become a busi ness issue, compared to 36 percent last year, a trend also seen in our Top 100 Giants. It’s the questions ev eryone’s asking. How much did the world change in 2020 and how many of those changes will be permanent, and how many will serve as roadblocks to recovering A&D businesses? No one knows. So we’re in a similar spot to a year ago: Lots of questions, wait and see, hope for the best. As the country continues to open up, with any luck, so will business prospects.
VISUALS BY CLAUDE
The Hotel Zena in Washington is by Dawson Design Associates [60].
AUG.21
INTERIORDESIGN.NET
47
r i s i n g giants WORK INSTALLED
RANK 2021
1
2
DESIGN FEES
VALUE $
SQ. FT.
(millions)
(millions)
(millions)
FIRM, headquarters, website
ID STAFF
RANK 2020 28
Architecture, Incorporated, Reston, VA, archinc.com
7.7
102.1
0.9
12
Aria Group Architects, Oak Park, IL, ariainc.com
7.5
105.0
0.9
75
3 Looney & Associates, Dallas, looney-associates.com 7.2 1300.0 4.0 38
29
4
Dyer Brown Architects, Boston, dyerbrown.com
7.1
198.0
7
5
Cooper Carry, Atlanta, coopercarry.com
7.0
148.5
2.8
32 5
6 Kenneth Park Architects, Boston, kennethpark.com 7.0 10.0 0.5 15
Beasley & Henley Interior Design, Winter Park, FL, beasleyandhenley.com
7.0
8
7
StudioSIX5, Austin, TX, studiosix5.com
6.9
275.0
9
Dalton Steelman Arias & Anderson (DSAA), Las Vegas, dsaainteriors.com
6.7
639.6
6.0
51
Cuningham Group Architecture, Minneapolis, cuningham.com
6.5
199
42
12
DesignAgency, Toronto, thedesignagency.ca
6.1
61
new
13
EDG Design, Novato, CA, edgdesign.com
5.7
30
31
14
Simeone Deary Design Group, Chicago, simeonedeary.com
5.6
26
11
15
Whitney Architects, Chicago, whitney-architects.com
5.6
40.0
4.0
35
27
16
Areen Design, London, areen.com
5.4
60.0
0.9
84
1
17
H. Hendy Associates, Newport Beach, CA, hhendy.com
5.4
150.0
5.0
32
33
18
Parisi Portfolio, Tampa, FL, parisiportfolio.com
5.3
2.0
0.2
14
83
19
Merriman Anderson/Architects, Dallas, merriman-maa.com
5.1
209.6
2.2
6
34
20
Davis, Carter, Scott, Tysons, VA, dcsdesign.com
5.1
119.1
17.0
19
52
21
Hendrick, Atlanta, hendrickinc.com
5.0
120.0
30
35
22
GH2 Architects, Tulsa, OK, gh2.com
4.8
23.0
25
87
23
RD Jones + Associates, Baltimore, rdjones.com
4.8
4.2
0.1
27
67
24
IEI Group, Philadelphia, ieigroup.com
4.7
250.0
0.7
16
97
25
Arris, a Design Studio, Baltimore, arrisdesign.com
4.6
2.2
27
56
26
BraytonHughes Design Studios, San Francisco, bhdstudios.com
4.6
16
62
27
HYL Architecture, Washington, hylarchitecture.com
4.5
134.4
0.6
19
55
28
Mojo Stumer Associates Architects, Greenvale, NY, mojostumer.com
4.5
82.0
0.3
13
73
29
Legat Architects, Chicago, legat.com
4.5
409.9
14.2
5
50
30
CHIL Interior Design, Vancouver, BC, childesign.com
4.4
31
Ziegler Cooper Architects, Houston, zieglercooper.com
4.3
186.8
33
38
32
Abel Design Group, Houston, abeldesigngroup.com
4.3
140.0
30
49
33
Faulkner Design Group, Dallas, faulknerdesign.com
4.3
8.7
27
new
34
HFS Concepts 4, Long Beach, CA, hfsc4.com
4.3
60.0
16
16
35
HBG Design, Memphis, TN, hbg.design
4.2
38
54
36
Rowland+Broughton Architecture/Urban Design/Interior Design, Aspen, CO, rowlandbroughton.com
4.1
340.0
0.4
23
53
37
Bar Napkin Productions, Phoenix, bnp-llc.com
4.0
110.0
11.0
14
51
38
Brereton Architects, San Francisco, brereton.com
3.9
148.0
0.7
22
5
39
Orsini Design Associates, New York, orsinidesignassociates.com
3.8
40.0
7
74
40
Figure3, Toronto, figure3.com
3.7
175.0
57
44
41
Premier Project Management, Dallas, premierpm.com
3.6
70.0
12
36
42
api(+),Tampa, FL, apiplus.com
3.6
18
82
43
//3877, Washington, 3877.design
3.6
23
72
44
Studio 11 Design, Dallas, studio11design.com
3.5
22
59
45
Array Architects, Conshohocken, PA, array-architects.com
3.5
368.0
2.8
14
12
46
Klawiter and Associates, Los Angeles, klawiter.com
3.5
4.0
1.0
17
78
47
Klai Juba Wald Architecture + Interiors, Las Vegas, klaijuba.com
3.4
48
JOI-Design, Hamburg, Germany, joi-design.com
3.3
49
Flick Mars, Dallas, flickmars.com
3.1
75.0
50
INTEC Group, Fairfax, VA, intecgroup.net
3.1
0.7
71.9
6.0
11.5
8
11
0.3
2.2
1.1
4.0
15
4.0
INTERIORDESIGN.NET
AUG.21
new
47 88
11
76
17
46
*NR - not reported 48
32
41
10 Revel Architecture & Design, San Francisco, revelers.com 6.5 217.8 1.7 43 648.1
23
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r i s i n g giants WORK INSTALLED
RANK 2021
51
FIRM, headquarters, website
DESIGN FEES
VALUE $
SQ. FT.
(millions)
(millions)
(millions)
ID STAFF
Spacesmith, New York, spacesmith.com
3.1
35.9
0.2
24
77
52
DAS Architects, Philadelphia, dasarchitects.com
3.1
300.0
0.8
800
81
53
Kamus + Keller Interiors | Architecture, Long Beach, CA, kkaia.com
3.0
3.0
20
60
54
Clive Wilkinson Architects, Culver City, CA, clivewilkinson.com
3.0
12
89
55
Studio DADO, Coral Gables, FL, studiodado.com
3.0
16
65
56
Parker-Torres Design, Sudbury, MA, parkertorres.com
3.0
23
70
57
Gallun Snow Associates, Denver, gallunsnow.com
2.9
58
C2 Limited Design Associates, Fairfield, CT, c2limited.com
2.9
79.4
5
93
59
Hixson Architecture, Engineering, Interiors, Cincinnati, hixson-inc.com
2.8
40.0
18
new
60
Dawson Design Associates, Seattle, dawsondesignassociates.com
2.8
61.0
17
100
61
Hatch Design Group, Costa Mesa, CA, hatchdesign.com
2.7
149.5
22
62
Design Directions International, Marietta, GA, ddi.cc
2.7
63
McCarthy Nordburg, Phoenix, mccarthynordburg.com
2.6
15.0
10
92
64
J. Banks Design Group, Hilton Head, SC, jbanksdesign.com
2.6
2.3
2.3
21
79
65
THW Design, Atlanta, thw.com
2.5
312.6
2.3
66
Philpotts Interiors, Honolulu, philpotts.net
2.5
16.0
67
HVS Design, Rockville, MD, hvsdesign.com
2.5
48.0
68
greymatters, Singapore, grey-matters.com
2.5
100.0
69
Felderman Keatinge + Associates, Culver City, CA, fkastudio.com
2.5
11
96
70
BG Studio International, New York, bgstudio.com
2.4
95
71
LMN Architects, Seattle, lmnarchitects.com
2.3
289.2
0.7
40
80
72
Thomas Hamilton & Associates, Richmond, VA, thomashamiltonassociates.com
2.3
90.0
1.5
12
new
73
Indidesign, Los Angeles, indidesign.com
2.2
35.0
10
91
74
RLF, Orlando, FL, rlfaei.com
2.2
52.0
33
new
75
DKOR Interiors, North Miami, FL, dkorinteriors.com
2.1
7.2
0.1
16
new
76
GGLO, Seattle, gglo.com
2.1
15.6
0.6
3
new
77
JRS Architect, Mineola, NY. jrsarchitect.com
2.0
45.0
0.4
15
71
78
CTC Design Studio, Atlanta, ctcdesignstudio.com
2.0
70.0
21
94
79
K2M Design, Cleveland, k2mdesign.com
1.9
95.0
47
new
80
SKB Architecture and Design, Washington, skbarch.com
1.7
4.6
16
99
81
Cetra Ruddy Architecture, New York, cetraruddy.com
1.5
8.3
33
new
82
Private Label International, Mesa, AZ, privatelabelintl.com
1.5
10.7
9
new
83
Seifert Murphy, Dallas, seifertmurphy.com
1.5
new
84
waldrop+nichols studio, Dallas, waldropnichols.com
1.4
new
85
JG NEUKOMM Architecture, New York, jgnarch.com
1.4
71.5
14
new
86
Crimson Design Group, Columbus, OH, crimsondesigngroup.com
1.1
2.9
0.9
9
new
87
Lubrano Ciavarra Architects, Brooklyn, NY, lcnyc.com
1.1
1.1
0.5
7
new
88
EDI International, Houston, edi-international.com
0.9
0.8
0.2
11
new
89
Cole Martinez Curtis and Associates, Culver City, CA, cmcadesign.com
0.9
25.0
0.4
6
new
90
Montgomery Roth, Houston, montgomeryroth.com
0.7
new
91
The Society, Seattle, welcometothesociety.com
0.6
92
Design Collaborative, Fort Wayne, IN, designcollaborative.com
0.6
new
93
Smael Leyva Architects, P.C., New York, ilarch.com
0.5
new
2.0
Firms with most fee growth IEI Group
$4,665,000
Parisi Portfolio
$5,300,000
GH2 Architects $4,800,000
INTERIORDESIGN.NET
AUG.21
84 new
17
69 new
3.2
17
new
1.5
35
61
4.0
182.9
new
16
0.6 2.2
0.7 0.8
208 9
*NR - not reported
50
RANK 2020
new
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Fees by Project Type
Median Annual Salary
Actual (2020) and Forecasted (2021)
Principals/Partners $155,500 Project Managers/ Directors $103,750
Designers $70,000
$11,154,535 $14,476,475
$208,886 $317,666
Transportation
Principals/Partners $250
Median Hourly Rate Other
$4,428,392 $3,312,798
Cultural
$7,227,470 $8,213,925
Government
$10,778,539 $11,526,723
Educational
$12,282,521 $11,980,531
Retail
$30,455,640 $34,353,266
Healthcare
$48,962,977 $53,640,106
$69,392,069 $73,834,563
Corporate Office
Residential
$118,229,713 $128,427,666
Hospitality
Other Interior Design Staff $50,000
Project Managers/Directors $173
Designers $130
Other Interior Design Staff $100
52
INTERIORDESIGN.NET
AUG.21
r i s i n g giants
“The slowdown gave “I hope we will us an opportunity to acknowledge the look critically at the lessons learned, work we do and the building on the clients we have, capabilities we’ve which will hopefully acquired in the help us build better past year.” perspectives to —James Simeo, prepare us for the CO Architects busier times.” —Brent Zeigler, Dyer Brown Architects
“This is a unique time in that we have high-level, macro changes happening all around us. The big questions: Will “There’s a renewed this pandemic be a desire for experiences catalyst for growth because we’re or just a temporary missing connection, shift? Are we going so design needs to to have these be able to respond conversations and to different situations, then just revert to offering flexible the practices, spaces that can processes, or support multiple systems from types of events.” before?” —Janet Whaley, —Balkaran Bassan, Cuningham Group Areen Design Architecture
Figure3 [40] designed the First Gulf office in Toronto.
STEVE TSAI
AUG.21
INTERIORDESIGN.NET
53
Project Numbers by Type 2020 Actual
2021 Forecasted
4,381
4,545
Hospitality
1,658
1,696
Retail
620
757
Government
447
748
Healthcare/ Assisted Living
1,380
1,558
Education
704
763
Residential
1,193
1,393
Transportation
188
373
Cultural
426
812
Other
1,045
764
Office
Most Admired Firms
Gensler (1) Yabu Pushelberg (2) Rockwell Group (3) Refresh previously completed projects 10.4%
New construction 40%
Project Location
Domestic 90.9%
Renovations 49.2% 54
INTERIORDESIGN.NET
International 9.4% AUG.21
The Seattle Asian Art Museum’s renovation and expansion is by LMN Architects [71].
ADAM HUNTER/LMN ARCHITECTS
Project Categories
Creating new business/Diversifying into new services/segments 58% Recruiting qualified staff 47.8% Training staff 37.7%
Practice Issues
Marketing firm’s capabilities 21.7% Recruiting diverse staff 17.4% Retaining staff 17.4% Keeping track of profits and expenses 8.7%
Retaining current clients 8.7%
Finding new clients 46.4%
Getting clients to understand design value 37.7%
Client’s willingness to pay what it’s worth 7.8%
Offering staff appropriate pay scale and benefits 8.7% Client’s willingness to take design risks 6.1%
Managing client expectation 29%
New competing business entities entering the market (i.e., coworking, CRE services, etc.)* 18.8%
Client Issues
From top: The Grand Hyatt at SFO in San Francisco is by BraytonHughes Design Studios [26]. Legat Architects [29] designed Mark Twain Elementary School in Bettendorf, Iowa.
Uncertain economy 87%
Business Issues
Earning appropriate fees 56.5% Dealing with clients’ increasing demands 37.7%
Managing vendors 7.2% Increasing interference from client’s consultants 5.8% Managing the growing needs for sustainable design 4.3%
Square Feet Installed r i s i n g giants
FROM TOP: PAUL DYER; AJ BROWN IMAGING
Creating cutting-edge design solutions 7.2%
interiordesign.net/risinggiants21 for more projects by these firms 56
INTERIORDESIGN.NET
AUG.21
Forecast 150,700,460
The second installment of the two-part annual business survey of Interior Design Giants comprises the second largest firms ranked by nterior design fees for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2020. The first 100 Giants firm ranking was published in January. Interior design fees include those attributed to: 1. All types of interiors work, including commercial and residential. 2. All aspects of a firm’s interior design practice, from strategic planning and programming to design and project management. 3. Fees paid to a firm for work performed by employees and independent contractors who are “full-time staff equivalent.” Interior design fees do not include revenues paid to a firm and remitted to subcontractors who are not considered full-time staff equivalent. For example, ample, certain firms attract work that is subcontracted contracted to a local firm. The originating firm may collect all the fees and retain a management or generation fee, paying the remainder to the performing firm. The amounts paid to the latter are not included in fees of the collecting firm when determining its ranking. Ties are broken by the dollar value of products installed. Where applicable, all percentages are based on responding responding Giants, not their total number. The data was compiled and analyzed by Interior Design and ThinkLab.
Actual 169,843,523
methodology
the 37th annual
honoring design professionals who have contributed to the growth and prominence of the interior design field
it’s on! in person. 12.08.2021 | New York City
Submit your products, projects + people by September 8 at boyawards.com
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story time
DESPINA
ARGIA
Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto of Milanese multidisciplinary studio Studiopepe join forces with French textile brand Élitis for Archiutopia, an outdoor fabric collection inspired by the radical architecture depicted in Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino’s seminal novel from 1972. The six patterns feature repeating struc tural elements—stairs, doors, buildings— organized in ever-changing geometries. Argia, for example, looks like a brick wall, Zoe, a vertiginous cacophony of skyscrapers. Despina is more gestural, while Eutropia resembles a city that was never completed. The fabrics, largely solution-dyed polyester blends, are antibacterial, anti-UV, and resistant to chlorine, water, and mold. elitis.fr
EUTROPIA ZOE
market
MATTIA GREGHI
edited by Rebecca Thienes text by Georgina McWhirter, Nicholas Tamarin, and Rebecca Thienes
AUG.21
INTERIOR DESIGN
61
TIM LENZ
“Interior design has been a source of inspiration for many of my collections over the years”
62
INTERIOR DESIGN
AUG.21
m a r k e t collection
threading the needle Christian Siriano is a classic multi-hyphenate. The latest venture of the go-to dressmaker of First Lady Jill Biden and host of Bravo’s So Siriano is Siriano Interiors, which has released its inaugural furniture collection in partnership with 1stDibs. The nine sculptural pieces mix bouclé, black lacquer, red oak, and maple. “They’re a combination of things I grew up with,” Siriano says. “My favorite candy as a kid were gumdrops, which translated into the Lily stool. And some of the shapes were derived from items my mother had around our home. My favorite chair in the collection, the Lula, for example, was inspired by a dress. It’s all very full circle!”
CHRISTIAN SIRIANO
LULA
1stdibs.com.
LILY
TIM LENZ
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runway to walkway Fashion and interiors collaborate yet again. Eton, a Swedish maker of stylish men’s shirts, and Scandi-Moroccan textile company Sëbou are upcycling rolls of sample fabrics used in the development of Eton clothing into the Eton x Sëbou col lection of handmade rugs. Each roll consists of over 1,000 color and pattern combi nations that are shredded into long fabric pieces and hand-knotted in Morocco to form unique rugs. Sëbou already purchases scrap fabric in bulk from Ghana, Morocco, and Sweden for its existing Cherouitte line. “Our focus has always been to make one-of-akind, timeless pieces from recycled materials,” Sëbou creative director Omar Marhri says. Now, Eton has a hand in sustainability, too. sebou.se ETON X SËBOU ETON HACIENDA SHIRT, 2017
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ELIN JENJILA FRANZÉN
“I started Sëbou trying to challenge what has been, mixing old with new, Swedish with Moroccan”
T H I S
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N E O
This is neo. D-Neo is a bathroom revolution: great design at an attractive price. The complete bathroom series by Belgian designer Bertrand Lejoly inspires joy through its vast selection of unique washbasins, high-quality furniture, and matching bathtub in the perfect size. With its limitless, style-adaptable options, D-Neo meets the needs of daily life - for everyone. www.duravit.us and pro.duravit.us
D-Neo
DIN
“Its mathematical essence is centered on the concept of modularity” m a r k e t collection
a modern mosaic
Precision and history are at the heart of Konstantin Grcic’s DIN tile collection for Mutina. An acronym for Deutsches Institut für Normierung (German Institute for Standardization), it consists of four wall and floor sizes that follow a precise modular logic: The largest format is 6-inch square; cutting that in half creates the next smaller size, 3-by-6 inches, all the way down to 1 ½-by-3-inches, the smallest. The line was inspired by Hansaviertel, a Berlin neighborhood rebuilt post World War II by such architects as Walter Gropius, Arne Jacobsen, and Oscar Niemeyer, where the modernist apartment blocks follow a rigorous grid. The tile comes in eight enamel colors, matte or gloss finish, and with an additional six complex “special pieces” for corners and trim. mutina.it
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RECLAIMED PLASTIC FURNITURE CONNECTOR BY MODOS FURNITURE NYCxDESIGN’s Breakout Grant is an annual program conceived to help create a thriving and more inclusive future for NYC through great design. Honored as the winner of the 2021 Breakout Grant, Modos Furniture is a Brooklyn-based design studio focused on developing products with a positive societal and ecological impact. The studio’s new connector, made with recycled plastic material, will enable those with limited resources to incorporate a user-friendly furniture system into home and work spaces that is environmentally sustainable and socially conscious.
2021 RECIPIENT
For more information visit info.nycxdesign.com/breakout-grant
For the opportunity to be a lead supporter of the next iteration of The Breakout Grant, please contact NYCxDESIGN at nycxdesign.org.
Supporting Partners
m a r k e t scape
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product Terra. standout The play of light on archi tecture in the Mediterranean region inspired the A. Vetra founder’s rug, handtufted and -carved in Tencel, linen, and New Zealand wool. carpetedition.com
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product Oval Komos. standout The studioLATOxLATO founders composed a stack of stoneware slabs into a striped, pyramidal base that supports an almost 9-foot-long ceramic tabletop. terzadimensione.com
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Sharon and Alexander Harris of Harris & Harris
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product Chalford. standout Italian pop art influenced the forms of the couple’s table lamps, sconce, and pendant fixture, all in slipcast terra-cotta with a white ombré glaze. harrisharrislondon.co.uk
Fred Rigby for Another Country
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product Modern Farmhouse. standout With a nod to Jean Ròyere, the solid-oak upholstered occasional chair takes its form from the grain silos of Dorset, U.K., where the Fred Rigby Studio founder grew up. anothercountry.com
PRODUCT 1: MATTIA AQUILA
Virginia Valentini and Francesco Breganze de Capnist for TerzaDimensione
Giulia Ferraris for Carpet Edition
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Hilary Gibbs and Georgie Smith of Livden
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product Puzzle Piece. standout The step-sister duo based in Southern California uses 65 percent recycled materials in their bold 12-inchsquare terrazzo floor tiles, the linklike pattern shown in Rouge. livden.com
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Laetitia De Moor and Patrick van Roy of Tilt
Francesco Balzano for Giobagnara
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product Ossicle. standout The marble, suede, and leather trays inspired by ancient Roman game Knucklebones are part of a line that in cludes seating and tables. Through the Invi sible Collection. theinvisiblecollection.com
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product Spoutnik Blanc. standout The plastic dyeing cones used by textile atelier Toyine Sellers have been repurposed by the design studio into a floor lamp as well as a pendant fixture and a sconce. tiltbrussels.com
Kim Colin and Sam Hecht for Takt
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product Sling. standout With a linen canvas hammock draped between lacquered oak supports, the lounge chair by the Industrial Facility founders is lighter and more mobile than standard versions. taktcph.com
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m a r k e t collection
BAMBOU
“There’s an ethos of simplicity, warmth, and authenticity”
CLOCHE
stars of the show Trust a former set designer to produce seriously eye-catching furnishings. A decade ago, Gabriel Abraham founded Atelier de Troupe with bold pieces referencing the austerity of the Bauhaus with notes of vintage Italian and French glamour. New to the Los Angeles studio’s stable is Château, a series of mahogany or walnut tables and chairs that investigate the modularity of the hexagon. For seating, the faceted design is complemented by detachable cushions available in COM; for the side and cocktail tables, there’s an inset bronze, glass, or stone surface. There are new sconces, too: Cloche, in glass and brass, and linear Bambou, made of one or many glass tubes. atelierdetroupe.com 70
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CHÂTEAU
The Bauhaus men tend to get much of the spotlight. Author and interior designer Nina Freudenberger BENITA seeks to remedy that by looking to the women of the movement for her four-piece line of flatweave and hand-knotted rugs for lifestyle brand Lulu and Georgia. Each, in earthy cotton-wool and available in seven sizes, is named after and reflects the style of a Bauhaus doyenne. There’s Marli, a color-block pattern reminiscent of the weavings by Marli Ehrmann, and Benita, an abstract mosaic akin to artwork by Benita Koch-Otte, as well as other patterns representing Anni Albers and Otti Berger. “Not only is their work objectively beautiful,” Freudenberger says, “but these women also led the way through creativity and innovation.” luluandgeorgia.com
feminine mystique m a r k e t collection NINA FREUDENBERGER
“These artists had incredible focus and passion” MARLI
NEOCON.COM
CHICAGO
OCT 4-6, 2021
DESIGN
ANEW NeoCon® is a registered trademark of Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc.
NEOCON OCTOBER 4-6
TOGETHER THIS OCTOBER, WE DESIGN ANEW
CONNECT WITH COLLEAGUES OVER LUNCH OR DRINKS AT THEMART’S NEW RIVER PARK, PRESENTED BY HAWORTH
DANISHDESIGN MAKERS
NeoCon returns in-person this fall reuniting the industry to share ideas, products, knowledge and inspiration necessary to move forward toward our next new normal and successfully Design Anew. Since 1969 NeoCon has served as the commercial design industry’s leading platform and annual gathering place—and NeoCon 2021 will be a particularly important and productive event. This is an ideal moment to re-connect (directly) with each other, see and experience new products, discuss the power of design and the future of our shared spaces, and of course, celebrate. A number of measures and protocols will be in place to address any necessary city, state or CDC guidelines in October and to provide everyone with a high level of comfort attending NeoCon 2021.
danishdesign MAKERS (DDM), an alliance of designers with different backgrounds, but all with strong ties to the Danish Design culture, will be debuting the exhibition IN UNION at NeoCon in October. IN UNION will showcase DDM’s approach to Danish design solutions in a post-pandemic world, focusing on their belief in openness, collaboration and community.
Visit the Planning Page on NeoCon.com for details.
METROPOLIS SUSTAINABILITY LAB
REGISTER BY SEPTEMBER 1 TO RECEIVE YOUR BADGE BY MAIL
OCTOBER 4-6 THEMART, CHICAGO REGISTER ONLINE NEOCON.COM
THE NEOCON HUB
NeoCon registrants will also be automatically registered for the "NeoCon Hub", which will provide an online connection to NeoCon 2021 with virtual access to exhibitors, floor plans, CEUs, keynote livestreams and in-platform networking with the NeoCon community. Come join us at Metropolis’s Sustainability Lab at NeoCon, an exhibit and destination to help you take the next step towards making a positive impact on people and planet. At the Lab, you’ll learn about the most innovative products and dive into new initiatives and resources to help advance your work—including a new toolkit to help designers address climate change. VISIT NEOCON.COM TO REGISTER AND FIND DETAILS ON EXHIBITORS, PROGRAMMING, SPECIAL FEATURES, HEALTH/SAFETY MEASURES AND HOTELS
2021 PROGRAMMING
CEU EDUCATION
Today’s rapidly changing world presents major disruption and, at the same time, tremendous new opportunity. There is so much to discuss, evaluate, and learn. NeoCon is thrilled to offer the NeoCon community world-class speakers and educational programs exploring today’s most relevant topics.
This year’s CEUs will be offered virtually: live online during show dates and also available on demand for 30 days after. Registrants will choose from 30 sessions running across 6 tracks: Workplace, Healthcare, Sustainability, Wellness, as well as two Design Skills tracks. Details and registration will be available on NeoCon.com starting August 9.
Daily keynotes will be presented onsite and also available via livestream.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 11AM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 11AM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 11AM
JEANNE GANG, FOUNDING PRINCIPAL AND PARTNER, STUDIO GANG
FRANS JOHANSSON, AUTHOR AND CEO OF THE MEDICI GROUP
JACKIE KOO, FOUNDING PRINCIPAL, KOO
Jeanne Gang, FAIA, is the founding principal and partner of Studio Gang, an international architecture and urban design practice headquartered in Chicago. Known for a distinctive approach that expands beyond architecture’s conventional boundaries, she creates striking places that connect people with their communities and the natural environment. Her diverse portfolio across the Americas and Europe includes an expansion to the American Museum of Natural History; a new United States Embassy in Brazil; and the Global Terminal at O’Hare International Airport. A MacArthur Fellow and a Professor in Practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Jeanne has been named one of TIME Magazine’s most influential people in the world. Her studio’s most recent monograph, Studio Gang: Architecture, was published by Phaidon last Spring.
An author, entrepreneur, and acclaimed international speaker, Frans Johansson has inspired readers and audiences worldwide with his ideas on leadership and success, innovation, and D&I. He is the Founder and CEO of The Medici Group, an enterprise solutions firm that empowers organizations to leverage diversity and inclusion to build and sustain high performing teams. Johansson has advised executive leadership at Fortune 500 companies such as Disney IBM, Nike, and Mastercard. He is author of two books -“The Medici Effect” and “The Click Moment”– the former of which has been translated into 21 different languages and has become the definitive book on how diversity and inclusion drive innovation. Raised in Sweden by his AfricanAmerican/Cherokee mother and Swedish father, Johansson has lived all his life at the intersection. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from Brown University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.
Jackie Koo, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP, IIDA, is the Founding Principal of KOO, an integrated Architecture and Interior Design practice based in Chicago, Illinois. KOO’s diverse portfolio is grounded in hospitality and the desire to create a specific identity for each project. KOO recently completed the Sable Hotel, located on Chicago’s historic Navy Pier, providing both architectural and interior design services for the much-anticipated development, and is currently designing a new esports stadium to be located on Chicago’s near south side. Jackie received her undergraduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Chicago and her Master of Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2020 she was named “Chicagoan of the Year in Architecture” by the Chicago Tribune.
Presented by
Presented by
Presented by
NEOCON OCTOBER 4-6
WHAT’S NEXT FROM THE INDUSTRY WHO’S WHO Spanning 8 floors and nearly 1 million square feet of exhibition space, NeoCon 2021 will showcase game-changing products and services from both leading companies and emerging talent across a spectrum of use: Workplace, Healthcare, Hospitality, Retail, Residential, Education, Public Space and Government.
123 2020 3form 9to5 Seating A A. Rudin Access Product Incorporated Aceray LLC Aircharge AIS Allermuir Allsteel ALUR Amazing Magnets American Biltrite AMQ Amtico Anacara Company Andreu World Ann Sacks Antoniolupi and Ernestomeda Chicago APCO Sign Systems Aquafil USA Arcadia Arc-Com Armstrong Flooring Arpa USA - FENIX Arper Artisan Electronics Group Artistic Tile Artome Oy ASM Modular Systems Inc. Aspecta ASSA ABLOY Atelier Gary Lee AtlasMasland AVA by Novalis Innovative Flooring B B&T Design Baker Furniture Baresque Barlow Tyrie Bauteam German Kitchen Tailors BBF Beaufurn Behr Paint Company Benjamin Moore Benjamin Moore & Co. Bentwood of Chicago Bernhardt Design Bestcase Bestuhl Bestview International BIFMA Bobrick Washroom Equipment Boss Design Bradley Corporation Brentano Bright Group, The Brizo and Delta Chicago Brown Jordan Burgeree BuzziSpace C C.A.I. Designs Cabot Wrenn Camira Fabrics
Carlisle Wide Plank Floors Carnegie Carolina CARVART Castelle by Tropitone Century Furniture CF Stinson CFGroup / Falcon / Thonet / Shelby Williams Chen-Source Inc. Christopher Peacock Claridge Products Clarus Coalesse Codelocks, Inc. Community Concertex Configura Inc. Connectrac ConSet America Construction Specialties Inc Cowtan & Tout Crossville, Inc. Cumberland Furniture D Dacasso Dacor Kitchen Theater DARRAN Furniture Dauphin David Sutherland Showroom Davis Furniture Dawon Chairs Co., Ltd. de Giulio kitchen design deAurora Decca Contract DEDON Design Pool LLC Designerie Designers Linen Source DesignTex DewertOkin Technology Group Co., Ltd. Dfm Digilock Dinoflex Group LP Divine Flooring Division Twelve DOM Interiors Dorel Business Dreamwalls Innovative Glass Products DuoBack Co., Ltd DuPont E Ebanista Ebel, Inc. ECi Software Solutions ECONYL Edelman Leather EF Contract Egan Visual Elaine Smith Emeco emuamericas, llc Encore Seating Enwork ERG International ERGOBOND Ergotech Solutions Inc. ESI
Ethnicraft Everform Molded Products Evolve Furniture Group Exquisite Surfaces F Fabricut FENIX Fermob USA Ferrell Mittman / Avery Boardman Fi Interiors FI.MA Flash Furniture FLEXCO Floortex Limited Formaspace Formica Corporation Forward Space : Studio Framery FreeAxez, LLC FSR Inc. Fuego Furniture FUNC G Gaggenau, Thermador, Bosch Experience & Design Center Galley, The Gantner Technologies Gauzy USA George Smith Ghent Global Furniture Group Gloster Furniture GMi GRAFF - art of bath design center Great Openings Green Hides Leather Studio Gressco Ltd. Gross Stabil Corp. Groupe Lacasse Gunlocke H HALCON Hanamint / Alu-Mont Harvest Link International Pte Ltd. HAT Collective Haworth Haworth Collection HBF & HBF Textiles Hemp Black Hickory Chair Hightower Hirsh Industries HMTX Industries HNI Holland & Sherry Hollman Holly Hunt Homecrest Outdoor Living HON Company, The House of Rohl Studio HOWE Hushoffice I IDEON igus Inc. Indiana Furniture Innovant
Innovations In Wallcoverings Inpro Integra Intensa Interface Interior Crafts Invision Italcer Itoki Corporation J J. Marshall Design J+J Flooring Group JANUS et Cie Japan Carpet Co., Ltd. Jasper Group Jean de Merry Jensen Outdoor Jiecang Linear Motion John Rosselli & Associates K K & B Galleries, Ltd. Kährs Flooring Kaidi LLC Kannoa Katonah Architectural Hardware Katonah Architectural Hardware, Lighting, Furniture KEHONG Keilhauer Kettler USA KFI Studios KI Kinetex Kingsley Bate Knú Contract | La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture Koncept Technologies Inc. Kravet / Lee Jofa / Brunschwig & Fils Krug Kwalu L Laguna Tecstone Lane Venture Lapchi Rug Design Studio La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture Lesro Industries LEVOLOR LG Hausys America, Inc. LINAK Lloyd Flanders, Inc. Loctek, Inc. Loftwall LOGICDATA GmbH Luna Textiles Luum M Magnuson Group Mallin MAMAGREEN Mannington Commercial Mantra Inspired Furniture Marshall Furniture, Inc. Martin Brattrud Mayer Fabrics Merkt GmbH Metro Light & Power LLC Metroflor
Visit NeoCon.com for exhibitor updates.
Michael - Cleary Middleby Residential / Viking Range / La Cornue Miele Experience Center Milliken Mockett Modernfold, Inc. Modular International Inc. Modular Millwork, LLC Moen Design Center Mohawk Group Momentum Textiles & Wallcoverings Monogram Design Center Chicago Montisa Muraflex Mute N NappaTile Narbutas USA, Inc. National Lighting Corp. naughtone New Style Cabinets Nienkämper Nightingale Corp. Nook Nook Pod Noure’s Oriental Rug, Inc. Nucraft NxtWall Architectural Walls O OE Electrics Oeveo Office Furniture Distributors Offices to Go OfficeSource OFS Ojmar US Okamura Olee Creative OM Seating Orangebox Osborne & Little OW Lee Owl Furniture P Pallas Textiles Panaget Paris Ceramics Patcraft Patio Renaissance by Sunlord Leisure Products Patra Paul Ferrante Pavilion Pedrali Peter Pepper Products Phillip Jeffries Pindler Poggenpohl Pollmeier POLYWOOD Porcelanosa Tile / Kitchen / Bath / Hardwood Portica by Sunvilla PPG Prismatique Designs Ltd. Procedo Flooring ProjectMatrix
PS Furniture Q QOR360 Quadrille Wallpapers and Fabrics, Inc. R Rakks Architectural Shelving and Hardware Ratana International Regal Castors Regency, Inc Richard Norton Gallery, LLC Rigidized Metals Corporation Rim Romo Room B Roppe Corporation RT London S Safco SAMHONGSA Co., Ltd. Samuel & Sons Sandler Seating SBFI Scalamandré Scandinavian Spaces Scanomat Scavolini Store Chicago Schluter Systems L.P. Schumacher / PFM Scott Group Studio Seaside Casual Sectis Design Sedia Systems Segis USA Senator Shade Store, The Shaw Contract Sherwin-Williams Sherwin-Williams Color Studio Silen OÜ SilentLab s.r.o. Sitmatic SitOnIt / IDEON Six Degrees Flooring Surfaces Sixinch Skyfold Skyline Design-Architectural Glass Slalom S.r.L. SMEG USA Smith & Fong Co. Plyboo Smith System SnapCab Snowsound-USA Source International South Sea Outdoor Living Spacesaver Corporation Spec Furniture Stark Carpet Corporation Steel Cabinets USA Steelcase Steelcase Learning and Steelcase Health Steelcase WorkCafe Studio Snaidero Chicago Studio TK Stylex Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove Showroom Summer Classics & Gabby
Sunbrella Contract Sunset West SurfaceWorks Surfacing Solution Symbiote Symmetry T Tai Ping | Edward Fields Takeform Tarkett Teknion Teknoflor Telescope Casual Furniture, Inc. Textus Thibaut Wallcoverings, Fabrics and Fine Furniture Three Birds Casual Three H TiMOTION Tonon TOOU LTD Trinity Furniture, Inc. Tropitone Furniture True Residential Tuohy Furniture TUUCI U U.B. Klem Furniture Ultrafabrics V Valo Versa Concept LLC via seating Vicostone Virco VividBoard VS America W Waddell Waterworks Watson Furniture Watson Smith - Chilewich - Doris Leslie Blau Wieland Willow Tex, LLC Winston Furniture Wintex Co. Ltd. Wired Custom Lighting Wolf-Gordon Woodard Woodlook Wood-Mode Lifestyle Design Center Workrite Ergonomics X X-Chair Z Zgo Technologies Zip Water Zoffany
Design Organization Partners
NEOCON OCTOBER 4-6
2021 Best of NeoCon enters 2021 with a fresh new approach. Held annually since 1990, Best of NeoCon is the official awards program for NeoCon honoring outstanding products from NeoCon exhibiting companies. This year’s awards program will feature entries in 58 product categories evaluated by a diverse jury of leading architects, designers, specifiers and facility managers with expertise spanning commercial, healthcare, institutional and hospitality sectors. Follow us on social for entrant highlights, juror profiles, and a showcase of this year’s winners. #BestofNeoCon2021
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architects, engineers, landscape architects, and construction workers led by Ross Barney Architects design principal Carol Ross Barney
A gravity-defying canopy by Ross Barney Architects welcomes visitors to a Chicago zoo
where the wild things are
3,960 SQUARE FEET
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THREE YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT 4
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“Passing through the dappled light at the gateway, you enter a new world”
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COURTESY OF ROSS BARNEY ARCHITECTS
1. At Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, a new pavilion by Ross Barney Architects is topped by a dramatic, sunlight-refracting canopy, which, in the schematic phase, was imagined with balsa dowels layered over a conceptual study model. 2. During design development, its structural diagram was rendered with SketchUp, Illustrator, and Photoshop. 3. The same software was used for the panel studies to determine potential patterns for the modules, ranging from 15 to 30 feet tall, composing the canopy. 4. On-site, a crane installed the modules, which were prefabricated of laser-cut steel and painted olive green. 5. The modules also form the zoo’s entry gate, their long, slanted voids intentional, to discourage visitors from climbing them. 6. Outside what becomes the pavilion’s information desk, the canopy casts leaflike shadows on the aggregate base, which is eventually covered by permeable brick pavers.
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The 9,500-square-foot pavilion, officially the Searle Visitor Center, includes administrative offices, a lounge, and public restrooms, as well as a bouldered courtyard by fellow local firm Jacobs/Ryan Associates, helping to update the 150-year-old Lincoln Park Zoo, one of the last in the country with free admission.
KENDALL MCCAUGHERTY/HALL+MERRICK PHOTOGRAPHERS
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View the entire collection at www.formica.com
aug21
Inspiration is all around
WISON TUNGTHUNYA/W WORKSPACE
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a golden egg The Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School, an oval sandstone building in northern India by Diana Kellogg Architects, brings education and sustainable design to the region’s daughters
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text: rebecca dalzell photography: vinay panjwani
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Previous spread: Oval forms representing female strength define the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School in the Thar Desert near Jaisalmer, India, by Diana Kellogg Architects. Below: Solar panels on a section of the roof provide power while parapets help protect against prevailing desert winds. Opposite top: Local craftsmen, many of them the girls’ fathers, used minimal machinery to hand-carve the sandstone build ing, including the niches for water fountains. Opposite center: A classroom’s custom teak doors and desks, rattan pendantfixture shade, and woven charpai benches were made locally with Indian materials. Opposite bottom: Employing tradi tional rain-collecting techniques, the courtyard acts as a catchment basin, storing water in an underground cistern.
This year, many girls from rural areas around Jaisalmer, a city in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, will attend school for the first time. They will put on blue uniforms and ride a bus to the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School, a 10-classroom structure in the Thar Desert. In a region where female infanticide and child marriage are shockingly common, it is remarkable that a school for girls even exists. Yet the building, developed by the American nonprofit organization Citta (Sanskrit for consciousness) and designed by Diana Kellogg Architects, transcends its function. Made almost entirely of hand-carved sandstone blocks, it supports local craftsmen—including some of the girls’ fathers—and proves that heritage architecture can take an elegant modern form. Principal Diana Kellogg had never been to India when she met Citta’s founder Michael Daube and heard about his plan to build a school in western Rajasthan. Since establishing her New York firm in 1992, having cut her teeth at Gluckman Tang Architects and Selldorf Architects, Kellogg had spent most of her career on high-end residential work and was looking for a change. “I just asked Michael, ‘Do you need an architect?’” she recalls. “I hadn’t done anything like this, but we were very much in sync.” Daube had interviewed other architects but found them too headstrong for a project that would require sensitivity to as well as engagement with the local culture. “I was looking for someone who could respond to the environment,” he says. “Diana listened.” Kellogg signed on to work pro bono and has visited India 17 times since 2015. Daube needed the project to make both a humanitarian and a visual impact. Citta’s other initiatives—schools and hospitals in India, Nepal, and Guatemala—are too remote for donors to visit; Jaisalmer is somewhat on the tourist map. “This was the first place where we could hold events,” he says. “It needed to be a real
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showpiece.” The girls’ school is part of the planned Gyaan Center, which will include a women’s cooperative and a textile museum, both of which Kellogg also designed. A local entrepreneur donated the site, outside Jaisalmer in the village of Kanoi. The school will serve more than 400 Hindu, Muslim, and other girls in kindergarten through the 10th grade who would otherwise receive little education; the female literacy rate in Jaisalmer is just 36 percent. “We wanted to show people that their daughters are valuable, not a burden,” Kellogg says. The architect began by learning as much as she could about the region, visiting schools and meeting families. “You have to listen to the community, or they won’t send their girls,” she says. “I tried to find out what would make the girls feel safe and comfortable, and what would resonate with them.” Nicknamed the Golden City, Jaisalmer is known for its sandstone buildings, including a magnificent 12th-century fort that dominates the landscape. Kellogg was particularly struck by the ornate decorative carvings. “The craftsmen treat stone like butter,” she notes. “It’s like a miracle to watch.” Yet stone carving is a dying art that young people tend to eschew as a relic of another era. “Our goal was to show that you could use this craft and these techniques in modern ways,” Kellogg says. She conceived an oval sandstone structure that would showcase the artisans’ expertise. The oval is a symbol of female strength across cultures, while its curves evoke the ramparts of Jaisalmer Fort. “There are many curvilinear stone structures in the area,” Daube observes. “Diana kept that integrity but infused it with a crisp, contemporary feel.” The design factors in the extreme weather conditions of the desert, where temperatures range from 40 to 120 degrees. Like all schools in the region, it centers around a courtyard, which Kellogg plans to shade
Left: Used as a playground, the roof is topped with mosaic tiles made of recycled ceramic. Right: Tradi tional jali-style lattice stonework helps passively cool the building.
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“We wanted to show people that their daughters are valuable, not a burden”
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Below: Pupils, who wear custom block-printed uniforms by Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, can access the roof via a ramp. Opposite top: Delayed by the pandemic, the school, which spans kindergarten through 10th grade, will start classes as soon as it’s safe, with girls attending in the morning, when it’s cooler. Opposite center: The 15-inchthick sandstone-and-brick walls help keep out the heat. Opposite bottom: The school is the first of three buildings planned for the Gyaan Center, with a women’s cooperative and a textile museum, both also designed by Diana Kellogg Architects and beginning construction soon.
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with large sail-like canvas awnings. There’s no air-conditioning but passive solar techniques and lime-plaster coating on interior walls help keep classrooms cool. The flat mosaic-tiled roof, screened by jali-style latticework parapets that provide cross ventilation and protection from sandstorms, serves many purposes: It can be an outdoor learning space on a breezy day, a stage for performances, or a play area. A metal frame supports solar panels that power the building; Kellogg hopes to install monkey bars and swings underneath the structure. Following the traditional technique of capturing precious rainwater, the roof also acts as a giant gutter with downspouts that empty into the courtyard, itself a catchment area with an underground cistern at its center. A small army of artisans and day laborers constructed the 8,890-square-foot school in 10 months. Working without electricity or heavy machinery, they cut solid sandstone blocks and aligned them using only a simple water level. Inside, carved sandstone wash basins, teak desks, and woven charpai seating were made locally by hand; nearly all materials come from Jaisalmer. “We involved the community so they would have a stake and take pride in the building,” Kellogg explains. “They don’t want to send their girls to school, but they want to send their girls to this school, because they had a hand in it.” Daube feels that the architecture, reminiscent of ancient palaces and forts, ennobles the entire project—and the girls. This mission, it seems to say, will last. PROJECT TEAM BASIA KUZIEMSKI; ARYA NAIR; SURYA KUMAR: DIANA KELLOGG ARCHITECTS. LALIT GOPA: WOODWORK. KAREEM KHAN: GENERAL CONTRACTOR. PRODUCT SOURCES THROUGHOUT GENUS INNOVATION LIMITED: SOLAR PANELS. KANA RAM PRAJAP BARMER: DOORS. SABYASACHI MUKHERJEE: UNIFORMS. OM PRAKASH: LIGHTING.
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moonstruck
The lunar phases inspire Onion’s design of Sala Samui Chaweng Beach Resort on Ko Samui island in Thailand
text: mairi beautyman photography: wison tungthunya/w workspace
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Previous spread: Fiberglass spheres suggest planets overhead in the roofless hallway of the garden spa at Sala Samui Chaweng Beach Resort in Ko Samui, Thailand, by Onion. Top: Phase 01, the resort’s beachfront wing, is separated from the garden wing by a road. Bottom: Custom seating, a bamboo ceiling, and arches frame reception’s beach view. Opposite top, from left: Custom rattan and bamboo pendant fixtures, a nod to fishing boat lanterns, extend from a rattan-covered wall in the tented beachfront restaurant. Balau wood clads arches under a ceiling cutout next to the elevator lobby. Opposite bottom: Custom 7-by-9-foot pavilions with solution-dyed acrylic sun shades allow for on-beach dining.
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The pandemic may have shut down the world-famous Full Moon Party, a monthly beach rave on Thailand’s Ko Pha Ngan island. But the lunar phases still get celebrated—albeit in less a hedonistic, more luxurious style—on neighboring Ko Samui. A recently completed hotel there, the 137-room Sala Samui Chaweng Beach Resort by Onion, draws design inspiration from the waxing and waning of Earth’s nearest celestial companion, which can appear close enough to touch in the region’s limpid night sky. A road divides the 6-acre property in two: a three-story, 52-room beachfront section overlooking the seashore, and a two-story, 85-room garden annex nestled among ancient banyan trees on the land locked side. The designers conceived these wings as each representing an opposite pole in the lunar cycle—“full moon and black moon,” as Onion founder and design director Arisara Chaktranon puts it—dubbing the two parts Phase 01 and Phase 02, respectively. “It’s a graduation from bright to dark, from cheerful and lively to calm and relaxed,” co-founder and co-design director Siriyot Chaiamnuay adds. Comprising clusters of cast-concrete structures, the wings total 145,300 square feet and were completed two years apart. Each has its own reception, restaurant, and central pool. Circulation, especially
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in the garden annex, is driven by con nected rooms “instead of long corridors,” Chaiamnuay notes, and the prevailing geometry, from furnishings to fenestra tion, is rounded or spherical like the moon. The designers’ dedication to blurring the divide between indoor and outdoor living shows up throughout via generous glazing, cutouts framing sky and landscape views, multiple arches and colonnades, and a total of six open-air courtyards. But the blending of interior and exterior space finds its most striking expression in the remarkable number of private pools—96 altogether—on both properties. Complete with intimate gardens and sundecks, these pools are even found built into the balconies of all Phase 01 second- and third-floor rooms. The seaside wing consists of a long main building flanked by six smaller structures, several private villas among them. The sense of being in a tropical paradise is driven home in reception, where arched openings capture the breathtaking panorama of azure waters, towering palms, and the white sands of Chaweng Beach. Low and backless custom seating ensures that the vista remains as uninter rupted as possible. “We wanted people to see straight through to the beach with their very first step into the hotel,” says Chaktranon. Interior accents here and in all Phase 01’s public areas are warmhued: cream, light brown, and a soft, lunar yellow.
Top: In Phase 02, the garden wing, oval ceiling cutouts splash light on a second-floor concrete walkway. Center: Handcrafted ceramic wall tiles and oak accents outfit a restroom. Bottom: Custom cast-concrete sofas and armchairs turn a courtyard into an outdoor living room. Opposite: Supersize pendant fixtures with solution-dyed acrylic shades float above the restaurant’s custom oak tables and seating.
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“A deep blue that evokes the night sky is the main accent color in the ‘black moon’ wing”
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Opposite top: Oak wraps beachfront reception’s desk and scalloped wall, while flooring is colored cement. Opposite bottom: Custom oak benches and tables outfit the spa’s lounge area. Top, from left: A concrete and steel spiral stair leads to spa treatment rooms, which have doors made of takhiantong, a regional hardwood. Guest rooms overlook an atrium where extensive planting and ceiling cutouts blur the line between indoors and out. Bottom: Surrealistic shapes and a monochrome palette give the spa hallway an otherworldly feel.
The main pool—a 66-foot-diameter circle set in the largest courtyard, one side of which opens directly onto the beach—is surrounded by an organic arrangement of daybeds and umbrellas that encourages spontaneous conversation between guests. At night, the pool acquires a moonlike glow thanks to LEDs below the water line. Tented under white acrylic canvas, the adjoining restaurant allows diners to enjoy ocean breezes while sheltering them from the powerful sun. A deep blue that evokes the night sky is the main accent color in the “black moon” wing. The inky hue shows up in most Phase 02 public areas—on seating uphol stery around its 26-by-100-foot pool, on the walls of the roadside restaurant, and on the exterior of the spa, the only structure not painted white. The spa’s interior palette is also unique, its walls either a dark tropical-leaf green or a brilliant flamingo pink almost as intense as the island’s sunsets. The flamboyant shade gets a dramatic workout in a narrow open-roof hallway leading to the treatment rooms, with painted fiberglass spheres filling the space overhead like an abstract arrangement of roseate planets, “as if you’ve walked into a different universe,” Chaiamnuay suggests.
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Onion took full advantage of Phase 02’s garden setting, incorporating five court yards dedicated to outdoor living, dining, and relaxing—more than 40,000 square feet in all—dotted with heritage trees and planters of lush vegetation. All-weather custom furnishings include cast-concrete sofas and armchairs upholstered with sunresistant acrylic fabric, tables, daybeds, swings, and oversize floor lamps. “We played a lot with scale,” Chaiamnuay says. In both wings, guest accommodations, which range from 500-square-foot standard rooms to a 3,500-square-foot villa, are calm and soothing. Walls and terrazzo floors are white, the spaces enriched by deftly layered elements such as oak paneling, locally crafted rattan lamps of all shapes and sizes, coconut-shell table legs, and bamboocovered ceilings. In all rooms, the view is privileged. Larger suites comprise an uninterrupted enfilade of open areas with clear sightlines to the landscape beyond (bathroom privacy is via drawn curtains). “On the garden side, the views are vertical,” Chaktranon says. “But on the ocean side, we’ve made them horizontal.” For the beachfront restaurant, the nighttime panorama includes fishing boats with lanterns that “hang over the water from the end of a stick to attract squid,” she con tinues. The restaurant’s pendant fixtures suspended on bamboo poles are a nod to the lights bobbing on the water. Research shows that the squid haul peaks once a month. With the full moon.
PRODUCT SOURCES THROUGHOUT SUNBRELLA: ACRYLIC FABRIC.
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Opposite top: A tembusu tree rises through a roof opening in the presidential suite. Opposite center: Stacked coconut shells form the legs of a custom oak side table in a duplex guest room. Opposite bottom: The duplex’s bathroom has custom oak and rattan cabinetry and walls faced with Thai marble. Below: A private pool—one of 96 on the property—occupies the walled balcony of a third-floor beachfront guest room.
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hometown hero Rottet Studio’s founder reimagines the historic Colombe d’Or hotel complex in Houston to honor her city’s past— and its glorious renaissance text: edie cohen photography: eric laignel
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Although born in Waco, Texas, Lauren Rottet considers herself a Houstonian— that’s where she grew up. From an early age, the Interior Design Hall of Fame member knew all about the Montrose neighborhood’s Fondren Mansion, a Prairie School–style private home designed in 1923 by architect Alfred C. Finn for Walter Fondren, founder of Humble Oil, which later became Exxon. Some five decades later, local real estate magnate Steve Zimmerman purchased the residence and transformed it into La Colombe d’Or, a five-suite hotel and res taurant, ambitiously named after the French Riviera property of the same name, legendary for attracting such guests as James Baldwin, Henri Matisse, Yves Montand, and Pablo Picasso. Operating since 1979, the Houston hotel was due for a refresh, and that’s where Rottet Studio comes in. But that’s just one part of the story. The other is the development of 1 ¼ adjoining acres to expand the historic site and bring it into the 21st century. (Nine bungalows were added to the property in 1996 and recently renovated by Gin Design Group.) Gleaming behind the landmarked former residence is a groundup 34-floor residential tower, developed by the Zimmerman family and Hines, a real estate investment and management firm, and designed by Munoz Albin. The 690,000-square-foot building’s 283 luxury rental units are anchored by 18 groundfloor hotel suites. Enter Rottet Studio again. In addition to renovating the original hotel, dubbed the mansion, Rottet, associate principal and design director Chris Evans, senior associate Amber Lewis, and team were charged with conceiving the new construction’s public areas, guest rooms, and 10th-floor swath of amenities, plus the connector to the mansion, a landscaped courtyard with a fountain and large-scale sculpture. Yes, everything in Texas is big, even the commissions. Leaving the mansion, perhaps after dinner at the restored restaurant now named Tonight + Tomorrow and helmed by Houston chef Jonathan Wicks, guests and residents enter the new building, where a long, wide, marble-floored entry
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Previous spread: In the new tower at La Colombe d’Or, a hotel and residential rental complex in Houston, with interiors by Rottet Studio, the entry corridor is gallerylike, hung with such historic artwork as the 19th-century Napoléon in Exile by Benjamin Robert Haydon as well as contemporary paintings by locals, like Earl Staley’s pointillist oil on canvas. Opposite top: Arik Levy’s weathering-steel sculpture and the new tower flank the mansion, the landmarked former residence turned boutique hotel that dates to 1923, its brick recently restored. Opposite bottom: Over looking the lobby’s custom resident concierge desk in the new tower is a Troy Stanley stencil. Top: With the Prairie School–style mansion in the background, the tower entry is aglow from LEDs, marble flooring, and Niels Bendtsen leather chairs. Bottom: Its lobby lounge is backdropped by a Rolf Westphal outdoor sculpture.
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corridor is fashioned as an art gallery. “It’s new and bold, gold and glow-y—all contemporary,” Rottet begins. Part of the project’s draw for Rottet was her access to some 350 works from Zimmerman’s collection, which features blue-chip pieces by the likes of Raoul Dufy, Dorothy Hood, Arik Levy, and Man Ray. Better still was the go-ahead to purchase more, granting Rottet further means to support the Houston art scene she knows so well. What astonishes, though, is the pervasive ethereal quality. Credit Rottet Studio’s prowess with lighting and dexterity in manipulating walls. As Evans explains: “The folded planes shape the environment to engage both lighting and art.” At the entry is a backlit wall with a niche carved out for art books. Farther along the passageway frames of LEDs make more backlit wall sectors appear to float, the effect enhanced by slanted cove illumination from above. The procession ends at the resident concierge desk, a stunning composition in polished or brushed stainless steel topped by a slab of quartzite. Equally splendid is its backdrop: Nom de Plume, a commissioned work by local artist Troy Stanley, is a shadowy stencil applied directly to the drywall. Meanwhile, the adjacent wall stands burnished and jewel-like with alternating panels of bronze mirror and woven metal mesh sandwiched between glass. “It’s a reflective space,” is Rottet’s figurative take on the double-height resident lobby, an area in which she’s decidedly a pro given her hospitality bona fides. The comfy lounge chairs she designed and set around a double-sided limestone fireplace make the point and contribute to an overall contemporary, of-the-moment vibe. Meanwhile, a gridded glass wall allows views to a quiet residential street lined with apartments dating to the 1940’s, connecting the site to its past. Which ties into what Rottet is most proud of about the project, its overriding approach to conservation. “Houston hasn’t had a history of preserving, well, its own history,” she explains. “This area used to be filled with mansions. Instead 106
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Opposite top: A quartet of custom velvetupholstered chairs stands before the doublesided limestone fireplace. Opposite bottom: Panels of mirrored metal mesh by Sophie Mallebranche are staggered in depth, creating a wavelike effect. Top, from left: On the tower’s amenities level, the fitness center has paldao millwork and a woven vinyl floor. Nearby is California Oranges, a 1977 painting sourced from Reeves Antiques in Houston. Bottom: The Aqua lounge is so named for its quartzite bench, powder-coated iron chairs, mirror and chromed metal tables, and glass mosaic tile, all waterproof.
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of scrapping and selling the land, the developers decided to keep the little old house and build behind it. It’s a gift back to the city.” (See the ETC. on page 110 for more on the mansion restoration.) Rottet Studio clearly participated in the giving, too. In the tower’s hotel rooms, the firm did it all, designing layouts, millwork, upholstered beds, settees, and nightstands. The scheme even includes what Rottet calls an “on-off” kitchen, meaning a refrigerator and sink concealed behind paneling. “The amenity floor is what it’s all about for luxury seekers,” Rottet says of the primary leasing draw. “There are enough spaces with enough different attitudes that they become very social. You can work or have a cocktail. It’s where you go to meet people.” Indeed, there’s a game room, a fully equipped fitness center, a private events area, and the Aqua lounge, named for the fact that it is completely waterproof—glass mosaic tile envelope, iron chairs, chromed-metal tables—and adjoins a 66-foot outdoor lap pool with breathtaking vistas of Houston’s thriving skyline. PROJECT TEAM TAYLOR MOCK; MARIAH BURAS; MAKSIM KOLOSKOV: ROTTET STUDIO. HOUSE PARTNERS: ARCHITECT OF RECORD. ROBINSON COMPANY: LANDSCAPING CONSULTANT. POWER DESIGN: LIGHTING CONSULTANT. WALTER P. MOORE: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. JORDAN AND SKALA: MEP. BGE: CIVIL ENGINEER. ENVIRON MENT ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK: WOODWORK. URBAN OAKS BUILDERS: GENERAL CONTRACTOR. PRODUCT SOURCES FROM FRONT BENSON: CHAIRS (HALL), COFFEE TABLE (RESIDENT LOUNGE). CB2: TABLES (HALL, RESIDENT LOUNGE). SANDLER SEATING: CHAIRS (RESIDENT LOBBY). ROTTET COLLECTION: SWIVEL CHAIRS, COCK TAIL TABLE (LOUNGE). CHARTER FURNITURE: LOUNGE CHAIRS (LOUNGE), CHAIR (SUITE). AMTREND: CUS TOM SOFA (LOUNGE), BED, LOVESEAT (SUITE). ARCHETYPE GLASS: CUSTOM WALL PANELS (HALL). KOROSEAL INTERIOR PRODUCTS: WALL COVERING (GYM). EXQUISITE MANOR: FLOORING. SICIS: TILES (AQUA LOUNGE). ARIA STONE GALLERY: BENCH MATERIAL. BEND GOODS: CHAIRS, TABLES. VICTORIA AND ALBERT: TUB
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(SUITE). WATERWORKS: SINK FITTINGS. ANN SACKS: BACKSPLASH TILE. ROCA: FLOOR TILE. BERNHARDT HOSPITALITY: TABLE (BATHROOM), SIDE TABLE (SUITE). BILLIARD FACTORY: TABLE (GAME ROOM). PABLO: CHANDELIER. MDF ITALIA: TABLE (EVENTS ROOM). KNOLL: CHAIRS. RESTORATION HARDWARE: CHAIRS, TABLES (POOL). GAR: TABLE (SUITE). BRAND STANDARD FURNISHING: BEDSIDE TABLES. VISUAL COMFORT: LAMP, SCONCES. MASLAND CARPETS: RUG. P KAUFMANN CONTRACT: DRAPES. LARK FONTAINE: SHEERS. THROUGHOUT STONE SOURCE: FLOORING. SHAW CONTRACT: CARPET. BENHEIM ARCHITECTURAL GLASS: WINDOWS. CANGELOSI: LIMESTONE CLADDING.
Opposite top: Bathrooms in the 18 guest suites on the tower’s ground floor have custom vanities in solid-surfacing and oak. Opposite bottom: On the amenities level, the game room, with a Michael Abramowitz painting, adjoins the events room, with vintage Brno chairs by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Top: The Aqua lounge opens to the 66-foot lap pool. Bottom: In a suite, the sofa, bed, and nightstands are custom and flooring is oak laminate.
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welcome to the mansion
The original La Colombe d’Or is a 1923 private residence that was converted into a boutique hotel in 1979. It encompassed 4,000 square feet across two floors, offering a bar, a restaurant, and five guest suites. Then, the restaurant was “the chichi place to go for late-night dining,” Lauren Rottet remarks. The tradition continues, thanks to Rottet Studio. Guests can start an evening with cocktails in the newly expanded Bar No. 3, made glamorous with its carved-wood entry archway painted dark green, wall covering patterned with a 1920’s Russian design, a vintage back bar sourced in the South of France, and luminescent back-painted glass for the bar itself. The details even extend to Baccarat whiskey glasses, etched with the hotel’s dove logo. Dining follows in what’s now called Tonight + Tomorrow, a serene gray-green setting. One long black glass-andbrass table for communal dining and cane chairs are overlooked by an elaborately carved ceiling, discovered after the paint covering it up was removed and restored. Progression from the public to private quarters proceeds via an elaborate oak stairway. Newly refreshed, it encourages lingering, since the surrounding walls are a treasure trove of art, among which works by Helen Frankenthaler, Jorge Pardo, and Christian Rosa stand out. Senior associate Amber Lewis took charge of the guest accommodations. Most challenging she says was the Renoir suite, labeled the boy’s room in the hotel’s original plans. “That was due to its red-clay floor tile in what had been a sleeping porch.” She retained them, and even made them modern, with such chic additions as a solar system-esque pendant fixture by Andrew Neyer and a canopy bed in hammered stainless steel.
PROJECT TEAM PARADIGM: ARCHITECT OF RECORD. FROM FRONT GAR PRODUCTS: CHAIRS (RESTAURANT). ISA INTER NATIONAL: STOOLS (BAR). TOM DIXON: CHANDELIER. CHARTER FURNITURE: CHAIRS. VISUAL COMFORT: LAMPS. BERNHARDT HOSPITALITY: OTTOMAN (BAR), BED, TABLES, BENCH (SUITE). F. SCHUMACHER & CO.: BENCH FABRIC (SUITE). STUFF: PENDANT FIXTURE. THROUGHOUT SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY: PAINT.
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e t c. Opposite, from top: In Tonight + Tomorrow, the restaurant inside the original La Colombe d’Or boutique hotel, the carved ceiling, which dates to 1923, when the site was a private mansion, was unearthed and restored. The renovated oak stairway and corridor leading to the five guest suites feature artwork by Helen Frankenthaler, Jorge Pardo, Lucio Ranucci, and Christian Rosa under a vintage chandelier. Clockwise from top left: In the lobby, an original carved pilaster meets Lauren Rottet’s LED Fascio sconce in antique brass. A Tom Dixon chandelier and custom wall covering patterned with Lyubov Popova artwork outfit Bar No. 3. The Renoir suite’s hammered and polished stainless-steel canopy bed keeps company with an Andrew Neyer pendant fixture, vintage seating, and original clay tile flooring.
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breaking with convention At the Sonica headquarters near Dublin, Kingston Lafferty Design proves—and insists—that corporate can be far from staid text: dan rubinstein photography: ruth maria murphy/living inside
Previous spread, left: At the entrance to the corporate headquarters of Sonica, a commercial contractor in Skerries, Ireland, by Kingston Lafferty Design, flooring transitions from acid-stained, blackened concrete to porcelain tile. The light fixtures are custom. Previous spread, right: On the office’s second floor, the main corridor is populated with prefabricated soundproof phone booths. Top, from left: Flooring by a pair of stainless steel–clad niches is vinyl. Powder-coated steel frames, custom tables, and Orangebox Eva chairs form hot-desking workstations. Bottom, from left: A custom bolster bench lines the perimeter of the lounge on the ground floor. In the café, powder coated–chain screens inspired by those found in 1970’s nightclubs divide seating areas, this one furnished with Jens Fager’s Hug chairs and a Pio e Tito Toso’s Ikon 869 table. Opposite: Also the office’s main events space, the lounge includes Torbjørn Anderssen and Espen Voll’s Tibu stools by the window, Gropius CS1 low chairs by Kateryna Sokolova, and custom modular sofas upholstered in felt.
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“We deliberately don’t specialize solely in commercial work.” So states Róisín Lafferty, who founded her studio, Kingston Lafferty Design, in 2010 in Dublin. Instead, the Irish talent has built her portfolio as a mix of hospitality, healthcare, and residential, overseeing everything from graphic design and branding to interior architecture. What all her projects do have in common, however, are strong points of view: swathes of intense color—blue kitchens, pink dining rooms—and a progressive, contemporary style that rarely leans on the expected. To Lafferty, variety is the spice of life—and work. “My desire is to be constantly learning and inspired by different genres,” she says. So, it’s understandable that when KLD was first invited to design the corporate headquarters of Sonica in Skerries, a coastal town near Dublin, Lafferty was skeptical about taking it on. Sonica is one of the country’s leading commercial contractors, focusing on workplaces for such blue-chip companies as Adobe, Salesforce, and IBM. Lafferty assumed the project would be too buttoned-up. But after meeting Sonica founder and managing director Donnacha Neary, she appreciated his “crazily ambitious and unafraid” outlook. Neary’s goal for the 80-employee office was not just for Sonica to show off its technical abilities and commitment to and respect for good design but also for it to become an entrepreneurial hub for his sleepy hometown. Far from just cubicles and conference rooms, he wanted the project to include a VR suite, a podcasting studio, a 125-seat theater, events
spaces, and flexible areas that would be a magnet for the community. With that, and after being given carte blanche to conceive the office—dubbed by Sonica as First Landings—as she saw fit, Lafferty ultimately accepted the commission. First Landings’s 30,000 square feet are spread across three floors, the result of combining the vacant offices of two other companies. For Lafferty, this was a gift, being that most projects in Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland have small footprints where projects are constantly value-engineered. But in Skerries, that wasn’t an issue, and therefore creatively freeing for the designer. Always one to respond keenly to a brief and strong ideas of color, Lafferty began with Sonica’s orange logo and Neary’s wish that his office “be seen from space.” She was also inspired by a recent trip to New York, where she visited the former studio and home of Donald Judd and fell in love with his reflective metal boxes. With all this in mind, Lafferty’s resulting vision is anchored in bold colors—the Sonica orange, plus cobalt blue and stark white—and a series of “cubes” throughout, some mirrored, some in reeded glass, conceived to delineate various functions: an office, the boardroom, workstations. (There’s also abundant 6-inch-square tilework.) She then utilizes the spaces between them as conduits for the vitality she felt represented the company’s spirit. Track lines lead employees from one cube to the next, creating a kind of “running energy, pulsing through the building,” Lafferty notes. AUG.21
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Top, from left: A “lozenge” cut out frames the staff kitchen be yond, separating it from the café. The staircase connects the ground-floor lobby to rest rooms, golf-simulation and green rooms, and other service spaces below and above. Bottom: The custom rectangular tables have concrete bases meant to appear as if they grew out from the floor, and the Abuela chairs surrounding them are by Favaretto&Partners. Opposite top: An Eero Aarnio Bubble chair and a nylon rug appoint an upstairs lounge. Opposite bottom: Porcelain tile also wraps the staff canteen, which seats 80 on built-in benches and has a suspended timber ceiling structure that mirrors the tile grid.
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The track lines begin shortly after employees and visitors enter the building. They’re greeted by a lobby with a threestory stairwell, all covered in melon-hued tile. It has “old, weird hospital vibes,” the designer says. The lobby took a bit of convincing to be client approved—“It cost a lot of money to have it look like that!” she says—but now serves as a “saturation point,” where visitors “can’t help but be transfixed” and are mentally prepared for the environment that awaits them inside. “We didn’t want it be girly,” she says, “but instead really masculine. Hard, almost uncomfortably sharp.” Lafferty’s tall cylindrical floor lamps in white polyurethane and stainless steel add to the clinical vibe. A key element to the planning of First Landings are the round spaces on both the ground and upper levels that were planned around existing circular cutouts found in the concrete flooring. Open and flexible, they were designed as social areas with movable furniture. And they are where KLD’s use of color and Jetson-esque style are in full force. The ground-floor lounge, for example, has blocky modular sofas upholstered in gradating citrus tones arranged atop a round of periwinkle carpet, with a halo of a pendant fixture overhead. The overtly groovy atmosphere is intentional. “Our aim is for people to act differently here,” Lafferty says, “to bring their own energy.” There and in the main café, used by both Sonica staff and clients, she employs another retro conceit: the metal-chain curtain, which allows for separation but not total disconnection. Further, an upstairs lounge features hanging Eero Aarnio Bubble chairs. Since her years as a student, Lafferty has been obsessed with the works of mid-century titans like Aarnio and Verner Panton AUG.21
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Top, from left: Walnut paneling and a custom desk outfit the office of Sonica’s managing director. The canteen’s functional areas are con tained in a tinted-glass cube. Bottom, from left: Nylon carpet flows through the boardroom, where Luka Stepan’s Lucky chairs surround the custom table. Felt upholsters a semiprivate seating nook off the second floor’s main corridor. Opposite top: Polyester velvet covers the 125 seats in the theater, used for talks and film screenings. Opposite bottom: Konstantin Grcic’s Miura stools, reused from Sonica’s previous office, furnish the canteen.
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that had an organic, curvaceous style. “Their forms are almost like toys. Simple shapes that are scaled up, like living in a kaleidoscope,” says the designer, who also admits to a fascination with magic and Harry Potter. For First Landings, she peppers in modern-day versions of that aesthetic, such as Luka Stepan’s swooping Lucky chairs in the boardroom and the Kateryna Sokolova ottomans covered in a Yves Klein blue bouclé she placed near the project’s various seating nooks. The shocks of blue took some additional convincing. “If we had just used orange, then nothing would stand out,” Lafferty explains. “We’re always trying to find balance.” These spaces aren’t meant to be precious, they’re meant to be used. “It certainly makes people appreciate design and the impact it can have on a much more corporate, commercial audience.” PROJECT TEAM ANNA MULLINS; FIONA STONE; BECKY RUSSELL: KINGSTON LAFFERTY DESIGN. BARNEY COLEMAN ENGINEERING: METALWORK. STONE SEAL: STONEWORK. BCW SPECIALIST JOINERY: WOODWORK; UPHOLSTERY WORKSHOP. W2W: FURNITURE SUPPLIER. PRODUCT SOURCES FROM FRONT: ORANGEBOX: CHAIRS (HOT-DESKING). PEDRALI: ROUND TABLES (CAFÉ). EDSBYN: CHAIRS (CAFÉ, CANTEEN). NOOM: OTTOMANS (LOUNGES, CAFÉ), CHAIRS, TABLES (LOUNGES). DRISAG: ACOUSTIC PANELS (LOUNGE). KVADRAT: SOFA FABRIC (LOUNGE), STOOL FABRIC (LOUNGE, CAFÉ). MAGIS: STOOLS (LOUNGE, CAFÉ). GABER: BLUE CHAIRS (CAFÉ). FLEUX: SCONCES. EERO AARNIO ORIGINALS: CHAIR (UPSTAIRS LOUNGE). MARSET: SCONCES (CANTEEN). HAY: TABLE. COPIOSA: CHAIR (OFFICE). OLUCE: LAMP. BLÅ STATION: CHAIRS (BOARDROOM). YARWOOD: NOOK FABRIC (HALL). KIRKBY DESIGN: CHAIR FABRIC (THEATER). PLANK: STOOLS (CANTEEN). THROUGHOUT CE. SI.: TILE. TARKETT: VINYL FLOORING, RUG. INTERFACE: RUGS, CARPET. ACEC DISTRIBUTORS: LIGHTING.
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lofty pursuits In Milan, Tommaso Spinzi transforms an airy industrial space into his own apartment—and a showcase of the vintage, contemporary, and repurposed text: vera sacchetti photography: filippo bamberghi/photofoyer
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Tommaso Spinzi is transcontinental. The young architect is a native of Como, Italy, but has lived or worked in New York, Switzerland, and Australia, the latter where he was located for nearly a decade and launched his firm, Spinzi. But in 2018, he decided to return home, to Milan specifically. It’s there that he found and converted a former workplace near the city center into a luminous loft, now his own. The 2,000-square-foot “white canvas,” as he calls it, reflects his work, which ranges from conceiving interiors and furniture to lighting and watches, as well as his passion for Italian art, design, and heritage Previous spread: The library in the Milan architecture. “You can’t walk toward the future without loft of Spinzi founder Tommaso Spinzi learning from the past,” he proclaims. reveals the architect’s penchant for vintage The origins of his loft are most definitely rooted in Italian furniture, including Afra and Tobia the past. “We received word that, in the late 1800’s, Scarpa’s Coronado sofa from 1966, a ’60’s it housed a stable for the postal service horses,” he armchair he reupholstered in velvet, and a vanity mirror from the ’70’s. says. “In more recent years, it served as an office.” Upon acquisition of the ground-floor space, Spinzi emTop: Spinzi’s Origini console and cocktail table plus a pair of vintage Murano glass ployed a measured approach to the renovation, working sconces delineate the living area. Bottom: with its industrial elements—the tall multi-paned winThe area’s painted partition backdrops dows, the concrete floor, the open plan—and underlining Dylan Martinez’s H20/Si02 (Water Bags) them with the addition of softer elements both old and sculptures and Alessandro Paglia’s Dripping new. His main and only architectural intervention was, Face drawing. in order to create a dining area, opening a passage underOpposite : Beneath the existing mezzanine, neath the existing mezzanine, a former work area that the dining area pairs a ’70’s Italian table Spinzi turned into his bedroom. with Vittorio Nobili’s Medea chairs and Spinzi’s Eclipse sconce. Downstairs, walls and windows have been painted white and the concrete flooring polished and painted gray. The functional areas—kitchen, bathroom, living and dining, library, and garage, for his 1983 Porsche 911SC (Spinzi is a vintage car collector)—flow into one another, loosely delineated by furniture groupings. And it’s those elements that make the project come to life, through overlapping material and texture, combining vintage and new pieces, many Spinzi’s own, the careful positioning of artwork, and the occasional shot of green. “It’s my favorite color,” he says, “so I applied it to walls, reupholstered furniture in it, and added foliage com positions to bring nature inside.” In the library, for instance, an Afra and Tobia Scarpa 1960’s sofa in shiny tobacco leather shares the floor with an armchair from the same decade that 122
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“this is a longer pullquote for annie or kelly to write whatever they want. for our communities” —David Pérez
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Spinzi found and recovered in emerald velvet and his smooth marble Medusa stool. On the walls is a ’70’s Italian vanity mirror and a large abstract canvas by Spinzi (yes, he paints, too). He uses vintage furniture to support “upcycling” and celebrate Italian craftsmanship. Furthermore, Spinzi does not advocate using solely the work of famous designers, choosing several anonymous pieces that stand out for their strong profiles and Italian origin. The living area’s pair of shapely burnt orange–upholstered armchairs and imposing wooden soldier sculpture exemplify this approach: Their provenance is unknown, but their aesthetic value is certain. They’re joined by a Mario Bellini Le Bambole sofa from the ’70’s, a drawing by Italian artist Alessandro Paglia hung on a sage-painted partition, and Spinzi’s Origini console and cocktail table, both topped in greige terrazzolike Ceppo. These pieces, which Spinzi developed in the last few years, offer sober complements to the various ensembles.
Opposite: A portion of the ground-floor, former office space houses Spinzi’s 1983 Porsche 911SC under a skylight that had been covered over with drywall. Top, from left: The living area’s Mario Bellini Le Bambole sofa, customized with cotton upholstery. An Ilaria Franza painting in the dining area. Spinzi’s Palladium stools by the mezzanine stair. Bottom, from left: A 19thcentury soldier sculpture in the living area. Spinzi’s composition of marble samples in the dining area. A view into the kitchen.
“Spinzi’s attitude toward remix and reuse is intrinsically linked to the rich architectural heritage of Milan”
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He admits to having a preference for working with stone and metal, but has engaged with a variety of mediums throughout his career, always honoring their essence. “We’re committed to respecting the feel and nature of materials,” he points out, “enhancing their look and exploring the creative possibilities they offer.” It’s work that has earned him an exhibition at the high-profile Rossana Orlandi Gallery in Milan. (His pieces as well as his carefully selected collection of rare finds and curiosities can be purchased at his online shop at spinzi.com.) Top: In the mezzanine bedroom, Marco Further intersections of new, old, and recycled Italian Zanuso’s Lady armchair and a vintage Venini chandelier join Spinzi’s custom bed, also design in the apartment include light fixtures made of upholstered in velvet. Bottom: It overlooks Murano glass, such as the large ’70’s Venini chandelier the garage, which contains a Papillona lamp appointing the bedroom, and a stack of marble samples by Scarpa and a Carlotti cabinet from the that Spinzi assembled into a striking sculpture. His atti’60’s. tude toward remix and reuse, from an object to the scale Opposite: A ’90’s glass and marble cocktail of a building, is intrinsically linked to the rich architectural table and Carlo Nason lamp, plus Spinzi’s heritage of Milan. From the grandiose palazzi in the center Medusa stool and Essential Geometries canvas establish the library’s mostly blackof town to the industrial complexes in the outskirts, and-white palette. Flooring throughout is Spinzi notes how “all these spaces were built to endure, polished and painted concrete. and retain an intrinsic sturdiness that allowed them to withstand the test of time.” For the architect, “Repurposing old structures instead of tearing them down and rebuilding something new is a way to respect the souls of buildings and a city’s past, all while avoiding unnecessary waste and environmental stress.” Spinzi’s conscious approach fully embraces important contemporary concerns, while also continuing strong Italian traditions. PRODUCT SOURCES FROM FRONT CATTELAN ITALIA: COCKTAIL TABLE (LIBRARY). B&B ITALIA: SOFAS (LIBRARY, LIVING AREA). LOST PROFILE STUDIO: BRASS SCONCE (LIVING AREA). MEDEA: CHAIRS (DINING AREA). FLOS: LAMP (GARAGE). ARFLEX: CHAIR (BEDROOM). VENINI: CHANDELIER. ARAZI HOME: CARPET. MAZZEGA: LAMP (LIBRARY). THROUGHOUT BOERO; MAXMEYER: PAINT.
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getting into shape A new post-pandemic restaurant archetype emerges around the globe text: nicholas tamarin and annie block See page 136 for Masquespacio’s Bun Burger in Turin, Italy. Photography: Gregory Abbate.
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DA Bureau project The Third Place, St. Petersburg, Russia. standout The courtyard of an abandoned 1843 mansion—used as a railway museum in the pre-Revolution Soviet era and currently being restored and remodeled by this firm—has been transformed into a festive pop-up space for food and art festivals with beachy larch elements, bivalve allusions, and a reflective aluminum-foil curtain on the facade. photography Sergey Melnikov.
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“The idea combines the aesthetics of the mansion’s courtyard with references to a rugged northern beach in Aquitaine, the home of French oysters”
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“We centered the concept on deep blue because it’s automatically associated with the ocean”
Studio Shoo project Oceanica, Makhachkala, Russia. standout For this seafood restaurant, the 5-year-old Moscow firm specializing in hospitality dove into marine-inspired elements, employing nautical rope as partitions, wavy coral-colored polycarbonate by windows, and droplet-shape pendant discs, all surrounded by local artist Roman Lozovoy’s aquatic murals and a sea of tinted concrete flooring. photography Katie Kutuzova.
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“Old buildings demand some respect and restraint from designers of today”
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YOD Design project Samna, Kiev, Ukraine. standout With a 19th-century materials palette—oak, leather, copper, steel, brick, plaster—and interiors bathed in a rich, warm glow, the project’s details nod to the exiled Turkish statesman (and possible inspirer of The Count of Monte Cristo) who once lived in the 1797 house that the three-level Middle Eastern eatery now partly occupies. photography Andriy Bezuglov.
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Masquespacio project Bun Burger, Turin, Italy. standout Memphis forms meet millennial colors and fonts at this swimming pool–inspired outpost of a Milan-based chain, its arches, ceramic tile, changes in floor level, and monochromatic palettes helping to create three distinct environments corresponding to three storefront windows. photography Gregory Abbate.
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“Playing with one color for each window creates a visual effect, from the outside, of walking through different experiences in the same space”
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Enter Projects project Spice & Barley Restaurant, Bangkok. standout Evoking amber lager being poured into a tall glass, the striking golden columns that billow up to the 98-foot-high ceiling in this craft-beer lounge are the result of fusing 3-D technology with traditional Thai methods of weaving natural rattan, a sustainable material ideal for creating such free-flowing geometries. photography William Barrington-Binns.
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“While the painted rattan forms are visually aweinspiring, they also serve to hide beer pipes, air-conditioning, and other related services”
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Carlo Scarpa: Beyond Matter
Christopher Dresser: Design Pioneer by Max Donnelly New York: Thames & Hudson, $22 144 pages, 115 photographs (107 color)
by Patrizia Piccinini New York: Rizzoli, $55 224 pages, 142 color illustrations
Italian architect Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978) is undoubtedly one of the most important and interesting artists of his time. He began his career designing glassware for Venini and later became president of Gavina, conceiving some of its furniture and its Bologna showroom. He worked for years as an advisor to the Venice Biennale, responsible for the 1956 Venezuela Pavilion and the exhibitions of Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, and Frank Lloyd Wright. But it's as an architect and interior designer that Scarpa is best remembered and most revered. His influences included Wright, art nouveau, and De Stijl, but it is his dy namic, expressive, and individualistic geometry in overall concepts and in their smallest details that constitute his hallmark. His influence today is seen in buildings and furniture by George Ranalli and others. This welcome new survey does not attempt to present Scarpa’s complete work, but instead has selected “only architecture that can be visited, with the hope that everyone may one day experience the same emotions firsthand.” Those chosen are 10 of his most important projects, including the Olivetti showroom and the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, both in Venice, and the Brion tomb complex in the province of Treviso, next to which Scarpa and his wife are buried. A great asset of the book is Lorenzo Pennati's characterful photography. No matter how familiar we may be with this work, he gives us a fresh and sympathetic view of it.
This small (6-by-7-inch) but generously illustrated and delightful book is a paean to the Scottish designer, botanist, and author Christopher Dresser (1834-1904), written by the curator of 19th-century furniture at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. After studying and then lecturing at the School of Design at London’s Somerset House, Dresser began supplying illustrations of “geometrical arrangements of flowers”— not naturalistic imitations of nature but “conventionalized” ones—for Owen Jones’s influential Grammar of Ornament from 1856. At the International Exhibition in 1862, Dresser became fascinated with Japanese design and traveled there extensively beginning in 1877, obtaining hundreds of artifacts for display at New York’s Tiffany & Co. Several years later he produced the book Japan: Its Architecture, Art, & Art Manufac tures, his first book having been The Art of Decorative Design in 1862 and his last Modern Ornamentation, 1886. Dresser’s own prolific designs included graphics, furniture, fabric, rugs, wallpaper, glassware, ceramics, and silver and cast-iron pieces, all with strict geometry, some of the metalwork with frankly—and, at the time, shockingly—exposed rivets. The opening paragraph calls him “Britain’s first independent industrial designer,” and the book as a whole is a welldeserved celebration of an important innovator and a precocious modernist.
b o o k s edited by Stanley Abercrombie
What They’re Reading... The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair New York: Penguin Books, $17 320 pages, 14 color images
“I’m a long-time fan of British design and culture writer Kassia St. Clair’s work, so this was a definite on my reading list. At Bowlus, our interiors always tell a fascinating and highly personal color story, so I knew I would thoroughly enjoy it. As producer of the original aluminum travel trailer, Bowlus epitomizes the 1930’s Streamline Moderne design movement and enjoys much of its archived materials in black-and-white photography, so this book provided a fascinating insight into the historical perspective of shades and tones. It brings to life the way color has been interpreted by artists and even entire societies throughout history. It’s also in a fun format, with short chapters devoted to different colors.”
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BOTTOM LEFT: COURTESY OF BOWLUS
Geneva Long Chief design officer and CEO of Bowlus
c o n ta c ts
DESIGNERS IN SPECIAL FEATURE DA Bureau (“Getting Into Shape,” page 128), da-bureau.com. Enter Projects (“Getting Into Shape,” page 128), enterprojects.net. Masquespacio (“Getting Into Shape,” page 128), masquespacio.com. Studio Shoo (“Getting Into Shape,” page 128), studioshoo.com. YOD Design (“Getting Into Shape,” page 128), yoddesign.com.ua.
PHOTOGRAPHERS IN FEATURES Filippo Bamberghi (“Lofty Pursuits,” page 120), Photofoyer, photofoyer.it. Eric Laignel Photography (“Hometown Hero,” page 102), ericlaignel.com. Ruth Maria Murphy (“Breaking With Convention,” page 112), ruthmaria.com. Vinay Panjwani (“A Golden Egg,” page 84), vinaypanjwani.smugmug.com. Wison Tungthunya (“Moonstruck,” page 92), W Workspace, wisont.wordpress.com.
PHOTOGRAPHER IN WALK-THROUGH Danilo Scarpati (“Sea and Be Seen,” page 37), daniloscarpati.com.
DESIGNER IN CENTERFOLD Ross Barney Architects (“Where the Wild Things Are,” page 79), r-barc.com. Interior Design (USPS#520-210, ISSN 0020-5508) is published 16 times a year, monthly except semimonthly in April, May, August, and October by the SANDOW Design Group. SANDOW Design Group is a division of SANDOW, 3651 NW 8th Avenue, Boca Raton, FL 33431. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions: U.S., 1 Year: $69.95; Canada and Mexico, 1 year: $99.99; all other countries: $199.99 U.S. funds. Single copies (prepaid win U.S. funds): $8.95 shipped within U.S. ADDRESS ALL SUBSCRIPTION REQUESTS AND CORRESPONDENCE TO: Interior Design, P.O. Box 808, Lincolnshire, IL 60069-0808. TELEPHONE TOLL-FREE: 800900-0804 (continental U.S. only), 847-559-7336 (all others), or email: interiordesign@omeda. com POSTMASTER: Send address changes to INTERIOR DESIGN, P.O. Box 808, Lincolnshire, IL 60069-0808. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40624074.
RUTH MARIA MURPHY/LIVING INSIDE
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thank you for supporting pride and helping DIFFA meet our fundraising goal!
presented by
Thank you to our industry friends for making a DIFFA-rence!
Thomas Polucci James Mattingly
i n t er vention
talking shop
A concept project for one of the biggest retail revolutions of pandemic life—socially distanced shopping—South Korea’s Uncommon Store was designed and completed in just three months by Atelier Archi@Mosphere. Inside the new Hyundai Seoul department store by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, the unmanned boutique is part of convenience-store chain Nice Weather and geared toward the nation’s digitally savvy youth who intuitively use smartphone technology as both tool and expression. Bands of peach and white acrylic, illuminated via integral LEDs, wrap the exterior and interior of the 360-square-foot shop. A tribute to what Archi@Mosphere director Kyungsik Park calls “1960’s theater design,” the stripes display graphics promoting the store’s cashand card-free technology. The retro vibe continues underfoot with diagonally oriented ceramic floor tile and overhead with reflective plastic paneling the 16-foot ceiling.
After downloading the app, which uses cloud and machine-learning systems developed by Amazon for its brick-and-mortar Go shops, Uncommon Store customers scan a QR code to enter the turnstile gates. Inside, food, drinks, and specialty items such as cameras and skincare products are displayed across a single 50-foot-long wall fronted by sleek shelving in acrylic and stainless steel, akin to a sort of futuristic Automat. Concealing nearly a mile of cables and fitted with some 200 weight sensors, the shelving system flags when a shopper removes an item. Then, no fewer than 50 ceiling-mounted cameras apply face-recognition software to access the customer’s digital payment, sending almost instant confirmation notifications to their phone. “The store,” Park explains, “is actually one singular computer.” —Mairi Beautyman AUG.21
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design
annex
Whiting & Davis The Maryland Theatre escaped the traditional by using Whiting & Davis Metal Mesh Fabric to create the spectacular chandelier above the Lobby Grand Staircase and Cocktail Lounge. Shimmering, fluid and dramatic Whiting & Davis metal mesh fabrics create a simple yet lustrous pattern of texture unlike any other material. Feel the difference. t. 800.876.MESH wdmesh.com Architects: Grimm and Parker, GC: Morgan-Keller Construction
Uline
Vitro Architectural Glass
Uline’s cushioning gives you the best seat in the house. And with over 38,500 products, you’ll love our variety. Order by 6 PM for same day shipping. Best service, products and selection – experience the difference!
It’s the ultimate blank slate. Acid etch it, backpaint it, digitally print on it — whatever your vision is, Starphire Ultra-Clear® glass by Vitro Architectural Glass serves as the perfect canvas for brilliant interior elements with decorative treatments or pure transparency.
t. 800.295.5510 uline.com
starphireglass.com
Kaswell Flooring Systems Wide Slat Edge Grain, shown here in a fumed oak ladder pattern, is a modern yet classic way to make any interior come to life. Available in several species and patterns, each panel comes in 6.25” width and length can vary from 12”-24”. FSC certified upon request. Please visit our website to request samples or more information. t. 508.881.1520 kaswell.com
Edition Modern Handcrafted in the Los Angeles atelier of Denis de la Mesiere, Edition Modern pays homage to the iconic French “MODERNIST” designers with scrupulous attention to detail and materials that are faithful to the timeless spirit of their original masterpieces. editionmodern.com
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Davis Furniture
Sonoma Forge Designer Faucets and Showers
Combining finely tailored upholstery with a variety of base options, the new Sachet Armless Chair by jehs+laub joins the Sachet multi-use seating collection, presenting a diversity of aesthetic options from sophisticated to casual. t. 336.889.2009 davisfurniture.com
Our WaterBridge Collection elevates humble plumbing parts to designer status w/ distinctive lines and our signature waterfall spout. Matching accessories and stunning exposed showers complete the suite. Standard finishes are Rustic Copper, Rustic Nickel, Satin Nickel, Oil-Rubbed Bronze and Matte Black. sonomaforge.com
Andreu World
Infinity Drain Dependable by Design. The humble shower drain... now a point of distinction. With over 11 styles, 5 finishes and capability to deliver custom solutions next day — indulge in design flexibility like never before.
Practical, transformable, spacesaving. AW, in collaboration with Gensler, launches Connect, a collection of convertible, mobile tables, to furnish dynamic & multipurpose spaces. The agile design responds to workplaces, educational, and other hybrid commercial settings in constant transformation with multi-use office. t. 312.464.0900 andreuworld.com
infinitydrain.com
Newport Brass
PCS120 - Shadow Pop-Up Power & USB
The Jeter Collection combines minimalism and functionality with its uniquely shaped lever handle, two-function spray engine and pivot ball fitting for enhanced directional control within the sink. Constructed of solid brass and available in 25 finishes. t. 949.417.5207 newportbrass.com
Press to pop up and access 2 Power and 2 USB. Plus, Fast-Charging Wireless Charger on top. Electric motor drives unit and includes safety sensor. Closes nearly flush with the surface. t. 800.523.1269 mockett.com
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Work from Anywhere with Veda