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©2022 Hunter D ouglas All trademark s use d herein are the prop er t y of Hunter D ouglas

Wha t do es i t m e an to live well? To b e p er fe c tly a t e ase, in comfor t and s t yle? Innova tive produc t designs p air with gorgeous fabric s and control sys tems so advance d, shades can b e scheduled to au toma tically adjus t to th eir optimal p osi tion throughou t th e day Cre a ting a n ew world of b e au t y, convenience

Pirouet te® Window Shadings with PowerView® Automation

noguchi coffee table, designed 1947 made in the usa by herman miller

N o t h i n g t o s e e h e r e

T h e s e m o t o r i z e d s h a d e s c o n c e a l w i r e s a n d s c r e w s Yo u w o n’ t n e e d a f a s c i a , v a l a n c e , o r s h a d e b o x b e c a u s e t h e r e a r e n o u g l y p a r t s t o h i d e . R e q u e s t a c o m p l i m e n t a r y e s t i m a t e a t i n c e p t i o n s h a d e s . c o m

T h e V i s i o n :

B re a t h e n e w l i f e & f re s h a i r i n t o a s e a s i d e h o m e .

View more photos from this project at kolbewindows.com/black rock

This mid century moder n beach house on the Atlantic Ocean was renovated to expand the living space, enlarge the views, and enhance energy efficiency Light filled spaces from top to bottom connect the home to the sea and stunning sunsets Kolbe’s VistaLuxe WD LINE gave all the options needed for this remarkable transformation

119 Sourcing One L ast Thing

Traditional Japanese dolls inspire designer Kazuki Guzmán’s approach

29 Modern Wor ld

Our annual Dwell 24 list brings together the most exciting emerging designers from around the world This year ’s group offers models for how we can reinterpret tradition, reuse waste, and reenergize our homes

C U R AT E D BY Gabrielle Golenda

E D I T E D BY Meghan Dailey

T E X T BY Nathan Bahadursingh, Keren Dillard, Ewa Effiom, Utkarsha Laharia, Ilya Shrayber, and Aaron Smithson

P O RT R A I T S BY John Boaz, Noah Dolinsky, Pippa Drummond, Armelle Habib, Fabian Martinez, and Aaron Richter

I L LU S T R AT I O N S BY Jaimie Shelton

44 Essay

Architecture criticism it can be a pretty highfalutin field Irreverent new voices are using memes to bring it back down to earth

T E X T BY Alana Hope Levinson

I L LU S T R AT I O N S BY Joanna Neborsky

54 My House

A couple of Buenos Aires architects turn a home on a busy street into a private haven for their family

T E X T BY Vanessa Bell

P H OTO S BY Cristóbal Palma

58 Interiors

No detail goes unconsidered in the modernist Paris pied à terre of designer Rafael de Cárdenas and his partner

T E X T BY Patricia Gajo

P H OTO S BY Alexandre Tabaste

64 Outside

Life on the edge gets glorious views in this Chilean cliffside home for a pair of surfers

T E X T BY Mark Johanson

P H OTO S BY Cristóbal Palma

100 Renovation

An old dairy farm in upstate New York becomes a sleek escape for a couple retiring from the city

T E X T BY Ameena Walker

P H OTO S BY Brian W Ferry

108 Home Work

A musician’s remodeled Los Angeles home hits the right notes

T E X T BY Jessica Dailey

P H OTO S BY Ye Rin Mok

O u r r u g s l i e l i g ht ly o n t h i s e a r t h .

E v e n a f t e r y e a r s i n Ne w Yo r k , I ’ v e n e v e r s e e n anything like it. The rental market in the city has long been a brutal and defeating arena, but the fallout from extreme home prices, rising interest rates, and landlords recouping revenue lost to Covid deals has led to a singularly dispiriting period of life upending r en t i n c r e a s e s a n d b i d d i n g w a r s f o r t h e f e w a p a r t m en t s a v a i l a b l e O t h e r l e s s n o t o r i o u s l y ex p en s i v e c i t i e s a n d w h o l e r e g i o n s a r e f e e l i n g a s i m i l a r squeeze And it has affected people across economic divides, including the designers out there who rely on studio space, access to marketplaces, and creative communities to produce their work

As we put together this year ’ s Dwell 24, our annual s u r v e y of t h e b e s t e m e r g i n g d e s i g n e r s a r o u n d t h e world (p. 29), a sense of anxiety about where we live was inescapable. After a period influenced by brightly c o l o r e d Mem p h i s ex u b e r a n c e a n d r i c h s t r a i n s of 1970s decadence lounging on low slung sofas, both trends seem to have given way to something more down to earth. Not in a neutral , greige sort of way, b u t o n e t h a t s e e m s t o b e p r o c e s s i n g a g en e r a l l y uneasy moment with relatable forms and accessible materials (though still with a slightly 1970s vibe) You can see it in the rich tones and cur vature of Nifemi Ogunro’s Tilt stool , the pastels of Aranza García’s furniture, and the oxidized copper of Robert Sukra chand’s lighting. The pieces, engaging and surpris ing, could anchor any living room But there is also a sense of humility and grounding that runs through the work of the designers on this year ’ s list .

The tragedy of insane real estate markets is that a good neighborhood can’t be built by the highest bidder. For a place to thrive, it takes lots of types of housing for people with all kinds of lives, passions, and profes sions designers in need of studios among them Our emphasis on apartments in this issue celebrates those creative spaces embedded in a city. From Elle Gerde man and Kyle Coburn’s craftily luminous Boston loft (p 70) to Rafael de Cárdenas’s rigorous Paris pied à terre (p 58), they represent varied points of view and hopefully offer some inspiration for your own space. Elle describes her home this way : “It’s meant to be a playground where, if we have an idea, we can clear the furniture to the side and make it happen ” That those places for creative work exist for as many people as p o s s i b l e i s i m p o r t a n t f o r d e s i g n a n d e s s e n t i a l t o a community. Designers

William Hanley, Editor in Chief william@dwell com

Dwell Editorial

Editor in Chief William Hanley

Executive Editor

Kate Dries

Managing Editor

Jack Balderrama Morley

Senior Design Editor

Mike Chino

Senior Home Guide Editor

Megan Reynolds

Culture Editor

Sarah Buder

Shop Editor

Samantha Daly

News Editor

Duncan Nielsen

Contributing Editor

Kelly Vencill Sanchez

Copy Editor

Don Armstrong Fact Checkers

Meredith Clark Brendan Cummings

Jy Murphy

Dora Vanette

Editorial Fellows Keren Dillard

Ilya Shrayber

Daisy Zuckerman

Creative Director Suzanne L aGasa

Photo Director Susan Getzendanner

Ar t Director

Derek Eng

Associate Visuals Editor Alex Casto com

CEO Zach Klein CRO Nicole Wolfgram

Founder / Chair Lara Hedberg Deam Board Member Dave Morin Adviser Jennifer Moores

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Dwell com Director of Engineering Jim Redd

Software Engineers Tommy Cutter Sherif Elmetwally Wing Lian Dan Woodson Marketing Senior Marketing Manager Erin V Mahoney

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Advertising

Director of Sales Tara Smith tara@dwell com

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Associate Digital Account Manager Deonté Broughton deonte@dwell com

Six emerging writers share their takeaways from profiling this year ’s Dwell 24 designers (p. 29).

U t ka rsha La ha ria

Utkarsha Laharia noted that her subjects’ journeys were all so different “All the designers that I inter viewed did not star t as designers at all,” says L aharia “Their education and background are in such varied fields,” which is something that L aharia knows well After becoming an architect in India, she studied architecture journalism in the U S to become, as she puts it, an architect who writes as well as a journalist who designs

Ilya Sh ray be r

Ilya Sh rayber, a Sa n Fra ncisco based writer a nd Dwel l ed itoria l fel low, fel l i n love with pri nt med ia i n col lege, doi ng deep d ives i nto m usic, a rch itectu re, downtown cu ltu re, a nd tech nology for the Ca l iforn ia Agg ie For th is issue, Sh rayber delved i nto h is su bjects’ cre ative processes “There’s noth i ng qu ite l i ke watch i ng a desig ner ’s face l ig ht u p when they ’re expla i n i ng thei r work to you,” says Sh rayber “Thei r jou rney to creati ng someth i ng out of noth i ng, a nd the emotions that a re attached to that it’s a specia l th i ng ”

Aa ro n Smithson

Writer Aa ron Sm ithson was su rprise d to lea rn that Ja re d Tso, a fou r th generation Di né p otter, develop e d h is te ch n iques i n col le ge a nd i n h is ea rly ca re er as a n eng i ne er “ When we hea r that some one is a fou r th generation a ny th i ng, we typica l ly assu me they ’ve b e en pa r ta ki ng i n that ac tivity si nce bi r th,” says Sm ithson “It was a p ower f u l rem i nder that as a r t forms conti n ue to evolve, they ca n b e passe d down i n a ny n u m b er of ways ”

Ke ren D illard

Arch ite c tu re student a nd Dwel l e d itoria l fel low Keren Di l la rd works across d isci pl i nes as a desig ner a nd resea rcher as wel l as a writer “I fou nd that there a re ma ny desig ners who have the sa me a rch ite c tu ra l back g rou nd as myself,” she says “It has rea l ly i nspi re d me to th i n k a b out a l l of the p ossi bi l ities that a rch ite c tu re ca n provide i n the la rger desig n com m u n ity ”

Ewa Ef f io m

Prior to conduc ti ng i nter views for th is issue, London base d a rch i te c t, writer, a nd pro ducer Ewa Ef f iom was most cu rious a b out how desig ners were pu rsu i ng thei r work i n a p ost 2020 world “Th is is the stor y of desig n i n the con tem p ora r y era, wh ich i n itself is the stor y of h u ma n ity,” says Ef f iom. “S e ei ng a nd ch ron icl i ng th is i n rea l ti me is ver y exciti ng a nd h u m bl i ng a nd f rig hten i ng i n the sa me i nsta nce You just hop e you’re doi ng them justice ”

N a than Bahad u rsing h

Bro oklyn writer Natha n Ba hadu rsi ng h fou nd it fasci nati ng to d iscover how the desig ners he prof i le d d id not l i m it thei r work to a si ng le me d iu m: “Thei r creative output, whether that b e the pie ces themselves or thei r ac tivity outside of thei r pro duc tion, isn’t na r row,” says Ba hadu rsi ng h, who a lso uses f i l m ma ki ng a nd d rawi ng to bri ng h is stories to l ife

m l

Re: “ Tropical Storm: Hawaii is drowning in a flood of the same factors creating a housing crisis all over America Will the state become a model for finding a way out or a cautionar y tale? ” July/August

It would be amazing if strong leadership could actually break ground for desperately needed housing, but it will take an enormous amount of education to overcome the local skepticism

Re: “An Idea With Legs: Inspired by an errant arachnid, a designer couple weave contemporar y elements into a traditional Kyoto townhouse,” July/August

Gorgeous stor y, gorgeous family, gorgeous design. This whole thing has feel good vibes all around Gotta say I’m feeling slightly jealous!

Re: “ The Cube One Prefab Is a Space Age Dream and It Starts at $30K , ” D well com

I know this article was written from a rosy point of view, but I can’t help

Online readers loved this collection of circular skylights selected by our editor in chief, William Hanley This courtyard oculus (right), designed by Daniela Bucio Sistos for a home in Morelia, Mexico, is one of our favorites, but we’re generally fans of any cutouts that let in a little more light.

When Pau Munar and Victoria Rodriguez pur chased a plot of land near the beach on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, where they live, they wanted to build a modest weekend home that would blend with its context [“Bare Feat,” July/August] So they clad their new house in a locally quarried pink beige sandstone called marés that has been used for construction in the area for centuries.

C H R I S TA V I A DW E L L C O M

@I D E M O L I S H RA M E N V I A I N S

“Now that’s just a little slice of perfection. That sandstone is sublime.”

Bobby Vilas, Dwell com

My grandparents had caning as a guest room, and I fell in love

ver y stu rdy when exposed Ra rely wor th the money S old my Cescas @planteidyll

The texture and virgin plastic)

G ets dusty @noshsense

It reminds me of my childhood @kt june porary designs to evoke a sense of really engaging with technique or any thing new Jack Balderrama Morley, Managing Editor

Grandpa used to cane our chairs It’s an art. @gminger

It’s too frag i le @mindypinz

It’s comfor table and tropical and adds texture

Suzanne L aGasa, Creative Director

It’s a reminder of artisans and ances tors Love it! @day.to.day.sara

C a n i n g i s a ce nt u r i e s- o l d te c h n i q u e of u s i n g a t h i n l a ye r of rat t a n to c re ate f u n c t i o n a l sc re e n s, a n d i t ’ s b e e n o n e of the biggest fu rn itu re trends of the past few yea rs. Here, our readers and editors tell us if the style is shabby or chic.

Reminds me of Grandma. And plas tic on the furniture @flippinmatt

Uniting generations, bringing natural tones and warmth, texture for days... need I go on? @lanaeboyd

I grew up in the ’70s That’s enough cane for a lifetime @eirekitten

I really like caning!

It’s very Granny Chic, which I do think has a time and a place Keren Dillard, Editorial Fellow ove

Designed to per form beautifully.

The unmistakable qualit y and versatilit y of Bosch home appliances lend value to ever y project.

Full suite of appliances , from new refrigerators with the QuickIce Pro System™ to our new industrial style ranges and rangetops

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The CVC House

Desig ned by Mexico City practice Estud io M MX for a fa m i ly with th ree kids a nd two l ive i n g ra nd pa rents, th is home is a l l a bout ma i nta i n i ng i nti macy wh i le a lso of feri ng sepa ration It wra ps a rou nd a centra l patio a nd i ncludes la rge wi ndows a nd terraces that g ive the i nterior spaces more su n l ig ht a nd outdoor access without com prom isi ng privacy

Its corrugated, red cast concrete facade “ca me to m i nd af ter a visit to Por tuga l,” says Estud io M MX cofou nder Diego Rica lde “Looki ng closely, you’l l fi nd two d if ferent sca les of the ri bbed textu re on the concrete, ma rked from ply wood scaf fold i ng ” The wa l ls i n the g ra nd pa rents’ a rea have a sl ig htly d if ferent textu re tha n those i n the rest of the house “Each fa m i l ia l pa r t has its own persona l ity ”

M o r e a t D w e l l . c o m

D o y o u h a v e a p r o j e c t you’d like to see published i n Ho u s e s We L o v e? S h a r e i t a t dwell com/addhome

“

When honest materia ls a nd the construc tion pro cess resu lt i n gorge ous textu re, it’s a b ea utif u l th i ng.”

D U N C A N N I E L S E N , N E W S E D I T O R

Here, of

by s t u d i o M M X

“There’s someth i ng ref resh i ng a b out a cu r ve d shelf b e ca use it ensu res a specific ki nd of safety. If you bu m p i nto it i n the n ig ht on the way to the bath room, you proba bly won’t brea k a to e.”

Apar tment STR8

Tucked i nto a seven stor y residentia l com plex i n Riga, L atvia, known loca l ly for its d isti nct oblong sha pe, th is a pa r tment is decked out with fu n colors, vi bra nt patterns, a nd u n usua l forms “The geometr y is i nspi red by pa i ri ng new a nd old, as seen i n the d iversity of floor coveri ngs a nd how they piece together,” says Open AD

lead a rch itect Za ne Tetere Šu lce. The fi rm reconfigu red the u n it’s floor pla n to i nclude th ree bed rooms a nd a n of fice, a playroom, a wa l k i n closet, a nd a n open l ivi ng room/kitchen. A lof ted play a rea with ovu la r por tholes sits a bove a bu i lt i n seati ng nook that’s bookended by a cu r ved wa l l a nd open shelvi ng with rou nded corners.

East York Residence

When Ba ha reh Atash a nd Hesa m Rosta m i, cofou nders of Toronto fi rm Rosta m i Atash Atel ier, pu rchased a 1920s worker ’s cottage i n 2015, the a rch itect cou ple wa nted to create someth i ng d if ferent from the a rea’s sta nda rd row houses. “The orig i na l house was a bout 900 squa re feet i n two stories,” says Atash “ We rea rra nged the i nterior with m i nor structu ra l mod ifications a nd bu i lt a two stor y rea r add ition of a bout 700 squa re feet ” Du ri ng construction, the pa i r d id thei r best to l i m it waste production. “ We sta r ted with a si m ple pri nci ple: Noth i ng goes to the la ndfi l l u n less a bsolutely necessa r y,” says Atash “Most of the old kitchen ca bi nets a nd a ppl ia nces were sa lvaged, repa i nted, a nd used i n the lower u n it ”

“Re cla i me d materia ls ca n i m pa r t a wonder f u l sense of h istor y wh i le l ig hten i ng a proje c t’s envi ron menta l fo otpri nt.”

M E G A N R E Y N O L D S , S E N I O R H O M E G U I D E E D I T O R

M I K E C H I N O , S E N I O R D E S I G N E D I T O R

by R o s t a m i A t a s h A t e l i e r

by O p e n A D A r c h i t e c t s

Modern H E W E L L

22%

With pieces that cou ld be m is ta ken for props i n a pa i nti ng by a cer ta i n Spa n ish Su rrea l ist, Gra nt Wi l ki nson a nd Teresa Rivera rei nterpret trad itiona l wooden chairs, stools, and tables with surprising outcomes Artists, makers, and designers, the hus band and wife duo established their eponymous label midpan

a nd refresh i ng Rivera spea ks of “not rei nventi ng the wheel but fi l l i ng ga ps i n the ma rket,” yet they a re mou nti ng a n overdue rebel l ion aga i nst the Ca r tesia n oppression of m idcentu r y mod ern ism i n fu rn itu re desig n Once you see thei r work, most other fu rn itu re seems d isa ppoi nti ng ly squa re E w a E f f i o m A

dem ic i n Nor th East London i n order to “i ntroduce movement to a rig id materia l,” says Rivera. They shun straight lines for curves a nd squ igg les lead i ng i nternet com menters to du b the cha i rs “ner vous ” But there’s noth ing anxious about their Windsor remixes, whose stance, style, and position are assertive, confident,

I F I H A D T O C H O O S E O N E

N a m a H o m e

Although Namit Khanna earned a degree in business administra tion, the keeda, or creative bug, was always there, the designer says He didn’t give his artis tic side a chance until a friend suggested he consider product design, advice Khanna took seri ously by completing a master ’s program at Domus Academy in Milan and an internship at the Valerio Sommella design studio in 2019 “It just felt right, like when your heart and mind fall in sync,” says Khanna Soon after Khanna returned to his native India in January 2020, the pandemic hit. During the lockdown, at home in Morad abad, he launched Nama Home The brand has quickly become known for its surprisingly com fortable metal chairs, such as the O2, O3, and Ohio Made with slender metal tubes, these chairs are contemporary iterations of popular patio furniture common in Indian homes. “The studio’s goal ultimately is not just to stay in India,” says Khanna “I believe we have global appeal

S e fa ko To l u

In their shared design practice, Sefako Ketosugbo and Tolu Odunfa Dragone are guided by problem solving and happy accidents and they like it that way “We go back and forth discussing how to use a material or how to arrange and re arrange things,” explains Ketosugbo “The end product is not something we necessarily set out to do.” The two met in 2009 while studying interior design at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where, says Odunfa, “we always had a love of furniture and wanted to collaborate ” So after one of their professors asked them to contribute some designs for a project she was working on, the pair “star ted trying to put ourselves out there,” says Ketosugbo, by creating visually arresting pieces, such as the Two Spirit coffee table Made from walnut wood and Calacatta Viola marble, the table synthesizes contrasting materials, tones, and textures a perfect “happy accident” that encapsulates Sefako Tolu’s shared creative vision. Ke r e n D i l l a r d

Two Spirit Coffee Table

F o r e v e r S t u d i o

Bienke Domenie and Sara Degenaar joined forces the moment they met in a metal workshop during their third year at Rotterdam’s Willem de Kooning Art Academy “It was the first time we had to work three dimensionally, and we were both like, Wow, this is what we want to do,” says Domenie. After graduating in 2015, they continued their research driven practice, formally launching as Forever Studio in 2017 They began experimenting with polycarbonate in varying degrees of opacity molded into geometric shapes illuminated from within by bulbs lamps, but just coinciden tally Their recent designs, such as the Piece Out Lamp, a cylinder of lustrous anodized aluminum, are more overtly functional but no less sculptural “Light has become a design tool for us because it gives extra dimension,” says Degenaar With light, “the object goes from art piece to design product.” K D

Piece Out Lamp

I drink a smoothie in the morning, avoid opening Instagram for the first hour of my day, and try to focus on myself Sara Simoska

I take photos of the sky every morning This helps me wake up early and gives me time to think Mona Matsui

A cup of Malbec, good music, and time alone Cristián Mohaded, Mohaded Studio

I watch videos of peo ple making stuff ceramics, glass, wood joints, wall coverings, car doors, traditional brooms I’m usually inspired to do my own work after a good bit of that Tolu Odunfa, Sefako Tolu

Back home in Thailand, I would always go snuggle with my cat Now that I am away from him, I usually video call him through my mom, or I go for a walk in a nearby forest Irene Purasachit

N E W YO R K C I T Y @ S E FA KOTO LU

R OT T E R DA M , T H E N E T H E R L A N D S @ F O R E V E R S T U D I O

M O R A DA BA D, I N D I A @ N A M A H O M E I N

D O YO U H AV E A DA I LY C R E AT I V E R I T UA L?

H OW D O YO U P R O C R A S T I N AT E ?

U t i l

Util means “useful” in Portuguese, and true to its name, Util creates practical metal shelving, tables, and storage pieces geared toward creative urbanites who want contemporary pieces built to last By making beautiful, durable products that are still relatively afford able uncommon among its peers the brand is addressing the realities of a generation likely to move often and need furniture that is as robust and flexible as they are Collections are conceived in collaboration with like minded international designers countering the planned obsolescence rife in furniture manufacturing today “Every detail is there for a reason, structurally or functionally,” says creative director Manuel Amaral Netto of the brand’s carefully con sidered output “What we try to do is make all of these details count so that everything makes sense in what we’re designing ” E E

Hal Coat Hook

Fa n g o

Since returning from studies in Europe and establishing the studio Fango in his hometown of Medellín, Colombia, Francisco Jaramillo has turned to materials rooted in place For the Ibuju bench, an elegant composition of cylinders, Jaramillo used yaré, a natural fiber employed by Indigenous weavers across the Amazonas region of southern Colombia. Beyond offering a lighter alternative to hardwoods, whose extraction has contributed to mass deforestation, Jaramillo’s use of yaré in furniture design reflects his com mitment to producing objects that are uniquely Colombian. In collaborating with local ar tisans and imparting his knowledge of process and material through teaching, he is helping to shape a design culture that does not derive its methods solely from Western or international influences “A lot of designers here look at what’s going on in the world and bring it to Colombia,” Jaramillo says, “but for me it’s impor tant to look at my surroundings and my local situation, my city and everything around me.” —A a r o n S m i s n

N i f e m i O g u n r o

“It is i nteresti ng that of the n u m ber of ha nds that touch a product before it is completed, many of them belong to people of color,” says New York furni ture designer Nifemi Ogunro Ogu n ro of ten photog ra phs her body alongside her work as a way to promote visibility and inclusion and to challenge traditional design narratives, in which many craftspeople of color are frequently left unseen “I feel like design should include more people,” she says “A lot of schooling teaches how to follow structures and orders of op eration, but I want to challenge that.” The Tilt stool began as a two dimensional form study that somehow made its way off the page and became tangible like many of the hidden hands that Ogunro strives to disclose. The hand carved laminate birch stool possesses body like curvature in its bent form and is character ized by a deep brown stain over natural raises and depressions in the wood KD

Tilt Stool

L I S B O N , P O R T U G A L @T H I S I S U T I L

A N T I O Q U I A , C O LO M B I A @ FA N G O S T U D I O

S u k ra c h a n d

Fu rn itu re desig ner Rob er t Su kracha nd sta r te d out at New York Un iversity as a photo g ra phy student. But af ter col le ge, he d id n’t love the work he was doi ng Ne e d i ng a d if fer ent creative outlet, he joi ne d a com m u n ity workshop i n Bro ok lyn a nd sta r te d playi ng a rou nd with ma ki ng wo o d f u rn itu re “I d id n’t know a ny th i ng a b out

wo o dwork, but I was i m me d i ately add ic te d to the fe el i ng of ma ki ng someth i ng with my ha nds,” the desig ner says. He now spl its h is ti me b etwe en Bro oklyn a nd Ch ia ng Ma i, Tha i la nd as a kid g rowi ng u p outside Boston, Su kracha nd sp ent su m mers i n Tha i la nd with h is father a nd he se es h is work as a conversation

b etwe en the two cu ltu res To expa nd th is d ia lo gue, Su kracha nd is sta r ti ng a com pa ny that wi l l pro duce col la b orations b etwe en desig ners f rom the USA a nd Tha i la nd a nd wi l l b e headqua r tere d i n a f ive stor y l ive/work space i n Ch ia ng Ma i. “I’m excite d,” he says, “a b out the d if ferent d i re c tions it cou ld go ” U L R O A H D O L

A toothbrush The only design I like is by Andreas Engesvik for Hay, and it is not easy to find in Colombia Francisco Jaramillo, Fango

There are so many things wrong with baby stair gates Teresa Rivera, Wilkinson & Rivera

The classic children’s playground There’s something kind of sad about them with their primary colors and literal reference to architecture It would be much more interesting to create a playground full of open ended shapes that left room for the imagination

Jennifer June, Loose Parts

The cell phone I’d like for it to revert to its original purpose of communication with out endless distrac tions and vain social media influences Tiarra Bell, Bellafonté Studio

How to be fully focused

Sara Degenaar, Forever Studio

Aluminium casting, baking, and saving money

Bienke Domenie, Forever Studio

How to bring out the best in anyone Tolu Odunfa, Sefako Tolu

This is completely unrelated to design, but I have always been jealous of people who can just jump and do a flip in the air Dana Arbib

W H AT E V E RY DAY

O B J E C T WO U L D YO U L I K E TO R E D E S I G N ? W H Y ?

W H AT S K I L L WO U L D YO U M O S T L I K E TO L E A R N ?

N E W YO R K C I T Y A N D C H I A N G M A I T H A I L A N D @ S U K R AC H A N D

First thing in morning

In the af ternoon

Sometime the evening

D e a n N o r t o n

It was a move across the g lob e that i nspi re d Dea n Nor ton’s pivot f rom i nteriors to f u rn itu re Af ter 16 yea rs i n London, Nor ton packe d h is bags for Mel b ou rne, spu rre d on by the lu re of b etter weather. “The pace is qu ite d if ferent,” he says of the Austra l ia n city, “a nd when I lef t

London a nd sta r te d a new l ife, it gave me the conf idence to sta r t creati ng my own work ” He adds that f u rn itu re provide d the creative f re e dom com mercia l i nteriors d id not Nor ton’s Float col le c tion, a series of crisp, exp er tly craf te d ta bles con struc te d enti rely f rom g lass, is

a pro duc t of h is new fou nd con f idence, but he wa nts p e ople to know he’s just getti ng sta r te d “I’m self ta ug ht, a nd I’m sti l l teach i ng myself it a l lows me to th i n k more f re ely a nd not get b o gge d down by ru les. I don’t l i ke to restric t myself The vision comes f i rst ” I l y a S h r a y b e r

L night O M Y E S T W O R K

I T C H I T

M E L B O U R N E , AU S T R A L I A @ D E A N N O R TO N

D a n a A r b i b

Dana Arbib had been running a successful fashion line called A Peace Treaty for 11 years when she decided she was exhausted by the pace and consumerism of the industry So in 2019 she took a break and decamped from New York to her parents’ house in the Caribbean There, she met an Italian glassblower who invit ed her to learn about the craft in Venice, where Arbib discovered family roots: Her great great great uncle had once owned a glassblowing furnace in the city. The history is fitting given that the organic, oversize glass ves sels that Arbib now designs, and that Murano blowers produce, are filled with the influences of her Jewish Libyan culture “I think that any designer on some level is painting a picture of their heritage through their work,” she says With her organic pieces tinged with Mediterranean mo tifs, Arbib is sharing a story that spans generations, with the hope that these works will become par t of others’ stories, too E E

Laguna Vessel

M o h a d e d S t u d i o

With stud ios i n Buenos Ai res a nd Mi la n, a r tist a nd i ndus tria l desig ner Cristiá n Mohaded works closely with a r tisa ns across Argenti na to produce a d iverse output, ra ng i ng from i nsta l lations to col lecti ble l ig ht i ng a nd fu rn itu re Altogether, they bri ng loca l trades a nd heritage to a n i nternationa l a u d ience “I rea l ly wa nted to show the potentia l, the rea l potentia l of Argenti na,” says Mohaded Th is a pproach cu l m i nated i n a project titled Entrevero, a term that represents the m ixtu re of Argenti na’s va rious a r tisa na l identities It i ncludes Floati ng Towers, a n i nsta l lation of suspended stacks of ha nd woven baskets made of si m b ol pla nt fi ber, a materia l fou nd i n Mohaded’s native provi nce of Cata ma rca The tech n ique is trad itiona l, but the piece is en ti rely contem pora r y, a m ix that, says Mohaded, reflects “the rea l la nguage of desig n i n Argen ti na ” N a t h a n B a h a d u r s i n g h

Ring Floor Lamp x Roche Bobois by Cristián Mohaded

I r e n e P u ra s a c h i t

For Thailand born designer Irene Purasachit, being from a country with a strong manufacturing sector has heavily influenced her practice “In Thailand, it has always been easy to produce something because there are so many mar kets Ease of access has caused overproduction with all the orders from the U S or Europe, the lef tovers accumulate within the country ” Purasachit star ted working with flowers in a floral design course in London and later experiment ed with floral fragments at Aalto University in Helsinki, where she now lives Her experiments developed a biodegradable and oil free material called Flaux, intended to be an alternative to textiles or leather “I imagine that everyone could use Flaux as a regular material ” Flower pigments from roses and carna tions give each ear thy textured floral sheet its own unique color K D

My mom When I was a child living in Ibadan, Nigeria, she designed and made stuffed toys and chil dren’s underwear by hand All my friends wore her petticoats under their uniforms She grew plants and flowers, loved learning new languages, and also did event design and decoration I think I was influenced by that appreciation for beauty and function Tolu Odunfa, Sefako Tolu

There are many artists I admire for their clarity of vision, but it’s the women in my family I look up to the most My mom and her sisters immigrated here from Costa Rica when they were in their early 20s They didn’t know the language or even how they were going to make money I think about how clueless I was in my 20s and here they were making space for themselves among strangers! That self assuredness requires a kind of clarity that I greatly admire Jennifer June, Loose Parts

I despise hero narra tives I’m much more inspired by move ments and groups of people coming together to accom plish things Robert Sukrachand

B U E N O S A I R E S , A R G E N T I N A @ C R I S T I A N M O H A D E D

H E L S I N K I @ I R E N E P U R A S AC H I T

W H O A R E YO U R H E R O E S ( I N D E S I G N , I N L I F E , I N B OT H ) ?

S a r a S i m o s ka

Sa ra Si moska looks i nwa rd for i nspi ra tion S o the pa ndem ic was a n oppor tu n ity for deep i ntrospection: What was most i m por ta nt to her? Stuck at home i n Skopje, Nor th Macedon ia, she rea l ized that what she loves more tha n a ny th i ng a re books Inspi red by the i ncl i ne of volu mes on a rack, Si moska created Mova ble Fu rn itu re, a col lection of obl ique wooden shelvi ng u n its that g l ide on sma l l wheels Conceived as scu l ptu res, her Mova bles “a ren’t 1,000 percent practi ca l,” ad m its Si moska. “They ’re mea nt to exh i bit the books you’re most proud of You need a l ittle bit of cou rage to have these objects i n you r home ” I S

Movable Poli Shelf

N o ka D e s i g n

Lo o s e Pa r t s

On the website of Loose Parts, the furniture company she founded in 2019, designer Jennifer June shares an alarming statistic: “Wood is the largest material category in furniture landfill waste.” June is commit ted to reducing such waste by sustainably sourcing and fabricating adaptable pieces that people won’t throw out Launched at the height of the pandemic, her Original Assembly Kits (OAK) component based shelving and display systems are customizable collections of hardwood rails, metal panels, and steel fasteners that have many possible easy to assemble iterations Her other items can also be modified The Mamá Cari chair, named for June’s grandmother, has an adjustable backrest, for instance, and is available in different color combinations In a work from home era suited to pieces that perform double or triple duty, says June, “I wanted to design a system that can wear many identities.” I S

Noémie Vanoli and Karima Weber launched Noka and its line of sculptural candles in Bali, but the duo’s shared Italian roots inspired their first collection think earthy pink and olive hues in fragrances such as neroli. Vanoli, who studied psychology and dance, and Weber, who has a background in hospitality, met at a dinner party in Bali during the pandemic and connected over their shared ambition to star t a creative business “We wanted to take an everyday ob ject, like candles everyone has a candle and then find a way to rethink it,” says Vanoli “We realized how much we could do with wax,” adds Weber Fresh off a debut at Milan Design Week this past June, the brand has expanded its market from Bali to Australia, the USA, and Europe just a year after launching What’s next? Candleholders, of course, among other things, and maybe one day a brick and mor tar store U L

S KO PJ E , N O R T H M AC E D O N I A @ S A R A S I M O S K A A R H I T E KT U R A

BA L I , I N D O N E S I A @ N O K A D E S I G N

Pillars of Light Candle in Mahogany

LO S A N G E L E S A N D H U D S O N , N E W YO R K

@ LO O S

Mamá Cari Chair in Black Oak and Mauve E L I E V E

Lo oki ng to bri ng a bit of che er to her hometown of Mérida, Mexico, at the heig ht of the pa ndem ic, a rch ite c t Ara nza G a rcía (b elow, i n her home a nd stud io) a nd her f riends Lorena Mada h ua r a nd Nata l ia Ra m i rez la u nche d Ch uch, a desig n stu d io that featu res home go o ds, f u rn itu re, l ig hti ng, a nd texti les

made by lo ca l craf tsp e ople

The vi b e of Ch uch Maya n for “cute” may b e play f u l, but the tea m is serious a b out honori ng Mexica n cu ltu re a nd ever y day l ife Blo ck Ta ble, made of ha nd ca r ve d lo ca l stone topp e d with g lass, is a rif f on the u biqu itous DIY stre et side ci nder blo ck a nd wo o d sla b

ta bles where workers stop to eat lu nch Other works, such as the ca ndy colore d cera m ic Ba rro scu l ptu res that resem ble oversize pie ces of a favorite chewi ng gu m, ma ke use of a vi bra nt pa lette “In Mexico, ever y th i ng is color f u l,” says G a rcía. “ We d id not wa nt to do qu iet desig n here ” K D

Our dogs We always laugh about creating a design object that expresses the love we have for them

Noémie Vanoli and Karima Weber, Noka

Our vinyl collection Marcos Altgelt and Tasio Picollo, Ries

My gold cartouche pendant from my mother She bought it in Egypt the year my brother Stephen was born, and it says my dad’s and my brother ’s names on it I wear it every day

Dana Arbib

Driving around with my parents in our hometown with our signal red Volvo 240 People always knew it was us Sara Degenaar, Forever Studio

My family ’s Snoopy Sno Cone machine I can still see the red crank in the back of Snoopy ’s doghouse and how he sat on top of the chimney, where you feed the ice cubes Such a smart design; it was so intuitive

Jennifer June, Loose Parts

I think when my mother showed me her kimono collection

My mom loves kimo nos She made a kimono for me, and I wear it when we have a celebration Also, after the huge earth quake in northern Japan, I realized the importance of com fortable public spaces, such as libraries and city halls Mona Matsui

My mom filling cush ions with old clothes to create seating Nifemi Ogunro

W H AT I S YO U R M O S T T R E A S U R E D P O S S E S S I O N ?

W H AT ’ S YO U R E A R L I E S T M E M O RY O F A N E N C O U N T E R W I T H D E S I G N ?

M É R I DA , M E X I C O @ C H U C H E S T U D I O

C h u c h E s t u d i o

“I’ve gravitated toward lighting since I was a kid,” says Benja min Gillespie, who channeled his youthful enthusiasm for deconstructing yard sale lamps into creating sophisticated LED based fixtures in his Philadelphia studio, Ovuud. “My dream was to make a business where I could design and sell my work,” he

says “Through social media, that became a reality ” Gillespie, who earned a degree in material engi neering and was also a practicing patent lawyer, mentions that he “didn’t study design ” But for this self taught woodworker, lack of formal training seems beside the point To fabricate his floor lamps and hanging fixtures, he

loops and twists strips of wood ash and oak are favorites into figure eights and Möbius bands, or splits a single beam length wise i nto ski n ny stri ps that, i m proba bly, ba la nce on the floor “I don’t pu l l from a pool of aesthetic inspiration,” he says.

“A lot of it is dictated by what the material can do ” I S

P I L A D E L P H I A

R i e s

Argentinian architects and designers Marcos Altgelt and Tasio Picollo say working in their country can be challeng ing “We have fewer resources and an unstable economy, and we are constantly fight ing to get things done,” says Altgelt, who launched Ries with Picollo in 2016 They quickly gained attention with a collec tion of lightweight metal chairs, shelving, and tables in spare geometric shapes In an effor t to explore a more playful approach to form, the pair collaborated with an Argentinian factory that makes motorcycle par ts. The result was the Tori stool, made from cast aluminum This kind of collaboration, Altgelt says, supports local manufacturers at risk of dying out in the face of globalization and increases the appreciation of Argentinian expertise and craft K D

Tori Stool in Travertine

M o n a M a t s u i

Mona Matsui’s ethereal, light filter ing textiles both define and blur the boundary between inside and outside Made with polyester or traditional Japanese materials like washi, silk, and cotton and ranging from pale and semitransparent to color saturated, her panels can be suspended in doorways or layered over windows Matsui, who studied at the Royal College of Ar t in London and is now based in Tokyo, intends to create “beautiful experi ences” for people with her work, and the effect she is going for is transportive. “I wanted something that when people enter the space, they could say it looks foggy or sunny,” explains Matsui “I always loved looking up at the sky The natural atmosphere attracted me. I wanted to bring that into a room, into an object ” I S

Moya, Moya Textile

M l o n d o l oz i H e m p e

Cape Town designer Mlondolozi Hempe interweaves the folklore of his native South Africa and stories from his childhood into his designs Take Hempe’s Imbadu bench for his Umongo furniture brand Inspired by imbadu, a custom i n S outh Africa’s vi l lages i n wh ich elders congregate to discuss issues important to their com munity, the bench is supported by seven legs, each in a different shape, representing the individuals working together to uphold the fabric of society or, in this case, the seat “Design is for everyone,” says Hempe, who is a cofounder of the architecture firm Broad Based Design and works at sustainable design consultancy PJC “It’s a language used across our existence.” — E E

Imbadu Bench

Resin waterfall tabletops Robert Sukrachand

I appreciate trends for what they are short lived Tolu Odunfa, Sefako Tolu

The use of spray foam as a design element

Benjamin Gillespie, Ovuud

Single use products Jennifer June, Loose Parts

Neotenic design Zhekai Zhang, Studio Kae

W H AT ’ S I N YO U R D R E A M H O U S E ?

It would be in the woods and near the ocean Isolated but close to a nice bakery

Manuel Amaral Netto, Util

Rammed earth and lots of windows, with plenty of family and studio space

Jared Tso

Peace to begin with That’s fundamental Also, a gaming arcade Namit Khanna, Nama Home

B U E N O S A I R E S , A R G E N T I N A @ R I E S E S T U D I O

TO K YO A N D LO N D O N M O N A M AT S U I

C A P E TOW N , S O U T H A F R I C A @ U M O N G O Z A

W H AT C O N T E M P O R A RY D E S I G N T R E N D D O YO U D E S P I S E ?

S t u d i o Ka e

Zhekai Zhang and Keren Wang, the pair behind Studio Kae, are guided by, but not strictly bound to, tradi tion in their porcelain, furniture, and other objects “Our products are tapping into the potential of the material,” says Wang, who met Zhang at London’s Royal College of Ar t, from which they both gradu ated in 2018 “We like to play with it, to show its natural beauty, even if it isn’t perfect.” In fact, imperfec tion is of ten the desired outcome, resulting from chance driven processes that upend the notion of consistency in mass production

For Fabric Formula #1, Zhang lined ceramic molds with cloth, which imparted texture to the surfaces of teacups and pitchers and made the rigid forms appear soft The formal experiment is taken further in Fabric Formula #2, a series of plastic stools i n wh ich the fa bric is both the mold and the surface of each piece “Making one object look like another,” says Zhang, “is, for us, very beautiful ” I S

Fabric Formula #2 Stool

J a r e d Ts o

Jared Tso comes from a long line of Diné potters, but before fully embrac ing his creative legacy, he studied electrical engineering at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and then worked full time in the field All the while, though, he practiced with clay on his own, seeking advice from his father about Diné methods of collecting, coiling, and pit firing clay Pottery, says Tso, “was something I almost instinctually knew I’d pursue,” and in 2018, he decided to return to UNM to pursue an MFA. Tso craf ts his vessels primarily by hand but says he resists conceptions of “authenticity as relying on some re creation of the past,” and by deploying contemporary technol ogy such as 3 D printing, he’s situat ing his designs in a long history of innovation “Every time I make a pot, I am contributing to the definition of what Navajo pottery is, and that comes with a lot of power.” A S

Designers Nada Borgi and Etienne Bastormagi, who each run their own architecture firm and have an urban planning background, draw inspiration from their hometown of Beirut Whether they ’re working on public projects like the play ground they just designed for a nonprofit effort to replace those destroyed by the explosion at the city ’s port in 2020 or producing on a smaller scale, as with the sleek, minimalist furniture line they launched in 2017, the urban condition is at the heart of Borgi Bastormagi’s process. The Fillet shelf, part of the designers’ new Shaping 90 collection, which also includes mirrors and lighting, was created in homage to the curved corners of Beirut’s apartment buildings “It’s a piece of architecture that now lives inside your home,” says Borgi of the steel and walnut unit, whose shrunk down dimen sions have an “Alice in Wonder land effect ” That reference may be fanciful, but the Fillet has a global aesthetic, designed for the realities of urban living, explains Bastormagi, where even tricky spaces like corners need to be ingeniously maximized E E

B o r g i B a s t o r m a g i

Shaping 90 Fillet Shelving H A N G H A S T D A

S A N D E R S , A R I ZO N A

@ JA R E DT S O P OT T E RY

I F Y O U H A D T O P I C K A F A V O R I T E M A T E R I A L , I T W O U L D B E …

A devout Ch ristia n, Tia rra Bel l of Bel lafonté Stud io em b e ds the teach i ngs of her fa ith i nto her f u rn itu re desig ns Most of ten worki ng with wo o d, the Rho de Isla nd S cho ol of Desig n g raduate uses her craf t to “tra nslate bi bl ica l stories, words, a nd ide olo g ies i nto someth i ng ta ng i ble.” For Pu rity

Mi rror, wh ich she create d u nder the mentorsh i p of Botswa na f u rn itu re desig ner Peter Ma b e o, Bel l coate d stri ps of ash a nd pa nga pa nga wo o d with dye d wax The resu lti ng m i rror f ra me evokes the u ndu lati ng sa nd du nes of Botswa na’s Ka la ha ri Deser t wh i le prom pti ng the viewer to ref le c t on fa ith a nd

tra nsformation Bel l sta r te d to i nte g rate her rel ig ious b el iefs i nto her desig ns once she b e ga n worki ng with Ma b e o, who encou rage d her to i m bue her pie ces with de ep er mea n i ng “The obje c t has to sp ea k to you,” she expla i ns of Ma b e o’s a pproach, “a nd not just i n aesthetics ” AS

In my eyes, inclusion is a low bar, and it assumes that the people left out would even want to be invited to the party The design “world” needs “world build ing ” Like, from scratch We need to think bigger new communities, conver sations, and models for what it can mean to be connected through design Robert Sukrachand

By introducing design as a career to Black and brown students early on and finan cially supporting them with sizable scholar ships, by funding their entrepreneurial endeavors and center ing them equitably in media Tolu Odunfa, Sefako Tolu

From a financial standpoint, exclusivity starts early Kids should be allowed to cultivate creative impulses without fam ilies being left having to pay out of pocket Solutions can be found in community programs, funding for facilities, grants, scholarships, etc Teresa Rivera, Wilkinson & Rivera

Decolonization of designs, fewer Euro centric approaches Irene Purasachit

Design takes time Before buying knock off furniture, think about the process behind the real thing Francisco Jaramillo, Fango

They are holding a piece of design while reading this interview Dana Arbib

H OW C A N T H E D E S I G N WO R L D B E M O R E I N C LU S I V E ?

W H AT D O YO U W I S H N O N D E S I G N E R S U N D E R S TO O D A B O U T T H E D E S I G N I N D U S T RY ?

P H I L A D E L P H I A @ B E L L A F O N T E S T U D I O

B e l l a f o n té S t u d i o

All in Good Taste

Exercise your design and culinary c r e a t i v i t y with Miele’s new Generation 7000 appliances.

A w e l l a p p o i nt e d k i t c h e n s h o u l d e n h a n c e yo u r p a l a t e a n d yo u r p a l e t t e

Miele’s Generation 7000 built in appliances fe a t u re 1 6 5 n ew l y d e b u t e d p ro d u c t s f ro m convection and combi steam ovens to coffee machines and vacuum sealing drawers offer i n g a n u n p re c e d e n t e d o p p o r t u n i t y t o t r a n s fo r m a n d c u s t o m i z e a ny k i t c h e n t o a ny t a s t e . W i t h fo u r d i s t i n c t d e s i g n l i n e s a n d t h re e c o l o r wo r l d s , fl ex i b i l i t y i s a t yo u r fi n g e r t i p s

ArtLine’s sleek and streamlined handleless d e s i g n a l l ow s fl u s h i n t e g r a t i o n w i t h a ny k i t c h e n s u r fa c e P u reL i n e’s s t r i k i n g j e t b l a c k glass surface contrasts with a stainless steel trim for a look that is both bold in its horizontal l i n e s a n d c o m p o s e d

VitroLine, available in Brilliant White, Graphite G rey, a n d O b s i d i a n B l a c k , of fe r s ve r s a t i l i t y through color The body and handle colors are seamlessly unified, for a smooth, monochrome ef fe c t C o n t o u rL i n e , a f re s h t a ke o n t h e t r a d i t i o n a l k i t c h e n , re i n t e r p re t s f a m i l i a r fo r m s w i t h i n a n a l l s t a i n l e s s s t e e l b o d y fo r a c l a s s i c , t i m e l e s s l o o k Ea c h d e s i g n l i n e’s i n t e r fa c e h a s a c l e a r t ex t d i s p l ay, p rov i d i n g b e a u t i f u l l y c r i s p v i s u a l p ro m p t s W i t h s e a m l e s s e l e g a n c e a n d i n t u i t i ve t e c h nology designed around you, Generation 7000 of fe r s a n a b u n d a n c e of d e s i g n c h o i c e s t o m a ke a s t a t e m e n t t h a t i s u n i q u e l y yo u r s Refl e c t yo u r t a s t e i n eve r y s e n s e w i t h Mi e l e Le a r n m o re a t m i e l e u s a . c o m .

E x p re s s yo u r s e l f i n M i e l e.

T h e n e w M i e l e k i t c h e n a p p l i a n c e s a re t h e p e r f e c t m a t c h f o r y o u r e v e r y n e e d w i t h i n t u i t i v e t e c h n o l o g y d e s i g n e d a r o u n d y o u T h a t ’s q u a l i t y a h e a d o f i t s t i m e M i e l e I m m e r B e s s e r D i s c o v e r m o re d e s i g n l i n e s a n d a p p l i a n c e s o n m i e l e u s a c o m

T he New Cr it ics D e sig n

W h e n C o v i d h i t , He r m a n Wa ke fi e l d’s industr y was turned upside down. Prices for midcentur y antiques skyrocketed because of the home improvement frenzy, and uneducated new dealers were ever y where, ruining furniture and hawking fakes. You could make more money, but you’d have to work harder, improvise, and deal with a lot of idiots along the way.

Wakefield, who is in his early 40s, had been selling vintage furniture for four years and been a fan for nearly 20 and he needed to “ blow off some steam.” Though he’d never made a meme before, on November 3 , 2020, he pieced together a “starter pack ” making fun of new vintage dealers who didn’t know what they were

doing The goal wasn’t to go viral but just to make a handful of other seasoned col leagues laugh.

What Wakefield didn’t expect was that two years later, @northwest mcm whole sale would have more than 37,000 follow ers. (His name online is a portmanteau of designers Herman Miller’s and Heywood Wakefield’s, inspired by dealers on Craigslist who get their names crossed As with many others inter viewed for this piece, being anonymous is a key part of his strategy.) The biggest shock is that half of Wakefield’s followers “probably don’t know a goddamn thing about design I get peo ple messaging me, ‘ What is Eames? Who are Eames? ’ ”

It may sound ridiculous, but a meme about having sex with a Mario Bellini sofa can sometimes lead to a real appreciation for design “I have had people write to me and they ’ re like, ‘ When I followed your account , I didn’t know anything, and now I just bought a Saarinen coffee table.’ That makes me feel good, because the memes have made people interested in the histor y of design They wouldn’t have even known about it if it wasn’t for some extremely crude meme that my mom gets mad at me for making,” Wakefield says. Even better is when a post is controversial . “ They like the craziness, they like the drama When I call out someone for selling a fake, they love that , ” he says of his followers.

T heir work may sound (and somet imes look) r idic u lous, b ut for a g r ow i n g c om mu n it y of c ont ent c r e a t or s , m em e s a r en’t j u s t ve h ic le s for l i ke s b ut a w h ole n ew m e d iu m for c r it iq u i n g t h e wor ld of d e s i g n .

I S K T

Wakefield is part of a growing commu nity of content creators who use digital humor as a vehicle for not just likes but also for the critique of architecture and d e s i g n . W h e t h e r t h e y ’ r e s h i t p o s t i n g m e m e s o n I n s t a g r a m o r e v i s c e r a t i n g Mc M a n s i o n s o n T i k To k , t h e y d o m u c h more than just entertain They take on issues like the exploitation of architecture workers, hypocrisy in academia, and how overconsumption and late stage capital ism foster bad design

“Architecture criticism is totally self serious,” says Kate Wagner, 28, an architec ture critic who got her start in 2016 with McMansion Hell , a blog that roasts ugly buildings “I honestly think architecture is inherently funny There are sculptures in Gothic cathedrals of monks with their dicks out. We’re not talking about a serious field here.”

Memes are a perfect vehicle in this way : They pull from a shared visual language and can make sense even if you don’t exactly understand the context (or even if it takes a lot of repetition of in jokes for a layperson to begin to get the references).

Load Bearing Column, a Toronto architect in his mid 20s, started making memes in 2017 during undergraduate architecture school , inspired by things that would come up in class, like, yes, load bearing

columns Also known as “Modernist Ho” by his 16,000 plus followers on Instagram, he’s amused when some people get more out of his content than comedy. “Someone was like, ‘I think this does a lot more than a lot of conventional ways of teaching architecture,’ ” he says “ That’s the beauty of memes: You don’t have to be in the same profession or niche to understand.” Dank Lloyd Wright, a mainstay in the architecture meme space with almost 70,000 followers, is run by an anonymous and evolving collective of shitposters who work in and out of the industry. They echo that this kind of content has an appeal far beyond architects: “For a while, our audi ence was just architecture academics and those in professional practice, but with our increased following it’s becoming more general as well , ” they write in a Google Doc the best way for them to communi cate as a group “It’s pretty common to get DMs that say things like, ‘I don’t get your architec ture jokes all the time, but this page always makes me laugh ’ ” Even though “architec ture influencer” Ryan Scavnicky, 33, uses humor, for him educa tion is an explicit goal of his content which ranges from ranking buildings that look like penises to explaining why corners in Vegas are so interesting to almost 17,000 followers Perhaps that is in part because of the former architect’s role as an adjunct profes sor and theorist “I’m more interested in changing conversation than I am in purely tak ing over conversation,” he explains “Also, I have a goal to just make broader audiences understand more and be able to be more critical of architecture and see it as something they should be able to engage with more easily ”

These content creators and their success all fill a void that drives the popularity of their work. Outside of social media, people without backgrounds in architecture often don’t feel licensed to have opinions on the built environment despite engaging with it every day. “Anytime I’ve introduced myself

to someone who’s outside of architecture, a lot of the time they ’ll say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry I don’t know a lot of architects’ names I don’t know a lot about it.’ And there’s an immediate sense of remorse or regret or embarrassment,” says writer Shane Reiner Roth, 31, whose Instagram project @everyverything collects found images of architecture and design mistakes and absurdities.

Reiner Roth’s Instagram has added ver ve and appeal when you consider that , in his view, a lot of architecture attempts to reject the messy “imperfections of humanity.” “ There’s been a debate in archi tecture culture for centuries about distin guishing between architecture with a capital A and buildings In 1942 , Nikolaus Pevsner said, ‘A bicycle shed is a building; Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architec ture.’ ” But Reiner Roth, who is getting his PhD in architecture at UCL A , thinks they are equally important parts of the built environment; online architecture content helps break down the often elitist distinc tion that keeps people out .

“Most of the images I put on Instagram are kind of reminders that what’s around us is made up of idiots like you and me and that’s okay. They make us human and remind us that we are all humans. As long as you ’ re obser ving things in the world around you, ” he says, “ you ’ re totally doing it with me ”

( O)

Though the primar y mode of memes and shitposts is visual humor, the func tion is often critique whether it’s gently ribbing famous architects or eviscerating unfair labor practices. If that’s confusing, that’s the point .

“One day we might wage what looks like a mini PR campaign for a unionization fight in NYC, and the next day we spam followers with ant and cum jokes,” Dank Lloyd Wright writes. “ We regularly come b a c k t o t h e n o t i o n of ‘ Tr o j a n h o r s i n g ’ larger ideas through the form of an image based joke Shareable ideas travel faster and farther in this format than they would in a stale essay that takes extreme effort to parse and is read by maybe a couple hun dred overeducated people A meme might not stick in one ’ s mind as long, but contin ued exposure to an idea across different memes might have a greater effect on its audience than an essay. ”

This duality is what makes the work so interesting “I like being able to shitpost and also critique something in a genuine

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w a y T h o s e c a n ex i s t a t t h e s a m e t i m e , ” says Load Bearing Column Though the humor in a meme might take center stage, the account needs to say something deeper to be popular. Wakefield says, “ The difficult thing is, you do have to say some thing If you don’t have a point of view, even on a meme account , you ’ re just lost in the woods.”

Critique and immediacy is one of the main appeals of making memes for Blank Gehr y, an architectural designer in his late 20s with more than 50,000 follow ers “If you see a situation and you have a reaction, you can just immediately make something that’s relevant and put it out there and see reactions to it And then if it resonates, you ’ ve kind of addressed something ”

Addressing larger issues through humor is one of Wagner’s primary strategies. “I have always walked that fine line between being an entertainer and being a critic,” she says “Not everyone thinks of me as a seri ous critic, even though I was the critic at

and provocation of imager y, because that imager y is able to just hit you in the face with a stance that you didn’t even know you had yourself,” says Reiner Roth. “I h a v e 49 , 0 0 0 f o l l o w e r s , ” h e a d d s . “A n d I think fewer than 50 people have read what I’ve said in essay form ”

(* *)

As opposed to just critiquing the work of specific architects or different trends in the field, these creators often take on the industr y itself “My angle at the beginning was always not to critique architecture but to critique architecture culture, because only then could you actually make any changes to the way things happen,” says Scavnicky, who, in addition to teaching, hosts a Discord community of 1 ,500 archi tects. “Shifting the culture has been my interest from the beginning.”

A common goal for all of these makers also seems to be demystifying an opaque fi e l d “A r c h i t e c t u r e s c h o o l i s c o m p l e t e l y i n f e s t e d w i t h i d e a s of g r e a t m en d o i n g

d e s i g n i n g t h e n e w Ne w Yor k C i t y ”

Blank Gehr y says that his meme prac tice, which began in early 2020, was inspired by his disillusionment as an over worked young architectural designer. In the beginning, it was simply a catharsis shared only with his friends and family “In architecture firms, it’s more of a top down hierarchy, and it’s predominantly white male,” he says. “One word to describe the culture essentially is toxic. There’s a disconnect between the people entering the profession and people who have been in the profession who tr y to exploit their labor.

“ Young people are disillusioned with working under these conditions,” Blank Gehr y adds “ Your only outlet is to make fun of things.”

Now, he’s not just sharing work inspired by his own frustrations, but being tipped by followers about issues in architecture all around the world “A few months back, Architectural D igest India posted about a residence designed by a well known

“ It ’s so easy to fall into accepting ‘the way things are’ and then sitting back and letting our futures be cannibalized for the short-term gains of capital.””D A N K L L O Y D W R I G H T

the New Republic, because I was funny and because I was working with images, too.” A more overt sense of humor is a big part of what separates the work of online architec ture creators and more traditional critics and why Wagner is able to support herself fully by hosting her blog on Patreon.

These creators aren’t replacing the orig inal style of criticism they fundamen tally approach it in a different way and for a wider audience “Most of us do write essays also We just like the immediacy

their big solo achievements, changing the world,” says Wagner, who graduated from Johns Hopkins with a master of arts degree in audio science, specializing in architectural acoustics “It suffers from delusions of grandeur The actual reality of being in architecture and this is something that Dank Lloyd Wright does so exceptionally well is that you are just going to be doing wall sections in Rev [architecture software Revit] for $30,000 a year. But you ’ re not gonna be, like,

architect and the caption was ver y caste ist , essentially celebrating and validating the upper caste status of the client , ” he explains of the post one of his followers flagged to him “A lot of other people criti cized them for shoddy architectural jour nalism. Eventually, they edited the caption.”

Even though DLW maintains that its goals for the page are “Not That D eep, ” it admits to wanting to “end the myth of ‘the calling ’ in architectural work,” show that

T a n i s C M 1 3 1 P i e r r e P a u l i n M a d e i n F r a n c e

“passion doesn’t pay the bills,” and help people see architecture as “labor, and our labor must be organized ” It frequently h i g h l i g h t s u n i o n i z a t i o n e f f o r t s l i ke t h o s e b y t h e A r c h i t e c t u r a l Wor ke r s Un i t e d a n d b l o w s u p j o b p o s t s t h a t encourage overwork with phrases like “ no 9 5 mentality ” (Because of negative atten tion stirred up by Dank Lloyd Wright, said post was edited to remove the phrase.)

“ We a l l s h a r e a h o p e t h a t a r c h i t e c t u r e i s w o r t h s a v i n g f r o m t h e c o r r u p t i n g i n fl u en c e s of f a m e , p o w e r, a n d p r ofi t , ” t h e DLW t e a m w r i t e s . “ T h i s c o m m o n o p t i m i s m i s a c r u c i a l p o i n t b e c a u s e i t ’ s s o e a s y t o f a l l i n t o a c c e p t i n g ‘ t h e w a y t h i n g s a r e ’ a n d t h en s i t t i n g b a c k a n d l e t t i n g o u r f u t u r e s b e c a n n i b a l i z e d f o r t h e s h o r t t e r m g a i n s of c a p i t a l . ”

B u t i t ’ s h a r d t o p a r s e h o w much memes will contribute to a large scale industr y trans formation “I wouldn’t say memes could actually cause any social change. I don’t think they have the power to do that , ” Blank Gehr y admits “But I definitely think bringing up these issues in this quick format with the potential to go viral could spark discussions, which could lead to real life organizing ”

*(^o^)*

Though followers lust to know the identities of their favorite meme creators, many of the creators take their ano nymity seriously, for various reasons beyond anonymity ’ s being a norm of online shit posting culture For Dank Lloyd Wright , anonymity makes the group project about the content and not the cre ators. “ There’s a lot of great ‘ anonymous ’ architecture; this is ‘ anonymous ’ architec ture media,” the DLW ’ s members write “It helps us stay out of the endless personal ity battles of online discourse.” They maintain that they aren’t embarrassed by any of the work they post and personally stand by the account’s politics which has recently shared pro choice content “It’s just that DLW isn’t about us. ”

More seriously, staying anonymous is a simple way to avoid being sued. “I wanna be able to call out people that are commit ting crimes when that happens,” says Wakefield, who refers to people selling

k n o c kof f f u r n i t u r e i n h i s a r e a a s “ l o c a l criminals ”

For those who work in architecture, the fear of retribution is even more intense. “ There’s still a level of paranoia,” says Load Bearing Column. “I feel like the industr y is still kind of old fashioned ” Blank Gehr y agrees: “People choose to remain anony mous because of backlash from their place of employment and chances of future opportunities in the profession. It’s a ver y small world ”

Though Scavnicky feels tying his iden tity to his content is necessar y, he con firms that the fears many meme makers have are legitimate. “People’s jobs get threatened,” he explains “Anonymity is a

a n d a f e w d a y s l a t e r f o u n d h i m s e l f w i t h 5 ,000 “I feel like a rather ordinar y person just reflecting ideas back, maybe showing D well or Architectural D igest what people on the ground level might think.”

Cyber Ex Boyfriend, a 25 year old from the suburbs of Dallas, has no formal edu cation or work experience in architecture or design, but was inspired to start roast i n g h o m e s o n T i k To k d u r i n g t h e p a n d e m i c . “ I r e d i d m y r o o m d u r i n g c o r on a , b u t I g o t k i n d of f r u s t r a t e d b e c a u s e s o much of it was geared towards a certain audience and a certain demographic and a certain taste and style,” he says. “But with online content creators it’s a re youthifi cation of architecture, design, and interior design culture ”

necessity in such a toxic place for now ” One of the most promising aspects of this online architecture community is that it allows people without a formal back ground or bona fides to be a part of the conversation “My dad’s an oil worker I grew up blue collar. I make a decent living, but I don’t own a $50,000 sofa. I’m the kid with my face pressed up against the win dow of the candy store,” Wakefield says

But none of this matters if you make great content; in fact , Wakefield’s status as an outsider is what allows him the free dom and creativity to make work that res onates with a wide audience He recalls when he had only 500 followers and posted a meme making fun of Italian sofas

Adding to this refresh is Louisa Talks Buildings, a TikTok account with more than 392 ,000 followers run by 18 year old Louisa Whitmore “My perspective is ‘ man on the street looking at a building,’ which I think is a ver y impor tant perspective because those are the people who are actually experiencing the building,” says Whitmore, who initially blew up because of an evisceration of 432 Park Avenue, a luxur y sky scraper she encountered on a family trip to New York City “A lot of the responses I get to my videos are condescending things like ‘Build a building first and then talk,’ which is a ver y weird response Ever ybody lives in buildings and ever yone looks at buildings. It’s not like art where you have to go to a museum you can just walk by it and have an opinion on it But it’s so much harder to express that opinion without some ver y weird pushback.”

L u c k i l y, n e g a t i v e c o m m en t s h a v en’t d i s c o u r a g e d L o u i s a o r o t h e r o n l i n e c r e a t o r s w h e t h e r p r ofe s s i o n a l a r c h i t e c t s , hobbyists, or aficionados from creating. “ I t h i n k t h a t t h e r e ’ s m o r e r o o m i n a r c h i t e c t u r e c r i t i c i s m f o r n e w v o i c e s , ” s a y s Wagner “I hope by doing McMansion Hell it opens the door for other people who are c o m i n g f r o m u n c o n v en t i o n a l b a c k g r o u n d s , w h i c h u l t i m a t e l y m a ke s a r c h i t e c t u r e c r i t i c i s m a m o r e d i v e r s e a n d i n t e r e s t i n g fi e l d ”

At the ver y least , it could be funny along the way

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I n Plai n Sig ht

O n a t y pi c a l d a y, N i c o l á s To v o a n d Teresa Sarmiento’s house is a hive of activ ity. Upon my arrival at the architects’ new family home in Buenos Aires, Nico ushers me inside, where the couple’s three children, three cats, and Jack Russell terrier are buzzing around the open plan. O ver coffee and flaky medialunas, Teresa enthusiastically fills me in on the stor y behind their home while Nico doodles intricate floor plans to help explain

In need of more space for their bur geoning brood, the couple, founders of architecture and design firm La Base Studio, purchased a 1970s home in the well heeled district of Belgrano They demolished all but its concrete structure, which they used as a framework for expansion. The original home sat on a roughly 4 ,000 square foot lot at the inter section of a quiet street and a bustling thoroughfare The location presented

Architects Nicolás Tovo and Teresa Sarmiento created a greenery filled oasis for their family in the heart of Buenos Aires. The ground floor, with its walls of windows, embraces the outdoors “Most of the year we keep all the windows open,” says Teresa, “and then the real limit of the house is the property walls ”

a welcome challenge for Nico and Tere.

“ We had been wanting to experiment with contrasting ideas of exposure and protection for a long time,” explains Tere “ That was the guiding principle of this whole project being able to create a home that is both exposed to the elements and a garden yet hidden from view.”

They started with transparency, using floor to ceiling glass panels for the exte rior walls and fixing them to the home’s

O a bu s y s t re et i n B uenos A i re s , a f a m i ly ’s ex p er i ment a l renov at ion sh ield s them f rom v iew w h i le pre s er v i n g a c on ne c t ion t o the out do or s .

Inside, a floati ng sta i rcase of ste el a nd la pacho wo o d (above) helps maintain the home’s openness The benches, bookshelves, and A frame coatrack a re by Teresa a nd

Upstairs, a six foot wide ter race runs along one side of the house (opposite, bottom) “You ca n on ly access it from the bedrooms,” says Teresa “It’s a little private patio for the kids.” B D C F G H HI H D

Nico’s design firm, La Base Studio. The living area (oppo site, top) includes a sofa from Helmut Muebles and a coffee table by La Base, set against a lush backdrop of oleander.

“ We always do architecture and landscape together. It ’s not two separate things for us—we think about both at the same time.””

T E R E S A S A R M I E N T O , A R C H I T E C T A N D R E S I D E N T

Casa Mendoza

Ground Floor

Basement Floor

two stor y frame This was good for well lit interiors and a connection to their yard, but bad for privacy from the street , so they added a tall fence made of angelim wood around the perimeter of the property to keep passersby from peeking inside the ground floor living spaces New plantings around the home obscure sight lines from taller neighboring developments. Lapacho wood slat screens and a tile covered wall create more privacy for the second floor

The ground floor of the 2 ,700 square foot house is mostly open, with glass walls on all sides. The living spaces are here, as is the kitchen, which is set in a nook bounded by walls that don’t quite touch the ceiling Along one wall , a stair well heads down to a new basement level with a study and up to the second level , which includes the bedrooms as well as a landing area that doubles as a T V room and play space Wall height built ins made of Brazilian pine help the latter feel cozy

Back at street level at the rear of the home, the garden, designed by Par Estudio a landscape firm Tere started with architect Violeta Ossani is trans portive Native flora surrounds the remod eled pool , attracting butterflies and hummingbirds that add to the buzz of family activity. In the background are the constant thrum of traffic and the clatter of an occasional commuter train, reminders of the busy city just over the fence.

A m e r i c an s i n P ar i s

The apartment is located in a 1960s building in the 11th arrondissement, a varied, buzzy area full of boutiques, restaurants, and nightspots

W h e n Ra f a e l d e C á r d e n a s m o v e d i n t o t h e s n u g P a r i s p i e d à t e r r e of h i s p a r t n e r, Cale Harrison, he tossed any Haussmann ian fantasies about grand continental liv i n g o u t t h e w i n d o w “ It w a s a m o n a s t i c space, ” says the New York designer, “and we wanted to tease that out ”

Tucked in an apartment building designed by Louis Miquel , a disciple of Le Corbusier, the modernist 800 square foot duplex was spare but appealed to Rafael’s ex a c t i n g e y e W h en d e s i g n i n g p l a n s t o r en o v a t e t h e s p a c e f o r t h e t w o of t h e m , he forwent the usual Paris clichés of volup tuous marble fireplaces, crown molding, and Point d’Hongrie flooring, instead play i n g u p t h e c l a u s t r a l v i b e of t h e p r o p e r t y ’ s simple expanses of glass and concrete

“ When we redid the floor, the rest sort of revealed itself,” Cale says Out went the faux parquet; in came a resin finish and simple walls devoid of color that create a backdrop for the couple’s furniture and art collection “I buy a lot of stuff,” Rafael says The designer maintains an office in New York, and much of what he’s picked up sits in two storage units on either side of the Atlantic The final edit in Paris is “mostly French,” boasts Cale, who runs an agency for fashion stylists and lives in France full time. “I think it’s nice to understand the vernacular of the countr y we are in.” Cale d i d n’t w a n t a f o r m a l l i v i n g o r d i n i n g r o o m , s o t h e m a i n r o o m d o w n s t a i r s i s a f u n c t i o n a l m e d l e y of P h i l i p p e S t a r c k d i n i n g c h a i r s , Je a n No u v e l a r m c h a i r s

P H O T O S B Y | @ A L E X A N D R E TA B A S T E S T U D I O A l exa n dre Ta ba s te

T E X T B Y

Pa tricia Gajo

New Yor k d e s i g n er Rafael de Cárdenas opens up his un-Par isian Par i s pie d-à-ter re.

In revamping their Pa ris du plex, designer Rafael de Cárdenas (on the right) and his partner, Cale Harrison, doubled down on the ascetic vibe of the modest space The float ing staircase (this page and opposite, top) is original. The Elémentaire arm chairs are by Jean Nouvel for Ligne Roset, and the red lamp is by Andrée Putman

(reupholstered “in Lufthansa waiting room gray,” he says), an Andrée Putman floor lamp, and a pragmatic custom Shaker inspired dining table suited for working.

The upper level consists of sparsely dec orated twin cubicles, one of them the bed room, outfitted with little more than a double bed flanked by sconces designed by Jacques Biny. “It’s like waking up in a white cube,” Cale says with a giggle. “ This is a room for sleeping and nothing else,” Rafael says, then points to the next room “ That’s a room for lounging and watching T V and nothing else.” A Patricia Urquiola sofa, a Mario Botta Shogun lamp, and a large flat screen television fill the space “If someone ’ s talking about a new show, I need to know,” says Rafael . “But it’s rare

The bedroom includes a Mickville folding chair by Philippe Starck and bedside sconces by Jacques Biny that once hung in a movie theater. The works on paper are by American artist Joe Zorrilla, and the plaster wall sculpture is by Swiss artist Bernhard Hegglin

In the television room, a Shogun floor lamp by Mario Botta stands over a vintage Artek stool “A lot of the art and stuff are things we had before,” says Rafael, “but they didn’t have a home.”

“ We l i ve i n a t i m e w h er e t h e c u l t u r e a r o u n d f a s h i on a n d consumption is complex. I love beautiful things, but I have limits to what I want to buy and bring into my home.””

R A F A E L D E C Á R D E N A S , D E S I G N E R A N D R E S I D E N T

HESTIA

DOWLING ARCHITECTS

that someone ’ s watching something I don’t know ”

In tune with his detail oriented person ality, Rafael points out the “flaw ” of this abode: “ The only place to sit communally is at the table.” But the mini monaster y isn’t intended so much for the long, lin gering dinner parties often linked with Parisian life. ( The couple can have those at their countr y home just outside the city.) It’s more of a crash pad for the frequent travelers, as the pristine galley kitchen indicates When asked who’s the cook, the two smile. “ When Raf ’ s here,” quips Cale, “it’s takeout and T V.”

The renovation included replacing the apartment’s vinyl floors with resin throughout and installing a new kitchen by Kvik The dining table is by Rafael, and the chairs are by Philippe Starck

A pair of Ettore Sottsass vases, bought at an open market in Italy, add a bit of color

The Cherner Chair Company

Constanza Ríos says of the home she built with her husband, Pierangelo Caimi Peering out at sky and ocean through wall height windows that wrap the living area of their cabin, which rests on a cliff on the Chilean coast , you can’t help but feel weightless It can be jarring for some “People with vertigo sometimes come to our house and say they can’t get near the windows,” says Pier, laughing. “ They feel like they ’ re going to fall into the ocean. ”

In 2018, he and Constanza, both dentists, yoga instructors, and surfers, were seeking a deeper connection with the outdoors

when they decided to move from their hometown of Viña del Mar, a metropolis of 325 ,000, to the remote beach community of Puertecillo “ We always lived in the city, so it was like, Let’s go to a place where we can slow down,” says Pier. While renting a tiny bungalow in town, they found an empty plot of land with spectacular seaside views that stole their hearts There were also a lot of kids in the area, making it per fect for their daughter, then 1 4 months old, and workdays could be bookended with cliffside Ashtanga Plus, the surf was just an AT V ride down the hill

Next door lived architect Jorge Manieu

His firm, WMR Arquitectos, is responsible for more than 300 houses, each recogniz able for its boxy shape and expansive glass facades, in Chile’s south central surf towns. Manieu has developed a recipe of sorts for homes that can withstand the area ’ s stiff winds and corrosive salty air. Brick homes are common here, but he often designs wooden structures, painting them black to blend with the local pines. The painted wood also ages well , he says. “It will look the same in five years. ”

For their house, the couple wanted to capitalize on the site’s incredible views, of course, but they also wanted something

A s u r fer c ouple e s c ap e thei r homet ow n t o bu i ld a cl i f f side p erch on the C h i le a n c o a s t . Up to the E d ge

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Pierangelo Caimi and Constanza Ríos’s family home in Puertecillo, Chile, requires a balancing act The cliffside residence showcases broad views to the south through glass walls in the open plan living spaces (left), while a north facing skylight above the kitchen (below) maximizes heat absorption, helpful in the cool climate A lattice cover ing the guest bedroom’s patio (right) dapples the sunlight, and its porous design also makes it less prone to defor mity in the damp, salty winds, says architect Jorge Manieu.

Excavating the site and set ting the home into the cliff allowed the architects to cre ate an entrance that doubles as a sunny central courtyard where the kids can play out side while still protected from stiff southerly gusts (left) The guest bedroom (below) feels private without being closed off, thanks to ample glazing “Our houses are skeletons with windows,” says Manieu.

simple and to be able to keep an eye on their two kids. Manieu created a house with roughly 2 , 270 square feet of interior space in a “ butterfly distribution” bed rooms to the sides that open completely to central living spaces. Walls of glass provide maximal visibility inside and out , while timber finishes and a woodburning fireplace keep things cozy

Burrowing the home into the cliff allowed Manieu to create a series of inte grated outdoor spaces. The ground level roof doubles as a viewing deck, while a sunken entr y courtyard ser ves as a shel tered play space for the kids The bed rooms open onto terraces, which Manieu covered with irregularly patterned slatted wood to allow just the right amount of sunlight to filter through to the interiors

With its hunkered down profile, the south facing cabin could have been quite gloomy. But Manieu captured yet more sun with a skylight craning diagonally to the north. “It goes up kind of like a big neck, swallowing all the heat of the morning and diffusing light across the living room, ” he explains, noting that natural temperature control is key for a house like this, which runs on 10 solar panels. Come evening the sun plunges down the window walls into the Pacific, where silhouetted surfers glide along the horizon.

A Entrance B Bathroom Bedroom Garden Walk In Closet Kitchen Living/Dining Area Guest Room Laundry Room Storage Room Hot Tub

Casa Caimi Ríos

E A B CD D C F H G JI K

“ You get used to living in a house like this, and then someone comes over who’s never seen it, and they ’re like, Wow.”

C O N S T A N Z A R Í O S , R E S I D E N T

B B D

T H E

As dawn breaks, crenellated ribbons of orange light streak across white cabinetr y deep inside the East Boston loft of archi tects Elle Gerdeman and Kyle Coburn. Part psychedelic laser show, part contemplative art installation, the phantasmagoric dis play results from early morning rays hit ting a distorted sheet of thin steel in the living room, then bouncing off a polished steel coffee table and projecting onto the wall behind it .

The architects, who were college sweet hearts and are founding partners of the firm CO G, first tested the setup by using a reflective emergency blanket in an attempt to push sunlight throughout their loft “ There were funky reflections scat tered ever ywhere, so we bought the steel to see what it would do,” Elle says of the sheet , which she bent by hand until it refracted the light to her liking. “Experimentation is important to us We are constantly tinkering ”

Giant windows and natural light , not to mention a plot of open floor space where they could spread out their works in prog ress, seduced the couple to migrate from a tiny Beacon Hill apartment to this former General Electric light bulb factor y on the other side of Boston Harbor. Built in 1910, the four stor y redbrick building stretches nearly three city blocks and faces playing fields and Boston Logan International Airport

“East Boston was outside our radar, but when we visited, we fell in love with the industrial vibe and the ability to walk to the bay ever y morning,” Kyle says After renting a unit on the first floor for four years, the couple bought a 930 square foot , single bay loft on the building ’ s top floor in Februar y 2020. They moved in the following month and began transforming it into a flexible live/work space where they could be creative, build a business, and start a family. ( The pair had their first child in July.)

In 2020, architects Elle Gerdeman and Kyle Coburn purchased a single bay loft in a former light bulb factory in East Boston Now a one bedroom, it flexes from fam ily home to makerspace with ease Kyle peers at Zuri, a chinchilla Persian, in the living area (oppo site), where a polished steel table from Hay helps bounce light around the room The dining table, by Daniel Enoksson for Hay (below), has a powder coated steel top.

A movable polycarbonate wall divides the loft in half, separating the living space from the primar y bedroom and kitchen The translucent panels allow light to pass into those rooms while offering privacy from the central space. A skinny interior window at the top of the bedroom draws light into the sliver of a nurser y behind it “ The mammoth polycarbonate wall was the big idea that we built the unit around,” Kyle says.

The architects employ mundane con struction materials plywood, plaster,

polycarbonate, and steel in a way that elevates them without seeming precious By embedding smart L ED light strips into the polycarbonate panels, the duo turned the ribbed wall into an illuminated instal lation that evokes the works of Dan Flavin. At night , the wall glows peachy pink, as does the kitchen, thanks to a strip tucked behind the marble backsplash. “ We’re using ver y basic materials but stretching them past their typical use, or we ’ re supersizing them so they become exqui site or unusual , ” Elle says

“

W h e n y o u h a ve o p a q u e wa l l s , eve r y ro o m h a s a defined function. Traditional houses have unused rooms—we don’t have that luxury.”” K Y L E C O B U R N , A R C H I T E C T A N D R E S I D E N T

Kyle (opposite) stands beside the polycarbonate wall that separates the couple’s bedroom from the living area while allowing sun light to pass “Not many materials are lightweight and translucent,” he says, noting that he and Elle became familiar with polycarbonate as interns at the architecture firm OMA in Rotterdam. In the nursery (below), a Safari rug from Ferm Living warms the painted brick wall, and an interior window pulls in natural light.

Depending on how the curtain in the living space (above) is configured, it can shade the windows, hide the desk, fully enclose the seating area, and more “Fabric allows for more flexibility, so a curtain wall does things that a normal wall can’t do,” Kyle poi nts out. The cou ple l i ke su ppor ti ng i ndependent a r tisa ns, and they sourced the BicoEstonia curtain and Urbansize nightstands from Etsy. The polycarbonate wall frame is made from millwork grade poplar “It’s affordable and looks sharp,” Elle says

In the kitchen (opposite), the pair splurged on Arabescato marble and saved on Ikea cabinets, then attached Dots from Muuto as over size pulls Elle notes that ribbed glass would be the high end equiv alent of polycarbonate (above), a common greenhouse material.

“Glass is also much heavier, requir ing a very different construction,” she says

During the day, the polycarbonate wall remains open, effectively erasing the line between the bedroom and the living space and making each room seem larger. “ We’re borrowing space and views,” Kyle says The layout , the pair explain, is about overlap ping, free flowing spaces rather than rig idly delineated rooms.

Whereas the bedroom is mainly a place to sleep the couple are contemplating installing a Murphy bed so that the space can double as an office the living room is multifunctional . It’s where they eat , relax , work, and create. Under the eight foot tall wall of windows, a whitewashed plywood bench provides a sunny spot for morning coffee and plentiful seating for friends Its top is a plant ledge and a catwalk for Zuri, the couple’s fluffy feline. “It’s her own little jungle and cat hammam,” quips Elle, noting that the baseboard heat warms the wood

Behind the marshmallow esque Hay sectional , Elle’s desk practically disappears against the plain white wall . Still , there’s a cur vy cloud of linen draper y to hide it at the end of the workday The curtain, sus pended from a track on the ceiling, snakes through the space, bulging around the desk and swooping near the kitchen before making its way along the polycarbonate wall to provide an extra layer of privacy for the bedroom if needed “ We let life deter mine the shape of the curtain,” Kyle says

When designing for themselves, the couple take a go with the flow approach that results in what Kyle calls more of a sensibility than a design rigor. The loft is a place where they ’ ve conjured an aura, a place that doesn’t have to be perfect . “It’s m e a n t t o b e a p l a y g r o u n d w h e r e , i f w e have an idea, we can clear the furniture to t h e s i d e a n d m a ke i t h a p p en , ” E l l e s a y s . “ We c a n h a n g a s w i n g , b u i l d a m o c k u p , a n d h o s t f r i en d s f o r c o c k t a i l s . ” T h en s h e m en t i o n s r o l l e r s k a t i n g “ R e a l l y ? ” a s k s her husband “Okay, maybe not , ” she says “But I can imagine it . ”

Porter Loft

A

LO

E A B D C F G H

A hand bent sheet of stainless steel on one side of the living space (below) reflects sunlight in surprising ways “In a way, it channels works of installa tion artists like Robert Irwin and Olafur Eliasson,” Elle says A more mirrorlike steel sheet by the entry (opposite) dis torts the already oversize kitchen cabi net pulls to fun house like proportions

A Entrance

B Bathroom

C Laundry/Utility Room

D Office/Nursery

E Kitchen

F Bedroom

G Living/Dining Area

H Office N

To ach ieve a path to home ownership without leaving the city or breaking the bank, three families in the sustainable design indus try pooled resources to fashion an arrangement of three solar powered, net neutral energy townhouses in place of a dilapidated 1970s single family home in Brunswick, Australia.

Project architect Chris Gilbert and Miranda Louey ’s five year old, Arthur, bal a nces on a custom couch from Ki ng Livi ng i n thei r town home’s su n ken l iv i ng a rea on the g rou nd floor (above) The couple

wanted the units’ interiors to evoke the feeling of the bush where they grew up, so they went with Australian hardwoods for the joinery, including silvertop ash for the slatted ceilings through out Ch ris made a poi nt

of avoid i ng plasterboa rd, i nstead usi ng structu ra l ly i nsu lated pa nels for the wa l ls to create a n a i r tig ht seal, and for the flooring, a hydronic concrete slab from Hydrotherm that can warm or cool the interiors

A t r i o o f d e s i g n p r o fe s s i o n a l s b a n d t o g e t h e r t o c r e at e a d eve l o p m e n t o f h i g h - p e r fo r m i n g townhouses for their families outside Melbourne.

P H O T O S B Y | @ S H A R Y N C A I R N S S h a r y n C a i r n s

T E X T B Y L a u r e n G a l l

In one space savi ng tac tic, Chris added a built in bench with drawers for storage to the dining area. The ta ble is a custom design by Archier, and the cha i rs a re vi ntage fi nds

The Jolly pendant hanging above is by Coco Flip. The slender windows are fixed with blinds to block out sun

in the summer and can open to create a cross breeze

The entr y door (opposite) leads i nto a sma l l kitchen where everything is within reach “It’s superefficient,” says Chris He used blizzard counters from Caesarstone, a nd m i rrors beh i nd the shelving add to the open feel of the space

It could have been the same old stor y: A city couple looking to start a family give up their one bedroom apartment to buy a fixer upper with the cash they have and renovate down the line But architect Chris G i l b e r t , f o u n d i n g d i r e c t o r of t h e s t u d i o A r c h i e r i n Me l b o u r n e , Au s t r a l i a , a n d h i s p a r t n e r, M i r a n d a L o u e y, w h o h a n d l e s t h e fi r m ’ s m a r ke t i n g a n d c o m m u n i c a t i o n s , weren’t interested in buying anything out dated The cost of updates to a run down home, not to mention making it energy efficient , would be expensive, they knew, and others close to them felt the same way

Chris shares an office with Peter Steele, an environmental consultant and cofounder and former director at sustain able development firm Hip V. Hype, and Liam Wallis, the firm’s founding director The three discovered they were all in the same boat ready for a family home but one that reflected the values of their prac t i c e s , e s p e c i a l l y s u s t a i n a b i l i t y ( t h o u g h C h r i s m a ke s i t c l e a r h e h a t e s t h a t w or d , a c k n o w l e d g i n g t h a t b u i l d i n g a n y t h i n g i s i n h e r en t l y w a s t e f u l ) S o t h e y f o r m e d a c o l l a b o r a t i v e of s o r t s , p o o l i n g t h e i r resources to design and develop a row of three energy efficient townhouses.

After six months of searching “Chris was constantly scanning blocks and assessing whether we could make

s o m e t h i n g w o r k , ” s a y s M i r a n d a t h e g r o u p p u r c h a s e d a 1 9 70 s s i n g l e f a m i l y home in Brunswick, a Melbourne suburb a few miles north of the city ’ s center The house was from “ an era of Australian development that shouldn’t be celebrated,” says Chris. In other words, it was a tear down with a desirable lot , with laneways on two sides and only one neighbor

But at about 3 ,900 square feet , the house’s parcel was small It made design ing a multifamily arrangement a game of architectural Tetris. Chris managed to create a row of three 1 ,500 square foot , square shaped homes, each with an open plan living space, rear courtyard, and garage on the ground floor, with three beds and two baths upstairs. The key, he says, was limiting circulation areas like hallways For additional space, the fami lies share a garden along the front of the development .

T h e l i m i t e d l o t s i z e w a s t o t h e g r o u p ’ s b en e fi t i n t h e s en s e t h a t a s m a l l e r p l a n meant the homes required fewer materials to build and less energy to operate The team started with a slab and combined traditional framing methods with the use of structurally insulated panels, uncom mon in Australia, which made the homes airtight A solar and battery power system designed by Peter makes the homes’

e l e c t r i c i t y u s e n e t n e u t r a l He a t p u m p s provide hot water and can cool and warm the slab, while an energy recover y ventila t o r c i r c u l a t e s f r e s h a i r t h r o u g h o u t t h e i n t e r i o r s . “ It ’ s r e a l l y c o s t e f f e c t i v e t o l i v e h e r e , ” s a y s C h r i s . “ We s p en d l e s s t h a n three [Australian] dollars a day per household ”

E v en w i t h i t s a d v a n c e d t e c h , C h r i s wanted the development to feel at home in its neighborhood. “ We were interested in creating something that didn’t look like a c o n t e m p o r a r y p i e c e of a r c h i t e c t u r e , ” h e says. “ We pulled in some details and forms of early Brunswick brick buildings in hopes the design would be a nod to the local vernacular ”

D a v i s o n C o l l a b o r a t i v e , a s t h e p r o j e c t i s k n o w n , i s l o c a t e d i n a r e s i d en t i a l n e i g h b o r h o o d b u t b o r d e r s a h e a v i l y i n d u s t r i a l a r e a of B r u n s w i c k , s o t h e d e s i g n t o e s t h e line between these two architectural lan guages “ The sawtooth roof profile picks up on the industrial area, and around the front of the homes, facing the street , we used a more traditional residential gable,” explains Chris An exterior material pal ette of recycled bricks , concrete lintels , and natural timber knits the complex into its context. Inside, silvertop ash ceilings conjure a sense of history for Chris. “I grew u p w i t h t i m b e r c e i l i n g s i n o u r f a m i l y

Creating an optical illusion, the ceiling upstairs in the primary bedroom breaks at a severe angle to meet the corner of the home (opposite). Archier custom designed the bed and side table, and the terrazzo vase is by local ceramicist Tantri Mustika. The room also includes a study nook with a built in desk (right) and an en suite bathroom (above)

with large square tiles from Artedomus, a Caroma sink and faucet, and under counter storage from AJ Cabinet The space fits a washing machine (out of view) to double as a laun dry room, but instead of a dryer, Chris and Miranda rely on sunshine and the home’s fresh air circulation to line dry their clothes, saving on energy costs

“We’ve had to sacrifice some things—our garden is tiny. We’ve just become more diligent about the things we ’ re allowed to own. ””

M I R A N D A L O U E Y, R E S I D E N T

Arthur keeps his collection of toys and books in his bed room (opposite) on a shelv ing unit custom designed by Luke David Binq supplied all the doors and windows for the project, including the wall height glass sliders that connect the living spaces to the rear garden (this page) The house that stood on the lot before was the same square footage as just one townhome, but Chris was able to maximize the amount of usable outdoor space by adding backyards and a garden between his and Miranda’s unit and the street

home, and as a kid, I remember looking up a n d s e e i n g a l l t h e d e t a i l s We t h o u g h t o u r h o m e s h o u l d a l s o h a v e t h o s e k i n d s o f memories within it , ” he says.

For all its wins as a sustainable develop ment , the project wasn’t as affordable as they ’d hoped, Chris points out Where many larger developers cut corners on materials and labor to maximize profit , his group customized with more expensive options at ever y turn to meet their needs “ The economies of scale just don’t kick in when you ’ re doing something bespoke,” says Chris. Add to that the time spent by the three families securing a mortgage as a collaborative, a major gray area for banks, which are used to dealing with a single developer or potential homeowner.

Still , for Chris, Miranda, and their chil dren, it’s exactly the home they envisioned f o r t h e m s e l v e s a n d t h e i r f r i en d s “ I d e fi n i t e l y h a d a y e a r n i n g f o r t h a t f e e l i n g of c o m m u n i t y, ” s a y s M i r a n d a “ B e c a u s e o u r u n i t f a c e s t h e f r o n t y a r d , w h i c h t h e k i d s n ex t d o o r c a n a l s o a c c e s s , w e of t en g e t l i t t l e f a c e s i n o u r w i n d o w s i f t h e s h a d e s a r e n’t d r a w n I l o v e i t t h a t ’ s t h e w h o l e point ”

A R C H I T E C T A r c h i e r LO C AT I O N M e l b o u r n e, A u s t r a l i a

Davison Collaborative

G G H

Second Floor

First Floor

In Cancún, t wo architects are using rental apartments to reinvigorate

In 2015, architec t Vic tor Ebergenyi Kelly had his dream job (albeit a bureaucratic one) working in public housing and urban redevelopment in Mexico City when he got a call that would change the course of his career It was from his former thesis adviser, Juan Carral O’Gorman, who asked Ebergenyi to join him in Cancún. Carral was working on a project in a struggling part of the coastal city, a world away from the nearby glittering seaside resorts, and he wanted Ebergenyi’s help

Carral’s focus was Donceles, a working class neighborhood of 1,161 homes, devel oped in the 1980s by the Mexican national housing institution, Infonavit, for hospi tality workers Even when new, the area had plenty of troubles: Pedestrian walk ways were left unpaved, there wasn’t much shade in public spaces, and the residences were bare bones, with mere four inch con crete walls “In this heat and without insu lation, the houses are like furnaces,” says Ebergenyi. “Many people sleep outside.” Hurricanes Gilbert in 1988 and Wilma in 2005 hit the area hard, and Donceles fell into serious disrepair Trash wasn’t getting picked up Public money was funneled into tourism and hospitality, with little left for low income housing. By 2010, 194 Donceles homes had been left abandoned.

Carral had spent much of his childhood in Cancún and moved back from Barcelona in 2009. A meal at a popular restaurant in the area got the architect to begin think ing about ways to bring investment back into D onceles He tried to get funding for a few projects, but it wasn’t until his law yer cousin Juan O’Gorman Merino ( both are grandkids of the 20th centur y Mexican architect and painter Juan O’Gorman) joined him that things started to take off With O’Gorman’s investment , they devised a market driven plan to revitalize the neighborhood. They would redevelop abandoned lots into apartment buildings, finance new businesses, and use the prof its to improve public spaces The apart ments would provide comfortable but modest living spaces for young people that the rest of the city ’ s housing market largely ignored, and the team would work with the neighbors and the local govern ment to tr y to find solutions to problems like flooding and waste management .

“In the long run, ” Carral says, “ we believe that if there is a strong community that embraces its spaces and benefits, most residents will prefer to stay and be proud to live in D onceles ”

“ The model is to rent half of the units long term to people looking for a small , functional , and flexible space, and half for short term vacation rentals,” says Pablo Gutiérrez de la Peza, the former business partner of O’Gorman Merino (who died in 2020). The units, the team says, are not meant to rehouse local residents, much less to displace them, but rather to create an improved environment that includes them. “In each development we invest around 5 percent of the total cost in infra structure and public space, and we allocate the same percentage of the net operating income for public improvements,” says

Domus Peepem

Architects Victor Ebergenyi Kelly and Juan Carral O’Gorman have desig ne d a series of m ixe d use buildings meant to revitalize the Donceles neighborhood of Cancún, Mexico. The new structures are mostly bu i lt on previously a ba n doned lots, and 5 percent of the net op erati ng i ncome generate d from renting spaces to residents, travelers, a nd sma l l busi nesses is invested in public improvements

Domus Feli

Domus Vulpes

Domus Feli, Domus Peepem, and Domus Vulpes

Paloma Flores Herrero and Patricio Manzo have an apartment on the third floor of Domus Peepem (below) Their design firm, Wewi Studio, has its office on the ground floor (right) and worked on the building’s interiors “There’s a prac ticality that goes with the kind of place we are living in and the way we work,” Paloma says “I under stand why some people may not like the aesthetic, with things like unfin ished ceilings,” Leonardo Alfaro (opposite) says, “but I love it ”

Gutiérrez Carral started with a six unit building, and the team went on to con struct 11 more, including some small single family homes Ten more are now under development Most are built on previously abandoned lots The group has invested in public basketball courts and lighting, among other things; and Carral , E b e r g en y i , a n d C a r l o s d e l C a s t i l l o , another local architect , are working with the municipality to create a walkable sidewalk around the area.

It’s critical to the team that they not disturb old residents when bringing in new ones “ The challenge is to locate the people with rights to the unoccupied land and its legal situation,” Gutiérrez says.

“ We have found owners who never fin ished paying their mortgages or who did not cancel them Others lost their titles, live in the surrounding cities, or died, so it’s necessar y to locate their heirs Many owe property taxes or water and electricity bills for several years. We help them with the necessar y procedures to regularize their property, and then they can sell it to us through a public deed before a notar y ”

W h en E b e r g en y i j o i n e d , h e a d d e d a l e v e l of s o p h i s t i c a t i o n t o t h e s c h e m e s t h a t t h e fi r s t b u i l d i n g s s a c r i fi c e d f o r c o s t P r e f a b r i c a t e d b r e e z e b l o c k s r e p l a c e d h o l l o w b l o c k c o n s t r u c t i o n , a n d p l yw o o d i n t h e k i t c h en s w a s r e p l a c e d w i t h m o i s t u r e r e s i s t a n t p a r t i c l e b o a r d fi n i s h e d w i t h m e l a m i n e .

The buildings stand in stark contrast to the nearby shark fin shaped skyscrapers and private canals of the new Puerto Cancún luxury development, whose owners immediately put up a wall along one of the main streets of Donceles, cutting the neighborhood off from a private golf course and local access to the public beach

Ebergenyi (left and opposite) lives in Domus Feli and runs his practice, Kiltro Polaris, from an office in another building he designed in the area Musician Antonio Kawage and designer Lucía Govela col laborate in a simple work space in Domus Feli (above). The building’s stairwell (right) is utilitarian but elegant, with details like breeze block walls, built in planters, and handrails made of construction rods finished in an anticorrosive, mint green polymer coating

W hen I visited Donceles in June, I spoke to many new residents as well as longtime l o c a l s a b o u t t h e d e v e l o p m en t s . T h e y s h a r e d a c a u t i o u s o p t i m i s m Ji m en a Men d o z a , a g r a p h i c d e s i g n e r w h o r en t s a s p a c e f o r h e r c e r a m i c s w o r k , w a s c o n c e r n e d t h a t t h e d e v e l o p m en t s c o u l d i n c r e a s e p r o p e r t y v a l u e s a n d h u r t l o c a l s i n t h e l o n g r u n Jo s u e G a b i l o n d o , w h o r u n s a p h o t o g r a p h y s t u d i o n o t f a r f r o m Mendoza’s space, said that he had seen a lot of skepticism from locals but that the real concern was the luxury towers next door.

Eric, a 60 year old construction worker who has been living in D onceles for 25 years (and, like a few residents , prefers not to give his last name), echoes that sentiment . He says he is less worried about the new developments than about the 700 or so construction workers com ing in and out of Puerto Cancún because he’s seen them harass women on the street . When I ask about the develop ments in D onceles , he says , “At some point , this neighborhood has to flourish I think they ’ re all right ”

While making sure her Chihuahua stays

inside, Irma, a former educator whose house sur vived the two big hurricanes , says , “ The municipality never even looks at us I think the new developments are ver y pretty ”

“ This is social housing in the sense that it gives something back to society,” says Ebergenyi. “In Mexico, social housing is known as small , ugly housing on the outskirts No, social housing should be intra urban housing that solves a problem for people.”

Coincidentally or not , most of the new residents I spoke with had recently under gone some sort of transformation in their lives Whether working from home or spending time outside and interacting with the community, they seem to find solace and a sense of belonging here.

“I brought my bed and a pouf, and that was it , ” Gustavo Macías Serno says He recently moved out of a shared two bed room apartment , started a new job in the granite and marble industr y, and moved to one of the smaller units in a tower called D omus Peepem “I am new to the concept of minimalism,” he says “I have

a hammock that I sometimes bring up to the roof and hang for a little while, espe cially at night . ” Ever y morning he goes for a walk on the beach and meditates on a dock It’s all part of a “liberation and heal ing process ” he is going through after a recent breakup.

Across the hall from Gustavo, Leonardo Alfaro, a graphic designer working in video production and photography, is leading a modern monk lifestyle

“ I h a v e a v e r y s t r i c t r o u t i n e , ” h e s a y s . “ I g e t u p a t 5 : 2 0 a . m . t o g o t r a i n f o r l o n g d i s t a n c e r u n n i n g I c o m e b a c k , s h o w e r, m e d i t a t e , w r i t e g r a t i t u d e n o t e s , a n d m a ke m y s e l f a c u p of c of f e e I l o o k a t a couple of references online that inspire m e , a n d I s t a r t w o r k i n g . At 5 p . m . I fi n i s h w o r k , a n d e v e r y t h i n g e l s e i s r e c r e a t i o n a l . I r e a d , w a t c h a v i d e o , a n d I g o t o b e d e a r l y t o s t a r t a g a i n ”

Both Macías and Alfaro pay 8,500 MXN a month (about $420), which is considered high in a city where the average monthly income is around $2,000 But the project’s studios and one bedroom apartments are relatively rare finds across the city

V I C T O R E B E R G E N Y I K E L LY, A R C H I T E C T A N D R E S I D E N T

Lofted beds, like the one Beatriz Zurita is sitting on (below), make ro om i n tig ht spaces Yissel Nolasco Reyes (rig ht, on lef t, with friend Anahí Alvarenga), who works at Kiltro Polaris and helped design Domus Vulpes, says of the building she lives in, “We all know each other around here. Not just the new tenants but also the locals ” The buildings include commercial spaces such as Bar Primo on the ground floor of Domus Peepem (opposite).

“ This is a minimal dwelling project , something that doesn’t exist in Cancún, where two bedroom homes reign, as if no one lived any other way !” Carral says “Here, we brought the bachelor, the divorced, the student, the young couple, the vacation rental , all the market that doesn’t belong to the typical two bedroom home.”

Both Carral and Ebergenyi live in their D onceles projects Carral in a building named D onceles 35 , finished in 2018, in a unit with a mezzanine bedroom overlook ing the golf course. “ We have created a business out of solving a problem,” he says “ The idea is to migrate this idea to other Mexican cities I’ve always thought we need guerrilla architects that go from one neighborhood to the next convincing people in favor of a common good.”

T h e a r e a h a s i t s c h a l l en g e s , t r a s h p i c k u p a n d t h e g r o w i n g c a t p o p u l a t i o n a m o n g t h e m , b u t E b e r g en y i a n d C a r r a l a r e w o r k i n g o n t h e m . “ T h e y a l l h a v e m a d e u s r e a l i z e t h e s h o r t c o m i n g s w e h a v e a s a c o u n t r y a n d a s a s o c i e t y, ” E b e r g en y i s a y s “ W i n d o w s of o p p o r t u n i t y, i f y o u w a n t t o s e e i t t h a t w a y ”

The architects are quickly learning as they go. Plans for a ground floor garage in the first building were reconsidered in the following ones, giving way to commercial spaces like the buoyant Bar Primo and one of the best cevicher ías in the city, with more establishments to come.

Walking around the neighborhood early in the morning, I was met with many cries of buenos días from neighbors and even from the local wildlife the coatis came out of the nearby mangrove trees to say hi. Coexistence is key, and it may take a while to see what effect the new neighbors will have on the old Here, the goal is that the changes benefit both.

A LIGHT TOUCH

T h i s h o m e i n We s t Lo s A n g e l e s m ay sit miles inland, but thanks to design ers Aly Morford and Leigh Lincoln, cofounders of Pure Salt Interiors, the young family of five that resides here is surrounded by a beachy aesthetic every day

“Our client loves a clean and clas sic look which is right in our wheel house So we brought in a bright, airy feel with lots of layered linens and aged accents, including a few vintage furniture pieces for warmth and char acter,” says Lincoln “We wanted this home to feel like a coastal retreat ”

A crisp white Chantilly Lace paint by Benjamin Moore sets the stage for a k i t c h e n t h a t ’s b re e z y a n d b r i g h t L i g h t wo o d t o n e s , a m i x of m a r b l e a n d q u a r t z i t e c o u n t e r t o p s , a n d t wo ove r h e a d a n t i q u e b r a s s fi x t u re s by T h o m a s O ’ B r i e n c o m p l e t e t h e l o o k

Learn more about perfectly lighting your next project at circalighting.com.

D e s i g n e r s ’ Po i nt of V i e w

Ho w P u r e S a l t I n t e r i o r s w o r ke d w i t h C i r c a L i g h t i n g t o a c h i e v e t h e p e r f e c t k i t c h e n l i g h t i n g

T H I N K I N L AY E R S

“Great lighting design is all about layering. We incorpo r a t e d b ot h ove r h e a d a n d recessed lighting to optimize functionality We also chose textured finishes that provide stunning focal points in the home,” says Lincoln

M AT E R I A L M AT T E R S

“We love the classic look of the Hicks round shape. The marriage of two favorite materials antique brass and white glass introduces an element of warmth, and the quality craftsmanship makes it timeless,” says Morford

F I N D T H E R I G H T PA R T N E R

“We love working with Circa Lighting not only because they offer a range of lighting that is aesthetically aligned with our point of view, but because they equally value well designed homes,” says Lincoln

B ar n F i nd

Architects Max Worrell and Jejon Yeung transformed a 1970s house on a converted dairy farm (inset) into a modern upstate retreat for New Yorkers Chandra and Sharmila Sen. A detached garage and guesthouse/studio

creates a buffer between a busy street and the rest of the prop erty, which includes the main house (below) as well as a pool, sauna, and pond, so that life in the residence can feel more private and secluded

A k y c ouple br ac e ret i rement

i n a c onver t e d f a r m up s t at e.

Sharmila worked with the architects to establish a crisp aesthetic that wasn’t too pre cious or fancy. For Chandra’s one request, “he wanted one of those Big Ass Fans in the liv ing room,” says Sharmila (He didn’t get his wish.) The high contrast space (above) gets a bit of warmth from furniture like the dining table, crafted from the home’s original beams.

Sharmila Sen has always had a penchant for renovation projects. “I think I should have been an architect , ” the photographer jokes Upon encountering a dilapidated barn in North Salem, New York, she became convinced that the structure and its main house could be transformed into a home for her and her husband, neuro surgeon Chandra Sen They were planning on retiring from the bustle of Manhattan

to the tranquility just a few miles north in Westchester County.

After the couple purchased the nine acre property in late 2018, they contacted Brooklyn architecture practice Worrell Yeung because they had seen one of the up and coming firm’s barnlike houses online But architects Max Worrell and Jejon Yeung saw potential for something beyond yet another trendy black

farmhouse, and they worked with Sharmila and Chandra to design a more distinctive home inspired by the barn’s setting between a busy main road and a picturesque natural landscape.

“ We wanted to build off the agrarian structures of the area and the abstractions of these gable farm forms,” says Yeung. Instead of a black exterior, the architects settled on a custom dark green stain that takes on blue and black tones, depending on the light To provide privacy, the house is tucked at the back of a forecourt paved with gravel , behind a garage/studio and an old magnolia tree. The front of the house is blank aside from the entr y door, while the rear features massive windows that welcome natural light and give expansive views of the landscape.

T h e o p en l i v i n g a r e a i s w h e r e S h a r m i l a a n d C h a n d r a s p en d m o s t of t h e i r t i m e It s t i l l h a s a b a r n l i ke s p a c i o u s n e s s , n o w u p d a t e d w i t h u n d e r s t a t e d p o l i s h E x p o s e d w o o d c e i l i n g s , s u p p o r t e d b y t i e b e a m s , s o a r m o r e t h a n 2 0 f e e t h i g h o v e r h e a d . W i d e p l a n k D o u g l a s fi r fl o o r i n g f r o m D i n e s en r u n s t h r o u g h o u t , w h i l e a

The original stone fireplace on the ground floor (inset) was reclad in soapstone to match the renovated space’s dark, sleeker look That aesthetic continues upstairs in the two guest suites with mini malist, built in beds (left). In one, a Wavy lamp from Wooj adds a touch of playfulness The base ment (below) is meant for enter taining, with a large family room and direct access to the pool

The home’s original facade (inset) included wood board and batten finished in light gray and crossbuck designs Worrell Yeung updated the exterior with a moss inspired custom dark green finish The nine acre property provides plenty of space for the cou ple’s two labradoodles, Jack and Leo, to roam R C H I T E C T Wo r r e l l Ye u n g C AT I O N N o r t h S a l e m , N e w Yo r k

c u s t o m D o u g l a s fi r c l a d s t o r a g e u n i t b y t h e f r o n t d o o r h o u s e s a h i d d en c o a t c l o s e t a n d b u i l t i n b en c h o n o n e s i d e a n d a b a r o n t h e o t h e r A m a s s i v e o r i g i n a l fi r e p l a c e , r e c l a d i n s o a p s t o n e a n d f r a m e d b y a b l a c k s l a t t e d w a l l , s i t s o n t h e s i d e of t h e r o o m t h a t l e a d s o u t t o t h e d e c k . A f a r m h o u s e s t y l e t a b l e c o n s t r u c t e d f r o m t h e h o m e ’ s o r i g i n a l h a n d h e w e d b e a m s g r o u n d s t h e d i n i n g s p a c e , s i t u a t e d b e t w e en t h e l i v i n g r o o m a n d t h e k i t c h en .

North Salem

Basement

E A B CD J F G I H P

K L MO H F N P

The architects renovated and added multiple structures A “spa shed” by the pool (right) has a hot tub, an outdoor shower, and a sauna (far right) The black trend from the main house continues in a guesthouse/studio and garage (below) with a Rais woodburning stove Simple plywood furniture and built ins keep the space feel ing efficient and functional for whoever may be visiting.

For t h e k i t c h en , t h e a r c h i t e c t s p e r s u a d e d t h e f a m i l y t o a d o p t u n fi n i s h e d z i n c c o u n t e r t o p s a n d b a c k s p l a s h e s t h a t w i l l p a t i n a t e n a t u r a l l y. T h e m e t a l i s e a s i l y s t a i n e d , b u t , S h a r m i l a s a y s , t h a t m e a n s i t w i l l d e v e l o p m o r e c h a r a c t e r o v e r t i m e “ T h i s w a s a v e r y a g g r e s s i v e d e s i g n c h o i c e , b e c a u s e y o u t o u c h i t a n d i t ’ l l c h a n g e , ” s h e s a y s , “ b u t I l i ke fi n i s h e s t h a t e v o l v e . ” O u t s i d e , t h e f e e l i n g of a f a r m c o m p o u n d s u r v i v e s S h a r m i l a a s ke d t h e a r c h i t e c t s f o r a “ s p a s h e d , ” w h i c h i s a f e w s t e p s a w a y f r o m t h e o u t d o o r p o o l a n d c l a d i n p r e w e a t h e r e d c y p r e s s . “ T h i s w a s a f u n t h i n g t h a t w e d e c i d e d t o w o r k o n w h i l e t h e m a i n h o u s e w a s s t i l l u n d e r c o n s t r u c t i o n , ” s a y s Wor r e l l “ It a l l o w e d u s t o f u r t h e r t e s t o u t d i f f e r en t i d e a s w i t h o u t c r e a t i n g s t r u c t u r e s t h a t w e r e c o m p e t i n g w i t h e a c h o t h e r. ”

T h e s e p a r a t e t w o s t o r y g a r a g e /s t u d i o i s a n o d t o D on a l d Ju d d , l i n e d i n s i d e w i t h p l yw o o d . S h a r m i l a p l a n s t o r e s t o r e a p o r t i o n of t h e p r o p e r t y ’ s o p en fi e l d s t o a m e a d o w a n d i s c o n s i d e r i n g a d d i n g a m e d i t a t i o n p a v i l i o n t o t h e s i t e “ T h i s i s o u r l a s t h o m e , ” s h e s a y s “ I d o n’t w a n t t o h a v e s p a c e a n d n o t u s e i t ”

“ We were able to test out a lot of the ideas that we had about using freestanding objects to define spaces.”

M A X W O R R E L L , A R C H I T E C T

G e t L o s t

( W i t h a B ot t l e of W h i s key)

T h e r e ’ s n o t m u c h h a p p e n i n g a r o u n d Delaplane, Virginia and that’s part of the loca tion’s charm

“When we first saw this property, it was pretty well overgrown, and the road was in really rough s h a p e , s o I d o n’ t t h i n k a l o t of o t h e r p e o p l e could see the jewel that was sitting here,” says Mark Turner, a founder of the Lost Whiskey Club and founder and owner of design/build firm GreenSpur. “We frankly just got lucky.”

What started as a four man side project for distilling whiskey in 2016 soon transformed into the basis of a larger series of compact, off the grid structures where the teammates and their families could truly unplug

The 50 acre property sits about an hour

o u t s i d e Wa s h i n g t o n , D.C . , b e t we e n Lo s t Mo u n t a i n a n d W h i s key Ho l l ow h e n c e t h e n a m e . T h e c o m p o u n d n ow i n c l u d e s a 3 ,0 0 0 s q u a re fo ot , s i x b e d ro o m c o m m u n a l l o d g e a n d a c o n c re t e c a b i n i n a d d i t i o n t o a glass cabin, whiskey bar, and refurbished Airstream The latter three are all intentionally mobile so that they can be moved for various landscapes and experiences

Because of its remote location, the lodge which is modeled after an old tobacco barn and features GreenSpur’s penchant for symmetry utilizes propane for heating and cooking and for its tankless water heater (as well as for the scenic modular pool) The 160 square foot concrete cabin relies on a propane cooktop along with a

woodburning stove, woodburning hot tub, and solar panels

“It’s about the analog to the digital It’s about long conversations It’s about simplicity It’s about all the things in life that truly give it mean ing,” says Nick Cioffi, GreenSpur’s vice presi dent of construction and the “head bourbon guy,” as he likes to call himself

And what’s more simple than pouring a drink in the great outdoors with a fire cooked meal?

“ I t ’s m o re a b o u t w h a t yo u d o h e re w i t h t h e w h i s key t h a n t h e w h i s key i t s e l f,” C i of fi a d d s .

T h o u g h i t c e r t a i n l y h e l p s t h a t t h e w h i s key i s very good.

Read more at d w e l l . c o m /p r o p a n e .

T h e L o s t W h i s key C l u b , i n t h e h i l l s o f V i r g i n i a h u n t c o u n t r y, e n c o u r a g e s v i s i t o r s t o d i s c o n n e c t in order to reconnect with nature and each other.

Indie musician Drew Straus, who performs under the name Onsen, will be the first to tell you that his early records were “ brooding and moody ” But if his debut album, filled with electronic vibra tions and atmospheric percussion, makes you want to pull down the shades and sink into bed, his latest release, Keep er, which came out last year, strikes a differ ent chord Its dreamy synth pop beats beg you to throw open the windows and dance in the sunlight .

It’s an apt analogy, as Drew ’ s new home set the stage for a key change “ The experience of being here, compared to anywhere else I’ve lived, is incredibly soothing,” says Drew. And as a result , he says, his work is “distinctly sunnier ”

Drew purchased the property, located in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, in the spring of 2019 and embarked on a complete reimagining

Musician Drew Straus enlisted Laun Studio to transform his Silver Lake home into a sooth ing escape Hemlock beams lend warmth to the living space (opposite, top), which is outfitted with a pair of 1970s director ’s chairs In the sunny lower level music studio (opposite, bottom), Osborn/Woods prints hang above a Petrof piano The primary bath features a Kaldewei bathtub and custom shower artwork by Sara Bright.

The home’s Alaskan yellow cedar siding and copper roof will weather and change color over time “It’s cool to think that in 10 or 20 years, it will be a silver house with a green roof,” says Drew

with the help of L . A . design firm Laun Studio.

In an area rife with homes by notable names like Neutra and Lautner, this house “didn’t have a specific slant , ” says Drew. It was built in the 1930s and hadn’t been touched in decades, so it offered a bless edly blank slate “It was liberating in a way, ” says Rachel Bullock, a founding part ner of Laun, who met Drew through mutual friends.

The home is nestled into a hillside, and its roofline sits nearly at street level A delightful entr y sequence leads from a sunken courtyard to the living /dining area, where new banks of windows frame city and mountain views. Laun combined the common spaces on this floor, built out a music studio and an office below, and expanded the primar y suite and a lower level accessor y dwelling unit , bring ing the total square footage to 1 ,861 .

Drew ’ s main goal was to create a respite from the intensity of the city, and he looked to Japanese spas and a certain modernist utopia in Northern California for inspiration. “ We came back to Sea Ranch again and again,” says Bullock. “Drew had a real interest in incorporating craft and a lot of natural materials ”

The interior is wrapped in warm woods, but to keep it from feeling too stiff, Drew wove in playful touches throughout . He found a front door with a half moon win dow on eBay and painted it a high gloss cobalt blue The primar y bath features vintage, butter yellow Spinardi di Milano hardware, and the artist Sara Bright splashed swooping brushstrokes across the shower tiles

In the downstairs studio, the most arresting feature is the wall of windows. “Generally, music studios are windowless nightmares,” says Drew “Having natural light has affected the way I make music and the kind of music I make

“I don’t have the same kind of ‘ emo tional crisis’ energy that I was putting into my earlier work,” he adds. “ This space has given me a sense of freedom and a realiza tion that I can create work that is joyful and light ”

“ into this house has coincide d with a period of transition.”

D R E W S T R A U S , R E S I D E N T

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54 In Plain Sight

La Base Studio labasestudio.com

Structural engineering by Juan Eduardo Marco

Landscape design by Par Estudio instagram com/ par estudio Lighting design by Huup huup com ar

56 Bench and coatrack by La Base Studio; artwork by Michelle Dabul instagram com/ michelledabul

57 Sofa from Helmut instagram com/helmut muebles; rug from Awanay awanay com/us; coffee table by La Base Studio

58 Americans in Paris

Rafael de Cárdenas rafaeldecardenas com

58 59 Custom table by Rafael de Cárdenas; dining chairs by Philippe Starck starck com; armchairs by Jean Nouvel jeannouvel com; lamp by Gino Sarfatti pamono com

60 Sconces by Jacques Biny; artwork by Joe Zorrilla; small table chair by Philippe Starck; Shogun Tavolo floor lamp by Mario Botta 62 Kitchen by Kvik kvik co th; vases by Ettore Sottsass

64 Up to the Edge

WMR Architects wmr cl

WMR partner and project lead architect

Jorge Manieu

WMR partners Felipe Wedeles and Macarena Rabat

WMR project architects Jessica Pinto and Sergio Jarpa Lignatec instagram com/ lignatec chile Structural engineering by Alberto Ramírez Covo albertoramirez@me com

64 65 Silestone countertop in Marengo

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depiesacabezastore com; stove top, dishwasher, wine cooler, and faucet fixture from Kitchen Center kitchencenter cl; dining chairs and lamp from The Deco Journal thedecojournal com; dining room rug from Form form cl; living room rug from Milú Rugs milurugs com; sofas from Rosen rosen cl; fireplace by Al Fuego alfuego cl 66 Bed from Rosen rosen cl

70 Silver Linings

CO G Architecture co g co

70 73 Crinkle mirror, terrazzo pedestal, bench, and assorted ceramics by CO G; rug by Ferm Living fermliving us; dining chairs by Ton ton eu; chairs from Herman Miller hermanmiller com; sofa, coffee table, dining table, and candle holders from Hay hay com

74 75 Bedding from Brooklinen brooklinen com; table lamp from Menu menudesignshop com; lumbar pillow by Pillowlink etsy com/ shop/pillowlink; nightstand by Urbansize etsy com/shop/ urbansize; dresser from Babyletto babyletto com; pendant cord from Color Cord Company colorcord com; safari rug and cushions by Ferm Living; rice paper shade from Hay; shelves from Ikea ikea com

76 78 Faucet from Brizo brizo com; stove top, oven, and dishwasher from Bosch bosch com; refrigerator from Liebherr liebherr com; glasses and salt and pepper mills by Ferm Living; bread board from

Hay; dinnerware by Heath Ceramics heathceramics .com; cabinets from Ikea ikea com; pulls by Muuto muuto com; filament bulbs from Schoolhouse schoolhouse com 79 Dimple chair by CO G

80 A Lot in Common

Archier archier com au Hip V Hype hipvhype com Marcon Tedesco O’Neill 61 3 9347 9266

Landscape design by Gardens of the Sun gardensofthesun com au Cabinetry design by AJ Cabinets ajcabinets com au 80 81 Windows and doors by Binq binq com au; custom couch by King Living kingliving com au; ceramic jar by Tantri Mustika tantrimustikaceramics com; left painting by Suzie Leahy suzieleahyart com au; right painting by Kayleigh Heydon kayleigh heydon com 82 83 Custom table by Archier; pendant light by Coco Flip cocoflip com au; folding stool by Snelling snellingstudio com; plant stand by Dowel Jones doweljones com; photograph by Adam Gibson adamgibson com au; hanging planter by Leaf and Thread leafandthread com 83 Pendant light by Archier; stools by Fenton and Fenton fentonandfenton com au; joinery by AJ Cabinets; countertop from Artedomus artedomus com; oven from Fisher & Paykel fisherpaykel com; faucet from Caroma caroma com au 85 Custom bed and bedside table by Archier; ceramic vase by Tantri Mustika; sinks and faucets from Caroma;

Sound and Vision

joinery by AJ Cabinets ajcabinets com au; tiles from Artedomus artedomus com 86 Custom shelving by Luke David lukedaviddesigns com

88 A New Lease

Kiltro Polaris kiltropolaris com Wewi facebook com/wewi studio JC Arquitectura juancarral@ jcarquitectura com mx Cabinetry design by Anfer Cocinas anfercocinas com mx

100 Barn Find

Worrell Yeung worrellyeung com L&L Builders landlbuildersllc com Structural engineering by Silman silman com Civil engineering by Insite Engineers insite eng com Landscape design by

Raft raftlandscape com 100 Windows and exterior doors from Marvin marvin com; door hardware from Pittella pittella com; exterior wall sconces from Bega bega us com 101 102 Living room floors from Dinesen dinesen com; black wood wall panels and shelving by JA Custom Millwork; fireplace and freestanding bar cabinet by Dushi Marble and Granite dushimg com; custom metal cabinet by Brooks Custom brookscustom com; sofa and daybed from Bassam Fellows bassamfellows com; custom coffee table and dining table by Bien Hecho bienhechobklyn com; armchairs from Moroso moroso it; metal side table and round ottoman from Trnk trnk nyc com; dining pendant and bar light by Lambert & Fils lambertetfils com; dining chairs from Fritz

Hansen fritzhansen com; painting by Matthew Brandt matthewbrandt .com; rug by Woodnotes woodnotes fi; lounge chair by Ray and Charles Eames; floor lamp by Atelier Areti atelierareti com; bedroom floors by Forbo forbo com; lamp from Woo woo lighting com

104 Wall paneling and millwork by JA Custom Millwork; fireplace by Rais us rais com; pendant light by Lambert & Fils

108 Sound and Vision Laun launlosangeles com Via Veneto Construction viavenetoworld com

Structural engineering by Sean Seung S Kim knseinc com Cabinetry design by Laun and Drew Straus 108 Floors from Hurst Hardwoods

hursthardwoods com; ceilings from Neiman Reed Lumber Company neimanreed com; pendant light from Hay hay com; wall sconces from Louis Poulsen louispoulsen com; kitchen appliances from Miele and Thermador miele com, thermador com; faucet from Newport Brass newportbrass com; vintage dining table by Gudme Møbelfabrik; piano from Petrof petrof com; prints above piano by Osborn Woods instagram com/ osbornwoodsgallery

109 Custom tile artwork by Sara Bright instagram com/brite bright; bathtub by Kaldewei kaldewei us; bathroom fixtures from Santec santecfaucet com

For contact information for our advertisers, please turn to page 112.

110 Lights by Bega bega us com the a nd builders featured in this issue.

I was still a student at the School of the Ar t Institute of Chicago when northeastern Japan was hit by the tsu na m i i n 2011, a nd I remem b er se ei ng a vide o of n uclea r pla nts col la psi ng a nd some one sayi ng, “Ja pa n is f i n ishe d ” Af ter g raduati ng, I hosted art workshops with Peace Boat, a humanitarian organization that travels around the world to help underserved communities in places like Senegal and Morocco, but it felt a little hypocritical, given the situation in Japan. I wanted to

learn more about my people and my heritage So as soon as the boat trip ended, I started making trips to northeastern Japan every year to learn about its craftsmen a nd thei r trad itions, wh ich a re dyi ng out That’s when I was i ntro duce d to kokesh i, the two centu ries old prac tice of ma ki ng dol ls out of wo o d, a nd started this collection

My background is in sculptural fine arts, but kokeshi is what made me become a designer. It’s a whole system It starts out with

carver farmers planting trees out in the mountains, then harvesting and cutting them into little logs so they ca n tu rn them i nto dol ls, using a lathe The leftover wood chips go into the stove to warm the house, a nd the ashes lef t over from the fi re go back to the farms as fertilizer In contemporary design discussions, sustainability and material usage a re of ten at the foref ront, a nd that’s a l l there i n kokeshi

Now when I present my work, I point to kokeshi as the core of my

practice As a designer, I want to h ig h l ig ht other craf ts a nd traditions I admire Preservation is important to me, and since I’m not a h istoria n, my role is to ma ke these traditional crafts relevant to the present Trad ition doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing the sa me th i ng over a nd over We have to ask, What is the version that applies to the culture we have today? As we “modern ize,” kokesh i i ntroduces us to a new way of making, one about looking back in order to move forward

P H O T O B Y | @ J A M I E C H U N G S T U D I O Ja m i e Ch u n g A S T O L D T O L a u r e n G a l l ow

Ch icago desig ner K a z u k i G u z m á n fi nds lessons i n the toy-ma ki ng trad itions of h is Ja pa nese heritage.

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A m e r i c a ’ s b e s t r a t e d , c e r t i f i e d o r g a n i c m a t t r e s s e s a r e n o w a f f o r d a b l e f o r e v e r y o n e O u r m i s s i o n i s t o b e t h e m o s t r e s p e c t e d s o u r c e f o r o r g a n i c m a t t r e s s e s , p i l l o w s a n d b e d d i n g w h i l e m a i n t a i n i n g e n v i r o n m e n t a l l y c o n s c i o u s , e t h i c a l , a n d s u s t a i n a b l e b u s i n e s s p r a c t i c e s t o h e l p s a f e g u a r d t h e h e a l t h o f p e o p l e a n d t h e p l a n e t E x p e r i e n c e A v o c a d o a t y o u r l o c a l e x p e r i e n c e c e n t e r o r o n l i n e a t A v o c a d o G r e e n M a t t r e s s . c o m .