Say hello to ema! A new design firm launched by former Wilson Associates’ core team
Further to the closure of Wilson Associates and its Dubai office, managing partners Tim Etherington and Iain McLaughlin launched their interior design firm – Etherington, McLaughlin & Associates (ema).
With its headquarters in Dubai Design District, ema will continue to cater to large-scale luxury hospitality, but also to F&B, wellness and corporate workspace markets.
Joined by Wilson’s former design directors Maud Capet and Julie Djohan, the key design leaders behind iconic hospitality projects, including yet-to-be-opened Marsa Al Arab, Anantara Mena Al Arab Ras Al Khaimah, MGM The Island, the studio will offer full-service interior design and FF&E services.
“We stayed together because of the legacy we’ve built. Our objective remains the same. With a clear vision of strengthening and enhancing a team capable of designing and implementing luxurious projects, ema’s emphasis is on creative excellence, documentation quality,” says Iain McLaughlin, founding partner of ema and a former operations director at Wilson.
Both Tim and Iain have had extensive experience in the design and architectural business, having designed and managed a wide typology of projects for both small specialist boutique studios through to large global corporate organisations – from luxury yachts and hospitality to flagship retail stores, showrooms and brands.
Former managing director of Wilson Dubai and Gensler Shanghai offices, Tim Etherington, a founding partner of ema, brings to the table nearly three decades of multidisciplinary design experience, spanning 15 distinct markets on five different continents.
Etherington comments: “As a firm, we want to establish and maintain strong client relationships and deliver excellent creative solutions. The firm’s primary focus centres around creative innovation, talent development, maintaining and developing key client relationships and strategically positioning the business to support and optimise client’s position in their respective sectors”.
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How Bene’s new office concept— “The CORE” can be a game changer?
The COVID-19 pandemic has once again profoundly changed the way we see the office. During the pandemic, offices have had to be remodelled and adjusted to take necessary precautions, so that people feel safe there and can still be productive. The international office expert Bene presents with “THE CORE by Bene” a global office concept on how to navigate these challenging times.
The office is the physical “core” of an organisation, the heart of a company, a place where people and ideas come together, creating opportunities for spontaneous social interaction and collaborative and agile work, and where shared management and fluid leadership can evolve.
THE CORE by Bene is a global concept that can already be experienced at the Bene showroom in Frankfurt; a live, immersive and experiential space to study how our places of work have adapted, and how they will further evolve after the pandemic.
With the ideal mix between open spatial structure and shielded areas, THE CORE by Bene manages the balancing act between distance and teamwork so that people feel comfortable and can work creatively at the same time, comprising:
Hygiene concepts and sensor technology
Innovative technologies and smart room solutions ensure safety throughout the premises. This starts at the check-in area with temperature screening and registering for ‘track and trace’, followed with contact-free hand disinfection. The system then gives a green light to lead the visitor to a prior selected and cleaned workstation.
Spatial awareness
The focus of the entire office space is on teamwork and exchange, while maintaining the correct distance. Anchor points in the form of furniture are placed in collaboration areas to ensure correct distancing. The room configurations are designed so that they can be adapted to changing needs at short notice, giving the office breathing space. Moveable partition walls and partition elements can be used as protective barriers.
Exchange and interaction
There is a wide choice of spaces for project and teamwork, in addition to the team workspace and an informal meeting area. Other areas enable spontaneous stand-up meetings, ensuring an optimal exchange of ideas
“The office is a living organism that is constantly evolving and adapting to changing structures and the latest processes in a company or team. It is important to think about these plans and space concepts on a regular basis and make sure they are still serving their purpose”, says Patricia Möckesch, Product & Innovation Ambassador at Bene. “THE CORE reflects topics and issues that are being experienced across the world and will be rolled out across all our markets.”
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Innovation is at the core: TUTTOFOOD 2021
Paola Sarco, exhibition manager of TUTTOFOOD, talks about the upcoming 2021 edition, market trends, challenges and response to COVID-19 crisis
What differentiates TUTTOFOOD Milano from other industry, B2B food fairs?
TUTTOFOOD is the most internationalised food exhibition in Italy. It features a unique mix of Italian and international household names with niche SMEs representing the excellences of the Made in Italy and more. Therefore, it’s a real international agri-food hub to discover new products, explore new trends and create effective networking. It also offers an unparalleled programme of events, also thanks to a number of partnerships with authoritative associations and organisations. Initiatives in progress include scouting activity to increase the number of hosted buyers and planning strategies to involve an increasing number of bloggers, influencers, and trendsetters.
Please tell us a bit more about the upcoming TUTTOFOOD.
We’re building a lot on innovation. We launched the new Fiera Milano Platform, an innovative, integrated system that focusses even more on networking by simplifying interactions between buyers and companies. An ecosystem of services, from websites and social media to a synergy between in-person and digital meetings and redesigned catalogues. Moreover, TUTTOFOOD 2021, will be an effective knowledge-sharing platform. The event will be running from May 17-20, 2021. Evolution Plaza, the core of the TUTTODIGITAL area, will focus on next-generation digital transformation solutions, while Innovation Area, which will present the new TUTTOFOOD contest dedicated to innovation. Also making a return is the Retail Plaza, the meeting place for trends on Retail and large-scale retailers.
What gives the fair its ‘international feel’ and what does it focus on?
The growing internationalisation is confirmed by both visitors and exhibitors. To date, more than 550 brands are already confirmed from countries including Belgium, Germany, Greece, Ireland, The Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Spain, the United States, Switzerland and Taiwan, as well as Italy. In the 2019 edition, 3,079 brands were present, 16% international from 43 countries while attendance reached 82,551 professionals, 23% of whom from abroad, from a total of 143 countries.
What are some of this year’s most important food categories and products, and why?
We treasure all our sectors, especially what has made the fortune of the show such as dairy, meat, sweets, and grocery sectors. In 2021, a new feature is TUTTOFRUIT, an area dedicated to fresh fruit and vegetables and innovation in the IV and V ranges, which value fruit and vegetable products with high service content. Next edition also focuses on an organic development of the latest sectors launched –TUTTOHEALTH will see the development of TUTTOWINE and a boost of TUTTODIGITAL.
Are there any trends that you consider of utmost importance to the GCC market now?
We look at the GCC market with great interest. An example of that is a webinar we have organised recently, live from Dubai, where industry experts presented to our stakeholders the most interesting trends. High-end restaurant chains and hotel restaurants are historically strong in the Gulf Countries. Our experts think this is set to continue in the upcoming years, but with a twist towards an even more personalised luxury on one side, and a new focus on nature, proximity and territory on the other. The trade between Europe and the area is already promising, but we think there are still margins for growth for quality foods.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’re facing in the wake of COVID-19 as the organiser; what obstacles is the industry facing? How do you plan on overcoming them?
Fieramilano is one of the largest and most modern exhibition venues in Europe and we’ve already held several successful trade fairs in a safe and secure environment since the reopening. We’re confident the global situation will have improved by May 2021. In any case, we’re ready to host a safe TUTTOFOOD thanks to technology and the commitment of our teams. Within the context of Fiera Milano Platform, a digital map of the exhibition will allow virtual visits from remote, as well as direct, real-time negotiations. The event becomes ‘phygital’, or hybrid, with the creation of new formats that are simultaneously digital and accessible to a live audience.
Fine dining versus delivery – which one’s the winner under current circumstances?
With the forced closure of bars and restaurants, lockdowns in several countries put food delivery in the limelight. Our data says that many among the new customers who discovered it during the pandemic will continue to use it. On the offer end, restaurateurs that wouldn’t use it before started proposing it to their customers. However, after the reopening, we’ve also seen that people are eager to go back to dining out. We think that mixed formats and mixed concepts will be the most viable solutions for the foreseeable future. The ‘Dark Kitchen’ phenomenon is a good example of that.
HEMAA Architects keeps nature at its core for this Mexican property
The house by HEMAA Architects is located on a corner in the West side of Mexico City. It responds to three key premises: the preservation of previously existing trees as core elements of the project, the isolation from the street’s inherent transit, and the incorporation of an ample architectural program on a plot with limited dimensions.
Within its clearly urban environment, the sense of privacy is successfully achieved thanks to a monolithic and nearly blind façade which extends out the street, only interrupted by some openings at specific modules for lighting and ventilation purposes, which respond to the interior’s architectural design plan. In contrast, the South façade is more open, offering a broad view of the garden and its long-standing trees, while it bathes the interior of the house in light and provides natural landscapes to each and every habitable area.
The house responds to a structural order consisting of base, body, and capital. Its exterior evinces such order through the use of white exposed concrete structural elements that crown the openings, work as enclosures, and clearly define the house’s levels. The limestone articulation covering the façade is the result of its distribution, which regulates the architectural volume and, in itself, responds to a canvas that adds rhythm within the façade’s assemblage.
A transition threshold that works as a hinge-connection between the exterior and the interior leads to the main entrance situated on one of the sides of the construction. The central space consisting of living room, dining room, and kitchen opens up to a full view of the garden and its impressive visual core element: a three-trunk Peruvian Peppertree, which proudly steals the spotlight as this land’s five-decade guardian.
Photo credit: Rafael Gamo
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