Master craftsmen in Bangladesh create the award-winning Koroi side table, which is one-of-a-kind
Produced by master craftsmen in Bangladesh, the materiality and composition of the award-winning Koroi side table ensure that each piece is unique. MAJA is a collection of furniture objects designed by Diane Taylor and produced through collaborations with artisans and artists from Bali, Java, and Bangladesh.
Capturing a moment in balance, the Koroi side table juxtaposes weight with weightlessness. The geometric abstraction of the design plays on two distinct profiles, creating an elemental figure; while the base is soft in its curvature, the top is linear. Cut at opposing grains, the contrasting upper and lower profiles reveal unique patterns in the wood, highlighting the confrontation between two objects.
Handcrafted in solid wood, the production process of the Koroi side table observes a resource-efficient approach, both in terms of the natural material and the energy required.
The Koroi side table is designed in a family of two sizes, one elongated Table M and another compact Table S, available in mahogany or teak.
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How to Create a Study Nook for Your Home
Even the smallest spot can become a perfect study nook with a little will and a handyman.
In these pandemic times, working from home is a common habit that is continually growing. which makes us start looking at that improvised working space with attention eyes, craving a dedicated space in your home for a home office or study nook with is now more important than ever.
Having the room and space for that luxury and spacious office is not often quite possible
but with a little creativity and some help from a handyman, creating a functional study nook is easier than you think.
But Where?
While custom joinery and floating shelves are the easiest way to make the most of spare space, slimline desks are a great way to transform a low-traffic hallway into a dedicated study zone.
Or maybe you have a dead corner ourselves in or living area, that is not big enough for a reading area with a chaise long or the bar that you dreamt of, but maybe is big enough for a nook.
The key to keeping your study or work nook compact is to look for furniture pieces that aren’t too heavy or bulky. Opt for a chair that is able to accommodate you for several hours at a time while also taking up minimal floor space.
You’ll also want to think vertically when it comes to storage in order to ensure you take up a smaller footprint within the home.
We’ve found a dozen great study nook and home office examples to inspire you to make it work at your place.
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Cosentino collaborates with ANARCHITECT to create a public installation for Dubai Design Week
Architectural surfaces leader Cosentino partners with award-winning Dubai and London based design practice ANARCHITECT to create ‘Context Reflections’ a public installation at the heart of Dubai Design District (d3) during Dubai Design Week from November 8-13, 2021.
Built using Sunlit Days, the first-ever carbon neutral surfaces collection from Silestone by Cosentino, the permeable installation will invite visitors to enter a darkened chamber to pause and discover the intriguing play of penetrated light created via a naturally occurring optical phenomenon. The self-operating, low-tech installation draws inspiration from the principles of ‘Camera Obscura’ of why we see what we see. The moving images conjured on the inside wall – inverted ‘live’ projections of the surroundings outside the construction – suggestively asks visitors to observe with attention and reflect on the constantly changing environment.
Elaborating on the concept further, Senior Architect Tom Herd from ANARCHITECT reveals “Context Reflections continues ANARCHITECT’s ongoing research into the relationship of natural light, materials, and the importance of context in all architecture and interior spaces we engage in. Given the diverse and unique international settings the Practice works in, the installation concept was developed by our Team for Cosentino to highlight the consistent importance of light and materiality in our work; as well as raise our sustainable collective consciousness by calling for the observation of the contexts that surround us, here purposefully using a low-tech, full-scale analog design tool”.
Design wise, ‘Context Reflections’ holds on to the principles of simplicity and practical sustainability.
”It was important to us that the installation was designed mindfully with minimal material wastage and is a demountable, reusable structure to give it the possibility of a second, third life” explains Matt Harding, another member of the ANARCHITECT design team behind the project.
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Expo 2020 Dubai to create far-reaching economic benefits, says Cisco MD
Expo 2020 Dubai is expected to create huge tangible and intangible economic benefits for the emirate and the wider region, with new and expanded infrastructure serving business communities and societies for the long-term, says Shukri Eid, Managing Director, Gulf Region, Cisco.
“What’s fascinating is the sheer scale of Expo 2020. We are talking about vast investments in infrastructure. District 2020 – as the site will be known after Expo 2020 – will retain more than 80 percent of the infrastructure built as it transitions into a human-centric mixed-use and fully integrated community for businesses, residents and tourists alike. As a ‘city of firsts’, District 2020 will become a global hub for innovation that brings together an inclusive and diverse community of stakeholders to accelerate the future of industries and technologies. Ultimately, the site was designed to create a more resilient, smarter and sustainable urban environment that lives on after the six-month event. Job creation is another aspect of Expo 2020 legacy, not only for the sake of the event itself, but also to benefit Dubai, the UAE and the wider region for years to come. The benefits of Expo 2020 will be felt long after the last day of the event,” said Eid.
At a time when the need for a collective response to essential global challenges is needed more than ever, Expo 2020 will leverage the convening power of World Expos and the UAE’s unique position as a global nexus to bring together 191 countries and millions of visitors, to inspire meaningful change and create a brighter future for us all.
One of the first events of this scale to take place since the start of the pandemic, and the first World Expo ever held in the MEASA region, the six-month experience will be a beacon of hope for the global business community.
It represents an unprecedented opportunity for businesses of all sizes, international organisations and government entities from across the world, to come together to foster a more diversified and resilient global economy, inspire a vibrant business environment and drive sustainable growth.
Eid’s comments came during the latest installment of the “En Route to Expo” video series run as part of the Business Connect platform, launched by Dubai Chamber in partnership with Entrepreneur Middle East.
“At Cisco, we are proud to be playing a role in enabling one of the most technologically advanced expos in the event’s history. We were fortunate to be appointed as the Official Digital Network Partner of Expo 2020 Dubai back in 2018. Since then, we have truly moved full speed ahead to build on the promise of making Expo 2020 Dubai a highly immersive, informative and once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he added.
The “En Route to Expo” series provides a platform for public and private sector stakeholders to highlight their contribution to Expo 2020 Dubai and discuss its impact and legacy.
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ADesignStudio used 90 hand-blown frosted glass spheres to create a striking installation for BarLume Restaurant in Sydney
ADesignStudio created a striking lighting installation for BarLume, a café restaurant in the ground-floor lobby of Sydney’s prestigious new commercial tower 1 Denison. The installation is a rhythmic array of 90 hand-blown frosted glass spheres that drop three meters from the black-mirrored ceiling, providing a soft atmospheric glow to the café restaurant below.
ADesignStudio collaborated with architecture firm Bates Smart and international lighting design consultancy Electrolight to produce the custom lighting. Bates Smart and Electrolight had a clear visual brief for the light fitting. “They wanted a 3-meter drop pendant with a faded, frosted glass diffuser. The lights also had to be DALI Dimmable and with a lensed LED to assist with the glare,” says Alex Fitzpatrick, founder and designer at ADesignStudio. Because the installation consists of 90 light fittings, the final design had to consider the installation, maintenance, and LED access over the lifetime of the fitting.
Alex is fascinated by the technical qualities of a lighting fixture and the ambient effects of the diffused light. “I try to capture light within a material without the light source being visible,” he explains. For BarLume, in collaboration with BatesSmart and Electrolight, Alex designed a handblown glass sphere with a frosted fade and a lens system that conceals the LED from view. Sandblasting the glass achieved the frosted fade around three-quarters of the sphere, with the effect creating a sense of freely suspended light.
Each sphere is on a 3-meter-long solid drop, rather than a cable, with a special mounting system that allows the glass to simply screw off and be replaced or to maintain the fitting. “As the fittings are quite simple to look at, we also wanted them to feel simple and be user-friendly for everyone who came into contact with them,” Alex says.
With 90 glass spheres suspended in a grid arrangement, the installation shines in the double-height lobby. The depth and reflection of the black-mirrored ceiling accentuate the repetition and rhythm of the array and magnifies the 3-meter drop (perfectly coordinated with the surrounding screen). The number and layout of the fittings also allow BarLume staff to position tables where needed as they receive equal illumination.
ADesignStudio designed the lights to installed in three stages to assist the building schedule. The fittings had to be installed before the mirrored ceiling and drop through pre-drilled 20-millimeter holes, so the first stage was a mounting plate and rod that would drop just below the mirrored ceiling. This enabled the lights to be installed and wired beforehand. The second stage was fixing the rods and LED with a simple mechanical fastening. Finally, when the building was near complete, the glass spheres were installed with a pre-assembled fixing ring, and a bag around each sphere shielded it from dust and debris.
Photo credit: BarLume at 1 Denison, Sydney
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Create a perfect colour pairing with Jotun!
Find different and exiciting colour pairing from the Jotun Colour Trends 2021 collection with the perfect counterpart. The collection features newly-developed colours complemented by timeless hues, carefully selected by Jotun’s colour experts, from Jotun’s extensive archives.
For the chocolate lovers
Whether you’re a fan of Milk, Hazelnut, or Dark chocolate, you can find your perfect match:
Velvet [10246]
Take a trip down nostalgia way with this warm, muted yellow evocative of the caramelized spice of Lotus Biscuit.
Impression [12125]
Soulful, gilded, golden brown, reminiscent of the elegant, nutty taste of hazelnut and milk chocolate.
Belgian Brown [10385]
Bite into the very essence of warm Belgian Brown with this rich and silky slice of chocolate.
For the hopeless romantics
A true statement maker for the hopeless romantics – take a look below at Jotun’s pick of colours of the earth that connect us to each other and the surrounding landscape.
Welcoming Red [20167]
A golden and pleasant red, with a hint of pink, inviting you into a love full of warmth and wisdom.
Natural Clay [12124]
Colours of the earth connect us to the surrounding landscape with this rustic and authentic orange tone. Perfect for those of you who like a little bit of earthy tones.
Desert Pink [12120]
Driving down to Qudra Lake with your loved ones never seemed so fun. Love is the essential building block of human life, just like this Desert Pink.
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10 Design wins competition to create a luxury resort in Lukoran, Croatia
10 Design is leading on the master plan and architectural design for the residences and beach house within the luxury Lukoran Resort set on the island of Ugljan, Croatia. The team has been commissioned by SITNO Holding Real Estate to produce the first phase of the 77,000sqm site, following an international design competition.
The scheme incorporates a series of premium villas with private infinity pools, townhouses with shared pool amenity and 4 apartment blocks. The residential scheme is underpinned by a publicly accessible beach club located adjacent to a proposed new marina, which is set to be complete with food and beverage outlets, leisure facilities including gym and spa, small retail units and a large external hospitality space with a pool terrace.
The various different residency options share a common architectural vocabulary and materiality, creating a uniformed brand for the product range. With contrasting shades of the local stone and contrasting dark grey paint, the residences are finished with robust steel detailing. This architectural language has been inspired by the dramatic landscape and marine tradition. The beach club bears a corresponding design palette to the residences and will act as both a waterfront gateway and a central destination for the scheme.
Paul Rodgers, Design Partner at 10 Design says: “As the design lead for the first phase of this master plan, we have realised a scheme which embraces the site’s landscape and celebrates its origins. The brief was to produce a suite of premium products which together create a sense of destination unique to Lukoran. The scheme’s design will set a new benchmark for quality resorts in Croatia.”
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European businesses look to create new workplace strategies in response to COVID-19
Over half (51%) of businesses surveyed from across Europe are looking to implement a new workplace strategy in response to COVID-19, according to the latest research from Knight Frank’s Strategic Consultancy team. The EMEA re-occupancy research findings taken in June, which represented almost 1,000 business operations across 34 countries in Europe, has highlighted the changing approaches to the future of the workplace.
11% of respondents identified that they would require more space to accommodate social distancing, and only 8% are considering relocating to cheaper sub-markets for space.
Whilst COVID-19 is believed to have had a significant economic impact on 59% of businesses in the short term, in the medium-term 63% of respondents determined that it would have a marginal to no impact, showing signs of expected V-shape recovery.
P P Varghese, Head of Real Estate Strategy & Consulting at Knight Frank, said: “As businesses in the region begin to emerge from the lockdown, lessons learned while working from home will increasingly seep into the new workplace strategies being implemented. This is a period of experimentation and assessment of what works for various organisations and will inform the workplace of the future. As we continue to work closely with our clients to address this important topic, we have seen that whilst the overall demand for space is anticipated to reduce, there is an expectation that the workplace requirement will be for better, higher quality and less dense spaces, alongside a consideration of how people could work better, closer to home. The workplace of the future is expected to be focused on providing a higher level of experience for employees. Collaborative environments will need to be blended with increased use of technology to enable seamless working.”
Mass working from home has had widespread impacts on the workplace of the future with 38% of businesses surveyed interested in an increased amount of collaborative space. Furthermore, a third of respondents (33%) believe that the demand for addressing the design and specification of offices is expected to grow, in light of changing office sentiment and uses.
INSPIRED TO CREATE DESIGN MARVELS
In conversation with interior designer Thomas Pheasant on what inspires him, the long-term collaboration with Baker Furniture, and the book he is currently working on
By Roma Arora
Photography by Ahmad Khader
He is known for his craft and skill-set for creating interiors beyond one’s imagination. Meet American interior designer Thomas Pheasant with an extensive career of 30 years, his diverse accomplishments have been widely published in the most prestigious architectural and interior design magazines around the world. In 2005, he was honoured by Architectural Digest US with the distinction “Dean of American Design”. Pheasant was in the UAE for his maiden trip to unveil his latest collection in collaboration with Baker, which is available at Iconic Home in Dubai Design District.
Pheasant says: “My career has spanned almost four decades now and it’s been a total revolution. I am inspired by what I see. For me, the idea of simplicity and getting down to the essence of the idea is important. I can be inspired by the monuments in Washington DC, 18th-century buildings in Paris, but it’s not about reproducing what I see. It’s about digesting the idea and allowing it to linger inside my brain and then come out with the new ideas, that are modern but connected to the past.” Pheasant further elaborates: “I can be inspired by colours, people, architecture, or poetry. It’s amazing, it’s about opening up your senses to the world around you. I am also working on a book idea called ‘Seeking beauty’, it reveals the sensitive issues around me, how I capture my inspiration and what I do with it, and how I translate that into something meaningful. I have the liberty of travelling to many places, the idea of the book is to share the luxury of stopping, enjoying, and seeing and then letting these different cultures that I’m exposed to inspire me to keep my own evolution going.”
Thomas Pheasant
In the history of interior design, there are certain rare innovators who elevate the practice of design and craft into the highest art. Such a designer is Pheasant, whose fifty-piece virtuoso Thomas Pheasant collection for Baker includes all-new furniture, upholstery, and lighting. In Pheasant’s approach with the latest collection, his insistence on purest function comes first. His chairs have exquisite lines and they also afford ease and comfort. His tables are the perfect height and dimension, with every surface and alignment exquisitely realized. His lighting brings an intimate, warm ambience and illumination to rooms.
Talking about his latest collection, Pheasant tells: “In this collection, I was inspired by modern American painters and sculptors like Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Serra, and Tony Smith, whose minimalist works demonstrate utmost refinement and sophistication. I feel great that Baker gave me full freedom to convert my ideas, my inspirations into some amazing pieces of design.” The designer worked with the skilful team of engineers and artisans of Baker Furniture, where artistry and precision are applied to each piece, allowing the designer to create exquisite works of art for the home. For example, the Blade cocktail table, featuring floating panels over a large expanse, or the Sling chair, maintaining a slender profile of the frame. Each piece is executed with bravura, effortlessly achieved to render meticulously constructed metalwork in the former, or crisp silhouettes and tight upholstery with precisely placed fabric seams in the latter. “My partnership with Baker began in 2002. It’s been 18 years now and seven collections in between. The most beautiful thing about this relationship is that we’ve had great success and Baker has given me so much freedom.
Like in 2002, I had an idea of a constellation mirror in my mind, but I thought that it’s a beautiful concept but might be expensive and difficult to fabricate. But the brand allowed me to experiment and now that mirror has become an iconic piece for both Baker and me as a designer,” shares Pheasant. Pheasant is in awe of the design and architecture in the region. “Dubai is an incredibly exciting city. You can tell by the number of cranes outside the window, that there is so much happening and there is such an appreciation for design. The expressions of design and architecture are very modern and over the top. Similarly, I was in Abu Dhabi recently and there was so much stimulation and inspirations that I was trying to capture with my phone. I would love to do work in the UAE, but I would like to take what I am seeing and translate it into my own vocabulary of interiors,” finishes off Pheasant.
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