CHYBIK + KRISTOF WIN PUBLIC COMPETITION FOR AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT | SHAPING COMMUNITY LIFE THROUGH FLEXIBLE AND INCLUSIVE DESIGN

March 7, 2023

CHK unveil the winning design for an affordable urban and housing plan, actively addressing the emerging global housing scarcity. By creating new urban dynamics and placing social infrastructure at its epicenter, the architects present innovative concepts for community living with a focus on human-centered design.

March 7, 2023 (Brno, Czech Republic) – CHYBIK + KRISTOF (CHK) present Municipal Affordable Housing, the winning design for Brno’s affordable housing project due for completion in 2025. In close proximity to the city center, six residential units with 90 apartments, offer a variety of mixed-use public and semi-public spaces, creating a vibrant and strong sense of community. CHK’s design combines core elements of communal living, social exchange, and flexible building solutions, once again underlining the studio’s commitment to human-centered design and forward-thinking architectural solutions.

This pilot project demonstrates the unity between the public and private, infiltrating open and communal spaces in all aspects, from urban integration to housing solutions, enabling a new experience of flexible living. Endowed by the Brno Municipality, the project brings affordable housing solutions for families and the young generation with social activation ever-present in its design. While it strongly addresses the housing crisis with a feasible solution in Brno, Municipal Affordable Housing is an enhanced alternative to the standard residential buildings constructed by developers around the globe. Furthermore, its ingenious financial model of payments makes homeownership possible for young residents. Following a small down payment and the monthly rent, the tenants are slowly paying off the apartment, eventually becoming homeowners.

Set across 10,362 m2 the complex seamlessly integrates itself into the historic urban plan and its narrow division. Invigorating existing urban dynamics, CHK enables the future alignment of the block by setting a precedent for fundamental ideas of inclusivity and community. The natural flow of urban connectivity between the complex and its surrounding area infuses new life and social value. The newly created courtyard and walkable areas along the length and width of the city block create a network of public spaces for its inhabitants and surrounding communities.

The housing areas engage with the urban framework, encouraging easy access to the adjoining quarter and areas beyond. The activation of each ground level with workshop spaces, a community center, shops, cafes and more, supports a vigorous urban atmosphere and social exchange for the residents and the community. Situated around the main courtyard, lush greenery is incorporated into this bustling community, serving as a calming oasis for the public. By initiating these open and common spaces not only for the residents, the area becomes a part of the everyday life of all passersby, making the complex truly communal.

All six infill buildings feature multiple common areas, providing complementary space to all residents. A shared rooftop area, the expanded area of the main stairways, and Brno’s typical courtyard architecture of continuous balconies wrapping each building, further enhance communal spaces providing more social cohesion than standard housing designs. The added volume to the main staircase allows residents additional dimensions for multiple uses such as coworking, a community-shared living room, children's play areas and more. Composed of translucent walls bringing an abundance of light in, these shared areas initiate the strengthening of social interaction.

Expanding on the human-centered focus of the complex, the apartment design empowers residents to shape their own living space according to their needs. Its movable, sliding walls enable simple alteration of the layout, offering a multifunctional use of the space – one that is more private and open. These sliding walls allow the coexistence of multiple domestic configurations, inspiring a new experience for urban living driven by the vision of human-centered, flexible and sustainable life. Ultimately, together with the compact and flexible apartments, the complex embodies new housing and living concepts, placing the additional social aspect interwoven into daily living and routine spheres at the center.

“As we continually seek to build structures that empower and serve people's needs, this project represents a crucial component for the development and social equality in society today. Ultimately, it contributes to the socio-economical progress of creating effective social policies for all,” said Michal Krištof, CHK co-founder.

In its essence, the design of the project celebrates the benefits of communal living with the integration of flexible and sustainable homes in a network of shared spaces, fit to meet any needs of its diverse community.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About CHYBIK + KRISTOF
CHYBIK + KRISTOF is an architecture and urban design practice founded in 2010 by Ondrej Chybik and Michal Kristof. Operating with 50+ international team members and offices in Prague, Brno, and Bratislava, the practice aims at creating bridges between private and public space, transcending generations and societal spheres. Taking into account local histories and environmental specificities, the studio works on a wide array of projects, ranging from urban developments to public and residential buildings. Recent projects include: the Czech Pavilion at Expo 2015 (Milan, Italy), Lahofer Winery (Czech Republic), Zvonarka bus station (CZ), or Multipurpose arena in Jihlava (CZ). The studio has been awarded a number of prizes, including the 2019 Design Vanguard Award from Architectural Record, and was recently amongst the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies 2019 40 Under 40 Award winners.
chybik-kristof.com

CREDITS:
Client: Brno Municipality
Location: Brno, the Czech Republic
Year: 2017 - 2025
Investment: 21 000 000 EUR
Program: affordable housing
Size: 10 362 m2 (GFA)
Number of units: 90 apartments, 9 commercial units
Status: public competition – 1st place, documentation
Team: Ondřej Chybík, Michal Krištof, Ondřej Švancara, Lucie Skořepová, Iva Mrázková, Zuzana Pelikánová, Tomáš Wojtek, Michal Klimeš, Matěj Štrba, Ivo Stejskal Let’s include the letters from the Czech alphabet.
Engineering: Babka & Šuchma s.r.o.
Static engineer: JP STATIKA, s.r.o., Ing. Václav Přikryl
Fire engineer: Projekty PO s.r.o.
Technical building equipment: TPS PROJEKT s.r.o.
Traffic engineer: Rostislav Beneš
Landscape architect: Ing et Ing. arch. Tomáš Babka
Cost calculation: STAGA stavební agentura s.r.o., Ing. et Ing. Martin Tuscher, Ph.D.
Visualizations: Igor Brozyna - PLACES studio

Image credits:
Image 1. & 2. CHYBIK + KRISTOF. Municipal Affordable Housing drawings, Brno, Czech Republic. Courtesy of Alexey Klyuykov.
Image 3. CHYBIK + KRISTOF. Visualization of Municipal Affordable Housing, Brno, Czech Republic. Courtesy of Igor Brozyna - PLACES studio.
Image 4. & 5. CHYBIK + KRISTOF. Municipal Affordable Housing drawings, Brno, Czech Republic. Courtesy of Alexey Klyuykov.

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NIKA PROJECT SPACE OPENS IN DUBAI WITH GROUP EXHIBITION TITLED ‘FRAGMENTS OF TIME UNENDING’

March 2, 2023

The opening of the new art and culture space, coinciding with Art Dubai, presents its inaugural exhibition, featuring works by international and Middle Eastern artists in a space located in Dubai’s up-and-coming Al Khayat Avenue.

On View: March 3 – April 23, 2023

Private Reception: March 3, 6 – 10 PM

March 2, 2023 (Dubai, UAE) – NIKA Project Space, a new 250 m2 hub for art and culture located in Dubai’s Al Quoz district in Al Khayat Avenue, is opening on March 3, 2023 to coincide with Art Dubai’s 16th edition. NIKA Project Space is a new platform for artistic experiments, research and the advancement of curatorial practice for both local and international artists. The space provides a critically engaged program that emphasizes. contemporaneity and cross-cultural dialogue in art creation with a focus on conceptualization, abstraction, and philosophical inquiry with a strong focus on the works by female artists.

Designed by T.ZED Architects the space serve as a catalyst for artistic, cultural, and philosophical inquiry. For its first exhibition, NIKA Project Space will present a group show titled ‘Fragments of Time Unending’ on view through April 23, 2023. Curated by Sarah Daher, a Lebanese curator based in Dubai, the show features six artists, including: Olga Chernysheva, Nika Neelova, Adrian Pepe, Muhannad Shono and Alexander Ugay. Encompassing a variety of mediums such as painting, sculpture, photography, and digital media, the exhibition examines the theme of time as both a constant and a subjective experience, as reflected in the title.

The works on view explore the transience of life through reflection on both the fragility, beauty, and power of the everyday, prompting spectators to also ponder their relationship to time and everyday life.

“At the core of this exhibition is the idea that time is both a constant and a subjective experience. It is the unifying thread that connects all human experiences, shaping our memories, relationships, and perceptions of the world. The works on display invite the viewer to consider their own experiences of time through a reflection on the transience of life,” says curator Sarah Daher.

Daher juxtaposes the artworks according to their aesthetic and message. For instance, I’m Sorry from Above (2016), a delicate ink on paper work by Saudi artist Muhannad Shono interprets moments of trauma that has catapulted the globe from a satellite distance in miniature form. It is throwing the scale out of balance on multiple axes. In a similar vein, Kazakh artist Alexander Ugay’s installation series Obscurations (2018) showcases layered abstractions that are inspired by real-world events and are then reconstructed as pinhole-camera-inspired objects and subsequently photographed in space. The concept of time in these works is so precisely deconstructed that it becomes nearly invisible — an unknown variable that nearly ceases to exist and yet maintains itself as a principal element in both works.

On the other hand, Russian artist Olga Chernysheva’s Flowers Riot (2022), an oil on canvas painting, offers an explosion of color in a violent manifestation of hues and abstract forms just as Nika Neelova’s reclaimed mahogany handrails assume the shape of a circular infinite loop through recycled material. These abstract objects serendipitously show the effects of time as agents of change.

In the porous expanses of Adrian Pepe’s textile work, one can materially feel the reimagining of historically-significant craft and the time-ridden mechanics of physical labor.

Founder of NIKA Project Space, Veronika Berezina explains, “this show highlights the vision and mission of the NIKA Project Space. The artists present and implement research, a multidisciplinary and conceptual approach in their work. We want to elaborate on how time could be represented by different artists from different regions and through different mediums, fostering and expanding a dialogue between cultures, regions and generations, and show how connected we all are through the basic notion of time.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

‘Fragments Of Time Unending’ will be on view at NIKA Project Space from March 3 – April 23, 2023.

Address:
NIKA Project Space

Al Khayat Avenue, Unit 11, 19th Street Road – Al Quoz 1

First Al Khail Street, Dubai, UAE

About Nika Project Space

Nika Project Space is a new platform for artistic experiments, research and the advancement of curatorial practice. It is the brainchild of Veronika Berezina, born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, passionate about the cosmopolitan character and creative potential of Dubai. Nika Project Space offers the possibility of representation through art exhibitions and other initiatives for both emerging and increasingly established artists from the Middle East and internationally. The space provides a critically engaged program that emphasizes. contemporaneity and cross-cultural dialogue in art creation with a focus on conceptualization, abstraction, and philosophical inquiry with a strong focus on the works by female artists. Through its diverse programming the space emphasizes intercultural exchange through a variety of events, exhibitions, talks and education initiatives both at Nika’s Dubai space and through pop-up events in Europe. Additionally, Nika Project Space aims to break down barriers and forge dialogue across cultures through contemporary art by artists working in a range of artistic mediums, including performance, painting, photography, sculpture, installation and the digital realm.

Nika Project Space will also develop a research center and publishing arm. Of pivotal focus to the mission of Nika Project Space is to invite artists from the region and internationally to make new works that implement investigative research and experimental creative processes. A dynamic year-long program of events, curated exhibitions, non-profit projects, educational programming, participation in art fairs and talks serves to further foster a bridge between the space and art community locally and internationally, supporting artistic vision, creative thought, dialogue, as well as elevating the practice of female artists worldwide. The space itself has been designed to serve as a catalyst for artistic, cultural, and philosophical inquiry. Designed by T.ZED Architects, the 250 square meters space is located in the new Al Khayat Avenue in Dubai’s industrial Al Quoz district. Nika’s brand design was developed by internationally acclaimed brand consultancy Wiedemann Lampe.

About Veronika Berezina

Veronika Berezina, the founder of NIKA Project Space, was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russia and now lives between Switzerland and Dubai. From a young age she had a passion for art and began studying art history and taking courses on collecting while studying International Relations for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Moscow State University of International Relations. After she graduated, she worked as an international tax lawyer, but continued pursuing her love for art by regularly attending art exhibitions at major museums and galleries in Russia and internationally. Her passion led Veronika to begin collecting art in 2013, first from emerging artists in galleries in St. Petersburg and then from international artists. To further gain knowledge of the rapidly changing genre of modern and contemporary art, she enrolled in courses at Sotheby’s Institute of Art while also simultaneously supporting art charity auctions and young artists contests at home and abroad, notably as a patron of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow. Berezina also intends to hold pop up projects with NIKA in Europe. In Dubai Berezina aims to offer a cross-cultural platform for artists from around the world, particularly from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. She believes in the power of art to forge intercultural dialogue, spark creativity and innovation. With NIKA, in its new home in Dubai, Berezina’s dream is to provide a space where art speaks a language that goes beyond national borders and where creativity becomes a transcendent means to bring diverse cultures together.

About Sarah Daher

Sarah Daher is a Lebanese curator, researcher, and writer. She holds a Masters degree in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art in London and a BA in Theater and Economics from New York University Abu Dhabi. Sarah is currently based in the UAE where she works as a curator and writer. Her most recent shows include After the Beep held at Satellite on Alserkal Avenue in Dubai and Fulfilment Services Ltd in collaboration with Gasworks London. She is the founder and co-host of ‘Khosh Bosh with Anita and Sarah’, a conversational podcast platforming the work of UAE-based creatives. Sarah worked as a researcher for Temporary Art Platform, a curatorial platform focused on the development of social practice in Lebanon, the region, and the Global South.

Image Credits:

1.&2. Adrian Pepe. Karyotype #3. Embroidered hand-felted wool. 90x75, 2022. Courtesy of Adrian Pepe.

3. Alexander Ugay. Obscuration 9. Vertical Horizon, wood, silver, gelatin, 215 х 23 х 23, c-print (each), 2018. Courtesy of Alexander Ugay.

4. Alexander Ugay. Obscuraton 6. Wood, silver, gelatin, 40х45х20, c-print, 2018. Courtesy of Alexander Ugay.

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LA NUOVA DOLCE VITA | LE SIRENUSE IN POSITANO RE-OPENS FOR THE 2023 SEASON

March 2, 2023

A place, a family, a passion – the iconic luxury and lifestyle hotel on the Amalfi Coast Le Sirenuse is excited to announce its season opening on April 1.

March 2, 2023 (Positano, Italy) – We are delighted to announce the season opening at Le Sirenuse on April 1.

Le Sirenuse opened in 1951 when the Sersale family turned their Amalfi Coast summer house in Positano into a stylish small hotel. Today the 58-suite hotel offers all the comforts of a five-star luxury hotel while still retaining the intimate, cultured atmosphere of a private home. Much of the credit for its current appearance and tasteful mix of European antiques, Neapolitan paintings and quality artisanship should go to the late Franco Sersale, an avid globetrotter and keen amateur photographer who returned to his family’s Positano base in 1990 to commence a major refurbishment project. He redesigned the pool terrace and the hotel’s panoramic La Sponda restaurant before moving onto a room-by-room upgrade of the guest suites, creating the Le Sirenuse one sees today.

Franco’s aesthetic vision for the hotel has been extended by his son Antonio Sersale and daughter- in-law Carla into the field of contemporary art via the Artists at Le Sirenuse programme, launched in 2015 with British curator Silka Rittson-Thomas. To date, seven major installations by artists of the calibre of Martin Creed, Stanley Whitney and Caragh Thuring have found a place in the hotel’s design palimpsest, in fertile dialogue with each other and the art and décor of centuries past.

The resort has won innumerable awards and is internationally renowned for the quality of its services. The year 2000 saw the introduction of the Le Sirenuse Spa, designed by celebrated Italian architect Gae Aulenti. In 2001, the hotel’s romantic La Sponda restaurant, dedicated to exalting the region’s deep-rooted culinary traditions, was joined by the more informal Champagne & Oyster Bar. In 2019, this relaxed summer spot became Aldo’s, a cocktail bar and seafood grill that showcases the abundant fresh produce and classic sharing dishes of Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Housed in what was once part of the living room of the Sersale family villa, the hotel’s historic third-floor bar was refurbished by Rome-based architect and designer Annalisa Bellettati in time for the start of the 2021 season and rechristened the Don’t Worry Bar in homage to Martin Creed’s neon installation that hangs nearby. It’s a discreet, old-school, drinks-only hotel bar for true lovers of the genre.

Franco himself bid his final ciao to Positano in January 2015. Today he is commemorated in Franco’s Bar, a street-level evening cocktail bar that channels the generous, expansive spirit and joie de vivre of this Dolce Vita gentleman. Though closely connected to Le Sirenuse, Franco’s has forged an identity of its own as the place in town for an aperitivo or nightcap with a view.

In 2019 Le Sirenuse launched a twice-yearly fitness and detox retreat called Dolce Vitality, held in the March week just before the hotel opens and again in November immediately after it closes. Dedicating the whole resort to no more than twenty participants, the retreat takes advantage of the ancient network of footpaths above Positano and combines these natural workouts with yoga classes, fitness sessions, massages, cultural experiences and a low-calorie Vegan menu prepared with gourmet flair by the hotel’s executive chef, Gennaro Russo. For the 2023 edition, the retreat is set for the spring edition, from March 19 – 25, and the fall edition, from October 29 – November 4.

Today Le Sirenuse is directed by Antonio Sersale, who has been at the helm of the iconic Amalfi Coast hotel since 1992. Antonio’s wife Carla looks after Emporio Sirenuse, the resortwear and lifestyle brand sold via the two Emporio Sirenuse boutiques in Positano, emporiosirenuse.com, leading stores worldwide including matchesfashion.com, Net-a-Porter.com and more. The couple’s two children, Aldo and Francesco, joined the family business in 2021, the hotel’s 70th anniversary year.

Le Sirenuse has been a leading member of the Best Hotels of the World since 1970.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Le Sirenuse
For more information, please visit www.sirenuse.it/en
Facebook | Instagram | @lesirenuse

Images:
1.View of Le Sirenuse terrace. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse
2.View of Le Sirenuse pool. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse
3.View of ‘Don’t Worry Bar’ at Le Sirenuse. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse
4.View of Aldo’s Bar. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse
5.View of Franco’s Bar. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse
6.View of ‘Dolce Vitality’ yoga session at Le Sirenuse. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse
7.View of La Sponda restaurant. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse
8.View from the bathroom at Honeymoon Suite at Le Sirenuse. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse

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EMPORIO SIRENUSE ANNOUNCES A POP-UP AT THE ICONIC LE BON MARCHÉ IN PARIS

February 20, 2023

The reputed luxury lifestyle brand Emporio Sirenuse presents a curated selection of its latest fashion and home collections, traveling from Italy to the Parisian store Le Bon Marché available from May 1 – June 25, 2023, for the retailer’s exclusive summer exhibition.

*Exterior View – Belvedere Hotel Mykonos. Photography by Nick Kontostavlakis. Courtesy of Belvedere Hotel Mykonos.*

February 20, 2023 (Paris, France) – The luxury lifestyle brand Emporio Sirenuse, founded by Carla Sersale of the iconic family-run hotel Le Sirenuse, showcases its latest Spring Summer 2023 Collection Posi Pop together with selected pieces from its Home Collection with a pop-up at the renowned Parisian department store Le Bon Marché from May 1 – June 25, 2023.

Emporio Sirenuse‘s pop-up at world-renowned department store is located at the center of the retailer’s second floor, housing timeless luxury brands. Following the store's summer display theme of ‘Dolce Vita’, the carefully designed and curated space will emulate the ambiance and signature aesthetics of Le Sirenuse hotel in Positano, narrating the world of Italian seaside simplicity, charm and elegance. The set design replicates some iconic pieces from the hotel, such as its white vintage outdoor chairs, a luscious lemon tree nestled in the splendor of terracotta amphoras and a custom-made bench, printed carpet reminiscent of the hotel’s bespoke colorful tiles and elaborate golden hanging racks framing the space. The Parisian pop-up offers an exclusive look into Emporio’s cosmos evoking the luminous spirit of the Mediterranean. Celebrating the art of travel in style, the featured Spring/Summer 2023 Collection Posi Pop explores a fresh, nuanced and romantic take on Positano’s legendary dolce vita with light, colorful and bright summer pieces.

The collection boasts ballooning sleeves, gorgeous full skirts and elegant caftans, exquisitely stitched palm fronds, and prickly cacti, evoking the lush decadence of island hideaways and glowing textures of the desert. Abstract color compositions bring the disruptive spirit of Italian Pop Art to 60s-inspired halter dresses, crop tops and high-waisted skirts, while bright, handwoven Ikat stripes reinterpret retrò sailing style with playful irreverence. Adding to the brand’s repertoire of master-crafted embroidery and exclusive prints on handloom linens, airy cotton voile and the finest Italian Poplin, a new jersey knit capsule brings monochrome creations to the fore. Draped, knotted or tied, bare-backed or off-the-shoulder, the stunning silhouettes and saturated primary colors of this intriguing story channel anything from divine goddess looks to those of sultry 70s divas for a distinctly sensual take on summer style.

Emporio Sirenuse founder Carla Sersale explains:

“I have a soft spot for Le Bon Marché, a department store that is different from any other. I always felt a special bond towards this store as the attention to detail and the gracious professionality of its staff rivals that of our hotel, Le Sirenuse. We designed a space with our terrace in Positano in mind. We recreated the floor of my boutiques and brought over a table, some chairs and two lemon trees from Le Sirenuse. We hope to bring some sunshine as well.”

*View of Belvedere Hotel Mykonos Pool Club. Photography by Nick Kontostavlakis. Courtesy of Belvedere Hotel Mykonos.*

Halfway through the two-month period of the pop-up, Emporio’s High Summer 2023 Collection, in exclusive partnership with The Elephant Family, will accompany the Spring Summer 2023 Collection at Le Bon Marché. Venturing from the idyllic seaside paradise into a lush new jungle landscape, the collection is an ode to the exotic nature and fascinating contradictions of India. Emporio Sirenuse commits to donating 10% of its profits on Elephant Family and Wildlife designs to this trusted non-profit organization’s pioneering projects dedicated to protecting endangered wildlife and their habitats in Asia and Africa.

A splendid series of decorated ceramic Suzani Plates from Emporio’s Home Collection, echoing the timeless aesthetics of the Amalfi Coast and paying homage to its continuing, evermore traveled tradition, will join the brand’s carefully designed fashion collections at the Le Bon Marché, introducing the values and verve of the inimitable Amalfi Coast to Paris.

The spellbinding range of motifs that call back to the ancient Suzani-embroidered fabrics of Central Asia found their way into the selection of the bespoke Suzani Plates. Hand-painted ceramics from the storied traditions of Vietri, a small village at the end of the road to Amalfi, they revisit the motif, whose embrace of the material looks bolder and more striking than ever. Here, the Orient once again meets the Italian coast, celebrating the ingrained heritage of port cities, beating hearts par excellence of the dialogue between cultures, where objects, ideas, stories, and endless discoveries have never ceased to transit.

*Exterior View of Belvedere Waterfront Villa– Belvedere Hotel Mykonos. Photography by Nick Kontostavlakis. Courtesy of Belvedere Hotel Mykonos.*

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Le Bon Marché

24 Rue de Sèvres, 75007 Paris, France

Opening Hours:

Mon – Sat | 10 am – 7.45 pm

Sun | 11 am – 7.45 pm

About Emporio Sirenuse Positano:

Since opening in 1990 opposite the Sersales's iconic Le Sirenuse hotel, the Emporio Sirenuse Boutique has developed into a flourishing lifestyle brand with an e-commerce site and two adjacent shops in Positano: a Men's, Home Décor & Lifestyle store and a Women's store.

Founder Carla Sersale's own collection of resort wear, Le Sirenuse Positano, was launched in 2013 at the boutique. The line includes a unique range of prints and embroideries on caftans, silk summer dresses, and easy separates. The brand has since grown a loyal following worldwide and is distributed internationally at top retailers including Matchesfashion.com, Bergdorf Goodman, Net-a-Porter.com, Aerin, Kirna Zabete, Ounass, Harrods, Luisa Via Roma, and other select retailers worldwide.

Homeware – including glasses, ceramics and textiles – accessories, and fashion pieces are all handpicked or designed by Carla Sersale and curated to embody the chic, understated elegance of the hotel and lifestyle on the Amalfi Coast.

emporiosirenuse.com | @lesirenuse | @emporiosirenuse

About Le Sirenuse:

Le Sirenuse opened in 1951, when the Sersale family turned their Amalfi Coast summer house in Positano into a stylish small hotel. Today the 58-room resort is considered one of Italy’s leading seaside luxury hotels, though it still retains the intimate, cultured atmosphere of a private home. The rooms are contemporary yet reminiscent of a glamorous bygone era. The hotel may hail the renowned La Sponda restaurant, and a spa designed by architect Gae Aulenti, but Le Sirenuse is still very much a family affair. Second-generation co-owner Antonio Sersale looks after the day-to-day running of the hotel, while his wife Carla oversees the boutique Emporio Sirenuse and designs beach-oriented fashion collection Le Sirenuse Positano. Le Sirenuse has won numerous awards and is internationally renowned for the quality of its services.

sirenuse.it/en

About Le Bon Marché:

Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche was the first department store in the world. It opened in 1852 in Paris at the instigation of Aristide Boucicaut and his wife Marguerite. They were both in favor of “a new kind of store that would thrill all the senses”. Combining unconventionality and elegance, this unique space designed by the architect Louis-Charles Boileau and the engineer Gustave Eiffel displayed a singular style influenced by the creative vitality of Paris’s Rive Gauche. Original creations and limited editions stood alongside a selection of the most beautiful objects from all over the world. Women’s, men’s and children’s fashion, accessories, tableware and design, but also cultural exhibitions, furniture collections and contemporary works of art filled the space and generated surprise. Here, as in the beginning, discovery and amazement are the foundations of a way of life that transforms shopping into an art de vivre.

https://www.lebonmarche.com/en/index

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A R T COMMUNICATION + BRAND CONSULTANCY ANNOUNCES THE GLOBAL PR REPRESENTATION OF THE ICONIC BELVEDERE HOTEL IN MYKONOS

February 7, 2023

A treasured member of the Leading Hotels of the World, the family-owned hotel is a landmark of minimalistic Cycladic design and architecture. A petite Grand Hotel, Belvedere revives traditional aesthetics and its age-old splendor into the modern era, offering a variety of rooms, suites, private villas, and amenities such as the Pool Club, the Sunken Watermelon Bar, a Six Senses Spa, and the first open-air Matsuhisa restaurant in the world.

February 7, 2023 (Mykonos, Greece) – A R T Communication + Brand Consultancy announces the global PR representation of the iconic Belvedere Hotel in Mykonos, Greece. Founded in 1995, the Belvedere is a family-owned luxury boutique hotel known for its prestige hospitality experience, five-star facilities, and breathtaking, immersive view of Mykonos's main town Chora and the Aegean Sea. This elegant Mediterranean residence is an oasis of wonders, merging consciously with the city’s eminent architectural landscape and identity. Elegantly shifting through the decades, the hotel has transformed into a superb social and hospitable experience, setting out to capture a nostalgic glance in pursuit of the elusive Mykonos feeling.

The hotel offers a wide array of rooms, suites and private villas enriched with hilltop and waterfront views offering a range of amenities, ensuring a truly immersive Mykonian experience, such as the Pool Club with its splendid bright sapphire pool, a signature cocktail bar Sunken Watermelon, a peaceful Six Senses Spa and Chef Nobu Matsuhisa's first open-air restaurant, Matsuhisa Mykonos.

Formerly known as Mansion Stoupa, the main Belvedere residence dates back 200 years, and in the 1960s Sofia and Illias Ioannidis opened this treasured holiday home to numerous vivacious visitors. This iconic mansion reflected in its entirety the buoyant and free-spirited sixties, attracting boisterous crowds of artists and creatives, hailing a new age for the island's social scene. The essence of these lively and extravagant parties carries into the Belvedere hotel now, hosting a unique ambiance and a community of guests vowing to return.

Embraced by a lush garden with abundant greenery and signature pink bougainvillea, the main complex boasts distinguishable Cycladic design honoring the traditional architectural landscape of Mykonos, with its white interior reflecting the elegant frames of nearby local houses. Through its refined rooms and suites designed with raw materials, such as plaster, marble, and wood, the design fuses minimalism and tradition, creating a unique and personalized experience, transforming into a true oasis of luxury, elegance, and tranquility with breathtaking views.

Encapsulating a rich hospitality experience, Belvedere’s main complex is enhanced with a full set of amenities, such as the Six Sense Spa offering a new wellness philosophy from in-house experts and holistic practitioners, a fully equipped fitness studio, a high-end fashion destination the Belvedere Shop and Venyx, a fine jewelry boutique by designer Eugenie Niarchos. The beating heart of the main complex is its Pool Club, igniting the ideal atmosphere to meet, socialize and nurture Belvedere’s international community, fusing experiences and guests in one place. This panoptic hub includes the hotel’s internationally acclaimed cellar, the historic Belvedere Bar, hosting some of the most extravagant nights on the island and offering exclusive Belvedere Signature Martinis by Dale DeGroff, also known as "the King of Cocktails", and the Sunken Watermelon Cocktail Bar, renowned for its distinctive drinks.

Further integrating the hotel into the local fabric, Belvedere’s very own Domna Ioannidis from Conceptboarding Architectural Studio undertook property renovations in 2007, with multiple additions to its main and annex complexes since then. In 2019, the Belvedere celebrated its expansion with 26 Hilltop Rooms and Suites, luxury residences located 250 meters from the central complex. Merging Mykonian design and minimalism, each room highlights Belvedere’s minimalist architectural signature and as an ode to the hotel’s legendary seascape, the residence watches over the Aegean Sea and Mykonos town.

The Waterfront Villa, discreetly hidden behind the bougainvillea-framed wall, is a 1260 m2 luxury property merging seamlessly with the Aegean Sea. The Villa suites offer luxurious facilities, such as the waterfront pool, a private whirlpool surrounded by an enchanting veranda, and the wooden sundeck embellished by whitewashed walls and Mykonian décor. Near the lively city center is the Belvedere’s Villa Next Door, a 344 m2 indulgent residence hosting up to 18 guests. Overlooking the 16th century historical Venetian windmills, the villa is designed with sophisticated and modern aesthetics while keeping a warm atmosphere through organic stonewalls and neutral colors. Only a minute from the Belvedere’s main complex, guests are close to the hotel’s attractive amenities, while keeping a piece of their privacy. These more private and secluded Villas can be rented individually or as an ensemble.

*Exterior View of Private Sundeck at Belvedere Panoramic Room – Belvedere Hotel Mykonos. Photography by Nick Kontostavlakis. Courtesy of Belvedere Hotel Mykonos.*

To ensure its guest the ultimate bedding experience, Belvedere has exclusively partnered with Quagliotti, a famed Italian linen manufacturer bringing an indulgent experience with bespoke hospitality collections into a bustling hotel season. The new custom-made and hand-crafted down pillows, duvets, and renovated half of the hotel beds carry artisanal excellence to the Mykonian resort, transforming its rooms and suites into a dreamy oasis of comfort and long-lasting quality.

Home to Chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s first open-air restaurant in the world, Matsuhisa Mykonos brings the premium Chef’s culinary brilliance for a unique dining experience to Belvedere. The historic Mansion Stoupa now houses the restaurant, a centerpiece of a vibrant social scene at the hotel. This celebrated alfresco restaurant welcomes the local tradition and embraces Greek seafood straight from the Aegean Sea into its famed selection of global delights.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Address:
Belvedere Mykonos
School of Fine Arts District, 84600, Mykonos, Greece

Facebook | Instagram | Belvedere Hotel , @belvederehotel

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MASA GALLERY LAUNCHES ITS INAUGURAL PERMANENT SPACE IN MEXICO CITY AND FOR THE FIRST TIME PRESENTS TWO SOLO EXHIBITIONS CHALLENGING THE BOUNDARIES OF ART AND DESIGN

January 19, 2023

Artist and designer Brian Thoreen and multidisciplinary conceptual artist Mario García Torres disrupt existing conventions of functionality and materiality in their new solo shows. Located in the heart of Mexico City, the 18th-century colonial house boasts 600 m2 of new gallery space for curatorial exploration, experimentation, and conversation around the sensibility of art and design.

January 19, 2023 (Mexico City, Mexico) - Marking its fifth anniversary, MASA gallery unveils two inaugural solo exhibitions at their first permanent space in the heart of Mexico City, on view from February 8 - April 8, 2023. The gallery’s expansion strengthens its ongoing commitment to present innovative positions of the local contemporary creative community through group and solo exhibitions focusing on collectible art and design. In ‘Non-Zero-Sum,’ artist and designer Brian Thoreen explores unconventional ways of fabrication and corporeality, expanding on traditional concepts and pushing the boundaries of materiality. Multidisciplinary conceptual artist Mario García Torres presents “The Space Under My Chair & The Music I Was Listening To”. As a homage to Bruce Nauman’s iconic sculpture and inspired by musical equipment design, García Torres explores a dialog between two series of works that shine a light on the limitless possibilities of fusing conceptuality and function.

The 600 m2 colonial house known for some of the most extravagant parties of the 1960s and 1970s in Mexico City, becomes MASA’s new home. Previously owned by great art visionary, writer and patron Federico Sánchez Fogarty (1901 - 1976), the 18th century building was the historic location of over 300 of Fogarty’s “Fiestas del Tercer Imperio” (Parties of the Third Empire). Orchestrated with the very own brush of famous muralist José Clemente Orozco (1883 – 1949), the evenings were attended by artists, writers, and critics – all of whom contributed to the construction and aesthetics of modern Mexico. Defined by its stretched corridors, expansive space and five-meter-high ceilings, MASA revives this iconic space.

Founded in 2018, MASA's artist and design collective presents disruptive exhibitions that blur the line between art and design. By challenging its existing boundaries and through its nomadic nature, MASA gives artists, designers, and architects a platform to question the frames of functional and non-functional works, experience unconventional pathways and explore the unexpected. MASA initiates a conversation between local creatives on the expression of conceptuality and materiality in Mexican design. Driven by Mexico’s renaissance of modern thinking, the gallery has come to represent works that explore the philosophical aspects of intention and function.

Known for challenging conventional concepts and pushing the boundaries of art and design, Thoreen’s “Non-Zero-Sum” presents over ten functional and six non-functional works, unveiling his mastery in finding progressive ways to manipulate materials beyond the conventional. The pieces on view showcase a bold exploration of shape, form, and utility, resulting in a diverse presentation of functionality and material in each piece.

This dialog between function and form is beautifully portrayed in large sculpture-like pieces, such as the two-meters candle made from 200 kilos of raw cast beeswax, unexpectedly exhibiting the object's mysterious and sensual aspect. Combining seemingly different materials comes a table made of twirling free-form rubber with cast bronze boxes and hammered copper elements, increasing the possibilities of its standard use. Enchanted with the diversity and multiplicity of rubber, Thoreen also presents a chair made solely from folded and stacked heavy neoprene consisting of nearly two tons of material while maintaining a sinuous tactility. In conversation with the collectible design pieces, Thoreen reveals a series of artworks, including a triptych of large works on paper displaying a binary code landscape by inscribing small charcoal sticks into the paper.Through materiality and conceptuality, the piece merges digital and analog. Standing between functionality and non-functionality, the triptych contains coded information, yet the information is kept secret from the viewer.

The breath of Thoreen’s current studio practice offers a continuation and expansion of his longstanding interest in making the static and kinetic laws of the universe visible, and the collision of a physical material with personal experimentation wrestling with the forces of gravity, displacement, velocity, mass, and scale.

In “The Space Under My Chair & The Music I Was Listening To”, Mario García Torres unveils two series featuring design and artworks that explore conceptuality and function. “A Cast of the Space Under My Chair” is an aluminum stool inspired by Bruce Nauman’s iconic concrete bearing the same name. Created in Nauman’s early career, the sculpture was crafted to consider the body’s relationship with the surrounding negative spaces. In the coated aluminum version, García Torres casts his desk chair, symbolically overturning the sculpture’s purpose by turning it into a functional object. For Nauman, casting the space below his seating was a way to reveal overlooked spaces; fifty years later, García Torres shines a light into a centuries-old tradition. In conversation with the design piece is “The Work I Painted This Monochrome While Repeatedly Listening to Gasolina by Daddy Yankee”, a series of electrically plugged monochrome paintings. The pieces were made while listening to the song Gasolina, directly influencing their outcome. Attached to the surface of the canvas is a rhythmic led light, transforming the series into a piece of silent sound equipment.

The founders expand, “counterbalancing the preconceptions surrounding the dialogue between art, design, space, function, or lack thereof is the essence of what we do.”

Founders Age Salajõe, Brian Thoreen and Héctor Esrawe fuse their devotion and expertise in collectible design in a space for curatorial exploration, experimentation, and conversation on the sensibility around art and design. Their collaborative spirit brings Mexico’s creative community together, turning MASA into a meeting point for local contemporary artists, designers and architects. Ever since their first show, “Collective/Collectible”, at an abandoned modernist mansion in Mexico City in 2019, the founders have embarked on a nomadic journey, nurturing a community of emerging creatives, such as Marrow, Xavier Loránd, Panorammmma and Adeline de Monseignat.

Internationally renowned artists, designers and architects, like Atelier Van Lieshout, Frida Escobedo, Pedro Reyes, Pia Camil, Jose Dávila and Milena Muzquiz, have exhibited in MASA’s exhibitions: “Elementos Vitales”, a homage to Ana Mendieta in Oaxaca, Mexico in 2021 and “Intervención/Intersección” at the Rockefeller Center in New York, in 2022.

Though its home will be in Mexico City, MASA will continue to expand its nomadic journey and conversation around art and design with discussions and programs. Initiatives include MASA CASA, offering studio visits of Mexico’s most influential artists, and MASA KIDS, making the exhibition accessible to children with custom age activities. In addition, MASA plans to continue its new nomadic exhibitions globally, including an upcoming show in Paris.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

'Non-Zero-Sum', Brian Thoreen and 'The Space Under My Chair & The Music I Was Listening To', Mario García Torres at MASA Gallery
February 8 – April 8, 2023
Joaquín A. Pérez 6, San Miguel Chapultepec I Secc, Miguel Hidalgo, 11850 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico

About MASA:

MASA is a nomadic gallery founded in 2018 in Mexico City by creative director Age Salajõe, designers Héctor Esrawe and Brian Thoreen, along with collectors Roberto Diaz Sesma and Isaac Bissu. Challenging the boundaries between art and design through a conceptual lens questioning function and expression, MASA unveiled its first-ever permanent space in 2023 in the heart of Mexico City. What started as a curatorial exploration for the creative founders turned into a pioneering nomadic cosmos for a discourse of the borders of art and design, with the need to curate, to build, to provoke and to learn.

In light of Mexico’s cultural renaissance, MASA initiates a dialogue and a bold exploration of shape, form, and utility, resulting in a diverse presentation of functionality and material. Thriving in Mexico’s collaborative spirit and uniting a creative community of artists, designers and architects, MASA is a space for the creation of experimental conceptual culture. Through its exploration of new ideas and contemporary concepts, MASA will continue to distill the values of cultural production and with its digital, physical, and conceptual presence challenge conventions and present ideas on a global stage.

About Brian Thoreen:

Brian Thoreen is a designer and artist who lives and works between Paris and Mexico City. He creates functional and non-functional works which gather their ethos from the integral nature of the materials within the application. Focusing on material and form his works find ways to an unexpected existence. His body of work contains studies on material independence and interdependence offering the materials used an opportunity to be expressed. By filtering his ideas through the lenses of emotion, technique, playfulness, and experimentation the end results vary but are aligned through a continuous thread.

He has co-founded the nomadic gallery MASA as well as experimental glass making collective VISSIO. These partnerships have expanded his capacity for further experimentation. Thoreen has participated in international exhibitions such as Design Miami with Patrick Parrish Gallery (2015 – 2017), Zona Maco with VISSIO (2018 - 2019), and group exhibitions with MASA since 2019.

About Mario García Torres:

Mario García Torres (b. 1975, Monclova, Mexico) is an artist currently living between Mexico City and Los Angeles. Through personal and intimate research-based practice, his work has been investigating the structures and politics that make art possible, mainly using blind spots in recent art history and employing gestures normally related to the immaterial legacy of conceptual art. Interested in uncertainty and counter-narratives, he has blurred the notions of fact and fiction through a wide range of mediums, including film, slide shows, performance, sound and painting.

Some of the most important solo exhibitions of his work have been held at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2007), Kunsthalle Zürich (2008), Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley (2009), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2010); Museo MADRE, Naples (2013), Perez Art Museum, Miami (2015), TBA21, Vienna (2016), Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2016), Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2018) and Wiels Art Centre, Brussels (2019) MARCO, Monterrey (2021). He has also participated in such international exhibitions as the Sharjah Biennial 13, Tamawuj, Emirates (2017), Manifesta 11, Zurich, the Berlin Biennale (2014); the Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2013); Documenta 13, Kassel (2012); the São Paulo Bienal (2010); and the Venice Biennale (2007) to name a few. Garcia Torres' work is part of many private collections around the world. His works could be found in public collections such as the MoMA, New York, the Pompidou Centre, Paris, MUAC and Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, the Hammer Museum in LA and the Tate Modern, London.

Image credits:
Image 1. Brian Thoreen, ‘Zero-Non-Sum,’ 2023. Courtesy of Alejandro Ramirez Orozco
Image 2. Installation view ‘Intervención/Intersección’, MASA Galería, New York, 2022. Courtesy of Caylon Hackwith
Image 3. Installation view ‘Collective/Collectible’, MASA Galería, Mexico City, 2019. Courtesy of Genevieve Lutkin

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CHYBIK + KRISTOF UNVEIL THE WINNING DESIGN FOR PEARL GALLERY | A TRANSFORMATION OF A FORMER TEXTILE FACTORY INTO A NEW CULTURAL HUB

January 10, 2023

Set to become a precious architectural gem and vivid cultural center, the design pays tribute to its rich industrial past. The restored art center strongly underlines CHYBIK + KRISTOF’s engagement with the preservation of architectural heritage in safeguarding communities’ connection to the past all the while encouraging inclusive social dynamics.

*CHYBIK + KRISTOF. Visualization of the Pearl Gallery, Ústí nad Orlicí, Czech Republic. Courtesy of CHYBIK + KRISTOF.*

January 10, 2023 (Usti nad Orlici, Czech Republic) – CHYBIK + KRISTOF (CHK) win the design competition to transform a former textile factory into a new contemporary art gallery and cultural space at the heart of Usti nad Orlici in the Czech Republic. Pearl Gallery presents itself as the city’s new contemporary art hub, expanding its existing cultural infrastructure and forming a new creative environment. Reflecting CHK’s commitment to preserving architectural heritage, refurbishing and upcycling existing urban fabrics, Pearl Gallery will rise from its prosperous textile industry legacy, paving the way for a new cultural identity of the city.

Eager to preserve a piece of its eminent past, the city announced a competition to create a fresh new vision for the city centre. Following a decline in the prosperous textile industry during the 20th and 21st century, the former Pearl factory was shut down in 2009, and demolished in 2017. Only the three most prized buildings remained, a production building designed by renowned Czech architect Pavel Janak, an office extension of the block, and a machine building from the 19th century.

In reconceptualizing the restoration of the factory’s remains, CHK divided the existing mass into two buildings, providing the future gallery with multiple functions, and creating new public pathways and spaces between the buildings. Set across 3,200 m2, the newly divided areas form three exhibition spaces, each carefully designed to fulfill a particular purpose. Stretching across the prominent area of the right wing, the main exhibition hall is reimagined as a white box space, set to house the main exhibitions. To the left is a connected space accessible through a small entrance, housing a black box space. Surrounding the main hall from above is a balcony gallery designed as a textile cabinet paying homage to the building’s history. This mezzanine space can be easily divided and separated from the main hall with curtains, increasing flexibility for future curatorial purposes.

*CHYBIK + KRISTOF. Drawings of the Pearl Gallery, Ústí nad Orlicí, Czech Republic. Courtesy of CHYBIK + KRISTOF.*

Preserving Pearl’s architectural memory and existing material, CHK utilized crucial construction elements through design preservation and restoration. Certain existing surfaces were stripped back to reveal the original material’s uneven texture resurfacing its former splendor, while additional construction elements, such as tiles and railings are treated and covered with a polished, metallic sheet embracing the revitalized spirit of the place. The industrial chimney deprived of its primary function is enriched with a reflective pearl motif becoming a new landmark and a beacon of its namesake, visible even from distant parts of the area.

As part of its multifaceted cultural expansion, Pearl Gallery acts as a new meeting place for the community – activating the surrounding area and public space to foster social interaction in the gallery and its surrounding neighborhood. The site is enriched by a new public courtyard located at the forefront of the building, united by the cafe – a vital link between the vibrant main street, and a calming urban interior.

“Pearl Gallery's design sees an increased development in the urban fabric, designed to elevate local culture by weaving together and upcycling its architectural past and creating a new future in the form of a vital arts district for the city,” says CHK co-founder Ondrej Chybik.

Underpinned by both a forward-thinking design and respect for the building’s original heritage, Pearl Gallery showcases the vital role of architectural transformation as a focal point in any cultural and social revitalization.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About CHYBIK + KRISTOF
CHYBIK + KRISTOF is an architecture and urban design practice founded in 2010 by Ondrej Chybik and Michal Kristof. Operating with 50+ international team members and offices in Prague, Brno, and Bratislava, the practice aims at creating bridges between private and public space, transcending generations and societal spheres. Taking into account local histories and environmental specificities, the studio works on a wide array of projects, ranging from urban developments to public and residential buildings. Recent projects include the Czech Pavilion at Expo 2015 (Milan, Italy), Lahofer Winery (Czech Republic), Zvonarka bus station (CZ), or Multipurpose arena in Jihlava (CZ). The studio has been awarded a number of prizes, including the 2019 Design Vanguard Award from Architectural Record, and was recently amongst the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies’ 2019 40 Under 40 Award winners.
chybik-kristof.com

Credits:
Photos: Lukáš Prokeš, Město Ústí nad Orlicí
Illustrations: Hanna Hajda

Team:
Ondřej Chybík, Michal Krištof, Lucie Skořepová, Hanna Hajda, Urszula Sędziak, Ela Siwiec, Zuzana Pelikánová, Jiří Richter, Markéta Pavlunová, Martin Holý

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CHYBIK + KRISTOF COMPLETE RESEARCH CENTRE IN COLLABORATION WITH KOMA MODULAR | PRESENTING NEW INNOVATIVE MODULAR ARCHITECTURE

October 6, 2022

Following their first collaboration in 2007, CHYBIK + KRISTOF and KOMA Modular conclude their collective work on the Modular Research Centre, showcasing an innovative use of modular structures by altering conventional systems. Pushing the boundaries of standard modular architecture, the new research centre creates transparency and openness within the local community while serving as a think-tank presenting new concepts and possibilities of modular buildings.

October 6, 2022 (Prague, Czech Republic) – CHYBIK + KRISTOF (CHK) announce the completion of the newly designed Modular Research Centre with KOMA Modular, a Czech module manufacturer, located in Vizovice, Czech Republic. Latest in a series of collaborations, the recently completed 170 m2 research centre acts as a think-tank – an innovative space to challenge and expand on existing notions of modular construction. Situated at the edge of the KOMA complex, the new research centre carefully integrates the factory into its surrounding environment while creating a large semi-public social gathering square contributing to the employees' liveliness and progressive working culture. The one-story building allows passers-by to view the factory from the street level, further enhancing an accessible, transparent, barrier-free area.

The partnership between CHK and KOMA began in 2014 by creating a master plan for the entrance and public area consisting of three modular buildings. The master plan demonstrates a strategic configuration design of the factory’s entrance, expanding on public space, in which each structure unveils modular versatility. Following the completion of the Modular Cafeteria in May 2014, CHK designed the Czech pavilion at EXPO 2015 in Milan, which was later converted into an office building for KOMA. The newly completed research centre (2022) presents the third and final modular design, rooted in the concept of rotated containers functioning as columns, enabling an architectural malleable space to further expand on the notions of modular architecture.

Set to become an innovation hub for the factory complex to develop and explore new undiscovered building methods with modules, the research centre forms an adaptable system that can meet multi- purpose needs. Acting as an idea generator, the building is an important meeting place for all professionals to create innovative and special products, consequently becoming a default gathering point and evolution center for the future of modularity. Keeping in mind the structure's principal function, it is further underlying the vital element of transparency reflected in its building. Creating a complex that is open and welcoming to the local community confidently reflects on the principle of new concepts envisioned to form inside the rotated containers of the building.

Created as a prototype of a new and adaptable modular system, the research center underlines the studio’s dedication to expanding the limitations of modular architecture and engaging in supporting local communities. Putting the focus on crafting new shapes offering unrestrained modularity and showcasing an innovative system of multifunctional modular shapes, the studio is purposely shifting old paradigms and expanding on the typical rectangular construction to foster a transparent working environment. Bypassing the restriction of the customary use of right-angled units placed side by side, the research centre varies from a standard model in the basic re-imagination of the use of modular structures, making it a user-friendly model for the future of modular architecture.

Containing three main module elements, the floor, the container, and the roof units, the composed space creates a new unique system – spatial units containing the facilities are leveled onto the planar flooring modules, which are anchored to the foundation, functioning as columns. Placed in between the containers and the roof, vast window surfaces draw in an abundance of light, keeping the workplace open and connected to the exterior space.

The juxtaposition of the main modules and glass surfaces forms an all-inclusive spacious open area dedicated to horizontal and vertical working spaces. The area itself is entirely flexible, avoiding negative aspects of large open space offices, and can be readjusted to meet the specific needs of any project, forming multiple adaptable and individual workstations. As a natural continuation of the modularity concept, the furniture design allows the office equipment to be supplemented, changed, and adapted to new needs over time – pieces of equipment can be customized simply by re-connecting the elements. Building materials further aid in reflecting and understanding the innovative modular concept of the research centre, with its perforated surface and visible details used to the maximum extent in their natural form. As a material that KOMA manufactures and uses daily, aluminum was a clear choice for the complex, aiding the understanding of modular build principles easily.

Left Vaulted house in the small village of Pastena, Amalfi, Courtesy of Studio Architetti Artigiani Anonimi; Right Drawing of Proporzione Mediterranea_Daybed 01, Courtesy of Studio Architetti Artigiani Anonimi

CHK encourages further expansion and research of modular architecture and emphasizes its importance,

“As the emerging trajectory for modular architecture and technologies continue to advance, we have positioned our capabilities in this area at the forefront of innovation to create promising solutions towards a future that we believe lies in modular architecture.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About CHYBIK + KRISTOF
CHYBIK + KRISTOF is an architecture and urban design practice founded in 2010 by Ondrej Chybik and Michal Kristof. Operating with 50+ international team members and offices in Prague, Brno, and Bratislava, the practice aims at creating bridges between private and public space, transcending generations and societal spheres. Taking into account local histories and environmental specificities, the studio works on a wide array of projects, ranging from urban developments to public and residential buildings. Recent projects include: the Czech Pavilion at Expo 2015 (Milan, Italy), Lahofer Winery (Czech Republic), Zvonarka bus station (CZ), or Multipurpose arena in Jihlava (CZ). The studio has been awarded a number of prizes, including the 2019 Design Vanguard Award from Architectural Record, and was recently amongst the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies 2019 40 Under 40 Award winners.
chybik-kristof.com

About KOMA

KOMA is a manufacturer of modular buildings based in Vizovice, the Czech Republic. It is formed from several companies working towards the same goal, emphasizing innovation and design since 1992. They care about a good working and living environment, and they are constantly developing and impro-ving. When designing their solutions, they have the welfare and needs of the customer in mind, to whom they always want to bring a high added value. KOMA believes that the future of construction is modularity.

koma-modular.cz

Project Team:
Ondřej Chybík, Michal Krištof, Ondřej Mundl, Lukáš Habrovec, Martin Holý, Michal Klimeš, Dávid Medzihorský, Vojtěch Kouřil, David Bernátek, Petr Novák, Vladimír Šobich, Přemek Zhoř

Landscape architecture:
Atelier zahradní a krajinářské architektury Sendler

Technical solutions:
Jiří Valenta, Oldřich Studený, Petr Chval

Photo credits:
Jesús Granada, Alex Shoots Buildings, Julius Filip, Pavel Barták

Illustrations:
Alexey Klyuykov, CHYBIK + KRISTOF

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ANNARITA AVERSA FOR ARCHITETTI ARTIGIANI ANONIMI PRESENTS PROPORZIONE MEDITERRANEA | A MEMENTO TO VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE OF THE AMALFI COAST

September 22, 2022

Inspired by the visual and sensorial force of the pure and harmonious forms encapsulating the characteristics of vernacular Mediterranean houses, architect Annarita Aversa designs a limited-edition collection of seating and vases.

*Proporzione Mediterranea_Daybed 01, 2021, Annarita Aversa. Studio Architetti Artigiani Anonimi, Courtesy of Galleria Giustini/ Stagetti, Roma*

September 22, 2022 (Rome, Italy) – Milan-based architect Annarita Aversa, founder of Architetti Artigiani Anonimi, presents Proporzione Mediterranea, a collection of seating and vases emanating from her vernacular architecture study of Mare Nostrum, specifically the vaulted houses of the Amalfi coast. On view from September 30th – October 29th, 2022, at Giustini / Stagetti gallery in Rome, the collection builds on the architect’s ethos of the single idea of space, light and material by fusing design and architecture. Drawing from the wisdom of “Mediterranean vernacular masterpieces,”[1] the collection is a memento of heritage preservation, continually narrating its intrinsic worth and exemplary value.

Aversa returns to the origins and essence of architecture, to rediscover the intimate link between man and inhabited space. The collection calls upon this truthful synthesis of evoking harmony of human proportions, narrating as it does that architecture is a unique and inimitable product of human needs, desires, dreams and abilities. The rhythm of solids and voids, the soft shaping typical of the Mediterranean culture is further enhanced by the rawness of the materials, such as the colored terracotta and hand-worked wrought iron.

Aversa explains: “Conceiving internal and external space and its furnishings as a total unicum, strongly linked to the context, has always steered my work, particularly in this collection. The purpose of the project is to remind architects of the reasons behind our so very delicate task in an era often littered with disorienting images.“

Inspired by the distinctive houses with vaulted ceilings that line the Amalfi Coast, the limited-edition collection includes a daybed, a sofa, a bench and a selection of vases. As an integral part of the architectural Gesamtkunstwerk, the pieces create a natural play of light and shadow underlining Aversa’s intent to merge the world of architecture and design.

Composed of ceramic and metal, the seating alludes to benches set along the edges of coastal terraces, challenging the boundary between architecture and landscape. Produced in Vietri sul Mare, the epicenter of ceramic art and design on the Amalfi Coast, the modular seating pieces create a delicate balance of technique and form as a natural extension of space.

Designed as “architectural dreams,” the vases are a continuation of harmonious proportions. Their “skin” opens in a perfectly balanced mix of space, light, and water, defining a place from which to observe the world surreptitiously. The design echoes the intimacy of vaulted spaces, highlighting the skillful modeling of the raw materials, lending grace and meaning to every creative decision.

Left Proporzione Mediterranea_Vase III, 2021, Annarita Aversa. Studio Architetti Artigiani Anonimi, Courtesy of Galleria Giustini/ Stagetti, Roma; Right Proporzione Mediterranea_Vase 01, 2021, Annarita Aversa. Studio Architetti Artigiani Anonimi, Courtesy of Galleria Giustini/ Stagetti, Roma

As part of Aversa’s mission to preserve the natural and architectural landscape of the Amalfi Coast, she collaborated with the Centro di Cultura e Storia Amalfitana, in Amalfi on a handbook of drawings, photographs and research illustrating the necessity of heritage preservation. It will be available online and in the Casa del vademecum (“the house of the Vademecum”).

Founded in 2013, Architetti Artigiani Anonimi, based in Milan works on the different scales of architecture, elaborating and synthesizing in each project the complexity of the temporal, architectural and cultural context, and promoting the identity of each place.

[1] Bruno Zevi described houses with vaulted ceilings that line the Amalfi Coast as “a vernacular masterpiece worthy of standing alongside Brunelleschi’s dome or Michelangelo’s apse in St Peter’s.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Annarita Aversa

Annarita Aversa is an Italian architect, educated at the “La Sapienza” University of Rome and the ETSAB University of Barcelona. After having collaborated with some of the most well-regarded architectural studios in Europe - in Holland, Spain, and Milan - she decided to focus on her territory of origin, the Amalfi coast, through participatory planning initiatives such as “Due Punti Architettura” listed by the MAXXI Museum in the “Independent Project”, independent cultural initiatives in Italy.

Founded in 2013, Architetti Artigiani Anonimi, based in Milan, works on projects of different scales, the studio focuses on elaborating and synthesizing in each project the complexity of the temporal, architectural and cultural context, while promoting the identity of each place.

Annarita Aversa is currently carrying out a research project based on the recovery of empathy between man and living space for the “Molino Nuovo” project in Salerno, looking after the architectural design, various architectural projects for private clients and a project for the elaboration of methods for preservation of the architectural and landscape heritage of the Amalfi coast, in collaboration with the Center of Culture and History of Amalfi.

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TRANSPARENCY, FORM AND COLOR OPENS AT ARTEFACT.BERLIN GALLERY ON SEPTEMBER 2

August 16, 2022

The exhibition will present a series of mid-century glassware, featuring fine glass in unusual artistic shapes and various vibrant colors and pastel hues.

September 2 – November 18, 2022

Opening Preview: Thursday, September 1, 2022 | 6-8 PM

*Installation view of ‘Transparency, Form and Color.’ Photo Courtesy of Artefact.Berlin.*

August 16, 2022 (Berlin, Germany) – Artefact.Berlin announces its new exhibition dedicated to a curated selection of fine colorful glassware from the 1950‘s–1970‘s on view from September 2 – November 18, 2022. Transparency, Form and Color presents over 30 unique glass objects in various colors, shapes, and sizes, exhibited in honor of the International Year of Glass 2022, as proclaimed by the United Nations.

Alongside the glass objects, a large-scale unstretched sewed linen canvas by contemporary Berlin-based artist Nadine Schemmann echoes a similarly rooted appreciation of form and color. In her work, Schemmann explores the various layers reflective of human encounters – the spoken and the unspoken, giving these moments a lasting expression. The levels of transparency, the flow of color and its shape mirrors these interactions. In lost connection to mono, 2021, the vibrant green, yellow, and blue, added impulsively to the canvas, represent one of these interpersonal moments in time.

Inspired by the ways in which these two distinctive mediums employ form and color, cultural entrepreneur Anna Rosa Thomae, curates this assemblage as an exemplary symbiosis of art and design, as per Artefact.Berlin’s mission to support and present these intrinsically connected disciplines.

*Nadine Schemmann, lost connection to mono, 2021 284 x 245 Oil paint, chlorine bleach and ink on sewed linen. Photo Courtesy of Nadine Schemmann.*

Over 9000 years ago, the invention of glass by mixing three primary ingredients – silica sand, soda, and potash combined at high temperatures – created an extremely versatile material that with skillful craftsmen and artists reached new artistic heights. Today glassmaking holds an enviable place among art and design. Celebrating this shape-shifting material, the glass vases and objects on display are all mouth-blown and hand-crafted in delicate colorful glass to create sophisticated works of art conveying intricate craftsmanship and a sincere sense lightness. Distinctive for their color variations, ranging from lush Prussian/cornflower blue, cherry red and petrol to pale pastel colors, the pieces are shaped in novel fashion in graceful forms adding a modern sensibility and richness to traditional materials.

Selected objects in the exhibition can be attributed to Albin Schaedel, the internationally renowned glass artist from the Thuringian Forest in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). Profoundly interested in experimenting and developing new techniques, Schaedel's affinity towards unconventional shapes demonstrated his excellent knowledge and skill of the versatile material. More specifically, he developed the "Schaedeltechnik,” a new technique of blowing vessels with a torch through an assembly technique producing unique pieces.

*Installation view of red, blue and petrol-colored vases and objects. Photo Courtesy of Artefact.Berlin*

Anna Rosa Thomae explains, “The subtle clarity and craft of the glass finds perfect harmony in Schemmann’s study of color and form.”

Predominantly working with large-format linen and various techniques, Nadine Schemmann’s work translates encounters, conversations, and moments in diverse shades on the canvas to engage in emotional interactions. The process involves dying or bleaching the material to then be covered with ink, oil paint or chlorine bleach, resulting in striking, but unexpected color paths forming organic, endlessly changeable edges on the linen canvas. With a desire to expand her color palette, Schemmann materializes feelings as different shades to create an expressive and sensory visual language translating encounters as the deepest and most honest form of dialogue. Reflecting the fragility of interpersonal relationships, Schemmann's paintings find their origin in the interstice that results when two people meet – crafting the space which remains free of color and that which is delimited by cut edges and seams. Only sometimes she stretches the linen fabrics on frames, never banishing them behind glass. Often, they hang freely in a space, or in nature, where they are exposed to wind and weather, where the color and fabric change with time. Just as interpersonal relationships cannot be preserved and made durable, Schemmann does not place this expectation on her paintings.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Artefact.Berlin:

Established in December 2021, Artefact.Berlin is a gallery and project space prefiguring itself as an extension and complement to Thomae’s already reputed international cultural communications agency A R T Communication + Brand Consultancy, founded in 2014. Through a series of curated exhibitions, the project is rooted in Thomae’s ongoing commitment to promoting the interrelatedness between art, design and architecture. With a rich program of carefully selected exhibitions focusing on contemporary art and design, the space stands as an important reference point for art and design collectors and enthusiasts worldwide.

Rooted in the Schöneberg district’s distinct architectural heritage, Artefact.Berlin will continuously connect with local art and design professionals and general audiences alike through a dense program of multidisciplinary events, talks, and performances, once again fostering Berlin’s extensive and widely diverse cultural community and its visibility worldwide.

About Nadine Schemmann:

Nadine Schemmann is a contemporary German visual artist. She studied design and fashion at the Cologne International School of Design from 1997 - 2000 and at the Berlin University of the Arts from 2004 - 2006. In 2001 she moved to Berlin and worked as a freelance designer and internationally recognized fashion illustrator under her stage name Lulu until 2018.

Working with encounters in the broadest sense, her work arises from the need to translate encounters, conversations and moments to give them a lasting expression. In doing so, Schemmann recalls these moments and feelings as colors that then meet again on the canvas. Her own artistic practice is constantly evolving and presented in solo and group exhibitions. Most recently at Gutshaus Schwante, Kunsthaus Lempertz, Studio Berlin at Berghain, and TEXT-ile at Galerie Haverkampf & Leistenschneider, among others.

About Albin Schaedel:

Albin Schaedel (1905-1999) was an internationally renowned Thuringian glass artist – one of the most productive and influential glass artists of his time. Schaedel came from a family with a 200-year tradition in glass production. Following in his father’s footsteps, Schaedel joined the glass bead making workshop, began an apprenticeship in 1924 and was a journeyman with Edmund Müller in Neuhaus from 1927. After seven years of experience in glass making, he started working as an independent art glass blower and following his successful skills, in 1949 he was awarded the quality mark for handicrafts. By the end of the 20th century, he had to stop working in front of the glass flame for health reasons.

Works by Schaedel are held in prominent museum collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Arts, Sapporo.

Transparency, Form and Color is on view at Artefact.Berlin from September 2, 2022 — November 18, 2022.

Artefact.Berlin | Geisbergstraße 12, 10777 Berlin, Germany

Opening Hours:

Monday – Friday

10 – 6 PM and by appointment

artefactgalleryberlin.com | @artefactgallery.berlin

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THE AFRICAN ARTISTS’ FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES TWO NEW EXHIBITIONS AS PART OF THEIR 2022 FALL PROGRAM | ELEVATING THE VOICES OF AFRICAN CONTEMPORARY ART

August 8, 2022

The African Artists’ Foundation encourages the expansion of African art on its continent and beyond – organizing exhibitions, festivals and residencies working to expand awareness of known and unknown African artists. Two new exhibitions focus on raising the voices of contemporary African Art through regenerative co-production.

August 8, 2022 (Lagos, Nigeria) — Lagos-based African Artists’ Foundation (AAF), established in 2007, announces two new exhibitions opening in August 2022. The AAF organizes a variety of exhibitions, both locally and internationally, festivals, and educational activities and community outreach programs to drive social change as its core ambition. Through their programming, the AAF supports emerging and established artists in Africa cultivating and promoting contemporary African art production. Shout Plenty on view from August 13 – October 1, 2022, is a group exhibition featuring over 30 artists from across Africa, taking place at the AAF headquarters in Lagos in collaboration with Alliance Française. Dig Where You Stand on view from September 2 – October 9, 2022, marks the first exhibition of a traveling show, taking place in several locations across Africa. The announced locations include: Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA), Tamale, Ghana, The African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) Lagos, Nigeria, White Cube, Lusanga, DR Congo, Palais de Lomé, Togo and Hangar Centre, Lisbon, Portugal.

Both exhibitions underline the AAF’s mission to develop and promote contemporary African art through thought-provoking concepts of cultural rebirth.

Shout Plenty

Group Exhibition | August 13 – October 1, 2022

The group exhibition nurtures a dialogue between the individual experience and collective memory as a means of problem-solving generational distress. Seeking to build a story interwoven with distinctive voices, the curators gathered artists across different mediums to deliver a unifying message that nevertheless gives value to individual realities. Taking its name from the revolutionary and provocative Fela Kuti’s 1986 LP I Go Shout Plenty, the exhibition similarly challenges collective struggles through the experience of artmaking and interventions. Pondering the various ways freedom and voice echo through a collective experience, Shout Plenty gives agency to the interior lives of multiple artists, and by extension their communities, crafting a powerful means of protest. Alongside imagination and creative thinking, these artistic interventions produce a unique representation and understanding of socio-political shortcomings of generations. With artists such as Ayogu Kingsley, Isshaq Ismail and Audrey d’Erneville and more, the exhibition studies how art can function as a powerful and revolutionary force to challenge institutionalized systems of control.

Dig Where You Stand

Group Traveling Exhibition | September 2 – October 9, 2022

Dig Where You Stand explores the regenerative potential of art within the region and its diasporas, offering a new model of engagement with the questions of decolonization, restitution, and repatriation, both in the art world and the broader economy on the African continent. Cultivating the reformative potential of art across the region by placing an emphasis on travel, migration and (dis)placement, the exhibition is shifting the decolonial paradigm away from Western museums towards a location-specific, solution-oriented approach, leaving behind a toolkit in each location for commencing regenerative economic processes. The artists and local communities explore the economies of the colonial systems that have historically marginalized vulnerable communities and find new methodologies in the art world, which reverse its value systems and return agency to exploited communities on the African continent. Featuring the works of Ibrahim Mahama, Renzo Martens and The Cercle d'Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC) among others, the exhibition curated by Azu Nwagbogu aims to promote contemporary African opus by facilitating a cultural exchange and contributing to communities with ideas rooted in liberation from the ongoing extractive processes in the economy.

Reflecting on both exhibitions, Artistic Director Azu Nwagbogu states that:

“Shout Plenty represents an expression of the exuberant modes of art making through contemporary image making, encompassing broader contemporary visual culture in fashion, media, sound, music and photography. It spotlights the artists identified as change makers using their practice to bring multiple discourses around social justice and fairness.”

“Dig Where You Stand symbolises a monumental shift in the ongoing cultural conversation around decolonization, restitution, and repatriation through the facilitation of pan-African artistic exchange and promotion of local solutions. Connecting key artistic practices from across the African continent and internationally, the exhibition maintains its exclusive modality, engaging artists interested in a circularity of economy around the art world and exhibition making.”

Continuing their programming after a decade of recognizing the artistic potential of its community and actively cultivating it to reach its full potential, the AAF has produced and curated a variety of projects that echo a strong cultural landscape of contemporary African art. In 2010, reflecting the organization’s commitment to engage the community and promote its artists. The first and only international arts festival of photography in Nigeria, LagosPhoto was founded. The annual flagship event’s main goal is to establish a community for contemporary photography uniting local and international artists through images that encapsulate individual experiences and identities across all of Africa.

Additionally 2022 exhibitions and events include: LagosPhoto 2022 Festival, Artist Residencies, including French Artist Delphine Dénéréaz, and another solo exhibition presenting the work French-Algerian Artist Yassine Mekhnache.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About AAF

Established in 2007 in Lagos, Nigeria, African Artists’ Foundation aims to encourage the highest standard of art in Africa. African Artists’ Foundation serves a significant role in art and academic communities through organizing art exhibitions, festivals, competitions, residencies, and workshops with the aim of unearthing and developing talent, creating societal awareness, and providing a platform to express creativity. By providing assistance to professional and emerging artists in Africa and support to international exhibitions and community outreach program, African Artists’ Foundation views the contribution to a strong cultural landscape in Africa as a transformative element in driving social change. In addition to a rigorous program of exhibitions and workshops at its gallery in Lagos, African Artists’ Foundation organizes its flagship project, the LagosPhoto Festival, annually.

About Curators

Azu Nwagbogu, AAF Founder & Artistic Director

Azu Nwagboguis the Founder and Director of LagosPhoto Festival, and the African Artists’Foundation (AAF), a non-profit organisation based in Lagos, Nigeria. Nwagbogu was the interim Director/Chief Curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art in South Africa from April 2018 to August 2019. He created Art Base Africa, a virtual space to discover and learn about contemporary Art from Africa and diaspora. Nwagbogu is on the jury of major arts awards and committees such as the Dutch Doc, POPCAP Photography Awards, the World press Photo, Prisma Photography Award (2015), Greenpeace Photo Award (2016), New York TimesPortfolio Review (2017-18), W. Eugene Smith Award (2018), Photo Espana (2018), Lensculture and Magnum. Nwagbogu also works as an independent curator and culture critic.

Princess Ayoola, Creative Manager & Curator

Princess Ayoola is a Creative Manager at African Artists’ Foundation (AAF). As a graduate of Engineering from the University of Lagos, shespent the early part of her professional career in the sciences and engineering sector. Her transition to the local art and culture space started when she joined the LagosPhoto Festival team as an intern in 2016. Since then, she has engaged in projects and workshops that border on photography, graphic design, writing, painting and so on, under the mentorship of Curator, Azu Nwagbogu. She was the Festival manager of the Lagos Photo Festival 2019, the first international photography festival in Africa, She strongly believes in the use of various art forms to address and effect change as it relates to personal, political and social issues. She lives and works in Lagos.

Jana Terblanche, Curator

Jana Terblanche is an art curator based in South Africa. She obtained her Honours in Fine Art from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. She has recently been appointed as the Head of Development at Southern Guild Gallery based in Cape Town. She also works as a researcher and curator at the African Artists’ Foundation in Lagos, responsible for an extensive art programme on the African continent and abroad. She has curated shows at several art fairs including FNB Art Joburg, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, 1-54 London and Art Rotterdam. She has also curated a multitude of group exhibitions and mentors local emerging artists. Her curatorial practice predominately addresses decolonial theory, intersectional feminism and pop culture. She takes interest in interdisciplinary collaboration, empathy through artmaking and modern intimacies. The curatorial approach she employs amplifies a multiplicity of voices and champions nuanced storytelling.

Image Credits:

1 Left Samson Bakare Dreams and Everything Beyond, 2022; Right Sarfo Emmanuel Annor, Freedom, 2021, Courtesy of African Artists' Foundation

2 Left Zanele Muholi Muzane I, 2019; Right Zanele Muholi, Bester, 2019, Courtesy of African Artists' Foundation

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NEW-YORK BASED DESIGNER JONATHAN HANSEN UNVEILS CIEL NOCTURNE PORCELAIN AND IN THE CLOUDS COBALT GLASSWARE

August 8, 2022

With these new collections, the designer expands on his previous presentation of Ciels Bleus porcelain and In The Clouds glassware exploring the atmospheric theme of the sky and clouds. The new collections seek to convey a deeper and meaningful essence of the material and its possibilities to portray a sense of lightness and liberation.

July 6, 2022 (New York, United States) – Designer Jonathan Hansen launches two new collections in Fall 2022 as an extension of his previous Limoges porcelain Ciels Bleus (2020) and Bohemian crystal In the Clouds (2021) lines, offering fresh drops of elegance and buoyancy. The meditative Ciel Nocturne collection extends his collaboration with the Parisian porcelain brand, Marie Daâge. It features 16 Limoges adorned tableware and decorative porcelain pieces hand-painted by Daâge’s internationally renowned local artisans. The new cobalt crystal In the Clouds glassware features five hand-engraved pieces including a stemless wine glass, a flute, and tumblers as well as six serving pieces available both in clear and grey. Hansen once again explores the blending of contemporary iterations with classical materials and fabrication methods resulting in a design cosmos of infinite lightness.

Seeking its inspiration from the poetic and graceful Parisian grey cloudscapes, Ciel Nocturne represents a playful complement to the light blue Ciels Bleus collection. Through quick watercolor-like brush strokes, yielding an atmospheric airiness and fluidity, the pieces highlight a meditative experience of the clouds and the atmosphere, perfectly complementing the elegant nature of porcelain. The white color of the clouds is not painted, it is the actual tone of brilliant untouched Limoges porcelain, revealing its natural prized beauty. Reflective of the cityscapes as the day turns to night, the hand-painted grey tones reestablish this state of the sky and its serenity, lending a calm elegance to these signature pieces. As true ornaments of the collection, the clouds are touched by light, allowing the surrounding colors to become muted creating an ethereal sense of spirituality and connection to nature.

Ciel Nocturne, marks the second collaboration with the esteemed French table design brand Marie Daâge. Exuding timelessness, the picturesque Limoges porcelain brings to light the perfect paring of the elegant nature of Daâge’s exuberant watercolor like style with Hansen’s meditative collection. Known for her light and precise brush strokes and painterly quality, Daâge is able to materialize the modern interpretations of historical inspirations that are at the core of Hansen’s work. The wonderous color compositions and fluidity of painterly dimensions that Marie’s workshop achieves are some of the last to be painted entirely by hand in Limoges. Marie and Jonathan bonded on their mutual love in creating works that appeal to both modernist and classical taste.

As an extension of the transparent and tinted grey Bohemian crystal glassware, the new handcrafted and engraved cobalt pieces add a breath of a new life to the In the Clouds collection. Made by master craftsmen of the Bohemian crystal tradition in the Czech Republic, the pieces exude a profound richness – the deep blue cobalt color provides the collection with character and fresh intensity. The engraved clouds prove to be further visible in the opulent blue alignment, as the images of the clouds are finely engraved in the material, each uniquely punctuating the skies of the mouth-blown crystal. The collection grew out of an appreciation for nature, the wonderous deep blues of the sky and water.

“Working on these pieces and nurturing the artistic vision for this collection has enabled me to explore more deeply the subject of the sky and clouds, a focus that continues to hold my attention. Bringing to life the atmospheric depth of the sky and communicating it at the same time with clarity and power of new fitting colors, adds and complements the rest of the collection.” – Jonathan Hansen

Hansen immerses himself once more in the spiritual atmospheric depth of nature, with new pieces exuding a sense of lightness, evoking a boundless space and a fresh contemplative serenity. New models in the collections beautifully accentuate the uniqueness of each material, showcasing the endless beauty of one subject and exceptional craftsmanship.

Having worked with porcelain and crystal glassware since 2009, Hansen has built an extensive portfolio of produced for leading designers and brands, including Thom Browne for Baccarat, Lisa Perry for Coca-Cola, and AERIN.

The Ciel Nocturne and In the Clouds cobalt collections will be launched internationally through various retailers, including Neiman Marcus and Moda Operandi. Prices upon request.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Jonathan Hansen
A contemporary creator with classical foundations, New York-based designer Jonathan Hansen has established his signature through collaborations with some of the leading names of fashion and furniture design. Building on his training in 18th- and 19th-century French, English and American furniture design, Hansen investigates the fragile equilibrium between functionality and abstraction that comes with each interaction between human and object. Placing the human body at the core of his work, he conceives each piece as a biomorphic being endowed with a subtle human essence.

Designing and fabricating objects for the past 20 years, he launched his product design firm Jonathan Hansen + Co. in 2010. Hansen has worked with leading global fashion designers and brands including Thom Browne, Lisa Perry, AERIN, Ralph Rucci, The HAAS BROTHERS, Marie Daâge, and L’OBJET, where he currently acts as Design Director.

In 2018, he debuted his independent design editions, SERIES I: Captum Biomorfe – the first of a continuous series of furniture design collections through which he addresses the ties between design, architecture, sculpture, and the human body. The series’ second iteration, titled SERIES II: Eximo Biomorfe, will be presented in 2022.

Hansen's design work has garnered academic and media attention alike. SERIES I was recently included in Karen Pearse’s Splendor of Marble: Marvelous Spaces by the Worlds Top Architects and Designers (Rizzoli, 2020), and his collections have been featured in The New York Times, Architectural Digest, Vogue, ELLE Decor, and Harper's Bazaar, among others.

jonathan-hansen.com

Instagram | @jonathandhansen

Image credits:

Ciel Nocturne Collection, designed by Jonathan Hansen. Photography by Joseph Kramm. Courtesy of Jonathan Hansen.

In the Clouds Cobalt Collection, designed by Jonathan Hansen. Photography by Joseph Kramm. Courtesy of Jonathan Hansen.

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CHYBIK + KRISTOF AND SKANSKA UNVEIL DESIGN FOR THE ‘SUGAR FACTORY’ | A NEW SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT WITH EXPANSIVE PUBLIC SPACE IN PRAGUE

June 30, 2022

On the site of the former sugar factory on the outskirts of Prague, the multifunctional buildings with views of the river boast expansive open spaces – activating and expanding public space, fostering interaction and sense of community. The newly developed hybrid construction material, ‘Rebetong,’ is used in a grand scale and for the first time exposed as a façade, affirming the commitment to sustainable building solutions enhancing a circular economy.

*Image 1. CHYBIK + KRISTOF. Visualization of the Sugar Factory, Prague, Czech Republic. Courtesy of Vivid Vision.*

June 30, 2022 (Prague, Czech Republic) – CHYBIK + KRISTOF (CHK) in collaboration with SKANSKA present their new design for the mixed-use residential development on the former sugar factory site due for completion in 2030. Honoring the identity of the Modřany area on the outskirts of Prague, the large-scale project addresses the need to reinvigorate the neighborhood into a multilayered entity asserting the architects’ commitment to a holistic social and sustainable approach. With over 6,600 sqm of new public space, the architects foster public interaction and an increased sense of community, ensuring its relevance for contemporary, and future living. Paying homage to the history of the area, the hybrid construction material ‘Rebetong,’ invented by SKANSKA, is being used and exposed as the façade material – never in a project was the material used in this grand scale – stressing the architects’ continuous thirst for new ways of sustainable building and creatively addressing ways of reusing and readapting existing material for construction.

Facing the south side of the river Vltava, with plans to be surrounded by vast green landscapes, the area consists of seven urban blocks with 790 apartments, an integrated all-inclusive public square, a multifunctional hall, and a range of facilities, such as a coffee house, a brewery, retail outlets, a restaurant, a kindergarten, and a boat club, all responding to the specific needs of the existing and expanding local community. Involved in the design process from the beginning, the local inhabitants were able to shape their future landscape, highlighting the importance of community life and its corresponding social infrastructure.

The preserved sugar factory chimney built in 1927 is carefully integrated into the new urban block and serves as a landmark and symbol of the area in retaining its historical integrity. The new mixed-use 58,000 m2 development extends along the existing urban axis, creating a seamless continuity and connection within its existing urban landscape.

*Image 2. CHYBIK + KRISTOF. Sugar Factory drawings, Prague, Czech Republic. Courtesy of CHYBIK + KRISTOF*

Reflecting CHK’s commitment to sustainable building solutions, the project marks the premiere use of ‘Rebetong,’ as a façade material, a new hybrid construction substance invented by SKANSKA. Following intensive research and experimentation with different sizes, shapes and density, this crucial material utilized in the heart of the development, preserved from leftover bricks, reflects the unique industrial character of the site. It further explores methods of creating an ecologically friendly material, asserting the studio’s curiosity in developing new sustainable resources to expand the importance of the architectural language. To be discernable as a fully visual reminder of its past, CHK proposed using the material not only for structural purposes, but to also be exposed as a façade. Appreciated for its historic significance and ability to fit into the existing landscape, ‘Rebetong,’ acts as a functional and emotional connection to the collective memory of the area, adding value to the local culture, while being a sustainably elegant solution.

Additionally, the mixed-use residential area integrates a blue-green infrastructure and the preservation of green spaces across the whole complex. The advanced system of blue-green infrastructure optimizes water management, while the implementation of renewable energy sources mitigates the carbon footprint of the complex, embracing its biodiversity — creating a friendly space for the local species to build their nests.

*Image 3. CHYBIK + KRISTOF. Visualization of the Sugar Factory, Prague, Czech Republic. Courtesy of Vivid Vision.*

Reflecting the studio’s analysis of the area’s social dynamics, the residential complex is activated by public space in its entirety, from semipublic spaces, such as accessible rooftops filled with greenery, to a fully accessible public square at the heart of the community. The U-shaped design of each block creates expansive green courtyards providing new space for social interaction. Expanding all the way to the Vltava riverbank, the new urban block directly connects to the water through planned walkways and cycling paths, adding more space and function to the accessible public area. This gradation over the various public spaces serves all neighboring districts, putting emphasis on the community aspect of the project by making it accessible not only for its inhabitants. Through a temporary intervention called Cukrkandl, the project has already engaged the community through screenings, temporary playgrounds, and cafés, providing access to the current site and waterfront.

Co-founding architects Ondrej Chybik and Michal Kristof expand:

“Striving to create a diverse residential area with an expanded social infrastructure, our new design seamlessly merges elements of public and private space. The balance of architectural, technical, and sociological aspects formulates the harmonious habitat, which as an outcome, shapes a balanced neighborhood of distinctive identity.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About CHYBIK + KRISTOF

CHYBIK + KRISTOF is an architecture and urban design practice founded in 2010 by Ondrej Chybik and Michal Kristof. Operating with 50+ international team members and offices in Prague, Brno and Bratislava, the practice aims at creating bridges between private and public space, transcending generations and societal spheres. Taking into account local histories and environmental specificities, the studio works on a wide array of projects, ranging from urban developments to public and residential buildings. Recent projects include: the Czech Pavilion at Expo 2015 (Milan, Italy), Lahofer Winery (Czech Republic), Zvonarka bus station (CZ) or Multipurpose arena in Jihlava (CZ). The studio has been awarded a number of prizes including the 2019 Design Vanguard Award from Architectural Record, and was recently amongst the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies’ 2019 40 Under 40 Award winners.
chybik-kristof.com

About SKANSKA

Skanska AB is a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden. More than 135 years in the making, Skanska is one of the world’s largest development and construction companies, with 2021 revenue totaling SEK 148 billion. They operate across select markets in the Nordics, Europe and the United States. Together with their customers and the collective expertise of 30,000+ teammates, Skanska creates innovative and sustainable solutions that support healthy living beyond our lifetime. Skanska is active in construction, commercial property development (office buildings, shopping centers and logistics properties) and infrastructure development (roads, hospitals and schools) in all of its three market regions. The company plans, develops and builds homes in the Nordic region and in the rest of Europe.

https://group.skanska.com

Credits
Material technology expert: Bohuslav Slánský
Blue-green infrastructure: Jakub Jirák
Sustainability consultant: Radek Jareš
Engineering: AED project
Transportation: Pro-Consult, European Transportation Consultancy
Landscape architecture: Terra Florida
Structural engineering: Recoc
Fire protection: AMPeng
Illustrations: Alexey Klyuykov, CHYBIK + KRISTOF
Renders: VIVID-VISION
Photo: Pavel Barták, Tomáš Hejzlar, Archiv ÚMČ Praha 12

Project Team:

Ondřej Chybík, Michal Krištof, Ondřej Mundl, Šárka Kubínová, Lukáš Habrovec, Ondřej Mičuda, Martin Holý, Matěj Štrba, Ondřej Jelínek, Zuzka Pelikánová, Peter Chaban, Jan Kohút, Karolína Holánková, Lenka Kostíková, Michal Sluka, Frida Block, Ingrid Spáčilová, Francisco Javier Gomariz Moreno, Iva Mrázková

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THEARTISTS IN COLLABORATION WITH THE LUMBUNG LAUNCHES THE LUMBUNG GALLERY AT DOCUMENTA FIFTEEN

June 14, 2022

The new lumbung Gallery will make the artworks of documenta fifteen available on TheArtists.net. Rooted in the principles of collectivity and communal resource sharing, the lumbung Gallery will present artworks by most artists and collectives in the exhibition, including: Britto Arts Trust, INSTAR, Wajukuu Art Project & Gudskul.

*Wajukuu Art Project, Slum Art Festival, Wajukuu, 2018, Photo: Shabu Mwangi*

June 14, 2022 (Kassel, Germany) TheArtists, in collaboration with the lumbung members and artists, present the lumbung Gallery project at documenta fifteen. On view from June 18 – September 25, 2022 and available on TheArtists.net, a non-profit initiative with the goal of supporting and promoting the work of contemporary artists, many of the artworks of documenta fifteen artists will be made available to curators, public institutions, collectors, and communities. This enables the participation in the principles of collectivity by committing and possibly purchasing the artworks and thereby directly contributing to the artists and their connected ecosystems. documenta fifteen exhibition is the gallery space in itself, works can be experienced in situ at all the venues. Additionally, artworks will be available for viewing on the online platform of the lumbung Gallery in collaboration with TheArtists – www.lumbunggallery.theartists.net.

Functioning as a cooperative gallery, it is a project set to contribute to artists and collectives and their local communities, reiterating the principles and practice of lumbung as its core mission, where value, pricing and division of return are reconsidered in a fully transparent way. By sharing returns, the project contributes to a greater transparency in the art market, thus supporting artists as equal partners in this chain of communication. Having the communal element at its core, the project reflects the ethos of the TheArtists, supporting and promoting the work of contemporary artists without permanent gallery representation. Through this collaboration, the collective goal is to further establish an alternative way countering the traditional art market models.

TheArtists expand, “we are excited to be entrusted by the lumbung with this adventure. We expect to learn a lot, to excite buyers and institutions and to engage with the many artists and collectives of documenta fifteen in a direct and transparent way. This has never been done before and we are ready for this special journey!"

*Agus Nur Amal PMTOH, Prehistoric Making in Progress, Courtesy Agus Nur Amal PMTOH*

30% of all individual transactions and/or sales will go into the lumbung common pot, collectively governed by all lumbung members, and from which TheArtists will receive no commission, solely the reimbursement of its costs. The remaining 70% will be used and distributed to the artists and art collectives and their communities. The pricing of the artworks is based on the collectives’ basic needs and artists’ basic income, as well as production costs rather than the pricing system of the current art market. A contract, or declaration of commitment including conditions and recommendations of use and future life of the artwork will accompany all the works. The team of lumbung Gallery will be available in Kassel at ruruHaus to explain the calculation of each individual work in relation to the collective or individual artist and to facilitate a direct exchange with the artists, as well as considering committing to non object based art.

The lumbung Gallery is initiated by the Lumbung and developed and managed in collaboration with TheArtists. It is registered as an association (“Verein”) and will continue to exist beyond documenta fifteen.

In addition to the lumbung Gallery project, TheArtists is excited to announce the next curated selections available from June, 2022. Following the inauguration of the first three hand-picked curated selections by reputed German artist Gregor Hildebrandt, art collective Slavs and Tatars, and UK-based curator Maya El Khalil, the platform is delighted to announce a new selection by conceptual artist and curator Ahmet Öğüt. The selection will present four artists originating from Turkey.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About TheArtists
TheArtists is a new non-profit platform with the goal of supporting and promoting the work of contemporary artists not (yet) represented by a gallery. Eager to share new perspectives on the international art scene, and to propose an alternative model to traditional art market models, this new initiative gives the artists a voice and visibility. At its core lies TheArtists.net, an online platform to discover, support, and collect carefully selected works by seldom presented artists, curated by world-renowned artists, curators, and professionals. Behind TheArtists are Maren Brauner, Martin Heller, Hendrike Nagel, Michael Oswald and Beat Raeber. Beat Raeber is an enabler and supporter of contemporary artistic practice and has worked with internationally renowned artists with his former gallery RaebervonStenglin. Michael Oswald is the Creative Director of his agency OSW. Martin Heller is a Berlin-based lawyer and a longtime experienced consultant and counsellor for artists, galleries and institutions worldwide. Maren Brauner is a curator, art mediator and editor. Hendrike Nagel recently joined the team to run and manage the lumbung gallery in Kassel during documenta fifteen.

About documenta fifteen

As the fifteenth edition of the contemporary art exhibition, documenta fifteen will take place from June 18 until September 25, 2022 in Kassel. ruangrupa was unanimously selected by the international documenta commission as the artistic director of documenta fifteen and appointed by the supervisory board. ruangrupa has based documenta fifteen upon the values and ideas of lumbung. ruangrupa is a collective founded in 2000 and based in Jakarta, Indonesia. As a non-profit organization, ruangrupa promotes artistic ideas within urban and cultural contexts through the involvement of artists and other disciplines such as the social sciences, politics, technology or the media so as to open up critical reflections and perspectives on contemporary urban problems in Indonesia.

documenta fifteen | documenta-fifteen.de

About lumbung

lumbung, which directly translates as “rice barn”, refers to a communal building in rural Indonesia where a community’s harvest is gathered, stored and distributed according to jointly determined values as a pooled resource for the future. As a concrete practice, lumbung is the starting point of documenta fifteen: Principles of collective governance and resource sharing are pivotal to the curatorial work and the structure of documenta fifteen. The collective’s way of working is based on a community-oriented model of sustainability in ecological, social and economic terms, in which resources, ideas or knowledge are shared. The idea of sustainability is also comprehensively considered in the exhibition planning in all its manifestations.

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Emporio Sirenuse Unveils New Pieces as Part of its Home Collection during Salone del Mobile, Milan 2022

May 24, 2022

To coincide with Salone del Mobile, 2022, Emporio Sirenuse presents new additions to its Home Collection at Banner, Milan – a splendid series of glassware, decorated ceramics, place mats and coasters that echo the timeless aesthetics of the Amalfi Coast and pay homage to its continuing, evermore travelled tradition.

On View from June 7 – 11

Banner, Via Sant’Andrea, 8, 20121, Milano

*Paolo Bramati. Suzani Plates and Aria glasses. Home Collection 2022*

May 24, 2022 (Milan, Italy) – The reputed luxury lifestyle brand Emporio Sirenuse, founded by Carla Sersale of the iconic family-run hotel Le Sirenuse, will unveil its new pieces to its Home Collection at Banner, Milan, on view from June 7 – 11.

A collection of Murano glassware whose transparency romantically engages with the seascape of the Amalfi coast, and hand-decorated ceramics inspired by the long tradition of the village of Vietri, will join the brand’s carefully designed fashion collections of beach-and resortwear, which continuously distill the values and verve of the inimitable Amalfi Coast hotel.

The Aria Glass Collection lends its name to the air we breathe, aria in Italian, and more specifically to the refreshing breeze that brushes the waves of the expansive sea surrounding Positano. An immersive series of glassware whose surfaces, like the reflective tints of the water once touched by light, project luminescent reflections in motion, their aquatic essence inspires a slow dance of changing hues on a cloud at sunset.

*Chiara Goia. Aria Glass. Home Collection 2022*

Designed to hold cocktails, long drinks, and generous cascades of ice, the Aria pieces embrace Negronis, Spritzes and Americanos as they do the refined champagne and local wines served on the airy terraces of Positano's Le Sirenuse hotel. Each Aria piece is individually blown by master glassmakers in the Murano furnaces of Nason Moretti, a company whose centennial history has long been at the forefront of the artistic Venetian glassmaking scene.

*Prices starting at 110 Euros

The same spellbinding range of motifs that call back to the ancient Suzani-embroidered fabrics of Central Asia, first developed into a collection of cushions, now finds their way into the new selection of Suzani Plates. Hand-painted ceramics from the storied traditions of Vietri, a small village at the end of the road to Amalfi, they revisit the motif, whose embrace of the material looks bolder and more striking than ever. Here, the Orient once again meets the Italian coast, celebrating the ingrained heritage of port cities, beating hearts par excellence of the dialogue between cultures, where objects, ideas, stories, and endless discoveries have never ceased to transit.

*Prices starting at 82 Euros

Raffia Place Mats and Coasters

Made in Florence, the place mats and coasters, like the plates, are inspired by the Suzani traditional patterns. The natural raffia thread is woven in intricate circles, creating a gracious lace.

*Prices starting at 90 Euros

Emporio Sirenuse founder Carla Sersale explains:

My family and I are avid collectors of Suzani embroideries from Central Asia, they were available in the 70’s and now are almost impossible to find. Presenting our plates, Suzani inspired raffia place-mats and our exquisite Murano blown Aria glass collection at Banner in via Sant’Andrea in Milan is a great honor. Biffi and Banner are undisputedly the best concept stores in Milan.

The collection will be on view during Salone del Mobile, Milano from June 7 – 11 at BANNER, Milan and is available online at emporiosirenuse.com, matchesfashion.com, Net-a-Porter.com, Goop.com, Bergdorf Goodman and others.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

Emporio Sirenuse Home Collection 2022

On View from June 7 – 11

Banner, Via Sant’Andrea, 8, 20121, Milan

Opening times

Mon - Sat.

10.15 am – 7 pm.

About Emporio Sirenuse Positano:

Since opening in 1990 opposite the Sersales's iconic Le Sirenuse hotel, the Emporio Sirenuse Boutique has developed into a flourishing lifestyle brand with an e-commerce site and two adjacent shops in Positano: a Men's, Home Décor & Lifestyle store and a Women's store.

Founder Carla Sersale's own collection of resort wear, Le Sirenuse Positano, was launched in 2013 at the boutique. The line includes a unique range of prints and embroideries on caftans, silk summer dresses, and easy separates. The brand has since grown a loyal following worldwide and is distributed internationally at top retailers including Matchesfashion.com, Bergdorf Goodman, Net-a-Porter.com, Aerin, Kirna Zabete, Ounass, Harrods, Luisa Via Roma, and other select retailers worldwide.

Homeware – including glasses, ceramics and textiles – accessories, and fashion pieces are all handpicked or designed by Carla Sersale and curated to embody the chic, understated elegance of the hotel and lifestyle on the Amalfi Coast.

emporiosirenuse.com | @lesirenuse | @emporiosirenuse

About Le Sirenuse:

Le Sirenuse opened in 1951, when the Sersale family turned their Amalfi Coast summer house in Positano into a stylish small hotel. Today the 58-room resort is considered one of Italy’s leading seaside luxury hotels, though it still retains the intimate, cultured atmosphere of a private home. The rooms are contemporary yet reminiscent of a glamorous bygone era. The hotel may hail the renowned La Sponda restaurant, and a spa designed by architect Gae Aulenti, but Le Sirenuse is still very much a family affair. Second-generation co-owner Antonio Sersale looks after the day-to-day running of the hotel, while his wife Carla oversees the boutique Emporio Sirenuse and designs beach-oriented fashion collection Le Sirenuse Positano. Le Sirenuse has won numerous awards and is internationally renowned for the quality of its services.

sirenuse.it/en

About BANNER Boutique:

Located in Via Sant’Andrea, BANNER is one of the most emblematic streets of Milan’s fashion district and is part of the BIFFI BOUTIQUES group. Designed by the architect Gae Aulenti, inaugurated in 1993, the boutique’s two levels constitute a formal, but modern space. The carefully selected lining materials create an effect of integrity, which is embellished by the artwork of contemporary designers. BANNER’s interior is the perfect setting for presenting the unique creations for women of Italian and international fashion designers.

BIFFI BOUTIQUES, co-founded by the Biffi sisters in the second half of the 60s, promote an eclectic combination of different artistic expressions thanks to the many collaborations with cutting-edge designers, luxury brands, architects and other young creatives from the design community. The group has five stores: Biffi Boutiques, Biffi B-Contemporary and Banner in Milan; Biffi Boutiques and Biffi Boutiques Accessories in Bergamo.

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