Innehållsförteckning för October 2019 från Architectural Digest

“Architecture is creating the framework for the life we want to live.”—Bjarke Ingels This issue is full of original thinkers, independent spirits, and expansive, modern dreamers. Among them, Danish starchitect Bjarke Ingels epitomizes living large—his firm, after all, is called BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group). With global reach, he has realized the many wildly imaginative, sky’s-the-limit ideas that have made him famous—including Lego House and Copenhill, a wastetreatment facility with a ski slope on the roof. But, as AD’s Sam Cochran writes in our cover story, Ingels had never tackled a private residence. “No one asked,” says a nonchalant Ingels, who is undoubtedly intimidating to your average homeowner. Not, however, to the confident design connoisseur who cold-called BIG to commission a house on a tricky wedge-shaped plot constrained by neighbors, a…

On a recent afternoon, the Paris apartment of Benjamin Paulin and Alice Lemoine is stark naked save for a single bookcase and a few pieces of art—not exactly what you’d expect chez the son of the late, great French designer Pierre Paulin (1927–2009). “Sometimes we have nothing and sometimes we have four sofas,” notes Benjamin, explaining that their missing furniture, all by his father, is on loan for exhibitions in London and Frankfurt. If that sounds like musical chairs, they like it this way. “When it’s empty,” Benjamin says, “the girls run and dance. When it’s full, they jump from piece to piece. It’s a fun game both ways.” Adds Alice, “We don’t want to be fixed in something that doesn’t move. In French we call it getting too bourgeois.”…

“One of the reasons I chose ceramics is because it reminded me of my childhood,” says Andile Dyalvane, recounting the mud objects that he and his friends in Ngobozana, a village in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, used to make as kids when they weren’t sliding down a muddy slope into a refreshing stream. As the Xhosa ceramist shapes vessels and wall hangings—sometimes sandy-rough, other times scraped and scarred—at Imiso Ceramics, his atelier in Cape Town, he recalls the scent of rain-soaked earth after a long dry spell. “Clay is one of the mediums that help me connect with nature itself, like I’m touching a vast network of spirituality,” explains Dyalvane, whose work has caught the attention of Friedman Benda. The New York City gallery will show his most recent…

Growing up in Toledo, the birthplace of America’s 1960s studio-glass movement, John Hogan started making small bowls and paperweights at the tender age of 15. “I’ve always tried to break away from preconceived ideas about glass,” says Hogan, who, in his 20s, followed in the footsteps of his predecessors—letting functionality fall by the wayside to experiment with shapes, textures, and colors. Now based in Seattle, Hogan has since translated such tests into fully realized furnishings, among them lustrous shades for light fixtures, a cocktail table with a base of mirrored blown orbs, and an ethereal cast chair. Along the way, he’s begun to consider glass at an architectural scale, developing prototypes for screens, walls, façades, and even load-bearing systems, in the case of the interlocking blocks he made with MOS…

“Rudy and I always look for flexibility; we make changes in our own spaces all the time.” —Rodman Primack “We always say we’re not going to buy any more. And then we see something really great!” —Rudy Weissenberg…

“Warm tones are beautiful in bedrooms; they create a cocoon effect.” “I used a lot of color throughout the house, and somehow it all pulled together.”…

Art lovers, prepare to take a dip. On the grounds of Edinburgh’s Jupiter Artland sculpture park, Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos has unveiled Gateway, a flower-like swimming pool lined with nearly 11,400 azulejo tiles. From above, the permanent installation reads like a drop of water with six petals, each representing a member of the Wilson family, which founded the estate. But the pool’s sinuous form also relates to the site, thought to be an intersection of the leylines—or ancient energy paths—that some believe link spiritual loci around the world. “We’re connecting the elements, sky and earth, with water,” explains Vasconcelos, who based the vibrant tilework, custom made in Portugal, on her own and the Wilsons’ astrological charts. (She also designed the surrounding, curvilinear landscape of yews, boxwood, beeches, and laurels.) And…

“Polestar is about finding new paths,” says Maximilian Missoni, Head of Design at Polestar, the new electric car brand launched by Volvo and the Geely Auto Group. “In an industry where there is so much legacy, so much history, the only way to really break new ground is to create a new brand.” Missoni introduced the new Polestar 2 at the Sheats-Goldstein Residence, the iconoclastic Los Angeles landmark from architect John Lautner. Similarly, the Polestar 2 challenges conventions, confounding the need to differentiate between sedan and SUV. “Polestar 2 is a great example for a car that was born from a designer not following the rules,” says Missoni, who likens the silhouette to a wonderful “creature” that deviated from traditional evolutionary paths. The design features a nuanced interior that balances…

FINE LINES Drawing inspiration from tribal influences, the Odyssey rug from Loloi combines relaxed linear patterns with a sophisticated color palette. For more information, visit loloirugs.com. WESTLAND GOES WEST Westland London has been at the forefront of the antiques trade for 50 years. This year, they will be marking their anniversary by moving to a new North-West London showroom. The space will allow them to create a permanent home for the brand and display their vast range of antiques in a 19th-century former coach house. After a year of restoration, the showroom will be open in mid-October and is a must see with glowing open fires and a warm welcome guaranteed! Visit westlandlondon.com to learn more. LIFESTYLE LIGHTING Empowering you to create the look and lifestyle you love. KingsHaven designs…

For many of the greatest architects of the last century, a private house was their big break. The 1964 home that Robert Venturi built for his mother in the Philadelphia suburbs launched his career and ushered in the postmodern movement. Charles Gwathmey’s first project was a 1967 Long Island residence for his parents, who gave him carte blanche to create the Modernist marvel. And the Santa Monica house that Frank Gehry renovated for his own family in 1978 catapulted him to celebrity while introducing the Deconstructivist hallmarks of his later blockbusters. In the case of these talents and more—Philip Johnson, Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, Michael Graves, Lina Bo Bardi—private houses served as early laboratories and calling cards. Bjarke Ingels has forged an entirely different path. After founding his own…

six years ago I fell in love with the Alentejo, a region in south central Portugal at once austere and poetic, planted with umbrella pines and cork oaks, and graced with a pristine coastline—a sandy, secluded beach that stretches for miles along the Atlantic. I owe this to my friend Christian Louboutin, who in the spring of 2013 said to me, “Get on a plane and meet me in Lisbon. I’m going to take you to a magical place.” From the airport we drove south for a couple of hours, continuing past the rice fields of Comporta. After passing the tiny and charming village of Melides, we turned onto a sandy path heading west toward the ocean. To one side, the road ran parallel to emerald-green rice fields that almost…

As one might reasonably expect, the California country home of Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway and her husband, jewelry designer Adam Shulman, has an intriguing narrative. We’d be disappointed if it didn’t. In the backstory they imagined for their enchanting 1906 Swiss chalet–style residence (which was destroyed by a fire in 1917 and rebuilt), Yves Saint Laurent once owned the property before director Wes Anderson moved in and put his own hipster-twee spin on the house. The fictional origin tale also includes something about Anderson and David Bowie cohosting an annual New Year’s Eve party there. That’s a lot of imagery to process, but Hathaway, Shulman, and their partner in drama, AD100 designer Pamela Shamshiri of Los Angeles’s Studio Shamshiri, embraced the challenge with gusto. “Pam really leaned into it,” Hathaway…

Decorator Frances Merrill of Los Angeles–based Reath Design has a reputation for fearlessness when it comes to color and pattern. But she met her match in clients Frankie Shaw, creator of the Showtime comedy SMILF, and her husband, television writer Zach Strauss. “They really tested my limits,” Merrill confesses, describing the jubilant Franklin Hills home she designed for the young couple. Swathes of terra-cotta, yellow, green, and blue, strategically set against a kaleidoscopic array of fabrics and wallpapers, create an ambience that feels joyous and uplifting. Says Merrill, “It takes discipline to design a rainbow house that doesn’t look terrifying.” TIPS 1. WHEN PICKING COLORS, TEST AND RETEST, IN NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL LIGHT, AT DIFFERENT TIMES OF THE DAY, IN ALL WEATHER CONDITIONS, CLOUDY AND SUNNY. 2. JUXTAPOSE ELABORATE PATTERNS…

“It was a scrappy start. We bought into a small factory with about 30 employees. There wasn’t enough room for us to have offices, so we worked from home. Early on, we decided our quality level should outlast a person becoming bored—you should not need to replace our products because of wear. And we wanted our pieces to feel timeless, rooted in the past with a forward twist. In the 1990s, we reimagined early–20th century French club chairs, rescaling and tweaking the styling. We’ve since sold over a billion dollars of them. Today we operate our own factory, distribution center, and corporate offices in North Carolina, with almost one million square feet and 650 employees—1,000 worldwide. We have on-site day care, a fulltime medical clinic, college scholarships, a health-conscious cafeteria,…

Realizing “how far women actually haven’t come,” says Beamer, inspired the trio to organize “Designing Women,” a 2017 group show that has grown into an annual spotlight for female-led firms. That same curatorial spirit is now found year-round at Egg’s new Tribeca showroom, where their designs are displayed alongside wall coverings by Callidus Guild, textiles by Hiroko Takeda, and ceramics by Bari Ziperstein, among other leading ladies. Says Beamer, “There is no reason why a woman can’t be as qualified and as wonderful a craftsperson as a man.” eggcollective.com “Material and situation guide where we should go,” reflects Els Woldhek of Odd Matter Studio. “We always try to look at something as if we’re experiencing it for the first time.” Since she and Georgi Manassiev founded their firm in 2015, the…

Visiting artists and designers around the city, Primack notes, “we realized that there’s so much great design happening in Mexico right now.” For 20 years, almost as long as they’ve been a couple, Rodman Primack and Rudy Weissenberg told friends they were thinking of moving to Mexico. They often traveled there, Primack in his role as an auction-house executive and later creative director of the Design Miami fairs, Weissenberg as a television producer, and both fell hard for its relaxed pace and cultural éclat. They built a circle of friends. They started buying from the local art galleries. Still, when they unpacked their boxes in Mexico City this past spring, “everyone was like, ‘WHAT?!?’” Weissenberg says. “We discovered there’s a difference between saying you’re moving to Mexico and moving to…