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      Funamachi Base cafe and sweet shop designed as “extension of the park”

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      Timber pillars and PVC pipes were left bare to blur the boundaries between the interior and exterior of cafe and sweet shop in Funamachi, Japan, designed by Schemata Architects.

      Named Funamachi Base, the combined sweet store and cafe is located next to a park in the centre of Funamachi, a riverport town in central Japan.
      The cafe is located close to a riverThis location inspired the design of its three buildings, which house a restaurant, sweetshop and a structurewith an office, kitchen and workshop.
      “We envisioned the facility as an extension of the park, including the courtyard connected via flowerpots, so that the boundary between the inside and outside of the site would disappear and one would be gradually drawn inside,” the studio said.
      Part of the foundation of the building forms a counterSchemata Architects’ founder Jo Nagasaka told Dezeen that the aim was also for people to wander into the space as they walk along the river.

      “The main idea was to incorporate the greenway along the river into the facility,” he said. “The design is based on the expectation that people will find themselves entering into the shop as they walk along.”
      Schemata Architects designed the cafe and sweet shop with large overhanging roofsLarge roofs extend out from the buildings of the 326-square-metre Funamachi Base, creating sheltered spaces where visitors can sit and enjoy the cafe’s bean buns.
      “The distance between each building is taken and a roof is placed between them to create a semi-outdoor space, but to avoid clear boundaries between the inside and outside, the idea was to use the same materials inside and out,” Nagasaka said.
      The same materials were used for the interior and exterior of Funamachi BaseMade from concrete and Douglas fir wood, Funamachi Base also features visible PVC pipes, a design choice that Schemata Architects made to underline the interaction between the interior and the exterior.
      “The same materials were used inside and outside: calcium silicate board and putty coating, PVC pipes generally used for outdoor gutters were sandblasted and placed across the inside and outside of the building, and the eaves extended to create a space where the inside and outside are interchangeable,” the studio said.

      Schemata Architects transforms 145-year-old townhouse into Le Labo flagship

      The foundation of the building was designed to bulge out, forming a counter from which to sell the sweets.
      It was also used to create a bench for visitors to rest on and a well, as water is needed to create Japanese sweets.
      A light-brown pattern decorates the facadesThe facades of the buildings have a light-brown pattern, adding to their industrial feel.
      “White walls would make it look like a stylised Japanese building, so we dared to deviate from that,” Nagasaka explained. “We have chosen this so that the construction process is reduced and the finish is unusual.”
      Schemata Architects recently designed the Komaeyu bathhouse in Tokyo, which was shortlisted for a Dezeen Award 2024 in the interiors category.
      The photography is by Yurika Kono.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Jo Nagasaka / Schemata ArchitectsProject team: Yuko YamashitaConstruction: GikenCollaboration: Monochrome (solar panel integrated roof), Fukushima Galilei (kitchen)

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      Studio Collective completes The Hotel at The Moore in Miami Design District

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      Design firm Studio Collective has created a boutique hotel inside The Moore building in Miami Design District, completing the landmark’s transformation into a multi-functional hospitality venue.

      Recently opened, The Hotel at The Moore occupies the building’s fourth floor and includes 13 suites designed by Studio Collective to feel like private residences.
      “The hotel suites are a new addition to the fourth floor, but were designed to fit the building’s original footprint within its historic interior,” said the hotel team.
      Each room inside The Hotel at The Moore has a unique design conceptThe rooms range from 700 to 1,000 square feet (65 to 93 square metres) and each is designed differently to create a unique experience for guests.
      One suite is decorated primarily in light neutral tones, where textured plaster walls allow walnut bed frames and furniture to stand out.

      Another features wood-panelled walls and woven textured ceilings, complemented by details like rattan lampshades, while colour is introduced through rugs and throw pillows.
      One suite features wood-panelled walls and a woven ceilingThe rooms include art and custom furnishings by makers such as Dallas-based furniture brand Mous and sustainably-focused Brazilian company Sossego.
      The Moore building’s central atrium features a sculptural installation by architect Zaha Hadid, titled Elastika, which was added in 2005 when the space was used as an events venue.
      Colour is subtly introduced through rugs and other detailsThe artwork has lent its name to a public restaurant that now occupies the space, where diners can enjoy a menu by chef Joe Anthony beneath the sinuous white forms that span across and up the four-level void.
      Interiors for the Elastika restaurant were created collaboratively by operators Woodhouse and design firm Icrave, and include velvet banquette seating and an 18-cover bar.

      Esme Hotel in Miami draws on the “bohemian grandeur” of its past

      Constructed in 1921 to as a showroom for Moore and Sons furniture, the neoclassical-style building now also accommodates a private members club, which has its own restaurant and dining room.
      Members also have access to a karaoke room, hidden cocktail lounges, game rooms, a library, various dining rooms with distinct themed decor, a photo booth, sun room and a late-night speakeasy called The Rabbit Hole.
      The Moore building’s lobby is outfitted with black and white flooring, and contrasting colourful furnitureThe Club spaces are populated with furniture and accessories in muted red, blue and green hues, and many have rounded shapes that echo the architectural details through the building.
      Lower levels have terracotta floor tiles, which are swapped for wooden planks on the upper storeys.
      The building’s Elastika restaurant sits within an atrium housing a Zaha Hadid-designed sculpture of the same nameBolder colours are used in the lobby area, where black and white marble flooring contrasts the bold tones of paintings and furniture.
      A grand black and honey-toned stone staircase connects the ground level with the open balconies that overlook the atrium and Elastika.
      Many of the furniture pieces in the building’s private members club are rounded to echo the architectural featuresMiami Design District continues to add distinctive architecture and retail interiors as it develops, from a sculptural block of buildings planned by Kengo Kuma to a Louis Vuitton store wrapped in a diamond-patterned facade completed by Marcel Wanders.
      Boutiques that have recently opened in the area include a Nodaleto shoe store, a Diesel store, and locations for PatBo and Cult Gaia.
      The photography is by Kris Tamburello.

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      Eight London house extensions that maximise space and light

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      For our latest lookbook we’ve gathered eight London homes that have traded in unused garden space for contemporary and light-filled living areas.

      Rear extensions are a popular option for transforming the pokey side returns and galley kitchens of Victorian and Edwardian housing, abundant in many areas of London.
      The eight examples below showcase how extensions can bring contemporary flair to a more traditional home and optimise living space for entertaining, relaxing and cooking.
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring soothing cabin interiors, kitchens with sleek metal details and living rooms with warming fireplaces.
      Photo by Jim StephensonVictorian terrace house, UK, by Oliver Leech Architects

      Oliver Leech Architects retained this late 19th-century building’s character while opening up the “disconnected and dark” interior of this Victorian terrace house in Herne Hill.
      Prioritising natural light, the studio expanded the ground floor to include an open living, dining and kitchen space, meeting the existing building with a large skylight and window seat.
      Find out more about Victorian terrace house ›
      Photo by Jae W V KimSunny Side Up, UK, by THISS Studio
      THISS Studio approached this extension in east London as though it were a piece of furniture rather than a conventional structure.
      “We wanted to think of the new addition at a domestic scale and more like a piece of furniture that you can sit within and enjoy, rather than a typical extension of the existing spaces,” THISS Studio told Dezeen.
      The practice reconfigured the dark interior of this interwar house which features timber joinery and a light-filled dining space.
      Find out more about Sunny Side Up ›
      Photo by Helen LeechMoroccan inspired house, UK, by Merrett Houmøller Architects and All & Nxthing
      The client’s extensive travels to Morocco and the Mediterranean inspired this rear extension in London.
      Merrett Houmøller Architects and interior designer All & Nxthing renovated and extended this Victorian home with clay-plaster walls, exposed brickwork and tile floors to evoke the feeling of a Moroccan home.
      Find out more about Moroccan inspired house ›
      Photo by Ståle EriksenHeath House, UK, by Proctor & Shaw
      A dilapidated conservatory and awkwardly sized rooms were swapped for a light, wood-filled interior at this Grade II-listed villa in Highgate, north London.
      Architecture studio Proctor & Shaw prioritised natural light and a natural material palette of wood and white brick for the above and below-ground extension in north London.
      Find out more about Heath House ›
      Photo by Tim CrockerMagpie House , UK, by DGN Studio
      DGN Studio extended the kitchen of this east London terrace house by three metres to create “a more cohesive and seamless sequence for living, dining and cooking”.
      The extension is illuminated by skylights between wooden beams and features a concrete window seat overlooking the garden with the client’s furniture and fittings incorporated throughout.
      Find out more about Stoke Newington house ›
      Photo by Jim StephensonVictorian maisonette, UK, by Nimtim Architects 
      Douglas fir timber screens, exposed brickwork and rough plaster characterise this extension of a Victorian maisonette in Camberwell, south-east London.
      Nimtim Architects responded to a brief calling for greater connectivity and openness in the home to create a “place of reflection and sanctuary from the city”.
      Find out more about Victorian maisonette ›
      Photo by Lorenzo Zandri and Christian BraileyEdwardian home, UK, by Architecture for London 
      Architecture for London transformed this Edwardian home in Muswell Hill, which had been untouched for 40 years, using only sustainably minded interventions and natural materials.
      Created for the studio’s founder Ben Ridley, the house was renovated and extended to create a minimal interior characterised by oak wood, stone and lime plaster.
      Find out more about Edwardian home ›
      Photo courtesy of AOCForest House, UK, by AOC
      Gillian Lambert and Geoff Shearcroft of architecture firm AOC wanted to add personality and a connection to nearby Epping Forest when designing the front extension of their Victorian house in north London.
      A single-storey garage was removed to create a series of interconnected, playful living spaces featuring tactile materials, exposed block work and bold colours.
      Find out more about Forest House ›
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring characterful kitchens with sleek metal details, soothing cabin interiors and living rooms with warming fireplaces.  

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      Trauma of Ukraine war “was crucial for me as an architect” says Tallinn Architecture Biennale curator Anhelina Starkova

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      Anhelina L Starkova explains how her experience of living through the Ukraine war has shaped her approach to curating the 2024 Tallinn Architecture Biennale in this interview.

      Starkova, who was chief curator of this year’s biennale, is from Kharkiv in north-east Ukraine – a city that has suffered heavy bombardment since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, coming close to being captured early on in the conflict.
      According to the curator, she experienced something close to an epiphany not long after the war began, while taking refuge in the bunker in her house as bombs fell around it
      Anhelina L Starkova is chief curator of this year’s Tallinn Architecture Biennale. Photo by Helen Shets”I remember that planes were flying around, and the building was shaking, and it was really the moment when you understand that it’s probably your last minutes,” she recalled.
      “I was standing with this wall, and I was thinking that this wall was a continuation of my body – this is me,” she continued.

      “It was, for an architect, [a] very interesting feeling. Because I finished university, I had my 10 years in practice, and I still was not really immersed in architecture.”
      “You always think it intellectually, but when I was in this bunker I started [to] think, ‘oh my god, this is the only one thing that can really save me – this wall is the only one thing that I need’. It was a very existential experience.”
      Titled “Resources for a Future”, the exhibition explores innovative ways of using materials in architectureLater, while spending some time in Bucharest, visiting a shopping mall made her reconsider the value of architecture.
      “There’s all this commercial architecture, and I feel such a disgust,” she told Dezeen. “Like it’s a cartoon, it’s not real. I felt it not with my brain but with all my body: we live in a world of complete illusion.”
      In other words, Starkova said, the traumatic experience of the war has given her a new sense of clarity about what really matters in architecture.
      “When the war started in the Ukraine, that was crucial for me as an architect,” she explained. “I didn’t expect that it would influence me so much personally.”
      “Everything kind of started to be very clear: many, many things that we add to architecture – these addictive visions – are extra things, and they are not making buildings in a total way.”
      “If I would like to continue [in architecture] then I would need to isolate myself from all this gallery of thinking, which I can’t stand anymore.”

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      Instead, Starkova, who as well as running her own studio lectures at the University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons and Kharkiv School of Architecture, has become more interested in the bare essentials of architecture.
      “Really great architecture, it’s about durability factors, the functionality, but also giving people a kind of stability and safety,” she said. “In the end, it’s mostly about our immersion.”
      Starkova has applied this back-to-basics philosophy to her curation of the seventh Tallinn Architecture Biennale, which opened in the Estonian capital last week.
      Pihlmann Architects presented a proposition for changing the function of a building by changing parts of its floorplates into rampsAt the centre of this year’s biennale is an exhibition exploring the theme of Resources for a Future, hosted by the Estonian Centre for Architecture.
      Featuring 14 exhibits from studios including Gus Wüstemann Architects, KAMP Arhitektid, Déchelette Architecture and Pihlmann Architects, it examines different approaches to using local resources for creating new buildings and prolonging the life of existing ones.
      “I had conversations with each architect that you have to look at the basics and the fundamental, real feel of what you are doing,” Starkova said.
      “And even asked each architect, when you’re talking about resources, what really fosters you to do architecture, what supports you? And each installation showed the answers.”
      For instance, Denmark-based Pihlmann Architects created a large model of a stripped-back building shell where part of each floor had been cut out and sloped downwards to form a ramp up from the floor below.
      “It was really about this idea of purification,” said Starkova. “You see an old building and you just do not add anything. You see the nature of the building and you’re trying to heal it or to reformulate its elements.”
      Déchelette Architecture’s exhibit showcased rammed-earth pillars using material dug locally to TallinnThat, she said, is a lesson she learned while working on repairs to damaged buildings in Kharkiv during the war.
      “You’re trying to compose it again, to heal it, and then it gets another conceptual environment – another feeling, and it’s already architecture.”
      “Architecture is the constant process of thinking of your relation to materials, different elements, and assemblage of them in a holistic way.”
      At the centre of the exhibition are a series of pillars erected by rammed-earth specialist Emmanuelle Déchelette of Paris studio Déchelette Architecture, with the material dug locally to Tallinn.
      “It’s about doing a lot with nothing, that complete purification,” said Starkova. “To avoid this ideological or even social architecture.”

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      The participating architects were given a deliberately open brief, because Starkova felt the exhibition was “not about dogmas”. As a result, the exhibits are highly varied in form and approach.
      They range from a huge chunk of a restored traditional Estonian log house by Apex Arhitektuuribüroo (pictured top) to an abstract proposal for a public space created only by digging by Romanian architect Laura Cristea and Swiss architect Raphael Zuber.
      In another, Estonian studio KAMP Arhitektid presented research on the surprising breadth of potential building materials that can be found on one specific 15 square-kilometre piece of land in the country.
      “Each project was a surprise because I didn’t know them personally before the exhibition, none of them,” said Starkova.
      A research project by KAMP Arhitektid demonstrated potential building materials found on a single plot of landThat effect was only heightened by the fact that Starkova managed the whole project remotely, only arriving in Tallinn a few days before the exhibition opened.
      She began with a list of more than 500 architects whose work she admires, eventually selecting those who she felt “were the most radical in their thinking”.
      The Ukraine war is referenced in one installation, produced by Elina Liiva and Helena Manna in collaboration with PAKK, composed of a series of images of apartment living rooms printed on translucent fabric and placed in a line, with chunk of concrete lying nearby that corresponds with a hole cut into the scene.
      But beyond that, Starkova deliberately avoided making the conflict a direct focus of the exhibition, believing that it may detract from a sense of immediacy.
      “During the war, it’s not a place for architecture – mostly a place for thinking,” she said.
      “And yes, architects are trying to think, with the support of international world architecture, what could be done [after the war]. But I just wanted to stay honest and not be futuristic.”
      The only exhibit to directly reference the Ukraine war looked at approaches to changing buildings damaged in the conflictOverall, Starkova hopes the exhibition will enable visitors “to learn from architects that architecture is simple to do, and that the formulas are quite simple”.
      As well as leading curation of the exhibition, Starkova was also head judge for the biennale’s customary pavilion commission competition, this time for a bus shelter at Tallinn’s Balti Jaam transit hub.
      Out of more than 80 entries, the winner was No Time to Waste by Belgian architecture duo Brasebin Terrisse.
      The central concept of the pavilion, which is still completing construction, was that the design would be led by whatever construction off-cut materials could be sourced in Tallinn.
      “This was the only project who said that we have an open end – we do not propose [a] form of the installation, we prepare that we come to Tallinn, we test a local situation and after we will develop a form given when doing the work on it,” said Starkova.
      A competition to design a pavilion for the biennale was won by Brasebin Terrisse’s project No Time to Waste (front)”So the rendering of the project itself is just a library of technology that they would like to use, but the form must be made later during the working process,” she added. “It followed the course of the biennale.”
      With the biennale’s opening-week programme complete, Starkova has now returned to Kharkiv, where many buildings lie in ruins in a city that was previously celebrated for its rich and varied architectural heritage.
      “It’s all so difficult,” she reflected. “Kharkiv is changing, it is in constant change.”
      “It’s absolutely impossible to live, because you live in that mode of always existential crisis – on the edge, always. You go to bed, you don’t know you’re going to wake up. You go outside, you don’t know you’re coming back.”
      “Maybe it brings some beauty, because we actually live in this way, all of us – right on the edge.”
      The photography is by Tõnu Tunnel unless stated otherwise.
      Resources For A Future will run until 1 December 2024 at the Museum of Estonian Architecture, Ahtri tn 2, 10151 Tallinn, Estonia. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world. 

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      Dezeen and SketchUp are launching Design Workshops with Uchronia and Tola Ojuolape

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      Dezeen is teaming up with SketchUp to launch the Design Workshops video series in which leading designers describe how they created especially commissioned interior environments.

      The series will launch in two weeks with the first of two videos hosted by Uchronia founder Julien Sebban, who will explain how he used SketchUp’s design software to create a fantasy bar interior.
      Across two videos, Sebban will describe his practice’s approach to hospitality design projects, and demonstrate how SketchUp’s software allowed him to create and visualise a 70s-themed space characterised by colourful gradients, curves and soft edges.
      Uchronia designed a 1970s themed bar for the Design Workshops video seriesSebban’s first workshop will focus on form, while the second will explore the theme of texture.
      Sebban’s Paris-based practice Uchronia, known for its bold application of shape, colour and reflective surfaces, was named emerging interior designer of the year at last year’s Dezeen Awards.

      Julien Sebban is an interior designer and the founder of UchroniaFollowing Sebban’s workshops, the series will continue with a two-part video workshop delivered by London-based interior designer Tola Ojuolape.
      Ojuolape, who is the founder of eponymous design practice Tola Ojuolape Studio, has designed a library in SketchUp especially for this project.
      She will deliver a two-part video workshop on the design, which is a proposal for Clerkenwell in London, an area known for design and makers.
      Ojuolape was shortlisted at last year’s Dezeen Awards for emerging interior designer of the year. Her practice is characterised by its use of natural materials and an emphasis on narrative.
      Interior designer Tola Ojuolape will also contribute to the Design Workshops seriesSketchUp is 3D design software used to model architectural and interior design projects, product designs, civil and mechanical engineering and more. It is owned by construction technology company Trimble.
      Dezeen collaborated with the brand last year on Climate Salon, a podcast series exploring the role that architects and designers can play in tackling climate change.
      Partnership content
      This video series was produced by Dezeen in partnership with SketchUp. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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      Gustaf Westman hosts Brooklyn pop-up modeled on “museum experience”

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      Swedish designer Gustaf Westman displayed existing and new objects including a colourful “puzzle” shelf during a three-day pop-up event in New York City.

      Named Gustaf Westman in New York, the show was located in an industrial storefront in Williamsburg and displayed the designer’s colourful objects and furniture on a meandering pink and orange pathway.
      Swedish designer Gustaf Westman held a New York City pop-up that gave nod to a museum experienceSmall descriptions were placed on the ground in front of the objects, as “a nod to a museum experience”, while printed pamphlets similar to museum guides were available to visitors.
      “The decision was very organic,” Westman told Dezeen. “When we came here, it was like a gallery space. It’s also a bit ironic, because I’ve only been doing this for four years and I’m not really ready to do a museum.”
      A brightly coloured pathway weaved through the space, which was divided by Westman’s screens and a larger display wall towards the front.

      Gustaf Westman and Swedish Stockings transform nylon tights into “terrazzo-like” tables

      Among the new objects displayed was Puzzle Shelf, a shelving unit made of interlocking, stackable rectangular forms that conclude in puzzle-shaped feet. Westman noted that the shelf is 3D-printed and processed to resemble the material qualities of his other ceramic and metal objects.
      “I have an obsession with trying to test all different materials and trying to make them look the same,” said Westman. “Even if I work with wood or ceramics or glass, I want to keep the same finish, so [3D printing] is the next step.”
      The shelf was made in a host of bright colours such as red, pink, cream, and dark blue.
      Existing and new objects from the designer were displayedThe remaining space was filled with pedestals and shelving outfitted with existing glassware and objects such as a spiralling book stand and flower-shaped mirrors, along with furniture such as a coffee table that pinches wine glasses in place.
      The designer previously used nylon tights to create “terrazzo-like” tables and displayed his objects during Day Two from Stockholm Design Week 2024.
      The photography is by Kate Fatseas unless otherwise stated
      Gustaf Westman in New York was on show at 25 Fillmore Place, Brooklyn from 10-13 October. For more events, exhibitions and talks in architecture and design visit the Dezeen Events Guide.

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      Bindloss Dawes converts 18th-century pub into light-filled Michelin-starred restaurant

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      Architecture studio Bindloss Dawes has renovated an 18th-century pub in Somerset, England, to create an “intimate” new home for the Osip farm-to-table restaurant.

      Helmed by chef Merlin Labron-Johnson, Michelin-starred Osip was located on Bruton High Street in Somerset until August of this year, when it was transferred to a nearby Georgian pub built in 1730.
      Bindloss Dawes has created a new home for OsipLocal architecture office Bindloss Dawes stripped the three-storey building back to its original shell by removing a series of recent additions. The studio also stabilised the pub’s existing stone walls and relayed its slate roofs.
      Rewashed in white lime, the textured facade is characterised by limestone door and window frames, which complement the surrounding planted garden that supports Osip’s seasonal menu.
      An open theatre kitchen features floor-to-ceiling glazingOn the interior, Bindloss Dawes sought to illuminate the ground-floor restaurant with natural light while retaining a sense of the pub’s former character.

      Low, beamed ceilings feature across the seating area, which overlooks an open kitchen framed by floor-to-ceiling glazing and crowned by a geometric skylight.
      Earthenware flooring was laid across the seating area”The original Osip had a road-facing window and a small serving hatch, giving diners a limited view of the kitchen,” studio co-founder Oliver Bindloss told Dezeen.
      “In the new restaurant, we have opened up new windows and the garden to create wide views of the surrounding landscape.”
      The kitchen includes chunky bar stoolsBindloss Dawes chose a palette of natural materials when dressing the interior spaces.
      A deep red, locally sourced earthenware floor was laid across the seating area in a nod to the pub’s original charred crimson clinker floors. The breathable material was also selected for its acoustically absorbent properties.
      Artist Max Bainbridge hand-carved a knobbly timber barArtist Max Bainbridge of Somerset studio Forest + Found hand-carved a knobbly central drinks bar out of local timber gathered from the neighbouring woods, while abstract artworks add subtle colour to the otherwise white-washed walls.
      The kitchen is defined by a mixture of stainless steel, timber accents and chunky bar stools upholstered in Somerset textiles. Dimmable lighting was fitted throughout the restaurant to enhance a setting where diners can “focus on the food”, according to Bindloss.

      William Floyd Maclean designs modular timber furniture that “considers a wider picture”

      “The interior design is intimate, filled with natural light and open to the landscape,” said the studio co-founder.
      “Osip’s materials and makers represent the same things as its food – locally sourced and representing the best of Somerset and the south west,” he added.
      Osip includes a garden for growing seasonal produceBindloss Dawes also restored the building’s first and second floors, which extend into the original roof rafters and house four double guestrooms with en-suite bathrooms, furnished to reflect the downstairs restaurant.
      The studio opened its Bruton practice in 2018 and has completed Somerset projects ranging from the renovation of a Grade II-listed house in Pitcombe with a contemporary timber extension to a car barn for a classic Porsche collector.
      The photography is by Dave Watts.

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      Women’s contribution to mid-century modern design is “not challenged as much now” says Pat Kirkham

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      Many female designers from the mid-century modern movement are more celebrated now than when they were producing work, says design historian Pat Kirkham in this interview for our mid-century modern series.

      US designer Ray Eames, French designer Charlotte Perriand and architect Lina Bo Bardi are some of the women recognised today for their contributions to the mid-century modern movement, which spanned the mid-1940s to early 1970s.
      Kirkham, a design history professor at Kingston University who has authored books on designers Charles and Ray Eames and 20th-century female designers in the US, argued that a revived interest in mid-century modernism has brought some of these women’s names to the forefront of design again.
      “There are still some architects who don’t see them of value”
      She explained that although they gained commercial success with their designs in the decades after world war two, many of the designers faced adversity in the industry.

      “There were many routes these women took to becoming what they were, and they didn’t come without sacrifices and frustrations – I think they’re very empowering,” Kirkham told Dezeen.
      “The possibility that these women were really good and did some important work is not challenged as much now, but there are still some architects who don’t see them of value, and equally, seeing areas that they hold as women’s work, like interior design, as not as valid as other areas of design.”
      Ray Eames designed furniture with her husband, Charles. Photo courtesy of the Eames OfficeAccording to Kirkham, it was common for women not to be credited for their designs in the mid-twentieth century. These included Ray Eames, who is known for the work she created with her husband Charles Eames.
      The Eameses were prominent figures in the mid-century design movement. They met in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where Ray had joined as an abstract painter looking to expand her artistic practice and Charles was an architect on an industrial design fellowship.
      Ray and Charles married in 1941 and established the Eames Office in Los Angeles. Together, they became influential designers in architecture, furniture, graphic design and film, but Ray was often given less credit than her husband.
      Herman Miller furniture sold under Charles Eames’s name
      They designed numerous pieces for furniture brand Herman Miller, including the iconic Eames Lounge Chair in 1956.
      “Undoubtedly, a lot of stuff went out in Charles’s name,” said Kirkham, “Herman Miller furniture was sold for donkey’s years as ‘by Charles Eames’.”
      “Now, Ray seems to almost be as much a household name as Charles Eames used to be.”
      Kirkham also said that Ray, who she interviewed before the designer passed away in 1988, had talents outside of her partnership with Charles. These were often overlooked, but are now being discovered posthumously as mid-century modernism and the Eameses’ work continues to inspire.

      Mid-century modern design “embraced a more human aesthetic while remaining aggressively forward-looking”

      “You get a very different picture if you focus in from the woman’s angle,” said Kirkham. “Just by researching Ray, there is a ton of stuff nobody had bothered with.”
      “Ray’s influence was really strong with interiors – the importance of her to their aesthetic was really crucial.”
      “He was quite an arty type of architect, but he was also hugely interested in the technology,” Kirkham continued. “Ray often said that she felt that one of the things wrong with American education when she was young was women weren’t taught technology – she felt it would have been handy for her.”
      Charlotte Perriand worked with Le Corbusier for 10 years. Photo by Jacques Martin/AChP courtesy of Scheidegger & SpiessPerriand is another designer whose designs have been miscredited. Between 1927 and 1937, she collaborated with architects Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret on furniture designs, including the LC2 Grand Confort chair and Chaise Lounge, but as a woman, she was not given as much recognition as her male counterparts.
      After 10 years working for Le Corbusier, Perriand “stepped out of his shadow into a successful career of her own,” The New York Times said.
      Perriand continued designing into the mid-century and developed a particular interest in creating shelving. One of her most notable designs is the Bibliothèques modular storage system, produced by French architect Jean Prouvé’s eponymous atelier.
      Perriand furniture allegedly falsely credited as co-designed with Prouvé
      She created further iterations of the shelving under the title Nuage, which were produced by Galerie Steph Simon until 1970.
      Perriand’s family later became embroiled in a lengthy legal dispute over the authorship of Nuage, which they allege had been falsely credited in part to Prouvé after his death.
      Although her collaborations with male designers had, in some cases, left her overshadowed and miscredited, Kirkham believes her ties to Le Corbusier mean Perriand is now more easily discovered than other female mid-century modern designers.
      “In the European modern movement, you often have designers not getting due credit,” said Kirkham.
      “With Charlotte Perriand’s designs for Corbusier in the 1930s, she got reclaimed from history because she was working with a really famous architect.”
      Lina Bo Bardi spent most of her career in Brazil. Photo courtesy of Instituto BardiExtra attention should be focused towards discovering more about the female designers who worked in Central and South America, said Kirkham.
      She explained that people’s interest in modernism often leads them to the designs of prolific European and North American men from the movement, but this could be directed elsewhere.
      “The interest in modernism is still often what drives most of the interest in the male designers, so my sense is that there is still a tonne of women to be discovered,” she said.
      “The work from Central and South America needs much more interest, but the modernism interest comes first.”

      Lina Bo Bardi wins Venice Architecture Biennale’s Special Golden Lion award

      Bo Bardi is one of the better-known South American designers of the mid-century. Born in Italy, she moved to Brazil with her husband after a trip to Rio de Janeiro in 1946.
      Based in São Paolo, Bo Bardi became a Brazilian citizen in 1951. In the same year, she completed her first built architecture project with her own home, Glass House, and designed the iconic Bardi’s Bowl Chair.
      Kirkham named Cuban-born Clara Porset as another designer of particular interest. Porset spent time studying in Paris and the US and although she returned to Cuba, she was forced to leave the country in 1935 because of her involvement in the Cuban general strike.
      Clara Porset was the only woman to work with Mexico’s most established modernist architects. Photo by Archivo Clara Porset Dumas via Wikimedia CommonsFinding refuge in Mexico, the country’s culture and vernacular furniture influenced many of her designs, including the wood and woven wicker Butaque chair.
      The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) described Porset as a “design trailblazer” and claimed she was the only woman known to have worked with the most high-profile Mexican modernist architects, including Luis Barragán, Max Cetto, Juan Sordo Madaleno and Mario Pani.
      “New names are being uncovered every day”
      Kirkham believes it is important to correct the errors of the past that allowed some women’s mid-century modern designs to be overlooked.
      With widespread interest in mid-century modernism today, she explained that some people are revisiting old documents and discovering more female designers from the movement.
      “One of the interesting things is that mid-century modern was not popular in the 1980s,” said Kirkham. “There is a huge revival of interest at the moment.”
      “It’s an important legacy, and new names are being uncovered every day,” she continued. “They’re very empowering, and I think they’re very empowering among young design students.”
      The top photo of Kirkham is by Casey Kelbaugh courtesy of the Bard Graduate Center.
      Illustration by Jack BedfordMid-century modern
      This article is part of Dezeen’s mid-century modern design series, which looks at the enduring presence of mid-century modern design, profiles its most iconic architects and designers, and explores how the style is developing in the 21st century.
      This series was created in partnership with Made – a UK furniture retailer that aims to bring aspirational design at affordable prices, with a goal to make every home as original as the people inside it. Elevate the everyday with collections that are made to last, available to shop now at made.com.

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