Interviews

Subterms

    Latest story

    225 Shares99 Views

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

    by

    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.”

    Eight highlights from Dundee Design Festival 2024

    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.”

    Cobe set to transform “treasure box” steelworks site into Tallinn neighbourhood

    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. 

    Read more: More

    More stories

    • 188 Shares189 Views

      in Rooms

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

      by

      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.

      Read more: More

    • 175 Shares109 Views

      in Rooms

      “I don’t think we should put celebrity designers on a pedestal” says Bobby Berk

      by

      Queer Eye star Bobby Berk recently quit the hit show to run his interior design studio full-time. In this exclusive interview, he discusses how his TV experiences have shaped his approach.

      Having announced in November 2023 that he would be leaving his role as the Netflix reality series’ interior design expert after eight seasons, Berk has since leaned full-time into work through his eponymous studio – as well as being a Dezeen Awards judge.
      “I think the show really did make me more confident in using colour”
      “Designing for TV is very different from designing for a ‘real world’ project,” Berk told Dezeen. “The timeline is so much quicker [in TV], and you’re also creating a space that has to work in person and translate on screen.”
      Berk described how his work on Queer Eye – which sees the five expert presenters make positive changes to an ordinary person’s lifestyle – required him to adapt his usual design style in order to satisfy the needs of the show’s makeover subjects.

      “Design-wise, my work on Queer Eye often featured much more colour and pattern than I typically use,” he explained. “I wanted to reflect the personalities and desires of the inhabitants, and that often meant going bold.”
      Berk appeared in eight seasons of Netflix’s hit reality show Queer EyeIn contrast, Berk describes his personal style as a “mix of organic, modern, classic, Spanish, and minimal with a mostly neutral colour palette” that leans towards working with natural materials and geometric shapes.
      He cites his LA-based studio, in a recently renovated 1970s Spanish-style home, as the project that most accurately reflects his own style.
      Rooms filled with a palette dominated by black, white, marble and wood detailing house the designer’s headquarters and various home products.
      Nevertheless, he reports that Queer Eye has opened him up to experimenting with bolder tones and patterns.
      “I believe we should let the work speak for itself”
      “I’ve brought in hits of colour in a handful of projects since then, and I think the show really did make me more confident in using colour – especially in wallpaper, unique paint treatments, and murals,” he said.
      Berk argues that his style isn’t definable in a single term or phrase – but acknowledges that certain aspects of his taste were cemented by moving from New York to California, after a childhood spent in the Bible Belt.
      “It really all developed over time, there wasn’t an exact moment my style all came together,” he said. “Rather, I feel all my past experiences and influences blended into a more discernible look and feel when I moved to California.”
      The interior designer says working on TV pushed him to be more confident in experimenting with colourLos Angeles continues to have the greatest influence on his work, ahead of the various locations Queer Eye filmed – including Atlanta, Philadelphia, New Orleans and a spin-off season in Japan – or Portugal, where the designer now lives part-time.
      “Of all the places I’ve lived and travelled, Los Angeles is the city that continues to drive my creativity and help me to see through fresh eyes,” he said.
      “It’s a very inspiring place on many different levels, and there is such a legacy of incredible architecture and design.”

      Five key projects by interior designer and Dezeen Awards judge Bobby Berk

      Design as a tool for improving well-being has remained at the centre of Berk’s work before, during and after Queer Eye, and he explored the theme further in his book Right at Home: How Good Design Is Good For The Mind, published last year.
      “From the very beginning of my career, I’ve known the power that design can have to change your life,” he said.
      “That will always be the throughline of my work, to use design as not just a way to make a beautiful room, but as an invaluable tool for improving wellness and mental health.”
      Berk’s LA office exemplifies his “organic” and “minimal” styleWhile he admits being in the spotlight can be both “challenging” and “flattering”, Berk is keen for his design work to be judged on its own merits.
      “Being cast on a television show has obviously changed my life in incredible ways and afforded me so many amazing opportunities,” he said. “Part of that also means being a public figure and having people be interested in more than just your design work.”
      “Sometimes it’s challenging, sometimes it’s flattering, but it’s what I signed up for,” he added. “I also don’t think we should put celebrity designers on a pedestal or value their work above other working designers who may not have had the same exposure.”
      “I believe we should let the work speak for itself, and give space to anyone that is talented and creating compelling design.”
      The photography is by Sara Ligorria Tramp.
      Dezeen In DepthIf you enjoy reading Dezeen’s interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

      Read more: More

    • 175 Shares129 Views

      in Rooms

      “I think my work stands out because I follow my gut” says Kelly Wearstler

      by

      Kelly Wearstler is often hailed as contemporary interior design’s most recognisable name. In this interview, she tells Dezeen about crafting her textured and eclectic style.

      American interior designer Wearstler has been dressing rooms since her mid-twenties, rising to become one of the discipline’s most significant names.
      “I’m obsessed with nuance,” she told Dezeen. “I view design as boundless and undefined, but if I had to choose a single word to describe my approach it would be ‘mixology’.”
      Top: Kelly Wearstler designed the interiors for the Austin Proper hotel. Photo by Ingalls Photography. Above: she started her eponymous studio in 1995. Photo by Joyce ParkHigh-end interior design has been dominated by minimalism and sleekness in recent years, but Wearstler’s projects are known for their eclectic grandeur.
      Her studio is responsible for the interiors at a slew of luxury hotels, including four locations across North America for the Proper Hotel Group.

      For example, she created an Austin branch with a sculptural oak staircase that doubles as a ziggurat of plinths for individual ceramic pots. Meanwhile, The Downtown LA Proper features 136 unique types of vintage or custom-made tile.
      “Luxury is more of a feeling than a specific quality”
      “To me, luxury is more of a feeling than a specific, tangible quality,” Wearstler said. “It’s all about texture and sensation, but also storytelling and considered curation.”
      “The most luxurious spaces bring together unique objects that each have their own history, essence and character, and encourage an elegant conversation between them,” she added.
      “A technique I always like to use when pursuing a sense of luxury is mixing vintage and antique items with more contemporary pieces. The history and character that come with vintage furniture help to create a ‘luxurious’ experience.”
      This approach is also reflected in Wearstler’s residential and retail projects, which she tends to fill with unlikely combinations of pieces – a habit she traces back to visiting antique shows and auctions with her mother, who was an antique dealer, as a young girl.
      Wearstler also created her own Malibu holiday home. Photo by Ingalls PhotographyAmong these projects is the designer’s own 1950s beachfront cottage in Malibu, California, furnished with objects chosen to be “hand-crafted, rustic and raw”.
      Wearstler also replaced the home’s existing shag carpet with seagrass as a nod to the surrounding coastal setting.
      “My design philosophy is rooted in a firm commitment to juxtaposition and contrast, whether this be in relation to textures and colourways, materials or even eras in time,” said Wearstler.
      “For me, contrast is what brings a sense of soul to a space. It creates interest, lets the space take on a life of its own and imbues it with a feeling of genuine authenticity.”
      “AI has exponentially enriched our creative process”
      Wearstler says her design philosophy was partly shaped by working in the film industry early on in her career.
      Before forming her eponymous studio in California in 1995, she worked in various roles including set decoration and art direction – an experience she claims shaped her appreciation of the “emotion and atmosphere” of a space.
      “My time working as a set designer definitely impacted my approach to interior design,” Wearstler told Dezeen.
      “Working on film sets taught me the importance of dramatic intent, and that’s remained a key element of my work throughout my career.”

      Kelly Wearstler designs Ulla Johnson store to capture the “spirit of southern California”

      Despite her penchant for vintage pieces, Wearstler stressed the importance of rising to contemporary challenges – not least artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on design.
      Wearstler’s studio has been using generative AI – which she calls an “ally” – since 2021, citing image-generating platforms including DALL-E and Midjourney as tools to generate ideas.
      The same year, the designer created a virtual garage, playfully imagined as a home for basketball player LeBron James’s electric Hummer, decked out with renderings of Wearstler-designed furniture including the studio’s Echo bench and Monolith side table.
      “Many people see the introduction of AI as a challenge, but I think of it as one of the greatest tools for growth,” said Wearstler. “AI has exponentially enriched our creative process.”
      “As designers, it’s our responsibility to push the boundaries of our craft and to create spaces that elegantly and artistically reflect the world around us,” she added. “AI is a vital tool in allowing us to do this in new and extraordinary ways.”
      Wearstler’s projects include a virtual garage for LeBron JamesWearstler has published six books and with 2.2 million Instagram followers, she is often considered interior design’s most recognisable name.
      “I think my work stands out because I follow my gut,” she reflected. “Whether I’m designing a hotel, a private residence or a product, I give its emotional and physical attributes equal consideration.”
      “Most importantly, I strive to bring my clients and customers joy through my designs. I’m not sure if that’s what makes me the ‘most recognisable name’, but if you design with the person who will be living in a space, or with a light fixture or chair, in mind, your work will resonate.”
      Dezeen In DepthIf you enjoy reading Dezeen’s interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

      Read more: More

    • 150 Shares99 Views

      in Rooms

      Children in social housing “sleeping on a blanket on a concrete floor”

      by

      Increasing numbers of people in social housing are living in inhospitable conditions because they are unable to afford even basic furniture and flooring, Dezeen reports as part of our Social Housing Revival series.

      In the UK, social-rented homes are usually handed over to new residents in a sparse state – lacking basic elements of decoration and furnishings, as well as essential appliances.
      As the cost of living continues to rise and the availability of crisis-support services diminishes, a growing number of people are unable to afford to furnish these homes, meaning they are sometimes forced to live in a harsh environment for months at a time.
      Top: before – many UK social-housing residents live with furniture poverty. Above: after – London charity Furnishing Futures makes new interiors for women who have fled domestic abuse”For the families who we work with, the point that is most distressing is the void condition – the homes are given and [social landlords] don’t bother painting the walls, and there’s absolutely no flooring down,” said Emily Wheeler, founder and CEO of Furnishing Futures.
      “Most people over time can manage to get some furniture together that’s gifted to them from the local church or friends or family or whatever, but it costs thousands and thousands of pounds to put flooring down, even in a one-bedroom flat.”

      London charity Furnishing Futures was recently established to address the issue among women fleeing domestic abuse, creating interiors to a high standard using furniture donated from brands.
      Emily Wheeler founded Furnishing Futures after realising that the poor condition of social housing was driving women back to abusive partners. Photo by Penny WincerDomestic-abuse survivors and people leaving care or who were previously homeless are particularly at risk of furniture poverty since they are less likely to have items to bring with them.
      Wheeler said Furnishing Futures is seeing increasing demand for its services as more people come under financial pressure.
      “Initially we were only working with women who were in receipt of benefits or experiencing severe poverty or destitution,” explained Wheeler.
      “But now we’re working with families who are using the food bank but the woman is a midwife, or she’s a teaching assistant, or she is a teacher, and that is new.”
      The charity increasingly encounters families living in destitute conditionsSometimes the conditions the charity witnesses are shocking, Wheeler told Dezeen.
      “People are experiencing real hardship,” she said. “We’ve frequently come across people who have no food, no clothes, no shoes for their children.”
      “The kids are sleeping on a blanket on a concrete floor – there’s nothing in the flat whatsoever,” she continued. “And those people might even be working as care assistants, or teaching assistants. So it’s really, really difficult at the moment for people.”
      Furnishing Futures seeks to deliver interiors that “look like show homes”. Photo by Michael BranthwaiteAccording to the campaigning charity End Furniture Poverty, more than six million people in the UK lack access to essential furniture, furnishings and appliances – including 26 per cent of those living in social housing.
      Only two per cent of social-rented homes in the UK are let as furnished or partly furnished, the charity’s research has found.
      Wheeler is a trained interior designer who formerly worked in child safeguarding.
      The charity decorated and furnished 36 homes in 2023. Photo by Michael BranthwaiteShe was prompted to set up Furnishing Futures after discovering that many women in social housing who had left dangerous homes were driven back to their abuser by poor living conditions.
      “When women were placed in new housing after having escaped really high-risk situations, they sometimes felt that they had no choice but to return because they couldn’t look after their children in those conditions – there’d be no fridge, no cooker, no washing machine, no bed, no curtains on the windows,” she explained.
      “People are expected to go to those places at a time of great trauma and distress, and recover, but those places are often not conducive to that because of the design and the environment.”
      Wheeler said the interiors industry could be doing more to have a bigger social impact. Penny WincerThe charity overhauled 36 homes in 2023, helping 99 women and children. It takes a design-led approach with an emphasis on finishing interiors to a high standard.
      “We professionally design them and they look like beautiful homes – they look like show homes when they’re finished,” Wheeler said.
      “And the reason we do that is because it’s really important that the women feel that they have a beautiful home and they feel safe there, that they feel for the first time that someone really cares about them,” she added.
      “It also supports the healing and the recovery journey for those women.”

      Social housing means “I can breathe again” say residents

      To help ensure quality, the charity only works with new or as-new furniture. It works with brands to source items that would otherwise be sent to landfill – usually press samples or items used at trade shows, in showrooms or on shoots.
      Donating partners include Soho Home, BoConcept, Romo Fabrics and House of Hackney.
      Wheeler is keen for Furnishing Futures to expand beyond London but the charity is currently held back by limited warehouse capacity and funding.
      “If we had more money and more space we could help more people, it’s as simple as that, really,” she said.
      The charity relies on donations from furniture brandsThe charity continues to seek donations from brands, particularly for bedroom furniture and pieces for children.
      As well as calling for social-housing providers to let their properties in a better state, Wheeler believes the design industry could be doing more to help people facing furniture poverty.
      “I do think that where the industry could catch up a little bit is working with organisations like ours,” she said.
      For example, charities are unable to take furniture lacking a fire tag – which tend to be removed – so imprinting this information onto the items themselves would make more usable.
      The charity is often in need of items for children’s bedrooms. Photo by Michael BranthwaiteIn addition, donating excess items as an alternative to sample sales could be a way to reduce waste with much greater social impact, she suggests.
      “There’s probably millions of people across the country living without basic items and yet there’s massive overproduction, but the waste isn’t necessarily coming to people who actually need it,” Wheeler said.
      “There are things that the industry could be doing that will create a huge social impact very easily.”
      The photography is courtesy of Furnishing Futures unless otherwise stated.
      Illustration by Jack BedfordSocial Housing Revival
      This article is part of Dezeen’s Social Housing Revival series exploring the new wave of quality social housing being built around the world, and asking whether a return to social house-building at scale can help solve affordability issues and homelessness in our major cities.

      Read more: More

    • 75 Shares129 Views

      in Rooms

      “Emerging talents require nurture” says Jan Hendzel

      by

      More can be done to support emerging designers in London says Jan Hendzel, who curated an exhibition focused on emerging talent at this year’s London Design Festival.

      Jan Hendzel Studio curated the 11:11 exhibition, which paired 11 established designers with 11 emerging designers, to draw attention to interesting south London designers.
      The 11:11 exhibition (top) was curated by Jan Hendzel (above)”Our emphasis was on creating a platform to support the grassroots and emerging creators of south London,” Hendzel told Dezeen.
      “By forging new relationships and connecting the established design industry with up-and-coming makers, 11:11 aims to create a more inclusive and diverse future in design.”
      Bowater drawers by Jan Hendzel Studio with Column I by Alison Crowther and Argentus by Dominic McHenry and Untitled Ceramic tiles by Carl Koch on wallFor the exhibition, 11 established designers – A Rum Fellow, Alison Crowther, Charlotte Kingsnorth, Daniel Schofield, Grain & Knot, Jan Hendzel Studio, Martino Gamper, Novocastrian, Sedilia, Simone Brewster, Raw Edges – each displayed their work alongside an emerging designer selected from an open call.

      The emerging designers showcased were Alice Adler, Carl Koch, Dominic McHenry, Jacob Marks, Mariangel Talamas Leal, Moss, Silje Loa, Söder Studio, Unu Sohn, William Waterhouse and Woojin Joo.
      The Wrong Tree Picture Frame and Mirror by Charlotte Kingsnorth behind Thoroughly Odd by Woojin JooHendzel believes that events like LDF can create space for emerging talents to showcase their work, but often focuses on university-educated designers.
      “The importance of offering a platform to emerging talent, especially that of grassroots and local level creatives, is to offer empowerment and to demonstrate that design is a profession that can offer meaningful and exciting careers,” he said.
      Lupita Lounge Chair by Mariangel Talamas Leal alongside Periscope Rug by A Rum Fellow and BUTW Floor Lamp by Charlotte Kingsnorth”When the design festival rolls into town, yes, I believe we do have platforms for emerging creatives; however, one big issue is that design shows can be cost-prohibitive and often focus on university-educated people, which by default puts the profession at the more elitist end of things,” he continued.
      “If you don’t have cash or a degree then finding a platform to celebrate your ideas can be difficult.”
      A Martino Gamper chair alongside with F2 Dice and F2 Line by Moss on plinth by Jan Hendzel Studio.He believes that LDF and others can do more to support emerging talents, and suggests that providing free space for exhibitions and installations would be a way of doing this.
      “Emerging talents require nurture, they require safe places to practise their respective disciplines and they require opportunities for growth through connections and collaborations with established practitioners to elevate their craft,” he explained.
      “A great opportunity would be to find and offer more free spaces to emerging groups, alongside bursaries and support packages in how to promote your event and develop your respective craft within a design district.”
      Sculptural wall hangings by Grain & Knot with Pina Lamps by Jacob MarksThe exhibition, which is taking place at Staffordshire St gallery in Peckham, includes numerous pieces of furniture with chairs designed by Gamper and Leal, as well as drawers by Jan Hendzel Studio and Crowther.
      Sedilia’s contribution was a Roll Top Chair and Roll Top Ottoman.

      IKEA and H&M’s design incubator unveils products by 22 emerging London studios

      The exhibition also include mirrors designed by Jan Hendzel Studio, Novocastrian and Kingsnorth, and clothing by Soeder.
      Also on display were lights by Schofield and by Marks.
      The Port Free Mirror by Novocastrian alongside the Roll Top Chair and Roll Top Ottoman by Sedilia with Song 1 Awe-to Series by William Waterhouse hanging from ceiling and Draped in Wood by Silje Loa on a plinthAnother exhibition showcasing the work of emerging designers at LDF was Drop02, which contained work from IKEA and H&M’s Atelier100 design incubator.
      Other projects currently on display as part of the festival include a prototype modular furniture system by Zaha Hadid Design and furniture by Andu Masebo crafted from a scrapped car.
      Smock 01 by Addison Soeder behind Landmark Coffee Table and Side Table with Ray Lamp by Daniel SchofieldThe photography is by BJ Deakin Photography.
      The 11:11 exhibition takes place 16-24 September at the Staffordshire St gallery as part of London Design Festival 2023. See our London Design Festival 2023 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

      Read more: More

    • 175 Shares139 Views

      in Rooms

      Transparency “one of the biggest beasts that we battle” says Apple retail sustainability lead

      by

      Apple is pushing for carbon transparency in the supply chain as it aims to reduce the impact of its stores, claims the tech company’s retail sustainability lead Rebecca Cully in this interview.

      Created as the latest “evolution of the Apple Store”, Apple’s recently opened location in Battersea includes several material innovations aimed at reducing the shop’s carbon impact. These were sourced with transparency in mind, according to Cully.
      “That transparency piece is one of the biggest beasts that we battle on a regular basis,” she told Dezeen.
      “I think that’s a big reason why finding the right partners, not only in the design space but the construction space and the entire value chain, is just so critical.”
      Apple seeking partners “absolutely committed to transparency”

      Cully explained that Apple is seeking a commitment to transparency from all its construction partners as it aims to meet the company’s wider commitment of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, which will mean not only reducing the impact of its stores, but also its products.
      “There’s so many brilliant products out there in the world, and so many incredible companies that are doing some really interesting things, but as far as innovation is concerned, if we can’t identify a partner who’s absolutely committed to transparency it’s a no-go,” said Cully.
      The Battersea Apple Store incorporated new floor materials and roof bafflesApple is working on building record-keeping of impact and transparency into all its contracts. However, Cully acknowledged that evaluating the full of the impact of all components and materials in its stores is still not possible.
      “Evaluating products by manufacturer for carbon is still very early,” she said. “And so contractually obligating our supply chain manufacturers to disclose that information as a result of award is certainly something that we are focused on right now.”
      “The entire store? I think that’s a little ambitious right now, based on where industry is at,” she continued. “Frankly, we have not gotten to the point where we’re able to control that entire supply chain.”
      “You have to prioritise. For instance, the the nuts and bolts that go into the store are not as significant as our avenues and our ceilings.”
      “Industry is pretty slow to move”
      The recently opened Battersea store, along with the reopened Tysons Corner store in the USA, are the first to use an updated set of fixtures and fittings that will be rolled out across other stores.
      These include a timber framework for its walls and room dividers, flooring bound with a bio-polymer and acoustic baffles made from biogenic material.
      “These are very visible, very large components within the store that we knew if we focused on in the original design intent were going to result in a superior outcome from a carbon perspective,” said Cully.
      The store is the latest “evolution” of Apple’s retail designs.Apple’s current strategy with its stores is to focus on the most impactful, often physically largest areas that have traditionally been the most carbon-intensive.
      “So it’s really important that we are giving clear instructions to the folks that are sourcing for us to achieve particular outcomes,” said Cully.
      “That being said, the industry is pretty slow to move in a lot of these cases. So I would say that we are targeting certain elements within the store that are traditionally very high-carbon and very resource-stressed.”
      “We are targeting those manufacturers to make sure that they understand there is an obligation to deliver on transparency that is absolutely accurate.”

      Apple reveals Battersea Power Station store as latest “evolution of the Apple Store”

      Cully also highlighted that one major way that the carbon impact was reduced at its Battersea store was the decision to locate within the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station.
      Along with the Apple Store within the former turbine hall, the technology company has placed its UK offices within the former power station.
      “Partnering on a redevelopment project of a brownfield site in and of itself has a tremendous value from the standpoint of carbon emissions avoided as a result of the existing structure,” said Cully.
      “Certainly the partnership that we have with the landlord, was highly strategic in terms of positioning Apple to locate and operate as environmentally considerate as we possibly could.”
      Apple “certainly interested in pushing industry”
      According to Cully, Apple wants to push the construction industry to be more sustainable and noted that the company’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, Lisa Jackson, has said she “intends to create a playbook that other organisations can follow”.
      “We are certainly interested in pushing industry,” said Cully. “And because of scale, we have an ability to do that and hopefully pave the way to make it a little bit easier for other companies to follow suit – or at least start normalising conversations with manufacturers and industries so that you know, these things become a little bit easier or a little bit more cost effective for other folks to follow suit.”
      “There are a few organisations around the world, I think, that have the ability to invest in this space the way we have, because the market just doesn’t exist.”
      In the past Apple stores have been focused on aesthetics, but Cully believes that the refocus on sustainability and accessibility means the shops align closer with the brand’s values.
      “This evolution of the store is so much more intrinsically linked to our values – it really is approaching the epitome of Apple’s values realised through the retail store space,” said Cully.
      “We have evolved the store from kind of looking like a product, to now fully representing our values in every way that we can, within the context of the built environment itself.”
      However, store fit-outs are far from being Apple’s biggest challenge in the race for carbon neutrality. Currently, 65 per cent of the company’s emissions from its products so this thinking will also need to be replicated in it production supply chains.
      The first Apple Store opened in 2001 and there are now more than 500 around the world. Dezeen recently rounded up 10 of the latest to open.
      The photography is courtesy of Apple.
      Dezeen In Depth
      If you enjoy reading Dezeen’s interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

      Read more: More

    • 150 Shares139 Views

      in Rooms

      “Not having architectural education makes you find different solutions” says Charlotte Taylor

      by

      Visualisation artist Charlotte Taylor discusses how she is translating her digital design work into built architecture projects for the first time in this interview.

      Taylor is the founder of 3D-design studio Maison de Sable, where she collaborates with other 3D designers on renderings of imaginary, fantastical interiors and buildings.
      Recently Taylor’s designs have become less fantasy-driven and closer to real spaces, with some of them set to get built as physical architecture projects.
      “In the long term, I’d like to move more into architecture,” Taylor told Dezeen.
      Taylor is venturing into built architecture projects for the first time. Image by Thea Caroline Sneve Løvstad and top image by Nicholas PréaudHaving not pursued formal architecture training, the designer believes there should be more non-traditional pathways to designing buildings.

      “I didn’t train in architecture at all,” she said. “I think it would be great if there were more entries into architecture because it’s such a hard career to get into.”
      “I’d like to think that there’s hope that you can get into building physical spaces through unconventional means.”
      Casa Atibaia is a fictional home in Brazil that is due to be built. Image by Nicholas PréaudOne of Taylor’s designs due to be built is Casa Atibaia, a house that was originally conceived as an imaginary project in collaboration with designer Nicholas Préaud.
      The duo imagined the house situated by the Atibaia River in São Paulo, creating a digital model of part of the riverbank based on information from Google Maps.
      The interior of Casa Atibaia features on the front cover of Taylor’s bookFrom this, Taylor and Préaud designed a concrete and glass fantasy home raised on huge boulders, the interior of which features on the front cover of Taylor’s first book, Design Dreams, published last month.
      Although the project was not originally intended to be built, Taylor is now in the process of finding a plot of land suitable to actualise the design.
      The fantasy home is raised from the floor on boulders. Image by Nicholas PréaudTaylor has also collaborated with architectural designer Andrew Trotter on a house in Utah, which forms part of Trotter’s wider design for a hotel and retreat centre named Paréa.
      The house, which is currently under construction, was designed to blend into the desert landscape with large spans of glazing and walls finished in lime plaster.
      Taylor also worked on a house in Utah that is currently under construction. Image by Klaudia AdamiakAccording to Taylor her fictional designs have received a mixed response from architects, with some saying that “in the real world, it doesn’t work like that”.
      But for Taylor, not having an architecture degree and exploring spatial design digitally without being constrained by lighting, noise, safety and budget requirements allows for more creativity.
      The house in Utah was designed to blend into the landscape. Image by Klaudia Adamiak”It acts as a sort of creative playground for me in which I can test out all these concepts and see how they work visually,” said Taylor.
      “Then bringing that into the physical world and working with engineers and architects, it becomes pared down.”
      “I think not having architectural education makes you find different solutions or ideas to bring to the real world that wouldn’t have come from just designing an actual space,” she added.
      According to Taylor, digital design allows for more creativity than designing for the real world. Image by Klaudia AdamiakThe designer mentioned that her design icon Carlo Scarpa also never became a licenced architect.
      “My icon, Carlo Scarpa, never had his full qualification, so there are little stories that inspire me, but the general thinking is quite rigid – this particular entry is a bit frowned upon from what I’ve experienced,” said Taylor.

      Casa Atibaia designed to be “ideal modernist jungle home”

      Having learned most of her design skills from experimenting with digital design and collaborating with other designers, Taylor describes herself as “self-studious” and encourages other designers to create work that they feel best represents themselves.
      “Strive to build a portfolio that excites you and represents you the most,” Taylor said.
      “Through building a portfolio and working with 3D designers and architects was how I learnt – it’s very research-heavy.”
      She founded the 3D-design studio Maison de Sable. Image by Klaudia AdamiakTaylor’s Design Dreams book features 3D designs of buildings and interiors created by herself and other artists.
      The curation includes fantasy-like environments as well as renderings of interiors that appear like real, tangible spaces.
      “[The book] became a space in which to share my personal projects, the artists I work with and work I admire around the field of interiors and architecture,” said Taylor.
      Taylor recently published her first book. Image by Klaudia AdamiakAlthough most of the images are already widely shared online, by collating them all into one volume Taylor hopes readers will enjoy getting lost in the printed format.
      “The same way that the Instagram page acts where people go to get lost in the images, to have that in a physical format means you are able to spend more time in detail than you can on a phone screen,” she said.
      Design Dreams features work by Taylor and other digital designers”To take something digital that doesn’t exist in the physical world and bring it to print was quite important for me, to see it in that way,” the designer added.
      Although they work in the digital sphere, Taylor maintains that 3D-visual creators play a part in interior design trends.
      It collates digital designs into a physical format”The arts trends that happen in 3D gradually make their way into interior spaces, and it’s really interesting to see the Pinterest effect,” she said.
      “People love to collect images and make their ideal moodboard with them, and these spaces really play into that. People are constructing their own ideas and making architecture and interiors more accessible rather than something very professional.”
      In her own interior visual designs, Taylor includes elements from her actual home to make the spaces feel more relatable than traditional architecture renderings.
      The Design Dreams book includes fantasy interiors and ones that look like real spaces”It’s down to the construction of the images, they have this sort of lightning and familiarity, and we always put little props that will often be things from my home,” she said.
      “These little details make it lived-in and more relatable versus traditional architectural visualisation, which can be very sterile and not aesthetically relatable.”
      Taylor has also previously worked on various NFT projects, including a video artwork informed by an OMA-design sculpture and NFT capsules that contain digital images of fantasy architecture projects.
      The images are by Charlotte Taylor unless stated.
      Dezeen In Depth
      If you enjoy reading Dezeen’s interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

      Read more: More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Rooms

      “Architectural photography is dominated by empty, glossy, new buildings” says Jim Stephenson

      by

      Architectural photographer Jim Stephenson explains how The Architect Has Left The Building exhibition at RIBA aims to draw attention to how people use buildings, in this interview.

      Despite taking place at the Architecture Gallery at the Royal Institute of British Architects’ central London HQ, Stephenson told Dezeen that the exhibition is not focused on buildings.
      “The installation is about people watching,” he said. “Although it’s at the RIBA and in the architecture gallery, it’s not really about the buildings – they’re just the backdrop, they’re the stage set really.”
      “We wanted to create a meditative, large scale film piece that was all about how people use (and misuse) space once the architect’s work is done,” he continued.
      The Architect Has Left The Building is an exhibition at RIBAAs the exhibition’s title suggests, the exhibition focuses on how buildings are used after the architect’s work is finished.

      It aims to show buildings in use, in contrast to the majority of architectural photography that often portrays buildings empty, at their point of completion.
      “When I used to work in architecture practices, we used to design everything around people and context,” explained Stephenson. “It felt like everything was dictated by those two things and then when we would get projects photographed we’d ask the photographer to omit those two things.”
      “The buildings were empty objects – sculptures,” he continued. “It always jarred with me, so in our work we focus on people using space as much as possible.”
      The exhibition features the work of Jim Stephenson.The exhibition include numerous photos taken by Stephenson, along with an enclosed screening room, where a film created for the exhibition was played on a dual screen.
      “This film is all about the small interactions that occur in and around buildings – between individuals, groups of people and even between people and the buildings,” said Stephenson. “It’s all about the people!”

      Short film tells story behind school theatre by Jonathan Tuckey Design

      The film, which was created with artist Sofia Smith and has a soundtrack created by Simon James, contains numerous contemporary buildings from the past 15 years.
      Among the buildings featured are Tintagel Castle Bridge by William Matthews Architects, Tate St Ives extension by Jamie Fobert, Sands End Arts and Community Centre by Mae Architects and London Bridge Station by Grimshaw, which were all shortlisted for the Stirling Prize.
      The exhibition features a film screened on a dual screenThe film makes aims to makes people think about the connections between buildings and how people are connected to them.
      “Watching Sofia make visual links between buildings that I hadn’t previously considered to have much in common was fascinating,” explained Stephenson.
      “There’s a point in the film where we transition from Sands End Community Centre to Tintagel footbridge and it’s seamless – from a community centre in West London to a bridge over the sea in Cornwall!”
      “And at London Bridge train station, Simon recorded not just the ambient sound that everyone can hear, but he also recorded the inner guts of the building with contact mics, as well as the sound in the electromagnetic spectrum,” he continued. “All those sounds get layered up in the show and I can’t go through that station now without thinking about them.”
      It also features photos taken by Jim StephensonStephenson hopes that the film will demonstrate how people improve architectural spaces and how they are recorded.
      “The history of architectural photography is dominated by empty, glossy, new buildings, photographed before people have come in,” said Stephenson.
      “I think there was a fear amongst architects that people ‘mess up their building’ and photographing them empty somehow showed the architecture in a more pure and distilled way,” he continued.
      “I think that’s mad. If the people you designed the building for are ‘messing it up’ then maybe there’s something wrong with the building? I’m half joking, but I’ve never documented a space that wasn’t improved by people, or at the very least a sign of life.”
      One of the UK’s best-known architectural photographers, Stephenson co-founded film production studio Stephenson& with Smith. Recent projects photographed by Stephenson include a wood-lined community space in east London, a rammed-earth yoga studio to the gardens of Somerset hotel and a rolling bridge in London.
      Recent buildings captured on film by Stephenson& include a visitor centre at the UK’s largest sawmill and a school theatre by Jonathan Tuckey Design in London.
      The photography is by Agnese Sanvito, unless stated. The film is by Jim Stephenson and Sofia Smith with soundtrack by Simon James.
      The Architect Has Left The Building is at RIBA in London until 12 August 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

      Read more: More