This Store in Beijing Mixes Materials and Textures While Featuring Works by International Designers

From Michael Anastassiades to Patricia Urquiola, the designers featured in the Beijing outpost of Cabana are truly world-class. So when the store’s owner approached Kostas Chatzigiannis, architect and founder of KCA, they asked for an interior design that would complement the boutique’s objects. Chatzigiannis was up to the challenge. “We wanted to create a store where the displayed products and the clients’ experience meet in harmony,” he explains.

The architect accomplished this by mixing materials and textures throughout, often in unexpected ways. Most floors are polished concrete, but they yield to ceramic tiles and wood in certain locations. Walls are treated in a soft and grainy plaster, while more ceramic clads the sales counter. A large mirrored installation hosts four Spun chairs. Smaller displays are stainless steel, blue-and-white terrazzo, and aluminum.

The store was completed in several months, during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, the architect was stuck in Greece and movement was restricted in Beijing. This created significant challenges, but Chatzigiannis stayed focused during the process. “I find these ‘delays’ to benefit the project, as both client and designer have the chance to take a second look at the design, reconsider some of the initial ideas, fine-tune the details, and advance the design further,” he says.

Another challenge included the locations of fixed equipment in the store’s ceiling. The architect worked with a reduced ceiling height through “different ceiling treatments according to each display area and creating visual attraction points on the human height level.”

Located at the basement level of a department store, the boutique surprises clients and offers a unique visual experience. Part of that experience is the mirrored installation directly outside the store’s entrance, which contrasts with nearby stores that have more conventional window displays. “In order to invite the visitors to select their home decoration,” Chatzigiannis explains, “we first had to engage their senses.”

Family-Run Furniture Brand Orior Opens Global Flagship in SoHo

When Brian and Rosie McGuigan fled war-torn Northern Ireland for Copenhagen in the 1970’s, designing and building furniture was merely a pastime, the couple worked at a burger joint to pay the bills. But when they returned in 1979, they launched Orior, a family-run furnishings company (son Ciaran McGuigan is creative director) named after a street in Newry, their hometown. Today, Orior has opened a 2,500-square-foot global flagship in SoHo, with Connemara marble floor tiles at the entry and a quartet of oak-trimmed archways delineating zones. Vignettes feature funky pieces from the spring ’22 collection, like the walnut Brea side table, a whimsical riff on ’80’s-era waterbeds with rounded edges and a channeled-leather drawer front. Nearby, op art rugs by the McGuigans’ daughter, Katie Ann, juxtapose Corca, a retro side table with a tubular cast-bronze base and a translucent top, in Irish crystal, of course. oriorfurniture.com

Calico Wallpaper Cofounders Create a Furniture Line Inspired by Italy’s Mosaic Paths

The perches may look soft and inviting—and indeed they are. But Tassara, the debut furniture line by Rachel and Nick Cope of Red Hook–born now TriBeCa-based Calico Wallpaper for Pierre Frey, is inspired by hard tile, specifically, the mosaic paths found in the Italian village the collection was named after. The rough edges of stone tiles and pavers are translated into the asymmetric, organic shapes defining the couple’s sofa, armchair, cushioned bench, and oak coffee table. Hand-turned oak legs meet heavy linen canvas upholstery tinted in faded pastels. The Copes often channel mesmeric skies, galaxies, and sunsets in their soft-focus watercolor or marbled wallpapers, so it’s only fitting their furniture has the same gentle touch.

10 Questions With… Nifemi Marcus-Bello

Interior Design had a chat with Marcus-Bello about his career progression and release of the M2-Shelves, which are on exhibition at the Biennale International Design Saint-Étienne until August 22. 

Interior Design: Can you tell me more about the M2-shelves? What inspired them?

NMB: I currently have a new project, which are two-piece shelves: the D-shelf and the bespoke shelf and they are currently at the Tiwani gallery. The idea behind the shelves came from trying to design something that was sculptural and functional. I wanted to create a product that could stand on its own but be a functional piece as well. I really wanted the object in itself to be as obtrusive as possible so at the forefront of whatever space it occupies, it has a presence.

Currently, where I’m at as a designer, I have more questions than answers so anytime I’m approached to design an object, I tend to ask more questions. Some of the questions I was looking to ask were: What does old-age African design look like? What identity did it have? How can we sort of look at the past to create something substantial in the future? I think I looked into a lot of sculpture and figurines and objects that have the same shape-silhouette as the shelves, which is functional but at the same time would give a sculptural definition. I was looking for a way to translate these objects into a contemporary perspective. One of the main objects I drew inspiration from and looked at was the Ogbom 19th century artifact from the Igbo tribe, which is actually a wooden sculpture itself.

ID: During the production of these projects, how did you source for material and what did you work with?

NMB: I wanted to create something from a fusion of the old and the contemporary—all the materials were locally sourced. For my own design process, I tend to design around production capabilities and manufacturing capabilities that are available in Lagos. This tends to drive and dictate the final form and also the design direction. With most of the design I have done in the past, this is the approach I take. Even if I have inspiration, I can only be realistic with what materials are available and what can be made around me. So for these shelves, the metal parts were made by a generation manufacturer based in Ikeja and the wooden parts were made with a joinery company in Lagos as well. 

ID: How did you start your brand, the NMBello Studio?

NMB: My interest is in Industrial design. I studied industrial and product design at the University of Leeds. However, I designed medical devices and smart phones for a couple of years before I eventually worked with a few architectural firms designing furniture. I started the studio to feed the curiosity I had basically of creating objects and products that I believe could feed from production and manufacturing that was available across the continent. I also wanted to figure out what it meant to design in Africa in a contemporary way. I think I had a lot more questions than answers and I was hoping that my studio actually answers some of the questions that I had because I feel like I still have these questions.

ID: What do you think about the Nigerian designscape? Has there been growth since you started your career?

NMB: I think the Nigerian design industry is at a great place; it’s growing tremendously every year. There is raw talent everywhere you look in Nigeria when it comes to creativity, craft and even technology—so design isn’t at the backbone, it’s actually at the forefront. I feel like there is so much going on. In a couple of years, we will see what time like this has dictated and how people have created works in our society that would eventually be called masterpieces. 

ID: Shape and texture seem to be among the most important things to you as a designer, like the LM stool, can you tell me about that?

NMB: For me, again, I feel like one of the design approaches I take is that the available materials dictate the forms. I don’t go with predetermined or soon-to-get type of a form—the materials and manufacturing processes dictate the forms that eventually come out. 

ID: It seems like most of your designs have a historical perspective but with a modern touch. Do you intentionally make them that way?

NMB: Yes I do, I love the saying: you have to know where you come from to know where you are going to. I think it’s important to look back but also not to cling to it too much. It’s important to use and understand contemporary production and manufacturing to create products at that’s considerate to how we currently live and how we want to live.

ID: The LM stool was such a magnificent work of yours. Tell me about it?

NMB: The inspiration behind the LM stool is very tricky to put to words. I had quit my job at the time and I started my previous job, which was designing satforms for Tecno Mobile, and I started looking into what type of production and manufacturing capabilities were available across Lagos. While I was doing that, I kind of stumbled on a generation case manufacturer and I eventually visited their factory, looked at their production and manufacturing line and understood what the constraints and capabilities were. Once I had done that, I started designing around the production line and the manufacturing capabilities. I think the inspiration to go with the stool was that I wanted to create something really simple but also complex form-wise to push the constraints and open up their minds to the possibility of what they could use the production that they already have to do. I think that was the premise of how the LM stool was born.

ID: As a product designer working in Lagos, what has been your biggest challenge?

NMB: For me, I will say it would be the lack of the integration of design or interpolicy or decision making as a hope for Nigeria because I think what’s happening is that a lot of our people and even people in the government take design for granted. And I’m not just talking about product design— I’m talking about architecture, home planning, landscape design and others — I really feel it’s been taken for granted. And apart of the economic viability of these practices, I feel that one thing that people take for granted is the emotional side of these practices, how can design sort of help us live better and live longer, have a better day-to-day experience, improve day-to-day interactions within ourselves and also how do we help improve the mental states of our citizens with the spaces they occupy and interact with. So I see this as a challenge because for me, what I try to do is that I try to think of design holistically even if I’m designing a product, I try to look at the bigger picture. 

ID: Tell me about the Waf kiosk. What inspired the design?

NMB: The waf kiosk was designed for skateboarding brand, Waf. The idea was to design a modular installation that will be used during their activation across the city. The modular design is both modular in form and experience so that each activation is different from the last with the use and help of one Architectural system. The design direction was inspired by a series of events while exploring manufacturing techniques and materiality in West Africa.

ID: As a designer, what do you hope for your designs in the coming years?

NMB: Integration and understanding on what it means to be a designer in contemporary Africa.

Pasquale Apollonio, Riccardo Crenna and Simona Flacco Launch Furniture Brand, Vero

Meaning real in Italian, Vero is a name that signifies the values behind the brand-new furniture brand from Pasquale Apollonio, Riccardo Crenna, and Simona Flacco, who enlisted an up-and-coming cast of local and international designers for its debut collection. The pieces are titled with an equally matter-of-fact numerical system. There’s Fredrik Paulsen’s witty and wiggly iron-rod D1-FP-C 01 chair, spray-painted a bright lavender, the rolling green D1-a617-MR 01 magazine rack in lacquered MDF from a617, and the fluid D1-FE-M mirror in MDF lacquered oxide red by Federica Elmo. Those join Cara\Davide’s D1-CD-CT 01, a beveled table-cum-stool veneered in red oak, among other intriguing offerings.

These Sustainable and Sculptural Pieces Made Waves at Alcova in Milan

Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima launched Alcova in 2018 as a showcase of group exhibitions in overlooked locations of historical significance around Milan (think former military barracks, abandoned villas, and old factories). This year hosted two U.S. makers: Refractory, a new studio out of Chicago, proffers furniture evocative of tectonic forces and erosion, including the Heretofore suspension light; Studio Sam Klemick, from Los Angeles, brought Wavy, a bench in deadstock canvas and salvaged Douglas Fir resembling a futon draped over wooden orbs. Duyi Han’s “Ordinance of the Subconscious Treatment” broaches mental health in a room installation modelled after a typical Chinese apartment, its silk upholstery embroidered with the chemical symbols for dopamine and serotonin. Among other highlights: sculptural stoneware lamps (Arche #3 and #4) from Italian ceramicist Elisa Uberti, Formstelle’s Zenso High lounger for Zeitraum, and A. Vetra’s A Gentle Gathering home textiles by Giulia Ferraris.

Tom Sachs Shares Insights into His First Furniture Exhibition in Two Decades

The Rebuild Foundation is an artist-led, community-based platform for art, cultural development, and neighborhood transformation in Chicago founded by international arts icon Theaster Gates. It operates a constellation of sites on the South Side of Chicago, one of which is the Stony Island Arts Bank. Built nearly a century ago in 1923, the meticulously restored, formerly abandoned bank serves as a creative space for the preservation, redeployment, and amplification of art and cultural artifacts on the South Side of Chicago. Rebuild Foundation and the nearby Anthony Gallery, which focuses on contemporary artists creating work that reflects African and Black American identity in Chicago’s Fulton River District, have joined forces for “Tom Sachs: Furniture.” Running through September 4, it’s the artist’s first gallery exhibition of his furniture in the United States in over 29 years. 

“Tom Sachs: Furniture” is an extension of Sachs’ sculpture practice. Designing and building furniture for 30 years, Sachs’ work is conspicuously handmade and shows evidence of each piece’s construction, removing it from the realm of miraculous conception that pervades industry. This transparency—the idea of showing marks—tells the story of the making. 

To mark its opening on July 8, Tom’s Sachs Rocket Factory held a physical rocket launch in Chicago at Kenwood Gardens—13 abandoned lots that the Rebuild Foundation and Theaster Gates Studio turned into community garden space on Chicago’s South Side. Interior Design caught up with the multimedia artist and designer on his first love of sitting—while standing up for what you believe in like Lebron James—literally just before liftoff.

Interior Design: Why a furniture exhibition now after 20 years?

Tom Sachs: I wanted to contribute to this community that Theaster’s created, and the most organic way was for me to share this new body of work of sculpture that I’ve been working on for the past 30 years and that’s production furniture. And for me, there’s sculpture in everything, including a chair.

ID: What’s your relationship with Chicago? I think of you as a New York guy.

TS: Community is everywhere. I live in and work in New York, but I’ve got friends and connections in Chicago for many years and, we now have an increasing sense of global telepathy and have friends all over the world. All of us do now. I love Chicago and it feels good to be working in a space like this with an artist who I respect and who’s doing good stuff for the community of the South Side. 

ID: What’s your relationship with Theaster Gates? How do you interact artistically?

TS: We both make things in ceramic, which is the most technically demanding transformation of the rawest materials that come literally out of the ground and are treated with intense amounts of heat until they become objects than can last longer than the best buildings ever made.

Theaster and I have a lot of shared values. We both believe that art has transformative power. The act of making has an almost shamanistic quality of transforming raw materials into objects of spiritual power through the magic act of work. 

“The values of accessibility are important in everything that the studio produces. It’s universal so I don’t care if it’s a sculpture or a painting or a chair or a movie or a cathedral or a spaceship. The values are all the same.”

ID: Is it the heat that makes ceramic technically demanding?

TS: It’s just an old tradition. The oldest known man-made things are Jōmon pottery from Japan. It’s like as old as cave paintings. And there’s also something very accessible about making ceramics. They convey liquid from the earth into our bodies and it’s a way for people to connect with each other and there’s a humility to this material where it’s the lowest things: Our toilets and restaurant cups are ceramic, but also some of our most sacred, precious, spiritual objects are ceramic. 

ID: How about furniture?

TS: Furniture is the same. The chair is a sculpture you can put your ass in. We all sit right? Not everyone has a painting, but everyone has a chair. It’s accessibility. The values of accessibility are important in everything that the studio produces. It’s universal so I don’t care if it’s a sculpture or a painting or a chair or a movie or a cathedral or a spaceship. The values are all the same.

It can be part of your everyday life. The values of transparency means that the furniture shows how it’s made. You can see the screws. You can see that the wood was painted before it was cut. The use of your life will show on the furniture. It will show the scuff. It’s not really meant to be perfect forever like an iPhone. It’s meant to last a lot longer. An iPhone might be the best-made thing ever, but it’s not heirloom because it can become obsolete, a piece of furniture might show the scars and mistakes of your life and that you exist.

ID: This sounds like the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, is that what you’re getting at?

TS: I think that traditional Japanese craft embodies this, but a lot of other places do too.

“We have to take advantage of our gifts to make the world a better place.”

ID: Besides the embrace of imperfection in Japanese design what are a couple examples of who else would influence you in this regard?

TS: An example of someone who does that is anyone who fixes their old thing to build a greater connection with it instead of buying a new thing.

Which could be your old car. Which could be sewing your favorite pair of jeans back together, not buying a pair of jeans with acid-washed holes premade in their knees but getting them new and wearing them for a decade and building a greater connection with them. I think those are the kinds of values that we’re trying to promote in this work.

ID: Last questions: Since you’re a Nike designer who’s your current favorite NBA player—and why?

TS: The king is LeBron. Because, yeah sure, he’s the best basketball player that ever lived but also because he has values that extend beyond his space in the game. I think it’s important that we recognize LeBron for his activism and how he uses his platform and his reputation as the greatest player of all time to be a role model for change. To help other players to lead. We have to take advantage of our gifts to make the world a better place. And so I think LeBron’s a hero. You got to stand up for stuff.

15 Brazilian Product Highlights from Salone del Mobile

At this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan, Brazilian designers seized an opportunity to shine. The country grew its presence at the fair, which bounced back from the smaller Supersalone last year, thanks to a big push on Brazilian furniture, culture, materials, and design from the Brazilian Association of the Furniture Industry (Abimóvel). “Design Transforma,” an exhibition presented through the Brazilian Furniture Project by Abimóvel and The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), showcased 12 Brazilian designers and 21 Brazilian furniture manufacturers at Milan’s Piazza Santo Stefano.

Brazilian designers also could be spotted at SaloneSatellite, Salone del Mobile’s celebration of rising stars under 35, and EuroCucina, the fair’s biennial segment on international products for the kitchen. 

Given the furniture fair’s 2022 spotlight on sustainability, many products revealed socially- and environmentally-conscious decisions. Furniture that easily transitions from indoor to out and vice-versa, also shined, reflecting the South American country’s climate. From chairs designed in tribute to indigenous Brazilian tribes and trees to furnishings incorporating native sustainable plantings and recycled Brazilian cardboard, here are 15 of our favorite finds. 

1.  Cocar by Estúdio Galho for Cabanna Moveis

In tribute to indigenous Brazilian tribes, the noble Cocar—or headdress—outdoor armchair by Estúdio Galho recreates nature’s elegant feather with metal frames strung with hand-woven nautical rope.

2. Typology of a Second Life by Rodrigo Silveira

A reminder that “wood comes from a living tree,” according to the designer the Tipologia de uma Segunda Vida (Typology of a Second Life) chair is composed of five planes of Itaúba wood. The chair was one of six works demonstrating the journey from raw timber plank to chair featured in an exhibit by the same name at Casa de Vidro, Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi’s iconic Mid-Century house in São Paulo.

3. Âmago by Domingos Tótora

Âmago, a series of vessels by Domingos Tótora, are created from cardboard boxes the artist collected from his home town in Brazil. Mixed with water to form a pulp, the cardboard is then hand-molded, dyed with natural pigments, and dried in the sun. The finished result is a nod to the wood the material originates from—hence the name which means ‘essence’ or ‘soul’ in Portuguese.

4. Lanati by Zon Design for Tramontina

A hand-woven rope adds backrest—and artisanal merit—to the Lanati (‘nature’ in Portuguese) armchair by Zon Design. Its resin-finished wood frame is a FSC-certified Brazilian hardwood, the resilient jatobá. The collection also includes a two-seater sofa with a wood backrest.

5. CIÇA by Tavinho Camerino

Traditional craftworkers from Brazil’s northeastern Alagoas region wove the seats of the aluminum and Taboa straw fiber CIÇA seating collection by Tavinho Camerino, featured in SaloneSatellite. Upon harvesting the native plant—and rapidly renewable sustainable material—from the banks of the river, women in the coastal city of Feliz Deserto then dry and braid them for baskets, bags, and other everyday household items.

6. Roots by Pedro Franco for A Lot of Brasil

Rock formations dating back some 600,000 years are visible in the three segments of the hand-cut Brazilian stone top of the Roots dining table by Pedro Franco, which rests on a base of braided wire. Inspired by the beauty of imperfection, celebrated in the Wabi Sabi philosophy, the table is part of the Kintsugi collection, which also includes chairs, sideboards, and rugs.

7. Smooth by Matteo Cibic for St. James

With the goal to create an “object floating in the air as if by magic,” Matteo Cibic conceived the decorative vase collection Smooth, transforming a transparent volume into colorful object. The silver and brass volumes rest on a thin layer of color applied to transparent resin.  

8. Shaker by Ricardo Bello Dias for Ornare

Each wood door in the FSC-certified wood Shaker kitchen by Ricardo Bello Dias has a wood frame—a design detail that highlights the rich grain of the natural material. The kitchen’s name salutes the distinctive spare furniture developed by the religious group founded in England in the 18th century.

9. Vaivem armchair by Zanocchi & Starke for Mestre Artesão

Woven abrasion-resistant synthetic fiber rope merges structure and form with the Vaivem armchair by Zanocchi & Starke. The hardy armchair—and the rest of the modular Vaivem outdoor collection—easily transitions from inside to out and is offered in several colors and materials.

10. Jeri by Giorgio Bonaguro for IBTW

Jeri, an upholstered aluminum sofa by Giorgio Bonaguro, captures the curve of a wave. It’s part of a modular outdoor collection—also including armchairs and tables—designed with a nod to the small beach-front Brazilian village of Jericoacoara and the geometry of modernist architecture.

11. Alfa by Studio Alfaia for Cabanna Móveis

Knitting and rope detail evoke maritime life in the aluminum frame of the Alfa outdoor furnishings collection by Studio Alfaia. Continuing the boating theme, Cumaru hardwood accents are treated with a matte varnish used in the nautical industry.

12. Laguna by Aciole Félix for Uultis

A union of metal, certified wood, fabric, and natural straw topped off by a generous cushion, the Laguna armchair by Aciole Félix is easily customized.

13. Painho by Rosenbaum & Fetiche for Tidelli

Dialing down on that exact hue can only raise the bar in the garden. The hand-woven polyester nautical rope and aluminum composing Painho, an outdoor club chair by Rosenbaum & Fetiche, is available in 49 colors.

14. Pipa by Mula Preta for Modalle Móveis

A nod to a famous white-sand beach next to city of Natal, the capital city of state of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil, outdoor armchair Pipa by Mula Preta draws from the silhouette of kites used by kite surfers for its curved back.

15. Mandacaru by Estevão Toledo for Breton

A species of tree-like Brazilian cactus common to the vegetation of the country’s northeast is behind the name and inspiration of the native hardwood Mandacaru table by Estevão Toledo. The table is offered in two sizes.

Paul Smith and De Padova Team Up to Create a New Furnishing Collection

Paul Smith is perhaps best known for perfecting the stripe, whether in men’s socks, women’s swimsuits, or wool rugs. But the knighted 76-year-old British fashion designer has recently paired with De Padova on something else: Everyday Life, a furniture collection that’s a departure from his signature bold lines. As the name implies, the palette for the seating and table line is more subtle, as witnessed in the armchair’s upholstery of brick-red hemp. Other materials are natural, too: stone tops for tables, oak, ash, and steel frames for chairs and sofas, their padding made of kapok-tree fiber and recycled feathers. Their contrast stitching and trouserlike leather pocket display Smith’s everlasting sartorial know-how.