Inside Singapore's design studios – Ensemble

Founded by interior architect Leslie Seow, Ensemble was built on the design principle of making life better. Since its launch in 2016, the group has developed a reputation for evocative and sensorial spaces with a clear design language.

Living Divani launches at Space Asia

One of Italy’s most respected brands, Living Divani is a family-owned furniture manufacturer established more than 50 years ago near Lake Como. Its unique style and design philosophy has shaped a collection defined by clean lines and relaxed elegance.

Heading outdoors with Naoto Fukasawa

The new Ayana outdoor collection by Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa for B&B Italia has arrived in time for summer, its simple timber detailing and soft stone surfaces underpinning the designer's love for the understated and getting back to nature.

Modular people

The iconic and good-mood inducing Camaleonda sofa reissued by B&B Italia this year half a century since it first hit the design stage in Milan in 1970, has once again struck a chord with design lovers globally. More Space caught up with Pin-Up magazine's Felix Burrichter and Oracle Fox's Amanda Shadforth to discuss its enduring appeal.

#futuretogether – Niccolò Mazzei

More Space caught up with Edra’s Niccolò Mazzei, to discuss the Italian design industry and the Salone del Mobile, the importance of making quality, timeless design that will be passed from one generation to the next, the furniture collections the team is currently working on, and how they are staying connected with designers Francesco Binfaré, Jacopo Foggini and the Campana brothers.

Lingua Franca

From a hand-drawn doodle to a Red Dot Award, designer, and reluctant engineer, Michael Anastassiades, discusses his celebrated N.200 lounge chair for Gebrüder Thonet Vienna.

Shaping emotion

In a master stroke, B&B Italia has re-issued the sculptural 1970 Camaleonda sofa by Mario Bellini and launched ‘The Couch’ a series of insightful design podcasts with Monocle’s David Plaisant that delves into the history of design. 

Shaping spaces and people is all part of a day’s work for designer Kian Liew

Meeting designer Kian Liew late last year, the Vice President and Head of Global ID and Technical Services at The Ascott is upbeat about his dream team of designers and a swathe of projects. Describing the most exciting part of his role as "people development”, the interior designers and engineers who join Liew's studio develop talent and tenacity across projects from Tokyo to Paris and Mumbai, and a design approach that is reshaping home and work life.

Garcia Cumini on Spokes and Foscarini

The studio of Garcia Cumini is based in Udine, a city in the northeastern corner of Italy that borders Austria and Slovenia and covers the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Like border regions across Europe, it is an area that is a blend of history and culture much like the studio that was established by Vicente Garcia Jiménez and Cinzia Cumini whose backgrounds and experiences are diverse and richly layered.

Philippe Starck's nod to Ray and Charles Eames

At Kartell this year, the company renowned for its deep research into the sculptural possibilities of plastic moved into a new cellulose-based polymer, taking another side-step with long-time collaborator Philippe Starck and the new Woody collection.

How architect Brad Swartz is transforming small spaces with big ideas

Architect Brad Swartz has received a prestigious Australian Interior Design Award (AIDA) in the category of Emerging Interior Design Practice and it’s no wonder, in the last two years his Sydney studio has won a string of accolades for inventive apartments that punch way beyond their size.

Piero Lissoni, leading by design in Milan

Italian architect, art director and designer, Piero Lissoni, has studios in Milan and New York and since the mid-1980s has worked on establishing a practice that weaves between the design of buildings, furniture, exhibitions, and graphics.

Glas Italia and the invisible visible

‘All the Invisible’ is a new film by art director Federico Pepe that celebrates the work of Glas Italia, a company that grew from the traditions of Italian glass making and for more than 40 years has explored the ancient craft through innovation and collaboration with designers like Patricia Urquiola, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and Piero Lissoni.

How the 1960s inspired Gaetano Pesce's famous UP Series

Launched in 1969, the same year as the moon landing, art director Enrico Trabacchi developed a sci-fi campaign for UP using typography, photography and graphics described as “somewhere between Barbarella and the Amazons from outer space”. 

The talented Pierce Widera

Design studio Pierce Widera is interior designer Amy Pierce and architect Nat Widera, who met while working together at Chris Connell Design. Since opening their own office they have completed a diversity of projects, from a teeny tiny 35 square metre café, to a co-working space and a multi-level hospitality project. more space caught up with the talented duo to talk design, friendship and the influences that shape their practice.

Rubber ducks, shoemaking and the story of Mart

The story behind Mart can be traced back to the 1960s when furniture giant B&B Italia emerged on the scene at a time of huge social, political and technological change. It was post-war Europe and for Piero Ambrogio Busnelli, the founder of B&B Italia, that meant looking for ideas in sometimes unexpected places. A chance encounter with a rubber duck manufacturer in the UK became the catalyst for a new way to make sofas as well as the company’s trailblazing philosophy for innovation through collaboration.

The Smatrik by Tokujin Yoshioka

At Kartell, design projects are based on craftsmanship but always involve innovative industrial processes often pushed to the limits. The new Matrix collection by designer/artist Tokujin Yoshioka does just that by exploring the possibilities of Kartell’s sophisticated production technology to create a chair that is light and strong and highly decorative.

The magical Jack by Michael Anastassiades

Describing his work as "minimal, utilitarian and almost mundane, yet full of unexpected vitality”, designer Michael Anastassiades develops furniture and lighting that strikes a balance between art and the practicalities of life.

Exploring 'Park Life' through the lights and objects of Lee Broom

This year British designer Lee Broom chose Sydney over Milan to unveil ‘Park Life’, a poetic journey of light and discovery inspired by the traditional garden parks of 18th century Europe and unfolding within the underground car park of Space Furniture’s flagship showroom.

The ephemeral beauty of Meshmatics

Dutch designer Rick Tegelaar is fascinated by materials, especially the ones he describes as ‘undervalued’. His award-winning Meshmatics Chandelier for Moooi takes its form from the simple beauty of chicken wire mesh, developed in a process he designed in his Arnhem studio in The Netherlands. Working with simple and often undervalued materials such as wire mesh and waste wood, Rick Tegelaar re-examines materials looking for new applications and forms, always looking for a new aesthetic and a quality that draws away from the familiar.

Foscarini. Laviani. Colour!

Be / Colour! is a limited-edition capsule collection by designer and art director Ferruccio Laviani that uses colour to reimagine some of Foscarini's most popular lamps, and in the process uncovers a new side to their personality.

The curious minds behind Edra

Not a design company that follows the status quo, more space talks with Edra’s Niccolò Mazzei who grew up in the family business amongst the designers and the history of craftsmanship and innovation in Tuscany, and where knowledge runs deep and curiosity begins each new collection.

A Starck tribute to the iconic Harry's Bar in Venice

In 2001, the Italian Ministry for Cultural Affairs declared Harry’s Bar in Venice a national landmark. A local for the past 30 years, French designer Philippe Starck has designed a chair in recognition of this most celebrated restaurant and the man who created it.

At Studio Arihiro Miyake, it all begins with a sketch...

Designer Arihiro Miyake is on the go. With a studio in Helsinki where he teaches at the University of Art and Design, any given week will find the designer in Amsterdam at Moooi, in Milan or Japan, visiting a growing list of projects and manufacturers. For designers who work with international clients, being nimble and close to all the action is crucial for lasting relationships, and it is this long-term thinking that is at the heart of Studio Arihiro Miyake.