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What’s new in the world of design: July 2017

In this month’s wrap up of the latest and greatest in design, we have a strong theme of colour. From the Pantone colour predictions for 2018, to an intensely colourful and unconventional supermarket, a stunning new agate-inspired tile range to an amazing sea of colourful orbs that change in hue when touched – installed at the National Gallery Singapore, we are spoilt for choice when it comes to colour this month. Read on.

Cologne’s colourful Solera supermarket.

Sevillian entrepreneur Pepa Bascón brought in creative consultancy Masquespacio to reimagine the way shoppers experience her Spanish produce supermarket in the heart of Cologne. Being a Spanish supermarket and in recognition of the growing Spanish gastronomie movement in Germany, Masquespacio used a distinctly Mediterranean flair throughout the interiors. This is certainly one of the most colourful and fun loving supermarkets we have ever come across…

Verdure

A progression from the 2017 Colour of the Year, Greenery, Verdure is a symbol of health and a reference to natural vegetal colours, plus berry-like purples and blues.

Resourceful

A combination of the contrasting sides of the colour wheel, this palette draws on blues and oranges and using what you already have to decorate.

Playful

Bright, quirky and fun, this colour palette includes hues such as ‘Lime Popsicle’, ‘Green Flash’ and ‘Minion Yellow’.

Discretion

Soft pink remains a key colour from 2016 and this year, and will be used for understated, pared-back interiors. This is all about desaturated tones and is the opposite of Playful.

Far-fetched

2017 is seeing a huge focus on earthy tones, particularly terracotta. This focus will continue into 2018 with earthy, rosy deep tones that ’embrace many difference cultures’.

Intricacy

Another key focus in design this year is metallics. They are brushed metals rather than the glossy, polished versions we have seen in years before. Think a sophisticated palette of black and gold.

Intensity

Using power for drama, power and strength is what this colour palette is all about. Turn up the deep reds, oranges and plums for a huge amount of depth and sophistication.

Tech-nique

Finally, a nice fit with the ‘Intricacy’ palette is this one: Tech-nique, with Eiseman citing ‘iridescent, pearlized and translucent’ finishes being the new go-to. This palette includes tones like bright turquoise, pink, and purple.

Top row: Vedure, Playful, Discretion, TECH-nique. Bottom row: Far-Fetched, Resourceful, Intricacy, Intensity.
Image from Pantone.

Teamlab’s ‘Homogenizing and Transforming World’

Combining futuristic aesthetics, strong use of colour and interactive technology, Teamlab has launched its fifth and largest iteration of its art installation: ‘Homogenizing and Transforming World‘. On show at the National Gallery Singapore until October 8th 2017, this installation allows visitors to surround themselves in a sea of colourful orbs that, when touched, change in colour, and in turn alter the hue of the entire room. Teamlab said this project is about humans being “intermediaries for information, and the instant the information spreads, the world unites — transforming it in an instant”.

Images from here.

Ellen Pompeo’s barn style Hamptons home

The Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo didn’t know the challenges she was in for when she purchased a Hamptons barn eight years ago.

In love with the history of the Sag Harbour  property – which was built by a female civil rights activist lawyer – Pompeo planned to build on the original footprint of the cabin, and create a larger cabin next to it.

However, at the same time, a home in Malibu that she had her eye on came onto the market. Despite the excitement in laying claim to this property, it meant the Sag Harbour project needed to be scaled back. Pompeo engaged an architect and designer to transform the existing cabin into a holiday home, leaving the extra build for a later date.

Yet, with their aesthetics not aligning, Pompeo parted ways with these two professionals and got started on tackling the decorating herself. Some time later, the actress and hobby decorator met Estee Stanley, of Hancock Design, and Brigette Romanek, and it was then that she felt ready to give the home the attention and work it deserved.

Pompeo wanted something very different to her other properties, which include her midcentury Malibu home, two Mediterranean homes and two modern homes. Using lots of timber, an eclectic mix of furniture and a black, white and mustard colour palette, the result is modern, young and fresh – and very different to the traditional Hamptons aesthetic. Take a look…

Images by Architectural Digest, from here.

L.A.’s very cool new Museum of Ice-Cream

Who said museums had to be serious? Los Angeles’ latest museum is far from it. The Museum of Ice Cream pays homage to all things sweet and features 10 rooms each with a unique dessert theme. Its mission? To “design environments that bring people together and provoke imagination”.

The first stop of the tour will see you in a room full of phones, where you’ll receive a call from none other than Seth Rogen to give you a run down of the experience ahead. From there, you’ll work room by room through the exhibit, where you’ll experience the ‘mint chocolate’ room, with its mint planters growing in cacao chip soil; a pool of sprinkles for you to dive into to; and the banana room with giant, scratchy, sensory walls to reveal that unmistakeable confectionary banana smell, to name a few.

With admission limited to 20 people per half-hour and tickets frequently selling out, you’ll need to be quick to experience this unconventional museum, and we’re certain it’s something you won’t forget in a hurry! Take a look…

Images by Jennifer Chong from here.

De Gournay and Ken Fulk’s Central Park zoo-inspired wallpaper

Known for wallpapers, fabrics and porcelain that are pieces of art themselves, de Gournay has now collaborated with San Francisco interior designer Ken Fulk to create a magnificent new wallpaper collection.

de Gournay said the range was “imagined as the interior of a 1960’s doyenne of Upper East Side polite society”, and features “a menagerie of animals from the city’s zoo abounding within her exquisite garden, having escaped their lesser lodgings in Central Park”.

The motif is based on 19th century European wall-coverings, which showcased elaborate narrative vistas. With this attention to detail and being painted by hand by de Gournay’s in house artisans, each panel can take up to 150 hours to complete.

So take a look below and see if you can spot the leopards, tigers and giraffes, zebras, elephants, flamingos, parrots, monkeys and even a polar bear!

This new motif will be a permanent addition to de Gournay’s design library and available to order from its showrooms worldwide. Please contact Bernadette if you are interested in finding out more.

Images from de Gournay.

Three of Europe’s most stylish ski resorts

It’s getting cold outside and that means the snow season is upon us. If you’re anything like us, you choose your accommodation based first and foremost on its interior. Holidays are a chance to escape your everyday and spend time living in your idea of paradise – whether that’s spending all day on the slopes, relaxing in front of the chalet’s fireplace or indulging in spa treatments. Take a look at our pick of Europe’s three most stylish ski resorts.

The Chedi Andermatt

• There are a huge 196 fireplaces in the hotel – including one in each room/suite.
• All rooms have a private balcony, overlooking the mountain
• The combination of ‘Alpine chic’ with an Asian twist creates a unique and luxe interior

• With a strong Nordic interior, stone and wood are key materials used in the build, softened by plenty of fur throws
• The “birch forest” in the spa, indoor-outdoor swimming pool, hammam and igloo.
• A tech-focus with interactive touch screens, iPhone/iPod docking stations and Mac Minis in rooms.

Pine Lodge

Location: Selva Gardena, the Italian Dolomites
Stand out features:

• A refined interior – which is no surprise as this chalet is owned by British interior designer Susanna Scott and her hotelier husband
• A private cinema, an infinity pool and aromatherapy shower
• ‘Full service’ with a private chef, host, butler and housekeeper.

Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company HQ

Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company is now five years old and in its third office space. Unlike the other two spaces, with the business more established, there was a dedicated budget to play with, and for the first time, a professional team behind the fit out.

Alba engaged the company who redecorated her home – Consort Design – to recreate the 83,000 square foot work space and transform it from a huge warehouse-aesthetic to an inviting, homely office space, along with showroom spaces for the many The Honest Company products.

The actress and businesswoman said that for her new office space, she wanted to create the same durability, warmth and coziness that she has in her home. Both spaces have a vintage vibe and a focus on functionality throughout.

Housing 450 employees, it was important that the Californian office inspired them creatively but also gave them focus on their work. This was created through different zones, lots of couches and even a roof top bar.

To create the sense of comfort in the space, Consort Design used consistent colours throughout, layered rugs onto floorboard, and used velvet lounge suites and plush cushions for softness.

Take a look…

Images by Mat Sanders from Consort here.

Celebrity Insider: Shay Mitchell’s Los Angeles Home

Canadian actress Shay Mitchell – known for her role in hit US TV series Pretty Little Liars – first saw Consort Design‘s work at the Honest Company HQ when visiting Jessica Alba (we take you inside, here). Following the firm on Instagram, Mitchell then went on to hire the team to redecorate her Spanish style L.A. home.

Mitchell wanted to create a ‘mature’ space to base herself in as she enters the next stage in her career, with injections of Moroccan and French flair. She worked with Consort Design to bring this vision to life.

There are several contrasting yet complementary spaces in the home, such as the dark and dramatic ‘den’ room with its custom made jade-green velvet lounge and ‘Down Pipe’ paint by Farrow and Ball versus the light and airy formal living room, complete with monochrome Moroccan tiles, Lawrence of LaBrea rug and the cocktail table from Lawson-Fenning.

Take a look…

Images by Tessa Neustadt from here.

Four amazing spas resorts from around the world

Tucked into the foothills of the Bavarian Alps, the Lanserhof Tegernsee was designed in line with a ‘high tech monastery’ for the body and mind. Its spa program is based on the famous LANS Med detox regime and it brings together medical treatments and luxurious comforts to deliver a world-class experience.  This includes an outdoor heated saltwater pool, evening classical concerts, yoga, tai chi and kinesis workouts and an 18-hole golf course.

Images: Lanserhof Tegernsee 

 2. Faena Hotel, Miami Beach

With filmmaker Baz Luhrmann and his Academy Award-winning designer wife Catherine Martin at the helm as the creative directors, this luxury hotel now has a show stopping spa. Full of theatrical touches, like the bold red, gold and tiger prints and the contemporary art, the ‘Tierra Santa Healing House spa’ features one of the largest hammams on the East Coast, along with age-old South American shaman-developed body-healing rituals.

Images from here.

3. One & Only Reethi Rah, Maldives

It doesn’t get much more relaxing than this: expansive relaxation lawns, manicured gardens, and spectacular ocean views. The One & Only Reethi Rah is positioned on a secluded island in the Laccadive Sea. Guests can enjoy private pools, canopied day beds and soaking tubs or wander to one of the eight luxurious treatment villas to indulge in treatments based on Ayurvedic traditions and infused with Western luxuries.

4. Royal Mansour Marrakech Spa, Morocco 

Built under commission for King Mohammed VI, the Mansour in Marrakech is the gold standard of luxury with just 53 private riads and, of course, that enchanting spa. In the heart of the resort is the picturesque (and often photographed) white, wrought iron atrium. The spa itself covers three floors and features ten spa cabins offering a range of treatments from massages, facials, and hydrotherapy as well as aesthetic and beauty services. Post-treatment, guests can take to the tea lounge to enjoy the selection of chef-made dishes, herbal teas and fruit juices. Pure zen!

Images: here and here.

Celebrity Insider: Cindy Crawford’s $79m Malibu home

When a supermodel and style icon lists their home for sale, the world clamours to catch a peek inside. This was certainly the case for Cindy Crawford’s recent listing of her US$79 million Malibu home. Not only is the residence in an enviable, beach front location but it is positioned right next door to Crawford’s own multi-structure compound.

Crawford and her partner Rande Gerbe purchased the estate in 2015 and then undertook renovations to transform the 3 to 4 bedroom, 5.5 bathroom, two-storey, resort-style getaway.

With a Mediterranean flair, the 3 acre estate features a tennis court, media room, gourmet kitchen, library nook, fire pit and swimming pool, positioning it as a real entertainer’s place.

In terms of the interiors, the palette is quintessentially beachy with natural timbers, neutrals and pops of azure blue, resulting in a laid-back, Hamptons style aesthetic. Add to that the floor to ceiling windows offering uninterrupted Pacific Ocean views, and it’s truly a place fit for the stars. Take a look…
  

Images: Chris Cortazzo Malibu Real Estate.

The fairytale-like Keemala Hotel, Thailand

Set into the depths of Phuket’s Kamala rainforest is a resort like no other: Keemala. Inspired by the stories, cultures, traditions, and lifestyles of four groups of fictitious ancient Phuket settlers, the resort is divided into four different lots of villas, each with their unique design and distinctive guest experiences.

They are shaded by a canopy of rainforest, connected by jungle walkways and each have a private pool, but from there, the similarities end.

First are the ‘Clay Pool Cottages’, which reflect the earthiness of the ‘Pa-ta-Pea’ clan who believed in a strong connection to the earth. They would also incorporate earth into their walls, roofs and furniture, even the beds they slept on were made from soil and clay. Clay can be seen used in the construction of these villas.

Next are the ‘Tent Pool Villas’, taking reference from the ‘Khon-Jorn’ tribe of wanderers, who excelled in hunting and trading. Their nomadic lifestyle is exhibited in the tent-like structures, which feature stand-alone bathtubs, monsoon showers and outdoor showers.

Third are the ‘Tree Pool Houses’, built to represent the ‘We-ha’ people who worshipped the universe and chose to live suspended from the trees to be nearer to the sky. The ‘We-ha’ people built their homes elevated from the ground in order to obtain better creativity and liberty. This is reflected in the two stories of these villas, along with the suspended furniture and cocoon like beds and loungers.

And finally, there are the ‘Bird’s Nest Pool Villas’, which take their cue from the ‘Rung-Nok’ community. This group enjoyed an opulent way of life compared to other clans and their craving for exclusivity supposedly resulted in a woven tangle of a bird’s nest design, seen on the exteriors of these villas.

Regardless of where guests stay, they can enjoy spa treatments, holistic programs and gastronomic experiences… or simply relax in the tranquil surrounds of the rainforest.

Take a look…

Images from here.