Rugberry Universe
Homes, makers and the craft behind the rug.
A fire in 1981 destroyed over half of a furniture factory near Basel. The rebuilding, one architect at a time, made the Vitra Campus a pilgrimage, and a lesson in calm floors under loud architecture.
At Bar Luce, Wes Anderson Built a Room Instead of a Set
Wes Anderson said he designed Bar Luce as the opposite of a film set: a bar for real afternoons. Why pastel formica and terrazzo work when they are tough as well as pretty.
Ett Hem, the Stockholm Townhouse Hotel
Ett Hem means a home, and the Stockholm hotel takes the name literally: a kitchen anyone can use, a library to disappear into, a fire lit when it is cold. What it teaches about warmth.
The Textiles That Made Fallingwater a Home
Fallingwater is told as a story of concrete over a waterfall. It was also a family home, and its client commissioned a Wright office hung with hand woven textiles. Why even this house needed cloth.
Mexico City After Barragán: Walls, Light and Volcanic Stone
Mexico City is often reduced to a pink wall. Walk from Barragán's house to El Eco and the volcanic stone of the Anahuacalli, and the real subject is mass, shadow and plain floors.
Merci Behaves Like a House, Not a Shop
Since 2009 Merci has filled a former fabric and wallpaper house in the Marais like a home, putting a canteen glass beside a vintage trolley. What a mixed room teaches about furnishing slowly.
The Quiet Saudi House of Khaled Hashem
Khaled Hashem has built a practice in Jeddah around open plans, few objects and gallery like volumes. What minimalism means in a culture of generous hospitality.
Tropical Modernism Began With Shade
Tropical modernism began as a colonial tool and was then claimed as the look of independence, from Ghana to Chandigarh. Why shade, air and local material were political before they were a style.
Eileen Gray and E-1027, the Architect Who Began With Rugs
Before she built E-1027 on the rocks at Roquebrune, Eileen Gray ran a weaving workshop in Paris. The house reads differently once you know she began with the floor.
Lunuganga, Geoffrey Bawa's Fifty Year Garden
Geoffrey Bawa bought a rubber and cinnamon estate in 1948 and spent his life editing it into rooms of lawn, water and shade. The source text for tropical modernism, before the label.
Charlotte Perriand and the Art of Living Low
Charlotte Perriand is too often filed as a collaborator. Her own work, from bamboo shaped by a 1940 stay in Japan to the open kitchens of Les Arcs, argued that rooms should serve people.
Keiji Ashizawa, Steel and Honest Wood
Keiji Ashizawa is shorthand for the Japandi look, yet he trained as a steel fabricator and built a furniture brand from a recovery workshop. On joints, plain materials and use.
Long Life Design at D&Department
Kenmei Nagaoka built a shop around one question: what has already proved it can last. What long life design asks of a buyer, and of a home.
