The Monocle Minute
On Design

This week, we marvel at a treetop Zen retreat in Japan, consider the importance of craft with Lebanese designer Nada Debs and take a closer look at Naples’ modern architecture (pictured) – before making ourselves comfortable on the Pagoda chair, which combines influences from the East and West. First, Nic Monisse on the secrets to a perfect summer house.

Zenbo Seinei is a spectacular new retreat on Awaji, a rural island of about 130,000 people in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. Designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate Shigeru Ban for recruitment company Pasona Group, the mostly wooden structure is a startling sight: thanks to a 90m-long top floor that cantilevers out from the lower levels, it appears to float above the trees. Amid the breeze and birdsong, this upper deck offers 360-degree views of nature and is intended to be used for Zen meditation.

Pasona Group’s ambition is that employees and visitors can leave the daily grind behind for a few hours of yoga and the kind of food that Buddhist monks eat – or stay overnight for a deeper delve into meditation. For all its sense of seclusion, though, the centre is less than a 40-minute drive from the bright lights of Kobe. In short, it’s a good spot for a quick reset.
shigerubanarchitects.com

Naples is so well known for its ancient ruins and crumbling palazzos that more recent additions to the cityscape tend to pass unnoticed. But Benoit Jallon and Umberto Napolitano of design studio Lan are aiming to change that with a new research project called Napoli Super Modern. Initially published as a book, it has now been transformed into an exhibition (pictured) for the Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel, surveying a series of modern buildings constructed between 1930 and 1960 through contemporary photographs, drawings and film.

The show effectively captures the chaotic everyday lives of these structures. Lively photographs by Cyrille Weiner and a film by French duo Bêka & Lemoine, for instance, show how sober modernist buildings can end up with unexpected uses.

“What’s nice is that the modern period, which was very dogmatic in Naples, has been totally challenged by the very strong identity of the city,” says Napolitano. “We learn that, as architects, we should not be too fixed in the way we design.”
sam-basel.org

Lebanese designer Nada Debs is celebrated for her finely crafted furniture and objects, and large-scale interior-design projects. Both draw on her international background: raised in Japan, Debs studied at the Rhode Island School of Design before working in the UK and then establishing a globally renowned design studio in Beirut. Now splitting her time between the Lebanese capital and Dubai, Debs has become a champion of regional craftsmanship in the Middle East. To find out more about the region’s craft heritage, we caught up with her for a recent episode of Monocle On Design.

You’ve lived in many different places and worked across various cultures. How has this influenced your design outlook?
I see myself as a craft custodian in the Middle East. When I moved to Lebanon 20 years ago, I felt that there was no interest in the craft of the area – there was almost a shamefulness about it. But it began to be sold to tourists on the street and in the souks. I saw this happening and thought that it would be really nice to elevate it, to make people in the region proud of it. I’ve achieved that over the past 20 years and so I feel a responsibility to now do this for every kind of craft in the Middle East.

How do you elevate a craft?
To me, craft is a very beautiful way of working. But, over time in Lebanon, it had lost some of its attention to detail as craftsmen worked quickly or were rushed. Growing up in Japan with its master craftsmen, I learnt that attention to detail is key to this work. I brought this outlook to Lebanon and would say to the craftsmen there, “Can you make this a little bit better?” Initially it felt as if I was trying to teach a sense of perfection in a part of the world where people were quite laissez faire. But gradually I found that there are individuals there who are willing to work towards perfection and they became my entourage of craftsmen.

How do you work with them? What comes first, your designs or their craft?
It comes from them. My process involves observing them work and then sometimes stopping them because I like what they’re doing and I want to try it in a new material to make a sample. Then I might keep that sample on my desk – sometimes for a year or two – until an idea comes to me to create a collection around that technique. So my furniture designs always come from a craft style.
nadadebs.com

For more from Nada Debs, listen to Monocle On Design.

A garden feels more complete with a refreshing surface of water but if you’re not lucky enough to have room for a pond or pool, there aren’t many easy and stylish design solutions to choose from. Pierre Paulin must have been thinking the same thing when he designed Coupe aux Nénuphars in 1955. When filled with water, this three-legged aluminium bowl is the ideal environment for waterlilies.

Coupe aux Nénuphars was one of the famed French designer’s first pieces of furniture, made in collaboration with Parisian manufacturer Meubles TV. It would still be a stunner on the lawn of any garden today – the only issue is that just three were produced, including the one that Paulin kept for himself. Finally putting this simple modernist piece into wider production would be welcomed by design-conscious gardeners, as well as many thirsty pollinators and birds.

American design studio Bassam Fellows has teamed up with Shanghai-based furniture-maker Stellar Works to create the Pagoda chair. Made in Shanghai and available in carved wood or aluminium, the design has a rounded seat reminiscent of chairs in 19th-century Viennese coffeehouses, while the winged backrest subtly references the shape of a Chinese pagoda gate. “Shanghai has always had an atmosphere of East meets West and Stellar Works as a brand is based on that too,” says Scott Fellows, creative director of Bassam Fellows. “It felt natural to design something that blends those influences.”

While inspired by the simplicity of café chairs, the Pagoda is well-suited to a home: with the option of woven cane or padded textile for a seat, it can be adapted to any interior. “It’s very compact but it doesn’t sit small,” says Fellows. “In urban environments, where space is precious, it’s perfect as a dining chair.”
bassamfellows.com

Sitting among the steep, snow-covered slopes of Switzerland’s Crans-Montana is Hotel Le Crans. The timber building, which serves as a popular base for hiking in summer and skiing in winter, has recently refreshed its 16 rooms, suites and apartments. Naturally, some new branding was in order too. Enter creative studio Base Design, whose Geneva team has managed the creation of a new logo, bespoke typeface and merchandising.

“We wanted to represent that, for us, Hotel Le Crans’s luxury comes from getting away from it all,” says Hervé Rigal, partner at Base Design. As such, inspiration was drawn from the rugged Alpine landscape and rustic architecture of Crans-Montana. A green-and-gold colour palette reflects the verdant forest scenery and the typeface is inspired by the carvings typically found on wooden chalets in the area; the hotel’s logo is derived from this unique Alpine alphabet too. The result? A rebrand that feels contemporary, while paying tribute to the hotel’s mountain heritage.
basedesign.com