The Monocle Minute
On Design

This week, we learn a few lessons at a renovated home in Spain and take a spin in a transatlantic convertible that we think deserves a comeback. Plus: a hot take on a classic kitchen appliance and a Swiss town bridging the gap between preserving history and meeting modern needs. But first, Annabelle Chapman goes behind the scenes at Open House Zürich (pictured) to uncover some of the city’s best-kept architectural secrets.

When architects are overseeing a renovation, it can be challenging to strike the balance between the needs to conserve and introduce contemporary features. Architect Carlos Gómez Sos’s renovation of his family’s medieval home – known as La Posada and located in a small town in the province of Huelva, southwestern Spain – was a five-year labour of love that found the necessary equilibrium. “The house hadn’t really been modified since the 18th century but I didn’t want to demolish it,” says Gómez Sos. “I recycled as much as possible and preserved traditional construction techniques and materials, particularly the exposed stonework and woodwork design.”

Gómez Sos turned to local artisans for fresh additions to the space, including raw-wood panelling, custom bookcases and new stairs. Spread across three floors, the home’s defining feature is a large, newly installed window that overlooks the garden. Its construction was a delicate operation that involved cutting into an interior wall but Gómez Sos was there every step of the way. “Like the captain of the ship, if the project had gone down then I would have gone down with it,” he says. “Life is about finding comfort in a place – and I have found the place where I belong.”

For more design stories, pick up a copy of Monocle’s October issue, on newsstands now.

The town of Aarau in northern Switzerland is defined by the Aare river: its bank on the edge of the old town is a place of leisure for locals and has been the site of countless constructions spanning the river since Roman times. A recently finished bridge might just be the most elegant development yet. Designed by Basel-based architects Christ & Gantenbein, it replaces a concrete structure from 1949. “We approached the design of the New Aare Bridge with a respect for this history and a vision for the future,” says Emanuel Christ, who co-founded the company with Christoph Gantenbein in 1998.

The architects drew inspiration for the bridge from Aarau’s medieval architecture and the natural environment. The resulting structure looks traditional but has features that could only be achieved by using modern construction methods, such as large openings beneath its deck, which offer glimpses of the waterway from riverside paths. Its five arches partially rest on the two foundations of the old bridge, with a geometry that, according to the architects, “employs concrete sparingly”. Seamlessly linking with existing streets and promenades, the 119-metre-long structure has space for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. The result is both impressive and essential for the city. “The New Aare Bridge is not just a bridge,” says Christ. “It is a piece of the urban fabric, contributing another layer to Aarau’s evolution.”
christgantenbein.com

With outposts in Paris and Marrakech, Studio KO’s founders, Karl Fournier and Olivier Marty (pictured, on right, with Fournier), are making their mark on the architectural world, with commissions that have spanned the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Morocco to Balmain boutique in New York. They are also expanding their firm’s footprint beyond buildings: L’oeil de KO (or KO’s Eye) is a newly launched range of objects, artworks and homewares, handmade in bespoke batches and curated by the team at Studio KO. We spoke to Fournier and Marty to find out more about the collection and why it reflects their approach to design.

Tell us about your new collection of homewares and objects.
Olivier Marty: L’oeil de KO is the expression of various collaborations with artisans and includes fruit bowls, cutlery and artworks. At the heart of our approach to architecture and design are the power of the hand and the uniqueness of every individual’s creation. Whenever we get involved with a project that’s created in a manual way, we realise how rich the process is. When a drawing, a detail, a plan or an idea is brought to life, another layer is added because of that element of interpretation. Every artisan that we work with expresses something in a personal way; it can never be replicated, industrialised or produced in large quantities.

How did L’oeil de KO start?
Karl Fournier: It grew out of interacting with people we met by chance. Marie Lautrou, for example, a potter who works with sandstone, is also our neighbour in Paris. As part of her practice and for her contribution to L’oeil de KO, she asks children to come by her workshop to draw on plates. Every plate is unique. The children also receive €10 when their plate is sold. It’s important for designers to involve the people around them in their processes, especially the younger generation, and to participate in the surrounding community. That way, the objects that are created are not only beautiful but also meaningful.

How important is tradition for your studio?
KF: We always come back to the question of legacy. What are we going to do with the traditions and techniques that we inherit? To be sure that we pass them on, the younger generation has to find its own way to use these techniques properly. Otherwise, traditional crafts will disappear. It’s the responsibility of designers and architects to ensure that they don’t.

For more from Studio KO, tune in to ‘Monocle on Design’ on Monocle Radio.

It would be wrong to think that brand collaborations, such as Fendi and Versace’s Fendace campaign, are a recent fad. In the 1980s, the automotive industry was aware of the value of cross-marketing, resulting in transatlantic collaborations, including the Chrysler TC by Maserati. Officially launched in 1989, the compact convertible was made from Italian and American components that were assembled in Maserati’s factory in Lombardy and then sold at Chrysler’s US dealerships. The idea? To emulate the desirability (and price tag) of European-made cars, which were seen as far more suave across the Atlantic.

Alas, the Chrysler TC was a flop with US buyers who baulked at the vehicle’s curious mishmash of intercontinental design sensibilities. “In the same glance, you spot cheap tape pinstripes and incredibly expensive Italian-made Fondmetal wheels,” read a 1988 review in Automobile. “You spot misalignments between hood and fenders and then you marvel at the mahogany-smooth paint.” Today, mixing highbrow and lowbrow tastes happens to be in fashion – and this cabriolet is a brand collaboration that we wouldn’t mind getting into.

Sweden-based Jonas Groth and Carl Ljungh founded Aarke in 2013 with the intention of engineering premium kitchen essentials that are as sustainable as they are easy on the eye. The company’s newest release is an elegant kettle that follows Aarke’s minimalist approach to design – and will zhuzh up any kitchen countertop or tea party.

Developed at Aarke’s Stockholm-based workshop and studio, the appliance is made from durable stainless steel, comes equipped with five different temperature settings and a nifty nondrip spout. Our favourite part? It boils quietly for those tiptoeing around the house while making an early-morning pour-over. “We felt that the kettle has been completely overlooked by the design community and decided that it was time to make one with first-class functionality,” says Ljungh. “We set out to engineer the world’s finest kettle and ended up reinventing it.”
aarke.com

Established in 2011 by US architect Graham Gund, The Gund gallery offers a home for contemporary and modern art at Kenyon College, Ohio. Set in the university’s sprawling wooded campus outside the state capital, Columbus, it is in a prime position to cater to the surrounding community, providing access to high-quality art through its growing collection. When the Montréal-based design studio Principal and the newly appointed curator and director, Daisy Desrosiers, got involved, the gallery became even more expansive, adding functions as a teaching museum and a creative hub.

Together, Principal and Desrosiers rebranded the gallery with its current name, custom typography and an updated website, which aims to be as welcoming as it is legible. A new branch of the museum, The Annex, has also opened in Mt Vernon and runs programmes that invite the local community to learn together through creative activities and free workshops. Now in its second decade, The Gund continues to offer a space for cultural discourse – and, thanks to Principal, it now has a clean visual language that helps to communicate that outlook.
thegund.org, principal.studio