The Monocle Minute
On Design

The tent is up and the autumn sun is shining as the latest edition of Pad London kicks off in Mayfair. Nic Monisse brings us the latest, from conversation-making tableware to party-proof furniture. Plus: we dial in on a 1960s device that has a ring to it and meet with an architecture studio that’s using nature’s teachings to inform its approach to design.

The line between art and design can often be blurred. You only have to look at Frieze and Pad London this week for proof. Further blurring is taking place near San Francisco at Blunk Space, a gallery and research centre dedicated to celebrating the legacy of JB Blunk, a 20th-century American sculptor who worked primarily in wood and clay. Here, the exhibition Commune Shows is on until 15 October. It features art and design works by Steven Johanknecht (pictured), co-founder of Los Angeles-based studio Commune, and Niles Wertz, a local woodturner and longtime Commune collaborator.

Johanknecht’s paintings, inspired by abstract movements such as constructivism, are on display alongside a line of rugs and blankets that was created in collaboration with Christopher Farr and R+D Lab. This work is complemented by a collection of more than 30 wooden bowls and platters, a large walnut coffee table and a stool, designed by Wertz. To create continuity with Johanknecht’s approach, the bowls are designed to be nested, ensuring a visual flow from one to another. “Steven and Niles are both part of a conversation through different mediums and craft techniques,” says Roman Alonso, the Commune Shows curator. “Steven applies patterns to materials, while Niles makes them using the material itself.”
blunkspace.com

At Pad London, Portuondo Gallery provided a masterclass in mixing. Established by brothers Diego and Hugo Portuondo, with outposts in Madrid, London and New York, the gallery fearlessly blended materials and eras – an effect that made their booth appear more like a playful living room than a point of sale. “We want to show that you don’t have to have a showroom home with only new furniture,” says Diego. “Our range includes everything from contemporary pieces to works from the 1940s. It’s a whacky, eclectic mix, such the work of English interior decorator and designer David Hicks.”

Highlights of Portuondo Gallery’s booth include boxy white armchairs from the 1960s by Maison Leleu and a new brass coffee table by Jean Yves Lanvin, upon which a ceramic pitcher by Pablo Picasso has been carefully placed. A curving green sofa from 1975 by Germany’s Burkhard Vogtherr (pictured, middle) feels like it could have been newly designed or created at the height of postmodernism. “We only buy and sell items that we would put in our own homes,” says Diego. “We’re selling a taste and an atmosphere rather than individual pieces.”
portuondo.com

Hemanshu Parwani is CEO of American architectural firm Olson Kundig, which was founded in Seattle in 1966. It has since grown into an award-winning practice that has constructed museums, churches, offices and homes around the world. After a decades-long career in management, Parwani joined Olson Kundig in 2018 and now oversees the firm’s daily operations and strategy, ensuring that it stays true to its philosophy of design-first, regenerative architecture and harmony with nature. Monocle spoke with Parwani at last month’s Find – Design Fair Asia in Singapore.

What are the founding principles of Olson Kundig?
A respect for nature and an understanding of the projects that we take on. We always start with a site visit and never design remotely. It’s important for us to draw inspiration from the surroundings. The practice focuses on regenerative architecture, leveraging what nature can provide. We want to leave as light a footprint as possible on the land. Attention to detail is also essential.

How has Olson Kundig’s approach to sustainability evolved since its founding?
We have always been aware of our effect on the environment. Now there are better measuring tools available for monitoring our energy consumption but adaptive reuse is also important, whether it takes the form of a repurposed power plant or a salvaged commercial building. We look at regenerative architecture in the context of human interaction and how we can bring a community back into a space.

What are some of the challenges that crop up when designing a building?
It’s our role and our responsibility to make sustainability affordable. We examine material choices, how the sun moves from one end of a building to the other and what winds blow through the site. In a house that we constructed in California, which won the 2018 Cote Top Ten award for sustainability, the water is warmed by thermal heating in the ground. If the owners use their fireplace, then that heat also is repurposed. Finding ways to reuse materials is essential.

For more insights from Find – Design Fair Asia, tune in to ‘Monocle on Design’ on Monocle Radio.

When Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper designed the Grillo in the mid-1960s, the Milan-based duo hardly knew just how influential this little telephone would become. Designed for state-owned company Italtel, the phone featured two innovations: its dial had buttons for each number in place of the rotary system and it folded up to be the size and shape of a computer mouse. The name Grillo, meaning cricket in Italian, was inspired by the sound of its ringer.

The phone became an instant classic and remained in production until 1979. Later versions featured the redesigned keyboard with which we are familiar today. More than 10 years later, the Grillo’s clamshell design provided the inspiration for the first Motorola flip phones in the 1990s. And today, anyone who uses a computer that can be folded down and toted around ultimately owes the convenience, in part, to Sapper and Zanuso.

While much of Pad London focuses on large furniture items, there’s still plenty of room for accoutrements and artwork. Case in point is the showcase by Paris-based gallerist Thomas Fristch. A specialist in French decorative arts from the 1940s to the 1970s, his showcase in the UK capital includes a silver-black enamelled ceramic jug by Pol Chambost from 1956 (pictured, bottom) and a collection of orange, enamelled ceramic bottles by Jacquest and Dani Ruelland from 1960.

For buyers at the fair, Fritsch’s presence offers a chance to purchase wares that complement statement pieces, such as sofas and dining tables. It’s also a reminder that while the rooms in our home might be defined by the largest items, they’re not complete until they’re furnished with smaller pieces that help build the atmosphere.
thomasfritsch.fr

As part of their exhibition at the DS Galerie for Paris Design Week last month, Florian Dach and Dimitri Zephir, the duo behind design studio Dach & Zephir, published their own newspaper to accompany the show. Titled Machann Pannié, the showcase is a research project and dialogue about the art of basket weaving between the Caribbean and mainland France. “We made a newspaper to give context to the exhibition,” says Zephir. “Basketweavers from France to Guadeloupe were interviewed about reimagining their craft – and the necessity of transmission.”

Machann Pannié is the third part of Dach & Zephir’s investigation into the legacy of design in the French West Indies and the need to keep craft know-how, such as basket weaving, alive. The newspaper also includes theory-driven essays and visuals to illustrate the subject. “We asked basketweavers about the realities of their work and where they see themselves going in the future,” adds Dach. Elegantly rendered and presented in a palette of emerald green and sandy brown, Dach & Zephir’s newspaper is upping the ante for showcases and exhibitions worldwide – all while contributing to the preservation of rare crafts.
dachzephir.com; dsgalerie.com