Editor’s Choice: Top 5 stories of 2017!

By Savitha Hira

Photography: Courtesy the architects/designers

Read Time: 3 mins

2017's Top 5 stories!

A sensory experience that engages all the five senses; especially evocative of an emotional response; and an interestingly informative experience – whether visual, tactile or aural, are two fundamental success mantras that made the year 2017 wake up to the very primal aura of design… 

The ethos of a space is conveyed from the way it is designed.  The space, whether it is showing off the latest style-file… or communicating volumes through its emptiness are the two extreme juxtapositions that find in the midst, a series of stylist and novel approaches to the subject of design and its engagement with the user. 

India Art n Design (dot)com focuses on being a one-stop platform for multidisciplinary design resources. In our quest to bring you a wholesome bouquet, each of our stories flushes out the essence of design for you – our reader – to connect with.  Whilst certain fundamentals remain static, the treatment becomes the differentiator. And the driver. The driver of multitude of inspirations, insights and the trigger for a variety of styling ideas.  

I have picked for you five such thought-processes that have touched me deeply this year…  

Eatery called Sagaya in Ginza Tokyo

Topping my list is this eatery in Ginza, Tokyo where only 8 guests are catered to each day. Interactive technology plays on the sensory experience of the diner, turning the simple act of eating into a surreal experience of story-telling through projections and screens, which do not forget to put the spotlight on the seasonal ingredients used.  

All that is put on a long table that the guests share is porcelain tableware containing a specialized Saga beef dish. As one sits at the table, the room begins to unfold. Suddenly there are birds and butterflies that might perch on the table or one’s hand. The springing of trees and fauna from the dish weaves a world, recounting the story of each ingredient and the season in which it grows. The sizes, shapes and interactions of the objects released into the space are affected by the worlds unleashed by other dishes on the table, creating a world of constant change. 

Read on to get the full story…

Artist Anita Dube's home by Anagram Architects

Located at the fringe of Greater Noida in a suburban artists’ colony, is this studio space for artist Anita Dube designed by Anagram Architects. The home-cum-studio is conceptualised as a space to accommodate artists for short stays, while simultaneously shedding the metaphorical boundaries to create a congenial community. The enigmatic form of the building combined with the expansive volume, effectuates an experiential space that is totally attuned to the unflagging character of the disruptive processes of art-making.

The highlight is a mural on the exterior that accommodates multiple configurations of individual swivelling panels that display the artworks not just in the interior spaces, but also in the exterior, to the public.  A conceptual portmanteau, the building with multi-faceted components and a mysterious form, creates a sense of inquisitiveness for the visitors and users alike.  

Check it out here…

Urchins by Choi+Shine at the Marina bay, Singapore

Conceptualised under the theme of sustainability and biomimicry by designers Choi+Shine, these Light Art installations christened Urchins and Lace forged the connect between man and urbanity in Singapore and Amsterdam respectively. Fabricated from a repetitive pattern of crochet fabric, held in place with steel trusses, fastened by Dyneema cables and illuminated with multiple light sources. They augment a sense of space and anchor visual memory through a simple familiar object that has been contextualised into a larger-than-life format. 

Read on to get the full story…

Ar. Jean Verville and the study of art, architecture & domesticity

“The current decompartmentalization of artistic disciplines brings about the emergence of new proposals,” says Internationally acclaimed Ar. Jean Verville, who demonstrates this hybridization in architectural interventions by swapping the user's experience into a spatial and pictorial experimentation, in which sensory perception is asked to transgress the physical limits of space to favour the illusory abstraction of dimensional form and produce architecture that seems free from their function and materiality. The architect presents a diversified production of architecture, installation, and scenography, to invite a peep into the possibilities of hybridization between arts and architecture and their impact on the architectural creation process.  

A must read!

And finally, a design discipline not a single one of us can escape from: fashion. Here’s my pick!

'Nude' is always in!

‘Nude’ is always in! Pairing nude makeup with nude apparel expands and enhances the “top-to-toe” look.  The Nude palette has armed us with tools to shape, shift and re-contour our fluid faces and reshape our silhouettes - hour-glass or not. IAnD revisited the trend that swishes silently behind the curtains…

Normally worn in a flowy mist-like silhouette, the nude trend has taken Indian fashion to an even higher level of contemporary, muted sophistication.  Going nude works beautifully with Indian fashion trends.  

Read more here…