The Roca Gallery in London

In October Roca Gallery opened its fourth and last showroom in London, in Chelsea Harbour. As the Roca Gallery showrooms are famous for their sophisticatedly overhelming interior architecture Zaha Hadid Architects studio was chosen to firm this gran final project. I have written about her already before in the occasion of the opening of MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st century arts, in Rome (click here for my photos I took at the event, and here for the information post), she is the architecture it-girl of the decade, if not of the century!

On my visit to the gallery I was kindly invited to return for a special guided tour and here are the pictures I took. The tour was held by one of the architects from the Zaha Hadid Architects studio and the manager of site construction who introduced us the project from concept to realization process of each singular element of the interiors. Nice refreshements we're also offered. So before showing you my pictures here is a sketch of the space and some explanations of the idea:



"The concept for Roca London Gallery is inspired by the various phases and states of water. Water acts as the transformational element moving across the façade, carving out the interior and moving through the main gallery as individual drops."

Every single piece in that space, from concrete panels to floor tiles, were custom made and delivered to the place from different parts of Europe. For this every single detail had to be calculated and re-checked several times before the production process was started. In the production not only handy craftsmen were involved but also artists and sculptors.

"In order to achieve the complexity of the design and do justice to the original concept, it was essential for the project to start the conversation with the engineers, consultants and fabricators at an early design stage. GRC (glass reinforced concrete) and GRG (glass reinforced gypsum) were approved as the materials to respond and meet best the challenge of translating the fluid forms into built environment.
The GRC and GRG fabricator input specified the constraints and rules of manufacturing and installation which in turn informed and developed the architectural concept. Rationalisation techniques were naturally applied and embedded as logical part of the design language.

Straight vertical joints and a horizontal joint at 2.20m were adequately implemented to answer the challenge. The maximum size of the interior GRC panels is 3x5m and the full height facade panels are 2x4m. The two materials were applied with respect to their natural qualities as continuous white surface of the GRG curved gallery walls and exposed natural concrete GRC panels within the product display environments and the facade."

"The complex free-form architectural language reflecting fluidity and nature is driven by the new digital design tools and the constant evolution of digitally controlled manufacturing, fabrication and contemporary construction mechanisms, processes and methods."

"GRP (glass reinforced plastics/ fibre glass) is the material used for the fabrication of the main gallery ‘pods’ serving as lighting elements, shelves and tables and all of the bespoke furniture that includes reception desk, bar, conference table and product display shelves. Subdivision Surface modelling in Maya is the used digital design tool."

The gallery is open for public and in the future it intends to give space for social and cultural events, exhibitions and installations.

Opening times
Mondays to Fridays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m

How to get there
London Overground: Imperial Warf Tube station is right next to the gallery.

Contact and information for up-coming events
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7610 9503
info.londongallery@roca.net

Full adress
Roca London Gallery
Station Court
Imperial Wharf
London SW6 2PY

Website
http://www.rocalondongallery.com/en/home

The Hedonist

I know.. the yacht boom is so 1998. But you can't deny this creature (yes, I'm calling it a creature!!) is something extra ordinary! I'm not an expert in the matter of design but it seems to me that the concept of "modern" has strongly changed the past ten years. If in the nineties it was all about the ultra high-tech minimalistic "spacercoket" design, then now it's more about the personality and authenticity. First of all design is much more nature friendly, you can notice it even from the colour palette. The intimidating white and silver grey combinations are kicked off the scene and replaced by the cozy yet strong Earth colours, (you may noticed it also in fashion).

Although the usual touch of these kind of designs is not absent in this particular example (we can't forget- this is still a yacht, one the most loved wealth and luxury symbol amongst the masses so you can't revolution its design that easily), there is something very different, retro and fresh about it. This yacht, differently from the usual giant irons, is almost homie.. makes me wanna crawl on that sofa and read a book (the last picture).. or cook something delicios in that kitchen, shrimp soup for example.. but a glass of white wine during sunset would do, too. Enough of talking... take a look at it yourself.

The name of this yacht is Hedonist, by Art of Kinetik.



"Hedonist embodies the very soul of Art of Kinetik. Combining levels of refinement and comfort with daring looks and matchless performance, this 63 foot yacht epitomizes the genre. It’s solid mahogany hull and Rolls Royce water jets combine to deliver an unusually smooth ride even at the top speed of 40 knots. Naturally, aesthetics is in every detail: no screws are visible at any point and nor is any plastic. We believe Hedonist to be the purest form of art and technology imaginable. " - Art of Kinetik.















"I don't care how rich he is - as long as he has a yacht, his own private railroad car, and his own toothpaste." - Marilyn Monroe.

Well.. I personally wouldn't care about the yacht nor the car.. but if he'd got a yacht like THIS... I'd marry him right away and then, obviously, run away, with the boat ofcourse.
;)

Find me an equivalent talent of Jaime Hayon and I'll offer you a dinner

Extravagant & Simple.

Chic & Kitsch.

Modern & Retrò.

This man who created this is The Man of the 21st century design scene. He's name is Jaime Hayon and I've posted about him already before (here! and here!) . What else can I say..
I'm in love.
This is what I'd aspire to create .. one day.. something so classy and ...

and..

you see, I'm out of words! And my mind is elsewhere..

..drinking martinis with My Man in La Terrazza del Casino..

This dreamy place is Faberge Geneva jewellery store.


















... So.. are you enthusiastic as I am ?
Have you heard about him before and what do you think about his work?
Jaime actually reminds me a little Gaudì.. and I don't think I'm comparing the two just because they both are spanish. Jaime is still young and is just at the beginning of his career but he's got all what it takes to become the next true legend.

He's a Glorious Bastard

A few weeks ago, when I attended a design-meeting with ex-students at the faculty of architecture (L.Quaroni, Università di Sapienza), I heard this great story about a young designer who auto-commissioned himself to design products for famous luxury brands and after publishing them on his site risks badly to be sued. Heard this story before? If not, it's something you won't want to miss, the guy's a freaking genius! I didn't catch his name on the meeting and then kinda forgot about him at all, until yesterday while surfing on yatzer.com I came across his new project. About that later. First let me tell you his story.

Ito Morabito (1977), son of a well-known french designer and retailer of luxury goods Pascal Morabito, at the age of 21 decides he couldn't bare spending 10 years inching his way up the career ladder and drops out of design school. Invents the pseudonym Ora Ïto to carve out his own identity and without using his father's financial sources neither connections starts to make himself a name. After different small jobs (too small for his talent, obviously) (he also worked for the shoe master himself- Roger Vivier, God.. I love his creations!) ... arrives the crucial point of his career: he virtually designes made-up products for mega brands like LV and Apple and so on and a selection of these 3D projects gets published on magazines like Crash and Jalouse. The media reaction is electrical and his site gets over 200.000 clicks per day, on the top of everything, desperate customers start inundate the luxury goods companies asking for the products which never actually existed. Companies like LVMH (Moët Hennessy/Louis Vuitton) are really infuriated for the caos created and strongly considere the possibility of sueing the young designer. Fortunatelly no legal actions are made, the designs were well-received by the consumers, no actual harm was made. Instead.. many (clever) brands try to hire him and soon enough Ora has a pretty long list of clients between who to choose.

Check out his works:

This curious item above is his latest project thanks to which I rediscovered him in the first place.

Guerlain's new parfume "Idylle" is a mystical scent in a tear drop shaped 18 K gold bottle which the young designer managed to encapsule perfectly in precious Baccarat crystal (30,000 euros, if interested). In order to smell it you have to break it. Quite expensive toy.. I think I'll pass this one;)





"Abstract", jewelry line for Cristofle.





This is the first jewelry collection made by Ora Ito.




"Fly", Chaise Lounge by Ora for B&B Italia.

Ora Ïto for LaCie.




Now this is farmost the coolest USB & FireWire hub I've ever seen in my life. Works both for Mac and PC. The lowest price is 89€.



A Hard Driver.
Pretty glam, huh?
LaCie.






Oxygenwater.
I LOVE THE SHAPE OF THIS BOTTLE!
Like a magic potion or something.





Heineken, The Green Line.
Isn't this a fancy design for a bottle of beer?
Drinking beer can now be almost classy thanks, to Ora Ïto.




Bookshelf "Ecco" made entirely of recycled material, Ora for Artelano of Paris. There's also a white version.





"Evolution" is the name of this armchair. Zanotta.



"Arborescence", home accessories collection for Cristofle.