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Harpers Bazaar Arabia
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Harpers Bazaar Arabia
Introducing The Summer 2025 Issue Of Bazaar Arabia Interiors
Celebrating the designers, spaces and visionary tastemakers that bring this season's most stylish interiors to life… The last few months have served as an incredible reminder of the profound impact design has on every facet of our lives. The inaugural Downtown Design Riyadh in May put Saudi front and centre, with its four-day event at JAX District in Diriyah, celebrating both regional and international talent and connecting global brands with the Kingdom's creative community. The 64th edition of Salone del Mobile in April once again proved why it's the most influential fair in the global design calendar, with a theme this year of Human Touch that focused on materiality, emotion and craftsmanship. EXPO 2025 also opened its doors, running until October in Osaka, with the Middle Eastern pavilions blending millennia-old civilisations with cutting-edge visions. New ideas, new names, new launches… The design world is as vibrant and remarkable as it's ever been. Unearthing uniqueness is one of the greatest privileges when putting together each edition of Harper's Bazaar Interiors. Discovering and delving into truly singular spaces that push the boundaries of design, experience and livability is the cornerstone of what we do. Casa Roca, a quiet sanctuary in Jumeirah Park, is one such space. Designed around raw, earthy, natural elegance, the villa celebrates the spirit of Wabi Sabi – a Japanese philosophy that finds beauty in imperfection – allowing nature's rawest elements to take lead, ushering in a quiet luxury that feels inherently organic. Turning to homes across the region and beyond, we explore the different connections we have with the spaces we live in and love. For Carmel Harrison, her Palm Jumeirah apartment is an extension of her spiritual second home, Ibiza, asserting, 'If I can't live there yet, I'll bring the island to me.' For Shima Samaei, her creative domain, a sun-drenched apartment in Index Tower, is an extension of her broader ethos, that a home should provoke thought, stir emotion and still serve the quiet rituals of everyday life. And in London, Brigitta Spinocchia Freund treats her west-London villa as an ever-evolving gallery space. Thought-provoking design from myriad perspectives. As we welcome summer, and thoughts turn to vacations and perhaps lighter, brighter colour codes – such as our Mediterranean-infused cover – now is the time to be playful. To allow design to enhance your world, rather than be dictated by it. Whether you're led by nature or perhaps something altogether more instinctive, the foundations of design remain the same: it should be fun. I hope this issue sparks wonder in all the right ways. From Harper's Bazaar Arabia Interiors Summer 2025 Issue.
New York Times
26-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
A New Super-Group of Creative Talent
For two days in April, during the Salone del Mobile design fair in Milan, the fashion brand Miu Miu hosted a book club. It was quite an undertaking, one that involved only a small amount of actual reading. Produced to the exacting taste of Miuccia Prada, the event, a cultural experience of sorts to promote the arts, involved the creation of a 96-page branding guide, which included a color palette of six shades of orange, blue and ocher, as well as a custom logotype and its application across posters, banners, digital ads, menus, coasters, pencils, notebooks and more. Guests sat on tasseled couches, lit by table lamps. The dress code was Miu Miu, of course. Executed with the help of two external agencies — 2x4, the New York design firm founded by Michael Rock, Susan Sellers and Georgie Stout in 1994, and Kennedy, the London experiential design agency founded by Jan Kennedy in 2000 — the second annual Miu Miu Literary Club attracted more than 2,000 attendees, among them the International Booker Prize winner Geetanjali Shree. Both 2x4 and Kennedy have collaborated on all manner of 'activations,' as events like this are known in marketing speak, but after decades of operating independently, the firms are now under the same ownership, having recently sold majority stakes to a rapidly growing entity called the Independents. In fact, they are two of 13 such small companies to be gobbled up in the last two years, joining a total of 19 agencies worldwide. A Unique Collective The Independents was founded in 2017 when Isabelle and Olivier Chouvet and a third partner, Alexandre Monteux, merged K2, their Shanghai event and production company, with Karla Otto, a veteran fashion and luxury public relations firm. Together, their clients included Chanel, Cartier, Celine, Moncler, Valentino and Nike. The Independents' original funding came from the private equity firm Cathay Capital, which was bought out in 2023 with a new round of $580 million funding led by a bank pool, TowerBrook Capital Partners, and Banijay, a strategic long-term investor that has the opportunity to increase its investment in 2026. Mr. and Ms. Chouvet remain majority investors. Mr. and Ms. Chouvet, both French, made their mark in Asia with a string of entrepreneurial ventures, including the Chinese flash sale site which Mr. Chouvet and his partners sold to Alibaba in 2015. The couple set up K2 in 2002. Its first project was the introduction of Chanel's J12 watch in Japan. By 2017, Ms. Chouvet had developed a network that made her firm the go-to for luxury brands looking to do world-class activations — the public relations, branding, events, production and social media — in Japan, China and Korea. 'I wanted to do what I did in Asia worldwide,' Ms. Chouvet said of founding the Independents. 'I only had the experience and capabilities in Asia, so I immediately looked for a partner in a different geographic location.' Karla Otto, the German-born publicist who opened her agency in 1982 in Milan, had the connections Ms. Chouvet sought. With Ms. Chouvet as chief executive, the Independents group has gone on an ambitious acquisition spree. Names like Bureau Betak, Prodject, Lucien Pages, Kitten and Sunshine may not mean much to the average civilian, but within the increasingly all-encompassing world of luxury, fashion and cultural branding, the agencies in the Independents portfolio are as blue chip as they come. When Alessandro Michele wanted to turn his fall 2025 Paris fashion show for Valentino into a giant, blood-red David Lynchian public toilet, he hired Bureau Betak to stage the scene. For the past 14 years, Anna Wintour has not planned a Met Gala without Prodject, the firm responsible for implementing her vision — whether 'Camp," 'Heavenly Bodies,' 'Sleeping Beauties" or 'Superfine' — inside the museum. When Dior set about staging a Villa Dior presentation in Dali, China, it worked with K2 to realize it. The Independents now has 1,200 employees across offices in Barcelona, Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, Jeddah, London, Los Angeles, Milano, Munich, New York, Paris, Riyadh, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. The 2x4 agency and Terminal 9 Studios, a documentary film production company in Paris, are the most recent acquisitions. It's obvious why Ms. Chouvet would want to bundle these firms under one roof. The Independents group reported $800 million in revenue for 2024. She is far from the first to try to consolidate and capitalize on creative agencies. Venture capital roll-ups, in which a group of investors buy a bunch of agencies, eliminate redundancies, install a central administrative staff to cut costs and eventually take it public or sell to a mega group like Publicis are common practice. These deals come with pressure to deliver return on investment. Many of the agencies that have signed on with the Independents have spent their careers avoiding this acquisition model. 'It might work for tech companies or other things, but it doesn't work for creative industries,' Mr. Rock said. 'Whatever made that company great in the beginning is completely lost.' Yet Mr. Rock and his associates, whose clients include Prada, Chanel Arts and Culture, Nike, Instagram and Lincoln Center, signed over a majority stake to the Independents, which, from the outside, looks like a roll-up despite protests to the contrary. Ms. Chouvet said there is no exit strategy at the moment, and she has no financial or growth obligations to her investors. 'It's working so well because all of the interests are aligned, and everyone feels they are stronger by being together,' Ms. Chouvet said. 'There remains independence. That's why our name is the Independents.' The point of the group is to create a united network of partners who can work together, if they want to. 'By no means is it a forced march,' said Keith Baptista, a founder of Prodject. 'Nobody's telling me, 'You must work with this person.'' Many of the agencies have already shared clients for years. Bureau Betak does the design and production for Saint Laurent and Jacquemus fashion shows, and Lucien Pages does their PR. So what is the point, and where's the catch? If everyone was happily working together for decades on end with no shortage of business, why consolidate? Ms. Otto and Mr. de Betak used the sale to step back from the day-to-day of their agencies. She essentially retired, and he is now focusing on an art and architecture business. The practice of a principal exiting the business after a three-year earn-out period is common practice after a company is acquired. The idea that Ms. Chouvet is hoovering up a bunch of companies whose success hinges on the singular vision of the founder, just when the founder is looking to retire, is not a negligible one. 'You get to a certain age and you think about those kinds of things,' Mr. Rock said. We weren't looking to cash out like an exit strategy. We still want to work.' Why wouldn't he? A few weeks later, Mr. Rock was reached by phone to confirm the Pantone colors chosen for the Miu Miu Literary Club. He was at the airport, flying back from a weeklong photo shoot for Chanel in the South of France. 'I'm feeling very ragged,' Mr. Rock said. 'But we were at Coco Chanel's house on the Riviera, so it's kind of like … can't really complain.'
Canberra Times
05-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Canberra Times
Colour and geometry: The best design trends to emerge from Milan Design Week
Milan Design Week is an annual furniture and design trade fair that takes place in Milan, Italy. Officially known as Salone Del Mobile, the event was held last month and showcased some of the latest trends and innovations in furniture and interior design. Green, yellow and vivid purple punctuated the streets of Milan. Pic: Falper. The event included exhibitions, product launches, open showrooms, talks, workshops and parties hosted by both brands and designers. Group design manager at Winnings, Kate McGlone, shares some of the most exciting design takeaways from the week. The rise of Nabuk When it came to new materials, McGlone saw a "clear admiration" for Nabuk, particularly with sofas and armchairs. Nabuk is top-grain leather that is sanded or buffed to create a velvety, napped surface. Nabuk was a popular choice for sofas and armchairs. Pic: Molinari. "It's a delicate, suede-like leather that's perhaps not suited to high-traffic family living, but its softness and nuanced texture offer a sublime sensory experience," she says. "Nabuk evokes the feeling of a warm hug or a favourite blanket, comforting and luxurious, as well as visually striking." Colour play According to McGlone, colour made a "bolder return" at this year's event. Colour made a "bolder return" at this year's event. Pic: Falper. "Mint green, mustard yellow, and vivid purple punctuated the streets of Milan, often seen together or paired with a neutral base," she says. "Rather than being loud or overwhelming, these hues added layered emotion and vibrancy to spaces, each playing a unique role in storytelling and mood-making." Gloss and glow While its return began last year, high-gloss materiality was a celebrated finish especially in "mustard tones". "Their reflective nature adds depth and elegance, particularly when contrasted with more organic textures," McGlone says. The warmth of timber Unsurprisingly, timber was still a popular choice for furniture. However, walnut was the popular hue at this year's event. Walnut was the popular timber hue at this year's event. Pic: Studio Bottger. "Its rich tone adds depth and timelessness, providing the perfect backdrop to the more expressive colour and finish stories of 2025," McGlone says. Bold geometry takes the floor Unlike the neutrals and minimalist patterns of the previous years, rugs with bold patterns were back with a bang. Rugs with bold patterns were back with a bang. Pic: Karpeta. "Vivid, geometric patterns adorned living settings, injecting energy and playfulness underfoot and redefining the role of rugs from background players to central characters," says McGlone. Mixed materiality McGlone noticed a trend towards the use of mixed materials at the event. "Metal, leather, and timber were often paired in joinery and furniture pieces, showcasing a refined complexity," she says. "These combinations allowed minimalist, contemporary forms to feel layered and intentional, creating pieces that are not only beautiful to look at but also to touch." Curvature and soft forms Curvature and soft shapes have been enjoying a rise in popularity and this year's event showed they're not going anywhere soon. Curvature and soft shapes retained popularity. Pic: Azores by Luca Nichetto. "There's something innately comforting about softness in form," says McGlone. "It invites ease and slows down the eye. "These curves also provide the perfect canvas for bold material choices, striking a careful balance in well-considered spaces." Lighting as storytelling One particularly exciting trend that McGlone observed was in the area of lighting. Where lighting has previously revolved around function, this year's event showcased lighting as a vehicle for visual storytelling. This year's event showcased lighting as a vehicle for visual storytelling. Pic: DCW editions. "We saw a poetic exploration of materials and form, where each piece conveyed emotion, memory, or atmosphere," she says. "There were subtle nods to the past through Art Deco influences, glimpses of glamour reinterpreted for the modern eye." McGlone also witnessed a reimagining of the classic chandelier. "Once reserved for grandeur or tradition, it now confidently holds space in both contemporary and classic settings," she says. "Whether sculptural or minimalist, suspended or clustered, lighting in Milan was less about illumination and more about identity, telling stories through glass, metal, and the spaces between."
