From the editor

I for one love that we’re living in the age of cross-disciplinary cross-pollination. Art, design, craft, architecture; where are the boundaries? Do they even exist anymore? If so, they’re becoming increasingly blurred.  

In our first issue of each new year we look at the crossover between industries and practices — that not-so-easily defined grey area. Last year was fashion, the year before food, and before that travel. This year we turn our focus to art.

In this bumper issue we’ve curated six stunning homes of collectors around the region, from Sydney to Singapore. In the art scene we explore Taipei’s newest art fair, a cutting-edge digital art space in Tokyo and an emerging platform for contemporary design in Manila. Following the theme of up-and-coming spaces, we also have an introduction to the creative scene in rapidly developing Myanmar. 

We’re excited to bring you an interview with Hong Kong-born, New York-based architect Calvin Tsao of renowned practice Tsao & McKown, which frequently incorporates art into its projects. And from Hong Kong and Singapore, we have reports on each city’s changing approach to modernist architecture — in the former’s public housing landscape and the latter’s two icons of Brutalism. 

Last but not least, if you’re already dreaming about your summer vacation (or staycation) then look no further than our Wanderlust features on the newly opened Joali resort in the Maldives and the much-anticipated Tony Chi-designed Rosewood flagship in Hong Kong.

Happy new year and happy reading!

Suzy Annetta
Editor-in-Chief

Inside the issue

Dossier

Openings
New store openings in Hong Kong and Tokyo

Products
New collections and collaborations

Read
Upcoming and recent books on design, art, interiors and architecture from some of the world’s best publishers

Asian Designers
Young designers from the East are increasingly drawn to Eindhoven’s design scene

Textiles
Hong Kong designer Sharon Tsang-de Lyster is creating a global atlas of textile crafts

Profile
How Ivan Pun is working to revitalise Yangon’s creative scene

Bars, Phnom Penh
Contrasting designs define some of Phnom Penh’s best-looking new bars

Creative Platform, Philippines
A new collaboration showcases multidisciplinary design works

Profile
Singapore’s Gabriel Tan designs brands as much as products

Design Anthology Awards
Congratulations to the winners of our inaugural Awards

Studio
House of Tai Ping has rejuvenated a century-old French textile house

Wanderlust

Profile
Acclaimed hospitality designer Jean-Michel Gathy talks to us about his process and oeuvre

Resort, Maldives
A new resort in the Maldives combines remote idyll with modern forms

Hotel, Hong Kong
The long-awaited, Tony Chi-designed Rosewood opens in the brand’s home town

Openings
The best of the new boutique and luxury designer hotels from around the world

Vernissage

Art Fair, Taiwan
Taipei Dangdai’s distinctly regional flavour brings the city’s cultural landscape to the fore

Digital Art
Japanese collective teamLab has taken digital art to a new level in a dedicated space in Tokyo

Home

Singapore
A sensual home by ipli Architects reimagines the joy of tropical living

Manila
Dynamic duo Cynthia and Ivy Almario curate the home of an avid art collector

Melbourne
Varying proportions and volumes offer opportunities for togetherness and solitude

Kuala Lumpur
Three architects from one family collaborated on a modern gathering space based on a traditional typology

Sydney
Architect William Smart extended his office upward to create a glass pavilion

Hong Kong
Designer Alfred Lam’s home exemplifies his maturing style

Architectonics

Profile
Calvin Tsao speaks to us about his career and a landmark new project

Modernism, Singapore
We ask whether the garden city is giving up too much in its pursuit of the new

Modernism, Hong Kong
Hong Kong was once an incubator for modernist public housing, but its cityscape is becoming more homogenous

The Flâneur

Disorderly Conduct
A flâneur is an urban explorer — a connoisseur of the street. In our rotating column, guests share their musings, observations and critiques of the urban environment in cities around the world. In this issue, Theresa Christine experiences Rome’s chaos on two wheels