Adorable Paris duplex, by Sarah Lavoine

As I prepare to fly to Paris in what is now less than two weeks (yaaaay!!), I can't help but keep an eye on what is happening over there in the city of art, culture, and wonderful wine. So here's a little project I stumbled across recently... 

We find ourselves in a fresh and light filled Parisian duplex. Located between Rue Saint-Honoré and Les Tuilleries, the apartment belongs to Sarah Lavoine, who is also the apartment designer. I particularly love the perfect mix of white, crisp freshness married with the vintage turquoise. The colour makes timely appearances in almost each spaces within this apartment, visually tying the user's journey through the home. I'm also a big fan of the contrast that is achieved between the white floorboards and the metal staircase, it gives the home a touch of a rugged warehouse feeling... 

The whole apartment is adorable, but there is one more subtle thing I'd like to point out that doesn't jump out immediately in these photos, and that is the use of the mirrors in the window coves. What a simple yet fabulous idea!! The mirrors not only give depth to the coves, but reflect and expand that beautiful light coming into the duplex. What luck, to have such an amazingly grandiose space to design... One day...

Source - sarahlavoine via turbulences-deco

Images courtesy of - sarahlavoine

So magic carpets do exist!!! by French artist Miguel Chevalier

I love projects that live on the cusp of art and architecture, and this particular instillation is a great example of the use of digital media, mixed with consideration for both local culture and the human experience. Spread across the floor of a former church in Casablanca, Morocco, the instillation named 'Magic Carpets 2014' is an interactive light display which sees the church floor covered with a layer of light.

Created by French artist Miguel Chevalier, the installation is inspired by the world of biology, one in which cells have the ability to morph, multiply, divide and fuse at varying paces. Reflecting this forever fluid and evolving world, the floor of the church gives life to vivid patterns, whereby pieces and forms come together, fall apart, and transform into new shapes, as would changing microorganisms.     

Further layered into this world of biology is the tradition of embroidery, islamic art, and mosaics. The brightly coloured, overlapping pixels depict references to Moroccan craftsmanship, a nod to the importance of carpet making within the local culture.

What I like best, however, is the user experience aspect, whereby the trajectory of the curves is disrupted under the feet of the viewer as they move... making the artwork of light uniquely different from moment to moment as each participants makes their signature stamp within a moment of time.

Source - miguel chevalier & designboom

Images courtesy of Source - miguel chevalier & designboom

When pattern and colour get together, photography by Janne Peters

Based in Hamburg, Janne Peters serves up photos like rare candy in an exquisitely and finely wrapped box of expensive, handmade chocolate. I came across her work on Pinterest (the finest of hunting grounds for eye candy) and then absolutely lost myself in her divine website. Everything she seems to touch, from her photography to her website design, carries a crispness and modernity that is oh so faultless.

Coming across Janne Peters' work was one of those moments (this happens to me from time to time when I feel like I've fallen into an aesthetically infused goldmine) whereby I cannot flip through the work fast enough, because it's all just so good!! And then I have to go over it again and again ever so slowly, because I know that in my greedy, hungry speed I missed all the beautiful details... and then... then I have to decide what to pick to blog about, a tough feat when I love all of it!!

So I've decided to take a breath and be rational, and then choose one of my favourite shoots from Janne Peters' full collection. This mesmerising array of ten photographs is called MusterMix and is styled by the also ever-so-talented Anne Beckwilm. One thing that is quite clear from Janne Peters' work is that she collaborates with amazingly gifted stylist, who share her thirst for sharp, bold and confident concepts. 

I chose this particular project as it simply blows me away when the use of such rich and free flowing colour is treated so faultlessly. In a shoot where all this colour carries a heavy risk of coming across as kitsch, every object is given presence, every tone is given depth, and patterns that should be at war are dancing together!! Again, fabulous styling by Anne Beckwilm, but one can't not give credit to the eye behind the camera, the one that perfectly snaps the edge of the bright orange stool, the one that inconspicuously captures the shape repetition between the scissor handles and the glasses frame, and the one that makes a silent hero of the soft and beautiful tile pattern shyly half-hidden behind a vintage cutting board.

Source - jannepeters.de

Images courtesy of - jannepeters.de

The fun of function, Stacked House by Naturehumaine

Completed in 2013, this sophisticated and sleek house design is located in a back alley of Montréal’s Plateau neighbourhood. Appropriately named Stacked House, this single family home is the creation of the award winning architectural practice Naturehumaine. Based in Canada, Naturehumaine design to a simple yet strong philosophy 'Not just pretty pictures in a magazine. Real spaces for real people'. And Stacked House is definitely true to this claim. 

While jumping out at me from these sharp, clean, light-filled photos, the house design is nevertheless so much more than just sheer beauty in a series of dazzlingly photographed moments. Faced with the challenge of needing to build upwards rather than outwards, the architects have created a stack of four boxes, each clad in a different material. From street view, each stack has its own character and visual personality. The facade sports tight horizontal patterns meeting with wide vertical ones, which in turn are broken by the relief of wooden louvres and modern window frames. There is a true play on juxtaposition, all while a visual rhythm is seamlessly achieved.   

Behind the facade, rooms and spaces are drenched with light, thanks to a void curved out of the centre of the house. Not only does this provide daylight but also ventilation and the opportunity of a private outdoor space. My favourite aspect I think would have to be the numerous 'viewing' moments created as a result of this void. When occupying any one space, the void let's the user view across to spaces on the other side of the house, as well as above, behind, and even directly below. Essentially, with very limited space and light Naturehumaine have very creatively solved for quite a tricky problem in urban dwelling.   

Source - naturehumaine.com
Images courtesy of - Source - naturehumaine.com