Design Anthology, Asia Pacific Edition

The phrase ‘human-centric’ is more than a T little tired these days, but at its most earnest, the term captures the essence of an industry that is rather unique. Stripped of aesthetic and commercial principles, the process of design is a fundamentally human expression of empathy. To seek to improve the world around us through ingenuity and with grace is an act of generosity, compassion and optimism that can sometimes be overlooked in the unbridled pursuit of commercial success. It’s in this spirit that we hope to build a media platform that delivers real richness and value to our readers’ lives and acts as our own expression of care and empathy for the world and people around us. Every story starts and ends with people. We have little interest in…

WEBSITE Updated throughout the week, our website is an inspiring resource for the best new interiors, architecture, design, travel and art stories design-anthology.com AWARDS The awards for Asia Pacific’s design community, celebrating high-calibre work by emerging and established designers design-anthology.com/awards FIND US Website design-anthology.com Customer Support hello@design-anthology.com Instagram @design.anthology Threads @design.anthology Facebook @designanthologymag LinkedIn @designanthology X @designanthology EMAIL The Dispatch is a collection of original stories from our globetrotting team delivered straight to your inbox each month design-anthology.com/dispatch EVENTS We bring thought leaders together to explore the future of design and inspire the people making it happen design-anthology.com/events ON THE COVER This Shanghai apartment by Signyan Design is filled with mise-en-scène that reflect its gallerist owner’s tastes, from specially commissioned sculptures to antiques and a library of books — page 100 Image…

BOOK Stillness by Norm Architects Gestalten The design cultures of Japan and Scandinavia seem to have developed in parallel over centuries, with mutual respect and shared philosophies emerging that have been celebrated and emphasised in design and popular culture for decades. In Stillness, Copenhagen-based Norm Architects traces its journey of discovery in Japan, which has seen the office work in varying locales, typologies and scales, with collaborators that include Keiji Ashizawa, Karimoku, Ariake, Kojima Shoten, POJ Studio, Maana Homes, Trunk Hotel and Bellustar. And not unlike the firm’s oeuvre, Stillness presents ‘an exploration of Japanese aesthetics in architecture and design from a Scandinavian perspective’. The book’s content spans places in Japan that the team has visited, Norm Architects projects that exemplify the strong aesthetic kinship between Scandinavia and Japan, and a…

Aesop has long held a love for language, culture and design. Founder Dennis Paphitis’s Armadale salon, Emeis — a precursor to the first Aesop store — was often a canvas for cross-disciplinary collaborations, bringing artists, craftspeople and customers together through a shared affinity for creativity and curiosity. More than three decades on, Aesop remains engaged in art events and cultural moments around the world with ambitious yet considered activations. By collaborating with local creatives and makers, the brand has held space for emerging voices to tell their stories, enriching our minds and enlarging our worlds in the process. Here we look back at some of the brand’s memorable collaborations from 2024. 1 Aesop Home China Aesop Home was a pop-up space nestled in a historic siheyuan, a traditional Qing Dynasty…

In a deliberate departure from traditional memorial design, Evergreen Community Precinct by Australian firm Walter Brooke redefines not only how spaces for grief and reflection can support the process of loss, but also how these spaces can be integral in the community. The scale of the building in Adelaide’s Enfield Memorial Park, together with its sensitively selected materials, makes it an appropriate civic and public offering that invites interaction. Rather than focusing solely on the sadness and intimacy of grief, firm director Mark Berlangieri and his team chose to centre connection, inclusivity and the enduring link between people and place. ‘Evergreen isn’t just about reflecting on death,’ he explains. ‘It’s about creating a community space — something welcoming and supportive for everyone. When you go to a funeral, it doesn’t…

The dappled sunlight of a leafy side street falls on a travertine table by local designer Tom Fereday, plays on the lacquer top of a toadstool-shaped side table by Paris-and Hong Kong-based designers Batten and Kamp and Henry D’ath, shimmers across the brushed aluminium surfaces of Belgian Jumandie Seys’s furniture, and comes to settle on a hewn oak dining table designed by Carlo Scarpa in the early 1970s, which stands on a painterly, raw concrete floor. ‘The effect we’re striving for here is one of pronounced calm,’ says Joseph Gardner, who, along with partner Aaron Wong, is co-founder and director of the Studio Gardner gallery in Sydney’s Rushcutters Bay. ‘I feel like we’re just so overstimulated every day with screens beeping at us, social media flashing alerts… It’s an assault…