M’Afrique
The 2009 Milan Furniture Fair brought hundreds of thousands of visitors to Italy’s design capital, as it does every April. The event has been going for 48 years, aiming to showcase new products, from lamps to beds, garden furniture, objects, textiles, chairs, rugs – anything found in a home, an office, or garden. For one week, 2,723 designers and furniture companies, a third of them from outside Italy, show off their latest designs, many of them prototypes, hoping to attract the interest of some of the 350,000 professionals – buyers, manufacturers, fellow designers and journalists.
Moroso, an Italian design and upholstery studio known for its energy and innovation, had a superb display in their showroom. The whole new collection, called M’Afrique, had a strong African influence with striking colours and patterns. According to the firm’s Creative Director, Particia Moroso:
“The African continent is extraordinarily rich in creativity, materials and ideas that are sources of inspiration and nourishment for us. When applied to design, they engender products which exude tradition and modernity, innovation and history, form and beauty. I think there is so much of Africa and in this event my intent was to showcase the creativity of a few of the great artists and personalities of contemporary African culture. Going beyond the stereotypes that present Africa as a tragic or, at best, exotic experience, we want to highlight some aspects of contemporary African culture, which is in effect comparable to global culture. Looking at Africa through the eyes of contemporary art, photography, architecture and design is perhaps the most appropriate way of approaching this vast, powerful continent, so creatively rich and diverse that today it is still one of western modernity’s greatest sources of inspiration.”
The collection was designed by American designer Stephen Burks of the New York Studio Readymade Projects , increasingly known for his ecologically-conscious and artisan-based projects, was named “one of the world’s most wanted young designers” by Wallpaper magazine. He has been responsible for creative design direction for clients ranging from Artecnica, Boffi, B&B Italia, Calvin Klein, Cappellini and Missoni, as well as the non-profits Aid to Artisans and the Nature Conservancy. He was on the trend board of the 2009 Cologne Furniture Fair and was awarded this year’s Architektur & Wohnen Audi Mentor Prize as young designer of the year in Cologne during the fair.
Sitting alongside work by African artists Fathi Hassan and Soly Cissé were iconic pieces of furniture from Moroso’s archive covered in African fabrics – among them Ron Arad’s Victoria & Albert sofa and Doshi Levien’s Princess day bed. Walls were decorated with photography by London architect David Adjaye and African photographer Boubacar Touré Mandémory.
Milan based Patricia Urquiola and Philippe Bestenheider designed pieces especially for the show inspired by Africa, while Toord Boontje, Burks and fellow New Yorkers Bibi Seck and Ayse Birsel sought the expertise of African craftspeople to materialise their products. It all had the potential of resorting to cliche and resembling something you’d pick up in a London market, but Moroso managed to capture the spirit of a carnival in the furniture, and keep the products suitably chic for their price tag.
See more images of this stunning exhibition here and here.
Another African influenced piece at the show that was not a part of M’Afrique was by the Fashion Designer Ermanno Scervino launch of the company’s first furniture and linens collection inspired by the designer’s East African African vacations, particularly Kenya. Sofas, chairs and a canopy bed were covered with crocheted raffia in black or natural hues. An especially interesting raffia armchair with legs aand arms made of horns of the zebu cow (shown at left) was a show stopper. The furniture is produced under license by the Italian furniture house Nicoletti.
Kampala Serena
Kampala Serena Hotel
Kampala, Uganda
Client: Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development
Architect: Symbion Architects
Interior Design: Symbion Architects, Paul Smith
Landscape Design: Glenn Wagner-Landmark Studios
Almost 100 years ago, in 1908, a young Winston Churchill dubbed Uganda “The Pearl of Africa.” And it was. With its fertile soil and natural resources, it was a Garden of Eden in the heart of the continent.
Since 1986, Uganda has found a new confidence and stability. Its luster has been restored and the capital, Kampala, now vibrates with optimism and energy. So it is no surprise that the prestigious Serena Group decided to transform the old 65-room government-run Nile hotel, built in 1975, into the region’s most sophisticated and stylish resort. Owned and operated by Tourism Promotion Services, an arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), Serena also owns and manages properties in Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar and Mozambique.
The company awarded the project to Symbion International, a Nairobi-based architectural and interior design firm with which it had collaborated on a number of hotel projects over the years.
Symbion architects Jon A. Cavanagh, Pius Muli and Michael Lord, along with interior designer Paul Smith, drew on the country’s cultural and natural heritage for inspiration. Says Cavanagh, “We have brought the colors of Africa—the lakes, rivers and fertile soils—to almost every aspect of the project.” These themes appear in both the exterior features of the hotel and in the room décor, where softly flowing fabrics, muted colours and organic themes prevail. The skills of numerous local artists were also called upon to create the stunning carved panels, mosaic pillars, beaten copper fretwork, sensational traditional jewellery, beaded wall hangings and hand-carved ‘bambara birds’, which bedeck the communal areas.
At the opening in 2006, Prince Amyn Aga Khan, a principal shareholder through AKFED, reiterated this concept. “We took the Nile as our theme,” he said, “the Nile as the place where different peoples met, different philosophies, cultures and aesthetics crossed each other and which, from this intermingling, produced a continuous swell of artistic creativity and originality.”
Says Cavanagh, “The building was positioned on the upper portion of the 17-acre site, which allowed the landscape to wrap around it.” All of the 152 guest rooms and suites have views of the city and surrounding hills and the lush garden.
Photo Credit: Tim Beddow
Boasting luscious grounds which provide shelter for a wide selection of indigenous trees; and protection for a beautiful array of flowers, birds and butterflies, the hotel’s extensive grounds provide a haven of calm in the centre of Uganda’s most cosmopolitan city. Water is a theme that appears throughout. A thin curtain of water falls from the top level of the reception area into a substantial pebble-lined basin at the bottom and from there magically sweeps out of the building into a man-made lake. Meandering paths link bridges over ponds and rocky outcroppings and lead to a giant cascade, created by Kenyan rockwork specialist Julius Mutungi, that falls into a serpentine swimming pool.
Nearby, in the Lakes Restaurant, the water theme continues. Columns are covered in a mosaic depicting Lake Victoria’s fish and aquatic plants. Fish motifs are also incorporated into the wrought iron balustrades, the beaten-copper frescoes and the organically carved mahogany columns throughout. And in some of the guest rooms, the carpets have a wave pattern.
Mist Bar acquires its jungle theme from Uganda’s forests and mountain gorillas. Giant plaster reliefs with jungle scenes adorn the walls, and the bar front has panels carved with a leaf motif by Ugandan artist Expedito Mwebe. Handcrafted artificial tree trunks, cane furniture and jungle fabrics help to establish an exotic atmosphere.
In the Explorer Restaurant, the designers took their cue from some of the region’s early explorers. It is filled with 19th-century safari memorabilia, reminiscent of a scene out of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Woven-cane chairs are mixed with period pieces, adding to the safari ambience. “We wanted to evoke the romance and mystery of early explorations, that feeling of discovery,” Smith explains.
Cavanagh and his team at Symbion have, at the Kampala Serena, created what can only be described as an opulent, world-class hotel, one that is wholly appropriate for its site. Says Cavanagh, “The harmonious synchronization of the interior and exterior themes was certainly the most rewarding aspect of the project.” Also central to the hotel’s success are the attentiveness and efficiency of the staff. Here Ugandan hospitality shines through. This landmark hotel, like Uganda itself, truly is a Pearl of Africa.
Click here for an interactive Virtual Tour.
Related Articles:
The Kampala Serena, A Celebration of African Culture
Lamu Residence
Lamu Residence
Lamu, Kenya
Client: Suno Kay Osterweis
Architect and Interiors: Claudio Modola
Suno Kay Osterweis first visited Lamu, off the northern coast of Kenya, in 1996 after a brief safari. She was immediately seduced by the island’s heady mix of stylish, easy living and the eclectic crowd of regular visitors. She returned often eventually becoming acquainted with Claudio Modola, an architectural designer who practices in Lamu and lives on the neighboring island of Manda. In 1998, she acquired a narrow, steep plot of land facing the Indian Ocean, and quickly enlisted him to help her fulfill her dream of building a house of her own there.
Modola worked for weeks on sketches and eventually presented his client with a scheme that would fit the site’s topography and unusual dimensions. A fountain, to mark the transition from the outside to the inside, was to be at the entrance; the living spaces and master bedroom were to be placed on the upper levels to take advantage of the views and the ocean breezes. The ceilings were to be 23 feet high, and a swimming pool would be perched nearly 20 feet above the ground. The style would be inspired by the island’s Islamic architecture
Osterweis’ and Modola’s vision proved a difficult proposition. Building on Lamu is never easy. This centuries old island, with an old town that is a UNESCO protected Cultural Heritage Site, is accessible only by boat or air, and cars are not allowed. Thousands of blocks (composed in part of coral topsoil and cement) had to be fabricated on Manda and transported in small boats across the channel’s often rough seas. The site presented its own challenge: Hundreds of tons of sand had to be removed before the foundations could be dug.
Photographs by Tim Beddow
Despite the obstacles, the house was finished almost two years after construction began, and Osterweis focused her attention on the finishes and interiors. For the former, she replicated the traditional plasterwork of the local Swahili culture found on many of the island’s buildings – a process which, using local artisans took two and a half years, producing surfaces of superb sensuality and subtle color.
Most of the furnishings were sourced locally on the island, using salvaged driftwood, and local craftsmen.
