Domenique Mora: Where Design Meets Vision

Helmut Newton, a feckless, un-scholarly boy grew up to transform fashion photography.  Probably the most imitated and controversial fashion photographer of his time, Newton earned the nickname King of Kink as well as a fortune. “If a photographer says he is not a voyeur, he is an idiot,”  Newton once said.  His erotic and dream like images were like a peep through a key hole, spied moments of a heightened reality. As a person, Newton was unsurprisingly complex. A bohemian and yet very pragmatic, he insisted that he was not an intellectual and did not stand for much. His sardonic humor, delight in mischief, and nonchalant sense of irony are obvious in his work. He considered America weird, exotic, and outrageous.  Though a slave to his own imagination, Newton claimed that his photographs were entirely based in reality.  He  was inspired by Film Noir, Expressionist Cinema, S & M and Surrealism. His many obsessions were rooted in his childhood, in the...

Casa Malaparte was envisioned and built in 1942 on the Isle of Capri by Italian journalist and writer Curzio Malaparte. He was one of the most powerful, independent and influential Italian writers of the mid-20th century. An impetuous man of letters, Curzio Malaparte fell afoul of Mussolini in 1933 and was exiled to a speck of land in the Mediterranean, banishment had a paradoxical effect on him.  Upon his release, Malaparte longed for more remoteness and seclusion.  After buying a site on Capri’s eastern coastline, Malaparte had the noted architect Adalberto Libera draw up plans for a home, but later threw them out in favor of his own vision—a stolid, prominent form, with a poetic wind break, on top a tapering exterior staircase. Today the dwelling is owned by the writer’s heirs and most easily seen by boat or by revisiting Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 film Contempt, in which the roof provides a sunbathing venue for Brigitte Bardot.  The minimalist plinth of the timel...

Tokyo designer Gwenael Nicolas, spa composition in Interlaken, Switzerland gives way to  unexplored senses.  The dark corridor leads the way until space vanishes. The suspended silks in the Kanebo Spa enfolds guests in dimensions of serene light distancing the bustling outside world, layer by layer.   The spaces design is based  on lining of floating layers of Koishimaru silk that hangs from the ceiling.  The soft glow of lights fade-outs the outside world, one layer at a time until the mind becomes liberated to transform mind and body.   Moving past the silk layers, a circular waiting room welcomes guests. The waiting room in the center of space is designed similar to a cocoon and metamorphoses into a silky spun oasis of tranquility.  Treatment rooms enveloped in warm wooden walls and timber shelves linked to the ceiling by metal poles add to the atmosphere.  Everyday life gives way to a different dimension that leads to an u...

The Lavender Bay Boat shed consists of two 3 story boat sheds that abut one another at the north-western edge of the bay. Built in the 19th century, they are the last remaining timber structures from the era in this part of Sydney Harbour. restored since 2008, they have been converted into a mix of commercial and residential units in the northern building and a 3 story residential apartment in the southern building. The main apartment extends from the lower ground floor (where the harbour extends into the main bedroom under a glazed floor) to a height of three story's. It is entered mid-level on the landward side via a steep and winding path. From here the large timber lined living room (evoking memories of being a small child under an upturned boat) opens out towards the city skyline. The existing timber structure, pulled and stretched out of shape over time, has been left visible. Large skylights have been inserted in the roof that frame views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and d...