Throughout the year Habitus has been fortunate to borrow the time of some of the industry's most creative and innovative Design Hunters, lending our ears and sharing their paths and perspectives.
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A child of the left wing intelligentsia, Penelope Seidler was never just the wife of one of Australia’s most notable architects. Habitus visited her at the home she and Harry designed.
The Killara House, essentially four volumes – or half-floors – suspended around a void, is composed of reinforced concrete, basalt, timber, white concrete blocks and quartzite. A more definite commitment to the long term is difficult to imagine. By coincidence, ‘killara’ is an Aboriginal word meaning ‘permanent’ or ‘always there’.
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Tadao Ando seated within Church on the Water
Following almost five decades of iconic design, Habitus spoke to Tadao Ando from his Studio Oyodo in Osaka, about how he continues to impart his vision.
Inspired by nature and sunlight, Tadao Ando has become known globally for mutating everyday spaces into sacred experiences. Elements of light, water, wind and rain are central to shaping his dramatic yet delicate structures. “I was born and raised in a traditional residential neighbourhood of downtown Osaka. My home was a dark place with little light and high windows,” he says. And over the years he has become not only a design icon but a great advocate of social and environmental causes. A look through his portfolio reveals examples of how he’s sought to intertwine his buildings with nature.
Pip Vassett founded IN BED five years ago and in that time she has created a multi-faceted experience and cult following. Habitus was a guest at the casual entrepreneur’s effortlessly cool home in Sydney’s Rose Bay.
“Anything in our home we want to love now as much as in 10 or 20 years. That’s what good design is; something that’s going to be good in a decade or two,” said Pip, the pursuit of timeless design for IN BED clearly extending to the design of her home.
Kelvin Ho is a well-known and respected designer and founder of a Sydney-based architecture and interior design studio – though his clients are far from limited to Australia. In addition to residential architecture and retail design, Kelvin is also a frequent collaborator with Justin Hemmes and the Merivale Group for the interior design and architecture of many of their hospitality spaces and has also worked on the set design for productions with The Australian Ballet.
This, however, was all under the guise of Akin Creative, which he first founded in 2005. Almost a decade and a half later, and with firmly established following, Kelvin Ho decided to relaunch his studio as Akin Atelier.
Anyone who’s ever craved Bill Granger’s signature creamy scrambled eggs can well appreciate the impact he’s had on Australia’s dining culture. This much-loved restaurateur and food writer proves cooking wasn’t meant to be laboured and that eating is all about the joy of sharing simple, fresh meals with family and friends. Whether you’ve eaten his dishes in one of his restaurants, cooked a recipe from any number of his cookbooks or watched him on TV, you’ll know it’s hard to resist his particular brand of warmth and relaxed ease.
