< PreviousLeading Light Michael Anastassiades is one of the world’s most revered lighting designers, but his work for fashion and furniture brands is equally brilliant I am constantly questioning my role as a designer and always asking myself if what I am doing is relevant,” says Michael Anastassiades who founded his eponymous lighting brand in 2001. “Is my contribution to design positive? Am I developing a new idea?” The Cypriot designer moved to London to study in the late Eighties and works from a studio in his fi ve-storey home near Waterloo Station, which also acts as a gallery space for his lights. The elegant designs aren’t glitzy, but they are spectacular nonetheless; Anastassiades was garlanded as Maison&Objet’s designer of the year this January for good reason. The softly-spoken 53 year-old studied civil engineering at Imperial College before taking a master’s in industrial design at the Royal College of Art. Made from metal, stone and opalescent glass his deceptively simple creations are clean-lined without being austere. Balance is a recurring visual motif (picture a glass ball perched on the very 30 RA D A R / N a m e t o k n o w B E N A N D E R S ; E R IN I V O U R LO U M IS edge of a brass lamp base or an oversized mobile-inspired chandelier) but then, Anastassiades has practised yoga for over 20 years, teaching private classes for a time. “I try to approach designing with generosity and with an awareness of what came before,” he says. “Lighting is my passion but I don’t feel limited in what I do as a designer, so I am happy to have the opportunity to try diff erent things.” Anastassiades recently unveiled the sculptural Flute handbag (a double-layered strap falls into a drop-like shape when not in use) and a six-piece fi ne jewellery collection for stealth luxury label Valextra, melding classical infl uences with minimalist rigour. He has also collaborated with Herman Miller on furniture, and Bang & Olufsen on audio equipment that looks as good as it sounds. For most of his career Anastassiades produced lights like fi ne art – as one-off s or limited editions – but was persuaded to design two lighting ranges for the Italian manufacturer Flos in 2013. They were immediate commercial and critical hits: the String light was shortlisted for the Design Museum’s Designs of the Year award in 2014, and the Flos IC lights (glass spheres set against right angles of brass that can be used in diff erent confi gurations) are global best-sellers. In 2017, Anastassiades launched his own lighting collections at the Euroluce exhibition in Milan. Chroma saw the designer exploring colour (verdigris and earthy reds) for the fi rst time; Stoneware is a collection of ceramic sconces and pendants; and lighting integrated into table-like forms was dubbed Furnitecture. Last year, he showed a retrospective in his native Cyprus, but he has his eyes set fi rmly on the future: “For me, it is important to make sure that what I design always explores a new idea and uses new technology in a poetic way.” Michaelanastassiades.com – T ALIB CHOUDHR Y AD_30-31_Radar_Nametoknow Michael_11188531.indd 3029/03/2020 01:03:29 PMCLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: The designer; Spot stools for Herman Miller. A Mobile Chandelier hangs above; Ball Light Chandelier 3; Flute bag and ring for Valextra; Half Way Round furniture for Dank Mobelkunst; Parallel Structure table for B&B Italia; Lounge Chair for Gebruder Thonet Vienna. “What I design explores new ideas and technology in a poetic way” AD_30-31_Radar_Nametoknow Michael_11188531.indd 3129/03/2020 01:03:57 PM32 RA D A R / S p a c e s Final Frontier Zaha Hadid’s first – and final – hotel project in Dubai is a boundary breaking masterpiece AD_32-33_Radar Spaces The Opus_11252868.indd 3229/03/2020 01:22:51 PML ocated in The Opus, one of the most highly anticipated buildings of 2020, Dubai’s ME by Meliá hotel is a stunning representation of its designer’s work. As Zaha Hadid’s fi nal hotel project before her untimely death in 2016, the Pritzker prize-winning architect lent her signature futuristic style to the property. The resulting exterior and interior spaces reinvent the balance between solid and void. “This was the fi rst hotel that Hadid had ever designed from A to Z,” says Stefan Viard, General Manager of ME Dubai. “After her death, Zaha Hadid Architects was very involved in making sure that everything was perfect, in order to preserve her legacy.” The 93-room boutique hotel, which offi cially opened its doors in March, is characterised by sweeping curves, sharp angles and bold materials. Statement furniture throughout the lobby and reception areas, all of which was either designed or personally selected by Hadid, is dressed in plum hues. Guest rooms – including 19 luxury suites – also include bespoke objects and products by Hadid, who had approved all the designs. “Because of the undulating shape of The Opus, each room came out slightly diff erently,” adds Viard. “The bathrooms, for instance, couldn’t all be the same but it creates a distinct character for each room.” Housing both residential and commercial spaces, The Opus spans two million square feet, and comprises two separate towers that connect in the form of a cube, with a ‘carved’ central void, which appears to hover above the ground and provides dramatic views of the atrium below. “There were, of course, many challenges in the development of The Opus – which was also designed by Hadid – with the most diffi cult being the glass,” says Viard. “Because of the curves of the building, each pane of glass for the exterior cladding had to be individually manufactured.” ME Dubai has three restaurants (including the Paul Bishop-designed Central) and there are a further 15 dining options in The Opus, including the recently opened Japanese restaurant Roka, which has an award-winning fl agship in London. “It was just amazing to see this hotel come to life,” Viard adds. “While the overall result speaks for itself, we must not forget that to create a design is one thing, but to get it built is another, and boundaries here were broken. It’s an architectural masterpiece.” melia.com – JUMANA ABDEL -RAZZA Q PHOTOGR A PHY : A A SIY A J A GADE ESH AD_32-33_Radar Spaces The Opus_11252868.indd 3329/03/2020 01:22:26 PM34 RA D A R / A t h o m e w it h The New Look Saudi designer Rawan AlSahsah’s continually evolving Jeddah villa is as vibrant and elegant as the lady of the house T he Jeddah-based interior architect Rawan AlSahsah is making waves far beyond the Saudi coastal city. Over the last decade, her fi rm RIS has worked with clients across the Middle East, Europe and the United States to deliver elegant-yet-vibrant interiors. Located in the upscale Al Khalidiah neighbourhood, AlSahsah’s perfectly appointed home is the ultimate embodiment of her style – as is her recently launched furniture label Rawan Issac. Here, she gives AD a tour of the swish, 14-room villa. What’s the best thing about living in Al Khalidiah? It’s a central, green and quiet neighbourhood. A calm oasis. What was the villa like when you moved? Completely diff erent! I changed everything in the house, from room structures and functions to fi nishes and furnishings. How would you describe your decorating style? Unexpected. AD_34-36_Radar_At home with_Rawan Al Sahsah_11129181.indd 3429/03/2020 04:41:43 PMMy style is constantly evolving, but luxurious, chic and eclectic sums it up. I’m really inspired by everything: art, fashion architecture, nature. Your best piece of decorating advice? I always advise people to take risks and follow their hearts. It’s your home so do what makes you happy. What’s your approach to using colour and pattern? I’m considered bold. I love using layers of colour, textures and patterns harmoniously. You seem to be a fearless decorator... My 18 years of experience in the industry have given me the confi dence to be assured in mixing several styles and eras. I like to use antique pieces to add historical depth to a modern space. Do you have any favourite furniture pieces? Art that I’ve “I always advise people to take decorating risks and follow their hearts” PH OTOG R A PH S : AB D U LR AH MAN BA YA S H O U T. INTE RVI E W : R IMA AL SAM MAR A E collected on my travels and an antique coff ee table that I inherited from my grandma. It’s special to my heart. What’s the best and worst part of your job? The best part of my job is the variety. I tailor the creative approach to each project and seeing my designs manifest in diff erent spaces is always gratifying. The down- side? I am a hands-on perfec- tionist and we often have several projects on the go at once so it can be draining. How do you relax? I make time for doing things I love – cooking, gardening, travelling – and I quiet my mind by meditating and listening to audiobooks. Tell us about your furniture line, Rawan Issac. I spend a lot of time in New York, and launched it there last year. It’s a high-end fi rm serving designers, boutiques and e-tailers. FROM TOP: The elegantly eclectic sitting room has a mix of classical, art deco and modern furniture; deep blue cabinets and a checked fl oor add interest to the kitchen. OPPOSITE PAGE FROM TOP: Rawan AlSahah; the main entrance was extended and glass-and-metal doors added to fl ood the space with light. AD_34-36_Radar_At home with_Rawan Al Sahsah_11129181.indd 3529/03/2020 04:42:05 PM36 RA D A R / A t h o m e w it h Where in your home are you happiest? My garden is a favourite spot when the weather is nice. The planting was inspired by Bali and it is very lush. I like to meditate sur- rounded by nature. Your perfect weekend? I love the outdoors so I try to spend my weekends at the beach or in the garden, with friends and family gathering for barbecues and afternoons by the pool. The possession you would never part with? Not so much a possession as people – I wouldn’t be able to part with my family. My nieces and nephews have their own rooms here and have sleepovers most weekends. Do you experiment with the decor at home? I like change, and in although I have lived here for less than three years, I’ve redecorated some of the rooms twice already. If you could change one thing right now, what would it be? At the moment, I’m thinking of changing some of the brass architraves to matte black metal to tone down the look. rawanisaac.com INSPIRED BUYS Saki suspension light, Brabbu, brabbu.com Parker shell box, Greg Natale, gregnatale.com TOP RIGHT: The main bedroom has a feature wall of hand-painted chinoiserie wallpaper. ABOVE: A Branching Bubble light by Lindsey Adelman hangs above the dining table. The chairs are by Jonathan Adler; AlSahsah relaxes in the lush garden. LEFT: The marble-and- brass master bathroom. Pineapple screen, Gucci Decor, gucci.com Rider chair, Jonathan Adler, jonathan adler.com Ziggurat bowl, Greg Natale, gregnatale.com AD_34-36_Radar_At home with_Rawan Al Sahsah_11129181.indd 3629/03/2020 04:42:36 PMCurrent trends unifi ed in one new bathroom series: an iconic design of harmonious rounded corners. Anthracite Matt sophisticatedly combined or expressively contrasting. Light or dark wood tones, satin matt fi nishes, gently sliding handleless pull-out compartments with self-closing and interior lighting. Design by sieger design. Visit www.duravit.com for more details. Happy D.2 Plus. Shape, colour and comfort.38 RA D A R /A rt Bitter- sweet Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz’s installations reveal the common threads that connect disparate communities, in deeply moving and humorous ways F or Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz, fi nding connections between seemingly unrelated sto- ries appears to be an almost eff ort- less exercise – as if they’re waiting to reveal themselves. As if the essence of the human experience can be scaled back to a handful of narratives, or even just one: loss. Rakowitz is well-known for his artworks that reference Iraq’s ancient history and recent past; 2010’s May the Arrogant Not Prevail saw a replica of the Ishtar Gate installed in Berlin, and the following year a culinary intervention in New York dubbed Spoils featured Iraqi dishes on plates looted from Saddam Hussein’s palaces. But his proj- ects that share the stories of individuals and communities from other parts of the world are equally compelling, tied together through themes of misfortune and neglect. “I never wanted to make work that could only be framed by identity, although I’m not afraid of that,” he says. “You get these moments where you understand that you’re not just trying to make the next clever art- work, that these are actually things that have a lot to say about who’s making them as well.” Originally from an Iraqi-Jewish family, Rakowitz’s grandparents fl ed Iraq in the 1940s, as anti-Jewish sentiment began rever- berating a little too close to home. For a time they lived in India, before eventually settling in the US. In 1973, Rakowitz was born in New York, though he is now based in Chicago, where he runs an art studio. AD_38-39_Radar Art Michael Rakowitz_11244409.indd 3829/03/2020 01:53:49 PM“With some of my projects, I’m aware that I can’t claim that sort of pain or trauma, and I have to understand what my relationship to the subject is, and where the points that we intersect are,” Rakowitz says, referring to projects like A Color Removed, which drew on the murder of a 12-year-old African-American boy by a police offi cer in 2018, and White man got no dreaming, a contemporary version of Monument to the Third International, a design for a grand monumental building by the Russian artist and architect Vladimir Tatlin, that was never built. Rakowitz’s update was made in collaboration with people from Sydney’s Aboriginal neighbourhood ‘The Block’, using local construction materials. “One of the things that’s important to me is having a certain amount of doubt because that keeps me critical and wondering if I’m doing the right thing,” he says. “Just the other day, we had someone viewing White man got no dreaming, and he asked me if I knew that the original piece by Tatlin was inspired by the minaret of Samarra in Iraq. I did know that and I had debated putting that in there, but couldn’t fi nd a way to do it. I also recognised that I don’t always have to bring Iraq in.” Currently being shown at Dubai’s Jameel Arts Centre in a solo exhibition until 8 August, Rakowitz’s installations involve extensive research, and touch on confl icts and the destruction of material heritage. In one of his best-known pieces, The invisible enemy should not exist, which started in 2008, the artist unfolds an intricate narrative around the artefacts looted from the National Museum of Iraq in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of 2003. The work strives to replicate 800 of the stolen archaeological pieces, and recreate them using materials including newspaper clippings and Iraqi food packaging, like date syrup cans. Often described as ‘Iraqi heritage meets pop culture’, the series sheds light on the lost history of Iraq – both the artefacts sto- len in 2003 and the bygone eras of its date pro- duction. Such materials, which Rakowitz calls ‘frag- ments of cultural visibility’, are a kind of lan- guage. They speak on culinary traditions – moments of gathering, eating and joy. It’s what makes his pieces healing to many, including Dr. Donny George Youkhanna, the former director of the National Museum of Iraq, who worked closely with Rakowitz, and even gave tours of The invisible enemy should not exist when some of the pieces were exhib- ited in New York – as if he was giving tours of the originals in Baghdad. A bitter-sweet story, Rakowitz’s work allowed Youkhanna to ‘see the artefacts again’. “Donny was a big supporter of the project,” says Rakowitz, “and I’m thankful to people like him who were willing to take me serious- ly, and who perhaps liked that I was thinking about things in a way they wouldn’t.” While the artist’s work is always thought provoking, sometimes, humour plays a sup- porting role – he once broadcasted a 10-part radio series in Palestine that mapped the rise of pan-Arabism against the simultaneous decline of The Beatles. “It’s an obsession,” he says of his passion for the English rock band. “I become deeply curious and interested in things, and I focus intently on them.” At the moment, Rakowitz is working on an anti-war memorial being built in Margate, a seaside town on the south-east coast of England. In collaboration with the Veterans for Peace in the UK, the piece is a statement of both solidarity and accountability for the Iraq war, and a push to the government to abolish war in general. In true Rakowitz fashion, the piece has multiple layers of meaning. “The memorial makes a link to Siegfried Sassoon, a celebrated poet in England and a soldier in the fi rst World War who came back a pacifi st,” says Rakowitz. “He started this whole tradition of soldiers ret urning their medals in protest, and he became the poet that’s often quoted by anti-war activists, espe- cially in the UK. It turns out he was an Iraqi Jew and from the same family that I descend from. So there it is again – the links.” michaelrakowitz.com – RIMA AL S AMMARAE “These are things that have a lot to say about who’s making them” White man got no dreaming 2008. BELOW: Pieces from The invisible enemy should not exist 2007 – ongoing. LEFT: Michael Racowitz. OPPOSITE PAGE: The invisible enemy should not exist (Northwest palace of Nimrud, Room N) 2018. P H O TOS : RO B E RT C H AS E H E IS H M AN ; J O H N N G UYE N , CO U R TE SY WH ITE C HAPE L G ALLE R Y. AD_38-39_Radar Art Michael Rakowitz_11244409.indd 3929/03/2020 01:55:28 PMNext >