In their suspended beauty, the works of the Dutch artist do not conceal but rather show their nature as ceramics put back together, their consistency as regenerated fragments. Bouke de Vries explains why he chose to breathe new life into the remains of a distant past.
Born as an ideal Renaissance town inspired by the principles of the golden ratio, Barchi – a town in the Italian Marche region – was at risk of depopulation. Today it is the focus of a regeneration project that all the inhabitants are called on to take part in.
Within the urban fabric, stark contradictions coexist, defying the polished image curated for tourists. Elusive and compelling, cities become the flâneur’s terrain of discovery — he, the priest of the genius loci, whose aimless wandering allows him to grasp their deepest secrets.
Why should we care more for – or rather, be more concerned with – woods, from those close to home to those on the other side of the planet? In this exclusive video-interview for humus, Antonio Perazzi, landscape architect, botanist and writer, lists the reasons for this necessary concern; he also explains how woods grow, and what is their function in the natural ecosystem, which we are also a part of.
With projects running from Paris to Taiwan, the award-winning French landscape architect talks about the correct approach to forests in different places around the world. Design criteria must privilege the context and nature to be effective.
In the Carpathia project, photographer Nicholas J.R. White documents the birth of a nature park in the remote heart of Romania, protecting one of the last wild areas in the European continent.
Growing trees that are more suited that others to cope with climate change and, together, raise a new generation of citizens to take care of them: this is the two-fold challenge faced by a project run by the Tuscan-Emilian Apennine National Park with Fondazione Iris Ceramica Group.
Our civilisation has been supported by forests for millennia, and many projects and objects have an invisible debt with the tree communities. Being aware of this – until now – unbalanced relationship can only improve it.
Rather than ending up in the landfill, the trees destroyed by Storm Vaia have been brought back to life as objects and furniture, avoiding the felling of healthy trees. Testimonials to this include the business venture of the Trentino-based start-up Vaia and other similar initiatives, especially in the collectible design sector.
Born and raised just a stone’s throw from the foothills of the world’s largest rainforest, the Brazilian designer draws inspiration from its plant and animal species to create furniture and complements that are both contemporary and soaked in local culture.