Nick Ozemba, co-founder of In Common With, met his eventual business partner, Felicia Hung, on the first day of their freshman year in the furniture design program at RISD. After graduation, he went on to design interiors at ASH NYC and SHoP Architects, while Hung went to work as a product designer. Then in 2017, they reunited to form the Brooklyn-based studio In Common With.

While focused on creating lighting collections, the work leans on curiosity, materiality, and plenty of collaboration. The brand’s aesthetic is simple while striking, it comes together with the help of a top-notch team and talented ceramicists, glassmakers, and metalworkers they collaborate with around the world. An impressive portfolio of custom projects carries the style further, featuring a comfortably understated appeal. Ozemba and Hung have been able to combine their respective experiences in industrial design, manufacturing, and interiors and infuse it throughout every corner of In Common With.

In fall 2022, In Common With took a big step by opening their first showroom in a historic warehouse building in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The space includes an expanded production studio where every product is assembled and new collections and prototypes are developed.

This week, Nick Ozemba joins us for Friday Five!

Photo: Nick Ozemba

I had the privilege of visiting the Schloss Hollenegg this summer with my business partner, Felicia, and Sophie Lou Jacobsen, to photograph our newest lighting collection – Flora Series. A 12th-century castle in the Austrian countryside owned by Alice and Alfred Liechtenstein, its historical rooms are filled with old-world details, from wood-burning clay stoves to hand-painted silk wallpaper and baroque-plastered walls. 
After carefully restoring the estate, Alice and Alfred decided to start a design residency program, transforming the space into a workshop for research and experimentation. The designers in residence spend the month of July developing their practice, responding to the historical setting, being inspired by their surroundings and each other. Their final work is exhibited each May. We are thrilled some of our Flora pieces will be on view as part of the show.

Photo: Nick Ozemba

2. Camí de Cavalls

The Camí de Cavalls, which translates to “Way of Horses,” is a historic military path that winds around the perimeter of Menorca and has existed since the early 1300s. The trail was restored as a walking route in 2010 and is one of the most beautiful landscapes I have experienced in the Mediterranean. It swerves through multiple ecosystems along a rugged coastline, opening to secluded beach coves. It now has even more special meaning – my partner and I spent a week exploring the island this summer and it’s where we got engaged.

Photo: Nick Ozemba

After our time in Menorca, we spent a few days on its larger sister island, Mallorca. Hidden in a small village is a fantastic restaurant called Ca Na Toneta run by two sisters, Maria and Teresa, and named after their grandmother, Toneta. Their approach to cooking combines traditional Mallorcan dishes with a focus on seasonal and locally-sourced ingredients. We had an unforgettable meal on their rear patio. The sisters also converted an adjoining house into a small boutique selling products made by local artists, so we left with an extra suitcase of beautiful ceramics and textiles.

Photo: Nicole Franzen

When I first moved to New York, Saraghina in Bed-Stuy was my go-to restaurant. I lived a block away and would go with my dear friend, Leah, to gossip for hours over pizza and rosemary margaritas. Since starting In Common With, we’ve worked with many excellent restaurants, including the newly opened Saraghina Caffè in Fort Greene, which features our Orb 4 Surface Mounts. The interior – designed by Space Exploration Design – is a beautiful ode to Milan, and the food does not disappoint.

5. My Cookbook Collection

I’m a passionate home cook and love learning from talented chefs by cooking my way through their books. My latest obsession is Rosetta by Elena Reygadas. The book is in Spanish, so I’ve been slowly translating each recipe as I make it. So far, the white mole is my favorite. I’m also looking forward to Camille Becerra’s cookbook, which will come out soon.

Work by Nick Ozemba + In Common With:

Orb 8 Table Lamp Photo: Clement Pascal

In Common With x Danny Kaplan Studio, Helena Floor Lamp in Stone and Paloma Pendant in Anthracite Photo: William Jess Laird

Alien Orb Pendant in Terracotta

Glass Up Down Sconce Photo: In Common With

Kelly Beall is senior editor at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based graphic designer and writer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, and enjoys sharing her finds with others. When undistracted by great art and design, she can be found making a mess in the kitchen, consuming as much information as possible, or on the couch with her three pets. Find her @designcrush on social.

Shaped by millennia of fire and ice, the Icelandic landscape is renown for a transcendent and majestic minimalism – violent volcanoes, glacier-carved fjords, black sand beaches, and uninhabited spans of hoary highlands. It is an environment that defines “unforgiving.” But look closer and one begins to notice an abundance of flora and fauna not just persevering, but flourishing across this unique landscape. Voluminous mats of moss, unyielding locks of lichen, fluffy arctic foxes, and adorably rounded puffins are but just a few inhabitants of the volcanic island. The close knit Icelandic design and craft community exhibits a similar resiliency and resourcefulness shaped by the local landscape, attributes on full display each year across Reykjavik under the banner of DesignMarch.

With over 100 exhibits hosted over the span of five days across Reykjavik, alongside the accompanying DesignTalks conference hosted within the luminous Olafur Eliasson-designed Harpa concert hall, DesignMarch offers Iceland’s brightest emerging talents and established brands the opportunity to showcase their latest efforts, many emphasizing the use of locally sourced, recycled, and sustainable materials in service of circular design. Below are some of our favorite exhibits from this year’s DesignMarch:

Founded in Reykjavik, Iceland in 2017, FÓLK’s use of natural and upcycled materials reflects the Icelandic proclivity for utilizing oft overlooked resources in highly novel – yet useful – fashion. Take for example these pillows, designed by Studio Flétta for FÓLK, a clever use of airbags reclaimed from junkyard cars across Denmark, Iceland, and Poland and transformed into colorful cushions. To their surprise, Studio Flétta’s Birta Ros Brynjolfsdottir and Hrefna Sigurdardottir discovered European airbags are manufactured in pastel hues, inspiring the duo to combine the discarded automotive pieces into plush cushions. Filled with factory waste from foam mattresses along with additional waste fill from Icelandic outdoor brand 66 North, The Airbag is the definition of circular design, each pillow unique, with only the rope handle from a non-circular source.

Photo: Gregory Han

Photo: Gregory Han

Rebekka Ashley’s fascination with fungus among us took form and refuge within an appreciatively toasty greenhouse situated in the middle of downtown Reykjavik, where several of the young mycophile’s speculative designs – tables, stools, lamps, and forager’s gloves – invited DesignMarch attendees and the general public a glimpse into an imaginary mushroom hunter’s home. Made or woven locally from reclaimed materials in Stustustudio in Hafnar, Ashley’s mushroom-inspired designs are playful and whimsical. But like fungus themselves, the greater body of interest lies underneath the surface – topics related to food and sustainability – subjects of vital local importance in a culture where a majority of local produce must be foraged, hunted seasonally, or grown within greenhouses.

Photo: Gregory Han

Glass and wax candles by Thorunn Arnadottir and John Hogan Photo: Gregory Han

Numerous parallels run between the Icelandic designers of Reykjavik and their Pacific Northwest counterparts in Seattle, Washington: aesthetics informed by dramatic landscapes and mercurial weather, palettes colored by extended seasons of gray interrupted by celebrations of color, an appreciation for warm illumination. It’s no wonder the two cities became sister cities in 1986. The two similarly spirited communities came together during DesignMarch within the Asmundarsalur art gallery, a gathering of eighteen studios inspired by the theme of “togetherness.” The Hæ/Hi Designing Friendship exhibition proved so wildly popular, it even attracted the attendance of the President of Iceland, Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, who shared a few welcoming words in celebration of the exhibition’s theme of saman (together).

Display plates by Hugdetta and WKND Studio Photo: Gregory Han

A peek inside the miniature landscape imagined by Fin and Hann Elias with Weird Pickle Photo: Gregory Han

Ceramics designed to fit in correspondence with a matching graphical table cloth by Theodora Alfredsdottir and Gabriel Stromberg Photo: Gregory Han

Light, metal, wood, and clay combined by Hanna Dis Whitehead, Amanda Ringstad, and Sidona Bradley into a contraption of shifting light Photo: Gregory Han

A celebration of light designed by Fruitsuper in partnership with Ragna Ragnarsdottir Photo: Fruitsuper

Artist Kaja Dobrzańska’s Around the Touch literally brought DesignMarch attendees closer together, inviting people to reach through a ring of light to touch. The interactive sculpture illuminates when hands meet one another in the center, a gesture and spirit rather apropos of the entire DesignMarch week.

A wonderfully wild and woolen collaboration took form in the semblance of a pizza parlor like you’ve never seen before in downtown Reykjavik, pairing textile designer/recycled sweater knitting extraordinaire Ýrúrarí with product designers Birta Rós Brynjólfsdóttir and Hrefna Sigurðardóttir of Studio Flétta. The exuberant trio took leftovers from the Icelandic wool industry to playfully piece together limited edition pizza pie art pieces according to customers’ orders “cooked up” on a felting loom with more than a passing resemblance to a pizza oven. The deliciously delightful exhibition celebrated the Icelandic design community’s penchant for fun and frivolity topped with a bit of circular design.

Photo: Gregory Han

Photo: Gregory Han

Photo: Gregory Han

The concept of circular design is elegantly represented by Studio Miklo’s series of table and ceiling light sculptures titled, Circulus. The exhibition of lighting fashioned from clay and recycled cotton fibers was on full display downstairs from the aforementioned Ásmundarsalur gallery hosting the Hæ/Hi Designing Friendship exhibition, operating as ground floor for Iceland’s efforts to reuse and recycle in illuminating style.

Photo: Gregory Han

Photo: Gregory Han

Gregory Han is the Managing Editor of Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.

House of Today, a non-profit committed to fostering Lebanon’s sustainable design culture, presented Nathalie Khayat’s SALT during Frieze Los Angeles earlier this year. Curated by founder Cherine Magrabi Tayeb, the works that make up SALT revolve around a creative process that involved exploring sculptural dimensions of functional objects – such as bowls, vases, and candelabras – without assigning them a purpose.

“The SALT collection allows for ample room for viewers to interpret and explore the creative process and what was born of it,” Khayat shared. “I found that nature was speaking through me, which was expressed in both the creative process and the unique items that emerged.” Khayat added that she “embraced the idea of not setting clear intentions and abandoning norms, to birth a non-evident coherence between objects… where one calls on the other.”

The pieces within SALT offer meticulous details and robust shapes that are glazed in beiges, deep greens, and touches of red. Each one-of-a-kind organic shape seems as though it’s been pulled from the depths of the sea, which is exactly where Khayat found inspiration to peel back and mold their layers of clay.

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Khayat said, “I aspire for each viewer to creatively approach the item before them, to play an active role in deciding on how it will take life in a space or setting, or how it will be used. There is an element of discovery and surprise with SALT that I believe others will enjoy.”

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Nathalie Khayat

To learn more about SALT, visit houseoftoday.com.

Photos by Elie Abi Hanna.

Kelly Beall is senior editor at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based graphic designer and writer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, and enjoys sharing her finds with others. When undistracted by great art and design, she can be found making a mess in the kitchen, consuming as much information as possible, or on the couch with her three pets. Find her @designcrush on social.

AKAR is a furniture collection created by London- and Singapore-based studio Atelier Pendhapa in collaboration with Métaphores, a sister company of Hermès that specializes in weaving and fabrics for interior design. Atelier Pendhapa has created nine unique pieces of furniture, each showcasing a different type of horsehair fabric, which is hand-woven by Métaphores.

The horsehair used in the fabric is a natural byproduct of breeding activities in certain areas, primarily in Asia. It is most commonly found in Mongolia, where wild horses are bred for transportation and agriculture. The fabric has been extensively used in France for centuries, and Métaphores has reinvented the patterns and weavings of horsehair with a contemporary design by combining it with linen, wool, sisal, or metallic threads.

Atelier Pendhapa worked closely with Métaphores to select a range of fabrics showcasing the variety of techniques used in horsehair. The teams came together to create handmade exclusive pieces. The horsehair was woven in Challes, a region in France’s Sarthe, using a patented technique filed in 1787 and designated with the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label. Meanwhile, the solid mahogany and teak woods were carved at Atelier Pendhapa’s studio in Indonesia.

To learn more about the AKAR collection, visit pendhapa-architects.com.

Leo Lei translates his passion for minimalism into his daily-updated blog Leibal. In addition, you can find uniquely designed minimalist objects and furniture at the Leibal Store.

When I arrived at the Biophilic Leadership Summit in late April, I fully expected to be thrown into the deep end of academic and professional discussions dedicated to a concept striving to evolve into a worldwide movement. The roster of researchers and practitioners spanning fields from architecture, landscape design, horticulture, education, urban planning, governance, and the neurosciences promised big ideas in response to the enormous challenges existing between housing, health, and the environment. Some were there to divulge ongoing research, others to promote practices, and some even to rally debate about the core tenets of biophilic design.

Serenbe’s planners can certainly see the forest for the trees – and vice versa. The verdant expanse of Chattahoochee Hill Country in Georgia located about 40 minutes outside of Atlanta is now home for over 800 residents and ever growing. Photo: Serenbe

Oft connected to the work of social ecologist Stephen Kellert and Edward O. Wilson’s seminal 1984 biological hypothetical Biophilia, practitioners of biophilic design endeavor to reorient the built environment into holistic experiences beyond donning the veneer of nature. In simplest terms, biophiliacs believe we’ve evolved as a species to be our happiest, healthiest, and most productive surrounded by nature, so why not design our communities to tap into that deep seeded wellspring of good vibes?

The multi-day conference focused upon the theme of “Emerging Concepts in Biophilia.” “Nature & Neuroaesthetics” with Anjan Chatterjee, M.D. in Conversation with Jennifer Walsh kicked off the first of many presentations.

Serenbe co-founder, Steve Nygren

With obvious intent, the strongest case for biophilic design as a realizable goal is the site of the summit itself.

 Founded by Steve Nygren and Marie Lupo Nygren in 2004, Serenbe exists both as a developing proposition and an established example of biophilic design put into action. It’s also a residential concept that isn’t really new at all.

Biophilic Leadership Summit speakers such as Bill Browning of Terrapin Bright Green (above), architect Tuwanda Green, Professor of Architecture Phillip James Tabb, and Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania Anjan Chatterjee were amongst experts in attendance discussing biophilic design from various perspectives. Author and former Senior Partner and Global Managing Director for design firm IDEO Fred Dust presenting the keynote.

Comprising an interconnected network of homes, small businesses, parks, community centers, and even a working farm, the sum of Serenbe evokes a nostalgic and idyllic remembrance of small English countryside townships, complete with hallmarks of agrarian structures interspersed alongside modern architecture worthy of a Dwell feature (and in fact, a few homes have been featured as noteworthy architecture across numerous outlets).

The forest is ever present, with creeks and footpaths winnowing between homes, the sounds and scents of the natural world just as much a neighbor as the residents themselves.

Serenbe is shaped by twelve biophilic principles, each intended to influence planning and design in service of four goals: community engagement, national security, global balance, and personal wellbeing.

Nygren says Serenbe’s imprint upon the landscape is always intended to be minimal, abiding by a 70/30 ratio no matter how much land is eventually appropriated into its limits, with 70% of total land protected from development, the remaining 30% developed with minimal intrusion. The resulting neighborhood(s) invite walking, biking, and unplanned socializing as natural outcomes of a plan deemphasizing the car (automobiles are visible aplenty, possibly more a charge against American lifestyle than city planning).

Exploring Serenbe by foot, its hard not to consider the trees as much part of the citizenry as the residents themselves, an orchestrated sensation conjured by its 16 miles of nature trails principles and the integration of “sacred geometry” – shapes found in the reoccurring patterns and ratios within nature (think: Fibonacci Spiral) – prevalent in every small and large detail strewn throughout the town’s limits.

2021 Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Serenbe Designer Showhouse, built by South Haven with Landscape Design by Floralis

The Naturally House in the Serenbe hamlet of Mado was architecturally inspired by a treehouse.

Architecture in Serenbe ranges from traditional, historic, mid-century to contemporary. Buyers can purchase plots of land and hire their choice in architects if desired (requiring they meet certain sustainable design qualifications).

Nygren makes special effort to point out while Serenbe is suburban in plan, its was conceived from the start to invite a level of density no longer permitted in most new community developments. “See that large house there?” asks Nygren, stopping to point toward a residence during a tour. “Across the street we’ve built several houses closely together. And over there are apartments and businesses. That sort of multi-residence isn’t allowed elsewhere because of zoning laws.”

Larger plots measured in acreage are available to develop, but just as numerous are slim multi-storied condos and smaller homes. Senior residential housing is available, inviting an inter-generational populace; Nygren’s grandson scurried happily across a park to greet him along the tour. In certain sections of Serenbe this density imparts the community with an old European city vibe, complete with bridges and narrow cobblestone paths. The only tells being the general emptiness of many sections of the community, alongside an occasionally artificial veneer of age (this can sometimes give Serenbe the semblance of a beautiful movie set still waiting for cast and crew to arrive).

But the most visible imbalance in Serenbe is its lack of socio-economic-racial diversity, something Nygren acknowledges in passing before emphasizing the availability of affordable housing and rental options as a developing antidote for sprawl.

Beyond Serenbe’s architectural diversity and communal planning, it is the blurred transition between Serenbe’s residential plots and the surrounding natural landscape that proves quietly satisfying for residents and visitors alike. Everywhere shaded stairs and walkways needle between homes, allow walking as an inviting option. Viridescent canopies of trees and the understory untouched by landscaping are a constant presence, with curving sight lines rather than stringent grids defining the community. This hazy and meandering intersection of personal and communal space results in a gradient rather than the harshly demarcated lines typical of modern American suburban living.

Serenbe’s tapestry of green spaces are communal threads intentionally positioned to tighten the bonds of its residents across specific neighborhoods (“hamlets” in Serenbe parlance), independent businesses, and communal spaces.

What began as a 60-acre farm purchased by the Nygrens in 1991 as an escape from the urban life rather than a permanent address has slowly evolved into a convincing argument housing should be developed with considerable thought beyond all the selling points currently defining real estate. Biophilic design can be the foundation, roof, and walls to a better life. For better or worse, Serenbe may be the closest realization to a suburban utopia imagined through the lens of American society ever realized. In fact, its success has gone on to garner attention and inspire new developments of environmentally-focused, integrated walkable communities, with more to come.

Artist and photographer Thomas Jackson tulle and plastic cup installations inhabit secret corners of Serenbe’s forests.

A sense of surprise permeates every section of Serenbe, including public art strewn in easily accessible and within hidden pockets of its forested border, something that elicited joy throughout our tour and my own exploration of the community. A memorable example was found behind Serenbe’s Blue Eyed Daisy Bakeshop, the smallest Silver LEED-certified building in the nation. Just around its corner, an intimate courtyard hosts a chalkboard wall covered in friendly messages left by visitors and residents alike. A quarter turn of the heel to the left and a dappled shaded path hints views of shaded woodlands – tempting awe rather than fear. Getting lost and eventually finding your way in Serenbe seems to be essential to the experience.

Gregory Han is the Managing Editor of Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.

Artist Beverly Fishman has had the same focus throughout her decades-long career – abstract investigations of disease, identity, and medicine. Over the past 20 years, she’s leaned further into the latter, particularly the promises of pharmaceutical cures. Her collection of sculptural paintings – Something For The Pain – is currently on exhibit at Miles McEnery Gallery in New York City. This is Fishman’s third solo exhibition with the gallery, which will be on view through June 3rd, exploring the concept of polypharmacy, or the prescription of multiple medicines to one individual.

In Something For The Pain, the artist uses urethane neons that glow and matte geometric forms of wood to illustrate an individual’s unique prescription cocktail. These elements are stacked into compositions that include some complete shapes and others partial to represent whole and partial doses. In the collection, Fishman has used parenthetical titles to indicate each ailment being treated.

Overall the sculptural paintings give off a happy vibe, only becoming a bit unsettling once the inspiration and titles are revealed. Seemingly floating, their edges are slightly beveled towards the wall where the neon undersides reflect an artificial glow. Fishman’s Something For The Pain will likely leave you with more questions about Big Pharma and the medications you’re taking for your own well-being.

The Detroit-based artist has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at The Contemporary Dayton, Dayton, Ohio; Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, Illinois; Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, Michigan; Walter Storms Galerie, Munich, Germany; Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, California; Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, New York; Library Street Collective, Detroit, Michigan; Ronchini Gallery, London, United Kingdom; and the CUE Art Foundation, New York, New York, among others.

Untitled (Abortion, Abortion, Anxiety, Depression), 2023 Urethane paint on wood, 45 x 41 1/2 inches, 114.3 x 105.4 cm

Untitled (Abortion, Anxiety, Anxiety, Depression, Epilepsy), 2022 Urethane paint on wood, 42 1/2 x 73 inches,
108 x 185.4 cm

Untitled (Abortion, Depression, Abortion), 2022 Urethane paint on wood, 65 x 56 1/4 inches, 165.1 x 142.9 cm

Untitled (Alcoholism, Anxiety, Depression, Abortion), 2022 Urethane paint on wood, 48 x 118 inches, 121.9 x 299.7 cm

Untitled (Abortion, Depression, Depression), 2022 Urethane paint on wood, 45 x 42 inches, 114.3 x 106.7 cm

Untitled (Birth Control, Abortion, Birth Control, Birth Control, Pain), 2023 / Urethane paint on wood, 48 x 117 inches, 121.9 x 297.2 cm

Untitled (Abortion, Opioid Addiction, Panic Disorder, Birth Control), 2022 Urethane paint on wood, 44 x 44 1/2 inches, 111.8 x 113 cm

Untitled (Depression, Depression, ADHD, Diabetes), 2022 Urethane paint on wood, 43 x 41 1/4 inches, 109.2 x 105.1 cm

Untitled (GERD, Parkinson’s, Depression, Insomnia), 2023 Urethane paint on wood, 44 1/4 x 82 3/4 inches, 112.4 x 210.2 cm

Untitled (Insomnia, Anxiety, Osteoporosis, Anxiety, Muscle Spasm), 2023 Urethane paint on wood, 45 x 45 inches, 114.3 x 114.3 cm

Untitled (High Blood Pressure, Depression, Depression, Abortion, Anxiety), 2022 Urethane paint on wood, 48 x 120 inches, 121.9 x 304.8 cm

Untitled (Insomnia, Weight Loss, Insomnia, Opioid Addiction, Birth Control), 2022 Urethane paint on wood, 44 x 80 inches, 111.8 x 203.2 cm

Untitled (Migraine, ADHD, Pain, Pain), 2022 Urethane paint on wood, 44 x 43 5/8 inches, 111.8 x 110.8 cm

Untitled (Missing Doses, Abortion, Abortion, Anxiety, Depression), 2023 Urethane paint on wood

Untitled (Osteoporosis, Abortion, Depression, Anxiety, Birth Control), 2022 Urethane paint on wood, 44 x 40 inches, 111.8 x 101.6 cm

To learn more, or to see Something For The Pain in person before June 3, 2023, visit milesmcenery.com.

Kelly Beall is senior editor at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based graphic designer and writer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, and enjoys sharing her finds with others. When undistracted by great art and design, she can be found making a mess in the kitchen, consuming as much information as possible, or on the couch with her three pets. Find her @designcrush on social.

Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye’s practice brings together the visual, written, and spoken word through print, text, image, and live performance. In her words, “I am a writer, performer, and maker of artwork. I explore the relationships between words and images, the artist as someone who listens, recording to collect the writing as well as the drawings. I want to present what I am doing in performance and reading in performance but also ask – where do people find me in the exhibition when I am not there?”

Ntiense credits her career in art to her talent and lots of hard work as a member of the London-based Intoart collective. It’s a place where she connects with other people and artists while creating self-confident, self-portrait and autobiography for the spotlight, the red carpet, and the catwalk. “I remember seeing artworks by Andy Warhol, with the photographs of actresses, like Marilyn Monroe, doing the role-play as a model and icon,” she recalled. “Artworks like “Gold Marilyn Monroe” are about her creation of an idol, about her self-portrait. Marilyn Monroe is an artist as well.”

“It is important for me to be an artist and to keep showing new projects, to be thinking about future projects,” she shared. “To have a point of view and to add ideas through my artwork, performance, and film. It’s good to keep finding new references, to travel, and to have new experiences as part of my work.” Ntiense also notes the importance of recharging and relaxing in between, even if her wheels are still spinning. “On summer holidays I like to read, but I always like to have a topic to work over and write about, to make notes about, to find out the details.”

Ntiense’s most recent performance – “Art Deco Zebra Crossing” – was developed at Flat Time House, an archive and artist’s residency space in the former home and studio of John Latham. The performance explores the intersections of writing, scenography, and performance within the domestic setting of Flat Time House and in conversation with the John Latham archive.

The central elements from “Art Deco Zebra Crossing” reappear at White Columns, New York, alongside “African Bird Dynasty,” a group of four new large-scale silk wall hangings that combine Shibori tie-dyeing and hand screen-printing. Each wall-hanging functions as a backdrop to a scene to be performed by Eno-Amooquaye as part of a new film. Ntiense was awarded the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists in 2022.

We’re pleased to have Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye join us today for Friday Five!

Photo courtesy Intoart

1. The National Poetry Library, Southbank Centre, London

The Poetry library is on the 5th floor of the Southbank Centre, overlooking the river Thames. It’s got a good vibe and loads of books and space to work in. It’s where I search for themes and write notes as I read to record and to write new poetry.

Photo courtesy Intoart

2. Japanese Calligraphy Ink from Sekaido, Shinjuku, Tokyo

I like traveling to see different types of cityscapes, the architecture and the interiors. I take lots of photos and notes to bring back to the studio. I bought this ink from a huge art shop, Sekaido, in Shinjuku, Tokyo. I work a lot in black and white, with ink on paper. This ink is made for Japanese calligraphy, and it’s the ink I always use now – I like the thickness and the finish.

Photo: Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye

3. Times Square, New York City

I loved seeing the edges of the buildings in Times Square, the writing in bold line work. It’s a vibrant experience, seeing the images and words coming together live, in the air. Seeing the relationship between the buildings and the screens, the text as part of the cityscape and skyline.

Photo courtesy Enfleurage Inc

4. Enfleurage Inc, New York City

I find inspiration exploring shops, this tiny shop Enfleurage Inc in New York City sells ‘aromatics from the natural world.’ The essential oils are in individual bottles. I enjoyed smelling the different fragrances and reading about them, too. They also have great books and charts. I bought ‘Blackcurrant Bud in perfumery’ published by Nez + LMR and ‘Natural Perfume Wheel’ by Atelier Perfumes.

Photo: dashu83a, Freepik

5. Peach Bellini Cocktail

I love fruit in cocktails, my favorite is a peach Bellini. The fizz of the Prosecco, the velvet and sweetness of the peach. It reminds me of growth.

Recent Work by Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye:

African Bird Dynasty, White Columns Photo: Marc Tatti

African Bird Dynasty, White Columns Photo: Marc Tatti

Art Deco Zebra Crossing, Flat Time House Portrait Photo: Josef Konczak

Art Deco Zebra Crossing, Flat Time House Photo: Josef Konczak

Kelly Beall is senior editor at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based graphic designer and writer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, and enjoys sharing her finds with others. When undistracted by great art and design, she can be found making a mess in the kitchen, consuming as much information as possible, or on the couch with her three pets. Find her @designcrush on social.

Cité Arquitetura designed a 344-square-foot (32m2) studio apartment in Rio de Janeiro for a client that required not only a place to live but to also work. To make it happen, the design team had to make every square inch work while incorporating furnishings that pulled multiple duties. The result is Studio Mescla, a comfortable spot for living, entertaining, and working at home.

One of the main furnishings was the bed, a piece designed in collaboration with LZ Studio, that’s the focal point of the space. The bed was created to adapt to the owner’s needs throughout the day with various backrests that can move around for different functions.

Besides the bed, the only pieces of furniture required were the dining table, a couple of chairs, and a lounge chair. The ceiling was hand-painted to mimic the look of graph paper for added texture and visual appeal, while the long wall was clad in green lacquered panels for a pop of color.

The dining table works as a desk during the day or as additional kitchen counter space when needed. The wall-mounted TV can be watched from the bed or used for work purposes while seated at the table. The built-in storage cabinets feature a lower section that offers extra seating when additional people are over.

Photos by A+R Fotografia.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.

In many households around the globe the rice cooker holds perpetual court within the kitchen, always ready to prepare a couple cups of rice for a meal (or keeping leftovers warm from the night prior). But even our own small sized unit designed for a modest 2 to 3 cups capacity requires a considerable amount of counter space. The appliance’s appearance while contemporary, is also a tad gaudy, embellished with attention seeking illuminated controls and shiny metal detailing – par for the course within the category. Even the brand most often associated with modern minimalism in the domestic context features more buttons than most people will ever need or use. The Bowld Mini Rice Cooker by Korean design firm found/Founded by comparison is intentionally sparse in detail and options, a thoughtfully pared design extolling the virtues of “less as more.”

found/Founded’s small rice cooker is realized in opaque thermoplastic and amorphous polymer (aka ABS plastic), a gently tapered bowl shaped more closely like traditional stone vessels once used to cook rice rather than the squat and elongated shapes now associated with top electric models.

Bowld’s most conspicuous detail is its upper dial handle. Resembling a polished river stone, its smooth finish tempts eyes and hands toward the black dial. Give it a twist and it locks the rice cooker’s lid and forms a seal. Closed, the dial also regulates and directs steam output from the inner cooking pot safely toward the back while cooking.

The rice cooker’s simplicity is further underlined by its lone control button, thankfully uncomplicated by the icon-drawn hieroglyphics normally plastered or illuminated across many rice makers.

Bowld’s power cord can be looped to shorten its length or hide it completely from view.

Unfortunately for minimalist design aficionados Bowld is currently only a concept, one of numerous case studies showcasing found/Founded’s wide range of design solutions showcased across the Seoul-based design studio’s website.

Gregory Han is the Managing Editor of Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.

The word “dogma” can be defined as a principle or set of principles put in place by an authority as incontrovertibly true. In the case of Dogma bookshelves, designed by Alain Gilles for BONALDO, the design principles that have been created are pushed by testing the limits of these self-imposed rules. The bookshelves can have various widths and heights, as well as act as partitions, for customization within the parameters. Defined by tension that’s generated by the space between uprights, placement, and the light play cast off, the results are architecturally and aesthetically strong.

By playing with a water drop shape and repeating it to create different results, Gilles has brought to life a sort of utopia. The units are self-supporting and meant to be used against a wall or as a freestanding, statement-making partition in the middle of a space. Combine units and adjust the height of each shelf to produce different styles and match the energy you’d like to have in the space. The design language created for Dogma might even extend itself to other types of furniture in the future.

No matter the configuration, Dogma bookshelves will consistently look different, depending on the angle they’re viewed from. The furniture’s characteristics – round, thin, angular – and patterns of light put forth an ever-evolving perception of change.

To learn more about DOGMA bookshelves, visit bonaldo.com.

Kelly Beall is senior editor at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based graphic designer and writer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, and enjoys sharing her finds with others. When undistracted by great art and design, she can be found making a mess in the kitchen, consuming as much information as possible, or on the couch with her three pets. Find her @designcrush on social.