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Lehua is a small, crescent-shaped island located about 20 miles (32 km) west of the Hawaiian Island of Kauai. Formed by the cone of the extinct Ni’ihau volcano, the island spans 279 acres (1.13 square km). Lehua is an uninhabited wildlife sanctuary, providing habitats for at least 17 seabird species and 25 native plants along its steep, rocky shores.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3x7gNou

22.019943°, -160.096460°

Source imagery: Maxar

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Gem is a suspension lamp, in hand blown glass, made with “a lume” technique, expertise found in the Veneto region. The glass surface is available in both clear and with a “corroded” finish (pictured) appearing as moon dust coating.

Gioielli wall lights are sculptural appliques that are the result of the perfect balance between the metal structure, light setting, and precious gems located within. This collection is a direct reference and tribute to the painstaking work of goldsmiths.

Photo: Federico Villa.

If there’s one thing that can be said about Giopato & Coombes, it’s that they are driven by passion. This palpable, all-consuming passion for design has seen them create some of the most awe-inspiring and original lighting collections we’ve ever encountered.

“Passion is our only compass,” explain the founders Cristiana Giopato and Christopher Coombes. “This passion pushes us to take the risk to choose new technologies, to create something unconventional not seen before even if at first glance you have the impression it belongs in your past. This passion keeps us alive!”

Based in Treviso, Italian Giopato and British Coombes are partners in both life and business. As a couple, they combine two different personalities, cultures and life experiences into work that connects the heart and mind. Their design studio and luxury lighting company has found its own language and its own fluid approach to design.

This Yellowtrace Promotion is supported by Giopato & Coombes. Like everything we do, our partner content is carefully curated to maintain the utmost relevance to our audience.

Dewdrops are Giopato & Coombes’ brass and borosilicate glass collection. Cristiana explains the poetic inspiration behind this collection — “A midsummer night, when the sky was full of stars, Christopher and I were strolling in the park. Our attention was caught by small shining dots in the grass around our bare feet. They were simple dewdrops hanging from blades of grass, hit by the subtle moonlight. This ephemeral moment inspired us to develop a balancing mobile lighting structure that suspends dewdrops in the night. We were hit by the magic and beauty of the simplicity of nature, and our curiosity led us to create an abstract interpretation. The soft light of the dewdrops are supported by indirect light, emitted upwards by two spotlights, hidden within the brass cones.”

The duo speaks of their approach as “Dipping Future into Heritage”. They design in layers, merging the excellence of Venetian artisanal manufacturing with the most advanced light technology. A closer look at their creations reveals a complete obsession with details, which makes the object appear to float in space and time.

Although they already have an extensive range of ready to hang lights, their bespoke projects have seen them collaborate with hotels, restaurants and well-established brands, like Cartier. Giopato & Coombes approach these projects with a focus on innovation, technology and vision, with the hope of stirring memories and emotions through their creations.

“The light turns on, and with eyes wide open, it feels like a daydream magic, like being children again.”

These are the words uttered by a woman who attended their first exhibition in London and saw their work for the first time. She was full of joy, almost in tears. This was a turning point in the duo’s career and set them on the path to frame their work through the lens of a ‘Supernatural Daydream.’

“We believe that light awakes your dreams, crystalizing time if only for a moment,” they exclaim. “We bring this phenomenon into living spaces, and we call it Supernatural Daydream.”

Supernatural Daydream is a special approach based on experimentation on the theme of light and the emotions it generates. In this project, the investigation encompassing precious materials and the latest technology, nature and magic, has led to the creation of a series of installations, and one-of-a-kind pieces that represent unexpected mutations that emerged during the development and reinterpretation of Giopato & Coombes’ catalogue collections.

Supernatural Daydream launched at Milan Design Week in 2018. Photography by Nathalie Krag.

During Milan Design Week 2018, Giopato & Coombes presented a collection that captured this very concept – Supernatural Daydream was a series of installations, all one-off pieces that experiment with materials, form, technology, nature and magic.

“The fundamental inspiration behind the project is the marvellous Cansiglio Forest in the Veneto and the architectural suggestions that arise from the encounter between trees and vegetation,” explains the duo.

These pieces, which come in chandelier, wall-mounted and floor lamp formats, become undeniable showstoppers in any setting. The enviable love-child between sculpture and light fitting, these pieces leave the viewer in a state of astonishment. As the name suggests, the brass forms twist and turn just like a Supernatural Daydream with interwoven storylines and abrupt tangents. It’s hard not to feel just a bit of that magic.

Related: Highlights From Milan Design Week 2018.

The lightness of the soap bubbles has become a metaphor for the immateriality of light. Bolle is a collection of lamps in transparent glass, where the illuminating brass bulb is suspending between the spheres, giving light to not only the space but also the curved surfaces, multiplying reflections to amplify the magical effect. The Bolle lamps are hand blown by local Venetian artisans using the “a lume” technique.

The Bolle Frosted inverts the perception of the translucent Bolle. Whereas Bolle plays with emptiness, Bolle Frosted work with the positive volume of the spheres, creating satellites that seem to grow and move together through the space.

Bolle chandelier features within the Peppertree Villa in Bellevue Hill, Sydney designed by Luigi Rosselli Architects and Alwill Interiors. See more of this project here. Photography by Prue Ruscoe.

Do you know how to win over a bunch of babies, toddlers or kids of any age? Bring out the bubbles – they l-o-v-e them. Watch as their eyes light up while they scramble around trying to catch or pop them. As adults, we forget the simple joy that bubbles bring, but the Bolle collection is a wonderful reminder of their lightness, ephemerality and interesting formations.

Bolle is a collection of lamps in transparent or frosted glass, where the illuminating brass bulb is suspended between the spheres. The lamps are hand blown by local Venetian artisans using the “a lume” technique.

“We had a client from Japan who wanted to decorate the house he was building for himself and his grandfather with our Bolle lamps,” explains Coombes. “He told us he and his granddad used to blow soap bubbles together when he was little, and that they still fondly cherished that memory. He was enchanted by the idea of having those evocative bubbles always present in his house, for his grandfather to enjoy. Stories like this are what inspire us and ultimately the reason why we choose to design.”

As a voice of the daydream shaped into sculpted spaces, Giopato & Coombes’ Moonstone collection echoes lunar landscapes and evokes moonlight poetry for our daily life, becoming primordial talismans bearing positive energy and ancient wisdom.

Detail of Moonstone’s textured surface, achieved with a new composite material developed by Giopato & Coombes that mixes marble dust and fibreglass.

The Moonstone collection, which we’ve delved into more detail here, looks and feels very different from the rest. This time the supernatural daydream takes us to the Moon. The collection includes multifaceted pendant lamps that have been inspired by organic rock sculptures. The lamps come in shapes that resemble a horseshoe or an elongated or wide-faced dome.

“For this collection, the creative challenge, research, and experimenting with materials were particularly crucial,” explain the designers. “We started designing with the most refined material, Bone China, which is sculptural and tactile terms was wonderful but there were limits in shape and dimensions which we couldn’t accept. We remembered a dusty Venetian boatyard and the incredible handmade fibreglass workshops. We thought maybe we could retain the poetic presence of Bone China. Together with our local excellence and artisans, we created a new composite material, which mixes marble dust and fibreglass.”

Related: Moonstone Lighting Collection by Giopato&Coombes.

Cirque collection features lamps with slender thread-like structures in brushed brass, that change form to create infinite geometric compositions. The shape, reminiscent of circus gear, is interrupted by capsules that project continuous light. Each capsule, made in ribbed glass and refined brass, conceals light guides used in the automotive industry making it possible to connect the LEDs contained in the ends of the capsule, conducting the light along the entire length. Photo by Nathalie Krag.

Cirque chandelier at the Monograph Hotel in Tbilisi.

The Cirque collection is made up of a series of playful pendants and chandeliers ranging from slender thread-like structures to more complex geometric compositions. Combining brushed glass and ribbed borosilicate glass, these pieces also use cutting-edge LED source technology.

Cirque Cascade suspension lamp is a dramatic yet sleek chandelier that merges several staggered pendant columns. The designers explain that the light “flows with the power of nature into the depths of space, overcoming darkness with a falling stream of light. Its playful silhouette, made of brass threads rushing into elongated glass capsules, smoothly cascades with the fluidity of water.”

For more information on Giopato & Coombes’ sublime collections, visit giopatocoombes.com. Australian enquiries can be directed to district.com.au/giopatocoombes. To find out about the dealers in your country, visit giopatocoombes.com/dealers.

| The article Supernatural Daydreams and Divine Lighting Collections by Giopato & Coombes. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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Plaza Mayor is a public square in the heart of Madrid, Spain. Dating back to the 15th century, it once served as the central marketplace of Old Madrid. Today, the 130,000-square-foot (12,000-square-meter) space still provides residents and tourists a location for shopping, eating, and enjoying a space outdoors.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3rx2hVI

40.415364°, -3.707398°

Drone photo by Costas Spathis

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Hop onboard onto this exciting vessel, everyone! Tribe Studio Architects’ Dulwich Hill House is a cosy Californian Bungalow with an extension that appears to be a contemporary mirror reflection and interpretation of the beloved architectural structure and style. Located in Sydney, Australia, this home came to life from imaginations and experimentations by a proprietor of a local lumber yard.

Beginning its life as a two-storey house, it underwent many transformations in the 1950s and 1980s – dressing the house with trinkets of different styles that inspired the eventual extension. Now lifted with modern tweaks, albeit still carrying strings of its existing elements, you can say Tribe Studio has successfully and playfully flipped the house inside out.

Related: Au Yeung House in Sydney by Tribe Studio.

On the façade, Dulwich Hill House is very quaint, posing similar features to its neighbours. Although, passing the picturesque red-bricked entrance unravels a corridor wedged between two living areas to the left, and a bedroom, bathroom, and study to the right. Following the classical footprint eventuates to a modernised kitchen (with a laundry neatly tucked behind) and living space readily openable to become an alfresco area. Via the staircase tucked opposite the dining room unfurls a new first level that replaces the former attached first floor with a lighter and subtle presence. Inside the new light-filled first floor is a corridor with sleeping spaces at the right, orientated to capture in the welcoming natural light and views of the overgrowing landscape by Fieldwork Associates.

Existing knick-knacks of the house, which include a pirate ship-like frosted glass door, protruding pebbled fireplace, mock-Victorian ornamental ceilings were too charming to be removed from the existing house. Instead, walls are repainted with white to allow the rich deep timber frame poignant views within the living and dining spaces. Fanciful sculpted deep cherry architraves remain, uniform in the language of the existing bay windows that does feel like a historical voyager.

Related: Bona Vista House by Studio Prineas.

If the colours on the existing were red brick with white accents – Tribe’s modern interpretation with the extension is the complete opposite. White walls everywhere with red roof capping as an energetic accent that maintains a kinship between the two infrastructures. To further the connection between the two parts, thin white structural yet decorative columns are anchored with knee-high mason reflective of the front.

The new panelled ceiling is a simple rendition of the existing with a minimal touch. Lighter and honey-coloured timber now becomes the staircase and joinery. Bedrooms and bathrooms, mostly painted in white, are dashed with cases of deep cherry browns otherwise blossom red terrazzo flooring and joinery. Albeit a block of ocean blue of the painted shelf right next to the bay window is a gentle reminder of where the inspiration comes from.

The transitioning from old to new, Dulwich Hill House is a walking timeline of architectural charm, making elements that may be kitsch into charmingly desirable ones. The gradual and smooth integration of two characteristics feels like warmth of a loved one, reading me a story that will lull me into peace and excitement in equal measure.

| The article Californian Bungalow Reinterpreted: Dulwich Hill House by Tribe Studio Architects. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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The 2020 Summer Olympics officially kick off today in Tokyo, Japan — one year later than planned due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 205-nation athletic competition will continue through August 8th featuring 339 events in 33 sports. Due to the current state of emergency in Tokyo, the games will be held largely behind closed doors with no public spectators allowed.

TokyOverviews here include:

1. The city at night from space

2. Tokyo Olympic Stadium

3. Tokyo Skytree (the world’s tallest broadcast & observation tower at 634 meters / 2080 feet)

4. Tokyo Harbor

35.668162°, 139.600441°

Source imagery: ESA & Maxar

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Deforestation is visible in Santa Cruz, Bolivia immediately next to a relatively untouched section of rainforest. Deforestation in the country has primarily been driven by the expansion of mechanized agriculture and cattle ranching. Between 2001 and 2020, Bolivia lost more than 15 million acres (6.1 million hectares) of tree cover — an area twice the size of Belgium. More than 40% of this loss occurred between 2016 and 2020.

See more here: https://bit.ly/2TrM73k

-17.742150°, -61.786420°

Source imagery: Maxar

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I can’t help but think of India’s ancient astronomical observatories when looking at Plain Ties – the curve of the concrete staircase hugging the curved, moveable walls as it reaches up towards the stars, the robust geometries coming together to a central point.

Located in Surat, India, Plain Ties – designed by Matharoo Associates – is a home that uses concrete quite poetically, while sculpting and layering the façade to allow it to resemble a cubic masterpiece. Founder Gurjit Singh Matharoo and principal architect Komal Matharoo’s ambition for this multi-generational home as a place to celebrate the tradition of joint-living – an age-old tradition that is becoming increasingly less common.

The dwelling can be found within a community formed by a cluster of tall residential buildings with a looming presence in the north and west. Within the subtly gated community resides a garden in the south – thus began a mission for the architects to design a house that would offer privacy from their tall neighbours while able to appreciate the scenic views of the south.

Related: Copper House II by Studio Mumbai in Chondi, India.

Approximately at 848 square metres and standing three storeys high, the house aims to accommodate not only the family but grandparents as well. The site itself, made of unstable black earth soil allowed the architects to use a deep foundation that would serve as a space. Such decision evolved into a basement that holds meditative areas for relaxation, praying and exercise.

Above, the architects experimented with free-standing concrete walls to partition off spaces for kitchen, living and dining on the ground and three spacious bedrooms on the first floor without the need for doors to close off the spaces. Interconnected between the ground and first floor a living with a circular skylight puncturing the two levels and can be enclosed as an intimate gathering space by impressive rotating cylindrical concrete doors. The level of openness with a circular statement inspires a form of family-orientated observatory moment – just imagine, family members gathered to admire the night…

Photo: Edmund Sumner.

Photo: Matharoo Associates.

Plain Ties was named for the simple connections and relationships that hold the house together. Throughout the interior is framed by tactility and raw finishing of the concrete, and the rough texture greatly complements its surrounding site context. There’s the manipulation of the concrete’s surface to imitate aged wood grains seen in timber weather sheathes and decking. Certain partitions allow the edges of the concrete slab edges to jut out to create an illusion of a woven pattern, lias though the house was stitched with fabric. Hand laid terrazzo shines brilliantly while light from the Southern public garden enlarges the space. Keeping the interior décor minimal, retro seventies orange and mustard furniture highlight key places in each space.

With careful and strategic planning of each space, Plain Ties allows family members to be individuals while still interconnected to each other through materiality and visual connection. Added the minimalist interior, this house aims to surprise visitors with its airy interior by technically challenging the potentials of the favoured brutalist material.

| The article Plain Ties House in Surat, India by Matharoo Associates. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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The town of Schuld, Germany, suffered widespread devastation when the Ahr River overflowed its banks during severe rains last week. Flooding damage was widespread throughout Western Germany and the surrounding countries, with high waters inundating towns, collapsing bridges and homes, and causing the deaths of nearly 200 people. The second image here shows an Overview of the Ahr River with its overflowed banks passing through the towns of Liers, Schuld, and Insul.

50.445833°, 6.889444°

Image #1 Source: Sascha Steinbach/EPA
Image #2 Source: Maxar

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Check out this incredible shot of a cargo ship in Kronstadt, Russia, passing through frozen waters of the Gulf of Finland. Located on Kotlin Island, the city of Kronstadt is linked to the mainland via the St. Petersburg Dam, a 16-mile long (25 km) combination levee-causeway-seagate. The record low temperature in this part of Russia is −35.9°C (−32.6 °F).

See more here: https://bit.ly/3rnfkZO

60.000000°, 29.766667°

Source imagery: Mikhail K.

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BOOK or PRINT GIVEAWAY! We just reached 1.1 million followers on Instagram, and we’re giving away two of our books or prints to celebrate.

Visit over-view.com/shop to see what’s available in our shop.

Must enter on Instagram. Simply like the post and tag a friend in the comments, and you’ll both be entered to win — you decide your prize!