Lewis Hamilton’s dominant driving style and sheer precision guided him to his 54th career victory, a whopping 6.2 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Prancing Horse. The Brit led all the way, securing pole position in qualifying and never missed a beat on track. This is his third Formula 1 Grand Slam and he is now level for podium places with the great Alain Prost. This had to be one of the most unpredictable race weekends with practice two being cancelled after the medical helicopter was grounded and the ever present threat of showers looked like it was going to linger into Sunday afternoon’s race.
Come race day however, the weather had cleared but there were still visible wet spots in the corners — evident from Max Verstappen’s on board camera, as the Dutch racing driver expertly manoeuvred his car from 16th place to 7th in the opening lap, of what was to prove his best race yet. He subsequently overtook his more experienced teammate, Daniel Ricciardo to finish the race third. He said “It was a very challenging race but I really enjoyed it. I think I overtook nine cars in the opening lap so it was a very good race for me. I did not have a lot of track time this weekend because I didn’t do much in qualifying so I wasn’t expecting to finish on the podium having started in 16th place.”
As the weekend geared up, Daniel Ricciardo was seen in Hong Kong skipping rope in Causeway Bay, wandering around feasting on dim sum. Lewis Hamilton on the other hand, was seen on a rooftop in Macau against the spectacular Macau’s night skyline about to board a helicopter and then again in Beijing with singer JJ Lin, learning calligraphy, eventually getting new ink which he proudly showed off to his Chinese fans. Mercedes AMG celebrated their 50 years, launching the GT R in China with Lewis Hamilton on Saturday night in Shanghai.
That’s a wrap of the Shanghai weekend, next weekend is Bahrain and we bring you all the racing highlights along with the luxury inside scoop of the first Middle East pitstop.
Interior view photographs of artists’ Housing Development Board (HDB) houses, from the project ‘HDB Homes of Singapore’ by Tamae Iwasaki, Eitaro Ogawa and Tomohisa Miyauchi
When Tamae Iwasaki and Eitaro Ogawa had to move out of their spacious Seletar home nearly a decade ago, they were reluctant to consider a HDB flat, which appeared cookie-cutter and unimaginative. But that changed when they visited a friend’s personalised home, one of 118 featured in the book ‘HDB Homes of Singapore’.
At close to 700 pages, the tome is a collaborative labour of love. A meeting with Tomohisa Miyauchi, a senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore’s department of architecture in 2013 led to the project that has spanned four years. This has included efforts to raise funds to print the book, such as a campaign on crowdfunding website Indiegogo, and from the National Heritage Board.
Underscoring the significance of these housing units to the cityscape and to the community, works by Singapore artists featuring HDB flats appear at the beginning of the book. In ‘The Path Out’, Yeo Tze Yang paints his path from his HDB flat to the outside world. Lim Shu Ning’s embroidered soft sculptures ‘Same Same But Different’ looks at HDB flats as literal building blocks of the nation. Other artists are ampulets, Chang Shian Wei, Hong Sek Chern, Hu Qiren, Lim Shu Ning, HEY KUMO, and Samantha Agung Tio.
The stars of the book are the individual homes presented in short pictorial stories. These are arranged in the order the team visited the homes. To expect the book to showcase the best of interior design would be missing the point. Each entry is a glimpse into the private life of the homeowners. Instead of contrived perfection, the photographs capture real life, with unmade beds, cluttered tables, dusty corners and children’s toys on the floor. These relatable realities of daily life are unabashedly, appreciatively portrayed.
Interior view photographs of artists’ HDB houses, from the project ‘HDB Homes of Singapore’ by Tamae Iwasaki, Eitaro Ogawa and Tomohisa Miyauchi
On home visits, Miyauchi was in charge of taking photographs, while Iwasaki and Ogawa would talk to the homeowners to find out more about them and their homes. Speaking to the couple in their comfortable and quirky HDB flat at Bukit Panjang — their daughters’ drawings are on the wall and the dining table is made from a door— they noted that for some entries, the viewer is left to imagine what the homeowners look like, while in others, they are seen in the photographs as visual reminders that it is people who turn an apartment into a home. The succinct introductions, made up of observations and musings to contextualise each entry, are penned by the couple in English and Japanese, and translated into Chinese as well.
These thumbnail paragraphs range from the whimsical to the wistful. In the entry titled ‘Pink is the Colour’, it reads: “This flat is rented by two young women. The owner of the pink room is passionate about fashion and her repertoire has no bounds. Her exquisite fashion never fails to surprise us.” Another, titled ‘40 years’, is set in a different tone: “A flat that has been kept in its original state for more than forty years. Such flats are very rare. We do not know when this flat will be demolished. It follows a couple’s life stage from marriage to raising a family to seeing children grown up.”
Ambitious in its scope, the book deftly delivers the message that beneath the tidy, uniformed façade of HDB apartment blocks is diversity and individuality to be discovered and celebrated. It is a fascinating, eclectic collection of people’s lives and how they have built and shaped their homes based on their unique lifestyles and preferences.
The project has taken on a life of its own and extended beyond the book. Photographs from the book formed the centrepiece in 81 illuminated lanterns at the Singapore Pavilion, titled “Space to Imagine, Room for Everyone” at Venice Biennale’s International Architecture Exhibition last year. It was co-curated by Miyauchi, along with Wong Yunn Chi and Teo Yee Chin. When the book was launched at National Design Centre in early March as part of Singapore Design Week, visitors were able to view some of these exhibits at the centre’s gallery space.
Interior view photographs of artists’ HDB houses, from the project ‘HDB Homes of Singapore’ by Tamae Iwasaki, Eitaro Ogawa and Tomohisa Miyauchi
All in all, the book is a treasure trove that is a pleasure to flip through, and it is also a timely record of how far HDB flats have come in the 50-odd years since Singapore embraced urban living. More importantly, it is a celebration of the creativity of the people who live in these spaces and make them all their own.
Once again the world’s leading design fair, which closes its doors today, was the venue for the presentation of the latest furniture innovations. Here is a selection of the most beautiful easy chairs on show in Milan.
“Bomboca Sofa” by the Campana Brothers
The design duo drew their inspiration from marshmallow candies served at weddings and children’s parties in Brazil. The result is a set of eight movable cushions in a rigid, leather covered shell. The cushions, which are available in leather or fabric versions, can be used separately as ottomans.
Marni
The Italian fashion house chose Milan as the venue for the unveiling of its “MARNI PLAYLAND” installation. Focused on the world of play with a sand-covered floor, the installation served as a backdrop for the latest home furnishings in the brand’s interior collection. All of the pieces were produced in Colombia by a group of women using traditional craft techniques. A case in point is this rocking chair with holder armrests.
The “Wings” chair Roberto Cavalli
Roberto Cavalli gave a new lease of life to his iconic “Wings” chair with this latest version finished with mink or kidassia goat skin.
The “Agave” chair by Mattia Albicini for Ethimo
Designer Mattia Albicini aimed to recreate the movement and silky surface of agaves with this collection of solid teak chairs. As with agave leaves, a fine groove in the center of the backrest serves to prevent the accumulation of humidity.
“Bookchair” by Sou Fujimoto for Alias
A major name in contemporary architecture, Sou Fujimoto planned on presenting a furniture piece composed of a storage unit and a chair. The result is the “bookchair”: a compact and sober bookcase, which also houses a chair.
After the phenomenal success of its Land Rover and Range Rover reborn initiatives, it was only a matter of time before Jaguar Land Rover turned its attention from SUVs to restoring and reviving its classic sportscars. Introduced in 1961, the Jaguar E-Type stunned the motor world with its sleek design and performance. Jaguar revealed its first Reborn E-Type at the Techno-Classica Essen show on 5 April.
Finished in period-correct opalescent gunmetal grey, the 1965 4.2-liter fixed head coupé has undergone a complete nut and bolt restoration to ensure what Jaguar claims is concours-winning standard. This level of detail should go some way to justifying its £285,000+ price tag.
However, that price is potentially a steal. The Series 1 E-Type, built between 1961 and 1968, is the most desirable and collectable of all series production Jaguars and if a well restored example comes up for auction, expect a hammer price of between $350,000 and $450,000.
The only thing that stops the E-Type from fetching 10 times more in private and public sales is that when compared to the likes of the Aston Martin DB5 or Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, it was produced in mass-market numbers. Between 1961 and 1968 Jaguar sold over 31,000 E-Types, whereas Ferrari only ever built 351 Lussos and Aston built 1059 DB5s.
Therefore, the reborn program could stimulate prices across the board while setting a new gold standard for what is considered a full restoration. What will set a reborn Jaguar apart is the guarantee of exact matching numbers, exactly reverse engineered panels and access to all of the documentation generated when the car rolled off the production line for the first time — critical elements for serious car collectors.
Jaguar plans to cap the program at 10 models a year and its experts are already out in the field looking for tired but good Series 1 models to rejuvenate. The goal is to create brand-new old cars, but the company is also prepared to go very slightly restomod if a client so wishes. For example, clients could specify larger front brake callipers from a Series 2 model, or a full-synchromesh gearbox.
The distinctive art fair is put together against industry norms, conceptualising the fair around artists instead of galleries. In last year’s edition of A.R.T., a substantial nine-tenths of the exhibiting artists sold their pieces. This year, each booth exhibits the works of a single artist, continuing the fair’s signature format since its debut in 2011.
Sara Sammakia, ‘No Control’, 2016. Image courtesy of Art Revolution Taipei
One of the many artists worthy of note is Roch Urbaniak from Poland, who seeks to record in his artworks fairy tales from across the world and stories from his frequent travels in Asia. And amongst the Taiwanese contemporary artists, a notable art trio is Ma Sing Ling, who will present their acrylic on canvas work, completed in collaboration with fellow Taiwanese artist Luna Chen in 2016, titled ‘Magnificent Wonder World/Momentum of the Mind’.
The art fair will encompass nine sections, including International Artist Salon, China Contemporary Art, Taiwan Contemporary Art, Art and Design, A.R.T. Curatorial, International Contemporary Art, International Artist Grand Prize Competition, New York Contemporary Art Fund, as well as Art Your Compassion.
José Chaya, ‘The hours of the day’, 2016, acrylic on canvas. Image courtesy of Art Revolution Taipei
The Art Your Compassion section is a particularly unique feature of the fair, and as the name suggests, integrates art and philanthropy. The intent of the section involves calling upon famous personalities in Taiwan and elsewhere to create artworks for charity. The pieces of the section, which incorporate diverse art disciplines, take the form of paintings, photography, mixed media, and collage amongst others. Since the inception of the Art Your Compassion section, A.R.T. has achieved its purpose of drawing attention on a massive scale, and of building interest in collecting art with the wider population.
This article was originally published in Art Republik.
David Bowie performs at Tweeter Centre outside Chicago in Tinley Park, Illinois, USA on August 8, 2002. Photo by Adam Bielawski. (CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL), via Wikimedia Commons
Bowie and his model wife Iman lived in the apartment from 1992 to 2002 when they moved to the more bohemian Soho neighbourhood, where the rocker died last year after a secret battle with cancer.
Real estate agency Corcoran listed the ninth-floor condominium at 160 Central Park South, which includes three bedrooms and a Yamaha piano played by Bowie.
Bowie — whose storied career included taking the persona of a rock alien and challenging definitions of sexuality — had a comparatively conventional life in New York with Iman and their daughter, born in 2000.
In his final years in Soho Bowie frequented a nearby bookstore and walked to a studio to record his final album “Blackstar“, which came out two days before his death at age 69.
