Innovatia

The Living Design Vector Houses are samples of culture, fashion, customs, design, materials, technology, furnishings and appliances, and all the physical objects in a house exist as points along a complex vector of discovery and invention. According to David Robertson, National President of the Design Institute of Australia, design and innovation are vital parts of how we live. By David Robertson

Do we experience – anywhere – a more personal kind of innovation than in the design of our homes? We think not. The design and decoration of our own living spaces recalls St. Augustine’s phrase: “Art is the radiation of the self“. And this is true from the humblest to the grandest. And as Frank Lloyd Wright declared: “Architecture is the mother art.” Yes, and thus, design is her child. As to interiors and objects both. The Innovative Household is a rolling feature of ideas and photo essays from around the world to inspire your thinking. The most elaborate and expensive can inspire an adaptation on lower budgets – or vice versa, they are merely design ideas at bottom. Expressions. To spark your creative thoughts. We also have a healthy appetite – and some very informed editors in the new products and technology categories, continually evaluating new products, usability and benefits. Reader recommendations are welcome: ideas@innovatia.au In this edition we feature a look at some varied modern efforts which illustrate two things in common: minimalism and a conjunction with nature. Also a curated tribute to mid-20th century Italian masters of lighting design. And a modern suite of well- designed practical implements and appliances for your own private castle.

A photo of my father’s cousin taken around 1985 shows him sitting in his upholstered armchair with French-polished arms, in the 1920s living room which his parents fur- nished. The room is illuminated by a mica-shade lamp with a burgundy, cloth-sheathed power cord. An Art Deco fireplace is flanked by solid oak bookshelves. The servants’ bell cord hangs conveniently to hand. The room still exists, more than twenty years later, though a little tired. The floral carpet sits threadbare and the fire grate and wrought iron fire tools lie dusty, unused. It’s remarkable that it’s survived a journey of eighty years, preserv- ing the aspirations of this upper-middle class couple. Once considered modern, its fashions are now eighty years out of date. I’m writing this in a house with a completely dif- ferent tale to tell: built during the 1950s post-war materials shortage, with a variety of “improve- ments” later made to maintain the standing of its occupants. I’ve just had the 1950s pink ter- razzo bathroom gutted. I’ve replaced its baby- blue enamelled cast-iron tub with a slick white acrylic corner spa complete with a heat pump.

Underneath sits the original jarrah tongue-and- groove flooring, showing the scars of carpet lay- ing, but still capable of coming back into fashion as refinished distressed timber. “Some houses tell pure and coherent stories about the psyches of their inhabitants, while others have their stories erased with each new resident.” Houses can be studied as complex samples of culture, fashion, customs, design, materials, technology, furnishings and appliances. Some tell pure stories coherent in every detail, while some are eclectic amalgams. Some serve as win- dows to the psyches of their inhabitants, while others are merely the shell pulled around the latest occupant. The worlds of manufacturing designers and built environment designers collide around housing. Houses’ structures and contents con- tain evidence of materials research, building

INNOVATIA

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INNOVATIA

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