chukum & stone shape RA!’s residences in tulum
RA! completes hacienda wabi residences
The Hacienda Wabi Residences in Mexico, designed by RA! and promoted by Tulum-based developer Namus, is a housing complex that adopts a ruin-like aesthetic. Across its three stories and 15 apartments, the project’s staggered volumes and terraced design evoke the ancient settlements that once lined the area, while allowing nature to reclaim its space over time as it integrates with the surrounding jungle.
With a material palette of stone and Chukum finishes, the architects blur the boundaries between architecture and the environment, blending neutral tones with greenery cascading from planters framing the facade and softening it. Additionally, between the blocks and within them, the design ensures consistent airflow and natural light throughout.
all images courtesy of RA!
staggered volumes enclose fragmented courtyards
Inside, a fragmented courtyard forms a series of intimate spaces, providing access to each of the apartments and enhancing a sense of community. The winding pathways extend into semi-public spaces, including a pool and recreational areas. The team at RA! has tailored each floor with unique features: ground-level apartments open onto expansive gardens and private pools, while first-floor residences offer terraces and jacuzzis. The upper-level apartments include roof gardens, offering panoramic views of the treetops.
Each level features terraces and winding pathways that lead to the semi-public areas, including the pool and recreational spaces. Additionally, at each floor the ground level boasts expansive gardens and pools, the first level includes terraces and jacuzzi, while the second level features roof gardens with views extending to the treetops.
RA! completes Hacienda Wabi Residences
Locally sourced materials define the building’s natural aesthetic, with stone anchoring the base and Chukum plaster finishing the upper levels. This palette of neutral tones serves to highlight the surrounding jungle, allowing vegetation to merge with the walls and slabs, creating an architecture that appears as though it is both part of the landscape and receding into it.
the project’s staggered volumes and terraced design evoke ancient settlements
shaped with stone and Chukum finishes
the architects blur boundaries between architecture and the environment
greenery cascades from planters framing the facade and softening it
the winding pathways extend into semi-public spaces
the design ensures consistent airflow and natural light throughout
a pool and recreational areas wind through
water elements and greenery are integrated across each level
project info:
name: Hacienda Wabi Residences
architect: RA! | @ra_arquitectos
location: Tulum, Mexico
designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: ravail khan | designboom
Jaime Hayon Goes Bestial at His Miami Art Show
The paintings on display are brimming with dynamic energy. A whirlwind of fantastical creatures leaps off the artist’s large canvases, while in smaller, still life paintings they are transformed into decorative elements. Underpinned by his perpetual search for self-understanding, Hayon’s troupe of kooky characters conveys a range of emotions, from fear and desire, to fragility and introspection. “With this exhibition, I am returning to the origin of everything—the most visceral part of my work,” the artist reflects. “From the very depths of my being, I attempt to express my fantasy, my world, through painting—those free-flowing brushstrokes that naturally create the beastly forms of fauna and flora.”
In his still life paintings, Hayon contrasts luminous colours against shadowy or muted backdrops, an aesthetic inspired by ancient Egyptian art and Flemish flower paintings. This interplay between light and dark adds an emotional depth to the works while linking them to a broader artistic heritage. “In Bestial, I highlight the crucial role animals have played in art history, symbolizing emotions and human experiences across civilizations,” Hayon explains. “From the Egyptians who humanized animals in their gods to artists like Picasso, Dalí, and Rousseau, animals have always expressed strength, rage, and passion.” By drawing on these historical precedents, Hayon bridges past and present, using the natural world as a mirror for human emotion and societal critique.
2024 Best Modern Gifts to Splurge On
For those whose love language is gift giving, this is your time to shine – especially if you like to splurge. Personally, nothing brings me more joy than sharing great makers and artful objects while supporting the artisans behind their creation. From a dearly beloved to cherished friend, or perhaps even a treat for yourself, this fine curation of design objects are sure to satisfy the most fussy aesthete. Continue reading to find potential presents that can be appreciated all year round… and snag something for yourself!
Ordered à la carte or purchased as a pairing, this crystal drinkware is made to dazzle any tabletop with its gem faceted element. Both options are members of the Chelsea family, with the bottle stopper cut to correspond with the form featured on the glasses’ base. The fine hand cut crystal comes in a commemorative, luxury gift box with its own dust cloth for cleaning and polishing.
This luminaire’s harsh geometry is tempered by its warm glow showcasing Brutalism’s softer side through three color combinations – one more ethereal than the next. Its body and shade are 3D printed from recycled PLA with the appearance of extruded planes to create a textural form. What’s more, the composition is a slight nod to Italian architect Carlo Scarpa’s influential work in concrete and extreme attention to detail.
Prada’s portable cutlery set highlights another extension of the Italian fashion house into lifestyle accessories, one that is sure to satisfy the fashion forward and sustainable-minded. The trio of utensils is stored in a container that comes in a Re-Nylon dust bag pouch – an innovative material produced from purified, recycled ocean plastic – accentuated with an enameled logo. This is just one of many enviable picnic accouterments.
The flirty, free-flowing curves painted across this versatile vessel’s surface are emblematic of beauty and grace. From utensil organization to showcasing floral arrangements, this artistic object comes in four sizes to accommodate a variety of interior design needs. Display the slightly sculptural work on its own to fill a nook, within a cluster of similar pieces for a greater tablescape, or in contrast with darker forms to pull focus.
Textural wood grain, the striking black finish, and a series of bulbous forms conspire to capture nature’s raw beauty in the Sam Baron-designed baluster for Diptyque. This l’objet d’art serves to elevate everything from decorative jars, an intimate interior ambiance, and self care rituals enhanced by candlelight. And with a variety of sizes, there’s plenty to choose from for expanded gifting.
In an homage to the classic boombox, the SongBook Max fuses style with sound, nostalgia with premium technology. The device also delivers impressive volume, well-balanced frequencies, and substantial bass. Equipped with analog elements, users can derive great pleasure from tactility turning knobs and pushing sliders for a traditional sense of control. It’s a portable companion poised to play your favorite tunes almost anywhere.
Lobmeyr is situated within the upper echelon of crystal makers, centuries old and synonymous with handcraft, epitomizing luxury. This collection by Austrian architect Oswald Haerdtl is a prime example of enduring modern design – plucked from the 1950s. The Commodore Decanter pulls focus with its clean lines, perfect clarity, and sexy silhouette. It’s the ideal gift for fans of architecturally adjacent home furnishings as well as crystal collectors.
East Fork taps Florida-based glass art studio DOT for a colorful collaboration that is a saccharine treat. The makers behind this handcrafted serving spoon pairing fused glass with contrasting finishes, matte against glossy, and play with cool colors that add a graphic element to tabletops when in use. It’s perfect for those who like to entertain or even just elevate their everyday dining experience.
Like canvas, textiles provide a rich medium for artistic expression. This throw blanket takes inspiration from the bold, graphic designs of French artist Sonia Delaunay and translates those elements into a geometric color-blocked pattern. The double-knit construction, comprising 75% upcycled cotton as well as 5% recycled plastics, gives this piece a substantial weight in addition to a new life for discarded materials. Coordinating throw pillow covers provide additional opportunities for decor.
These colorful rondelles are show stopping, luminous sculptural statement pieces not for the faint of heart. Available in a dozen shades, each object is mounted within a linear pedestal – height may be customized according to needs – in celebration of pure geometry, flawless glass, and vivid hues. Every component, the stand and disc, are completely fabricated by hand for an inimitable work of art.
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Duyi Han’s immersive psychedelic installation in Shanghai is like ‘seeing the world from a higher dimension’ – Wallpaper*
Duyi Han’s immersive psychedelic installation in Shanghai is like ‘seeing the world from a higher dimension’ Wallpaper*
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Paul Morrissey obituary | Movies
Andy Warhol’s films, which tested the endurance of audiences and made icons out of the marginalised and dissolute, altered profoundly the nature of cinema. Much of the work which bore his name from the late 1960s onwards, however, was made by the writer-director Paul Morrissey, who has died aged 86. “Warhol is a trade term,” said Morrissey. “Like Disney.”
About his famous friend and collaborator he could be comically scathing. “He didn’t have many points of view,” he said in 1996. “He didn’t have many ideas at all, actually. Maybe three. If he made a choice, it was almost always the worst possible choice in the world.”
Stephen Koch, the author of Stargazer: The Life, World and Films of Andy Warhol (1991), called the two men “mutually incompatible talents … Morrissey utterly blind to the refined complexity of Warhol’s experience of the world; Warhol wholly incompetent to assemble the often beguiling commercial product Morrissey sells under Warhol’s name.”
The first decade or so of Morrissey’s career was given over to orchestrating and managing projects under the Warhol name: not just the films but the stewardship of the avant garde rock pioneers the Velvet Underground (whom he had brought to Warhol’s attention) as well as the launch in 1969 of the influential magazine Interview, which Morrissey co-founded. It sometimes seemed as though the rest of his life was spent fighting to have his contribution recognised.
Morrissey was also Warhol’s personal manager from 1965 to 1974. Asked what this entailed, he said: “I had to think of things that he might do, I had to do them, and then I had to pretend that he was involved.” The two men met in the early 60s when they were both showing their work in New York. After Morrissey had assisted on, and co-directed, Warhol’s films for several years, a turning point arrived in 1968 in the shape of the camp western Lonesome Cowboys.
“Before that, I had been helping Andy make the kind of movies he wanted to make, which was the kind of movie which looked like nobody had made it,” Morrissey said in 1978. “Lonesome Cowboys was the first time we were making an effort.” The characters, including gay gunslingers, were still bickering and flirting and talking about their hairdos, as they had always done, only now they were doing it outdoors in Arizona, wearing costumes and riding horses, rather than lounging around in ratty Lower East Side apartments. This combination of tones and styles (timeless genre conventions side by side with a modern, spaced-out looseness) introduced a new piquancy.
Morrissey achieved his most striking results with the acute, funny and freewheeling trilogy of Flesh (1968), Trash (1970) and Heat (1972). Each showcased the sullen, swaggering beauty of Morrissey’s discovery Joe Dallesandro (immortalised as “Little Joe” in Lou Reed’s song Walk on the Wild Side), alongside “Warhol superstars” such as Viva and Jackie Curtis, and the transgender actors Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn.
The pictures presented a compassionate portrait of outsiders struggling to make and maintain emotional connections. The great director George Cukor declared himself “lost in admiration” and even instigated a campaign, ultimately unsuccessful, to land an Oscar nomination for Woodlawn for her performance in Trash.
The plots of these movies were threadbare – Flesh, shot over the course of five Saturday afternoons, follows a hustler trying to drum up the money for a friend’s abortion – and sometimes second-hand. Heat, for instance, partially recycles Sunset Boulevard. But it was the attitude that counted, as well as the ambiguity over whether the films constituted art or reality. Though the performances could be affectless to the point of mundanity, Morrissey was adamant about the dividing line between cinema and life. “If a person is in front of a camera, they’re acting,” he said. “It’s not possible to live in front of a camera. What I always believed in was the truthfulness of artificiality.”
Born into an Irish Catholic family in New York, Paul was the son of Joseph, a lawyer, and his wife, Eleanor, and he remained a devout Catholic all his life. He was educated at Fordham preparatory school and Fordham University, where he began making 16mm films.
His first short depicted a priest saying mass on the edge of a cliff before throwing the altar boy to his death. Another, Civilization and Its Discontents, featured “a hood in a pea jacket strangling a fat albino” while Like Sleep showed two drug addicts nodding off. These brought him to Warhol’s attention and led to his involvement on films including My Hustler (1965) and Bike Boy (1967). His first feature-directing credit, shared with Warhol, was on the three-and-a-half hour, split-screen Chelsea Girls (1966). It was precisely the formalist experimentation of that film which some Warhol loyalists accused Morrissey of betraying when he manoeuvred the artist’s brand toward the ordered narratives of Hollywood melodrama.
While Warhol was recovering after being shot by Valerie Solanas, founder and sole member of the Society for Cutting Up Men (SCUM), Morrissey assumed full creative control over the films – or, rather, his creative control over them was finally made explicit. After Flesh, Trash, Heat, and Women in Revolt (1971), which included a send-up of SCUM in the shape of PIGs (Politically Involved Girls), Morrissey moved in a different direction. Taking Dallesandro with him, he made a pair of kitsch, gory but technically accomplished horror films in Italy: Flesh for Frankenstein (1973) – released in the US as Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein – and Blood for Dracula (1974). “I’m always a little afraid of getting stuck doing one thing,” he admitted.
No one could accuse him of that. Flesh for Frankenstein was shown initially in 3D, so that a man whose hand is sliced off seemed to bleed all over the stalls, his guts wobbling in the audience’s faces on the end of a sharpened pole.
Morrissey’s next film, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978), was even more unlikely: a madcap take on Sherlock Holmes starring much of the British comedy establishment, including Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Kenneth Williams, as well as the theatrical giant Joan Greenwood, who remarked of Morrissey: “He’s a dear, really, but the first few days one didn’t know where one was. One got used to him. He’s jolly clever.” Critics were less impressed: Time Out magazine remarked that “a first-year film student would be ashamed”.
He continued making films, including Forty Deuce (1982), starring Kevin Bacon as a hustler, and Mixed Blood (1984, aka Cocaine), about Hispanic drug dealers in Manhattan, and spent most of the rest of his life talking about, and clarifying his part in, the Warhol story.
He remained throughout his career proudly rightwing, outspokenly moralistic and wholly indignant, railing against everything from drugs – “There’s no difference between a person using drugs and a piece of refuse” – to method acting: “When you see people like Daniel Day-Lewis and Ralph Fiennes screaming and hyperventilating, you’re seeing the phoniest kind of bad acting. You may as well have a ‘men at work’ sign. It’s not acting if you can see it.”
Despite the marginal nature of much of his work, he was at heart a populist. “I’m very traditional about everything,” he said. “I like action, comedy, pretty colours, pretty people. Art is a formula any idiot can manage. Competing in the marketplace is the only challenge left.”
He is survived by his brother, Kenneth.
mechanized flip-flops beat their ‘drums’ in meriem bennani’s exhibition at fondazione prada
meriem bennani’s mechanized installations at fondazione prada
At Fondazione Prada in Milan, Meriem Bennani presents For My Best Family, running between October 31st, 2024 and February 24th, 2025. It’s an exhibition that touches on connectivity and relationships – of being an individual that performs with others, and soon they function as one – using mechanized and kinetic-like flip-flops and slippers, rhythmic sounds, and an animated movie. During the opening of her exhibition, Meriem Bennani tells designboom that she doesn’t think she’s had much sense of belonging. She has always felt like she belongs in ways, but she recognizes that there are things in herself and in her life that are different.
‘I’ve definitely belonged, for example, in my high school circle and family, but there’s this feeling of something’s different, which everyone can feel. My femininity feels different too from the women in my family, but I think feeling different is just very formative. You’re already taking a step back, which is kind of what you do as an artist or filmmaker to be able to observe. So it’s maybe this ‘observing’ that I’m supposed to belong in a group that has made me appreciate the group as a collective,’ Meriem Bennani shares with designboom.
all photos by Delfino Sisto Legnani – DSL Studio, courtesy of Fondazione Prada (unless stated) | video © designboom
Art movie at the exhibition ‘for my best family’
Meriem Bennani’s exhibition at Fondazione Prada includes mechanical and kinetic installations where 192 mechanized flip-flops and slippers tap and thud on their wooden boards and steel plates in a rhytmic and performative sound ballet. These segmented sculptural works are laid down around the Podium floor, and they produce a cacophony of folkloric beats that ring out the entire space. The floor above shows the second part of the exhibition. Here, the Moroccan artist plays an animation art film she co-directed with Orian Barki.
The art movie tells the story of a mother and her daughter and what their relationship has weathered and gone through since the young woman came out to her parents. The plot pivots back to the mechanical installation on the Podium as they both attempt to dissect the meaning and essence of family and connection: the installation for being a part of a larger collective and functioning; the film for understanding the separation and growth of a kinship.
Exhibition View of ‘For My Best Family’ at Fondazione Prada
inside meriem bennani’s exhibition at fondazione prada
The staging of Merriem Bennani’s exhibition at Fondazione Prada is thorough and thought of. On the Podium where the Soul Crushing installations are, visitors see groups of flip-flops and slippers. When they enter, the first numerous footwear greets them on an undulating and ladderized wooden base to their right. To their left, there’s another stage of flip-flops, positioned as if they were in a choir. This part sits in the middle of two spiraling sculptures, still with slippers hammering out wooden planks. In the middle of the entire Podium, there’s an isolated island with two slippers tapping their circular metal plates, suggesting that they’re the conductors of the performance.
The sound ballet isn’t a random composition of noises. The Morrocan artist taps music producer Reda Senhaji, aka Cheb Runner, to orchestrate a soundtrack that the mechanical and kinetic installations play. It’s inspired by traditional Moroccan musical forms such as the deqqa marrakchia, laced with folkloric rhythms and beating often reverberated by tribal drums. These hundreds of flip-flops and slippers put on a show with an original soundtrack on their own as if they were living beings. There are wires and plugs connected to each platform of the footwear, and they’re all linked to the ‘pneumatic system’, programmed to sync all of the flip-flops and slippers’ beats.
Soul Crushing, Meriem Bennani
As viewers proceed to the first floor of Fondazione Prada, they find a cinema-like space for the screening of the animated art film, For Aicha, the next part of the exhibition. Meriem Bennani co-directs the 73-minute movie with documentarist and filmmaker Orian Barki under the creative production of John Michael Boling and Jason Coombs. During the preview that designboom attended, John Michael Boling and Orian Barki say that it has taken the team over two years to complete the animated feature.
The plot takes the viewers into the life of Bouchra, a 35-year-old Moroccan jackal and filmmaker living in New York, as she writes, produces, and directs an autobiographical film exploring her queerness and the way her coming out has impacted her mother, Aicha, a cardiologist living in her hometown, Casablanca. It’s intentional to make the movie feel and look like a documentary, from the shot angles down to the way the scripts are spoken and voiced. It’s an attempt to unpack, then wrap up again, what family means and the depth of familial relationships.
192 flip-flops and slippers tap and thud on wooden boards and steel plates
The points of tension in the movie caused by Aicha sweeping Bouchra’s queerness under the rug for around nine years can bring the viewers back to the raucous and thunderous beating of the mechanized flip-flops and sandals just a floor below them. As the two main characters reach their resolution, so does the composition of the footwear when they finish their symphony. Both of them might need someone and something to work well because they are a part of someone and something: Bouchra with her mother, and the flip-flops and slippers with their programmed pneumatic system. Before the movie preview where designboom shows up at, Meriem Bennani stands before the audience to let us know how the installations and the movie came to life.
She prefers to talk about her emotional response to something, and for her exhibition at the Fondazione Prada, it’s about being a part of a big group, a crowd. ‘What happens when you’re in a big crowd? Why is it so irresistible to do the same thing as the other people? What happens when you realize you’re a part of humanity?’ she wonders. ‘When you start to play music, people sing and clap, but how do they know when to clap? It’s almost like an instinct – this visceral response to being in society, with people. It’s almost like there’s a system that’s making them breathe together. It’s like they’re all connected in a network.’ It’s that connection that she manages to find, leading to an exhibition that seeks to understand the dynamics of being connected, like a family.
the series of footwear is connected to a programmed ‘pneumatic’ system
the flip-flop and slippers perform a symphony composed by Meriem Bennani and Reda Senhaji aka Cheb Runner
Pudong Villa: A Modern Retreat Bridging Tradition and Innovation in Rural Shanghai
The building’s design was shaped by the strict guidelines of local construction standards, which dictated the dimensions, height, and roof form based on the footprint of the previous structure on the site. Despite these constraints, Atelier LI approached the design with a modern sensibility, crafting a minimalist white facade that stands out against the lush greenery of the countryside. This deliberate choice to embrace modernity in a rural setting not only highlights the villa’s clean lines and contemporary form but also represents a bold statement about the potential for modern architecture in non-urban contexts.
A commitment to greenery was a key element of the architectural concept. The architects placed a significant emphasis on dissolving the boundaries between the indoor and outdoor environments, allowing nature to infiltrate the structure. The integration of courtyards on various floors, along with vertical and internal gardens, creates a tranquil atmosphere that extends from the interior to the exterior, promoting a sense of calm and connection to the surrounding natural scenery.
A Bungalow Renovation With Zen Aesthetic in Echo Park
Nestled on a scenic hilltop in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, Sue Chan’s residence is a blend of function and serenity, offering a zen escape while maintaining a dynamic space for entertaining. Designed by OWIU Design, the Echo Park Hillhouse home is a testament to thoughtful design that draws upon the beauty of its natural surroundings while maximizing functionality and comfort.
The home’s layout emphasizes a fluid connection between indoor and outdoor spaces, reflecting its elevated vantage point with sweeping views of East Los Angeles. OWIU integrated the natural landscape into the architecture, with large windows and an expansive deck seamlessly extending the living space outdoors. The open-plan design encourages easy movement between the newly renovated kitchen and living room, making it ideal for both quiet relaxation and hosting guests.
Throughout the home, lighting choices by iconic designers like Noguchi and Mario Bellini add character and elegance, while vintage furniture pieces, such as a Hans Wegner dining table and Eames chairs, infuse the rooms with timeless style. In the living room, handcrafted pieces like a custom carpentry bench and American White Oak bookshelves reinforce the home’s unique, artisanal quality.
A notable feature of the home is the raised platform in the bedroom, a subtle yet effective way of delineating the private space without the need for walls. This design element, which has become a signature of OWIU’s projects, promotes a sense of retreat and calm, perfect for Chan’s busy bicoastal lifestyle. The bedroom is also complemented by custom-made Japanese shoji doors that provide both aesthetic appeal and practical privacy.
The kitchen, co-designed with Reform, showcases an earthy warmth through its cedar and oak finishes, similar to that of a cabin while incorporating contemporary elements. Thoughtfully placed skylights flood the space with natural light, enhancing the home’s organic feel. Despite its modest size, the kitchen offers ample storage thanks to hidden compartments and floating shelves, demonstrating OWIU’s commitment to maximizing space without sacrificing design.
The exterior continues the theme of blending functionality with nature. OWIU carefully designed the fencing to accommodate existing trees, creating a fluid relationship between the built environment and the landscape. Outdoor spaces, including a custom patio and furniture from the HAY Balcony Collection, offer additional areas to enjoy the tranquil surroundings.
In addition to the main residence, OWIU designed a separate office unit on the property. Clad in cedar and oak, similar to the main house, the detached structure offers a quieter, more secluded atmosphere, ideal for focused work or retreat. The office features a large picture window framing the surrounding trees, keeping the occupant connected to the outdoors.
For more information on OWIU Design, visit owiu-design.com.
Photography by Justin Chung.
The World of Tim Burton review – a tour around a singular creative mind – The Guardian
The World of Tim Burton review – a tour around a singular creative mind The Guardian
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Web designers: tiny ‘peacock spiders’ depicted in all their glory – in pictures | Art and design
Australian Maratus spiders, which measure 3-5mm, are known as “peacock spiders” because of the extravagant colourings they display during courtship rituals and combat. Sydney-based artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso became fascinated with the tiny spiders, which she has depicted in the series Spiders of Paradise, in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Together with scientific imager Geoff Thompson and Queensland Museum entomologist Andy Wang, she created composite images of their distinctive patterns using more than 1,000 source photographs for each species. “They’re cute, they’re exclusively Australian,” says Cardoso of the spiders. “They’re incredibly expressive and very flirtatious. The male wants to get all the attention of the female, like birds of paradise.”
rolls-royce reveals phantom goldfinger, inspired by its motor car in the 1964 james bond film
2024 phantom goldfinger by rolls-royce motor cars
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars introduces Phantom Goldfinger, the motor car that marks the 60th anniversary of the 1964 James Bond film. Its design cues take from the 1937 Phantom III Sedanca de Ville in the 007 movie, the one owned by the villain Auric Goldfinger, and the bespoke features of the car link back to the Goldfinger plot, from the complex sculptural gallery inspired by the scene filmed on the Furka Pass to the gold golf putter mounted to the inside of the car’s boot, which ties in with the club used by Auric Goldfinger during his first meeting with James Bond.
The interior shines in gold, and quite literally through the presence of the varying-carat material. The design team embeds a solid 18-carat gold bar, shaped as a miniature version of the car’s design. Gold finish brushes the base of the front and rear center consoles, and even the inside of the glovebox and the hidden vault created in the center console between the front seats. Gold for the air vents, gold for the organ stops throughout the motor car, gold finish for the speaker frets, and gold plates for the treadplates designed to look like gold bars that feature Goldfinger. There’s also a 24-carat gold-plated VIN plaque engraved with the vehicle ID number, which ends in 007.
all images courtesy of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
719 glowing stars on the ceiling of the rolls-royce car’s interior
The Furka Pass references show up several times throughout the Rolls-Royce Phantom Goldfinger. The hand-drawn, 3D artwork installed in the gallery runs the full width of the front fascia, whose isoline map draws the contours of the Furkpa Pass road that’s seen in the James Bond film. The silver-like lining glimmers around the stainless steel that’s used to construct the base of the artwork, further darkened using a method called physical vapor deposition to bring out the stark lines of the Furka Pass illustration.
The motor car company says they engrave the contour line of the map onto the material to expose the bright metal underneath, thus revealing a gilded surface overall. Inside the motor car, the ceiling glistens as if there were stars at night, and in fact, the design team replicated the constellations positioned over the Furka Pass during the last day of filming the scene in Switzerland, July 11th, 1964. When the passengers look up at night, 719 ‘stars’ glow with a subtle glimmering hue, surrounded by eight ‘shooting stars’ that are all individually placed by hand.
2024 Rolls-Royce Phantom Goldfinger along the Furka Pass, the place the 1964 movie was shot
1965 movie references for the 2024 phantom goldfinger
The 1965 James Bond movie references are almost endless. In the film, Agent 007’s first encounter with the Goldfinger occurs at Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire, UK, where James Bond challenges him to a round of golf, and he uses a gold putter that was guarded by his henchman, Oddjob. It’s the reason the gold putter in gold, a recollection of the scene, appears mounted on the underside of the Phantom Goldinfinger car’s boot lid. Rolls-Royce adorns it with an ‘AG’ monongram, inspired by the engraving on the signet ring worn by the villain on-screen.
Later in the movie, the agent places a Q Branch-issued tracking device on Goldinger’s Phantom III to monitor his whereabouts around Europe. Rolls-Royce doesn’t leave it behind as they develop a device inspired by the original gadget, and it subtly projects the 007 log onto the carpet of the boot floor whenever the user opens the lid. Then, during the Stoke Park Scene, James Bond is nearly caught interfering with the Phantom III by Oddjob, who loads Goldfinger’s golf clubs and a harlequin umbrella into the boot. Rolls-Royce then produces umbrellas finished in the same red, blue, green, and yellow colors, stashed in the 2024 Phantom Goldfinger’s rear doors.
many of the motor car’s design cues take from the 1937 Phantom III Sedanca de Ville in the 007 movie
Outside the Rolls-Royce Phantom Goldfinger, the design team matches the yellow hue exterior to the original 1937 Phantom III Sedanca de Ville used in the film. The two-tone shade has a ‘long side’ with a black finishing wrapping around the motor car’s coachwork, creating an uninterrupted graphic. They place 21-inch black disc wheels with silver floating hubcups to mimic the wheel design of the one used in the 1964 movie. At the curved front end of the car, the Spirit of Ecstasy is found, a subtle reference to the Goldfinger movie plot. As the film goes, Auric Goldfinger smuggles fold in the body panels of his 1937 Phantom III car. Rolls-Royce revives it in the 2024 Phantom Goldifinger.
The sections of the figurine seem to reveal gold underneath, but in reality, it is coated with silver. The motor car company says it’s not possible to silver-plate gold. To achieve the one they put in the car, they tap specialists who use a solid silver Spirit of Ecstasy and gold-plated it with 18-carat gold for the ‘gold’ reveal effect of the figurine. To top these all off, the numberplate ‘AU 1’, which appeared on the Goldfinger Phantom III car in the film, returns to the 2024 model, doubling as a reference to the chemical symbol of hold on the periodic table of elements. The first Rolls-Royce Phantom Goldfinger has been delivered to one of the motor car’s clients, who is an England-based collector.
inside the 2024 Rolls-Royce Phantom Goldfinger
gold finish brushes the base of the front and rear center consoles, and the inside of the glovebox
719 ‘stars’ glow, surrounded by eight ‘shooting stars’ that are all individually placed by hand
Austa Restaurant: Reviving Algarve’s Artisanal Roots Through Contemporary Design
Custom-designed furniture pieces in Austa further amplify the connection to local craftsmanship. Tables and stools, crafted by local artisans using stone and wood, pay homage to the rugged beauty of the Atlantic coast and the skilled hands that shape the region’s materials. The addition of Studio Gameiro’s own Alumina Chairs, made from brushed aluminum, introduces a modern counterpoint to the otherwise natural material palette, emphasizing a balance between tradition and contemporary design.
During their exploration of local crafts, Studio Gameiro discovered the region’s historic connection to copper, a material that has been used in the Algarve since Roman times. Inspired by the art of crafting copper cataplana pans, the studio designed a series of nine copper light pendants that hover above the long dining tables. These pendants, with their shell-like forms, create a warm, moody ambiance that adds to the restaurant’s inviting atmosphere while paying homage to the area’s metallurgical heritage.
Go Outside With Tivoli Tech Outdoor Tiles by Cristina Celestino
What a relief that maximalism is now well accepted within the design community. For the past decade or so, the renter-friendly ‘beige-ification’ of homes, decor, and even children’s products is pervasive as much as it is dreary. Color is biologically pleasing to us, and can have incredible mental benefits. The new Tivoli Tech tile collection by designer Cristina Celestino for OUTERclé encourages us to bring some color to our outdoor spaces as well, highlighting the need for joy throughout all parts of our homes.
Clé is a go-to design brand for luxury surface treatments. OUTERclé is their outdoor counterpart, taking the party outside with their new line of tiles with Milan-based designer Cristina Celestino. As funky and fun as it is technical, these tiles are heat and UV resistant, freeze thaw rated, and slip resistant. Not to mention, they can also be used with radiant heating systems for underfloor warmth. Welcoming historical influences readily into her work, Celestino pulls from a long history of Italian tilemaking to design this stunning collection.
“I think there is nothing more homey, traditional, and reassuring than an earthenware floor. Our objective has been to play with the basic values of the material – Italian identity, excellent quality, durability – and to forcefully bring out its aesthetic connotations, preserving its typical materiality. I have conserved the material’s authenticity, shaping it with references to forms and geometry deeply rooted in the Italian cultural imaginary. We have achieved a result that is totally original, but continues to be reassuring, finding a balance between nostalgia and progress in design,” explains Celestino.
Cristina Celestino at Fornace Brioni Headquarters Photo: Valentina Sommariva
Celestino is a multidisciplinary designer, spanning the breadth of interior design, furniture, and tile. Serving as the creative director of Fornace Brioni, storied Italian tile maker, Celestino dives deep into the technical specifications of the product. Originally only for indoor use, the Tivoli Tech collection employs state-of-the-art material technology to take these tiles outside. This splash of color plays off the organic hues in the landscape, a harmonious addition to nature’s oldest and most enduring designs.
Verde Grigio + Verde + Arancio Salmone
Marrone Caffè + Beige + Marrone Fango
Blu Verdastro + Bianco Perla + Turchese
Turchese + Blu Verdastro + Bianco Perla
Fornace Brioni is a tiling powerhouse, founded in 1920 and still family owned, four generations later. With a specific focus in restoring traditional floors, the firm specializes in handmade tiles with historical ties. Crafted with the utmost care paid to the longstanding Italian tradition of tilemaking, the cotto used for the tiles is made from simply rainwater and clay, sediments slowly deposited along the Po River. Clay is an astounding material, able to be used and reused at basically every stage of the firing process. This makes production circular and sustainability built into the natural qualities of the material. The Tivoli Tech collection is available in 4 colorways, each balanced in a way that adds interest and joy throughout the plane.
Cristina Celestino Photo: Sara Magni
For more information on the Tivoli Tech collection, visit outercle.com.
Photography by Mattia Balsamini, except where noted.
