Acumen - July 2023

Acumen devotes the cover of issue 36, July 2023, and six pages in its Architecture section to the industrial loft in London. The text is by Nathalie Dassa, and the title, Un loft entre art et design, places the project between the two disciplines.

spread from Acumen (July 2023): Industrial Loft in London with a concrete hall, arched windows and a curved black sofa

Acumen is the monthly magazine published in Paris by Galerie Joseph, and each issue brings together architecture, design, art, photography and fashion. Independent journalists and art critics contribute features on projects, artists and exhibitions. The living room of the industrial loft was selected for the cover of issue 36, July 2023, and also opens the feature on pages 94 and 95. At the centre of the photograph stands the Element 1 coffee table.

spread from Acumen: living-room detail of the Industrial Loft with a black sofa, artwork and article text

Barlas Baylar designed Element in 2014 for Hudson Furniture, which makes it by hand in its New York atelier. It was first exhibited at the Armory Show in New York as part of a small series of sculptural objects. Molten stainless steel is poured into a mould taken from a rock, reproducing its cracks and imperfections, before the surface is polished to a mirror finish.

spread from Acumen: wardrobe area of the Industrial Loft in London with a sculptural chrome bench and clothes rail under a skylight

The feature closes on pages 98 and 99 with a spread of the dressing room, where the Bibendum seat stands at the centre. Toni Grilo designed it for Riluc in 2009, drawing on the stacked rings of the Michelin Man. It is produced in a limited edition in hand-worked, polished stainless steel. Established in Santo Tirso, near Porto, in 2009, Riluc grew out of the family workshop that had made precision-engineered components since 1986.

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