Note from the editor, Diana Khoo:
And just like that, it has been 100 issues of Haven. With the Covid-19 pandemic showing no signs of abating, the notion that one’s home is one’s haven has never rung more true. With that in mind (and the idea of celebrating our milestone issue in a small way), we decided to put together even more suggestions on how to jazz up your living space. For a hundred ways to be inspired and to acquire wisely, flip to Page 42 for a visual feast of the best items to invest in (or splurge on).
For our cover, we were privileged to be the very first to photograph the new city pad of glamorous fashion icon and star of Astro Gempak’s The House, Ezurin Khyra. She put together the three-bedroom, 3,285 sq ft space entirely on her own, relying on just her travel memories for design references. Those who have stayed at the beautiful Parker Palm Springs following its US$27 million remodelling by Jonathan Adler, or fallen in love with the candy-coloured colonial towns that dot the golden coastline of Bahia, widely acknowledged as Brazil’s sexiest state, would be able to pick out all the delightful nuances. Read about Ezurin’s labour of love on Page 18.
Size isn’t everything, as the transformation of a traditional terraced house on Page 28 shows. The standard 22ft x 75ft lot was turned into a stunning new space with design aesthetics that draw from the schools of minimalism and industrial chic. Elsewhere, award-winning architect Razin Mahmood discusses the merits of melding the indoors and outdoors and respecting the tropical climate in his new book, Blurring Boundaries, while WinSon Loh of PINKGUY espouses the need to enhance the value of artworks while protecting their provenance by framing them correctly.
We are also fortunate to have been able to chat with Piet Oudolf on his new work for the Vitra headquarters in Germany. Those unfamiliar with the famed Dutch garden designer’s name may have strolled through one of his dreamlike meadowscapes without even realising it. He has designed gardens for an extensive and international clientele, including the Serpentine Gallery in London, Copenhagen’s famed Noma restaurant and the High Line in New York.
Right now, the world is eagerly anticipating Oudolf’s upcoming project —the Camden Highline in London, the first phase of which is set to open in 2024. Borrowing design codes from the High Line in New York, the linear park will boast a timber walkway along its length, with picnic tables, conversation pits, trampolines, and planters filled with butterfly gardens, perennials, hanging vines as well as birch and oak trees. All these give us much to look forward to in life. After all, it was Oudolf who once said: “Planting is good therapy for the times in which we live.” How true.
Haven is complimentary with every copy of The Edge Malaysia (June 7 issue). Get the Summer 2021 edition at your nearest newsstands now.
