Tan’s designer piece Arcos blends smooth sculpture with rough-textured stratums (All photos: Cosentino)
As we approach the year-end, the joyful promise of holidays begins to conquer more and more mental real estate. And though snowy splendour has its seasonal allure, Mediterranean vacations and radiant rivieras continue to be an equally opulent option for the jet-setter. If getting whisked away to a foreign retreat is not on the cards for you, Spanish surface brand Cosentino has announced two new collections curated for those wishing to satiate their wanderlust by including a touch of the old continent in their abodes — the Dekton Pietra Edition, inspired by iconic Italian stones, and Silestone XM Le Chic Bohème, modelled after the City of Light’s elegance and individuality.
The company partnered with local talents, architect Fabian Tan and designers Eliz Wong and Lew Yong Wei of Dualspace Studio, to unveil two unique furniture pieces in commemoration of the launch. The creative minds were delegated the Pietra and Le Chic Bohème lines respectively, and tasked to showcase how these recent releases can be applied to convey European or resort-style interiors.
“The brief given to me was ‘Mediterranean’ … The image that came up was arches, but there is a particular set in the south of Spain, at [The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordóba],” says Tan, who made headlines in 2020 when his eponymous firm designed the Ottiqa house, noted for its rooftop bathtub. Tan describes looking to the layered arcs of the cathedral and wanting to encapsulate that sense of multiplicity within a smaller design: “We tried to simplify it into a few layers, but I wanted to combine this ancient Classicism with modern elements.”
The outcome, a stylish white credenza named Arcos, is a highly sculptural table reminiscent of a building miniature, made from the Sandik and Trevi surfaces. “The first thing I noticed when I touched the material was … it’s very hard, like a petrified countertop,” says Tan. “I wanted it to have some sort of lightness. How could I express this, and with the limited space, emulate that feeling of multitude and depth?”
The solution came in the tactical incorporation of the curved shape from a variety of angles. Capturing the serene complexity of colonnades or cloisters, the slim pillars are deliberately staggered to achieve the illusion of a wider space. A great point of pride for the architect is the corner view, where he points out the adjacent half-arcs meld to form a whole curve to expand the sense of breadth, giving the piece multidimensional appeal. The minimalistic approach sheds the typical busyness and grandeur of classical order columns, but retains its sophistication and open essence as light floods between the sleek stems.
Tan elaborates: “[Dekton’s] inspirations are from ancient stones. Some reveal pebbles, some have small fissures, but they don’t have the same characteristics of marble. The ones I chose were meant to represent a structure and earth.” The half-sunken appearance, as if emerging from the ground, is achieved by the contrast in textures, where the smoother, softer Sandik constitutes the architectural top half, while the travertine finish of the Trevi recalls a terrestrial cross-section.
As for practical usage, he says Arcos would be ideally situating at the end of a wall as a platform for decoration (“Topped with a bust … of myself maybe,” he jests) or as a social bar table where one can chat with friends, since the superior scratch and stain resistance of the material makes it perfect for placing glass or dishware, and thew tactile contrast invites idle touch.
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The Silestone XM Le Chic Bohème capsule assigned to DualSpace Studio, meanwhile, draws on Parisian aesthetics and opulent vacation homes. Armed with this thematic brief, the duo, who specialise in interior design, renovation and consultation for commercial as well as residential projects, took the thought of a pied-à-terre to heart, envisioning something that would embody household essentials with an urban twist — a standing lamp called D-Dualité O2.
“At first, we came up with different things for a home: a floor lamp, bookshelf, divider … We played around with using acrylic, murals and [carving] voids. In the end we settled on this lamp because we have so many light collections in our studio that we’ve gathered from different countries,” shares Wong.
“Our concept was to create something that could ‘house’ the [illumination source], so we took inspiration from the actual structures of houses.”
Prone to experimenting with recycled items such as plastic, balloons and resin, the pair add they have frequently used Cosentino products in the past, lauding how the strength and variety of thicknesses the slabs are available in make them especially easy to employ in features such as a cantilever staircase, where the steps are only joined on one edge.
Dynamic and effortlessly elegant, the D-Dualité O2 uses the vibrantly coloured Château Brown and Jardin Emerald from the collection in thick, perpendicularly slotted configurations, with the two tones shaped into L-shaped columns fitted one within the other. The piece is inspired by roofs and trusses, with clean lines that evoke the seamlessness of wooden joinery, and a structural solidity tempered by the stone’s subtle yet brilliant veining.
A lightly frosted panel of acrylic diffuses the warm glow of the circular bulb behind it, which seems to levitate in the centre of the vertical length like a floating sun. “When we designed this, it was a shorter version, about two or three feet. There was meant to be a mirror next to the acrylic, but then we decided to focus purely on the Cosentino materials provided, and made it taller for easier presentation. We thought, ‘Maybe we’ll go for a sphere lighting rather than a tube since the whole structure is very angular’, and positioned it in the middle to balance out [the design],” expresses Lew.
When it comes to where their creation would look best, the two laugh, “Ours would go great next to [Tan’s] piece! You can chit-chat at the table with a nice lamp next to you,” affirming how important lighting can be to the ambience of a party. They remark how the initial bookshelf idea survived in this final article, as the upper brackets form a slot for books, and decorative objects can be stacked on the top tier due to the stability of the stone — an added functionality.
Asked how the collections would be best incorporated in the home, all three concur on the convenience of imbuing one’s space with decadence and simplicity through Cosentino’s offerings. “The application is limitless, it could be part of the architecture or interior, as furniture or objects,” ponders Tan, to which the DualSpace partners imagine kitchen tops, backsplashes and flooring endowed with stony splendour for a holiday vibe sans plane tickets.
This article first appeared on Dec 9, 2024 in The Edge Malaysia.
