SAVOR Kolamba East’s Ode to Sri Lankan Architecture
The sister restaurant to London’s Kolamba, Kolamba East, forges a multifaceted ode to Sri Lankan culture through a menu and interiors that reference the oeuvre of modernist architect Geoffrey Bawa. Founders Eroshan and Aushi Meewella enlisted London’s Fare design studio to craft the second outpost of their critically acclaimed Soho restaurant, whose beachy feel is its own ode to Bawa’s legacy of tropical abodes. Specific references to his work can be found in backlit timber paneling and rattan and wood accents. The menu features recipes sourced from family and friends, with a multicultural slant that reflects Sri Lanka’s own diversity. Highlights include a hot butter soft shell crab, pappadums served with mango chutney, and a jackfruit biryani. —Jenna Adrian-Diaz
Photography courtesy of SolidNature…
VISIT A Serene Amsterdam Fountain Made of Upcycled Onyx Slabs
One of the most Instagrammed highlights of last year’s Milan Design Week was SolidNature’s subterranean adventure through a lustrous onyx stone labyrinth. Instead of tossing the slabs when the installation wrapped up, the Dutch stone purveyor tapped frequent collaborator Sabine Marcelis to repurpose them into a monumental fountain in a pond at the heart of Amsterdam’s Vondelpark. The intervention comprises three stacked rectangular volumes with water cascading off each side, not unlike the peachy water features the Rotterdam-based designer has made for Étage Projects. Here, her focus is on minimizing waste—and exploring the serene ambiance water can create. The fountain will be on view for the next three months. —Ryan Waddoups
Photography by Eugenia Burnett Tinsley…
SEE Lee Bul’s Deconstructed Figures Aim for Discomfort
One of the last times that Lee Bul showed her work in the United States, she adorned dead fish with sequins and displayed them in plastic bags in a commentary on beauty standards. The odor was so strong that MoMA staffers removed a refrigeration unit that held even more fish, compelling the South Korean artist to pull the rest of her work. Perhaps the American museum machine wasn’t equipped to contain such disturbances—a theme that manifests differently at her latest outing, which brings a quartet of sculptures to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s facade niches. There, towering humanoids made of polycarbonate parts over steel armatures recall Cubist masterpieces melting in a cascade of fragmented prisms. They reflect on our abiding desire for perfection—and willingness to pick up the pieces and start anew. —R.W.
Photography by Clemente Vergara…
PLAY A Stylish Members Club Beckons from Mallorca
For Làlia, a new members club in Mallorca, London interiors studio Tatjana von Stein found inspiration close by and as far away as Copenhagen’s Thorvaldson museum. The institution dedicated to sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen played a pivotal role in von Stein’s approach to color-blocking the multi-hued interiors. She then executed them in hues of green, yellow, and terracotta, all of which color the Mallorcan city of Palma, where Làlia is located. Pieces from local makers, such as upholstery by Textil Bujosa, carved marble sinks by masonry artisans D’aigo, and carpentry by Ducoin feature throughout the club’s ample spaces for work and play. —J.A.D.
Photography by François Halard…
SHOP Toteme’s Glossy Pragmatism Beckons Uptown
On the heels of its second runway show, the Stockholm-based brand Toteme has another milestone to celebrate: the opening of its first uptown boutique in New York City. Founders Elin Kling and Karl Lindman worked with fellow Swedish firm Halleroed on the Upper East Side shop, where the brand’s selection of sharply pragmatic silhouettes stand out against a statement red spiral staircase and a stacked contemporary art and design collection. The scene stealer, by far, is a polished bronze Anders Krisár sculpture that gives the appearance of a girl sinking into the concrete floors. —J.A.D.
Image credit: Enric Badrinas…
STAY An Idyllic Surf Town Getaway on the Cantabrian Sea
Spain’s idyllic Basque country has a few claims to fame: its temperate climate, year-round surf scene, culinary wonders, and now, Hotel Ur Bare in the coastal town of Zarautz. The intimate, 13-room property unfolds across three floors of a former villa reworked by architect Beatriz Bergasa and designer Ricard Trenchs. Warm-toned stucco keeps the revamped interiors in dialogue with the surrounding architecture, and provides a subtle backdrop for Italian modernist furnishings and accents from Poliform and Molteni&C and lighting by Santa & Cole to stand out. —J.A.D.
Image courtesy of Glenmorangie…
OBSESS Glenmorangie: Dr. Bill Lumsden x Azuma Makoto 23 Years Old
Azuma Makoto is easily Tokyo’s most daring florist. He’s also a connoisseur of fine whiskies, so he recently joined forces with Glenmorangie to devise a liquid embodying the notion of shinra bansho, which embraces the ground, the sky, and everything in between. The elemental result blends classic single-malt Glenmorangie with whisky finished in casks that once held Chardonnay, infusing it with notes of moss dampened by rainfall, burning oak, and earthy scents of the forest floor. Accompanying the bottle a Makoto masterpiece—a flowing floral assemblage of orchids, roses, and wildflowers from Scotland woven through tree bark, roots, and moss, reflecting the limited-edition blend’s layered depths. —R.W.
