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designdeitiesDesign clearly helps define what we see and

how we see it. But only a handful of masters have managed to give us new perspectives.

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ZAHAHADID

“Architecture is reAlly about

well-being. it’s About

shelter, but it’s also about

pleasure.”

Zaha Hadid’s 1983 design of a proposed club on Hong Kong’s Victoria peak was

groundbreaking…yet never broke ground.

inspired by an abstract arts movement called suprematism, Hadid designed a

building that would have exploded out from the mountain, with floor planes that were

not sensibly stacked but popping out in different directions.

but the club wasn’t built, and for a time some considered Hadid’s work to be

beautiful but not buildable. this changed with the Vitra Fire station, built in 1992 and

featuring Hadid’s daring shapes and innovative spatial concepts.

More commissions followed, including a ski jump in austria, a science center

and a bMw plant in germany, a bridge pavilion in Zaragoza, spain and arts centers

in both rome and Cincinnati. each design was powerful in its own right but shared

Hadid’s exploration of the liquidity of space and forms, as well as her determination

to defy conventional euclidean geometry…and even, seemingly, gravity.

despite their singular, sometimes jarring beauty, all of her structures remain

integrated with the landscape. “Her buildings seem to ‘grow’ from the natural

characteristics of a place,” explains Martha thorne, executive director of the pritzker

architecture prize, one of the profession’s most prestigious awards—and which

Hadid won in 2004.

Currently, Hadid is applying her free-flowing vision to a variety of projects,

ranging from household products like faucets to the london 2012 olympics aquatics

Centre. as thorne observes, “she continues to push the envelope and challenge

our traditional concepts of what a building is.”

Previous spread: The zaragoza Bridge

Pavilion in zaragoza, spain.

Opposite page: nordpark Cable

Railway station in innsbruck, austria.

Right: Chanel mobile art Pavilion in

Hong Kong.

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MiCHAeLGABELLINI

“More thAn A subtrAction, MiniMalisM is an inHerent ConCentration of experience And pleAsure.”

the minimalism of Michael gabellini’s designs is not centered on the cliché that

less is more. instead, he says his work is driven by extensive research to determine

“what things are important and what things should melt away.”

gabellini got his start in the early 1980s at Kohn pedersen Fox, an architectural

firm that built many high-rises, but his interests ran more towards interiors. in 1984

he and J.w. smith designed a fashion boutique for linda dresner that was all

white except for a black cube in the middle that housed the stock room, stairs

and mechanical systems. gabellini later launched his own firm in 1993, making his

reputation with his design for Jil sander’s flagship paris store. Here, his signature

approach of creating elegant spaces through refined craftsmanship and using light

architecturally were evident.

More commissions followed, including emporio armani in Milan in 1999,

boutiques for Ferragamo, spaces for the guggenheim museum, numerous

residential projects and the rockefeller Center’s top of the rock Visitor’s Center.

along the way, gabellini’s firm expanded, and he’s quick to credit not only his team

for his success, but also his design partner Kimberly sheppard and managing

partner dan garbowit, along with his team of 30-odd professionals at gabellini-

sheppard.

“He’s creating very elegant, refined spaces with a minimum of special effects,”

says ellen lupton, curator of Contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt national

design Museum. “a lot of his interiors are like a beautiful abstract painting, with

simple rectangles of material and color. i think that speaks of something in our

culture right now, a desire for tranquility and simplicity.”

Left: spazio armani, milan, italy

Right: olympic Tower residence

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KARLLAGERFELD

“respect is not CreatiVe.”

the quote on the left is supposedly what lagerfeld told alain wertheimer, owner

of the house of Chanel, when he took over the role of chief designer there in 1983.

prior to that lagerfeld had been successful as a freelance designer for more than 20

years, working for Fendi, tiziani, Valentino and Chloe, among others.

but at that time he was brought in to reinvigorate a famous brand that had

struggled since the 1971 death of its founder, Coco Chanel. Clients clearly would

expect the classic look but the key was to reach out to a new audience that saw

Chanel strictly as a brand for older women.

lagerfeld pulled this off through a combination of his mastery of design history—

his personal Chanel archives were deeper than the company’s—and his obsession

with always staying new and fresh.

examples of his brand revamp include transforming midcalf skirts into micro-mini

suits, adding playfully fetishistic touches to black evening dresses and combining

male tank tops with a tulle skirt, then adding an oversized chain to reference Chanel’s

famous chain belts. His new Chanel vision was a triumph…and still is.

“even though he uses some element of the Chanel past, for lagerfeld it’s always

about the future and that’s what makes him unique,” says Marc Karmzedah, a

reporter for Women’s Wear Daily. this approach, explains sondra grace, professor

of fashion design at the university of Massachusetts, “is what fashion is about,

reinventing or inventing and taking it into a direction that others can’t easily follow.”

Opposite page: Part of the Karl

lagerfeld Ready-to-wear Collection

for the autumn-winter 2009 season.

Right: lagerfeld creations for Chanel

for the Fall-winter 2009 season.

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KARiMRASHID

“our liVes are eleVated when we experience beauty, CoMFort, luxury, perForManCe And utility seAMlessly together.”

For many years, art seemed to be completely removed from product design. in

this arena, function ruled over form. over the years form began to catch up with

function: Firms like alessi and Magis produced beautiful housewares designed by

talents like philippe starck. However, these were sold in specialty stores and aimed

at an elite audience.

in contrast, rashid “is a leader among his generation in bringing visually

exciting designs to a mass market,” says ellen lupton, curator of Contemporary

design at Cooper-Hewitt national design Museum. His breakthrough product in

this regard was a trash can that he designed in the mid-1990s. Called the garbino,

it was curvy, colorful and sleek. at $12, it was also inexpensive—and it appealed to

millions.

since then, rashid has continued to bring his concept of sensual minimalism—

in which he says “objects communicate, engage and inspire, yet remain fairly

minimal”—to a host of brands. His work has cropped up in households around

the world in the form of the Kurve vacuum cleaner for dirt devil, chairs for poly,

lighters for ronson and soap containers for Method, among other products. it’s

also earned a prominent place in the permanent collections of 14 museums around

the world.

beyond products, rashid has also been applying his vision to spaces,

designing restaurants, clothing stores, casinos, airline lounges and hotels around

the world. while some see design as a solution to a problem, for rashid it’s about

beautifying environments. He believes that poetry of landscape is ultimately crucial

to our well-being.

Opposite page: The nutopia sensual

salon Chair

Left: Bosco Pi, a retail store in

moscow with what Rashid calls

a “technorganic, seamless fluid

ambience.”

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