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Infinite with slightly magic. That is how the Lumio firm describes its small line of lamps and audio system, that are designed with clever performance, but additionally a transparent sense of enjoyment. Max Gunavan launched Lumio in 2013 with a conveyable lamp formed like a guide that activates when opened and — voilà! — its accordion-like pages type a sculptural fixture that can be utilized in varied configurations on a desk or suspended from a strap.
Counting on Kickstarter campaigns for seed funding, Mr. Gunawan, 43, took an unconventional path in constructing his enterprise. Skilled as an architect, he based Lumio with no background in industrial design or enterprise management, pushed by a novel and uncompromising concept for the product he needed. (He satisfied all of the panelists on the sixth season of ABC’s “Shark Tank” to make funding pitches, however none finally panned out.) The Lumio assortment has expanded to incorporate an illuminated Bluetooth speaker that refers back to the Japanese artwork of kintsugi and most not too long ago a cradle desk lamp impressed partly by Alexander Calder’s strong sculptures.
The merchandise of the San Francisco-based firm at the moment are offered in about 200 stores in 30 international locations.
Mr. Gunawan’s creations can be found on the Lumio web site, in choose design and present boutiques, and in quite a lot of museum shops, together with the MoMA Design Retailer, the primary retailer to hold the Lumio guide lamp.
“You do not have to be a design skilled to understand it,” stated Emmanuel Platt, director of retail at MoMA, who described the guide gentle as having a poetic high quality. “It is so common in a means that anybody can actually reply to it. It is laborious to not react to that, an emotional response.”
He added: “What actually units Max aside is that he has a left-right mind, the place he has the design thoughts and creativity to create this object, but additionally the know-how, the enterprise thoughts to finance and produce all of it. “
Mr. Gunawan travels quite a bit, typically to Hong Kong, the place Lumio has an workplace, and to Paris, which has turn into his European base. More and more, Paris can also be the place he goes to chill out and recharge creatively, particularly after finishing the renovation of a small condo on the elegant Place des Vosges, the legendary Seventeenth-century sq. within the Marais district that’s lined with stately brick and… limestone townhouses and arcades at avenue degree, populated with vintage outlets, galleries and cafes. It is a landmark that has captivated the Indonesian-born Mr. Gunawan since his school days, when he spent a semester in Paris as a part of his undergraduate structure research at Wesleyan College within the early 2000s.
“I traveled across the metropolis and actually absorbed the structure,” he recollects. “I stated to my associates, ‘God, someday, if I ever had a spot in Paris, I might prefer to reside on the Place des Vosges.’ However it was purely a dream.”
After spending a decade and a half within the Bay Space working in retail design after which beginning Lumio, Mr. Gunavan stated, the lure of the “gradual burn” of Paris grew with repeated visits, prompting the occasional realtor inquiry of actual property. “I stated to her, ‘You already know, if you may get me a semi-fixed prime, as a result of I actually need to put a stamp on it,'” he stated. “Solely two issues are wanted: good gentle and good quantity, and that is all, after which I can do the remainder.”
At some point in late 2019, the property agent known as with a suggestion for an off-market condo on Place des Vosges, a ground-floor one-bedroom overlooking a quiet cobbled courtyard with a parterre backyard, however he needed to act shortly. Touring on the time, Mr. Gunavan knowledgeable her that he wouldn’t be in Paris for a number of months. “She stated, Neglect about it. This may go away. You have to go tomorrow, he stated. “So I requested a buddy to make a walk-through video of the place. And guess what? Generally I make selections impulsively and this occurred. I made the supply two days later.
Totaling a modest 700 sq. ft, the condo had beneficiant 13-foot ceilings however was divided right into a sequence of small rooms. For Mr. Gunawan, some modifications have been apparent, such because the removing of one of many central partitions to create an open, steady area for the lounge, eating room and kitchen. However earlier than tackling the renovation, he selected to reside within the condo for 18 months, he stated, “to get a really feel for a way I will use it daily, how I need to get pleasure from my espresso, how the morning gentle is available in.”
Working with contractors, he designed every part himself, right down to the smallest particulars. Just like the merchandise he created for Lumio, the outcomes are a mix of considerate simplicity and suave whimsy. The general really feel is refined minimalism, exemplified by the subtly altering palette of grays. Within the residing quarters, Mr. Gunawan used a deep battleship hue for the chevron flooring and a lighter dove tone for the ribbed paneling that traces the kitchen cupboards and the bottom of the eating desk, whereas a pale mist-like shade colours the partitions.
“I like a quiet area that is easy and clear,” Mr. Gunavan stated. “It goes again to my college days, how I fell in love with structure by way of the work of Tadao Ando. There are nonetheless all the time components of that simplicity and grey tones that talk to me.”
There are many moments of playfulness and shock within the condo, beginning with the doorway foyer, the place a number of Japanese collectible figurines of joyful cats perch on the door body, whereas a mild tug on the sting of a arched mirror from Bower Studios reveals a hidden hall containing a laundry room. washer and wardrobe.
Apart from the entrance doorways, the condo has nearly no handles or pulls (the inconspicuous few that Mr. Gunawan included appear to be little pebbles, made in collaboration with Léa Van Impe, a ceramic artist). As an alternative, doorways and cupboards slide or open with a contact — or, within the case of the dishwasher, with a double faucet.
The kitchen was notably essential to Mr Gunavan, an enthusiastic cook dinner who relishes the each day ritual of shopping for meals from neighborhood merchants and returning dwelling to make dinner for himself or, often, a small group of associates. “I by no means throw huge events, however I prefer to feed folks,” he stated, describing himself as an introvert at coronary heart. “4 to 6 company is my joyful place.”
Each inch of the kitchen was meticulously designed. Home equipment and storage are hidden behind pleated floor-to-ceiling paneling, whereas the vary and sink are built-in into a distinct segment of charcoal-colored Ceppo di Gré marble speckled with terrazzo-like flecks of stone. Contrasting Arabescato marble with picturesque grey veining was used for an open storage shelf and for the eating desk prime, which doubles as an island workspace.
Mr. Gunawan hung a minimalist Michael Anastassiades mobile-style chandelier above and surrounded the desk with seven of his favourite chairs, all in black, from designers together with Jean Prouvé, Hans Wegner, Faye Toogood and Nendo’s Oki Sato. “Chairs are one of many issues I really like,” stated Mr. Gunavan, who designed his personal Lumio chair to be unveiled this fall. “I assumed, why not make it quite a lot of them. Assume it is simple to seek out all these black variations? In some circumstances, I actually needed to beg.”
The residing space is anchored by a traditional Arflex couch paired with a two-tone Mr. Gunawan textured wooden cocktail desk commissioned by Ferréol Babin, a French designer, plus an Eames plywood chair in hearth engine purple and some tufted wool ottomans for further seating for sitting. Close by, Ceppo di Gré cabinets illuminated by recessed lighting show books, small artistic endeavors, design objects and different curiosities, together with a whale sculpture by illustrator Jean Jullien, a glass candlestick by artist José Lévy and a donkey’s head made out of palm raffia fibers he picked up from a roadside market in Morocco.
Entry to Mr. Gunawan’s bed room and workplace is thru a door hidden within the kitchen paneling, resulting in a low-ceilinged hallway that gives a sensory in addition to spatial transition from the general public residing areas to the non-public. Right here he tucked the bathroom, polished concrete bathe and sink—a sculptural monolith by Ceppo di Gré—below a sleeping loft accessed by slender stairs. The remainder of the area opens as much as full peak, with views of the backyard simply outdoors.
Each inch of cupboard space is used, which implies floor-to-ceiling cupboards with tilting clothes cabinets. Sparsely furnished, the room is provided with a Bruno Moinard Editions desk and a Frama Triangolo chair (normally cushioned by a Pendleton felt blanket), the place Mr. Gunawan typically retreats to suppose, draw or drink his morning espresso. Generally he begins his days on the foot of his mattress, legs dangling over the aspect of the loft, the place he has designed a slender lap desk deep sufficient for a notepad or sketch pad.
“That is the place I separate myself,” he stated. “That is my area of interest, my cocoon.”
