F R O M T H E E D I T O R CHRISTIAN SCHWALBACH A At its best, design is transcendent. A subtle alchemy of form, function, beauty and context, it transforms an ordinary object or place into a memorable experience, sometimes without even letting you know it’s there. Increasingly, it’s the final ingredient I mentioned – context – that is coming to the fore, with remarkable results. Like the locavore revolution in the culinary world, there is newfound attention to local materials, artisans and traditions, so that our objects and spaces are both more welcoming and more deeply infused with a sense of place. In this issue of Centurion, we celebrate forward-thinking designers, shining the spotlight on the men and women behind this incredible magic, some of whose names you may know – and others who are emerging from local fame to international acclaim. In London, for instance, there are a handful of creatives who have recently reconfigured their boutiques into fully functional living spaces – allowing customers to see not just the designers’ objects, but their sensibilities. Turn to page 37 to find out how trends for inclusiveness and local sourcing work to create spaces that, as Frieda Gormley of House of Hackney says “touch the soul”. It’s precisely this emotionally evocative response delivered at the design-led hotels in Croatia (p15) and the fully revamped castles now finding new leases of life as exemplary hotels in the Loire Valley (p20) – private paradises pairing modern sensibilities with the heritage of their locales. Design, of course, is equally important on the water, where brother-and-sister team Bernardo and Martina Zuccon have been honing their craft for many years. Having designed a raft of yachts for boatmaker Sanlorenzo, they have also recently – as we learn on page 42 – extended their sensitive vision to the domestic sphere, dreaming up a couch for Poltrona Frau and proving that superlative design is as important as cutting-edge technology. There are many more features and trend reports in this issue of Centurion, from wellness to Montana to Sicily. We wish you happy reading, and we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did putting it together. ¬ THOUGHTFUL BLACK Hungarian painter Krisztián Tejfel’s works – including this edition’s cover art, My Beautiful Dark Soul (2022) – are abstract explorations of melancholy, sorrow and loneliness. tejfelkrisztian.com 10 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
