Page 17 - Reside Magazine Premier Central Florida

Reside — Central Florida Edition

Calm and collected
This will be Shanghai-based
Tongqi Lu’s second outing at
SaloneSatellite. In 2023, she
presented her Banyan metal and
leather chaise longue, side table,
and floor lamp to great reviews.
While Lu’s work often fuses
contrasting, seemingly incongruous
materials—glass tea cups with metal
handles, say—her intention is not
to surprise or shock, but to soothe.
“My designs typically arouse
feelings of softness, lightness, and
relaxation,” she says. The prototypes
she will be showcasing at this year’s
fair are, she explains, a “work in
progress.” The joy of showing at
SaloneSatellite, she adds, is to Portable metal and leather
“push yourself to present your lamps were on display as
best work. This opens up fantastic part of Tongqi Lu’s Banyan
collection in the 2023
opportunities for engaging chats edition of the fair
with others in the same field.”

Made for walking

Mexican-born, New York-based shoes slung, laces tied together,
duo Design VA—Armando Mora across overhead electricity cables.
Medina and Viviane Hernández “In Mexico, this often symbolizes
Padilla—met studying architecture entering a new phase of your life,”
at the Tecnológico de Monterrey they say of the habit.
(Monterrey Institute of Technology Now, Walky’s cartoon-like
and Higher Education) in shoes are becoming a recurring
Guadalajara. Since completing motif in Design VA’s work. This year,
they will exhibit a new chandelier
their MFAs at Savannah College of
Photos: Kasper Bottern; Courtesy of Tongqi Lu; Courtesy of Design VA. inspired by Mexican culture. horizontal bar, as well as a metal
made up of pairs of shoe-shaped
Art and Design, they have focused
on playful furniture design, chiefly
metallic shades suspended from a
Take the wooden Walky chair
table that threatens a life of its own.
Dominic Lutyens is a London-based
showcased at SaloneSatellite in
arts and design journalist and author
2020, which mimicked human
Salone Internazionale del Mobile
movement—its legs even fitted with
is at Fiera Milano, Milan, Italy,
their own footwear. The designers
April 16–21
were inspired by seeing pairs of
Left: The solid wood Walky chair, presented
by Design VA at the 2020 SaloneSatellite,
is an example of the duo’s joyful aesthetic
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