I'm home (NEWS / ENGLISH)

Provence district in South France is facing the Mediterranean Sea and it's a warm area, surrounded by ocean and mountains. Jacqueline Morabito, born and raised in Nice, currently lives in a village called La Colle sur Loup. She is a designer, designing and producing lifestyle related products under her own brand name, such as furniture, dishes, linens, fragrances and food. She was active as a jewelry designer and then turned an interior designer. Since that time for 30 years, she has been successful on frontline of French interior industry. Her actual achievements include designing museums, cafes, boutiques and houses. Moreover, she was a style consultant for interior magazines and performed some industrial designs as well.
Her own residence is located in the field of olives, not too far from the village where her atelier is. She purchased this field, cultivated in the 15th century, about 12 years ago. When she first visited there, she was strongly inspired by the energy of the place and when she built a house, she tried to keep it as is, as much as possible. Her "white world" spreads in Jacqueline's house. However, what she expresses is not "pure white" but it's warm "milky white" where you can almost smell some sweet fragrance. The space and furniture designs she got involved, basically possessed hard and simple lines, but the materials were delicate and when you touch it, it feels comfortable. It is indeed her unique style that she pursues minimalism yet it doesn't give a cold impression. And it is easy to feel her affection in each item in this house such as thoroughly ironed bed linens, blankets with her initials embroidered, etc.
For Jacqueline who was born and raised in Nice, it is important to perform creative activities here. She gets up at 6 o'clock every morning and in the evening, she tries to go home as early as possible to have a quality time with her family in the midst of hectic schedule. This is a place where she can recapture herself. While surrounded by the air in Provence, sharing life with her family, being in the culture and customs that ancestors cultivated, she leads a life appreciating the nature. She loves everything around her and getting energy from these elements, she has been creating her unique interpretation of the world.

Driving from the center of Oahu through Waikiki to further east, there exists a residential area, Hawaii Kai facing Pacific Ocean on the south. In that residential area, Mike Mckenna who runs a successful car dealing operation, owns a house. This house facing a small cove, overlooks Diamond Head in front and can enjoy the sunset from Lanai(terrace).
An architect, Fritz Johnson designed this house, having a traditional Hawaiian style as a base. With a background of having a beach front location, stream runs through the center of premises. On one side, there is a main house and when you cross a stream, a king's room is located, further in the back, there is a guest room. This kind of layout was used in the Hawaiian dynasty. Fritz learned architecture in Europe and considers there lies a Hawaiian true essence in the traditional style as he is awe-inspired by the unique culture of Hawaii nurtured by nature.
By locating a stream in the center, a warm ocean wind is cooled down and refreshing breeze will be delivered to the inside of the house. Moreover, by setting up the building independent, an aperture was easily established and by this, dividing line between indoor and outside became vague.
This house is laid out having a swimming pool located in between the main house with a spacious living room and a dining room and the building wing with bedrooms and bathrooms. Scissors truss is used for the living room being the center of the residence and even though it's a wooden residence, no pillars exist and vaulted ceiling was created. For frames and ceilings, koa which is often utilized for furniture, was used. Glass was used for dividing inside and outside of the house and this creates one expansive, open space connecting inside of the house, swimming pool, garden to the ocean.

Architect : Fritz Johnson, Inc. Architect

1/10,000mm. This is how thin it is when pure gold is thinly beaten out as much as possible. Gold leaf is chemically stable and since it doesn't corrode, it doesn't tarnish. Therefore, even though it's sheer and thin, its glow is eternal. In Japan, gold coloration seen in Buddhist temples and shrines, symbolizes the Pure Land of Amida Buddha. Since ancient times,gold has been respected as special material, however, nowadays, it's been passed on by craftsmen as a delicate, traditional art called gold decoration.
This traditional technology was incorporated into architecture and interior for actual use by "Rekisei-sha" which exclusively handles gold decoration for interiors. This corporation was founded more than 100 years ago as a sword business corporation. In the history flow of decree banning the wearing of swords and the World War II, the corporation handled gold and silver folding screen business. As a result, they found a new value in producing wall papers. Currently, under the concept of "utilizing gold leaf for modern space", they are presenting interior design using gold leaf. They are getting high evaluation especially on the production technology of gold leaf.
The base of this wall paper production is the technology of foil stamping. First, grasp approximately 10cm square sheet of gold leaf with a bamboo pincer and let it swim in the air, then quickly paste it on the mount. This process is done in a few seconds. This delicate technology that the corporation has been cultivating, is still done by craftsmen manually. Therefore, the wrinkles differ from one another. That uniqueness shows a new expression along with the color and glow of gold leaf whenever it is pasted. Moreover, starting with the basic wall paper finished with just foil stamping and painting, others include the one with silk clothed in and the one with sand scattered. The tie-up with a uniquely arranged wall paper manufacturer, enabled this corporation to produce innovative product and it's getting a lot of attention as an outstanding work, not only domestically but also from abroad.
Gold leaf does not simply have a strong assertiveness but in the back side, it also possesses harmonious and discreet aspect. This material is traditional but yet innovative and shows various expressions. Gold leaf shows a new attractiveness in the modern space and will grasp the hearts of Japanese from now on and ever.

Kobe city in Hyogo prefecture in Kansai area, is famous for having luxurious and exotic former residences of early foreign settlers, built in Meiji period. Kitano area overlooking Kobe harbor is a tourist spot and at the same time, it's a prime residential area. Currently there are commercial facilities and houses of old-established families in this area, forming a unique cityscape.
The owner was hoping to live in this uptown and purchased the land of 75m2, overlooking
Kobe harbor. An architect, Kenji Tagashira proposed an innovative plan to use "black" for outside walls, which wouldn't impair the atmosphere of the cityscape. Moreover, to make a limited space look big, the same color and materials were chosen for indoor and outside walls. They were spray painted but by having a different finishing touch, texture was designed to be varied.
Moreover, not to give dark and small feel to the inside, the building frame was raised to the farthest limit of legal regulation and the stairs were located in the center of the building frame. Having the stairs as an axis, 1m width of glass window was inserted from east side to the ceiling and to the west side according to the sun orbit. So the frame of window is shaped like a rectangle with one side missing. For the stairs, only slots are put in so that the maximum lighting can be achieved to downstairs. With this effect, the first floor is quite bright. As for the living room and dining kitchen, slit-type windows were put in everywhere, thus the sight line naturally heads toward outside and spacious feeling is created.
At night, black walls function as continuous line blending in the darkness and creates more spacious feeling. At the same time, the beauty of night view is accentuated. Furthermore, as for lighting, floor lamps are located which is rare in Japan. This creates some nuance in the space.

Four Seasons Resort
Hualalai at Historic Ka`upulehu

Hawaii island is called "Big Island" by locals. Hawaii islands consist of eight islands and Hawaii island is the biggest one, located to the farthest east with the size of approximately 10460Km2. There are Mt. Mauna Kea with an altitude of 4205m and Mt. Mauna Loa with an altitude of 4169m on this island and their smooth ridge lines are extending to the ocean. Throughout the year, Mt. Mauna Kea is blessed with clear and sunny weather and it's in one of the fortunate environment to have an astronomical observation. There are 12 astronomical observatories in various countries in the world. Kilauea volcano located in the east is currently active. On the west side of the island, there's hardly any rain and "Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka`upulehu" located in the north of prime resort called Kona coast which was developed on top of lava. In the blackish lava area, this hotel stands like an oasis. It opened in 1996 and owns a white sand private beach and a golf course, designed by an American golfer, Jack Nicklaus.
Under the concept of "the resort, inheriting history and roots carried on this land", an architect, Robert Glazier took a lead and the construction plan had started. Incorporating figurative art, and lava created by nature in the landscape, lava is also used for hallway and interior. And in the premises, 800 palm trees, lime trees, frangipani and ginger were planted. This turned desolate landscape into Hawaiian tropical landscape filled with nature. Moreover, expansive guest rooms equipped with lanai, are all facing the beach and are finished with modern interior utilizing local materials such as bamboo and rattan.
On the other hand, in the swimming pool called "King's Pond" using ocean water, 3,500 kinds of tropical fishes swim in it and it's possible to do snorkeling. This high-quality resort maximizing Hawaiian rich nature, is certainly relaxing and releases us from our daily hectic schedules.

「Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka`upulehu」
Address : 72-100 Ka`upulehu Drive, Ka`upulehu-Kona
HAWAII, U.S.A. 96740
TEL.＋1(808)325-8000 FAX.＋1(808)325-8200
URL.http://www.fourseasons.com/jp/hualalai