Extraordinary Women

One of the most celebrated architects of all time and the first woman to win the pritzker architecture prize, zaha hadid lends her hyper modern eye to bvlgari’s signature line, creating the b.Zero1 design legend – one of her last collaborations before her passing. Together with the italian luxury jeweller, female speaks to three women from the singapore design scene about her legacy and influence.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel

One of the most celebrated architects of all time and the first woman to win the pritzker architecture prize, zaha hadid lends her hyper modern eye to bvlgari’s signature line, creating the b.Zero1 design legend – one of her last collaborations before her passing. Together with the italian luxury jeweller, female speaks to three women from the singapore design scene about her legacy and influence.

My Reading Room

Inspired by Rome’s Colosseum, Hadid reinterpreted the central looping band of the B.Zero1 into undulating waves reminiscent of the organic lines of her buildings. Dubbed B.Zero1 Design Legend, the collection is out in boutiques this month and comprises four pieces: chunky rings with either four or three bands in white or pink gold (above), and a daintier – but no less graphic – pink gold pendant on a matching necklace.

My Reading Room
ELYN Wong

As the designer behind local arty label Stolen, Wong, 40, might be better associated with the fashion scene, but she says that architecture serves as her inspiration. Take for instance, Zaha Hadid’s Vitra Fire Station. Wong was amazed at how the architect was able to use a utilitarian material such as concrete to create a maximalist impact. She’s adopted a similar philosophy for Stolen, which typically eschews prints and bright colours in favour of experimenting with structure and silhouette. The line made its Singapore Fashion Week debut last October at the National Gallery, where it made quite a splash: Instead of the typical flashy fare, Wong opted for a quiet yet memorable presentation that mixed fashion with performance art.

My Reading Room

Favourite Hadid work: “The Heydar Aliyev Center is an absolute work of art – how it seamlessly blurred the boundaries between architecture and nature is breathtaking.”

Wong wears B.Zero1 Design
Legend pink gold pendant on
matching necklace, and rings in
white and pink gold. Bangle,
her own.
Wong wears B.Zero1 Design Legend pink gold pendant on matching necklace, and rings in white and pink gold. Bangle, her own.

A Hadid ethic she admires: “Her open-mindedness and appetite for change is remarkable. Yet her influence and inspiration essentially come from a deep understanding of the culture and environment around the building projects that she undertakes. That, I feel, represents a very brave yet responsible creator.”

My Reading Room
Staged at Singapore Fashion Week
last year, Stolen’s S/S ’17 collection 
Concur contrasted delicate fabrics
like silk linen and Japanese organza 
with sharp architectural forms.
Staged at Singapore Fashion Week last year, Stolen’s S/S ’17 collection Concur contrasted delicate fabrics like silk linen and Japanese organza with sharp architectural forms.
Known for its conceptual ideas (left and
right) and subtly sexy back-baring designs
(below right), Wong’s Stolen has become
the go-to label for consumers looking for 
minimalist yet impactful garb.
Known for its conceptual ideas (left and right) and subtly sexy back-baring designs (below right), Wong’s Stolen has become the go-to label for consumers looking for minimalist yet impactful garb.
Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center in
Baku, Azerbaijan (left) is famous
for its distinctive curves, winning it
the Design Museum’s Design of
the Year award in 2014.
Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan (left) is famous for its distinctive curves, winning it the Design Museum’s Design of the Year award in 2014.
FLORIANE Bataillard

Transplanted from Paris two years ago, Bataillard, 33, heads the architecture department at the award-winning French multidisciplinary firm WY-TO, known for its sustainability-oriented designs. In a similar vein, it is Hadid’s philosophy of creating harmonious relationships between spaces that resonates most with Bataillard, and it’s something that she tries to exemplify in her own projects, such as in the layout she designed for the UOB Southeast Asia Gallery at the National Gallery.

Bataillard wears B.zero1 Design
Legend pink gold pendant on
matching necklace, matching
four-band ring (worn as
pendant), and white gold three-band
ring.
Bataillard wears B.zero1 Design Legend pink gold pendant on matching necklace, matching four-band ring (worn as pendant), and white gold three-band ring.

Favourite Hadid work: “The rst building designed by Hadid that I visited is the Ordrupgaard Museum Extension in Copenhagen – the project has a seamless continuity between the old and the new. What is fascinating is that despite the bold contemporary architecture, the extension allows you to focus peacefully on the artefacts and the beautiful surrounding garden.”

Bataillard and the WY-TO
team balanced the 
importance of the display
of artworks, the museum’s 
architecture and a
coherent visitor flow in 
their layout for the UOB
Southeast Asia Gallery.
Bataillard and the WY-TO team balanced the importance of the display of artworks, the museum’s architecture and a coherent visitor flow in their layout for the UOB Southeast Asia Gallery.

A Hadid ethic she admires: While the Pritzker is an important recognition, I do agree with her that ‘she’s an architect, not just a woman architect’. From my experience, I never envision my work and career from a woman’s perspective. It is knowledge, hard work, confidence and values in your work that matter. This can resonate in any designer and architect, male or female.”

Her favourite
Hadid work is the extension to
Denmark’s Ordrupgaard
Museum, which reinforced the
building’s integration with the
natural landscape.
Her favourite Hadid work is the extension to Denmark’s Ordrupgaard Museum, which reinforced the building’s integration with the natural landscape.
WENDY Chua 

When the “All the Best: The Deutsche Bank Collection and Zaha Hadid” exhibition was held in Singapore in 2006, Chua, an undergraduate then, promptly paid a visit – not for the extensive artworks, but to take in Hadid’s installation set-up for the exhibition. An industrial designer by trade, Chua, 33, has become a star in her own right: Outofstock, the design collective that she co-founded with three others, was chosen to represent Singapore at high-end design fair Maison&Objet’s Rising Asian Talents Award 2015 – which they won. Two years ago, she established a new design studio, Forest & whale, which focuses on designs that explore the relationship between people and the environment.

Chua wears B.zero1 Design Legend
pink gold pendant on matching necklace,
and rings in pink and white gold.
Chua wears B.zero1 Design Legend pink gold pendant on matching necklace, and rings in pink and white gold.

Favourite Hadid work: “I visited the (Vitra) Fire Station in Weil am Rhein during my student years – I didn’t know at that time that it was Hadid’s first built project. That was an earlier work before she transitioned into a fluidity of form with the aid of technology. The shards of concrete planes that pierced the sky created an atmosphere that remains imprinted in my memory – in some ways, it (the Fire Station) most resembles Hadid’s futuristic paintings.”

Incense tray were both crafted by the same industrial 
artisan, whose practice is documented in her
publication The Machinist and The Social Value of 
Craft, out this month.
Incense tray were both crafted by the same industrial artisan, whose practice is documented in her publication The Machinist and The Social Value of Craft, out this month.

A Hadid ethic she admires: “What is really inspiring about Zaha Hadid’s design process is that she’s very comfortable with not putting down exactly how things will come together. In some ways, I see that being applied in my design projects as well – how you sometimes have to resist the urge to define everything before sending it to be made at the manufacturers. You’re more able to find an original idea if you do not define it from the beginning.”

Hadid’s prismatic Vitra Fire Station in
Germany was her first commission and
became a critical breakthrough.
Hadid’s prismatic Vitra Fire Station in Germany was her first commission and became a critical breakthrough.
Chua’s ribbon brooch.
Chua’s ribbon brooch.
PHOTOGRAPHY VEE CHIN / STYLING IMRAN JALAL / HAIR MANISA TAN/PALETTEINC, USING LA BIOSTHETIQUE / MAKEUP HUIMIN NG/PALETTEINC, USING KOSE / ALL JEWELLERY B.ZERO1 DESIGN LEGEND / CLOTHES WOMEN’S OWN / ZAHA HADID PORTRAIT BRIGITTE LACOMBE / ARCHITECTURE PHOTOS HUFTON+CROW, HELENE BINET, & CHRISTIAN RICHTERS.