At Ark Journal we explore the spaces around us, the objects we put in them and the people who make them. Bridging architecture, design and art, we show them as interplay rather than in silos, and with a sense of enduring Scandinavian values and aesthetics. We celebrate good ideas, honest and inventive design and materials and encourage critical debate. Each issue we visit extraordinary homes around the world that are more than the sum of their parts and that express the personal narratives of the people who live in them, their philosophies and influences. By placing architecture at the core of Ark Journal, we want to consider it in the broader context of our lives, reflecting its more humanistic side and celebrating tactility and individual dimensions. NATURE and its creative force have always been a source of inspiration and motifs in art, architecture and design. In Scandinavia the stark differences between the seasons amplify this consciousness of nature and its recurring patterns. In Ark Journal Volume VIII we reflect on the idea of a more fluid and holistic way of thinking and creating. We visit perfumer Barnabé Fillion of Arpa Studios in Paris whose work is inspired by his own synaesthesia, visualising fragrances as invisible landscapes. In New York, Landon Metz, an artist whose practice explores painting as a fluid meditative activity, has created an exclusive series of artworks for Ark Journal. We also share a personal memoir by renowned New York-based fine art photographer Martien Mulder. She is a minimalist whose images are sober yet warm and accessible, with photographs reflecting her travels, her movements and her life. In search of an alchemical dynamism in everyday life, from Los Angeles to a small city in Northern Italy and from Copenhagen to Brussels, the homes selected for this issue open new perspectives on the culture of specific sites and how the houses relate to their surroundings. They beautifully tell of finding the right place in a dialogue between the nature, architecture and the people living there. A multitude of creativity, languages and origins comes together in this issue. Among others we meet the multidisciplinary designer Raf Simon in conversation with curator and design director Marco Sammicheli. Also bridging fashion, art and design Ann Demeulemeester and her partner and collaborator Patrick Robyn share their four decade-long creative journey. TEXT IN ENGLISH, 240 PAGES ON HIGH-QUALITY PAPER + SPECIAL INSERTS4 DIFFERENT COVERS
