Lombok, the island just to the east of Bali, has lately become an attractive destination on its own with an influx of compelling new boutique beach resorts including Somewhere Lombok and Siwa. On the remote Ekas Bay, just over an hour drive from the island’s international airport, is the latest opening: Innit. Designed by two Indonesian architects, Andra Matin and Gregorius Supie Yolodi (who normally work separately but came together for this project), the property currently consists of seven two-story villas partly built of local Rajumas wood, typically used for boats. The structures blend with the surrounding landscape, particularly on the ground floor, which is essentially an extension of the beach: A concrete foundation has been overlaid with soft sand, atop which sit a rattan sofa, reading chairs and a dining table. Upstairs, the primary bedrooms’ floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the bay. Shared amenities include an Indonesian, seafood-focused restaurant (don’t miss the locally farmed lobster prepared over coconut husks) and a black-tiled infinity pool. When guests aren’t lounging by the water, they can opt for more vigorous activities, from paddleboarding to hiking, with or without a guide. Innit opens March 27; villas from $400 per night, including breakfast, innithotels.com/beach-house.
Drink Here
The Austin Vinyl Bar That Takes Inspiration From Japanese Jazz Kissas
Just off South Congress Avenue, beneath Austin’s Hotel Magdalena, there’s a new bar whose moody lighting and wood paneling might transport you to a jazz kissa in Tokyo — until you realize there’s a version of Buc-ee’s Beaver Nuggets (a Texas chain store snack specialty) on the menu. Equipment Room, a collaboration between the executive chairman of Bunkhouse hotels, Amar Lalvani, and James Moody, the owner of Austin’s beloved music venue Mohawk, aims to “celebrate craft in an unpretentious way,” Lalvani says. The high-fidelity vinyl bar features a record collection of more than 1,200 LPs, selected by Josh LaRue and Gabe Vaughn of the indie music store Breakaway Records. The duo took care to overrepresent Texan artists such as local legends like Townes Van Zandt and Stevie Ray Vaughan. “You will hear and feel Texas throughout our vinyl collection, but you will also visually experience it through art,” says Moody of the rare posters and concert photos that adorn the bar’s walls. Even the drink offerings adhere to the music theme with cocktails named after popular songs and albums by artists like GZA and Fleetwood Mac. equipmentroom.com
Since its founding in 2016, Metrograph, the Ludlow Street art house situated in the liminal zone where Manhattan’s Chinatown blends into the Lower East Side, has served as a gathering place for cinephiles. Now, with “Botanical Imprints,” a plant-themed series beginning March 17, Metrograph’s new director of programming, Inge de Leeuw, hopes to give audiences fresh ways to engage with what they watch. In addition to screenings of Leandro Listorti’s experimental documentary “Herbaria” (2022), Hayao Miyazaki’s anime classic “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” (1984) and a shorts selection curated by the arts and research collective Counter-Encounters, there will be an audiovisual installation in the lobby by the Vietnamese video artist Nguyen Trinh Thi; a plant-focused menu (including the Charlotte, a gin-based cocktail with butterfly pea flower named for the American naturalist Charlotte Hilton Green) at the Commissary bar and restaurant; and streams of several of the shorts on Metrograph at Home, the company’s video-on-demand service. “Botanical Imprints” is the first iteration of Metrograph Expanded, an initiative started by de Leeuw that, she says, will encourage audiences to “find a deeper connection to the programming’s themes” by presenting activities beyond the ones typically associated with seeing a movie.
De Leeuw comes to Metrograph from the curatorial department of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where, in addition to her film work, she created site-specific installations with, among others, Maison Margiela, Rodarte and the director Kenneth Anger. “A program on plants has been on my mind for quite a while,” she says. Listorti’s film was what finally prompted her to create the series. “ ‘Herbaria’ was such a great starting point to think about the parallels between cinema and plants, the histories they are silent witnesses to and the fragile relationship between humans and nature.” “Botanical Imprints” runs until March 27, metrograph.com.
See This
Contemporary Design on Display in a Historic British Home
Chatsworth House, a stately home in England’s Derbyshire countryside, has long played host to an expansive art and design collection belonging to the Cavendish family, who have lived there for nearly 500 years. This week, Chatsworth plans to welcome additional works by 16 artists as part of the exhibition “Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth.” Among the pieces are a glass chandelier by the American designer Ini Archibong, which will hang in the vestibule, backed by a soundtrack he created to accompany it, and a custom light installation crafted from bamboo and metal — by the Cyprus-born Michael Anastassiades — which will illuminate the library. The writer and historian Glenn Adamson, who co-curated the show with Chatsworth’s senior curator of program, Alex Hodby, describes the installation as “a sort of matchmaking between space and designer.” Many artists and designers responded directly to the grand surroundings: Joris Laarman, for one, carved a new series of his Symbio benches using stone from Chatsworth’s own quarry. “Mirror Mirror” will be on view from March 18 to Oct. 1, 2023, chatsworth.org.
Repurposing old materials is a long-held habit for Ella Wiznia, the designer and founder of the clothing brand the Series. “I was always collaging as a kid,” she says. “All I wanted to do was cut things out of magazines and Mod Podge them together. I think what I do now is a form of collage, too.” Wiznia first learned embroidery as a means for healing while she was in recovery from an eating disorder in her early 20s. She launched the Series in 2016 with a small collection of hand-embroidered vintage denim she made during that time. Today, the 28-year-old still finds solace in working with her hands and studying the past lives of reclaimed textiles. She sources antique quilts, crochet blankets, loose buttons and vintage patches from flea markets and thrift stores to sew into bespoke clothing such as hand-stitched chore shirts, patchwork blazers and granny-square balaclavas. Her latest release consists of button-downs and pleated shorts made from deconstructed quilts. She thinks of the genderless pieces as subtly subversive: “Work wear was historically made for men, and quilting was originally known as women’s work,” she explains. “As androgynous sets, I think these pieces challenge those gender norms both in material and silhouette.” With each collection, Wiznia seeks to preserve the history of the garment while also tying it to the present. theseriesny.com
Covet This
Jewelry That Plays on Aztec Mythology
Growing up in Tijuana, Mexico, Michelle Galindo remembers climbing up drawers to break into her mother’s jewelry box. After she lost a couple of family heirlooms, her parents gifted her with costume and candy jewelry — their designs inspired some of the pieces Galindo makes today. Her brand, Gala Is Love, started out as a hobby in 2003. When she was 26, her mother gave her a rose quartz, considered a symbol of unconditional love, which she designed into a ring using wire hangers. The ring gained so much attention from friends and strangers she created a collection of similar pieces using sterling silver with different types of stones like turquoise and onyx. In 2010, Gala Is Love became her full-time focus. Her jewelry is handmade by a small team of artisans at her home studio located in Mexico City’s Colonia Juárez, where she also sells her jewelry by appointment. Her latest collection, Azteca Goddess, includes an 18-karat gold pendant with a center made of volcanic lava stone from either Popocatépetl or Iztaccíhuatl, two mountains that represent everlasting love in Aztec mythology. To continue the theme, Galindo also offers custom engagement rings. From $400, instagram.com/galaislove.
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