The courtyard of the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia. Photography: Lodovico Colli Di Felizzano
The Store Kitchen whipped up a feast for 500
J.W.Anderson womenswear designer Greta Villiger, Home Economics curator Jack Self and Priscilla and Tommaso Davi
Volksbühne director (and former Tate Modern director) Chris Dercon and fashion designer Jonathan Anderson
Duggan Morris co-founder Joe Morris and Ordinary Architecture co-founder Elly Ward; Giacomo Albero Alberotanza and guest
BBC arts editor Will Gompertz and Home Economics co-curator Finn Williams
Chiara Federici and architect Tommaso Fantoni; Elisa Giuliano and editor Andrea Bagnato
Architects Jessam Al-Jawad, Paul Karakusevic and Catherine Pease
The party celebrated the launch of the pavilion’s accompanying book Home Economics, five new models for domestic life. Author Will Self contributed a spoken word introduction to the pavilion, which we pressed on vinyl and gave to guests
Optimo’s J.G. Wilkes
Writer and curator Yuki Sumner; Home Economics co-curator Shumi Bose and architecture writer and historian Tom Brooks
Designer Nigel Coates and Architectural Association lecturer Brian Hatton
The British Council’s former director of architecture, design and fashion, Vicky Richardson; Tibbalds urban planner Fiona Sibley; and director of photography, Candida Richardson
Book designers OK-RM light up the building’s facade with a Technicolor audio visual display
Benjamin Reichen and Tuomas Toivonen
Guests partied into the night
British pavilion exhibition designers Magnus Casselbrant and Jesper Henriksson of Hesselbrand, with Lucy Robertson
The Pool NYC founder Viola Romoli and PR consultant Giulia Sebregondi
Architecture critic Ian David Volner, PR consultant Claire Thomas and London Design Biennale director Christopher Turne
Architect David Kohn and Publica director Lucy Musgrave
The music conservatory is housed in Palazzo Pisani, built between 1614 and 1615
To kick off the Venice Architecture Biennale with a suitable bang in May, we teamed up with the British Council to host a party inside a 17th-century palazzo. The celebrations marked the opening of the British Pavilion and the accompanying book: Home Economics, published by The Spaces.
The design world gathered en masse inside the columned courtyard of the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia. Its stone facade was lit by a technicolor audio-visual display from book designers OK-RM.
Our friends from The Store Kitchen whipped up a feast for 500, sourcing the finest organic produce for their fresh, seasonal dishes. Meanwhile, The Vinyl Factory took charge of the music, bringing over Optimo’s J.G. Wilkes and Section Sound, featuring Aalto & Pluto: House in Crisis.
Guests partied into the night.
Home Economics: five new models for domestic life, is published by The Spaces and REAL Foundation, £25.
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