Julian Miaja
- Jul 8, 2020
- 5 min read

Designing Homes 'Gen-Z Effect' - Modern Grunge Loft...by Julian & Severine Miaja

Throughout MDG's 'Designing Home' series, readers have had the opportunity to look through the mind's eye of award-winning interior designer Isabelle Miaja. Since joining the company seven years ago - after returning back from London - The company that I had grown up hearing about designs, projects and faraway destinations at the dinner table, has become second nature to me. Severine Miaja (my sister) who joined the firm after completing her bachelor in fine arts naturally gravitated her talents with a keen eye for colours, textures, and proportions - joined the firm as an FF&E designer. Working in a dynamic environment we both had the opportunity to learn and grow with the company and develop a new signature that we feel embodies the statement 'the essence of style is to live the art of being unique' that Isabelle coined when setting up her studio IMA Interiors back in 1995 and create a home that we believe touches on the lifestyle and habits of our generation titled the 'Gen-Z effect'.

For this design, we set our sights on Hong Kong, a city that has constantly been at the forefront of finance, food, culture, and the arts. Hong Kong has always been a special place for both Severine and me, whether visiting for the weekend to the annual Art Basel fair, a music festival such as Clockenflap to shopping and eating our way through the weekend our experiences have always left us wanting to go back.

In this modern grunge loft, we wanted to show the striking colours and possibilities that art can create in spaces. In a city like Hong Kong, where there are stark contrasts between the modern architecture of Central to the small hole-in-the-wall buildings and alleyways of Wan Chai or Soho. Selecting Pop-Art and Street Art we reflect on the messages they hold - a reminder of the present, presence and nowness of the current social and even political dynamics of our generation. Space has always been somewhat of restraint as apartments tend to be smaller in Hong Kong but in this loft, we wanted to create an open plan feel where the individual had everything in one place and still feel that they could receive without feeling claustrophobic. By connecting both the living and dining room we can create a sense of social and more intimate settings with the kitchen as the anchor that connects the two spaces.

Individualism in any home has always been important, as it is a reflection of who a person is. Their passions an extension of oneself whether through art, technology, and the objects they collect. In this loft, music, and art was the focal point of our design. Clean symmetry with the bookshelves and speakers with the artwork as the centrepiece creates a balanced feel for the living area. The use of timber and metal are typical key material highlights in industrial design, the large comfortable lounge setting is the focal comfort point to contrast the 'hard' textures.

Creating a home as a designer is about finding a personal connection with the Client, how they live, and how they want to use their space. If the current pandemic has taught us something, is that we learn to have a deeper appreciation for our own sense of space. Now and in the future, work habits are adapting and changing, the balance between home and work-life will be all the more important.

Julian Miaja

July 2020

Selecting 'Campbellsky' as the centerpiece artwork by acclaimed french pop-street artist Jisbar (b.1989) is the perfect reminder of the current affairs in the world today and the power of popular culture. Hyper-saturated in every sense of the word, his paintings evoke the frenzied and effervescent qualities of 21st-century life. Each work is not only an homage, but also a bricolage of words, sentences, and numbers that viewers can decrypt. Letting viewers discover new elements at every glance, his pieces are always in the process of perpetually regenerating themselves. Each of his works represents “moments of life”, like a memory that would be printed forever in a photo album.

Adding 'Tahi & Mari-sa' in the living room and 'André 6' in the kitchen area by artist Gaël Froget (b.1986) is yet another artist sitting on the fence between pop art and primitivism. Gaël's art is a true reflection of his deeper personality: sarcasm, love for simplicity, and dark humour. His portraits (mainly feminine) as well as flowers and other doodles that are grotesque, disturbing, dark, and sometimes naive. These recurring elements in his work whether on canvas or other mediums gives even more authenticity to his work. His use of acrylic, spray paint, collage, digital printing and other techniques adds an urban touch to his artworks.

Last but not least for the kitchen we chose an original mural design by an internationally renowned artist from Germany MadC.

MadC started her career as a graffiti writer and has since developed her creative endeavors into various fields such as graphic design, writing, and fine art. MadC created her first graffiti piece in 1996, and became known in the early 2000s for her burner walls, with dynamic wildstyle-pieces placed in detailed sceneries.

Her major international break trough came however in 2010 with the production of work that is known as the “700-Wall” – a 700 square-meter work along the train line between Berlin and Halle. This painting is most likely the largest graffiti mural created by a single person, and it was finished in four months. She has since created murals across America and Asia having recently completed the mural for the spa-complex of the newly opened Pullman Maamuttaa Maldives designed by Miaja Design Group.