Editor’s letter
Itake back anything I’ve ever said about flying. All the complaints about leg room, the misery of check-in procedures or in-flight meals — I’m ready to recant. After being grounded for the best part of two years — much of that spent within the same four walls — I’m happy to admit that Joni Mitchell was right: you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. I’d give anything to wake up with that familiar pang of neck pain that only comes from a sleepless night spent somewhere south of row 34.
I’m joking, of course. But only a bit. Because as borders timidly creak open once again, the prospect of international travel is finally on the cards. It’s great news for everyone: for families who can reunite at last, for businesses starved of tourist dollars, or for people like me who just want to go somewhere, anywhere, that isn’t in Australia for a change.
It’s part of the reason why we themed this issue around the concept of escape. But we’re not just talking about easing restrictions or stepping foot on a plane. It’s also about a state of mind. And in a way, that’s what connects many of the homes in this issue: an approach to design that transports you somewhere else.
There are some that do it literally, like the airy Framework Studio property in Ibiza (page 102) or the modernist Maximilian Eicke sanctuary in Bali (page 150). But that same energy is alive in our local projects, too. Like the colourful YSG-designed apartment (page 110) that’s smack-bang in the middle of Sydney but could be anywhere else on earth. Or the coastal holiday home in Western Australia’s Margaret River (page 92) that makes you feel more relaxed just by looking at it — BYO glass of shiraz.
Then there’s the iconic Sydney waterfront residence (page 128). It’s no secret the property was once home to our nation’s longestserving Labor prime minister, the late Bob Hawke, and it’s probably fitting that it appears on our cover.
If nothing else, he was a man who lived life to the full. And for an issue that is dedicated to the idea of escape, of the power that design has to let you forget your everyday worries and live in the moment, I’d like to think that a small part of that spirit is alive in these pages, too.
Enjoy the issue — and here