Excursion: Her by Blanco Studio

Her by Blanco Studio https://www.blancostudio.co/

Inspired by the calmness and completeness felt on her travel to Japan, Anna, Her’s owner was looking for personal space in which she could develop her profession and receive guests and clients beside her family home in Bali. Located next to her family home in Bali, Her is a Japanese influenced home escape on stilts with Balinese roots.

Crafted by local artisan from Kalpa Taru using age honored carpentry techniques, the entire building was built with the wood provided by a ceased ancient tree found in Bengawan solo river -side. The studio is elevated from the ground, allowing nature to grow and is open to views into the zen garden designed by Sebastian Mesdag.

The studio is accessed by a Japanese inspired door crafted completely in solid reclaimed iron wood even its hinges. To filter the light and bring more privacy, the windows function as screens with handmade banana paper position between two glass planes.

Most furniture pieces were custom design and made for Anna by Kalpa Taru with the loose fittings chosen from Ong Cen Kuang collection. The interior design is minimalist with clean lines but combined with a few pieces of heritage Indonesian objects – creating a beautiful contrast of the old and new design. For this project Blancostudio was particularly inspired by the traditional Japanese ryokan.

However, Anna would like the studio to fulfill the modern needs of a studio thus the design was modernized. And so essences from the ryokan was applied into the interiors, such as the materiality of the handmade paper window screens, the tatami floor and the traditional Japanese wooden joinery.

Situated in Bali, I wanted to incorporate the Balinese roots by applying fundamental architecture elements of the traditional Balinese “bale bengong”: translated as a “daydream house”. This place is often present in every Balinese Home, and it is a space where one contemplate or simply slip into a daydream amidst the stillness of the open surroundings while being sheltered from the sun.

Project Description

Location : Pejeng, Ubud

Area : 95 m²

Wood Working : Kalpa Taru

Landscape Consultant : Sebastian Mesdag

Photographer : Iker Zuñiga