Philia
Magazine
Kansai Noguchi
Kansai Noguchi is a Japanese sculptor and ceramic artist whose practice brings together influences from different cultures, histories, and artistic traditions. Born in Fukuoka in 1982, Noguchi began his creative career as a professional musician before moving to the United States in 2013. An encounter with the work of Isamu Noguchi the following year became a defining moment, prompting him to leave music behind, return to Japan, and pursue sculpture and pottery.
Drawing from the simplicity of Japanese Jomon pottery, Korean Yi Dynasty ceramics, and ancient Greek sculpture, Noguchi explores their relationship with abstract expression through a process rooted in experimentation, intuition, and precision. His background in music continues to inform the way he works, approaching composition through combinations of form and material while allowing moments of improvisation and physical sensibility to guide the process. Moving between cultural references rather than adhering to a singular tradition, his work reflects an ongoing exploration of the connections between culture, history, and contemporary expression.
Federico Stefanovich 5 Picks From Philia Collection
Wallflower Architecture + Design
Wallflower Architecture + Design is a Singapore-based boutique practice led by Robin Tan and Yong Mien Huei, known for its refined approach to high-end residential architecture rooted in tropical living. Established in 1999, the studio has built a strong reputation for crafting bespoke homes that respond sensitively to climate, site, and the lived rhythms of their clients.
Robin Tan, a graduate of the National University of Singapore, brings over two decades of experience and has received multiple Singapore Institute of Architects awards, alongside international recognition including wins at the Trends International Design Awards and the World Architecture Festival. Yong Mien Huei, also a graduate of the National University of Singapore and a registered architect, is known for her thoughtful design sensibility and has contributed to award-winning projects such as Touching Eden House, which received both SIA and World Architecture Festival honors. She has also served as a juror at the World Architecture Festival 2025.
Together, they lead Wallflower with a shared commitment to context-driven, sustainable design, continuously exploring new expressions of contemporary tropical architecture.
Stephanie Barba Mendoza
Stephanie Barba Mendoza is the founder and creative director of a London-based interior design practice established in 2020. Known for a vibrant and opulent design language, the studio delivers high-end residential and commercial projects internationally, supported by a multidisciplinary team of designers. Its portfolio includes private residences in London, Antwerp, and Miami, as well as boutique hotels across Europe and members’ clubs in Hanoi and Mexico City.
Born and raised in Mexico, Barba Mendoza began her career in London before joining the internationally acclaimed Martin Brudnizki Design Studio, where she led a diverse range of hospitality, residential, and retail projects worldwide. Over nearly two decades in the industry, she has refined an adventurous aesthetic that now defines her independent practice.
Her work is distinguished by a confident use of colour and pattern, a respect for honest materials, and close collaboration with artisans and craftspeople globally. Balancing contemporary and classical references through thoughtful layering of materials, colours, and antiques, Barba Mendoza creates interiors that are expressive, playful, and deeply connected to both client vision and sense of place.
Chaeyoung Lee
Chaeyoung Lee is a Seoul-based furniture and object designer. After studying Woodworking & Furniture Design and the Aesthetics of Art, she developed a craft-driven design practice rooted in narrative and intention.
Her work explores the translation of abstract thoughts into tangible, visual, and tactile experiences. Through furniture and objects, she gives form to everyday moments and examines the attitudes and emotions embedded within them.
Her practice continues to evolve as a way of engaging with life and the world—bridging the everyday and the artistic through making.
Nicholas Bijan Pourfard 5 Picks From Philia Collection
Nicholas Bijan Pourfard is a Southern California–based furniture designer and luthier known for his sculptural and materially driven approach to design. After crafting more than 400 bespoke guitars under the label Prisma Guitars, he transitioned from luthiery to furniture design, bringing with him a deep sensitivity to balance, structure, and handcraft.
His design philosophy centers on the exploration of materials, movement, and form, transforming these relationships into pieces that are both visually expressive and functional. Drawing from traditional techniques and contemporary sensibilities, Pourfard creates furniture that reflects a strong respect for materiality while challenging conventional typologies.
With a keen attention to detail and a commitment to craftsmanship, his work seeks to elevate everyday objects through thoughtful construction and quiet sculptural presence.
RA! Arquitectura
RA! Arquitectura is an architecture studio founded in 2017 in Mexico City by Cristóbal Ramírez de Aguilar, Pedro Ramírez de Aguilar, and Santiago Sierra. The practice focuses on planning and building spaces rooted in human experience, where architecture emerges from memory, the body, and lived conditions rather than from predetermined form.
RA!’s work is developed through careful readings of context, habit, emotion, and environment. Each project is conceived as a narrative that unfolds through sequences of space, prioritizing atmosphere, use, and emotional resonance alongside technical precision. Rather than pursuing a fixed formal language, the studio approaches each commission through inquiry, experimentation, and iteration, allowing projects to respond specifically to their place and users.
The studio’s work has received national and international recognition, including the CAM-SAM Grand Prize, Architectural MasterPrize, Félix Candela Award, A+ Architizer Awards, LOOP Design Awards, and the Simon Architecture Prize awarded by the Mies van der Rohe Foundation. RA!’s projects have been widely published in international media such as Domus, Divisare, Dezeen, Designboom, ArchDaily, and Arquine, reflecting an active presence across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
