Philia
Magazine
Kazuhiro Yamanaka
Kazuhiro Yamanaka is a Japanese designer whose multidisciplinary practice spans collectible furniture, product and lighting design, and installation. Born in Tokyo, he studied at Musashino Art University before completing his MA at the Royal College of Art in London. Throughout his career, Yamanaka has collaborated with international design houses including Ligne Roset, Boffi, Ingo Maurer, Alessi, Pallucco, and SAAZS, developing a body of work characterized by experimentation, precision, and a particular sensitivity to light and space.
Central to Yamanaka’s practice is an exploration of the relationship between objects, their surroundings, and the invisible void they define. His work has entered the collections of institutions including MoMA in New York and the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, where his first major solo exhibition was held in 2017. Alongside his design practice, he has taught at Musashino Art University since 2014 and has served as a visiting professor at the China Academy of Art since 2020. In 2025, his work was recognized with the Dezeen Award for Best Lighting Design of the Year.
Nora Chou
Nora Chou is a luxury interior designer working on projects internationally in both the residential and hospitality industries. Her focus is on creating layered moments through design. Having grown her roots in Hong Kong and proceeding to live in equally vibrant cities, including London and New York, she offers a certain cultural and lifestyle sensibility to the way she approaches creating interiors for her clients.
Gisela Simas
Gisela Simas is a Brazilian designer whose work is guided by a quiet restlessness, an innate sense of play, and a deep connection to the legacy of Brazilian modernism. Drawing from lived experience, personal encounters, and the places she has inhabited, her designs emerge from an emotional and intuitive process before being shaped by rigorous thought and craft. Sustainability is central to her practice, informing both material choices and production methods. Through emblematic works such as the Bar Milan, the Lucrécia table, and the Congonhas lamp, Simas explores balance, generosity of form, and functional elegance, while celebrating the richness of Brazilian design on an international stage. Alongside her creative work, she leads her namesake studio with a holistic vision, uniting creation, production, and delivery into a single ecosystem rooted in ethics, beauty, and long-term collaboration.
Stratton Andrews
Stratton Andrews is the owner and lead architect of Stratton Architects LLC. Originally from the East Coast, he brings a blend of regional perspective and innovative design to his practice. Stratton earned his architectural education at the University of Arizona, where he developed his passion for context-driven, landscape-centered design. Today, he leads his firm with a commitment to thoughtful craftsmanship, creative problem-solving, and enduring architectural vision.
Heakyoung Jang Picks From Philia Collection
Heakyoung Jang is a South Korean designer and the founder of FICT STUDIO, an independent practice established in 2016. Inspired by the phrase “From Craft to Industry,” the studio explores the relationship between traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design, examining how craft can evolve within modern society.
With a background in industrial design, Jang approaches craft as more than a collection of materials and techniques, viewing it as a vessel for culture, memory, and human connection. Through material experimentation and process-based research, her work translates the essential values of craft into a contemporary language, creating objects that explore the intersections of tradition, materiality, technology, and time.
Hugo França
Hugo França is a Brazilian artist and designer whose practice centers on transforming discarded tree trunks, roots, and fragments into sculptural works and functional objects. Working from his studio in Trancoso, França begins each project by carefully selecting raw wood based on its texture, organic form, and the marks shaped by time and nature.
His creative process is rooted in an ongoing dialogue with the material itself. Drawing directly onto the wood, França follows the natural paths, cracks, and curves formed by the tree, allowing nature to guide the final form. Through a reinterpreted use of the chainsaw, tree trunks and roots are sculpted rather than cut away, resulting in works that are both expressive and sustainable.
Blending craftsmanship, environmental awareness, and sculptural presence, França’s work celebrates the inherent beauty and life embedded within reclaimed natural materials.
