Philia
Magazine

Merijn Degraeve is a Belgian interior architect based in Antwerp, known for creating highly atmospheric interiors defined by materiality, reflection, and spatial emotion. Educated at the Bijloke Academy in Ghent, his work balances bold architectural gestures with tactile softness, resulting in spaces that feel both dramatic and intimate.

Working across bespoke residential projects, Degraeve approaches each interior through a close dialogue with the client, shaping spaces that respond intuitively to lifestyle, light, and context. His aesthetic draws inspiration from 1970s architecture, contemporary art, travel, fashion, and nature, often combining raw structural elements with refined materials and layered atmospheres.

Rather than treating interiors as static compositions, Merijn Degraeve creates environments that evolve through reflection, texture, and lived experience. His projects are recognized for their quiet intensity, sculptural presence, and the seamless relationship between architecture, interiors, and landscape.

Katty Schiebeck is a Barcelona-based interior architect and designer of Uruguayan origin, and the creative director of her eponymous studio, which she leads alongside partner and co-founder Rubén Ortiz. Working internationally across interior architecture, spatial design, and bespoke furniture, the studio has developed a refined and deeply considered approach to contemporary luxury, one defined not by excess but by balance, proportion, atmosphere, and material sensitivity.

Known for her meticulous attention to detail and instinctive understanding of atmosphere, Schiebeck creates interiors where warmth and restraint coexist naturally. Her work combines sculptural clarity with layered textures, muted palettes, and carefully curated materials, shaping spaces that feel calm, timeless, and quietly expressive.

Rather than imposing a fixed signature style, the studio approaches each project as a dialogue between architecture, context, and client. Influenced by artistic references, spatial harmony, and a sensitivity to light, Schiebeck’s interiors reveal their elegance gradually through subtlety, coherence, and refinement.

Stem is a design studio founded by Aman and Sugandhi, rooted in a shared sensitivity toward nature, materiality, and the emotional resonance of objects. Emerging from a deeply personal and intuitive process, the studio explores how everyday forms can carry memory, feeling, and quiet meaning within domestic spaces.

Working across lighting, sculpture, and functional objects, Stem approaches design as a slow and thoughtful practice shaped by instinct, craftsmanship, and storytelling. Using materials such as clay, paper, and found elements, each piece is developed through an emotional dialogue between form, texture, and atmosphere.

Defined by restraint and intentionality, Stem creates objects that are meant to endure both physically and emotionally. Their work reflects a belief that design should not only serve a function, but also accompany the rhythms of life with warmth, presence, and lasting significance.

Maria Loram is a ceramic artist based in California whose practice explores the space between the organic and the cosmic through sculptural and functional ceramic works. Born in Russia and shaped by a multidisciplinary background spanning science, linguistics, yoga, and visual art, her work is deeply informed by Eastern philosophies, wabi-sabi aesthetics, and an ongoing fascination with material transformation.

Working with clay, paper, and experimental glaze techniques, Loram creates textured forms that evoke weathered landscapes, celestial surfaces, and artifacts shaped by time. Her process combines wheel throwing, handbuilding, glaze research, and painterly surface experimentation, resulting in pieces that feel both minimal and emotionally resonant.

Since returning to ceramics in 2022, Loram’s work has been exhibited internationally and featured through galleries and collections across the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. Alongside her studio practice, she has participated in artist residencies, taught workshops focused on glazes and textures, and continues to explore ceramics as a language of touch, impermanence, and quiet contemplation.

Fan Beilei is the founding partner and principal of genarchitects, a Shanghai-based architecture practice established in 2013. A China First Class Registered Architect, RIBA Chartered Architect, and International Associate of the AIA, she holds a Master of Urban Design from Technische Universität Berlin and a Master of Architecture from Tongji University. Her work explores architecture as a calm and thoughtful response to site, material, and contemporary living.

Led alongside KONG Rui and XUE Zhe, genarchitects works across educational, cultural, commercial, and residential projects. The practice has received numerous international distinctions, including the WA Chinese Architecture Award, the World Architecture Festival Award, the Brick in Architecture Awards, and THE PLAN Award. Their work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Biennale of Architecture and Harvard University, and widely published in journals and monographs by publishers such as Thames & Hudson and Birkhäuser.

Alykhan Velji is the Creative Director of Alykhan Velji Designs, the Calgary-based interior design studio he founded nearly two decades ago. Known for interiors that are layered, architectural, and deeply personal, Velji has developed a distinctive design language that balances heritage influences with contemporary sensibilities.

Working across residential and commercial projects, his approach explores the relationship between craftsmanship, materiality, and storytelling. Through bold compositions, rich textures, and carefully considered details, Velji creates spaces that feel immersive, collected, and enduring.

Beyond interiors, his creative practice extends into furniture, textile, and product collaborations, including partnerships with SILVA, Moblia, Urban Barn, Roll Out, and AFERA. His work has been featured in publications such as Architectural Digest, Dezeen, Domino, Livingetc, House & Home, and Western Living. In 2025, Alykhan Velji Designs was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Design Firms by House & Home.