The Village | Kore

The intimacy of home carved in stone

The Village collection celebrates the concept of home in all its guises. Not just its fundamental purpose as a protective structure that provides everyday shelter, nor only in its role as a special place and haven, but also in the sense of our global village, with its capacity to make us feel united and part of a community no matter where we are in the world.

We invited a select group of designers to create their idea of home, an expression of their various cultures, backgrounds and outlooks. The result is a fascinating and wonderfully eclectic collection of miniature houses, that, like the global village we inhabit, reflect an extraordinary array of styles and approaches.

Kore is the name given by Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola to her pair of contrasting yet complementary houses, in homage to the delicate but majestic statues of Ancient Greece that depict young women on the cusp of adulthood.

Each piece is characterised by clean lines and a deceptively simple form. Alma is a tiny house in Rosa Portogallo marble, with its glorious colouring and veining, while Petra is made from travertine, an evocative and tactile material that epitomises the long tradition of natural stone in architecture and art.

At a glance, you feel the warmth and intimacy of a true home, expressed through these two examples of mini-architecture with their different aesthetic and representation of two contrasting worlds. Part of a virtual, multi-faceted village, at their heart they share a sense of family and the intrinsic fascination of natural stone.

__“The Village is a reflection on domestic spaces, something that is more important than ever today. Home has become the centre of our lives, our town or city, our habitat. We have all become domestic navigators, trying to orient ourselves to these new latitudes, ways of living.”

– Patricia Urquiola__