The Village | MA House

A miniature masterpiece

The Village rose from the ashes of 2020, a year in which the world turned on its head and we started to reassess how we lived. Among the aspects of our lives that this change of prospective prompted many of us to re-evaluate was the role of our home, which suddenly took on a whole new dimension, becoming a haven and the epicentre of our entire micro-world.

We wanted to pay homage to the concept of home, but within the context of the global transformation we all experienced. We therefore invited architects and designers from around the world to create their idea of home through a series of miniature pieces in natural stone, thus creating a true global village.

Among the artists who contributed to the project was Kengo Kuma, an architect with whom we have shared a long and rewarding history. Like us, he has a deep passion and respect for natural stone.

And in fact, his interpretation of home as a special place starts from the very nature of stone itself, and the art of shaping it. Called MA House, it takes its name from the Japanese “kanji” sign 間 which refers to absence between elements and how that gap can become an existence that gives form to terms such as relationship or pause.

As such, it was by carving the stone and creating a void to represent the silhouette of a house that MA House was created. With its blend of rounded and sharp arches, in a choice of classic white Bianco Carrara marble or the soft tones of Light Travertine, it is a deceptively simple reimagining of the archetypal idea of home.

“Stone is a natural material that is procured by extraction, carving it out of the ground. Its expression appears both in its matter or in its absence, as a void within itself” is how Kengo Kuma explains his approach to the material and his design.

Conceived to hold a candle, the idea of a welcoming sanctuary in which the empty space is filled with warmth, is further emphasised.

MA House sits in perfect harmony alongside the other miniature homes that make up The Village, a small-scale representation of the wonderfully eclectic and varied global village we inhabit.