A brief but meaningful detour to Waasmunster for Abdij Roosenberg.
Designed by monk-architect Hans van der Laan, the space is structured around his proportional system, the Plastic Number — a calibrated framework that shapes scale, mass, and spatial rhythm. All the interiors and furnishings were also designed by Van der Laan, right down to the wall lettering.
With its balanced proportions and careful play of light and shadow, Van der Laan brings together traditional abbey-building principles with 20th-century modern techniques. The result is a strict reduction of elements: muted surfaces, controlled openings, and a quiet sense of order.
We didn’t manage to explore further into the abbey, but even this alone justified the trip.
Book as Space, Book as Time
Edition 2
Studio Library
In this iteration, we explore the book not as a static object of display, but as a three-dimensional environment. A site where archive, draft, and reference converge, activated only through the tactile friction of use.
The installation invites a slower pace. We encourage you to inhabit the space: move the pieces, rearrange the references, and read into the layers of the collection.
The space is composed of furniture pieces that mirror the rituals of a reading room, accompanied by a series of prints curated by @00123pages__ .
From Apr 18 to May 1 2026 11:00 - 19:00 (Closed on every Monday, 29th April - 3rd May)
Studio Library (@theloafstudio ), 3F at REXKLUP,
32 Jalan Hang Lekir, 50000 Kuala Lumpur.
Our recent interest in Art Deco led us to @museumvanbuuren .
The house was built in 1928 as the private home of David and Alice van Buuren. He was a banker, and together they were patrons of the arts. Over time, they shaped the house through what they chose to collect and live with. Paintings, furniture, objects, all added gradually.
It’s a perspective that resonates with how we collect things during our travels. Small objects drawn to in the moment don’t always match at first, but they start to make sense together over time. A space is ultimately shaped by what you choose to keep.
Sharing our stay at @zolandlanyu early this year.
Built on the footprint of an old hillside village on Emeishan, the project carries forward what was already there instead of replacing it. The idea of a village remains, just reworked in a more considered, contemporary way.
Instead of a single structure, the resort moves like a cluster of homes. Sloped roofs, stone walls, and layered volumes echo older settlements, while materials stay honest, hand chiseled concrete, local stone, cedar, everything grounded and tactile, all of which feel as though they belong to the mountain itself.
While the mountain is usually shrouded in a dense, meditative mist, we were treated to a rare spectacle: the clouds lifting just enough for the morning sun to spill through. The moment was brief, yet it served as a perfect punctuation mark to our stay.
The luxury isn’t in the hardware, but in the deliberate slow-down.
ZOLAND岚域, 2025
Studio J. Bridgland
Book as Space, Book as Time
Edition 2
Studio Library
Book as Space, Book as Time explores how space, time, and perception unfold through the act of reading, echoing Ulises Carrión’s assertion that “a book is a sequence of spaces... a book is also a sequence of moments” (1975).
While Edition 1 focused on how a book structures reading, Edition 2 shifts towards use. Books take on different roles within the exhibition — as archive, working drafts, and reference — moving across contexts; the emphasis is not on what books are, but on how they are used.
Set within TOS’s Studio Library, the exhibition functions as a library in use — where books are collected, organized, and shaped through ongoing engagement.
The selection brings together 20th-century conceptual artists’ books, exhibition catalogues, and ephemera, alongside contemporary artists’ publications and art books. Rather than being arranged chronologically, these materials are placed in dialogue through their modes of use, structural approaches, and editorial attitudes. Historical works are activated through contemporary reading, while recent publications enter the archive as part of an ongoing continuum of practice.
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From Apr 18 to May 1 2026
11:00 - 19:00 (Closed on Mondays)
Studio Library, 3F at REXKLUP,
32 Jalan Hang Lekir, 50000 Kuala Lumpur.
Presented by The Objects Store ( @theobjects.store )
Curated by 00123 ( @00123pages__ )
Exhibition Visual by Yetta
A small project in collaboration with our designer from @theloafstudio , focused on the permanence of an object.
We moved away from traditional red, choosing hand-picked papers in a curated palette. Each piece is hand-cut, folded, and finished by our team in the studio. Hand-brushed ink traces the footprints of horses, a tangible mark of momentum and flow, marking the Year of the Horse.
For any occasion where an envelope is required throughout the year.
Our recent stay in Shanghai.
Yangyun (养云) traces back to a Qianlong-period plaque, Yangxingzhai (养性斋), which translates as nurturing the clouds (养蓄云气).
The houses were originally from the Ming and Qing dynasties, together with thousands of centuries-old camphor trees, relocated from Jiangxi and carefully rebuilt here. The project functions as a living museum, allowing ancient stone residences and millenary forests to remain.
The newer pavilions and courtyards sit among the historic buildings and trees, without stripping them of character or presence.
For someone who spends their days curating objects, it’s a reminder that carefully composed space, structure, and rhythm can be enough on their own.
Aman Yangyun
Kerry Hill, 2018
We spent a day at @shin___chang ’s Lapan House — a space that expresses randomness shaped by the flow of daily moments, designed to adapt to how people live, not the other way around.
Materials are left as they are, unpolished in the best way, emphasizing the character of each space.
Open to change, grounded in simplicity, and designed around real moments rather than fixed rules.
Lapan House, 2015
@mentahmatter_design
Image by @tedninetyfive
#commonjournal #housearchive
