Cultural influence has never stood still.

On The Pearl Lam Podcast, architect Tosin Oshinowo speaks about a growing confidence among African creatives to define themselves on their own terms, rather than through frameworks inherited from elsewhere.

Architecture, fashion, art and ...design are increasingly being shaped by many different cultural centres at once. For me, that is far more interesting than simply replacing one dominant voice with another.

Watch the full conversation on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

#PearlLamPodcast #TosinOshinowo #AfricanDesign #Architecture #Culture

Architecture shapes far more than the way a city looks. It shapes how people understand where they belong.

On The Pearl Lam Podcast, Tosin Oshinowo speaks about the relationship between architecture, identity and the future of African cities.

At a moment when economic pressures ...are pushing many to look elsewhere, she makes the case for staying, building and taking part in shaping what comes next.

A city’s future is not only decided by policy or investment. It is also decided by the people who choose to remain and create within it.
The full episode is out now on YouTube & Spotify.

#PearlLamPodcast #TosinOshinowo #Architecture #UrbanIdentity #AfricanCities

At Contemporary Istanbul, Kulapat Yantrasat and I discussed a major theme in the creative world, AI, technology and what will remain distinctly human.

For me, art, culture and craft are our secret weapons. The hand matters. The instinct behind making something matters. The connection ...between an artist and their material matters.

Being at ContemporaryIstanbul, surrounded by artists and practices from so many different cultures and corners of the globe, made that feel particularly relevant. As technology moves faster, we should be placing even greater value on the things only people can create. It’s like I always say… art truly does not require a passport.

#PearlLam #ContemporaryIstanbul #KulapatYantrasat #ArtAndTechnology #ContemporaryArt

Africa has never had a single identity. So why do we keep talking about it as though it does?

Architect Tosin Oshinowo explains how colonial borders imposed political boundaries across communities whose cultures, languages and identities existed long before the modern nation state.
...
With extraordinary linguistic and cultural diversity across the continent, the idea of one neatly defined “African identity” quickly begins to unravel.

Watch the full conversation with Tosin Oshinowo on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

#PearlLamPodcast #TosinOshinowo #AfricanIdentity #Culture #Architecture

I last sat down with Kulapat Yantrasast in 2024 in Los Angeles for The Pearl Lam Podcast. This time, we found each other on the other side of the world at Contemporary Istanbul.

Meeting here feels pretty apt when you look at Istanbul. It’s a city where cultures genuinely cross and you ...feel that in the art, culture and people. I was seeing artists I had never encountered before and completely different approaches to traditions I know well.

It’s definitely been a highlight of Contemporary Istanbul.

#PearlLam #ContemporaryIstanbul #KulapatYantrasat #IstanbulArt #ContemporaryArt

Seeing Sail of Light installed at Contemporary Istanbul makes the scale of Chisato Matsumoto’s work impossible to ignore.

The fabric stretches across the space with a real physical presence, while the light brings out the structure and repetition within the shibori from every angle.
...
Standing with Chisato in front of the finished installation, you really feel how far she has pushed the technique. What begins with something incredibly precise and hand-made becomes something expansive, immersive and almost architectural.

Such a wonderful sight to behold!

#PearlLam #ChisatoMatsumoto #ContemporaryIstanbul #SailOfLight #ContemporaryArt

Why are we still calling African architecture “emerging”?

On the next episode of The Pearl Lam Podcast, I sit down with Lagos-based architect Tosin Oshinowo to discuss African modernism, identity and the changing confidence of the continent’s creative industries.

Modernity ...should not mean making everywhere look the same. Architecture can move forward without stripping away the culture, materials and ways of living that make a place distinct.

Full episode coming soon to The Pearl Lam Podcast.
#PearlLamPodcast #TosinOshinowo #AfricanArchitecture #Architecture #CulturalIdentity

Imagine commissioning a house overlooking your favourite waterfall, only for your architect to decide that you should live directly above it instead.

That was Frank Lloyd Wright’s proposition at Fallingwater.

Designed in 1935 for Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann, the house extends ...over Bear Run in Pennsylvania through a series of extraordinary cantilevered terraces. The waterfall the family loved was not treated as scenery to admire from a distance. Wright made its sound, movement and presence part of everyday life.

Seeing Fallingwater in person, I understood why that decision matters. Everywhere you turn, the boundaries between architecture and landscape seem to shift. Stone continues from outside to inside, terraces project towards the forest and the sound of rushing water follows you through the house.

Almost a century later, we are still debating how architecture should respond to the natural world. Fallingwater is a remarkable reminder that this conversation is hardly new.

Perhaps that is why truly radical design ages so well. It does not simply answer the questions of its own time. It leaves something for the rest of us to keep thinking about.

#PearlLam #Fallingwater #FrankLloydWright #Architecture #ArtsAndCulture

Frank Lloyd Wright was never an architect known for thinking small. Yet at Kentuck Knob, it was the restraint that caught my attention.

Hidden among the woodland of Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands, the house was commissioned by I.N. and Bernardine Hagan in the 1950s and became one of ...Wright’s later residential works.

There is no attempt to conquer the landscape here. Native sandstone, red cypress and long stretches of glass allow the house to settle quietly into the hillside. Wright even positioned it just below the summit rather than claiming the most commanding point.
Walking through the house, I found myself looking outside almost as much as I looked at the architecture itself. The trees, stone and changing light become part of the experience of each room.

The Hagans first encountered Wright’s work through their friends the Kaufmanns, owners of nearby Fallingwater. Yet Kentuck Knob has a character entirely of its own. It is quieter, more intimate and perhaps a reminder that great architecture does not always need to announce itself.

#PearlLam #KentuckKnob #FrankLloydWright #Architecture #ArtsAndCulture

Hong Kong’s cultural identity is undergoing a vibrant transformation, driven by a generation that is fiercely embracing its local roots.

Accordingly to Gilbert Yeung, a younger generation is leaning harder into local culture, from Canto-pop nights packed with 80s and 90s classics to ...Cantonese branding and the return of neon.

For years, Hong Kong looked outward for what was cool. Now, some of the strongest cultural cues are coming from home.

#PearlLamPodcast #GilbertYeung #HongKong #CantoPop #HongKongCulture

Mahjong is taking the West by storm, and it’s about so much more than just a game.

Joining the Pearl Lam Podcast, Pearl Lam & Gilbert Yeung discuss the evolution of what’s considered cool and the bridging the gap between East and West, creating a shared language through play.
...
#PearlLamPodcast #GilbertYeung #Mahjong #HongKongCulture #ChineseCulture

One of the things I enjoy most about contemporary art is that it refuses to be consumed quickly.

At Catinca Tabacaru Gallery in Bucharest, I spent time with Admire Kamudzengerere’s monotype portraits, built from thousands of handwritten marks layered into each surface. From a distance ...they read as portraits. Up close, they dissolve into individual gestures before quietly coming back together again.

I was also interested to discover the work of Andrei Nițu, whose paintings explore how identity is shaped not only by our own experiences, but by the images, emotions and external influences that surround us. Rather than treating painting as a fixed representation, his work asks how identity is continually constructed and reconstructed.

Different practices, different questions, but both artists left me thinking about the ways contemporary painting can challenge not only what we see, but how we understand ourselves.

#PearlLam #CatincaTabacaruGallery #AdmireKamudzengerere #Bucharest #ContemporaryArt

Luxury is starting to look very different.

For Gilbert Yeung, the new status symbols are less about expensive handbags or the best table in Mykonos, and more about wellness, meaningful travel and feeling grounded in yourself.

Perhaps the most interesting shift is that “cool” ...is becoming less about what you can display, and more about how you choose to live.

#PearlLamPodcast #GilbertYeung #Luxury #Wellness #Travel

Did smartphones ruin nightlife?

Gilbert Yeung remembers when going out meant simply being there: dancing, talking, watching the room and letting the night unfold.

Now, so much of the experience happens through a screen. The more we document the night, the less of it we may ...actually experience.

#PearlLamPodcast #GilbertYeung #NightlifeCulture #HumanConnection #DigitalCulture

Nightlife gives people permission to become someone else.

Pearl Lam reflects on the dance floor as a stage, where being seen can be part of the attraction, but so can becoming a version of yourself that everyday life does not allow.
For one night, identity can be exaggerated, performed... or completely reinvented.

#PearlLamPodcast #PearlLam #NightlifeCulture #Identity #SelfExpression