fbpx DAN | Daily Architecture News YSG Studio designed a kitchen inspired by Fantales for Laminex Australia - DAN | Daily Architecture News
YSG Studio designed a kitchen inspired by Fantales for Laminex Australia

YSG Studio designed a kitchen inspired by Fantales for Laminex Australia

Interior Design
News
23-09-2021
WATCH: YSG Studio’s Yasmine Ghoniem discusses The Fantales Kitchen for Laminex.

For many people, particularly boomers and perhaps their kids, a vibrantly coloured kitchen triggers an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. Myself included. It was only recently that the conversation at the dinner table turned to flashbacks of ’70s-era kitchens and bathrooms that were splashed with luminous lime tiles, or as one guest recalled, “the brightest kind of orange laminate that you could imagine”. Whichever colour you chose or inherited, “it was always partnered with the deepest shade of brown,” they added with a laugh. The topic flowed into discussions about the cyclical nature of design trends and how they evolve over time, punctuated simply by another guest with the statement: “Everything old is new again” – also the title of a Peter Allen song, which led the chat in a whole other direction.

To me, colour and nostalgia can be wonderful things and each has its place in architecture and design. To be quite honest, I breathe a joyful sigh of relief every time I see an interior swathed in anything other than fifty shades of grey (of all the visuals that book mustered, surely the colour palette proposed by its title was the least exciting?). I’m talking interiors where designing for the now, the occupant and their life experience takes precedent over the beige rules set by the ‘resale squad’. So it comes as no surprise that my eyes lit up this week when I received the brilliantly coloured images of the latest kitchen to come from a collaboration series between Australian laminate manufacturer Laminex and antipodean design talent. “Coloured kitchens are back”, I cheerfully muttered to myself.

The Fantales Kitchen by YSG Studio for Laminex Australia
The Fantales Kitchen by YSG Studio for Laminex Australia
The Fantales Kitchen by YSG Studio for Laminex.

The Fantales Kitchen by YSG Studio for Laminex

Imagined by Sydney-based design outfit YSG Studio, led by founder Yasmine Saleh Ghoniem, the nostalgic reference in this kitchen arrived before the visuals. It was in the subject line of the email they were attached to, where the project’s title – The Fantales Kitchen – took pride of place. Now, for those people reading along who haven’t quite clicked, or for whom the reference is lost, Fantales are tooth-gripping Australian treats where blobs of sticky caramel are coated in a layer of decadent milk chocolate. They were a favourite on lengthy road trips when I was a kid. Particularly because they take seemingly forever to devour, in turn limiting my intake and rendering me unable to speak while I chewed. And because they are wrapped in waxy paper that lists trivia-style questions, like “Who am I?” or “What movie am I?” – the answers for which, in the ’80s and ’90s, almost certainly included Meg Ryan, Kylie Minogue, Oprah and Star Wars

But what do Fantales have to do with kitchen design? For Yasmine and her team, it was the potential feelings that the retro sweets could conjure spatially, especially the comfort afforded by their irresistible colour palette. “I tried to imagine what it would feel like being dipped into a pot of sweet, warm caramel,” she says. And so, like cool kids in a candy store, the designers from the YSG team dipped into a wide range of Laminex’s new colour collection, including surfaces with evocative names like Moroccan Clay, Burnt Ochre and Fresh Spring. They also picked-and-mixed laminates from the brand’s woodgrain range, striving for a well-rounded scheme that packs a playful punch – something with which YSG Studio is synonymous.

The Fantales Kitchen by YSG Studio for Laminex Australia
The Fantales Kitchen by YSG Studio for Laminex Australia

The completed kitchen features a large L-shaped counter arrangement, an abundance of storage and a giant floating bench – ideal for cooking and entertaining. There’s fabulously thoughtful detailing from floor to ceiling, while a curved wall opening allows a peek into the neighbouring living room (which will be revealed at a later date). “I wanted to capture the essence of ‘afternoon delight’ – that warm, cosy time of day when the sun filters into the home and there’s nowhere else that you’d rather be,” Yasmine says. For readers of Fifty Shades of Grey, ‘afternoon delight’ quite probably means something else. But in this instance, it’s a fitting description of the delectable mood that Yasmine and her team has expertly captured, where, as she insists, “the world seems to stop in that golden moment”.

ysg.studio.com

The Fantales Kitchen by YSG Studio for Laminex Australia
The Fantales Kitchen by YSG Studio for Laminex Australia

For readers of Fifty Shades of Grey, ‘afternoon delight’ quite probably means something else. But in this instance, it’s a fitting description of the delectable mood that Yasmine and her team has expertly captured.

Daily Architecture News
The Fantales Kitchen by YSG Studio for Laminex Australia
The Fantales Kitchen by YSG Studio for Laminex Australia
Fantales kitchen YSG Laminex
Fantales kitchen YSG Laminex

About the author

Gavin Kirk is the editorial director of Daily Architecture News. He has worked in architecture and design media for over ten years, most recently as the editor of Belle magazine and associate editor of Home Beautiful, as well as across multi-platform brands such as Better Homes and Gardens. Gavin received a Bachelor of Interior Architecture from the University of New South Wales, and is called upon to contribute to radio and television, as well as web series’, podcasts and live events in Australia and abroad. 

Catch up on more architecture, art and design highlights. Plus, subscribe to receive the Daily Architecture News e-letter direct to your inbox.

Related stories

Advertisement
Login to join the conversation

Subscriber comments are moderated first. Respect others. Criticise ideas, not people. No offensive language View commenting guidelines

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Further Reading
View all in Interior Design
'The Tiled Cloud': Bofia restaurant in Riyadh by Azaz Architects
Located in the centre of Riyadh, the main financial hub and capital city of Saudi Arabia, the Bofia restaurant (also referred to as “The Tiled Cloud”) is tucked within an unassuming standalone structure. Exhibiting simple geometry and straight lines, the building was once described by the restaurant’s architects as feeling rather “ordinary” in the overall […]
Interior Design
01-04-2222
'Tiny diner': Pargot restaurant in Mexico City by RA! Arquitectos
Tucked behind an unassuming roller door, between a messy patchwork of electrical wires and gas metres, the hole-in-the-wall footprint of Pargot doesn’t leave much to the imagination. The dining area is limited to a duo of high bars, each with bench seats, that flare out to accommodate four diners at any one time. Behind the […]
Interior Design
25-03-2222
St. Alma restaurant in Freshwater by Five Foot One
When discussing the design for St. Alma, the name given to the new diner, Jack and Tim felt strongly about two key points. They believed “first impressions are everything” – a mantra adopted with the launch of their first restaurant. But they also recognised it was important for St. Alma to “stand her ground” rather than […]
Interior Design
03-03-2222
Lunet eyewear store in Romania by Bogdan Ciocodeica Studio
Shimmering silver-lined surfaces and lashings of bold colour were among the gestures that made the cut, ensuring a continuation of Lunet’s retail aesthetic and unconventional approach towards the experience of buying eyeglasses. “The idea was to borrow a few of the elements from the first store in such a manner that it feels like you […]
Interior Design
24-02-2222
Beauty clinic: MBS by Malika in Stockholm, designed by ASKA
The atmosphere within the MBS by Malika clinic is described by the ASKA team as feeling something akin to “modern nostalgia”. They arrived at this thematic title due to the way in which some of the design elements appear recognisable, giving the space “a rigid and trustworthy flavour,” the architects say. Other fragments, however, arrive […]
Interior Design
22-02-2222
The Brick Bond in Delhi flips the script on showroom design
Since tapping local Delhi-based architecture office Renesa to undertake the ambitious project, Jindal’s dream has been realised through what is now known as The Brick Bond. Completed in late 2021, it’s an “experience centre” like no other, where the company’s core product – the humble brick – is placed at the very heart of its visual […]
Interior Design
21-02-2222

Back to Top