Interview: Artist Princess Niké Arrighi Borghese talks about her life and work in Rome, Italy

Princess Niké Arrighi Borghese painting at her 16th Century home the Palazzo Borghese in Artena, near Rome: "I work sporadically, anywhere and anytime, on any piece of paper I find. Sometimes I am so attracted by something that it’s like falling in love." 

Princess Niké Arrighi Borghese began her career as an actress working with New Wave directors like Francois Truffaut, Ken Russell and Jean-Luc Godard before she went on to become a successful artist. Her recent exhibitions in Australia and Singapore include vividly-coloured paintings, subtle drawings & fine etchings of Rome and Venice, Jeanne-Marie Cilento reports

NIKE Arrighi Borghese’s work is full of both poetry and a sense of drama and reflect her own delicacy in person and natural vivacity. Her twinkling eyes appear interested in everything around her and she is passionate about her work: she paints and draws at her home the 16th Century Palazzo Borghese in Artena not far from Rome.

Born in France but brought up in Australia, Niké married her childhood love, racing car driver, sailor and accomplished engineer, the late Prince Paolo Borghese, in Hong Kong before returning to the family property in Italy. The Borghese are one of the most illustrious aristocratic families in Italy and include a Renaissance pope and several cardinals in their lineage. Camillo Borghese became the powerful Pope Paul V in 1605 and his nephew Cardinal Scipione Borghese was a patron of Bernini. During this period, the Borghese family also became some of the largest landowners of the countryside around Rome.

Niké was born in Nice to an Italian father, diplomat and artist, Ernesto Arrighi, and an Australian mother Eleanora Cox. She grew up in Sydney’s Vaucluse while her father was Italian consul. She studied art at school with one of Australia’s most renowned artists Justin O’Brien. Creativity runs in her family, not only did her father paint and play violin but her mother was related to both the writer Patrick White and architect Philip Cox and her sister Luciana Arrighi became the Academy Award-Winning costume designer.

After her schooling in Australia where she attended the Sacred Heart Convent at Elizabeth Bay, Niké travelled to Europe and began modelling for Balenciaga and Nina Ricci in Paris. She then went to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked for the next 10 years in film, television and theatre. She worked with 1960s New Wave directors including Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and Ken Russell.

By the 1970s, she had returned to her first love painting and drawing and became a full-time artist. In 1977, she married Prince Paolo Borghese in Hong Kong, where he was working as an engineer on large civic projects. She had her first solo show at Hong Kong's Quorum Gallery and won First Prize for Graphic Art at the 1976 Biennale at the Hong Kong Modern Art Museum.

After she returned to Italy in 1984, to live at the Palazzo Borghese with her husband and daughter Flavia, she continued to paint and exhibit at galleries around the world from Sydney to Tokyo and from Paris to Fez. In 2007, she finished her monumental and acclaimed panoramic 360°View of Rome, an enormous work of eight etchings and aquatints. 

She drew them by turning around on the one spot from the terrace of the Belgian Ambassador's residence in Rome. Among the most important awards for her work, are the Fiorino D'Oro that she won in 1995 and the Donna del Lazio prize for art by the President of the Lazio Region.

1. Where did you grow up and does this place still influence your artwork?
Although I was born in Nice, France, I was brought up in Australia, my mother’s homeland and had a natural, free, healthy childhood in Sydney with an artistic and cultural education and the influence of my mother and her life-long artist friends, such as Justin O’Brien and Jeffrey Smart.

They influenced me greatly and encouraged my work as an artist, patiently answering my constant queries: “Justy, Jeffrey how do I mix my turps? Do I stretch the canvas? What colour is best for a backing…?” And I’d go and watch them painting, Justy in Rome and Jeffrey in his bella casa in Tuscany, and I’d learn at a glance what would take an hour’s instruction!

2. You originally began studying art in Sydney, but went on to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became an actress. Why did you choose to return to painting, drawing and etching as your artistic métier?

Life is often not what you plan! After finishing school, my first wish was to study art, so I enrolled at the Sydney Tech and felt proud walking to class with my art folder. A month later, my sister and I sailed away to Europe. First I worked as a mannequin in Paris, then I studied dramatic art at RADA in London, followed by 10 years of acting in the theatre, films and TV, in London, Paris and Rome.

But art never left me, indeed I say that ‘art saved me from going crazy’…because as an actor you’re a ‘King’ one day and an outcast beggar the next. Very unsettling to live with, so during the long waits on film sets or waiting for my agent to ring, I drew and painted and felt happier. When I married my dear Paolo, in Hong Kong, my art flowered and so it was 'goodbye acting career'. 

3. What aspect of drawing and etching gives you the most happiness?
In Hong Kong I was fascinated by bamboo scaffolding, which was followed with a series of drawings and etchings on this subject. I was nominated "the Bamboo Scaffolding Artist” and won first prize at the Hong Kong Biennial. Bamboo scaffolding was a beautiful challenge for me and, as always, I fall in love with a subject that enchants me and then happiness follows. I once wrote on a water-colour sketch of some lychees: 'when I draw I love the world'.

4)  What do you find the most challenging part of your work?
Doing it.

5). Can you describe the experience, person or training that has

 had the greatest impact on your artistic career?
One important fact, which I understand now after many years of depicting Rome, with countless drawings, etchings and oils, is that I feel this must be a ‘gift’ from my father, Ernesto, who died when I was very little. He was a Roman, a diplomat and an artist, so my sister Luciana and I grew up with his pictures in the house.

Rome, Italy, remained in my psyche as a place of wonder and emotions. So when my husband and I returned to Italy to live, I began drawing life in Rome, and other parts of Italy, as if I were paying  tribute to my father’s city and country.

The great Piranesi has also constantly inspired me, so much so that when I started sketching Rome, I held the book of Piranesi’s etchings of Rome close to me to give me courage, but when I drove away to go home, I realized the Piranesi book had fallen off my car and was lost! At that, I understood that HE, the maestro, wanted me to ‘do it’ alone. 

6. Describe what your studio is like and whether you have a set schedule of working there everyday? Or is the process more fluid?

My studio is a mess! Whenever I gather courage to tidy it up, I become overwhelmed with the desire to paint! I work sporadically, anywhere and anytime, on any piece of paper I find. Sometimes I am so attracted by something that it’s like falling in love. When the ‘Broccolo Romano’ (see below) drew my attention, I sketched it and sketched it, for days buying more and more fresh ones… my poor husband had roman broccoli for every meal!

7). Do you find your creative process is more rational or

instinctive?
Instinctive, purely instinctive, as if I am told or helped by someone else to draw and paint.

8. How would you describe working as a contemporary artist

today in Italy?

Difficult to describe, working as a contemporary artist in Italy. I remember during a collective exhibition where I hung my Roman etchings, I went off to have a coffee and when I returned I saw a man looking intently at my etchings, he turned to me and asked “Where’s the artist?” I answered that I was the artist, and he immediately muttered ‘Oh, a woman!’ ~ lost interest and disappeared! Is it a fact that a female artist has less value than a male artist here? Italy inspires artists, but the business part is less inspiring.

9. Is there a particular town or place in the world you find

inspiring?
Well, I found Hong Kong very inspiring, exciting buildings, bamboo scaffolding, the port and Chinese life. Then I changed country and now live near Rome, so Italy became my ‘field’ of inspiration… the ancient with everyday life. Which is the most inspiring? Maybe I just absorb the place I’m in and then go on to the next...

10. In our digital age, what do painting and drawing give us as

art forms?

Yes, what do painting and drawing give us in this digital age? Painting and drawing – Art - is an expression of our inner soul, our creation, our being. It is an outlet for our creativity. I only need a pen or pencil to do this, I don’t need a machine. However, if you can do it with a computer, or bricks, or words or sounds, or on a machine, then ‘ben venga’, as they say in Italian: Go ahead!

Click on photographs for full-screen slideshow

Ninfa Waterfall Oil on canvas 75 x 92cm  2012 

Sperlonga and the Buoys Oil on canvas 64 x 94cm  1995

Veduta di San Pietro Sepia etching/aquatint 42 x 60cm 1990 

Tempio di Vesta Rome Sepia etching/aquatint  45 x 60cm 1991 

Foro Romano Oil on canvas 35 x 50cm 2003 

Aretusa Silkscreen on paper  36 x 49cm  2003

Palazzo Ducale Venice Blue etching/aquatint  47 x 61cm 1997

Pescheria Venice Blue etching/aquatint  61 x 42cm 1997

Palazzo Sotto Restauro Venice Blue etching/aquatint 60 x 40cm 1997

Colonna Traiana Rome Sepia etching/aquatint 64 x 40cm 2013

Creation Etching 50 x 35cm 1978

New Architecture: Japan's Silver Mountain and Red Cliff Tower

The shimmering free form of the Silver Mountain building is a foil to the rectilinear block of the adjoining mosaic-tiled Red Cliff tower.

Japanese architect Kunihide Oshinomi has designed a glimmering, anthropomorphic building like a futuristic sea anenome at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Kawasaki prefecture, Ambrosio De Lauro reports with Jeanne-Marie Cilento. Photographs by Atsushi Nakamichi

CALLED Silver Mountain, the building is at the heart of a small complex and is clad in gleaming stainless-steel plates. The neat block of an adjoining red, mosaic-tiled tower provides a rectilinear foil to the silvery, amorphous form. Oshinomi’s firm K/O Design Studio with Kajima Design created the new buildings which house rehearsal halls along with offices and faculty and student lounges.

“Designed at the pivotal point of traffic of the college of music's campus, the new buildings have a powerful outline of form and contrasts of silver and red," says Oshinomi. “I looked back to the basic principles of architecture ~ form, space, material and colour."

Oshinomi is head of K/O Design Studio and visiting professor at both the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Yokohama National University's Graduate School. He established his architectural design company in 1993 and has worked on a wide range of design projects from skyscrapers to houses and from furniture to fashion. "We believe that architecture is only a small part of the human environment and we don't think architecture should be treated as a special factor from a design point of view,'' says Oshinomi. "We like to design surroundings that create a sophisticated environmental harmony."

Completed in August 2013, the design of the Silver Mountain building's stainless-steel plate cladding was originally worked out using computer simulation. The pattern was developed using 3D surface analysis to work out the best combination of standard rectilinear tiles plus curved and trapezoidal panels that were used for irregularly-shaped spaces. The adjacent Red Cliff tower block is finished in a graphic, patch-work of three different tones of red, mosaic tiles.

An airy, glass space connects the low-rise red tower to the globular silver building. "The cloud of glass is like a valley between the 'mountain' and the 'cliff', says Oshinomi. "It is one of the main pedestrian routes for this campus." Opening from three, curving foyers are the rehearsal halls which are located on different levels. The undulating concrete walls of the rehearsal spaces are designed to enhance their acoustic qualities. "The interior of Silver Mountain has a 3D free form and the lobby is like dramatic cave," says Oshinomo. "The rehearsal halls are flanked by exposed concrete-waved walls to stop echoes."

The Red Cliff building houses a faculty lounge on the ground floor furnished with mid-century modern armchairs, a meeting room, and a lounge area for students. Above are four floors containing the offices of the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music offices.

Click on photographs for full-screen slideshow

Lit up at night, the shimmering buildings look like they are glowing sea creatures.

The silvery, free-form building is clad in specially-designed stainless-steel panels and is offset by the rustic stone paving that follows the pattern of an Italian medieval village. 

The curving, reflective surface reflects the blue sky of a sunny day in Kawasaki prefecture.

The scale of each building appears to change dramatically depending on where it is viewed. 

The tower is clad in different tones of red mosaic tiles and is connected by a "cloud" of glass that the designer says forms a valley between the "Red Cliff" and the "Silver Mountain."

Built from reinforced concrete, the interior of the building has sweeping curved walls.

The interior of the buildings are left clear and uncluttered with specially-designed seating.

The undulating concrete walls of the rehearsal spaces were designed to enhance their acoustic qualities. 

"The rehearsal halls are flanked by exposed concrete-waved walls to stop echoes,"  explains designer Kunihide Oshinomi. 

Honey-coloured wood floors contrast with the raw concrete walls of the three different rehearsal halls.

Opening from the glass "valley" are curving foyers leading to the rehearsal halls which are located on different levels.

The Red Cliff tower block is finished in a graphic, patch-work of three different tones of red, mosaic tiles. 

The Red Cliff building houses a faculty lounge on the ground floor furnished with mid-century modern armchairs, a meeting room and a lounge area for students.

The design of the Silver Mountain building's stainless-steel plate cladding was originally worked out using computer simulation. The pattern was developed using 3D surface analysis to work out the best combination of standard rectilinear tiles plus curved and trapezoidal panels.

Computer models of the Silver Mountain building's curvature.

The first floor plan of the complex showing the rehearsal room, curving foyer  and the glass-roofed "cloud" connecting the building to the red-tiled office block.

Brodie Neill: Designer & Made in Ratio Creative Director

Brodie Neill with the Cowrie rocker, the curvaceous form is inspired by sea shells."The creative process is where the magic happens. A design can go from an instinctive idea to resolved concept quite quickly then the process of realisation begins.  Knowing you’ve stumbled upon something new is a very exciting time."

Australian designer Brodie Neill talks to Jeanne-Marie Cilento about his stellar international career. Based in London, he discusses his new work and inspiration ~ including the influence of listening to Swedish House music on his creative oeuvre in our DAM TV interview

SPEAKING about his new collection with his signature enthusiasm and gravelly voice, Brodie Neill sits amid his designs for his company Made in Ratio. Known for his sinuous limited edition pieces such as the muscular Reverb chair, curvilinear Glacier chaise longue and sculptural designs such as the E-turn seat and Scuba for Italian brands Kundalini and Domodinamica, the designer's Made in Ratio furniture range can now be found in The Conran Shop which has showrooms in London, Paris and throughout Japan.

The two collections of new designs are clean-lined and versatile and represent a new step forward for the designer into larger scale production in Britain which combines both digital technology and hand-finishing products. When Neill launched the Made in Ratio debut collection in Milan last year, Conran saw the show and they began refining the prototypes of the Cowrie chair and rocker and the Supernova desk. They went into production at the end of 2013.

This year, Neill exhibited Made in Ratio's second collection during Milan's Salone del Mobile and London's Design Junction and says more designs will start being sold in other countries around the world: “I am also working on new projects for Kundalini including a linear suspension light and a chair for Riva 1920. Plus limited editions for various projects around the world and two public, permanent installations in Australia.”

Neill has been based in London for nearly 10 years and today his studio is based in Shoreditch. "I still find London to be a surprising and inspiring city," the designer says. "I first felt its gravitational pull on a stopover between New York and Milan 12 years ago and I always enjoying returning to London no matter how short my trip away. It is rich in creative talent....and it's not just design but more the melting pot of fashion, architecture, art, food and lifestyle that make it so appealing."

The designer’s career began at the University of Tasmania where he says the course emphasised a fine art approach with hands-on training as designer-makers:"Tasmania has a strong heritage of craftsmanship that stems from boat building and furniture making, so I learnt early on that it was important to take pride in what you produce and I have continued to apply this thinking throughout my career." He was already interested in digital design and using animation to create new fluid forms at the University of Tasmania. But he experimented further and developed his design ethos when he did a Masters degree at the Rhode School of Design in 2004. After getting a job in New York at L’Oreal, he was convinced his creativity would be better served establishing his own studio in London and working on his own designs, which he did in 2005.

His breakthrough happened in the same year when he exhibited prototypes at the young designers' platform Salone Satellite at the Milan international furniture fair. His work caught the attention of Gregorio Spini, a founder of Italian lighting brand Kundalini, and he went on to develop the Morphie lamp and then the swirling, intertwined E-turn seat.

"My career has been a journey across different continents and countries with many amazing opportunities and experiences, passionate people and inspiring places," Neill says. "Of course my Tasmanian upbringing is critical in my foundation, sensitivity to form and disciplined approach. America taught me that there are no limits and that creative dreams can become reality. Europe provided the passionate industry that welcomed me with open arms and shared belief in striving for innovation and quality."

During the halcyon days of the limited edition market where art and design fused to become sought after contemporary collector pieces, Neill created sculptural pieces with prices starting from £25,000. His pieces for The Apartment Gallery in London include the curvaceous Remix and the Glacier, a chaise longue of 360kg of molten glass that is hand-cast and polished by craftsmen in the Czech Republic ~ it now has a six figure price tag. His crystalline Jet table commissioned by Nadja Swarvoski, also evinced his skill at creating dynamic forms with a contemporary edge ~ an aesthetic that informs all of his work, including the recent collections for Made in Ratio.

1. How has growing up in Tasmania influenced your creative design work and the decisions you’ve made in your career?

I’m learning everyday that my Tasmanian roots provide me with the skills and inspiration that sets me apart from other designers. For years, I have pursued the true European model of the Industrial Designer, but it’s my foundation in hands-on making that makes my approach unique. 

As a child I was always building things and eventually took up the challenge of building furniture when I was a teenager. I was always making something, redesigning it as I would go along. Tasmania has a strong heritage of craftsmanship that stems from boat building and furniture making, so I learnt early on that it was important to take pride in what you produce and I have continued to apply this thinking throughout my career.

2. Looking back since you first exhibited at Salone Satellite in Milan in 2005 after studying at the Rhode Island School of Design in America, how has your work and design philosophy changed and evolved?
Of course my work has matured but honestly it hasn’t veered far from the focus of form-orientated function. Material and process has always played a big part in the learning curve of each and every design, with technology being introduced where necessary to enhance a forward thinking approach whilst keeping in mind that the finished article is the main objective. Studio research alongside partnerships with galleries and manufacturers have allowed for more progressive ideas and opportunities in new and exciting fields.

3. Why did you originally choose design as your creative métier?
Probably due to the discipline of design and the need to perform. Art can be anything but design has purpose.

4. Do you find the creative process when you are designing more rational or instinctive? And do you have a set schedule of working creatively everyday or is it more fluid?
My process is definitely more instinctive though becoming more rational with time. The creative ideas are very spontaneous and appear in an almost ‘what if’ moment but then the long process of applying rationality to that idea begins. My designs are vivid and unique but also refined and pared back. The idea might be instinctive but the result is more rational.

Unfortunately I don’t have a set schedule for creative work as my working week just doesn’t work like that. I would like to find more structure but at the same time I cannot restrict creativity to happen at a certain time each week. Often I would take note of an idea whenever it may appear and research it further in studio at a later date.  

5. What do you find the most challenging aspect of your work? 
Juggling everything and finding the time to spend on what I really want to do and that is design. Fortunately I have found a balance but I would like that balance to favour the more creative side. 

6. What part of the design process do you enjoy the most?
Definitely the creative process is where the magic happens. A design can go from an instinctive idea to resolved concept quite quickly then the process of realisation begins.  Knowing you’ve stumbled upon something new is a very exciting time.

7.Your design studio is based in London’s Shoreditch. What does the city give you creatively?
I still find London to be a surprising and inspiring city. I first felt its gravitational pull whilst on a stopover between New York and Milan some 12 years ago and I always enjoying returning to London no matter how short my trip away. London is rich in creative talent, so I know I’m far from alone on feeling this attraction, but maybe that’s exactly what it is that is so attractive.  
It’s not just design but more the melting pot of fashion, architecture, art, food and lifestyle that make it so appealing. I continue to be surprised by London, finding something new just around the corner be that in a distant neighbourhood or the same streets I walk everyday.

8. Can you describe the experience, person or training that has had the greatest impact on your design career so far?
My career has been a journey across many continents and countries with many amazing opportunities and experiences, passionate people and inspiring places. I believe its all an evolution, rolling from one into the other making it difficult to single out individuals and instances. Of course my Tasmanian upbringing is critical in my foundation, sensitivity to form and disciplined approach. 

America taught me that there are no limits and that creative dreams can become reality.  Europe provided the passionate industry that welcomed me with open arms and shared belief in striving for innovation and quality. The world is becoming a smaller place on a daily basis and it’s these cultural cross overs that will bring something truly special.

9. This is the second year of your new company Made in Ratio, how have you found the experience of being a designer and manufacturer on a larger commercial scale compared to producing limited edition pieces? 
Made in Ratio is a collection of self-produced designs that are the result of focused research and development into process and materials. The designs also feature the perfect balance of form and function, craftsmanship, quality, design and efficiency. The collection is carefully considered and the coming together of my experiences both as a designer of editions and for production with some of my Italian based clients. Being both designer and producer on this collection has enabled me to take my idea from conception right through to completion making sure the designers vision is always achieved.

10. Art collectors buy your limited edition design pieces ~ do you consider them more art or craft?  Today, what do you think the relationship is between design and contemporary art?
Yes art and design collectors buy my edition pieces but many intend to use them rather than simply admire them or sit them in storage as investments. The design process of a limited edition is no less intense simply because there will be fewer of them available.  In fact, its all the more important to perform in order to warrant the price tag.  

I always consider my editions to be design as they are the result of a design process. They can be considered art due to their concept and also craft involved in the material and process, but its design that drives ‘what’ and ‘how’ I do something. Today design and art are as intermingled as they have ever been but this tussle has been ongoing for decades. It’s also a personal and cultural perspective or preference as to the divide.  

Watch DAM TV's interview with Brodie Neill in Milan, Italy here:

The 2014 collection for Made in Ratio shown in London including the Pleat bench, Prism table, Tetra modular shelving and Pik stool.

  

The designer in Venice, Italy overseeing the production of the Cumulus lamp that is hand-made by master glass blowers.

Brodie Neill at the workshop where his Cowrie Rocker is made in Britain. 

The 2013 Cowrie collection is inspired by the concave lines of sea shells and the chairs have a curvilinear form made of a single, folding surface.



The Cowrie rocker is another sweeping, curving form inspired by sea shells and made from a single, folding surface of Ash-faced plywood.

The 2013 Matrix stand is woven from a continuous thread of steel and works as a vertical web to hang coats, hats, bags and umbrellas.



The 2013 Supernova table has an elegant and versatile form with star-shaped trestles in brilliantly-coloured recycled aluminium.

Like a manta ray, the fluid curves of the Scuba sofa was designed by Brodie Neill for Italian company Domodinamica in 2009.

The  Reverb Wire Chair hand-made from polished stainless steel rods designed in 2010 for Patrick Brillet's The Apartment Gallery.

The Reverb's curvaceous elliptical vortex is inspired by the reverberation of sound. Made from nickel-plated aluminium, the dramatic chairs are hand formed and polished.

The intertwined E-Turn seat created for Italian design house Kundalini in 2007. 

Like flowing Japanese calligraphy, the @Chair designed was considered by TIME Magazine one of the best designs of 2008.

The 2011 Glacier chaise longue made of 360kg of molten glass that is hand-cast and polished by craftsmen in the Czech Republic ~ here exhibited at Mallet. 

The sinuous Jet table with a dark graphite finish and encrusted with crystals that was specially commissioned by Nadja Swarovski

The M Lights exhibited at Salone Satellite at Milan in 2005 where Brodie Neill was discovered by Kundalini co-founder Gregorio Spini.



The Clover light designed in 2011 for Italian brand Kundalini has a lilting sculptural from and is made from moulded polyurethene and aluminium with the light source concealed at the centre of three folds.