Some of us are vacationing, others day-dreaming, and others decorating their coffee table — no matter your day-job, Assouline’s latest book Tulum Gypset is a must-have of the moment. The barefoot visual guide to Mexico’s bohemian town is every bit as good as a meditation practice or healing therapy. Filled with shots of carefree Caribbean waters, hippy characters, spiritual pilgrimages, and eco-friendly practices, the book was put together by journalist, author, and adventurist Julia Chaplin. The author herself is a boho manifestation and she took to Tulum’s staple locations like Be Tulum, and some secret ones for an endless summer.
As everyone makes their way to Art Basel, we focus our artistic attention to Tulum’s jungle where IK LAB art and cultural space opened earlier this year without a single white wall on the grounds of eco-inspired resort Azulik.
Images: Courtesy of the gallery
The dreamscape gallery is an unprecedented art space resembling a forest from a fairytale or perhaps a Tulum-version of Gaudi’s Sagrada family with tree branches hugging the walls and directing the direction of the “rooms.” Founded by Eduardo Neiro and designed by architect Fernando Artigas, the space does not have a single upright, classic wall. Instead, the wooden floors meld into the walls and those into a hanging bridge around the gallery creating a bright hobbit-like home of mounds and turns. This space makes us question whether it is part of the exhibit itself and brings up the argument of architecture vs. art. Undoubtedly, IK LAB is a work of art itself.
The gallery is currently exhibiting the works of France-based artist Katinka Bock, NYC-based Guillaume Leblon, and Guadalajara-based Gabriel Rico in a show called Configurations. The three join in an effort to display alchemical forces, ephemeral transformations, surreal transitions, and post-apocalyptic ruins. Bock’s bronze-cast plants, Leblon’s seamless correlations between the real and the surreal, and Rico’s apocalyptic ruins fill the space with a mysterious new atmosphere.
IK LAB was developed with the essence of the location’s particularities: nature, rich spiritual heritage, and art in mind. The three artists whose work is currently on display each highlight this idea anew as their international backgrounds unite in a space of boundless art experience.
Configurations is on display until January 31, 2019
The jet-set lifestyle of luxury escapes is fine and all, but sometimes you just need a home away from home. Somewhere to see old friends and make new ones, with the comfort of a dream house and the amenities of the grandest hotel—a clubhouse, in other words. Fresh from finishing a glass-box-and-palapa resort in Tulum, Mexico, global hospitality company Habitas has opened two stateside.
For the East Coast location, Habitas transformed a six-story 1895 firehouse in midtown Manhattan into an urban hideaway. Upon entry, members are greeted at a reception desk made of repurposed luggage from a famed 1940s jazz singer, whose repertoire they can make their own at the 1955 Steinway Upright Studio piano by a fireplace in the ground-floor living room. Patrons can also enjoy a communal wet bar, refuel with espresso, and enjoy some snacks and tea service from House of Waris. Should they bring down the house, guests can set up shop in a state-of-the-art recording studio in the former firehouse stables across the courtyard, or access additional workspaces in the second-floor creative lab, break-out suites, or The Nest—a private event space for dinners and performances.
Additionally, Chef Jared Dowling of Anglophilic farm-to-table hotspot The Fat Radish has set up a program of de rigueur grain bowls and chia puddings freshened up with seasonal goodies. Plus, he regularly orchestrates full dinner events with one-of-a-kind menus served family style.
The Venice Beach branch, fittingly, is a little less about indulgence and more focused on health and fun in the sun while networking and socializing. The 1940s beach house on Abbot Kinney Boulevard has been furnished in a bohemian mix of Hollywood Regency and hippie-chic décor. Safari chairs and chaise lounges relax in pools of natural light pouring through antique windows still framed in their original redwood. An upstairs loft offers meeting and brainstorming spaces lined with Tatami mats; brainfood comes courtesy of the kitchen’s array of healthy snacks and an honor-system bar hidden behind a bookcase. Local artists installed pieces throughout the house, all overseen by an exterior mural nearby courtesy of the beloved Portuguese graffiti and street artist Vhils.
But the real star is the garden, with its glossy black benches and bright floral seating. Members can grab a complimentary surfboard to hit the waves or a beach cruiser to take a spin, then return and wash off the heat in the outdoor shower. Once the body is nurtured, guests can focus on the spirit in the wellness center, housed in a converted garage: some yoga, some meditation, and a little om sweet om.
Jared Leto and photographer Terry Richardson have been hanging out a lot recently, like a-lot-a-lot, and where there’s Uncle Terry, there’s a camera (and where there’s a photo, there’s the internet, and then here we all are). Jordan Catalano Leto, fresh off his win at the Golden Globes Awards on Sunday, is currently in Tulum, Mexico, where he posed for his buddy in the bathroom, shower, and pretty much every other random place in the city. Bizarre, yes. Unexpected, meh. Entertaining, assuredly. There’s not a whole lot to say about these, just a whole lot to see. Go ahead:
