Background

Both architects by training, Antonin Hautefort and Ignatio Tenggara met at the Architectural Association in London while completing their master of Architecture. While Antonin grew up in France, Ignatio comes from Indonesia: their radically different cultural background and their fascination for local craftsmanship motivated them to start a design studio together. Atelier Pendhapa was founded in 2019 with the ambition to dissolve the boundaries between furniture and architecture. They have since been developing projects of various scales from bespoke pieces and interior design to holistic architectural projects all around the world.   

Signature Style

Pendhapa stands for an iconic vernacular structure encountered across Indonesia that represents the essence of the atelier: a traditional construction that is different every time as it adapts to its context, where materials redefine form as continually as the landscape changes. Fusing together contemporary culture with traditional techniques and materials, the studio generates innovative forms and pushes the boundaries of what can be handmade today. Their extensive exploration of hand carved solid wood allows the furniture pieces to hold a certain weight, both in their aesthetic and long lifespan. As architects, the studio aims to bring an architectural understanding to the scale of the furniture in order to design spaces as a sequence of anchoring points. For each project, a new collection arises that brings together a confident visual lightness through their monolithic forms and materials. The Pendhapa furniture collection is rooted in timeless, enigmatic forms.  

Showstoppers

A glass brick townhouse in Jakarta, a villa in the deep tropical jungle of Bali, a house in the arid desert of the Greek islands, or projects in London and Milan, the architecture of Atelier Pendhapa always aims to explore new territories while searching for timelessness. For each project, the studio designs bespoke furniture collections encompassing all categories from seating – including the iconic Mast chair, or the versatile Naksathra sofa- to statement pieces such as the Udukkai long marble table and smaller sculptural pieces such as the Gingko side table or Bollard.

Photo credit – Benedicte Drummond