The alchemy of Alexander Lamont, designer who’s reimagined luxury for sophisticated casual era, as seen in Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong hotel renovation
- Clean lines, opulent finishes – think straw marquetry or walls of shagreen – and an emphasis on form characterise the work of designer Alexander Lamont
- The Bangkok-based Briton and his artisans transform natural materials in ways that draw from diverse references, from the art deco era to Tang dynasty China
Walk around British designer Alexander Lamont’s showroom in Bangkok’s Warehouse 30 complex, and you might find yourself puzzling over the materials used to create some of his beautiful objects.
Those buxom rings wrapped around his Bristol Vase? They look like wood, but they’re actually parchment. The delicate-looking exterior of that Pointillist Vessel? Not preserved jackfruit, but irregularly shaped verdigris bronze beads, which are heavier than lead.
In stroking tabletops and brushing your fingers over candlesticks, it becomes clear that, sometimes, beauty is also skin deep.
As we chat a little later in the office above his workshops in the northern suburb of Prachachuen, my eyes fix on the plethora of objects Lamont has amassed over the years.
Most are of Asian origin, and speak to his eclectic taste, and eye for craftsmanship. They also recall his four years in the 1990s in Hong Kong, at Altfield Gallery as a manager.
