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Spacial Magazine

Personal Microcosm

By: Patrik Florián Photo: Vojtěch Veškrna
#Lasvit World of Design
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In the fol­low­ing pages you will be able to vis­it a young well-trav­elled cre­ative. Michal Váha­la bought his first real estate less than a year ago, yet his small flat in Holešovice, Prague is not lack­ing char­ac­ter. The views resem­ble the indus­tri­al peri­od of the First Repub­lic and the unortho­dox recon­struc­tion endowed inte­ri­ors with per­son­al touch. The ener­getic con­trast of pul­sat­ing youth and zen peace moved in with the cur­rent owner. 

After years of study­ing and work­ing in Lon­don and Paris, Michal Váha­la decid­ed to move back to the Czech Repub­lic and Prague was his obvi­ous des­ti­na­tion. He dis­cov­ered his dream home on the fourth floor in an apart­ment build­ing from the First Repub­lic in the mid­dle of Holešovice dis­trict. “I wished for a flat in the cen­tre of events and Prague 7 seemed ide­al. It is a pro­gres­sive and dynam­ic area, my office is near­by and there is so much going on. I was on a flat hunt for a rel­a­tive­ly long time, I want­ed an open space, some­thing unique and with a sto­ry as many of the new build­ings seem to be lack­ing char­ac­ter. And this flat had a poten­tial, which imme­di­ate­ly struck me,” Michal recalls.

Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
The win­dows face both east and west, the sun beams togeth­er with the Czech crys­tal play a joy­ful game of reflec­tions and shad­ows through­out the day.

No won­der, the pre­vi­ous own­ers already did quite a lot of work on the 54 square metres. They opened up the ground plans and cre­at­ed a num­ber of clev­er­ly hid­den stor­age spaces. The ren­o­va­tion was done with­out a fear of change, which proves for exam­ple an ele­vat­ed plat­form by the kitchen win­dow, where Michal placed his din­ing table. In an instant, this became his favourite spot for read­ing, din­ing and work.

Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
The col­lec­tion of glass­es and water-bot­tles called Cir­cle by the design­er Mile­na Kling is hand-made by blow­ing into soft cop­per form, which bestows the glass with a dis­tinct flu­id shape.
“What I admire about the col­lec­tion Cir­cle by the design­er Mile­na Kling and the vase Yak­isu­gi by the leg­endary Japan­ese mas­ter Ken­go Kuma are organ­ic and irreg­u­lar shapes made by hand
blown glass.”
Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
The renowned archi­tect and artist Ken­go Kuma designed a series of vas­es and glass­es ref­er­enc­ing the ancient Japan­ese nat­ur­al tech­nique of treat­ing wood with fire called Shou-Sugi-Ban.

Fur­ther rad­i­cal changes of the flat were not nec­es­sary, its new mas­ter sim­ply changed the fur­ni­ture, paint­ed the walls in petro­le­um green and replaced the lights. “I enjoy active­ly work­ing with light, it can­not be too lit­tle or too much. When I need to focus, I pre­fer stronger white light­ing, how­ev­er, I enjoy the warm and less intense light from many small­er sources much more, it helps me cre­ate a pleas­ant atmosphere.”

Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
The table lamp Spacey was made by decon­struct­ing the epony­mous light­ing from the design­er Lukáš Novák, who decid­ed to revive the orig­i­nal Czech glass tech­nique, almost two hun­dred years old.

Fol­low­ing this phi­los­o­phy he illu­mi­nat­ed the liv­ing room with Spacey chan­de­lier from the design­er Lukáš Novák. “Spacey has an organ­ic struc­ture and per­fect­ly com­ple­ments the dark wood with colour. In a way, my flat is like a mod­ern chalet in the city, a small sanc­tu­ary, and this soli­taire is its jewel.”

Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
The chan­de­lier is an embod­i­ment of the most per­fect enti­ty in space – the globe and it is offered in two ver­sions refer­ring to the Moon phases.
“Spacey chan­de­lier is the crown jew­el of the whole inte­ri­or. I was par­tic­u­lar­ly cap­ti­vat­ed by the spe­cial and fas­ci­nat­ing tech­nol­o­gy pro­duc­tion of lithyalin, which ensures that each piece is unique.”
Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
The uneven­ly coloured glass resem­bling gem­stones or prescious min­er­als is made by a unique and exper­i­men­tal method of hand-made pro­duc­tion of lithyalin.

Michal also fell in love with a table lamp from the same col­lec­tion, which moves around the flat like a plan­et in its orbit. The rest is tak­en care of by nature her­self. Win­dows face both east and west – the sun wakes up in the flat, its beams togeth­er with the Czech crys­tal make joy­ful reflec­tions cre­at­ing a play of shad­ows on the walls and toward the evening it slow­ly dis­ap­pears on the horizon.

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Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
Michal Váhala bought his first real estate less than a year ago, yet his small flat in Holešovice, Prague is not lacking character.
Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
The windows face both east and west, the sun beams together with the Czech crystal play a joyful game of reflections and shadows throughout the day.
Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
The collection of glasses and water-bottles called Circle by the designer Milena Kling is hand-made by blowing into soft copper form, which bestows the glass with a distinct fluid shape.
Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
The renowned architect and artist Kengo Kuma designed a series of vases and glasses referencing the ancient Japanese natural technique of treating wood with fire called Shou-Sugi-Ban.
Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
The table lamp Spacey was made by deconstructing the eponymous lighting from the designer Lukáš Novák, who decided to revive the original Czech glass technique, almost two hundred years old.
Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
The chandelier is an embodiment of the most perfect entity in space – the globe and it is offered in two versions referring to the Moon phases.
Michal Váhala: Flat - Lasvit - Spacial Magazine
The unevenly coloured glass resembling gemstones or prescious minerals is made by a unique and experimental method of hand-made production of lithyalin.

Discover more

Spacey Collection by Lukáš Novák

Yakisugi Vase by Kengo Kuma

Circle collection by Milena Kling

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