Mood Board: 7 Things That Inspire Designer Sumer Singh of Mtharu

1. Nelson, B.C.

We try to go once a year to recharge, and the kids love it. The lakeside beaches feel like you’re at an oceanside spot—you can swim or rent boats, and the cabins are breathtaking. Plus, Nelson has one of the highest numbers of restaurants per capita—the culinary scene is fantastic—and the architecture is interesting, with incredible mass timber designs in the area.

2. Hyper Cluster light fixture by Mtharu

We created this as a sculptural expression of light that is the result of both digital precision and homemade craft. Because we designed with algorithms, it’s infinitely adaptable and scalable—and it’s also assembled by hand. It’s a meditation on scale, shadow and the beauty of repetition.

3. DC1204 sofa by Vincenzo De Cotiis

Vincenzo De Cotiis is one of my idols: he’s a Milanese architect who specializes in designing furniture and lighting out of reclaimed materials—very much in line with what we do. This sofa is a reinvention of what a daybed can be, with an organic, almost bony quality that is still very sleek.

4. Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by Buckminster Fuller

I read this book as part of my architectural history course when I was a student. It was published in the late ’60s, but it gives you a framework for how humanity can use automation to quickly speed up mundane tasks—like law or accounting—and focus on being more human. If you contextualize it in today’s age with AI, it’s still so relevant.

5. The Alien Films

I’m obsessed with Ridley Scott’s Alien—ever since I was a kid and far too young to be watching it. I was scared but couldn’t take my eyes off it, including the biomechanical design of the alien from Swiss artist H.R. Giger, whose work is still very relevant today. And there’s a spiritual frequency to the whole series, with its questions around technological advancements and the pursuit of humanity at the end of the day. Why do we keep wanting to leave planet Earth?

6. Stankonia by Outkast

I was 13 in New Delhi when my cousins came back from California with this tape. It was a piece of art! I was growing up in the days when hip hop was really taking over New Delhi. Outkast’s Big Boi and André 3000 brought together the whole gangster culture in Atlanta, but also the artistic element to hip hop—the creativity, the pushing of limits—that I find is missing from so many other albums.

7. Village Ice Cream

The Victoria Park location was designed by Fort Architecture in 2019, and they contracted us to do metal and decorative concrete work. It’s such an awesome project for an iconic Calgary business—and their ice cream is absolutely amazing (I love their pina colada). Our kids love it so much we don’t care how long we stand in line.