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July 20th, 2008
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Redesigning art

Bára Škorpilová takes the Czech architecture scene by storm

By Brooke Edge
For The Prague Post
January 16th, 2008 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Bára Škorpilová's unique, bold designs have helped to transform Prague architecture.
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Jan Přerovský/THE PRAGUE POST
Perla Hotel in Old Town is one of Mimolimit's newest creations. The hotel, which opened last summer, is decorated with Asian motifs.
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Mimolimit s.r.o.

Thunovská 18
Prague 1
Tel.: 251 104 261
E-mail: mimolimit@mimolimit.cz
Web: www.mimolimit.cz

Bára Škorpilová, one of the country’s most renowned architects and designers, never passes a chance to test out the latest fashion, and, on this particular day, she‘s sporting an iPhone. It doesn’t work as well as her Palm when traveling internationally, she says, but she just couldn’t resist its gorgeous lines and design.  
Škorpilová herself can be a little hard to resist. She smiles constantly and sports green nail polish and shimmery makeup that, combined with her cropped blonde ringlets, give Škorpilová, 35, the aura of a mischievous Shakespearean character from A Midsummer Night’s Dream — all this for just another typical weekday morning at the office.
She looks almost like a piece of art. It’s the lovely office of Mimolimit, the architect firm co-founded by Škorpilová and Jan Nedvěd in 2001, however, that turns out wondrous designs on an impressive range of scale, from jewelry to interior design to entire buildings.
Škorpilová loved art growing up and as a teenager pondered whether to pursue painting. She dropped this endeavor, though, after sitting in on a lecture by renowned Czech architect and designer Bořek Sípek.
“He presented that design could have its own story,” she recalls. The idea captivated Škorpilová, and she shifted her focus to art in 3-D forms.
After graduating from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Škorpilová spent a few years working in the studios of other architects before leaving to form her own jewelry-design company.
“It was like little architectural objects,” she says of her accessory line, which never just settled on ordinary baubles. The pieces were always intricate and gave her outlets for a budding architect’s experimentation, she says
“In the beginning, I was a minimalist architect. I used a minimum of materials and shapes,” Škorpilová says. As she moved away from minimalism, jewelry and small object design provided a means for trying out new ideas and materials. These small trials continued to grow, she says, “and later on I used them on a much bigger scale.”  
Along with her personal drive, clients pushed Škorpilová to expand. They began requesting her input on larger design subjects, and her practice eventually built up from jewelry and decorative ornament design to restaurant and hotel interiors and beyond. Today, Mimolimit has four entire buildings under construction around the world. One project keeping Škorpilová the busiest is the Hilton Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, which she designed and will outfit its interiors. The project is in its second year, with one more year to go until completion.
Škorpilová claims to have no one favorite type of work among her many design assignments, beyond the general requirements of infusing each project with beauty and emotion and liking the client.
“Behind a project should be an interesting person as an investor,” she explains. “In the beginning, I am thinking I should spend at least half a year with this person” to truly understand what they want and need in the building or design they are commissioning.
When it comes to her own inspiration, Škorpilová says each project speaks to her in its own way. For the Mongolian hotel, for example, she describes the location and the new cultural environment as the things that drive her design. She finds inspiration in other places, too. “For a café, it can be one chair that you like” and, for a private home, “it cannot be trendy — it must somehow reflect the personality of the individual,” she says.
Just as Škorpilová continually speaks of how much she appreciates her clients, they appear to return the affection. One repeat client, hotel consultant Ivan Chadima, is such a Škorpilová fan that he convinced her to move her offices into the space above his, in a historic former palace in Malá Strana. Among their approximately eight collaborations are the Congress Center Holiday Inn, the Zahrada v Opere restaurant, and the new Hilton Ulaanbaatar. Of this latest work, Chadima calls Škorpilová’s design “absolutely stunning” and “nothing more beautiful [than this] east of Paris.”
Škorpilová, he adds, “is a very talented girl. I think when they open the Mongolian property … [she] will very quickly become famous.”
As the reputation of this young architect and designer spreads internationally, her business continues to grow. Her team of architects and designers on staff is now up to 20, but Škorpilová hesitates to continue at such a fast pace. “I’m trying not to lose quality, so I don’t want to [grow] very quickly.”
Perhaps in an effort to take a breath and step back, Škorpilová laughs when asked about her plans for 2008 and immediately responds that she wants to get back to focusing on smaller projects, going back to designing jewelry and glass pieces. With all of the large tasks on her plate lately, this former income-driver is now just her hobby, she says. Mimolimit’s small designs can, however, be purchased at Kubista and other shops in Prague.
“I would like to create new designs again,” she says of her next goal, devising ever more ways to make the world around her just a bit more beautiful.

Brooke Edge can be reached at specialsection@praguepost.com


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