Thomas Elliott: Origins

Thomas Elliott: Origins offers a unique perspective on the monograph, revealing how the architect, designer, and photographer visualizes, and later captures, a space through the frame of a photograph. Thomas Elliott, with PAI, is on a continual exploration of how to create buildings, spaces, and objects that represent beauty in some of its infinite forms. But everything has an origin-a point where something begins and takes shape. This publication explores the origins of that perpetual quest in several ways. As PAI celebrates its fortieth anniversary in 2026, co-founder Lanny Ridjab looks back to the beginnings of PAI and its evolution over the past four decades. As an architect, designer, and photographer, Elliott elucidates how he visualises architectural spaces through the imagined frame of a photograph. Throughout the book, Elliott also details the essential ideas that underscore his approach to design and give form to PAI's architectures and interiors. Every project has beautiful moments. This collection of images-all photographed by Elliott-celebrates some of those moments, PAI's continual exploration of beauty, and Elliott's passion to create beautiful buildings, spaces, and images. AUTHORS: Thomas Elliott, with PAI, has a longstanding reputation for excellent design across residential, hospitality, hotel, commercial, and master-planning projects. While PAI's work is primarily in Indonesia, it also designs projects for clients in Singapore, China, and the United States. Marketing and operational director Lanny Ridjab co-founded PAI in 1986. In 1992, PAI welcomed Thomas Elliott, who has since served as PAI's design director. Today, PAI is one of Indonesia's most respected design firms and renowned for creating luxury. SELLING POINTS: . This publication features a selection of residential and workplace projects by Thomas Elliott with PAI. It is presented as an architectural photography book, rather than a typical monograph, showcasing special moments of their recent projects . Elliott's photography of these luxurious houses, apartments, and workplaces captures the beauty of the spaces, as well the materials, craftsmanship, lighting, outdoor connections, and contemporary artworks and sculptures . Many of the physical and sensorial qualities that shape architecture and design are also those that compose a photograph. The selected images reveal how Elliott considers light and shadow, texture and colour, perspective, proportion, rhythm, balance, and framing . Short texts throughout the book detail Elliott and PAI's design approach, as well as the design of specific buildings and spaces. The introduction includes a selection of Elliott's personal photography and sketches . This publication coincides with PAI's 40th anniversary. Over the past four decades, PAI has become one of Indonesia's most respected design firms, and Indonesia has become more influential in architecture on the global stage . This vibrant plum-coloured casebound edition is finished with foil stamping and a dust jacket. The interior pages, printed on high quality matt paper, have designed to reflect Elliott's selected architectural moments