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Malta International Contemporary Art Space (MICAS) is intended to strengthen Malta’s cultural infrastructure by providing a platform for contemporary art and internationalisation. With its launch, Malta is about to take a great step forward and become a proactive player in the contemporary art world.
Scheduled to open in the latter half of 2024, the MICAS artistic programme will engage with contemporary art and culture both globally and locally to present a schedule of world class exhibitions from acclaimed artists.
MICAS aims to positively energise Malta’s cultural ecology and impact that of the Euro-Mediterranean region it inhabits. The MICAS mission is to be an advocate of contemporary art by raising public awareness to the significance of the visual
arts in contemporary life, and by bringing to the forefront the way art and artists help mediate and interpret the world we live in.
MICAS is a Government of Malta infrastructural legacy project for the Culture and the Arts sector and, in recognition of its internationalisation and culturally ambitious remit, is independently run and governed. MICAS will be realised through state funded restoration of historical fortifications and its galleries will be delivered in 2023. This project is part-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020.
An entrepreneur by profession, Phyllis Muscat has established herself as one of Malta’s leading administrators, both in the public and private sector.
In 2015, Phyllis successfully led the Taskforce of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). As Head of the Taskforce, Phyllis was entrusted by the Government of Malta, to coordinate the administrative and logistical arrangements for all events. She now retains the position of Director on the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC) Advisory Board. She also serves as Chairperson for the Coordinating Board for Cultural Projects (CBCP).
Throughout her professional career in the private sector, Phyllis set up several businesses within the health and wellness sector. She was also the first woman in Malta to be appointed Chairperson of a leading media house, ONE Group. Phyllis also served on the executive committee of the Maltese-American Chamber of Commerce, the Malta Association of Women in Business and Action for Breast Cancer Foundation and co-founded the European Confederation of Professional Beauticians and Cosmeticians (CEPEC) and the Malta Association of Beauty-Therapists (MABT).
Waqas Wajahat is a collector, curator, and art dealer, who works closely with museums, artists, and artists’ estate to organise and produce exhibitions. He has built his reputation within the art world through an emphasis on connoisseurship and philanthropy. After studying at the University of Pennsylvania and the Barnes Foundation, he gained curatorial experience and expertise in post-war and contemporary art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Over the years, he has focused on legacy projects benefiting museums, artists, and artists’ estates.
Recognising the ever-changing requirements of artists’ legacies and the ambitions of their estates and foundations, Waqas has been instrumental in developing relationships between the Estate of David Smith and Hauser & Wirth, as well as the Milton Avery Trust and Victoria Miro in London and Xavier Hufkens in Brussels. He has initiated and produced numerous museum exhibitions, including critical surveys and retrospectives on Milton Avery, Herbert Ferber, Neil Jenney, Alexis Rockman, Richard Pousette-Dart, James Prosek, Sean Scully, Donald Sultan, and John Walker.
Waqas is deeply committed to supporting non-profit art institutions, in particular, the Barnes Foundation and the Norton Museum of Art in Florida, and remains involved with Menil’s Drawing Institute and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He is a trustee at The Drawing Center in New York City and serves on collections and exhibitions committees at the Lowe Art Museum, the Barnes Foundation, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
His focus in collecting remains within post-war and contemporary art, with an emphasis on women artists, as well as Mughal and Rajput period paintings.
In 2018 Francis was announced as an Ambassador of Culture for Malta. He supports many of Malta’s main cultural entities especially MICAS, Malta’s new museum space which opens in 2024. MICAS will house Malta’s contemporary art & design collection and will support local contemporary art but will also focus on attracting international cultural institutions, artists, educational programmes, and touring exhibitions to Malta. He is also very engaged in supporting new cultural tourism to Malta as part of his endeavours to strengthen both Malta’s local arts sector and its perception internationally.
Having co-founded the Design Fund for the Victoria & Albert Museum, Francis now sits on the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Advisory Council. He is co-head of the Cultural and Social Affairs Committee of the Serpentine Galleries and sits on the International Council also. He is a member of the International Council for the Design Museum, London. He is Co-President of the Jury of PAD London and is also a member of the jury for PAD Paris.
The atelier produces annual collections of bespoke and limited-edition furniture and textiles under the Francis Sultana brand. Francis designs furniture, lighting and accessories and has created key pieces for important historical interiors such as Spencer House and historical work with The National Trust. Francis’s own work is known for his use of noble materials such as bronze, rock crystal and straw marquetry and bespoke fabrics. The studio strives to support artisanal skills and techniques from around the UK and Europe throughout its work.
This year will see the launch of Francis’s hotel project for Oetker Collection with the refurbishment of the iconic Hotel La Palma in Capri. With collaborations including Reuben Brothers on a series of projects being announced later this Spring his new projects have been highly praised in the announcements from press globally of top hospitality for 2023.
Francis is currently collaborating on collections with some of Europe’s finest luxury brands including Bonacina and Ginori1735 in Italy and Galerie Diurne in France. Savoir & The Conran Shop in the United Kingdom and further new announcements of collections to be announced in April.
In 2019 Francis published his first large format book, Francis Sultana: Designs & Interiors, published worldwide by Vendôme and edited by Bronwyn Cosgrave. The book celebrates the career of Francis to date, as well as celebrating the designers and artists that have inspired him throughout his life. A new book is currently in production charting Francis’s custodianship of the Hunting Lodge, the landmark historic house and garden and former residence of the late British interior designer John Fowler.
Francis Sultana will open this autumn, Francis Sultana Home a new chapter in interior design retail which will showcase the breadth of the FS vision in the decorative and Fine Arts.
In 2018 Francis was announced as an Ambassador of Culture for Malta. He supports many of Malta’s main cultural entities especially MICAS, Malta’s new museum space which opens in 2024. MICAS will house Malta’s contemporary art & design collection and will support local contemporary art but will also focus on attracting international cultural institutions, artists, educational programmes, and touring exhibitions to Malta. He is also very engaged in supporting new cultural tourism to Malta as part of his endeavours to strengthen both Malta’s local arts sector and its perception internationally.
Having co-founded the Design Fund for the Victoria & Albert Museum, Francis now sits on the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Advisory Council. He is co-head of the Cultural and Social Affairs Committee of the Serpentine Galleries and sits on the International Council also. He is a member of the International Council for the Design Museum, London. He is Co-President of the Jury of PAD London and is also a member of the jury for PAD Paris.
The atelier produces annual collections of bespoke and limited-edition furniture and textiles under the Francis Sultana brand. Francis designs furniture, lighting and accessories and has created key pieces for important historical interiors such as Spencer House and historical work with The National Trust. Francis’s own work is known for his use of noble materials such as bronze, rock crystal and straw marquetry and bespoke fabrics. The studio strives to support artisanal skills and techniques from around the UK and Europe throughout its work.
This year will see the launch of Francis’s hotel project for Oetker Collection with the refurbishment of the iconic Hotel La Palma in Capri. With collaborations including Reuben Brothers on a series of projects being announced later this Spring his new projects have been highly praised in the announcements from press globally of top hospitality for 2023.
Francis is currently collaborating on collections with some of Europe’s finest luxury brands including Bonacina and Ginori1735 in Italy and Galerie Diurne in France. Savoir & The Conran Shop in the United Kingdom and further new announcements of collections to be announced in April.
In 2019 Francis published his first large format book, Francis Sultana: Designs & Interiors, published worldwide by Vendôme and edited by Bronwyn Cosgrave. The book celebrates the career of Francis to date, as well as celebrating the designers and artists that have inspired him throughout his life. A new book is currently in production charting Francis’s custodianship of the Hunting Lodge, the landmark historic house and garden and former residence of the late British interior designer John Fowler.
Francis Sultana will open this autumn, Francis Sultana Home a new chapter in interior design retail which will showcase the breadth of the FS vision in the decorative and Fine Arts.
Georgina Portelli is a specialist in concept formation, language representation and multilingualism, and holds a PhD (Psych) from the University of London. She has worked extensively in the education, communications and concept development fields as well as in the cultural and creative sector as a researcher, editor and policy advisor. As an independent curator, she has a special interest in interactive art, memory and negotiated boundaries of the self, radical otherness and the politics of displacement. Her current work focuses on diaspora and memory studies, culture for social inclusion, sponsorship for the arts, and the forging of creative partnerships between art, science and other disciplines.
Georgina is presently chair of the Creativity Trust Fund and is a board member of Fondazzjoni Kreattività at Spazju Kreattiv. A passionate champion of creativity and contemporary art, she is a founding member of ‘ISTRA’ a contemporary art and research foundation where she is co-chair for research.
In 2018 Francis was announced as an Ambassador of Culture for Malta. He supports many of Malta’s main cultural entities especially MICAS, Malta’s new museum space which opens in 2024. MICAS will house Malta’s contemporary art & design collection and will support local contemporary art but will also focus on attracting international cultural institutions, artists, educational programmes, and touring exhibitions to Malta. He is also very engaged in supporting new cultural tourism to Malta as part of his endeavours to strengthen both Malta’s local arts sector and its perception internationally.
Having co-founded the Design Fund for the Victoria & Albert Museum, Francis now sits on the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Advisory Council. He is co-head of the Cultural and Social Affairs Committee of the Serpentine Galleries and sits on the International Council also. He is a member of the International Council for the Design Museum, London. He is Co-President of the Jury of PAD London and is also a member of the jury for PAD Paris.
The atelier produces annual collections of bespoke and limited-edition furniture and textiles under the Francis Sultana brand. Francis designs furniture, lighting and accessories and has created key pieces for important historical interiors such as Spencer House and historical work with The National Trust. Francis’s own work is known for his use of noble materials such as bronze, rock crystal and straw marquetry and bespoke fabrics. The studio strives to support artisanal skills and techniques from around the UK and Europe throughout its work.
This year will see the launch of Francis’s hotel project for Oetker Collection with the refurbishment of the iconic Hotel La Palma in Capri. With collaborations including Reuben Brothers on a series of projects being announced later this Spring his new projects have been highly praised in the announcements from press globally of top hospitality for 2023.
Francis is currently collaborating on collections with some of Europe’s finest luxury brands including Bonacina and Ginori1735 in Italy and Galerie Diurne in France. Savoir & The Conran Shop in the United Kingdom and further new announcements of collections to be announced in April.
In 2019 Francis published his first large format book, Francis Sultana: Designs & Interiors, published worldwide by Vendôme and edited by Bronwyn Cosgrave. The book celebrates the career of Francis to date, as well as celebrating the designers and artists that have inspired him throughout his life. A new book is currently in production charting Francis’s custodianship of the Hunting Lodge, the landmark historic house and garden and former residence of the late British interior designer John Fowler.
Francis Sultana will open this autumn, Francis Sultana Home a new chapter in interior design retail which will showcase the breadth of the FS vision in the decorative and Fine Arts.
Floriana’s Balzunetta district will soon be hosting Malta’s new contemporary art space. The Malta International Contemporary Art Space, MICAS, will be realised through the repurposing of the Old Ospizio and the Ritirata sites. These are located within the magnificent Floriana Lines overlooking Marsamxett Harbour.
The Old Ospizio, situated on the Polverista Curtain next to the Msida Bastion Cemetery, sits directly below the Police Headquarters. It can be reached by walking down Vincenzo Dimech Road past the Inland Revenue Department and on through the Polverista Gate. This historic landscape has a layered and interesting narrative.
In 1634, the main gunpowder magazine, located in Strada San Jacopo in Valletta, exploded, causing the tragic death of 22 people and significant damage to the neighbourhood, including the nearby Jesuits’ Church. The manufacture of gunpowder was essential for the defence of the island and its maritime economy, and so the Knights, keen to move volatile gunpowder production out of the city away from inhabited areas. They eventually built a new gunpowder factory on barren land in Floriana along the curtain wall to the north of the La Vitoria Bastion on the Marsamxett side of the harbour. The fortification curtain wall became henceforth known as the Polverista Curtain.
The new polverista designed by the military engineer Blondel des Croisettes in 1665 had three windmills for grinding and manufacturing the gunpowder and was fully functional by 1667. By the 1720s however, this industry was in the hands of Maltese entrepreneurs in other locations on the island and in 1729 the old polverista and a number of the barrel vaults or casemates were repurposed into the first state-run institution for the care of the elderly and the infirm by order of Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena. He also ordered the military engineer Charles François de Mondion to excavate a water cistern and to create a space for a kitchen garden. The repurposed polverista building was however not quite fit for purpose, being rather dank and gloomy with two lower level basements that overall proved too small for demand. In 1732, Grand Master de Vilhena had added new buildings to the site, as well as a fountain. The new improved hospice or Casa di Carità housed around 380 residents a year.
The Casa di Carità was run by an administrative committee while the staff included a surgeon with the responsibility of overseeing the medical needs of the residents, initially elderly men and women who were destitute or infirm. The institution became formally known as l’ Ospizio in 1785 when Grand Master de Rohan issued a set of regulations for the management of the institution. These regulations remained in force until 1816. Those residents that were strong enough to work were given various jobs.
In 1798, during the Napoleonic period, penitents or reformed prostitutes from the Magdalen Asylum at lower St. Elmo, Valletta, were transferred to the Ospizio. In the early 19th century, during the British colonial period, the foundlings, previously cared for at the Holy Infirmary in Valletta, as well as female prisoners, were all sent to the Ospizio. Male and female patients with mental health problems were also relocated to the Ospizio in 1816. In short, the Ospizio became a multipurpose institution that had to cater for the elderly, for orphans, illegitimate children, abandoned infants, the mentally ill and female prisoners. It was also at the Ospizio, in 1837, that Dr. S. Axisa, a Maltese doctor, diagnosed the first cases of the Cholera epidemic that had started in India in 1817 and then swept across the globe.
When the new Asylum for the Aged and the Infirm was opened at Ngiered in 1892, the present-day St. Vincent de Paule Residence, the Ospizio ceased to function as a hospice and closed its doors in October of the same year. The site was transferred to the British Army Ordinance Department. During World War 1 (1914-1918), when Malta received the wounded from the Mediterranean theatre of war, the Ospizio workshops helped the war effort by manufacturing hospital furniture and other medical items such as splints and crutches.
Malta suffered heavily from Axis bombardment during World War II. The Ospizio was hit in several air raids carried out by Italian and German bombers targeting the Floriana barracks, Msida Creek and Manoel Island on the Marsamxett Harbour side. After Independence in 1964, the British Forces gradually handed over the military buildings to the Maltese government and by the early 1970s the Ospizio complex served as a store for Enemalta and also housed a trade school. In 1997, the Restoration Directorate set up its offices in the casemated vaults of the Polverista Curtain and in 2017 the MICAS administrative offices were housed in the old Polverista buildings on Joseph J. Mangion Street.
References
Pisani, S. (1970). The Malta Cholera Epidemic in 1837. The St. Luke`s Hospital Gazette, 5(2), 150-156.
Savona-Ventura Charles (2004) Knight Hospitaller Medicine in Malta (1530-1798).P.E.G. Ltd. Malta.
Spiteri, Stephen C. (2012). “Arx Occasional Papers – Hospitaller Gunpowder Magazines”. MilitaryArchitecture.com.
The MICAS project footprint extends further down along the Polverista Curtain to the La Vittoria Bastion, the adjacent Ritirata and San Salvatore Counterguard with its spectacular arcone, or skew arch. The MICAS indoor galleries will be housed within the Ritirata, an inner line of defence consisting of an inner trench and parapet that guarded against the loss of the outer defences, and as its Italian military term denotes, provided a safe passage for defending troops in retreat.
Pietro Floriani designed the new fortifications intended to guard Valletta from the landward side in 1635. It had become clear however that there were weak points in his design, particularly on the bastion of Provence, also known as the San Salvatore Bastion. The Italian military engineer Count Antonio Maurizio Valperga was tasked in 1670 with reinforcing the fortifications to the north of the Polverista Curtain. Valperga constructed a new casemated bastion known as La Vittoria and a bassoforte or counterguard named la Conceptione, also known as the San Salvatore Counterguard. Valperga also enlarged the dry moat of the Ritirata to protect the inner bastion of San Salvatore. These new alterations provided better enfilading cover fire by the defending guns in case of an attack. Valperga also suggested a breach in the San Salvatore Counterguard in the form of a large vaulted skewed arc. The resultant arch is a spectacular and iconic construction that spans around nine meters over the Ritirata ditch. It is attributed to the Maltese capomastro Giovanni Barbara and is considered one of the finest examples of a masonry skewed arch.
An entrepreneur by profession, Phyllis Muscat has established herself as one of Malta’s leading administrators, both in the public and private sector.
In 2015, Phyllis successfully led the Taskforce of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). As Head of the Taskforce, Phyllis was entrusted by the Government of Malta, to coordinate the administrative and logistical arrangements for all events. She now retains the position of Director on the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC) Advisory Board. She also serves as Chairperson for the Coordinating Board for Cultural Projects (CBCP).
Throughout her professional career in the private sector, Phyllis set up several businesses within the health and wellness sector. She was also the first woman in Malta to be appointed Chairperson of a leading media house, ONE Group. Phyllis also served on the executive committee of the Maltese-American Chamber of Commerce, the Malta Association of Women in Business and Action for Breast Cancer Foundation and co-founded the European Confederation of Professional Beauticians and Cosmeticians (CEPEC) and the Malta Association of Beauty-Therapists (MABT).
Waqas Wajahat is a collector, curator, and art dealer, who works closely with museums, artists, and artists’ estate to organise and produce exhibitions. He has built his reputation within the art world through an emphasis on connoisseurship and philanthropy. After studying at the University of Pennsylvania and the Barnes Foundation, he gained curatorial experience and expertise in post-war and contemporary art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Over the years, he has focused on legacy projects benefiting museums, artists, and artists’ estates.
Recognising the ever-changing requirements of artists’ legacies and the ambitions of their estates and foundations, Waqas has been instrumental in developing relationships between the Estate of David Smith and Hauser & Wirth, as well as the Milton Avery Trust and Victoria Miro in London and Xavier Hufkens in Brussels. He has initiated and produced numerous museum exhibitions, including critical surveys and retrospectives on Milton Avery, Herbert Ferber, Neil Jenney, Alexis Rockman, Richard Pousette-Dart, James Prosek, Sean Scully, Donald Sultan, and John Walker.
Waqas is deeply committed to supporting non-profit art institutions, in particular, the Barnes Foundation and the Norton Museum of Art in Florida, and remains involved with Menil’s Drawing Institute and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He is a trustee at The Drawing Center in New York City and serves on collections and exhibitions committees at the Lowe Art Museum, the Barnes Foundation, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
His focus in collecting remains within post-war and contemporary art, with an emphasis on women artists, as well as Mughal and Rajput period paintings.
In 2018 Francis was announced as an Ambassador of Culture for Malta. He supports many of Malta’s main cultural entities especially MICAS, Malta’s new museum space which opens in 2024. MICAS will house Malta’s contemporary art & design collection and will support local contemporary art but will also focus on attracting international cultural institutions, artists, educational programmes, and touring exhibitions to Malta. He is also very engaged in supporting new cultural tourism to Malta as part of his endeavours to strengthen both Malta’s local arts sector and its perception internationally.
Having co-founded the Design Fund for the Victoria & Albert Museum, Francis now sits on the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Advisory Council. He is co-head of the Cultural and Social Affairs Committee of the Serpentine Galleries and sits on the International Council also. He is a member of the International Council for the Design Museum, London. He is Co-President of the Jury of PAD London and is also a member of the jury for PAD Paris.
The atelier produces annual collections of bespoke and limited-edition furniture and textiles under the Francis Sultana brand. Francis designs furniture, lighting and accessories and has created key pieces for important historical interiors such as Spencer House and historical work with The National Trust. Francis’s own work is known for his use of noble materials such as bronze, rock crystal and straw marquetry and bespoke fabrics. The studio strives to support artisanal skills and techniques from around the UK and Europe throughout its work.
This year will see the launch of Francis’s hotel project for Oetker Collection with the refurbishment of the iconic Hotel La Palma in Capri. With collaborations including Reuben Brothers on a series of projects being announced later this Spring his new projects have been highly praised in the announcements from press globally of top hospitality for 2023.
Francis is currently collaborating on collections with some of Europe’s finest luxury brands including Bonacina and Ginori1735 in Italy and Galerie Diurne in France. Savoir & The Conran Shop in the United Kingdom and further new announcements of collections to be announced in April.
In 2019 Francis published his first large format book, Francis Sultana: Designs & Interiors, published worldwide by Vendôme and edited by Bronwyn Cosgrave. The book celebrates the career of Francis to date, as well as celebrating the designers and artists that have inspired him throughout his life. A new book is currently in production charting Francis’s custodianship of the Hunting Lodge, the landmark historic house and garden and former residence of the late British interior designer John Fowler.
Francis Sultana will open this autumn, Francis Sultana Home a new chapter in interior design retail which will showcase the breadth of the FS vision in the decorative and Fine Arts.
In 2018 Francis was announced as an Ambassador of Culture for Malta. He supports many of Malta’s main cultural entities especially MICAS, Malta’s new museum space which opens in 2024. MICAS will house Malta’s contemporary art & design collection and will support local contemporary art but will also focus on attracting international cultural institutions, artists, educational programmes, and touring exhibitions to Malta. He is also very engaged in supporting new cultural tourism to Malta as part of his endeavours to strengthen both Malta’s local arts sector and its perception internationally.
Having co-founded the Design Fund for the Victoria & Albert Museum, Francis now sits on the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Advisory Council. He is co-head of the Cultural and Social Affairs Committee of the Serpentine Galleries and sits on the International Council also. He is a member of the International Council for the Design Museum, London. He is Co-President of the Jury of PAD London and is also a member of the jury for PAD Paris.
The atelier produces annual collections of bespoke and limited-edition furniture and textiles under the Francis Sultana brand. Francis designs furniture, lighting and accessories and has created key pieces for important historical interiors such as Spencer House and historical work with The National Trust. Francis’s own work is known for his use of noble materials such as bronze, rock crystal and straw marquetry and bespoke fabrics. The studio strives to support artisanal skills and techniques from around the UK and Europe throughout its work.
This year will see the launch of Francis’s hotel project for Oetker Collection with the refurbishment of the iconic Hotel La Palma in Capri. With collaborations including Reuben Brothers on a series of projects being announced later this Spring his new projects have been highly praised in the announcements from press globally of top hospitality for 2023.
Francis is currently collaborating on collections with some of Europe’s finest luxury brands including Bonacina and Ginori1735 in Italy and Galerie Diurne in France. Savoir & The Conran Shop in the United Kingdom and further new announcements of collections to be announced in April.
In 2019 Francis published his first large format book, Francis Sultana: Designs & Interiors, published worldwide by Vendôme and edited by Bronwyn Cosgrave. The book celebrates the career of Francis to date, as well as celebrating the designers and artists that have inspired him throughout his life. A new book is currently in production charting Francis’s custodianship of the Hunting Lodge, the landmark historic house and garden and former residence of the late British interior designer John Fowler.
Francis Sultana will open this autumn, Francis Sultana Home a new chapter in interior design retail which will showcase the breadth of the FS vision in the decorative and Fine Arts.
Georgina Portelli is a specialist in concept formation, language representation and multilingualism, and holds a PhD (Psych) from the University of London. She has worked extensively in the education, communications and concept development fields as well as in the cultural and creative sector as a researcher, editor and policy advisor. As an independent curator, she has a special interest in interactive art, memory and negotiated boundaries of the self, radical otherness and the politics of displacement. Her current work focuses on diaspora and memory studies, culture for social inclusion, sponsorship for the arts, and the forging of creative partnerships between art, science and other disciplines.
Georgina is presently chair of the Creativity Trust Fund and is a board member of Fondazzjoni Kreattività at Spazju Kreattiv. A passionate champion of creativity and contemporary art, she is a founding member of ‘ISTRA’ a contemporary art and research foundation where she is co-chair for research.
In 2018 Francis was announced as an Ambassador of Culture for Malta. He supports many of Malta’s main cultural entities especially MICAS, Malta’s new museum space which opens in 2024. MICAS will house Malta’s contemporary art & design collection and will support local contemporary art but will also focus on attracting international cultural institutions, artists, educational programmes, and touring exhibitions to Malta. He is also very engaged in supporting new cultural tourism to Malta as part of his endeavours to strengthen both Malta’s local arts sector and its perception internationally.
Having co-founded the Design Fund for the Victoria & Albert Museum, Francis now sits on the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Advisory Council. He is co-head of the Cultural and Social Affairs Committee of the Serpentine Galleries and sits on the International Council also. He is a member of the International Council for the Design Museum, London. He is Co-President of the Jury of PAD London and is also a member of the jury for PAD Paris.
The atelier produces annual collections of bespoke and limited-edition furniture and textiles under the Francis Sultana brand. Francis designs furniture, lighting and accessories and has created key pieces for important historical interiors such as Spencer House and historical work with The National Trust. Francis’s own work is known for his use of noble materials such as bronze, rock crystal and straw marquetry and bespoke fabrics. The studio strives to support artisanal skills and techniques from around the UK and Europe throughout its work.
This year will see the launch of Francis’s hotel project for Oetker Collection with the refurbishment of the iconic Hotel La Palma in Capri. With collaborations including Reuben Brothers on a series of projects being announced later this Spring his new projects have been highly praised in the announcements from press globally of top hospitality for 2023.
Francis is currently collaborating on collections with some of Europe’s finest luxury brands including Bonacina and Ginori1735 in Italy and Galerie Diurne in France. Savoir & The Conran Shop in the United Kingdom and further new announcements of collections to be announced in April.
In 2019 Francis published his first large format book, Francis Sultana: Designs & Interiors, published worldwide by Vendôme and edited by Bronwyn Cosgrave. The book celebrates the career of Francis to date, as well as celebrating the designers and artists that have inspired him throughout his life. A new book is currently in production charting Francis’s custodianship of the Hunting Lodge, the landmark historic house and garden and former residence of the late British interior designer John Fowler.
Francis Sultana will open this autumn, Francis Sultana Home a new chapter in interior design retail which will showcase the breadth of the FS vision in the decorative and Fine Arts.
Operational Programme I – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 “Fostering a competitive and sustainable economy to meet our challenges”. Project may be part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund Co-financing rate: 80% European Union Funds; 20% National Funds.
Operational Programme I – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 “Fostering a competitive and sustainable economy to meet our challenges”. Project may be part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund Co-financing rate: 80% European Union Funds; 20% National Funds.
© Malta International Contemporary Art Space 2023
© Malta International Contemporary Art Space 2023
© Malta International Contemporary Art Space 2024
Operational Programme I – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 “Fostering a competitive and sustainable economy to meet our challenges”. Project may be part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund Co-financing rate: 80% European Union Funds; 20% National Funds.
Operational Programme I – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 “Fostering a competitive and sustainable economy to meet our challenges”. Project may be part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund Co-financing rate: 80% European Union Funds; 20% National Funds.
© Malta International Contemporary Art Space 2023
© Malta International Contemporary Art Space 2024
© Malta International Contemporary Art Space 2024
