Shunyata is an American national who has lived in Bali for over two decades. He adopted the Indonesian custom of going by one name.
“Shunyata is an unusual name for an American but given his travels and intimacy with diverse cultures, it is perfectly understandable.
Shunyata is Sanskrit for ‘evidence of nothing’, in Africa it is the ‘lion king’ and in old Javanese it means the ‘real thing’.”
He has been variously described by the press as “a master jeweller, enfant terrible, philosopher, writer and photographer; Bali‘s charismatic wild child.”
Since an early age Shunyata’s studied the arts and design and has become proficient across a number of mediums.
He studied sacred geome-try in architecture with
Robert Lawlor, John Mitchell and Alain Danielou, all of which are distin-guished in their fields.
He speaks a number of languages including Balinese. He has studied Hinduism in depth and understands the intricacies of Balinese spatial layout and religious symbolism, on which he has written numerous articles.
Shunyata has written books on subjects as varied as the philosophy of design, the formation of the Sanskrit language and children’s bedtime stories.
He has used his expertise to design all types of buildings from nightclubs in America to temples in Asia. He is a regular lecturer in major cities around the world on various aspects of design. His most recent treatise is titled ‘the Philosophy behind Design’.
