Displaying posts labeled "Lighting"

Paola Moretti’s vision combines being both an interior designer with an artistic sensibility. Ranging from contemporary art to design, from cinema to fashion and architecture, from newly built to historic buildings through extraordinaries unexpected contaminations. Therefore she has established a fertile dialogue among past and future, old and new, ancient and contemporary. A constant exchange which enhances the identity of the space. Her goal or mission is to preserve the future. A personal, richly poetic and emotional vision of interiors, comprised of tradition, contemporaneity and worlds, in a timeless aesthetic journey because nothing is more contemporary than the eternal.

One of the oldest homes in Toronto becomes the site of true balance, between landmark preservation and reimagination, between the past and the present. The home’s stately Italianate exterior, largely preserved and restored, down to the oatmeal color of the brick; its interior, fully remained and reconfigured. The home’s original lozenge-shaped windows, present in the entry glass and transom, become a guiding theme. This elliptical form guides the walls, softened into curves, or gets spliced into the fireplace surround as if embossed; ceilings form into generous arcs, amplifying the securing sense of enclosure. Small details reveal themselves. The library, clad in rich wood and sprouting bulbous globe fixtures from its vaulted ceiling, centers a double-height fireplace. A lower level sitting room offers a sophisticated take on the man cave. On the same level, a cinema room studded with plush modular seating wrapping around an ovoid-ceilinged sauna (literally) round out the home’s invitations to comfort.
Designed by Studio Valle de Valle (the partnership of the iconic Giancarlo Valle and Jane Keltner de Valle), they have brought an unmatched level of sophistication and funkiness to Canada with this incredible project. This house is everything. Photos: Stephen Kent Johnson.

Respect for history. Care in the details. The scent of wood. The cool touch of steel. The simplicity of it all. Peaceful. The world of Italian architect Rocco Borromini.

My taste in interiors has changed over time but there are styles and colour schemes that will always have a place in my heart. Black and white with some wood in deep rich tones I will always be a fan of. Even when I am certain colour and pattern is the way to go. There is something so classic and dramatic about black and white, and Charlotte, North Carolina based design firm Ro House Studio does it really well, with touches of glam added in to up the already dramatic ante.

A lobster/boob bathroom. Eyeball chairs. A “conversation” bespoke sofa. A concierge desk/bar. A uterus bed. A stained glass eye window. A triple height indoor garden. Welcome to the wacky and absolutely beautiful home of artists of Philip and Charlotte Colbert created by Buchanan Studio and Chris Dyson Architects who concocted this masterpiece from five dilapidated brick terrace homes. There is so much space and so many surreal and creative things everywhere you look. Photos: Alicia Waite.