EAST MELBOURNE II

FURNITURE ART & OBJECT
Simone Haag 

POWDER ROOM & BAR DESIGN
R & Co Design Studio

PHOTOGRAPHY
Kryssia Agius

Sitting within a boutique townhouse development completed in the early noughties, Agnes is an exquisitely refined home resurrected to balance a subdued natural palette alongside the gentle drama of artistic and material expressions.

Emerging from a client brief that called for an atmosphere of quiet sanctuary, calm and a preference for texture over bold colour, Agnes has been reimagined through the curation of design gestures that deeply converse with one of the senses, sending that sense soaring and spinning onto centerstage while the others remain sedately in the wings. This tempered and meticulous approach has informed lighting, furniture, objects and artwork choices that are both inherently primal and delicately sophisticated.

From the moment of entry, Agnes makes her personality known through a visually striking custom wall sculpture by Lauren Williams. Tones of fawn, grey, brown and black married with patinated brass and smoked oak establish a palette of subtle femininity with an edge. Nearby, an aged brass and hand-cast porcelain wall light from Apparatus sit above a curated vignette comprised of a custom roly-poly couch, two Donna side tables by Frederic Pellanq and three engaging ceramic vases acquired from Galerie Gluston, Paris, further accentuating an underlying strength within the overall design language, one that continues throughout to cultivate sense of moderne artistry.

From there, the home unfolds to reveal a cohesive visual poetry defined by a dedication to texture and unexpected pieces that serve a vital purpose. Each exudes an ambience of authenticity, falling into inimitable sync with a vision the client held in her mind's eye to be realised in hindsight. In the living room, a charcoal sofa and a Verre Particular Coffee Table, closer to collectible art than furniture pieces, sit upon a high-pile cream Island rug from Halcyon Lake. By day, natural light is filtered through a wall of gauzy curtains to fall upon a myriad of surface textures. At the same time, at night, the ambience cast from a custom Cromwell lampshade spills onto the inviting curves of a Torii Swivel Armchair by Minotti via Dedece, inviting moments of pause and contemplation.

Agnes’s master bedroom is where a preference for pattern and visual expression over colour is cemented by Manila Edge wallpaper by Arte International. The bone hues carefully leaven ropey impressions and become the perfect backdrop to a striking transparent glass artwork by Ruth Allen titled Centrifugal Twist. A departure from the more delicate styling gestures is a Lago N.O.W Sideboard that instils a necessary material fortitude, its polished glass form is dark graphite serving as an anchor for the whole room, a reflective vessel that masterfully addresses form and function in equal measure.

Wallpaper’s design aptitude is again harnessed in the downstairs lounge where a fine geometric print covers every wall to shift the atmosphere away from the yielding softness of the upstairs into a place of clean contemporary refinement. The curvaceous lines of a wall-mounted custom shelving unit by Christoper Blank, a Featherstone chaise lounge and Arflex sofa modulate the precision of the wallpaper while an artwork titled Archivio di Colore Breve by Riccardo Ajossa ensures the room maintains a tonal link back to the rest of the townhome. 

Agnes has become a seamlessly alluring home of softly sweeping brushstrokes. One that gently scaffolds the living patterns of its inhabitant through its highly personalised interpretation of modern-day refuge.