Discovering Scandinavian style: essential and functional

by Giulia | Jun 23, 2020 | KITCHEN, LIVING AREA, PRIVATE APARTMENT, SLEEPING AREA, STYLE TIPS

Being able to identify the style that best suits our personality is a strong point in the design of domestic interiors. For this reason, we have thought to collect for you a series of references that can best show the different styles of the interior design. Accompanying you in their discovery means setting the first references that will allow us to undertake customized solutions, in which different stylistic elements harmonize in a unique and identifying way. We start our journey with a Scandinavian style, essential but extremely functional. We will show you images of our creations matched with material and chromatic references and with extremely identifying design icons and interiors in order to give you the best overview of this style.

A Modulor kitchen in Scandinavian style with essential and delicate lines

The Scandinavian style in its architectural settings

Scandinavian style has swarmed our home’ interiors in recent years. Originally from Northern European countries, it has fascinated us more and more with its essentiality and harmony with nature. It is from the latter that Nordic designers and architects, first of all Alvar Aalto and Arne Jacobsen, drew inspiration to create projects in perfect harmony and functional balance. Before on the furniture terms, the Scandinavian style analyzes the relationship between Man and Nature on an architectural level. From this, the choice of the orientation of the building and the relationship with natural light become of fundamental importance. This, at high latitudes, in the winter months becomes very scarce, if not completely absent. It is therefore essential being capable of making the most of what nature offers with large windows and bright surfaces.

Alvar Aalto Carrè House Scandinavian Style

Alvar Aalto, Maison Carrè

Arne Jacobsen, St. Catherine’s College

Colors and materials

Fresh and bright environments are the distinctive feature of the Scandinavian style. If on one hand the architectural conformation wants to make the most of natural light, on the other it is up to the chromatic choice the ability to illuminate and lighten the interior. Here then the white becomes the undisputed protagonist of the interior. The visual delicacy identifies this style and is obtained by adopting soft colors, preferring pastel shades. To these are added the natural essences of woods, a material certainly preferred in the Nordic interiors. But pay attention to this: wood is chosen for its naturalness and refinement. Therefore, painting and surface processing that alter the original perception of the material are excluded. Favor the natural essences of oak, walnut, oak, larch, ash and first of all birch.

The lightness of a Modulor kitchen in scandinavian style

Sinuous lines for greater ergonomics of the furniture

Natural materials and chromatic palette in neutral tones

Modulor selection forniture and materials

light wood essence chosen for essential furniture

Pastel colors for a fresh touch and character

Pastel colors for a touch of grit without sacrificing delicacy

Lines and geometries

Above all the essentiality that characterizes this style is given by the conformation of the furniture and the interiors themselves. Simple and regular geometric lines are preferred, which allow themselves to be fascinated by the sinuous forms of nature but only if justified by greater ergonomics. Geometric patterns and organic lines influence each other to give shape to a light image, but first of all to respond to greater functionality.

traditional villa Sicily kitchen front view

White with its brightness is the color par excellence in the Scandinavian style, as this Modulor kitchen

Essential furniture and delicate colors for this living room

Recessed library between wooden essences and pastel colors

Conclusions

Choosing the Scandinavian style means choosing a delicate and fresh interior. If your personality is careful to detail and a lover of simplicity, you will surely be fascinated by it. Airy and bright spaces like your light thoughts and delicate and natural colors like your character, in symbiosis with nature and its perfection.

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An Emperador Marble kitchen

by Alice | May 22, 2020 | KITCHEN, LIVING AREA, LIVING THE HOUSE, PRIVATE APARTMENT, STYLE TIPS, WORK IN PROGRESS

A monolithic kitchen, entirely covered in marble, shows all its elegance in a project that emphasizes such a precious and distinctive material. Walls and surfaces, in Emperador marble, are recognized for their very dense and varied white and beige streaks on a warm gray / brown background. Such a sophisticated design line can only be accompanied by modern and innovative mechanisms.

THE PROJECT

The renderings provided by Tanya Kutzmina, a cosmopolitan Russian designer we had the pleasure of working with, immediately show the intrinsic characteristics of the project. The concept of the master kitchen, part of an open space, encloses high walls and monolithic surfaces in an ambivalent environment, inert at first glance but able to transform itself into an equipped and representative kitchen for the guests of the house when needed. Two types of marble alternate in this large space. On the one hand, Emperador dark marble, which symbolically defines the functional parts of the kitchen, becoming a scenographic setting for “acting”. On the other, Emperador light marble, clear and bright, which amplifies the perception of the environment by reflecting the light of the large windows and embodies the essence of everyday life. Living and acting therefore become the reading keys not only of the stylistic composition of the rooms, but also define the way to relate to them.

THE COMPOSITION

The structure of the marble kitchen is an island and the central monolith opens with a drag mechanism that becomes a snack corner. Opening, it also shows a cooking area with three different types of fires: induction – teppanyaki – grill. On the internal front there are drawers entirely covered in the same marble and equipped with cutlery holders, crockery holders and potholders. Above it stands a splendid custom-made hood in stainless steel, as large as the island, equipped with filters and LED lights. All made with laser cuts and remote engine preparation. The dark marble of the island spreads into the floor and flows into the back wall. An ingenious book system opens the central doors folding up into two side compartments and revealing a broken interior that houses a sink, a dishwasher, baskets inside the doors, an oven column and exposed shelves with underlying LED lighting. The stainless steel top and back give a touch of modernity between the eternal elegance of the Emperador dark marble with which the surrounding surfaces are covered. On both sides, two large and spacious refrigerators enclose the central block of the kitchen. The covering of the Emperador light doors continues along the entire adjacent wall, hiding an access door to the second service kitchen. At the center of the room, a huge table stands for several diners in dark Emperador with bases made to measure in stainless steel and marble. These counterbalance both visually and physically the grand plan.

THE REALIZATION

Creating this kitchen was a new, arduous and stimulating experience. We accepted the challenge by finding solutions to the various executive problems that immediately arose. Among these, the union of two materials, wood and marble, so different in finishes, weights and typological characteristics. Obtaining the dynamism of the kitchen, with mechanisms suitable for the fluid movement of the parts and the arrangements on site for their perfect functioning with different materials and systems, required a lot of attention and an active collaboration with Tanya in Moscow, who followed the construction site. The marble, which was provided to us by Marmi Galli, a company with which we have been collaborating for long time, was used in 2 distinct thicknesses: 20 mm with 45° cuts to cover all the structures, and 5 mm thick screened for the application on the retractable doors to guarantee the functioning of the mechanisms with respect to the weight. We have taken great care of the quality of the mechanisms and the guides, both manual and motorized, especially for the doors of the shelf and the island snack top. We leave this video of Tanya the task of accompanying you in the living area and guiding you to the kitchen. Seeing it accomplished is a great emotion for us and awards our commitment.

The Moscow marble kitchen project fits perfectly into the series of single-material projects we have made. Among them, a kitchen entirely covered in steel.

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Organize rooms with a secret library

by Giulia | Nov 14, 2019 | IN THE WORLD OF DESIGN, LIVING AREA, LIVING THE HOUSE, PRIVATE APARTMENT

Organize the room can be a difficult task, especially if this room is small and not very functional, but often the solution is just around the corner: in this case, around a corner library which hosts a secret door. THE PROBLEM ANALYSIS THE PROJECT PROPOSAL COLOURS, SHAPES AND MATERIALS THE ADVICE

THE PROBLEM ANALYSIS

Living in big cities often means to interacts with the lack of space and environments with small dimensions. In those contexts, the functionality it’s an indispensable design element: It allows us to take the most advantage from each room without sacrificing comfort and aesthetic values, while at the same time it solves important problems. The functionality is not just the added value to our interiors, but first at all a stylistic key. A proof of that is this Milan’s apartment. The entrance overlooks a comfortable and contemporary living room characterized by light colours of walls and furniture which create a contrast with an elegant wooden dark floor with which it harmoniously communicates. The design challenge provide for two mainly solutions: on one hand the lack of a real library, which can easily become a characterized element of the room showing at the same time small design object and souvenir able to describe the personality of its inhabitants. On the other hand, the need of hide the bath entrance which is more intimate and private, whose door faces directly in the living room, in a contact view with the entrance hall.

THE PROJECT PROPOSAL

The design solution manages to solve both problems in a single functional element: a wall unit able to provide display support for books and small objects and, at the same time, combines the real bathroom’s door. A dynamic bookcase that reflects the intentionally asymmetric layout in both corner elements. Taking advantage from the corner position, in fact, the two different components of the bookcase are organized as autonomous elements whose shelves could easily become the stylistic line enable to give rhythm and harmony. This, defines the internal recess of the library which allows the management of exposed elements as a costumed setting, a sort of display windows of the inhabitants’ personalities. The entrance to the bathroom takes place with complete discretion, as a sort of a real “secret passage”, activated by pressing. In particular, the door consists of a fixed narrower shutter, even equipped in the bathroom’s ambient, and a main shutter that in its external side has a considerably bigger thickness than the traditional in order to accommodate books and small objects.

COLOURS, SHAPES AND MATERIALS

The contemporary imprint is visible both in the graphic layout of the library, which combines full and empty space in perfectly harmony as in a typographic composition, but above all for the material and chromatic choice. In particular, a white opaque lacquered MDF was chosen to create the partition wall. This because it allows a better versatility clearly visible for example, in the different thickness with which were made the numerous internal shelves. The 9010 white recalls the dining’s wall and the contemporary furniture, inserting itself without intrusiveness in the room but at the same time managing to define the stylistic print.

THE ADVICE

No problems had to remains unsolved! Sometimes a furniture element becomes the custom-made solution able to solve in the best way different problems, as it can be the lack of space or the need to divide rooms.

The wall units perfectly combine elegancy and functionality and can also contain hidden mechanism to take the most advantage from its practicality. A mechanism that can also be fun! Divide the rooms has never been so easy, a library with a secret door it’s enough.

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High altitude renovation of a traditional two-room apartment

by Giulia | Aug 21, 2019 | IN THE WORLD OF DESIGN, KITCHEN, LIVING AREA, PRIVATE APARTMENT, SLEEPING AREA

In the context of Bergamo mountains, a small two-room apartment renovated to improve its functionality, whose contemporary style well balances with traditional furnishing.

THE CONTEXT THE INTERVENTION KITCHEN AND LIVING AREA BATHROOM THE MATERIAL AND CHROMATIC CHOICE

THE CONTEXT

Style never goes on vacation! Or yes maybe, and in this case, it goes on mountain! Lodges and small wooden apartments always have their charm, bringing a sense of hospitality with their warm and natural colours. Inspired from the surrounding landscapes, the interiors are often characterised by the abundance of wood, used both in furniture and in the finishes of floors and ceilings. A perfect example is this two-room apartment in Lizzola, designed in the eighties style which the entire village has maintained the strong stylistic mark. In fact, is exactly in that period that the small residential area experienced its best time. The main roads were swarmed by tourists and surroundings’ valleys inhabitants who reached the area for an out-of-town weekend or entire weeks of vacation. An undisputed choice between the mountains’ resort. Set up as the typical “mountain house” the Lizzola’s two-room apartment needed a renovation, in order to make it contemporary in style and at the same time more functionally, without deleting the traditional imprint which is characterized by and makes it welcoming and typical.

THE INTERVENTION

The design choice has been that of preserve the stylistic element and the furnishing which best represent the atmosphere of the two-room apartment. Concerning the new elements designed, the deliberately choice is a slightly invasive solution that can fit harmoniously into the existing context. From this perspective, the cherry-wooden garret was preserved from its original environment, even taking the main role in the stylistic definition of the room. As a consequence, the cherry wood parquet has stolen the stylistic characteristic of the ceiling, adjusted to the renovation of electrical and heating system. The renovation involved the entire apartment, going to specially attend the kitchen and bathroom interiors.

KITCHEN AND LIVING AREA

Reduced in size, the kitchen of the two-room apartment in mountains, has an essential but extremely functional setting. Being a residence designed for shorter stays the kitchen occupies a small part of the environment, without giving its contemporaneity and practicality away. There’s no lack of necessary appliances: starting from the small-seized induction hob, passing through the combined oven with microwave and refrigerator with freezer compartment. The extraction fan is instead the kitchen cabinets’ excess, used as a pantry for food and dishes. Concerning the dining table, the wooden chairs with traditional and soft profiles fit well into the room, reason why it’s been preserved. On the other hand, a support surface was combined with folding leg has been supplied in order to provide an additional support space and, at the same time, to become extremely practical for close and move the furniture. Functionality is the main element considered to the living room design, allowing to take the best advantage from the sofa-beds there and to customize and rearrange the space as needed. The original suspension lamps now become protagonists of the dining room by introducing a chromatic contrast with the black outer finish of the cap. The living room furniture with its contemporary style houses the free-standing TV and becomes a containing element both for kitchen, by its proximity, and for other objects of the entire apartment.

BATHROOM

The bathroom intervention has also provided its expansion, thus managing to house all the container elements inside and equip it with a washing machine compartment. It is probably in this room that the contemporary style is most visible, starting from the extremely elegant and clear in the stylistic lines of the glass shower, moving to the semi-recessed sink with an oval shape and rounded profiles and ending with the choice of the covering tiles for the shower interior with its bright and fresh colours, which remain in perfect harmony with the surrounding neutral tones. The cabinet with large storage drawers also includes the possibility of a built-in washing-machine. The plywood top refers itself to those of the kitchen and table, becoming a stylistic element in continuity with all rooms.

THE MATERIAL AND CHROMATIC CHOICE

As already seen, it is certainly the plywood that defines the material mark of the whole two-room apartment. An economic material, also young and dynamic, but at the same time that can be easily fit into traditional interiors. Its main feature is its structure, which is visible in the edge of the tops, becoming the stylistic signature of the project, emphasizing the geometric lines of furniture with a recognizable touch. The balance between the orange tones of cherry wood and the white of plywood creates internal divisions able to give rhythm at the room. The internal subdivisions underlined by the change of flooring, which from the most intimate and comfortable rooms of bedroom and living room are changed into uniform surfaces with gray stoneware for better practicality. Being more wear-resistant and easier to clean, the stoneware has in fact been chosen for the kitchen and bathroom where they elegantly relate to the white of contemporary style. In conclusion, a renovation that takes origin from the traditional setting of the two-room apartment, without turning its featured upside-down but instead adding contemporary elements that give freshness.

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The verticality as a design element of an apartment

by Giulia | Feb 12, 2019 | IN THE WORLD OF DESIGN, LIVING AREA, PRIVATE APARTMENT

Knowing how to relate to room with high ceilings means being able to transform verticality into a design element without renouncing the correct perception of the internal environments.

THE CONTEXT THE CONCEPT MIRROR DIVIDER FULL HEIGHT LIBRARY CLOSING DOORS OF CORRIDORS

THE CONTEXT

America is the continent of endless distance, large dimensions and a taste for excess. The American taste is an eclectic panorama, in which each piece of furniture plays a fundamental role in defining the general character. A peculiar feature between the overseas apartments and some ancient interiors of the old continent is the use of very high ceilings that give a sense of greater openness to the interiors. Sometimes, however, they risk becoming disturbing elements in the perception of the room. The furnishing elements risk being undersized or de-contextualized due to the lack of a correctly perceived upper limit. For this reason, identifying the main characteristics of the apartment to enhance its decisive features is the starting point for good project.

THE CONCEPT

The design line takes origin from the setting of the apartment itself, focused on a contemporary style in which the chromatic contrasts creates elegant visual lines. Verticality is certainly the key-element of the project as it is a critical point for the internal perception of the environments which can however become the characterizing design line if it is interpreted with the right elegance. It is exactly on the design element of verticality that the architectural studio with which we collaborate has set up the three interventions within this apartment in New York which we have handle the production: the divider with mirrored elements, the full-height bookcase and the closing doors of the corridor.

MIRROR DIVIDER

Taking advantage of the play of reflections obtained by the mirrors, the divider has a double function of increasing the perception of space and dematerializing its borders. It is the graphic line that underlines its vertical setting, which is visible both in the black iron edge that defines each modular element, and in the lesser width of the mirrors of which it is composed. This difference in width creates an additional vertical division able to give greater dynamism. The alternation of full and empty, light and dark, lights and shadows, defines a design vision strongly focused on rhythmicity, obtained by the alternation of vertical elements.

FULL HEIGHT LIBRARY

The geometric rigor defined by marked black profiles also returns to the element of the library, with which the mirror divider fits in well. Taking advantage of all the available height, the vertical tie-rods become the most visible graphic lines, which naturally seem to flow into the false ceiling. The horizontal dividing elements are attached to these responding to a rigorous and geometric approach. To visually compensate of the alternation between full and empty spaces of the upper part, there are three container volumes placed in the lower band which act as structural and above all, as a perceptive base for the library. The matt black laminate ensures the game of chromatic contrast with the white back wall that characterizes contemporary interiors.

CLOSING DOORS OF THE CORRIDOR

Verticality interpreted as a design element has also become the solution of the closing doors of the corridor. Going beyond the standard dimensions of the doors represents a considerable technical challenge, the solution of which must necessarily be able to respond to functional rather than aesthetic needs. Having included doors with a total height of 3 meters, we wanted to completely test our technical knowledge, obtaining excellent results. The textured white lacquered doors seem to be a natural component of the back wall, from which they elegantly detach, also thanks to the play of lights and shadows created in the internal slot. The sliding rails are integrated in the profiles of the false ceiling, allowing a detachment from the ground both functional, to avoid the contrast with the carpets present, and aesthetic, to visually unburden the weight of the door. The contrast between black and white colours is elegantly reproduced in the choice of rugs that refers to the setting of the living room and in the presence of an exhibition element with an essential profile in the back wall.

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An interior between soft pink, white and gray

by Alice | Dec 17, 2018 | LIVING AREA, PRIVATE APARTMENT, SLEEPING AREA, STYLE TIPS

A warm and welcoming interior characterized by soft pink shades, capable of warming hearts of those who live there. Containing elements that divide the spaces match to these.

entrance hall pink and white with divider

CONCEPT

For the project we worked mainly on the very large and square-cut living room, which represents the most airy and used room in this apartment of a young family. We divided it into zones, a total of four, by identifying the activities that should have been carried out there. The first, at the entrance, is dedicated to the hospitality, with a two faces furniture: on one side, a pocket tray and shelves, for keys and objects to be placed as soon as you arrive home and on the other, a coat rack, for the coats and shoes of the family and guests. The second zone is reserved at the symbolic play of the childrens and their intimate reading moment. The third one is intended for the mother, as a work area. A retractable desk combined with storage elements on the side that can be used to serve the kitchen. The fourth, last but not least, is dedicated to relaxation. A large central island sofa that is illuminated by external light and frontally a cabinet with retractable TV and storage compartments. The need was also to have open libraries available in which to dispose of the wide range of family books and also storage spaces where to put games, but also everyday objects. For this reason, we have created a corridor at the entrance that screens the activities of the living area and welcomes the visitor and directs him to the other areas of the house.

COLORS AND MATERIALS

The main color chosen for the walls of the entire apartment is a soft pink, matches with walls of a slightly more decisive antique pink. Become fashionable once again, it is associated with positivity and the ability to drive away negative thoughts, from a symbolic point of view. In combination with it, for the furnishings of the living area, very modern elements have been chosen, with hidden recessed handles and push compartments. The shades of white with some soft gray inserts perfectly fit with pink illuminating the environment and making it timelessly elegant. In the master bedroom, on the other hand, the wardrobes facing the bed that go to the ceiling are soft pink like the rest of the walls and seem to disappear in the general environment; only the bedside tables with their strongest pink focus attention.

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Discovering Scandinavian style: essential and functional