England – London
Interior designer Francesco Meneghello expresses his creative vision through this industrial loft in London, which interweaves the languages of art and design.
This raw space, sculpted with light and shadow, experiments with new possible connections. The living space, illuminated by large arched windows typical of industrial archaeology, is organised as a central axis for visual continuity. The vintage leather sofa embraces the lounge area of the living room, along with objects defined by artistic expressivity, like the wall rug taken from Courbet’s L’Origine du monde.
Its curved shape creates a separation from the large marble table, which plays on rationality. For the kitchen, the Milanese designer has turned it into a geometric abstraction in which the functional element becomes invisible. In the background, the olive tree underlines the sacred character of nature, framed by seats.
A mystical side of meditation and contemplation, reinforced by a distorting “non-mirror”. The staircase, with its detached elements, is a tribute to Carlo Scarpa’s Olivetti showroom in Venice. It leads to a mezzanine with a museum atmosphere, decorated with two armchairs and a painting for a dialogue with art.
Upstairs, the large dressing room is inspired by Berlin’s avant-garde boutiques, while the bedroom has a monastic feel, somewhere between a shelter and an alcove. The bed, topped by a post-war work by Alberto Burr, draws on Japanese aesthetics.
The ensemble acts as a counterpoint to the marble washbasin in the adjoining bathroom. Francesco Meneghello’s ideas are astonishing, as he plays with his domestic vision of fullness and emptiness, symmetry and asymmetry, contrasts and monochrome, reflections and transparencies.
Nathalie Dassa