In the center of Milan, Piazza Risorgimento, one of the most fascinating in the city, an late 19th-century building houses a classic-style period home that Francesca Cutini and Lara Fabbian - from StudioDodici - have skillfully renovated and transformed into a contemporary style, with a touch of French allure. "We have maintained its original structure with a particular focus on functionality and modernity. Original materials such as oak parquet and stuccoes combine with modern furnishings, such as the oval marble table to tastefully host lunches or dinners with company," explain the designers.
In this historic house, the owners' desire was to create an enclosure capable of housing their collection of contemporary art and their furnishings, often icons of design history. The idea of StudioDodici, specialized in interior design projects, was therefore to design a house/box, where a neutral palette would create the ideal environment to enhance the art and design pieces and at the same time create an atmosphere of great calm in the interiors.
Away from the hustle and bustle of the metropolis, "The spaces have been cleverly divided, listening to the requests of the client and her husband; the goal was to create a place where beauty and art were valued, through the choice of soft colors and furnishings that interacted with each other, without overpowering, but harmoniously coexisting in a carefully studied place, where good taste and balance reign. A stage, an art gallery to be lived in every day, where the palette of relaxing and welcoming tones gives life to a calm and warm atmosphere, in which to welcome numerous friends," tell Cutini and Fabbian. A carefully curated palette of whites, the light herringbone parquet, plays of mirrors and soft shapes, as well as tailored textiles such as mohair, velvets, and cottons, give a contemporary yet soft touch to the interiors.
Brushstrokes of white and matching furnishings are a functional and elegant way to modernize a period home. The white box maintains the allure of the past, but StudioDodici's intervention refreshes its aesthetics in a contemporary key. The internal division of spaces consists of a spacious living area, furnished with design icons such as the Eames Lounge Chair, paired with family furnishings. "The windows overlooking the trees almost seem like botanical-themed paintings coming to life," say the designers.
Each space is defined by its own functional and design furniture: a comfortable and elegant conversation corner with large sofas and a chaise lounge; the dining table, so essential that it almost seems suspended, and the fascinating fireplace: an environment where the tradition of the historic house and contemporary minimalism coexist, creating a space that transports you elsewhere. Following the typical layout of bourgeois houses in Milan, a long corridor separates the public area from the private one. And so we arrive at the sleeping area, consisting of a bathroom and two bedrooms, "where a play of contrasts reigns between the soft tones that are the protagonists of the project, and the brightly colored home linens, with which you can play all year round, without ever clashing with the taste of the house," explain Cutini and Fabbian.
The elegant essentiality of the project reflects a timeless taste, eternal, which characterizes good design made in Italy, and the designers bring this tradition into the present day by relying on skilled artisan craftsmen, from carpenters to parquet layers, to create a tailor-made project but, above all, to recover many existing furnishings and materials, transforming them and making them unique, with a particular focus on ancient craftsmanship and contemporary sustainability. As architect Cutini explains: "I designed this as a unique box mixed with family furnishings and modern artworks. An incredible environment that welcomes friends and becomes a container of beauty and memories."
