HOUSE OF THE MONTH

A peek into the beautiful New York home of renowned interior designer Vicente Wolf - who is also an accomplished decorator, photographer, furniture designer, shop owner and the author of four books

Designer Vicente Wolf’s beautiful sea facing home

There’s a house on the coast of Montauk, New York, which is capable of transporting you to exotic destinations like Bali, Namibia, and even Madagascar. A desirable home, which is filled with treasured mementos gathered by the globe-trotting designer Vicente Wolf. In the entryway, a Cambodian sculpture greets you; in the dinning room a Buddha head. Wolf ’s travel sojourns have influenced his sensibilities - “I bring the travel experiences inside, he says, “whether by using the colours of the Savannas in Africa or the fabrics worn by the Masai tribe in Kenya.”

Initially, Wolf ’s plan was just to build a third floor atop the existing two-storey house to contain a new master suite offering spectacular ocean views. And, as many of the home’s finishes dated back from the late 80’s, he decided to repaint the entire interiors and replace the shingle siding as well. It’s a subtle, yet significant change, with the walls and ceilings, previously finished in white lacquer, made even brighter and shinier. The use of natural elements are evident throughout the house, in the form of colour palette - lots of greys, blues, and taupes - and the furnishings, an eclectic mix of modern pieces, antiques, and handcrafted indigenous works, many fashioned from wood or other organic materials. In the bedroom, for example, a teak bed custom-made in Bali is offset by a knoll chair and ottoman

upholstered in beige linen, a quintessential Wolf pairing. Contrasting objects, images and ideas of shapes, eras, and provenance recur everywhere in the home; be it an Eames side chair next to a 19th century English table or a sleek marble-top cocktail table opposite a vintage Indian accent table. “What’s interesting about the house,” Wolf says,

“is that it reads as modern and comfortable, but then you discover all the unusual things around it.” These range from Iranian prayer beads to Ethiopian figurines. While a lot of the pieces are new to the decor, many were already familiar to Wolf, who amassed the majority of them while on professional scouting trips. He says, “When I buy on my travels, it’s generally for a job or to be sold in my showroom.”

The maverick designer further

mentions, “There’s a yin and yang that flows throughout the house, it gives the place a vibrant energy.” Another aspect that you cannot miss out is the tweaking of the landscaping, which was substantially pruned to open up the views and also to underscore Wolf ’s gardening talents. “It still feels very natural and beachy, but now you can really see the water,” says the designer. Though, Wolf initially was not keen on making the changes, he realised that they’re actually in keeping with the sense of symmetry that prevails across the property. A case in point is the swimming pool, which Wolf devised in the late 90’s. A 20 square foot set neatly within a 40 foot stone surround. As Wolf observes, “When walls and corners line up, it gives everything an air of peace and calm.”