A sense of roots

The story of a family (or two), color and décor in the flat of Martina Mondadori and Ashley Hicks «Roots are fundamental today, even more so after the pandemic», says Martina Mondadori, in her new apartment in Milan, next to her partner Ashley Hicks. She moved from London to Milan to be closer to her mother, Paola Zanussi, and to get her three children back in touch with their Italian origins. The founder of the lifestyle brand and magazine Cabana, daughter of the important Mondadori and Zanussi families, has joined forces with the son of the legendary designer David Hicks to design the house in total collaboration.

«Working with Ashley has been an incredible voyage. He has interpreted my ideas in relation to the potential of the spaces», Martina says. Hicks explains that «in this case, I wanted to give Martina a contemporary version of her childhood home designed by Renzo Mongiardino, with my own humble means». And in fact the spirit of Mongiardino is everywhere.

The décor at the entrance has been guided by the presence of a piece of Renaissance marble with a bright green porphyry circle at the center, inherited from Mondadori’s father, Leonardo. The space also contains a trunk and a chair from the same source, and the overall effect is one of depth and welcome. The nonchalant eclecticism of the entrance sets the tone for the sequence of rooms. The main living area was a long space, a rectangle that has now been ingeniously divided into two coordinated squares, two living rooms facing each other. Hicks has glued jute to the walls, with an acrylic painted grisaille finish. The walls are decorated with terracotta-color leaves, like Ottoman silks.

A custom table in a corner is painted to resemble stone, while a low bookshelf fills the space below a window. A long corridor leads to the more private spaces.