NEW YORK APARTMENT
Minimalism and richness interact beautifully in this home designated by Giancarlo Valle
A heady mix of minimalism and richness is honed to perfection in interior designer Giancarlo Valle’s latest project
think of some of the mid-century masters, such as Alvar Aalto or Gio Ponti, and you get a sense of how Giancarlo Valle tackles a project. For while he is a trained architect – he got his Masters of Architecture at Princeton, no less – like these design maestros, he takes a holistic approach, offering the full design package. This means that as well as creating the architectural bones of a space, he also plans the interior design and adds final flourishes with his own custom-designed furniture and joinery.
In a way, it’s no surprise he is such a Renaissance man, given his cosmopolitan background. His parents are Peruvians of Italian descent and he has lived as far afield as Caracas, Chicago, Guatemala and San Francisco. It was only relatively recently that he turned his attention to furniture design, gaining plaudits almost obscenely quickly for work that has been showcased at Design Miami and the Salone del Mobile.
His 360-degree design approach has gained him some well-known fans, in the shape of fashion luminaries Phillip Lim, Linda Farrow and Jason Wu, among others, and is amply demonstrated in his design for this New York apartment. The young couple, who had recently bought it, approached him to create a total concept for the new-build space. ‘The owners saw our work and wanted to be taken to a new and unusual place,’ explains Giancarlo. ‘They did not want to do anything expected.’
In practical terms, this meant they put their faith in Giancarlo’s vision for the project. ‘They were hands-off and trusted the process,’ he says simply. The resulting design, which took just seven months to complete, is all about a pared-back, minimalist base against which a tightly edited selection of sculptural furniture stands out. This less-is-more approach, rather than feeling cold and monastic, has resulted in a living space that is comfortable and cosseting, thanks to Giancarlo’s generous use of warm woods and rich shades of moss, ochre and carmine. The overall finished look has, as Giancarlo puts it, a ‘lounge-y quality’.
‘It evolved into something laid-back and less fussy but with an incredible sense of richness,’ he goes on. This richness is in part thanks to the tactility of the materials Giancarlo has used, which means the apartment is almost as much about feel as it is about look – from the mohair velvet upholstery and silk carpets to the cool onyx dining table and imposing mahogany and velvet chairs.
That dining table was nearly the undoing of the project. ‘It was a heroic effort – 2,000lb of carved onyx that we had made in Italy. It was so heavy, it got stuck in the elevator for six hours and I thought we were never going to get it into the apartment!’ says Giancarlo. Luckily they did, as the dining zone is now one of the owners’ favourite spaces. ‘They love that area and often entertain there.’ It’s the relationship between the few carefully curated elements that makes it such an appealing spot: the curvaceous solid oak screen, which references the undulating chair backs and nods to the oval-ended table.
Throughout the whole apartment it is this interaction between the pieces Giancarlo has chosen or created and the space in which they are situated that gives it its sophisticated, yet serene edge. ‘I always try to imagine myself living in a place and having the furniture draw you in and feel inviting, but also extremely elevated,’ he says. In short, the Giancarlo Valle signature is uptown glamour teamed with just the right amount of downtown cool.
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“My design style is playful and serious with a historical background”