Effetto

“We curate atmosphere,” says Max de Rosee – which is as good a description as you’ll ever come across for the ineffable nature of design. It’s also highly apt: while De Rosee Sa – the studio Max co-founded with his partner Claire Sá back in 2007 – have carved out a globally respected name for their refined, atmospheric interiors, they will soon be curating atmospheres in real-time when their own Portuguese quinta welcomes its first guests.

Marc Newson is one of the world’s most influential contemporary designers and creatives. He’s worked with brands such as Hermès, Nike, Ferrari, Apple and Montblanc; his work has broken world price records at auction, and he’s frequently placed with Sir Jonathan Ive – his partner in the creative collective LoveFrom – at the top of the pantheon of living designers who have shaped our lives.

Instrumental in establishing Italian heritage producer Minotti’s first monobrand showroom in 2004 and building a suite of brands ever since, Mary Ta has spent much of the past two decades helping to cultivate Los Angeles’s appreciation for pared-back, luxury design. Tinseltown hasn’t always boasted quiet luxury but by shrewdly advising A-list clients in technology, finance, and of course, entertainment, the polymath purveyor has helped shift the narrative.

Alex Holloway and Na Li might have only launched their namesake studio Holloway Li in 2018, but with a portfolio of hotel projects that includes Bermonds Locke, Soho Farmhouse and the Hoxton, it’s safe to say they already have an impressive client-list under their belt. While both studied architecture at the Bartlett in London, they didn’t meet until they found themselves designing Soho Farmhouse together while apprenticing with Michaelis Boyd.

If you think the living room – described by Sir Terence Conran as “the temple of the soul” – has been around forever, you’d be mistaken. “The most surprising thing,” says Bill Bryson in his book At Home, “is not how long it took us to reach the moon, but how long it took us to get comfortable.” Most early-medieval homes, including those of the aristocracy, involved a single room – the “hall” – in which people ate, slept, procreated and lived.

By now, many have already heard of quiet luxury—the trend that swept the fashion industry over the past couple of years. This shift away from logos and monograms emblazoned across garments and accessories, and towards simple, well-crafted and tailored pieces in muted or neutral colours, has impacted wardrobes worldwide. And inevitably, the trend has found its way into our homes, too.

The Calgary-based architecture and interiors studio worked together with entrepreneur Lyndon Cormack to create a serene space in the heart of the forest. With its abundance of nature, lush forests and vicinity to the Pacific Ocean, the Deep Cove area of North Vancouver in Canada is an incredible area of unspoilt wilderness.

There is something almost transcendental about seeing a building through the lens of a skilled architectural photographer, as if glimpsing its soul through the mind’s eye of its architect, stripped of its daily penumbra and chaos. And there are few architectural photographers more skilled than Thibaud Poirier.

Private clients at the top end of the market don’t want the same furniture as their friends – they want a one-off. That either means an ultra-rare period piece, or something that’s specially designed for them. That informs the route of travel for many interior designers: creating a piece for a specific project because “we couldn’t find anything on the market that would work in that corner/room/penthouse/mansion.” The next move is to add to that piece and voilà!, it’s a collection.

Once upon a time, the bathroom was simply seen as a functional space for rinsing off the day, freshening up and preparing for sleep. Thankfully that’s no longer the case, and today it is increasingly becoming a canvas for artistic expression and innovation in interior design.