Minimalist interiors and post-modern design at a renovated apartment in Clapton, east London
The three-bedroom apartment sits within an exquisite Victorian townhouse that was built in 1850. Only its architecture gives clues to its age, for even the façade has been refurbished: repointed brickwork and repainted grey stucco are only the start of this home’s glow up.
Original dark wooden floorboards wink to the home’s heritage, as does the fireplace – topped with a marble mantle – in the living room. There are contemporary accents too, such as the polished concrete floor in the kitchen and ceiling in the studio – the latter of which also features Charlotte Perriand lights, a finishing touch that instantly caught our eye. The icing on the cake is Farrow & Ball’s ‘Slipper Satin’, painted on every wall of the apartment.
The current owner employed one of our favourite east London design dealers to dress the space: Spazio Leone. (If you haven’t already, be sure to pay the recently opened showroom within Hackney Downs Studio a visit). As the objects and furniture at this Reighton Road home attest, its founder, Gennaro Leone, has a thing for both cult Italian design and genre-defying post-modernist objects.
Design buffs may recognise Vico Magistretti’s sculptural green chairs in the courtyard (they’re also in MOMA’s permanent collection) and Gary Morga’s curved floor lamp next to Gerrit Rietveld’s wooden ‘Zig-Zag’ chair in the living room. Post-modernist design is known for being irregular and irreverent, which is exactly why it sings so exquisitely against these minimalist interiors. Whether you’re perusing this listing as a potential future home or not, it’s at least a fine lesson in curation.
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