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| SLEEK ITALIAN MODERNISM AT ITS BEST: Smink captures the essence of contemporary living with Calder coffee tables and console, Deluanay armchairs, and Newman carpet. Smink. 5370 W. Lovers Ln. 214-350-0542. www.sminkinc.com. |
Italian Style
From the most traditional to the latest, most avant-garde designs in home furnishings.
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YARD GOODS >>
In a country famous for its fine textile mills, Bergamo is outstanding. New arrivals at ID Collection, from top to bottom: “Carlotta,” pinks, gilts and celadon overscaled silk plaid; golden leaf pattern on a persimmon ground; “Tronco,” luscious iridescent garnet-toned silk raffia; “Angelo,” ruby grounded fabric with a waffle-threaded overlay. ID Collection. Dallas Design Center. 1025 N. Stemmons Frwy., Ste 745. 214-698-0226.
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<< ROOM WITH A VIEW
When their Highland Park clients fell in love with the feel of an early 19th-century Venetian ballroom, Al Ferraro and Mike Clem of Chesterfield Interiors Inc. knew it would be a balancing act. “Unlike so many people, our clients actually wanted to live in their formal rooms, so we knew that as gilded as it might be, it also had to be comfortable,” Clem says. Italian neoclassical chairs from the late 19th-century are covered in rich, rusty antique linen velvet similar to Titian red, after the Venetian artist Titian who used this color extensively in his paintings. Responding to the large scale of the room and seeking perfect proportion, the designers installed colossal 18th-century Italian column lamps. A 19th-century northern Italian battle scene sits above the entrance between hand-painted marble panels, which continue around the top of the room replicating diamond shaped semiprecious stones, recalling the Byzantine influence on Italian style.
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FROM WHOLE CLOTH >>
Hand-cut velvets, textural chenilles, silk stripes, cashmere-finished wools, embroidered sheers: Coraggio, a new julienne strip of a showroom, houses some of the most beautiful and sumptuous fabrics we’ve ever seen or touched. Built in the style of an Italian library paneled with Honduran mahogany and outfitted with full-length textile batons instead of books, Coraggio Textiles specializes in archival pieces, interpretations of classic designs found on ecclesiastical vestments and royal robes. Most take three or four years to develop. You’ll find a copy (in several color ways) of the only fabric Michaelangelo ever designed, another that interprets a fresco on the walls of Castel Gandolfo (the Pope’s summer palace). Though the textiles are woven in Europe, the firm maintains a complete inventory in the U.S., including the largest range of mohairs, sheers, and casement fabrics in the industry. To-the-trade only for buying, but open to visitors for viewing. Pictured left: Gandolfo in Gold and Donatello in Red Gold. Coraggio Textiles. Dallas Design Center, Ste. 250. 1025 N. Stemmons Frwy. 214-712-0700. www.coraggio.com.
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WHAT’S COOK’N >>
The latest cool thing from Scott + Cooner is Alea, a streamlined, modular kitchen from Poliform’s Varenna series. The custom kitchen consists of functional, horizontal units of stainless steel with worktops surfaced in a variety of materials – white lacquer, dark wenge wood, Italian laminate (similar to Corian), Carrara marble, and even stone. Designed by acclaimed architect Paolo Piva, Alea is minimal but ingenious. Cabinet doors swing up and out: push-latches or pulls are virtually invisible. Interior drawers are offered in laminate or stainless wire, fixed or gliding. Floating shelves above the counter accentuate the linear theme. Wall ovens, stovetop, and refrigerator are seamlessly integrated. Scott + Cooner. 1617 Hi Line Dr., Ste. 100. 214-748-9838. www.scottcooner.com.
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<< SPAGHETTI WESTERN
From CaliaItalia, this of 100-percent full-grain, textured and stitched Italian cowhide sofa was made in the company’s own tannery in Matera, Italy. Available for $1,999 at Robb & Stucky. 7240 North Dallas Pkwy. Plano. 972-403-3000.
