This is the latest instalment of The Inside Story, Wallpaper’s series spotlighting intriguing, innovative and industry-leading interior design.
Where better to showcase Brazilian design than the home of design dealer, collector, curator and tireless champion of Brazilian creativity, Ulysses de Santi. Unsurprisingly, the São Paulo native’s residence is a veritable shrine to the country’s design culture. De Santi, who curated the Brazilian furniture exhibition Lightness & Tension at Christie’s in Los Angeles last September, has created an environment that reflects both deep connoisseurship and personal passion. Wallpaper* has the exclusive first look inside the recently redesigned property.
Ulysses de Santi in his Los Angeles home
De Santi lives in a 1930s hillside residence in Los Angeles’ Doheny neighbourhood, and has reimagined his home through a lens informed by Brazilian modernism. The interiors are rich with texture and softness, most notably through the introduction of a series of arches that connect the rooms and soften the building’s original geometry. Limestone-washed walls lend the surfaces a velvety depth, their subtle tonal variations shifting with the light. Meanwhile, the original black-stained floors have been preserved, providing a striking graphic foundation.
Of course, de Santi lives among an unparalleled collection of Brazilian modern furniture, much of which is rarely seen outside museum settings. The great figures of Brazilian modernism are all represented: José Zanine Caldas, Lina Bo Bardi, Geraldo de Barros and Sérgio Rodrigues among them. At times, the home feels like a hybrid between museum, gallery and private shrine.
Yet de Santi’s approach is not about preserving Brazil’s design heritage behind glass. Instead, it is about celebrating it in everyday life. Despite their rarity (and significant market value), these pieces are not treated as untouchable objects but fully integrated into the rhythms of daily life. De Santi and his children interact with them daily, transforming the house into a ‘living archive’, as he describes it.
Visitors enter through a foyer with soaring ceilings and a diverse arrangement of artworks. At the end of the hallway sits a sideboard by Joaquim Tenreiro, one of the most significant Brazilian furniture designers represented in the collection.
A breakfast nook also features Tenreiro’s work, including a rare dining set with a free-form table and its original chairs. Nearby: a sculptural bar with stools by Jorge Zalszupin. The space is energised by bright paintings and framed by floor-to-ceiling windows that open onto the backyard, flooding the interior with light.
The adjoining dining room continues the dialogue between structure and softness. A Zalszupin table with black leather-wrapped bases and a rosewood top is paired with velvet-upholstered dining chairs designed by Geraldo de Barros. Large-scale artworks with contrasting textures introduce a dramatic tension.
A contemporary sofa upholstered in raw silk and golden velvet anchors the living area. It is surrounded by sculptural ‘Cubo’ armchairs and wooden coffee tables by Zalszupin – pieces that highlight the organic forms and natural materials characteristic of Brazilian design. Metal bookshelves display personal artefacts and artworks, blurring the boundary between the collectible and the personal.
The master bedroom continues de Santi’s curatorial approach, featuring a Tenreiro daybed and a rare chaise lounge rocker crafted from natural wood. Throughout the house, Brazilian design pieces are punctuated by international artworks and objects, adding a global dimension to the collection.
In de Santi’s home, he demonstrates conclusively that the warmth, richness and humanistic spirit of Brazilian design should not be confined behind glass or left to gather dust. In this setting, the pieces are not merely admired – they are wholly experienced.