For our July issue, we’ve entered a magical design dimension. Inspired by the master illusionist Houdini – and the aesthetic wonders inside Yale’s 2010 book on his melding of Art and Magic – we explored the liminal spaces in which illusion and trickery meet the creative world. In deep shades and hidden corners arrives a trove of glorious, decadent design pieces...
Pictured: ’La Cima3’ wall-mounted hanger, €932, by Lapo Ciatti, for Opinion Ciatti. ‘9.5°’ chair, €3,500, by Rasmus Bækkel Fex, for Frama, from Gallery S Bensimon. ‘Cara’ rug, €3,480, part of the Gio Ponti Carpet Collection, by Amini. ‘1085 Edition’ chair, £2,100, by Bartoli Design, for Kristalia. ‘Tiuku’ pendulum clock, €150, by Ari Kanerva, for Covo. ‘Rosolina’ table, $7,150, by Mauro Lipparini, for Casa International. ‘The Wide Bowl’, £195, by Akiko Hirai, from Rose Uniacke. Black and amber glass bottle, £65, by Ichendorf Milano, from The Conran Shop. ‘Ombra’ fabric as curtain (in left arch), £92 per m, by Rubelli. ‘HC 18’ handcuffs, £145, by Hiatt, from Below Stairs of Hungerford. ‘Mono-Light Copper Edition’, price on request, by Os & OOs, from Galerie Gosserez. ‘Attica TL’ table (through right arch), €1,470, by Studio 65, for Gufram. ‘Crescent’ light, £2,950, by Lee Broom. ‘Twig 4’ chair, €825, by Nendo, for Alias. Neoclassical fluted urn, c.1870, price on request, from Portuondo. ‘53 N 04’ mid-grey; ‘53 N 06’ dark grey; ‘17 D 06’ burgundy Absolute Matt Emulsion, £38 for 2.5 litres, all by Little Greene. ‘Treverktrend’ wood-effect floor tiles, price on request, by Marazzi. ‘Flexi Technic’ tiles, from £60 per sq m, by Philippe Starck, for Ceramica Sant’Agostino
Interiors: Maria Sobrino. Photography: Tommaso Sartori. Writer: Sujata Burman
The ’1085 Edition’ chair by Kristalia marked a starting point for our set, the leather hide being tied together and stitched in a way that nods to Houdini’s epic straitjacket escape trick
Creeping around our cabinet of curiosities is Dutch duo Os & OOs’ dynamic lighting. It subtly illuminates but also ominously hangs, shaping the space with its rope-style form
A flurry of magical boxes make up the second room, set on Philippe Starck-designed checkerboard flooring...
Pictured: ‘Scrigno’ containers, price on request, by Fernando and Humberto Campana, for Edra. ‘Giro’ stool, price on request, by Pedro Paulø-Venzon, for Objekto. ‘Moon’ bowls, large £153; small £51, both by Ilona Van Den Bergh, from WallpaperSTORE*. ‘Ladder Light’, from £255, by MSDS Studio. ‘Light Rocks’ light, €610, by Laura Bilde, from Etage Projects. ‘Febo’ chaise longue, £4,392, by Antonio Citterio, for B&B Italia. ‘Mongolian Horn Bow’, $3,500, by Brian Persico, from Chamber. ‘Pixel’ console, £3,600, by Ilia Potemine, from Mint. ‘Hex Edit’ vase, price on request, by Simon Klenell, from Gallery Fumi. Best of... 30010, C-print on aluminium, 2012, £2,200, by Anita Witek, from L’étrangère. ‘Cassettiera Cubick’ rotating drawers, €2,980, by Paolo Nicolò Rusolen, for Laurameroni. Mountains and Clouds 2, $3,000, by Karl Zahn. Paint; ‘Flexi Technic’ tiles, both as before
Interiors: Maria Sobrino. Photography: Tommaso Sartori
In dark velvet is this slender Antonio Citterio ’Febo’ chaise longue, afforded an abstract and secretive quality with a hidden back rest
The smashed fragments that make up this ’Scrigno’ container sideboard – by the Campana Brothers, for Edra – create a hallucinatory ambiance in the room
