Black & Cream

Ideas, a poetic spirit that focuses on the customer and their living needs, a penchant for “savoir-faire” and a real desire to experiment. For them, architecture and interior design are one and the same. The meaning of life. A meaning they always transfer into their sophisticated designs. A sensation that can be felt when you enter their homes.

In this splendid residence in Franciacorta, designed by architect Massimo Castagna, the aim was to create architecture that was not only aesthetic: sober and almost traditional on the outside, elegant, sophisticated and liveable on the inside. A home for a well-read and tasteful family, with a passion for wellness, music, cinema and who love living their own home to the full. Aesthetics is only the consequence of the work carried out and aimed at achieving this quality of life. With this in mind, rooms “designed” for individual needs were created adopting the same criteria used for manor houses, assigning a precise function to each individual part of the house, effectively expanding the common areas. The design team thus separated the rooms with brick “panels”: the full-height walls never define the spaces but separate them as if they were movable curtains, defining the different uses of the spaces. Similarly, invisible floor to ceiling doors create non-existent passageways between one space and another. Each was custom-designed and made to measure by the company Oikos. Colour continuity is the leitmotif that links all the rooms. Ultra-fine grey split slate floor slabs are used throughout and also extend outside.

Black & Cream
“The formal nitor of a residence in franciacorta designed by the architect Massimo Castagna and furnished by furniture Zenucchi.”

Instead, shades of cream are used on the waxed, silk-effect walls, chasing each other with a glossy on matt texture. Only the colour of the wood intrudes, on tiptoe, to emphasise a some details. The custom-made oak ceiling and glossy American walnut doors warm the rooms. The wenge staircase with a crystal handrail gives the entrance a modern touch This formal crispness is echoed in the bathrooms, with brushed biancone stone walls with horizontal grouts, adorned with restraint by Boffi. The cream colour, grey and hints of wood have created a light effect that spreads through the house until it reaches an off-white in the living area. A double-sided fireplace separates the dining room from the living area. In this space the furniture echoes the colours of the architecture: the table by Ceccotti Collezioni is made of walnut wood with a clear smoked glass top, while the bookcase by Minotti is mocha-coloured. The black leather chairs are by Cappellini. The living room furniture is mocha-coloured too: here Minotti is the star of the room with the nubuck sofa and leather armchairs. The Kastall rugs, on the other hand, used to cover large spaces, pick up the light colour of the walls and the ivory silk of the soft curtains. The only concession to colour was reserved for the children’s bedroom furnished with upholstered beds by Axel and colourful, transparent plastic accessories by Kartel. The cabinets were all custom-made and are by Poliform. A decidedly modern decorative approach that is embodied in a excursus of design from the last decades of the 20th century to the present day, favouring a light, yet enveloping, balanced impact that eschews minimalist excesses.