Four Designers Make Their Mark on a Grecian Island Home
Clashing styles never looked so good.
A house within a small village on a Greek island may not be somewhere you’d envisage a bumper designer lineup coming together. But, thanks to curator Annalisa Rosso, four studios have been enlisted to renovate a home in Kastellorizo – each bringing their own individual styles, tastes, and details to create something that is truly one of a kind.
The project, named 4Rooms, was initiated by the La Società delle Api residency program, in order to support design studios while also promoting the area’s unique heritage and the wider Mediterranean culture. Local artisans and traditional production facilities were also employed, in a bid to boost industry in the immediate area. It has seen the house, named Porta Rossa, undergo a total transformation, which manages to blend its original features with some – kind of wild – updates.
For Hyeres-based Superpoly, a French design duet made up of Antoine Grulier and Thomas Defour, it was actually a lack of raw materials on the island that prompted them to bring disused objects back to life. The bright colors of the boats and houses inspired the hues across their interior, while the design of the furniture is inspired by the fishermen’s nets. “On Kastellorizo, streets are extensions of houses: at sunset, tables and chairs come out of living rooms and occupy the street,” the designers say. “The rooms seek to recreate this environment, with furniture that has a different purpose depending on the time of the day, with fun features as any object should have.”
La Società Delle Api
La Società Delle Api
La Società Delle Api
La Società Delle Api
La Società Delle Api
La Società Delle Api
La Società Delle Api
La Società Delle Api
La Società Delle Api
La Società Delle Api
La Società Delle Api
For Nicosia-born Phanos Kyriacou, the island’s proximity to his own provided a wealth of inspiration. “I am an islander, just like the room I chose to design in Kastellorizo, the closest island to mine,” he says. His inspirations feel philosophical of sorts – and reference his connection to the origins and memories associated with the sense of belonging. All over, memories and stories related to his childhood and life play out through sculptural elements.
In the rooms designed by UND.Studio, everything is about “hybrids”. Their “Chiæmera” concept gets its name from the mythological beasts that was composed of different animal parts. Translating this, each piece is born from a collaborative dialogue. “The furniture takes you straight to the central question of artistic production: ‘Am I on this tiny island for a holiday? Is there work that needs to be done? Will I transform into a chiæmera of a vacationer and creative laborer?,” they say – envisioning visitors using the rooms for a number of uses, and blending all the functions into one.
The final space comes from Icelandic-German Studio Brynjar & Veronika. “It is important for us to make sure that the room creates a comfortable environment to stay for shorter and longer periods of time,” they said, taking a practical approach and creating a space that feels easy to live in. They envisage their room being used by an artist in residence, giving them space to work and relax at the same time, but with plenty of privacy.
Take a tour of the house through the pictures above, and for more design news, check out this new collection of chubby furniture from Studio Paolo Ferrari.
