One Villa Palm Jumeirah Dubai
The English countryside is a place that captures the spirit and it exudes such intense wellbeing that Oscar Wilde wrote “Were I to live six months in the countryside, I would become such a peaceful soul, no-one would realise I was there.”
We too were captivated while restoring and furnishing a wonderful Ascot power house in Berkshire designed by Edelweiss London, the international interior design and project management studio, with whom we had already completed the villa overlooking Lake Lugano.
Continuing our search for beauty, exquisite combinations and unusual solutions which have always been the trademark of our collaboration with Edelweiss London, we wish to introduce this new project, in which we designed tailor-made solutions for neo-classical style interiors.
The artistic balustrade, the open-plan kitchen and the chef’s kitchen are the pièces de résistance of this custom-built, bespoke interior design.
However, even more than working to a style, we created living spaces with an eclectic atmosphere, technological comforts and, at the same time, perfectly integrated with the surrounding natural environment.
Amidst local markets, horse races and long walks, this property ideally recreates that slow, calm, carefree rhythm of family traditions and breathes the sense of community, which makes the English countryside so special.
THE GRAND MARBLE STAIRWAY WITH BESPOKE BALUSTRADE
In England, the large country houses have nearly all been designed with large reception rooms and impressive staircases to demonstrate the owners’ wealth, ambitions and power.
Therefore, the interior design project maintained this traditional layout, but reinterpreted it by completely changing the language of the materials and colour palette.
The large, curved, cantilevered staircase, stretching over two floors, was recoated with alternating Botticino marble on the tread and Emperador Dark on the riser. The extensive access landings to the floors were covered with cut-to-measure Botticino with the surrounding cornices again in Emperador Dark.
The artistic, black, wrought iron balustrade running up the two 64-metre long flights of stairs was cold painted to give an opaque effect. The geometric pattern was designed and custom-made by the Palazzo Morelli Atelier Contract division to blend the aesthetic needs with Britain’s strict safety legislation.
The polished, chrome finish handrail gleams and hides a brass structure, the only material flexible enough to make the curved elements, which give the design its continuity.
There is no break in the subtle rhythm from top to bottom and even the columns for the flights up to the floors are curved and follow the design. Its beauty, together with a difficult design, execution and installation, lies in the continuity of all the elements. The balustrade was anchored to the marble flooring using screws in floor holes reinforced with resin. Similarly, the handrail was hooked on with screws in the part below and finished with brass bands with the same chrome finish to give the functional elements a decorative design that would hide the joins between the individual sections of the handrail.
THE OPEN-PLAN WALNUT KITCHEN
The open-plan kitchen on the ground floor is a particularly well-lit room, perfectly in keeping with the living room. Columns, cupboard doors and drawers are covered in fine walnut, a material which makes the kitchen unique of its kind. Walnut is an organic material of incomparable aesthetic value with an elegant, sophisticated, ever-changing grain. This material was used as a testimonial to the reputation of British design, such as Bentley and Rolls Royce, who used walnut to distinguish the interiors of their luxury cars.
The walnut was given a specific finish for the kitchen environment with the intention of darkening it and at the same time protecting its beauty.
From among the various options of marble and stone we suggested, the client chose Taj Mahal quartzite to cover the island and work tops to create a stark contrast with the walnut. Treated with a revolutionary stain-resistant procedure, the quartzite has the advantage of being a very hard-wearing stone, ideal for cutting at an absolutely perfect 45-degree angle.
The island is equipped with a temperature-controlled wine cooler and visible Gaggenau appliances. Even the hood is integrated into the work surface and all the commands are installed on the door front. Columns and drawers are internally equipped, engineered with Blum mechanisms and complete with essential led lighting of the interiors.
The island faces the living room with a large, integrated mirror, which reflects more light and creates an interesting effect of volumes and proportions between the materials of the island and the flooring.
The kitchen actually rests on a cut-to-size carpet of Botticino marble, the same as the main staircase, and on a floor of wood tiles with a classic Versailles pattern. The tiles are made of brushed, oil-finished, engineered oak, laid in a diamond pattern to act as counterpoint to the ergonomic shapes in the kitchen, a triumph of neoclassical design with a decidedly modern touch.
CHEF’S KITCHEN
In the room next to the open-plan kitchen is the property chef’s work kitchen. This part of the project was also entrusted to our Palazzo Morelli Atelier Contract division, which began working exclusively with Angelo Po, the quintessential, Italian name in professional kitchens. Each module was selected and adapted for installation in a custom-built, bespoke solution, which moulded Palazzo Morelli’s traditional craftsmanship using the skills of a specialist in five-star catering around the client’s wishes and the designer’s vision.
Thus, the most important rooms in a traditional English country house, immersed in the greenery of Berkshire, now display unique, bespoke furnishings bearing the name of Palazzo Morelli. For us, they represented the finishing line of a process, which had begun at the drawing-board, developed with research into the materials, went on to making samples, designing details, planning deliveries and finally to installation. A process where product excellence and superior service perceived not only by the designer, but also the client are Atelier Contract division’s distinctive trademarks at Palazzo Morelli, under the personal guidance of the owner, Alessandro Ortenzi.
For whoever lives here, these rooms will be a starting point to write new chapters in their life. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to these people that they may relax and find happiness.
Photographs
All photos are the exclusive property of Edelweiss London.
Credits
Interior Design Edelweiss London
Palazzo Morelli Dedicated Team
Alessandro Ortenzi, Project Supervision
Maria Chiara Belia, Client Relations
Arch. Daniele Cambiotti, Project Management
Marco Ortenzi, Logistics and Work Coordination
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