design casa de luxo

A couple of years ago, I mentioned Urban Outfitters' Hip office space in Philadelphia and if you remember it was a fantastic inspiring spaces. The place was bursting with colours, mood boards and I was aching with envy just looking at the photos...
Today it is a complete different design but as beautiful and of course in tunes with the brand it embodies...here are Neals Yard Remedies Head Office designed by Feilden Clegg in Dorset (Feilden Clegg also designed Greenpeace HQ, The Woodland Trust offices). The building is stunning, there is no question about it. I love how Feilden Clegg made use of wood and blend the company within the beautiful landscape of Dorset but what caught my attention was the work of Pinch which were asked by Neals Yard Remedies to design the interior and furniture for their new head office and manufacturing facility.
Pinch is an Award-winning company set up by husband and wife team Russell Pinch and Oona Bannon in 2004. Before Pinch, Russell had co-founded The Nest, a multi-disciplinary brand design agency with clients including British Airways, MFI, WHSmith, Rip Curl and Selfridges while Oona worked first at The Nest then at branding agency Bloom.
They now design furniture for some of the best UK furniture brands such as Conran, SCP and Benchmark Furniture (another company established by Sir Terence Conran).
As you will see from the pictures below, the interior combines bespoke Pinch furniture with customised basics to create a positive working environment that works to refect both the NYR brand and the exterior architecture and I think a lot of their gorgeous ideas could also be applied to your home.

Blackboard storage (clever & stylish idea for the home)

Reception signage

Office and coat hook


the restaurant and its gorgeous lighting

I love spending time there but frankly giving the longing I have for the sun, heat and white houses of Ibiza, I wonder some times why we didn't buy a house there instead (oh I know....spur of the moment purchase....near my family....the beaches of my childhood.....bike rides through pine forests....). Anyway, last night, Elodie and I skyped each other and we agreed to go to Ibiza together for a week so if you know any nice villas to rent in Ibiza or Formentera (my favourite), let me know. In the meantime, let's dream about Ibiza's beautiful fincas looking at this one that belongs to a parisian TV producer. Michel bought this finca a few years ago. At the time of his purchase, it had no water, no electricity and it was really in a sorry state but it was on top of a hill and it reminded Michel of the little houses that Marcel Pagnol described in his novels...The house looked like an old, wrinkly and tired, little turtle...but Michel was seduced and bought it.

As the house was too small, he called architect Pascal Cheik Djavadi to help him to transform it into a family home.....so plans were drawn, ideas discussed and agreed and off they went. Pascal Cheik Djavadi started adding beautiful volumes to this little house and little by little the little turtle (3.50m high) turned into a giant one (7m high) and suddenly things weren't great anymore between Michel and Pascal so they went separate ways and Michel finished the renovation with his partner.
If divorcing, moving, losing its job are on top of the most stressful things to experience (beside illness of course), disagreements with builders, architects or anyone involved in a renovation project can't be far from the top of the list. When we renovated our house in France, we had the builder from hell. Each time, I was discussing an idea with him and asking him to quote before going ahead, I would come back the day after and he would have started banging into the walls, knocking down the fireplace without my approval and then would tell me that it would cost $$$$. The first time, I lost it, the second time we fired him. I found out later on that he was making an habit of it and drove our lovely local baker to tears when she asked him to work on the bakery's oven. Thanks god, it's all behind now.

However, I'm not implying that Pascal Cheik Djavadi was the architect from hell. On the contrary, Pascal is a very talented architect and it is not the first time I come across his name but at some point, they misunderstood each other. Although now looking at it, I think this house in Ibiza has benefited from the owner and architect's differences in style and expectations and is now a wonderful and unique blend of traditional architecture with simple, beautiful contemporary lines. The kitchen for instance is fitted with state-of-the-art appliances from Gaggeneau while the sink is made of a very old stone imported from Portugal and the kitchen island from a local black stone, fitted with stainless-steel cupboards.

I love the large windows of this house. They emphasize the outdoor scenery like giant picture frames and look at the light and the perspective in this bedroom! Doesn't it look superb? The bath is by P. Starck for Duravit and is fitted in a concrete block just high enough to make the most of the view outside.