Category Archives: Other

Nightingale Lane, London. A timeless bespoke interior project by Ermesponti – part 2: the living room.

Bespoke interior for a London home by Ermesponti

We have already shared  part 1 of the bespoke interior we recently designed and realised for a London home, including the whole residence, to harmonize the Arts-and-Crafts style of the house with the new extension in concrete, in the backyard.

While in the first post of this series we described the bespoke interior of the kitchen, today we get closer to a significant particular of the living room: the wall panelling for wine.
London Bespoke Interiors by Ermesponti

London Bespoke Interiors by Ermesponti

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  • WALL PANELLING FOR WINE – PART OF THE BESPOKE INTERIOR FOR THE NIGHTINGALE LANE HOME IN LONDON

The young couple loves wine and they asked for a space where they can really enjoy this. 

We chose a dead corner between the kitchen and the dining room.

There we designed a hand-lacquered niche for the decanter and wine glasses with a wine cellar underneath and a  honeycomb effect made of solid wood for bottles above.

This niche was incorporated into  wall panelling made of engraved oak.  

Wine cellar handmade by Ermesponti

The lacquered  niche is prominent  and a wide horizontal strip emphasizes the grain in the wood.

A bespoke interior in London home by Ermesponti

  • Z AREA – PART OF THE BESPOKE INTERIOR FOR THE NIGHTINGALE LANE HOME IN LONDON

Inside the bay window we designed a cosy seating area with
asymmetrical leather chairs
and  a small  one-leg table in between.

The table top was of pure grain leather cut at an angle of 45 degrees.

We’ll share more soon about this bespoke interior project in London:  keep an eye on us!

Bespoke interior for a London home by Ermesponti

Table part of a London bispoke interior

Nightingale Lane, London. A timeless bespoke interior project by Ermesponti – part 1: the kitchen.

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 Ermesponti has developed many projects in UK, with a special focus on London.

Recently, word of mouth and a mutual friend brought us in touch with a young couple.

Over drinks in a pub we chatted about their needs and showed them samples of our work and materials. They were most enthusiastic about the excellence of what we do. We soon felt they were on our wavelength and they engaged our services.

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The Concept Layout

A second meeting, after a couple of weeks, involved us producing fresh samples and three-dimensional drawings of the project which now came to life.

They were keen to proceed immediately following rough details of budget and timescale.

A final meeting on site covered a thorough survey of the home and details of custom-made materials, final drawings and costs. Time was of the essence and it was crucial in the final agreement.

It took us just a week to finalise our production drawings, to order all the necessary materials and allocate the work to our craftsmen.

All in all, production in our workshop was finished in a fortnight.

Then our same craftsmen were able to install everything on site in the space of a week.

  • DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

The main aim of the project was harmonizing the Arts-and Crafts style of the house and the new concrete extension on the backyard. We designed a timeless bespoke interior where the furniture is completely dovetailed to the architecture.

materials

Palette of selected materials and colours


The project consists of three main parts: the kitchen with a special
cupboard overlooking the living room; the wall panelling  in the dining room with a small seating area inside the bow window and a niche for the wine in the corner; the bookshelves divide the dining from the sitting room.

Each part is different but related to the other and  you can easily find a common thread which gives harmony to the overall ground floor.

In line with the owners’ needs, we designed a unique interior using minimalist forms and custom-made materials. The subtle contrast between the different materials gives a sophisticated impression.

They are the perfect expression of Ermesponti craftsmanship that gives careful attention to each single detail.

  • THE KITCHEN

kitchen mini sketchThe owner loves cooking.

Her kitchen has been specially designed accordingly with a wide range of appliances and units.

Each unit, for example, is made of marine plywood that is completely water resistant, is the highest quality and normally used just for yachts.

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The kitchen: the full-size render as we imagined it

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The kitchen as we realised it, pretty much like we described it in our presentation

The texture of doors and drawers is engraved oak made just for the owners in our workshop, paying special attention to the tones of the varnishing.

So much care was devoted to every single wish or need of the owner.

A further example was the three pull out units to display such a collection of herbs and spices you can see in the following pictures: the end result met with her complete and full satisfaction.

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kitchen PULL OUT

The pre-installation stage of the three pull out units in engraved oak (still to be varnished in the final colour)

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The final result of the kitchen with the integrated pull out units, near the ovens

.Stay tuned for further updates on the Nightingale Lane home: coming soon, as soon as we get more pictures done!

Zaha Hadid won the Golden Medal. At Ermesponti we point out some common beliefs about interior architecture.

zaha-hadid

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The news is out, and is a beautiful one:

Zaha Hadid won the Royal Gold Medal 2016 for Architecture, first women ever to win this prestigious prize.

It was back in 1995 when we first saw a building by Zaha Hadid – her first – the famous Vitra House Fire Station.

We were studying architecture in Florence in those days and we were absolutely fascinated by the breaking-out of that architecture, totally and beautifully out of contest… what a sight!

And then, in the same location, amazing buildings by outstanding masters: Herzog & de Meuron’s VitraHaus showroom, the Vitra Design Museum by Frank Gehry and the conference hall by Tadao Ando…

vitra-house-fire station

Some twenty years later, the Baghdad-born architect wins the most important Arichitecture prize, the Gold Medal, personally approved by the Queen of England.

A few points that caught our attention, from her speech during the Award cerimony, and why we at Ermesponti feel particularly close to her and her views.

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” Part of architecture’s job is to make people feel good in the spaces where they live…”
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Rightly so, the final aim of architecture is the internal space, and this is exactly our strong belief, too.
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“So we must be committed to raising standards of housing, schools and other vital public buildings…”
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We like to think of architecture, rather than someone’s lifestyle expression, more as an active tool to raise quality standards, on a functional, structural, esthetical point of view… this was an idea of our master Gio Ponti and of course totally agree!
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“It’s a honour for me and my practice, but equally also for our clients.”
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Which is to say that clients are included in the working team. When you are committed to design and realize a custom design and custom made architecture, the client is  in the middle of the creative process. Shall we say that at Ermesponti the client is always our paramount concern.
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Feeling so near to Zaha’ views, it’s easy for us to dream for a moment, and imagine to be called by the Royal Gold Medal winner to realize the interiors of one of her outstanding building!

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The Idea of Living Architecture for Ermesponti Bespoke Interiors

We’ve recently come across the initiative “Living Architecture – Holidays in Modern Architecture“, renting an archistar-designed home to enjoy the experience of staying in a place designed by a famous architect. We’d like to consider this starting from a different point of view. Alain De Botton published a new book  a few years ago “The Architecture of Happiness” (please note that the famous philosopher is one of the founders of Living Architecture). De Botton’s views express the idea that the quality of the architecture we live in every day  influences the quality of our lives. This is the essence of the book.

living architecture for ermesponti bespoke interiors

This notion applies to living  from a global perspective, which of course goes beyond the “vacation” you can take for a limited period of time in a place that doesn’t belong to you, and to which you don’t belong.  From here we can move straight to the opposite approach  of “design-by vs designed-for”. There  is a way of conceiving theDe-Botton-Architecture-Happiness-ermesponti quality of interiors not as something guaranteed by a famous signature, but rather as a true expression of the personality of the person who lives there.

Historically speaking, architecture is something anonymous, which derives its sense and function from everyday use by someone it is designed for.

At Ermesponti bespoke interiors, we strongly believe in design-specific projects like those of Living Architecture, but most of all we are focused on the brief of the client. Our projects are always tailored to the client ‘s exact needs. Our aim is always a custom-designed project.

Every project must reflect  100% the personality of the customer, and does so through the architect’s design  and the making by the craftsman.  Our team work together- from first scratch to turnkey delivery – throughout the whole process so that we can guarantee the excellence of the results. In this way, the architect “brings out” of the customer his own dream-house, and makes it become true. Leon Battista Alberti – author of what is considered the Bible of Architecture – used to say: “The architect is the mother of the building, but the customer is its father”.

We very much appreciate the idea of “Living Architecture” as a one-shot experience of an archistar’s architecture.  Possibly  you should consider taking the next step and having more than a short vacation in someone else’s home. You could definitely  try the Ermesponti experience and live it in a more permanent way. For example, you can have your own home redesigned with a 100% custom-destined project by Ermesponti bespoke interiors and enjoy a lifelong architectural experience. You can’t imagine how your quality of life could be changed for the better!

Ermesponti’s reaction to the London design week 2015.

A few weeks ago we had the chance to visit some of the most important venues of the London Design Week, such as Designjunction, Tent,  Superbrands and – of course- 100% Design.

The city was full of people. It was so nice to enjoy the exciting atmosphere in the world of design and the related business.
It was a completely new experience for us. London is one of the best known capitals for design,  but it has its own identity and it is so different from Milan!
ermes ponti london bespoke interiors
It’s difficult to explain. In brief we can say that Milan is the fair of the Italian big brands which was set up to  express the values of Italian design and Italian lifestyle.
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Each pavilion is like a fashion show and showcases the new collection and  the usual features of each brand. There is precise attention to every single detail on each stand. The effect is like a show in a theatre. The pieces of the new collection are like the main actors. The setting is everything.

In London, we found a completely different approach. There is not a specific fair but many different venues scattered around all the city.

London seems more a land of single designers or creative people. Although there are some exceptions, they  seem to be artists rather than artisans.
Of course the American  movement  of  Makers is well represented here as well but this fact underlines what I am saying. Creative confidence is very high and there are lots and lots of new companies, new names and start-up firms of design here.
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The London way seems to be about new ideas and experimentation of thousands and thousands  of small new firms of Design and not only British artists. We found there many firms from Northern Europe. Scandinavian design is appreciated here more than in Italy.
We also found a strong emphasis on engaging the customer in the design process, for example a smart Norwegian brand named Tylco.
ermes ponti london bespoke interiors

They are completely focused on  “made to measure” production and  “just in time” for each client. They have specific software for their online shop where you can decide to customize a piece of furniture by changing the measurements, materials or colour to your exact needs and tastes.

The design of the collection  is fixed, but before ordering your own piece you can ask for some adjustments as also happens in fashion for a made-to-measure suit.
Learning about approaches like this helped us again to focus on the really crucial point of our identity as Ermesponti. The world of bespoke furniture is completely different! We haven’t got any shop online or any collections of pieces.

We custom design and produce each interior as a unique interior. Each piece of furniture is unique for its owner.

In our opinion the  most impressive stand of the whole design week was the Korean Pavilion. The amazing collection of unique pieces by  young artisans from this country is impossible to forget for their contemporary nature and lasting beauty of each pieces, such as fabrics, vases, porcelain or baskets.

Each artisan or artist has developed  a personal way of making his own products by learning from old techniques and know-how. This is exactly what we do.  The product is completely different but the approach is the same.

Starting form the legacy of our artisan tradition and architectural culture we can find new paths for the present and the  future  of interiors.
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“We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of Giants”
( Bernard Chartres)
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Milano, October 15th 2015: presentation of the Open Book “Autori di Crescita”. Paolo Ponti’s contribution.

Contributo di Paolo Ponti al festival della crescitaIn Milano, on Oct. 15th 2015, something important for all the people who care about Italy’s economic and cultural growth…

Egea publishing company is going to unveil the Open Book “Autori di Crescita, during professor Morace’s Festival della Crescita to be held  in Milano on October 15-18 .

We have always been convinced about  the “happy growth” theory of professor Francesco Morace – who has already stated how ermesponti is a company able to show a growing attitude – but this time there’s one more reason to save the date…

We are among the book authors, thanks to Paolo Ponti’s contribution, which we like to quote in the following paragraph.

Growth is never simple, but a HAPPY GROWTH is an even more ambitious  goal.

To be truly “happy” the growth must bu such for everyone involved… for instance, speaking of a company, all stakeholders need to be happy about growth: the clients, the working force, the entrepreneur, the government.

As an anrchitect and an entrepreneur, I always work to achieve this simple goal: everyone’s happy growth through the excellence of our end-to-end process, from the very first sketch to complete realization.

The first one that has to be happy about it is the client: every project of ours is a very personal portrait.
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See you in Milano on October 15th – 6:45 pm @ Happy Book – Cult Library – Palazzo delle Stelline in Corso Magenta 61 for the presentation of “Autori di Crescita”.
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Admittance is open, but don’t forget to sign up on the Festival website.
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Useful links:
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As we wait to meet you at the “Stelline” on the 15th, please enjoy professor Morace video introduction of the Festival!
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London here we come!

London home refurbishment by ermesponti of Italy

It is not the first job we handle in London (as a matter of fact, we have the pleasure of having, in our reference list, some New Bond Street important names), but we are always happy to bring our enthousiasm and know-how in this important European Capital.

So we’d like to wish “buon lavoro” to the ermesponti team actually at work in a Victorian terraced home in London!

We’ll  let you know how this drawing, hanging somehow in the working site, will turn out in an ermesponti “end-to-end” realization soon!

 

Welcome to Germany, on our company website!

Ermes Ponti bespoke: German speaking website We’re happy to announce that the ermesponti website now speaks German, besides Italian and English.

We are truly committed to worldwide work, as our list of references can tell you.

As the world becomes smaller and smaller, the ermesponti method is more and more known, and we’re proud to bring the Italian expertise of our teams all over, from Milan Montenapoleone to New York to Shanghai.

As to our German friends, we thought it necessary to add to our company website the possibility to speak with them in their own language.

We are deeply thankful to our business partners in Germany for the appreciation they showed towards our work in more than one occasion.

We’re talking about the interiors of the German Pavillion at the 2015 Venice Architecture Biennale, where ermesponti was chosen by the German Architects studio Ciriacidis Lehnerer for the faithful interiors reconstruction of the original Bonn Kanzlerbungalow, in the premises of the Venice Biennale.BungalowGermania_Ausstellung04 © Bas Princen

Or, different story but equally gratifying for us, when the top German luxury brand Mont Blanc put us in charge of a bespoke interiors retail project, after seeing – during a meeting in Hamburg – how our team handles all parts of a project, starting from handmade prototyping.

Of course we would like to open up our conversation to  French, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese as well… but, as we all know, quality takes time, and we care for quality above everything else!

So, for now, let’s welcome our German contacts with a warm…

Wilkommen!

 

ermesponti bespoke interiors website in German

Ermes Ponti bespoke: company website in German