Eero Saarinen designed the Womb Chair in the late 1940s after Florence Knoll asked him for a chair “that feels like a basket full of cushions, something I can really nestle into.” A decade later, Charles Eames asked his wife Ray, “Why don’t we make a contemporary version of the old English club chair?” The result was the Eames Lounge Chair, now also an icon. Anyone who has these two pieces in their interior no longer needs convincing of our passion for the masters of contemporary design and their timeless creations.
Classics from 1929 and 2016
The resident of this Luxembourg apartment wanted a timeless, lasting, yet warm, contemporary, and livable interior. The step toward incorporating some classics was quickly taken. But classics are not just pieces of furniture designed a few decades ago. “We started with the seating area,” says interior architect Eric. “It had to remain spacious, so I suggested a freestanding sofa between the kitchen island and the TV. Not many sofas look good from behind, but the Knoll Avio by Piero Lissoni from 2016 has armrests and the back that flow seamlessly in one line. Combined with a warm fabric, it can be viewed from any angle.”
Eric placed the sofa on a Tekla rug from Kasthall and paired it with a Barcelona chair in leather. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed this chair for the 1929 World Exposition in Barcelona. The cabinet under the TV is the Credenza, designed by Florence Knoll, keeping in mind her mentor Mies van der Rohe. There is also a clear Dutch connection in the seating area, with a tall Arco lamp and a black Cassina Utrecht chair, designed by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, facing each other.
From window treatments to lighting
“Thanks to my suggestions for the living room, the trust between the client and me grew,” says Eric. “In the end, I also designed a few other spaces, including the furniture in the dining room and the lighting in the hallway.” In the dining room, the Knoll Grasshopper table takes the spotlight. “Just like the Avio, a design by Piero Lissoni, but a year newer, from 2017. We chose a glossy finish of Calacatta marble. The table pairs perfectly with the Florence Knoll Conference chairs. The cabinet was custom-made from Pastoe’s Landscape elements. We chose soft and warm teak with two accents.”
For the window treatments, the client called on the Master workshop. “The JAB fabric for the curtains downstairs adds extra warmth, while the Luxaflex Silhouette blinds upstairs add extra dimension.” For the lighting, Eric made a selection of renowned brands such as Flos, Tom Dixon, and Martinelli Luce. “Both the client and I were more than 100% pleased with the result, truly an interior worthy of ‘magazine features,’ so it’s nice that it was also featured in the new magazine,” Eric concludes with a smile.
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