For a pair of avant-garde artists, immortality wasn’t just a dream — it was a possibility. As long, that is, as you were committed to an uncomfortable existence.
In Malibu, an Inflatable Bungalow for Robert Downey Jr.
The actor’s thin-shell home is at once an aerodynamic oddity and, perhaps, a harbinger of environmentally conscious architecture.
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House Tour | Espace Aygo
The artist-roommates show off their shared Brussels townhouse where they made virtually everything, including a sink fixture from a pétanque ball and a tub from urethane rubber.
I’m Sijmen. My name is Jaime. Hey, I’m Salomé. I’m Line. Welcome to Espace Aygo! We are an artist collective, conducting a domestic experiment by building and creating our environment and living in it. I’m sitting on the couch that I would have loved to play with as a kid. It’s inspired by the surroundings I grew up in. I’m from Marseilles. In here, I love to stare into the fresque that is showing beautiful curves of the body. Welcome to our room. We made a circus. So after producing the bed, we had this leftover material. And out of that, we made a chandelier piece. This is a piece that I like to get lost into. This window frame is an extension of a dream where this pattern appeared. I made this bath to return back to the womb. Everything in here is big, because we like to do things together. While making the kitchen, we thought that we were hobbits from the Industrial Revolution. We made those plates so that dirty dishes can become sculptures. Bye! Ciao!
How a collective of artists turned a crumbling Brussels building into their own creative playground.
There wasn’t a style that reflected his approach to design. So Harry Nuriev made up his own.
In Barcelona, a House That Was Remade by Taking It Apart
For a home with an unassuming facade, the architect Guillermo Santomà has ignored spatial logic in favor of color, light and cultivated chaos.
A Designer Who Lives With ‘Pickled’ Balloons and a Jellyfish-Shaped Lamp
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House Tour | Bethan Laura Wood
The designer and collector of colorful things invites T into her 575-square-foot East London home.
[MUSIC PLAYING] “Hello. I’m Bethan Laura Wood, and welcome to my home. Like every hoarder-slash-collector, you’ll be here forever, because everything has a special and unique story attached to it. This is my Royal sofa by Nathalie du Pasquier and George Sowden. It was a lot bigger than I expected, but I managed to get it in anyway. This is Cato. He’s the closest thing I have to a pet right now. This is my other pet— a jellyfish by Gaetano Pesce. This is the official duster for this style of lamp. I love to do artist-to-artist swaps, and many of the objects in my home, I’ve acquired this way, like this wonderful chair by Max Lamb. This is my vintage mobile that I got from Schmid McDonagh. This is George. He’s made by Bertjan Pot, and I imagine he’s the face of the knight in my favorite painting. I want to be in the dream that I think he’s having. Tea break! This is my kitchen, with my favorite broom, a gift from Fabien Cappello, a weave guide from Japan, and some disco lights. This, I got from a flea market in Japan. It’s a flat for making a handbag. I have a few handbags. This is where I keep some of my hats and handbags. I designed the hooks. This is from my collaboration with Valextra. I think Beyonce owns this one. I’ve got a thing for hats. Wiggles from Martino Gamper, my tutor at the RCA and a big influence on my life. These are my Pickled Balloons by Saelia Aparicio. They remind me of my lithograph by Eduardo Paolozzi. I reference his wiggles in many of my works. Welcome to my bedroom. This is a tapestry I picked up in Brazil. This is a light by Jochen Holz and a pillow by Yayoi Kusama. This is my beautiful Mini-Totem by Ettore Sottsass. It is one of my most treasured possessions and is double-dotted just like me. It’s kind of if a clown became a vampire I think, no?”
Bethan Laura Wood has made her name dreaming up transporting rainbow-hued furniture and housewares. Her own London home is just as fantastical.
An Eccentric Upstate Home That Some People Confuse for a Restaurant
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House Tour | Cary Leibowitz and Simon Lince
The artist and creative director invite T into their eclectic farmhouse, Linceowitz, in Ghent, N.Y.
[MUSIC - MIKLOS SZENTHELYI, ‘VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR, OP. 61, III. RONDO, ALLEGRO’] CARY: Hey! You’re here. SIMON: We like that the house has evolved over time. The very earliest part was built in 1795. Our most recent addition was built in 2011. It was designed by Robert Venturi.” CARY: This is the first part of the house that was built in 1795. Gouache on board by Peter Saul, ”[BLEEP] Los Angeles,” 1968. SIMON: Our collection of right royal English tea mugs. CARY: This is one of my paintings, and this backgammon table was once owned by Clark Gable. CARY: A print by Jonathan Borofsky. SIMON: And Oprah Winfrey’s hand-me-down couch. SIMON: This is certainly one of our favorite pieces. CARY: This is the Grandma Moses room. I bought fabric by the yard on eBay and—” SIMON: Pretty well, everything’s covered in it at this point. SIMON: Better say your prayers. We’re going up those stairs. CARY: This is my collection of photographs of people standing in front of Mount Vernon. You know, lots of school groups, post office workers, Mrs. Khrushchev. I feel sorry for this group because they don’t have the house behind them. CARY: This is a sculpture done by a friend of ours, Katharine Umsted. It’s called ”‘Endless Column.” CARY: This is one of our pieces of Carol Channing’s luggage. I don’t travel with it. It’s not really functional. CARY: The bedroom. SIMON: Not too many people make it this far. CARY: And this plant stand was owned by Lauren Bacall. CARY: This is the room that Robert Venturi designed. SIMON: And spinning still life by Jonathan Borofsky. SIMON: You might have noticed that the fireplace is fake, but the blossoms are real. CARY: “Time Piece” by Richard Artschwager.” SIMON: Thanks for coming! CARY: Don’t be a stranger! [MUSIC PLAYING]
Cary Leibowitz and Simon Lince’s New York retreat brims with bright streamers, a faux fireplace by Robert Venturi — and royal commemorative mugs.
In her home, the artist Katherine Bernhardt conjures the giddy heyday of the Memphis design group.
Inside Betsey Johnson’s Malibu Dream House
The designer gives T a tour of her pretty but punk home in one of California’s most scenic trailer parks.
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House Tour | Adam Wallacavage
The artist, best known for his handmade octopus chandeliers, shows off his Victorian Gothic brownstone in South Philadelphia.
My name is Adam Wallacavage, and this is my house in South Philadelphia. The house was built in the 1890s. When I bought it in 2000, I changed it back to the fantasy idea of a Victorian freak show house. This is the Jules Verne room. One of my octopus chandeliers. This is the front parlor room. Gong. [GONG ECHOS] Paint tag by Philadelphia’s own Cornbread. “Neptune’s Revenge.” This is my “Pasta Cat.” [LAUGHS] Ceiling skeleton light. Fiberglass alligator. These are fun to bring to the beach. The kitchen. Trash-picked sign from Bambi Dry Cleaners. Homage to the late, great Becky Westcott. One of the guest bedrooms. Chinese wedding bed that I’m babysitting for a friend. This is my lamp mirror. This is going to be the Gothic Bollywood room, but it hasn’t really gotten there yet. [CLOCK CHIMES] My studio where I make all my lamps and chandeliers. Original print from artist Shepard Fairey. This is a lamp I’m making that’s in progress. My bedroom. My book collection, including my own book, “Monster Size Monsters.” Thanks for coming by.
Adam Wallacavage’s fascinations with period architecture and the sea converge in his maximalist Philadelphia brownstone.
Inside the Surreal Home of a Celebrated Milan Design Family
Barnaba Fornasetti has kept the fantastical spirit of his father’s namesake business alive in the clan’s house and offices, where whimsy and surprises abound.