We are admittedly tile obsessed. It’s the foundation of most bathrooms and certainly a top contender in kitchens. But with the start of the new year we’re craving softness, and a skirted sink seems like the perfect way to inject some. Whether traditional, rustic or bohemian, a little wave of fabric has the power to instantly lighten the mood. It’s less serious, a bit irreverent, and it gives your eye a place to rest in a room full of hard lines.
Taking a look back, the kitchen in Studio Shamshiri’s Los Angeles office tops our favourites from 2018. Unlike most offices, sister-brother duo Pamela and Ramin Shamshiri fashioned their new headquarters to feel like a house you’d like to hang out in rather than a place of work. Simple square tiles make up the kitchen sink and splash back but the character inherent in hand glazing makes them feel original to the building's 1920’s Spanish-Colonial architecture. Cabinetry would have looked perfectly nice underneath of course but the use of tasseled fabric instead is poetic. For similar effect, try our Hanley tiles paired with textiles from the Indian atelier Injiri or piece together a set of cotton Khadi hand towels.
On the opposite side of the aesthetic spectrum - and globe - fashion heiress Margherita Missoni Amos tapped Milanese architect Aldo Cibic to design her home in the small town of Varese, Italy, but she wielded her own style wand on the interiors. Where the rest of the home is bursting with Missoni’s signature riot of colors and a modernist midcentury vibe, the master bathroom is pure glam. But it’s not the backdrop of caramel-hued Giallo Siena marble that we found most striking. It’s the diaphanous skirted vanity that seems to float like a cloud in the room. The ruffles of fabric - an embroidered floral linen by Dominique Kieffer – is unexpected and adds such lightness to the space. Missoni repeated it on the window treatments and added a few more feminine touches (gilded light fixtures, a roll top bath) to balance out all those hard edges.
Here's hoping 2019 feels equally as balanced - a word often topping resolution lists!
© Trevor Tondro, Matthieu Salvaing