In this line of work, we see nearly every interior and we’re left sweating most of them on a daily basis, but this absolute stunner of a home in Lisbon has us more envious than ever. It’s the residence and studio of French design duo Olivier Garcé and Clio Dimofski, who purchased it as a fixer-upper in Anjos, a central yet long-overlooked neighborhood that has only recently become trendy. The apartment’s original 19th-century details won over the couple, and they were determined to preserve and highlight as many of the decorative door frames and ornate plaster moldings as possible. Garcé & Dimofski chose to juxtapose these elements with contemporary furniture and artworks, resulting in a dramatic contrast and a dreamy abode.

Like many creatives over the past few years, the designers relocated to Lisbon with their daughter Zoë and dog Lewitt (as in Sol) in 2021, after working separately in Paris (Garcé at Hamonic + Masson & Associés; Dimofski at Shigeru Ban), and then together in New York during a stint with Pierre Yovanovich that overlapped with the pandemic. For a brief period, the duo opened up their West Village apartment as an appointment-only furniture showroom, and the idea kind of stuck. The couple now similarly use their Portuguese live-work base to showcase their own designs amongst pieces by others — forming a space for experimenting with ideas that they also happen to live with.

In the living area, Garcé & Dimofski’s Helios sofa, Mimi coffee table, and Almond sconces sit beside a pale-pink Tadashi Kawamata painting and a 20th-century mask from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Meanwhile, wainscoting and doorways in the primary bedroom are painted pale green, while picture moldings frame a series of Alexander Mignot paintings. Pieces by contemporary designers such as Charlotte Taylor, Studio Haos, and Garance Vallée dot the interior; a special round of applause for the blackened-pine dining chairs by Minjae Kim that accompany a vintage Axel Einar Hjorth table, as well as the powder-blue bathtub — one of many items in the apartment made in collaboration with a local ceramic artist, such as the bases of the coffee table, office desk, guest room bed, and the kitchen and bathroom tiles. Lastly, let us not forget the marbled skirting boards in the oxblood-red hallway (there’s that color again), or the ziggurat-like fireplace that’s up there with the very best.