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This Vintage-Filled, Color-Blocked Apartment Is Contemporary Berlin at Its Best

Floral designer Lilo Klinkenberg’s Berlin apartment includes Mario Bellini sofas, Anderl Kammermeier chairs, and all sorts of other vintage treasures. Photos: Volker Conradus

There are plenty of people out there who have never been to Berlin, and so they think of it as “cool,” but only in a post-Wall, industrial, struggling artist kind of way; their mental picture of the city doesn’t stretch to include aspects like its abundance of green spaces, or all the trad rich communities in the West, or even the upwardly mobile creatives in the East who are renovating their spacious apartments, filling them with designer furniture, and regularly dropping 80 Euros on dinner at whatever new hotspot. Now that I’m in my 40s, that’s moreso the Berlin lifestyle I’m used to these days — having spent a dozen summers, plus one full year, living there — and more the vibe of floral designer Lilo Klinkenberg’s incredible 1,000 square-foot home in Kreuzberg, featured recently in AD Germany. Having originally grown up in the apartment, the 33-year-old was able to claim it fully as her own three years ago, and has spent the intervening years redoing the entire space in her own vision, from a new stainless steel kitchen to custom pieces like a brocade-wrapped sofa on a sleek metal base.

What got me so obsessed with the project, though — beyond the epic color-blocking — is the fact that I immediately recognized a fellow vintage addict in Klinkenberg, to the point where I literally have one of the candelabras pictured on her self-designed bookshelf. In AD’s interview she mentions shopping at local flea markets and on the German equivalent of Craigslist, where I have sourced many an object of my own in the past decade. Her home embodies not only contemporary Berlin, but also the interiors approach from our book, How to Live With Objects. Check out all the photos here, and consider following AD Germany on Instagram — its content can skew a little more edgy than its US equivalent, which is fun.

Alexis & Ginger’s New Mirrors Feel Like Stepping Inside an Art Nouveau Garden

Two of four mirrors in Alexis & Ginger’s new Flora and Fauna series, on view now at the Future Perfect in San Francisco.

One of the reasons we’re such fans of the New York design duo Alexis & Ginger is that they’re so meticulous and so clear about their process — they do exhaustive historical research into craft, art, and design, then use whatever interesting stories and aesthetic motifs they’ve collected to fuel their experimentation with different materials and techniques, all of it carried out by hand in their studio. As a result every project they release has a narrative behind it, which really counts for something in the trend- and social media–fueled world we’re living in now. Their new Flora and Fauna mirror series, created for an exhibition currently on view at The Future Perfect in San Francisco, comes out of work they’ve been doing lately with fused sheet glass (some of it for Petra); here, they’ve cut and layered it into abstract floral compositions which are melted in a kiln and fused to each mirror’s surface. The pair drew inspiration for these delicate glass paintings from Art Nouveau, Hilma af Klint’s botanical studies, Mondrian, Monet, and the stained glass windows of the Hagia Sophia, among others. But applying them to mirrors, the pair explains, allows them to not just channel a 19th century garden but actually place the viewer into the middle of one. “A mirror acts as a window or a threshold,” they note. “These pieces … transport the viewer to a new space, a place of abundance.”

Curved Wood, Glass Blocks, and Emerging Art at Juno Riyadh

Juno restaurant in Riyadh features wood paneling, glass blocks, and works by emerging artists. Photos: Oculis Project

When the Italian-American restaurant Juno added a second location in Riyadh recently, following the success of the original in Doha, it was like upscaling from Philadelphia to New York City — the space needed to grow, as did the design brief. The young firm MA Studio, brought back again for the new project, divided the larger restaurant space into separate rooms, lined in either curved wood paneling or floor-to-ceiling glass blocks. They added touches like In Common With sconces and photographs, standing screens, and paintings by local emerging artists, sourced by the UK art advisors Le Connoisseur. What’s so nice about the result is that it’s chic — and memorable, thanks in part to the art — but still quite understated, which is what you want in a restaurant interior; sort of like Billy Cotton’s design for Bridges in NYC. A space that’s cozy and doesn’t overpower the food, or the conversation.

Plaid, but Make It Ceramics: Alice Gavalet’s New York Debut

For her first solo show in the US, Alice Gavalet is bringing her hand-painted ceramic tables (left) and sconces (right) to Twenty First gallery in New York. Photos: Guillaume Landry

It’s fall in the northern hemisphere, so you know what that means: Every fashion outlet is going to start writing about how plaid is trending again. No way, really?! According to The Independent, though, there’s one key difference this year, which is the injection of pastels and neons into the patterns, which actually does make the news a little more interesting. It also makes a new solo exhibition of work by the expressive French ceramic artist Alice Gavalet — her first in the US, at Twenty First gallery in New York — feel even more timely. Opening next Thursday, the show, Pattern Play, features vessels, tables, lamps, and a statement cabinet glazed in drippy, bubbly plaids that are shot through with bright colors like aqua and acid green. Gavalet achieves the loose look by hand-painting her ceramic surfaces with layers of engobes, enamels, and oxides, both in plaid as well as a few stripes and spirals. She cites Betty Woodman as an inspiration, along with Elizabeth Garouste, whom she trained under at the start of her career in the early 2000s. “We both share the notion that making objects should be fun,” says Gavalet. Visiting this exhibition will no doubt be fun as well — on view through January 30.

Hauvette & Madani Build Their Own Universe Inside a Suburban Paris Home

Interiors and furniture are in harmony in Hauvette & Madani’s recent project in Paris. Photos: Matthew Avignone

For most designers, having the chance to create a Gesamstkunstwerk — a “total work of art,” i.e. a project that’s entirely their vision, from the structure down to the objects — is the absolute holy grail. I’ve seen many an architect or interior designer get all twinkle-eyed and melty when fantasizing about it. Which is not to say that this Paris residence by Hauvette & Madani is exactly a total work, seeing as the house itself was built by a separate architect, but when you consider how much of the studio’s own furniture and lighting forms the backbone of the project, it certainly feels in the same spirit. Having released two collections now under their house line — one in 2021, and one in late 2024 — the duo not only employed their planar oak chairs, angular pedestal lamps and sconces, and column tables liberally throughout the home, they also mirrored the materials palette of the furnishings, as well as their 1930s and ’40s inspirations, in details like the oak living room and bedroom paneling, Bauhaus grid motifs, Prouvé-style portholed oak front door, and curved white brick fireplace. Lest the home get too navel-gazing, though, they sprinkled in a few off-piste moments, including a Carlo Nason pendant lamp in the kitchen and several Studio HAOS pieces, but it’s certainly one of the more successful calling cards for a firm’s work that we’ve seen in recent years.

Editor’s List

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT

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Frieze London just ended — and I did not attend — but I’d venture to guess that this mixed-media piece by Francis Offman, at Herald St. gallery, would have been in my top 3. I’ve been a fan of the young Rwandan artist’s work since I first saw it at Frieze LA in 2022; incorporating elements like ink, coffee grounds, paper, and plaster, his paintings often remind me of carpets for some reason.

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I will admit that I learned about these Magsi light switch covers from an Instagram ad, and that I haven’t seen them in person so I’m not sure how quality they feel, seeing as they’re basically plastic shells designed to slip over your existing switch housings without requiring an expert install. But the fact that they’re intended as an easy upgrade for rental apartments, and come in four screw-free colors (these two, plus bright blue and white), makes them worth considering in my book. I do wish they were ceramic, but maybe that’s 2.0.

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Baggu is driving me a bit nuts with their latest holiday drop — I’m in love with this silver plissé tote, which also comes in burgundy and black, but I’m not really into using their totes as hand-carries / purses. Maybe they’ll see this newsletter and be convinced to scale this design up into a standard-size shoulder tote next year! I’d happily pay more for it!

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I continue to be obsessed with the Danish jewelry and housewares brand Griegst, which was artist-founded in 1963 and makes really beautiful, swirly, ocean-inspired cutlery, among other things. The hot tip, though, is that from time to time they share pieces on their Instagram that, like this large swirl tray in sterling silver, are only available by special order, not on their website. IYKYK, and now you know.

News

Palefire’s new Medium Orb wall light. Photo: Kim Lightbody

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Sight Unseen Collection mainstays Palefire have just launched their second collection of dyed and hand-painted paper pulp lamps, all based around a classic dome shape. The new chartreuse wave motif above is my favorite.
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I had been wondering what happened to the gallery Chic by Accident, one of the best design destinations in Mexico City, and it turns out they were changing addresses — from their longtime spot in Roma to a new home in Santa María la Ribera a bit further north, at Jaime Torres Bodet 138. Update those Mexico City maps!
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Remember when I reported two weeks ago on the new Calder Circus show at the Whitney in New York? The museum’s shop just dropped an (expensive!) eight-piece collection of clothing and accessories designed by Bode that’s inspired by the Circus’s characters and aesthetic. Would I wear a $400 brooch of Fanni the Belly Dancer? No, but I dig it!
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Maybe you already saw this on Instagram, but this week T Magazine dropped an incredibly fun house tour with our friends Eleni and Leonidas of Objects of Common Interest, featuring their renovated 1899 Brooklyn townhouse. Here’s the link, and make sure to watch the video!

Jobs

NES Creative is seeking a freelance account producer (press and media) in New York City
DuroDeco is seeking an outside sales representative in New York City
Daytrip is seeking an interior designer in London