Tel Aviv Villa
A tactile experience of the space, enhancing contemplation and relaxation.
A lot has changed in Tel Aviv over the past century. From the fledgling settlement, founded in the sand dunes on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean, Tel Aviv has grown into a global city – the technological and economic centre of Israel, and a thriving centre of contemporary design. It’s here that, in the 1930s, the ideas of the Bauhaus school, brought to Israel by architects and designers fleeing Nazi Germany, found their free expression in the White City district – now a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site – and it’s where contemporary architects and designers such as Salvatori collaborator Ron Gilad push their discipline to new levels: a fitting home, then, for our first flagship store in the Middle East.
Yet, as stimulating as Tel Aviv is, it is also possible to escape from the hustle and bustle for a relaxing weekend just further along the coast. With a commanding view over the tranquil sea, the Salvatori house offers an oasis of calm – the open, simple spaces defined by floor-to-ceiling windows that frame the view out along the coast and across the Mediterranean.
In the minimally appointed living room, the light rakes the Plissé surface in Silk Georgette®, a motif repeated on the Balnea drawers, creating a subtle play of light and dark that gently animates the space. Against this backdrop, Elisa Ossino’s flat, contrasting marble ‘painting’, Intarsi, echoes the geometric presence of Franz Siccardi’s Ta_Volo coffee table, and the stone ornaments – Ossino’s Omaggio a Morandi bottles and Kilo bookends, and a scent diffuser designed by Piero Lissoni – anchor the room against the constantly changing backdrop outside.
Throughout the house, honed Silk Georgette stone has been used on the floor to create understated variation that in its veining recalls the movement of the sea. The colour, too, evokes the muted tones of the sun-bleached beach the house is set on, and provides a connection to the organic forms of the natural world. In the bedroom, there is a calming, restful atmosphere, the rough sandblasted walls – with Ossino’s Urano lamp, crafted from a solid block of Bianco Carrara marble, and accessories by Vincent Van Duysen – complemented by a feature wall in Raw Silk Georgette.
The bathroom, connected to the exterior of the house via a pool that flows outside beneath the full-height windows, offers a sensual experience. Alternating stone surfaces in Silk Georgette, from honed, to Raw on the dual showers, and the ribbed effect on the double freestanding Adda basins encourage a tactile experience of the space, enhancing contemplation and relaxation.
