Tasked with bringing life to what was effectively a beautiful, if rigid, apartment in all the wrong shades of brown, Arent & Pyke have created a design language of form and texture, where surface patterns and tactility add layers of patterned nuance and detail. Designing with their client’s occupation as a geologist in mind, stone in particular has been selected with daring and an eye for interesting combinations.
The highly figured and verdantly dense Guatemala green marble of the powder room vanity for example is gorgeously rich. Designed as a large swathe of vanity and splash back with a footing detail, the marble is effectively separated by the front panels of Bottlebrush green joinery. The material shift, and slight pause in colour intensity gives the marble room to breathe, but also sets up a lack of visual clutter for the delightful introduction of pale lilac ceramic tap handles. “It gave us an opportunity for a moment of fun” says Sarah-Jane Pyke, Principal of Arent & Pyke. The depth of the colour, while bold and intense is also deep enough to read as recessive when viewing the room as a whole. At this point there should be a ‘don’t try this at home warning,’ as getting this balance right takes an exceedingly skilled eye and an abundance of experience, but, in being recessive and low, the upper space is made clear for the introduction if a vintage Murano glass pendant comprising a cascade of star shaped tubes of amber tinted glass. The result is sublime.
The kitchen design is very much about the whole space of the room and its relationship to both the interior of the home and the view outwards. A built-in-seat with Saarinen Dining Table (dedece) and Knoll executive dining chairs (also dedece) at the window provides the perfect place to sit back and view the home from an intimate advantage point that sees all the elements playing against each other. The island itself is a large and curving sculptural form set within a U shaped arrangement of cabinetry. Stained a deep blue, the grain of the timber veneer has become more pronounced, and in doing so has introduced the perfect imperfection of the natural as a surface of rhythmic patterns of light and shadow: “Its that deep sea blue that you really want to dive into that anchors it into place” says Pyke.
The marble selection is an extraordinary Viola Antica marble which Pyke describes as having “a layered rush of golden tones along with the bruised reds and so many little details in all that creamy expanse.” Used for the main flat surfaces of the kitchen benches and island, as well as for the high splash back stretching the width of the internal wall, the marble also appears as a bar nook in the wall joinery, and, as a fine inset band of curved marble, that wraps the island at shin height. This delightful detail, however, was almost not included as Pyke explains: “That was one of those things that nearly went, there was questions of how we would do it, and fatigue was closing in, but we pushed on and I’m so glad, it is a critical detail.”
Framing the marble above the splash back and to contain the wall cabinetry is a suede like wall in pale almond micro-cement plaster. It is pale and soft with the plaster wrapping the exhaust into the surface as a minimal interruption of the flow. In doing so, the stage is set for another gutsy lighting choice, in this instance a modernist mid century Sputnik pendent. Art has always been an essential component of an Arent & Pyke design and for this project the selection for the kitchen, ranges from a ‘Hand Studies’ painting by Anne Zahalka (Nasha Gallery) to the lovely ‘Ukraine Ear’ bronze sculpture by Oleksii Zolota (also Nash Gallery). The large ceramic bowl on the island is from Ondene, while the sculptural piece by the window is ‘Alveopora IV’ by Amelia Lynch (Arthouse Gallery).
Expanding further is a large expanse of wall joinery containing appliances including an eye level oven, built in fridge and a marble lined nook. The introduction of Avital Sheffer ceramics and a ‘French Moon Jar XIV (Rejuvenate)’ by Belinda Fox & Neville French (Arthouse Gallery) pick up the tonal shifts of the marble and introduce textural shifts within the shared palette. Further still, a large butlers pantry/scullery is tucked behind the wall with the range hood allowing the public face of the kitchen to be always appliance free and clear of clutter.
Related: Impactful design by Arent & Pyke
The primary bathroom, plays on these themes in a pared back execution that none the less continues to hero the stone. In this case the Calacatta Gold marble, which Pyke describes as having “fine bronze and golden veins that change across milky bases, which speaks to both the Viola Antica marble used in the kitchen and Calacatta Borgheni of the broad fireplace plinth. “They hint at the mineral surprises sprinkled throughout” says Pyke, to include the fine, web-like veins of the Golden Spider marble architrave lining the internals of the front door.
The custom designed joinery in solid oak timber is given an elegant accent with Joseph Giles solid brass cabinet pulls (The English Tapware Company). This is again paired with a selection of sculptural objects including a Roi stool by Collection Particuliere (Ondene), vintage Japanese bowl and vintage Japanese vase (Planet), Vintage Raku Japanese vase (Lia Klugman), vintage ‘Torpedo’ wall sconces by Mazzega from Nicholas & Alistair and a large Palm blossom jar (Ondene).
Within any good design there is an aesthetic language that carries throughout. Arent &Pyke’s mastery lies in their ability to switch this up, down or sideways without either entirely breaking or giving a confusing repeat. Instead, the degrees of finesse are tweaked, the colour exploded or the textures are pushed to the limit. With Bay House, there is a little of all these attributes at play, with never a false move, and always a bit of fun.
