Home News and Events Room for Myself - FROM THE PERFECT HOME TO A HOME OF YOUR OWN

Room for Myself - FROM THE PERFECT HOME TO A HOME OF YOUR OWN


There are beautiful homes that we can hardly remember five minutes later. And then there are imperfect rooms that we simply cannot stop looking at: a wall completely covered in books, a photograph placed almost at random, a ceramic piece that has turned up from who knows where, next to an object that seems to have been there forever.

It is often precisely those things that seem to have come together by chance that make an interior interesting. Not because design is any less important, but because a home is never made up solely of what has been designed: it is filled with objects, habits, memories and everything we choose to keep. And that is how it begins to resemble us.

For a long time, a significant part of our domestic imagination has moved in the opposite direction

For a long time, a significant part of our domestic imagination has moved in the opposite direction. First magazines, then Pinterest, Instagram and Airbnb have accustomed us to impeccable interiors – perfectly co-ordinated and instantly recognisable. Homes that are very different from one another have thus ended up sharing the same colours, the same objects and the same combinations.

Today, we seem to have grown tired of all that perfection. Bookshelves are filling up again, personal items remain on display, and collections no longer need to be arranged according to a system that everyone can understand.

For years, we sought out homes to photograph. Today, we are increasingly interested in homes that manage to tell the story of those who live in them.

As often happens when something begins to appear more and more frequently in our homes, someone ends up giving it a name. The term ‘Bookshelf Wealth’ has been used to describe interiors built around books, artworks and objects collected over time; and ‘Lore Building’ for homes so personal that they contain references, memories and combinations that make complete sense only to those who live there.

Labels aside, it is interesting what these phenomena seem to reveal: after years of having access to a virtually infinite number of images and references, what acquires value is precisely that which we cannot replicate with a single click. A book read until it’s worn out, with a bookmark peeking out from between the pages; a collection started without realising it would become a collection; that ugly painting we inherited; and that one thing that keeps following us through every house move.


The point, then, is not simply to surround ourselves with more things

The point, then, is not simply to surround ourselves with more things. It is about being able to create a space where the things we choose and the things we already own can coexist. A bookcase can be a structured arrangement and, at the same time, a place where books, photographs and mementos accumulate. Panelling can define the architecture of a wall without completely dictating its narrative. Glass, ceramics, colours and light can give character to a space whilst, at the same time, allowing the objects themselves to complete it.

This is where personalisation becomes something more than simply choosing a finish. In Alf DaFrè’s Day Collection, panelling, storage units and display cabinets come together to form a composition that incorporates materials, light and objects. Glass or ceramic worktops introduce different materials and reflections; Teca doors and Aura display cabinets make the objects part of the composition; and integrated lighting alters the perception of surfaces and volumes.