Massimiliano Fuksas’s tips to decorate a house

The Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas is well known for his "futuristic designs and technological prowess". Mr Fuksas and his wife, Doriana Mandrelli, have four homes, one in France, in Paris, and three in Italy, in Rome, Tuscany and on Pantelleria island, in Sicily. They also have three main studios, in Rome, Paris and Shenzhen, China, and several projects all over the world from Nigeria to Italian southern regions.

A few weeks ago a reporter from the Wall Street Journalhad the privilege to enter their penthouse in the Italian capital, discovering some of the reasons behind the global success of this couple. While entering Fuksases' Roman home, it becomes immediately evident why they both consider this place a one of their major sources of inspiration.

Both the city and the 1940s building in which the house is located serve "as a romantic counterpoint to the couple's sharp taste in interior design, juxtaposing the high seriousness of French and postwar Italian Modernism with the low playfulness of postwar Italian art".

This house shows that all juxtapositions are allowed, until they manage to build a broad harmony embedding the whole house in a way that can decode a unique atmosphere. To achieve this aim, it is wise to focus on periods rather than on style, that is combining pieces of furniture coming from the same time rather than concentrating on matching similar styles.

Vases and fresh flowers are crucial in shaping the atmosphere of a house, as they can be arranged and mixed in many different ways, according to the owners' mood and changing taste. Finally, The Fuksases's believe that "even the most basic item can add a design element to your home", and that beautiful although not very useful pieces can find their place in every house: people just need to consider them sculptures and stop focusing on what they really are.

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