Luxury interior design: beauty, character and the way you live
What makes an interior feel personal? Beauty, atmosphere and daily rituals, shaped through interior architecture and Italian craftsmanship.
A room can make you want to stay. It might be the evening light across a richly coloured wall, a chair drawn close to the garden or the pleasure of gathering around a beautifully made table. Luxury interior design gives those experiences a physical form, through the architecture of the room and everything encountered within it.
A residence may be dramatic, restrained or a mixture of both. Its character develops from what its owner enjoys, values and wants to do there. Understanding those preferences gives the design a direction that a prescribed luxury style cannot provide.
Start with the life you want to lead
A good brief includes things to look forward to: Sunday lunches with the family, evenings with friends, a place to read with the door closed. It also considers what already belongs to the owner’s life. A painting, a collection or a much-loved table may give the new interior its direction.
References become useful when the client explains their attraction. Is it the colour, the sense of occasion, the view from the sofa or the way a room invites conversation? Someone who admires a grand dining room may want its warmth and sociability as much as its scale.
The brief then becomes specific. How many people sit down to dinner on an ordinary evening? How does that change when guests come? Which rooms should feel open, and which should offer retreat? The answers give the designer something to work with, alongside the property, programme and available investment.
The room takes shape before the furniture arrives
Interior architecture establishes how a place unfolds. A glimpse of a garden from the entrance can draw someone through the house; a lower ceiling over a seating area can give a large room a more intimate centre. Door positions, sightlines and the relationship between rooms influence movement and anticipation.
A furnished plan helps reveal how the room will feel in use. The view from the dining chair, sofa or hallway can expose a doorway that interrupts the seating, or a corner that deserves more attention. These are the viewpoints from which the interior will be lived.
AD’s full interior design for a private residence in Phnom Penh includes a basement lounge with a planted view through its window. The window, seating and lighting belong to the same composition, with the view informing the arrangement from the beginning.
Materials are experienced at close range
Stone is seen across a room, then touched at a basin or table. The grain of timber invites a closer look; upholstery is felt against the hand before someone settles into a chair. A strongly veined stone may bring the drama a client loves, while soft textiles make the surrounding seating welcoming.
The palette needs to work across the room and at close range. Samples seen together, in their intended orientation and light, reveal how the materials relate. Larger samples and actual slabs show variations that a small swatch cannot represent. Sitting in the chair or feeling the table edge brings another kind of knowledge to the choice.
Care belongs in the conversation too. How will a dining surface respond to regular entertaining? Can a textile be cleaned in the way the household expects? Italian craftsmanship becomes meaningful through material selection and the way edges, seams and junctions are made. A beautiful finish should come with a clear understanding of living with it.
A daily ritual can become a bespoke piece
At Sikder Haus in Dhaka, a handwashing point in the dining area became a basin carved from solid Portoro. AD’ Design Studio designed and commissioned it for that setting, with Fantini fittings in the completed installation. The piece has a sculptural presence, but its starting point is a familiar daily ritual.
A room may need an unusual proportion, a place for a particular collection or an object that brings pleasure to something done every day. That reason gives bespoke work its purpose.
The route from drawing to object needs equal care: the actual stone, the dimensions, the relationship to adjacent fittings and the fabrication details. The Portoro basin project follows that development through the workshop and into the interior.
Shape the atmosphere through the day
The same room may host a quiet breakfast and a lively evening. Daylight, curtains, lamps and architectural lighting give it different possibilities. Light can fall on a page, make faces easy to see around the dining table or soften the room around a small gathering. Each setting gives the interior a different pace.
Sound matters too. Guests should be able to talk around the dining table comfortably; a bedroom should offer the degree of quiet its owner needs. Hard surfaces, doors, equipment and adjoining activities all deserve discussion with the relevant specialists. Temperature and air movement also influence whether people want to stay.
Flowers or a preferred fragrance may belong in one home, while another owner wants a space without added scent. The sensory experience should follow the people using the interior. A photograph cannot settle these choices.
Give privacy a place in the plan
A family may enjoy a house full of guests and still want bedrooms, work and morning routines to remain separate. Someone working from home may need to receive a visitor without opening the rest of the house to them.
Trace those journeys. Where do guests arrive, leave a coat and find a bathroom? Can someone reach a quiet room while entertaining continues? Where household staff are involved, how do their routes support daily life? These questions influence room relationships before a finish is chosen.
Personal rooms can hold collections and familiar objects; shared rooms can have the presence of a place made for celebration. Planning for both gives the owner more freedom to use the home.
Carry those choices into the finished interior
The qualities discussed at the beginning need to remain recognisable as the project becomes more detailed. A window seat drawn for reading needs the right depth, a place for a book and light that reaches the page. A room intended for quiet conversation needs attention to sound as well as seating.
Small technical decisions can change the experience: an air outlet aimed at a favourite seat, a switch that is difficult to reach or a fitting that requires dismantling joinery for routine maintenance. AD’ develops the interior architecture and coordinates the relevant specialists around these relationships. The studio leads the team assembled for the commission; specialist responsibilities follow the agreed appointment and local requirements.
Drawings, details, material schedules and furniture selections give makers and contractors the information needed to realise the design. Samples and costs are reviewed as the proposal develops. Where procurement is included, AD’ purchases on the client’s behalf at source in Italy, within the agreed scope and approvals.
Begin with the property and what you want from it
AD’s residential interior architecture brings layout, architectural details, materials and furnishings into one design. The Phnom Penh residence shows that approach across a complete home, from shared rooms to more private settings.
To discuss a residence with AD’, share its location, current stage and what you would like life there to be like. Plans, photographs and a few references can help. The first conversation can establish which parts of the interior need developing and how the studio can work with any team already involved.