Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1543536
Gisela Borghi's work area in the living room, with an Eero Saarinen-designed table and Carl Hansen Wishbone chair. On the wall, a series of 19th-century papal portraits. Opposite: In the bathroom, Orbit sconces by Workstead. Zucchetti Morphing basin by Ludovica Serafini + Roberto Palomba. Green Marmorino plaster troweled finish on wall, inspired by Luis Barragán. Lucignano, furnishings have historically been shaped by use rather than ornament, a practical sensibility that stands in contrast to places like Venice, where wealth and trade produced more elaborate interiors layered with gilding, carving, and marble. Borghi says some of their favorite days were spent ducking into small, crowded shops, asking basic questions such as "Do you have a mirror?" Often, the owner would lead them into a back room or warehouse, weaving through piles of objects before pulling out something extraordinary. It's already night in Lucignano, Borghi tells me, and the streetlight outside the window casts a soft glow back into the room. She's seated at a mid-century-designed Saarinen tulip table that she uses as a worktable, set close to an old stone fireplace. Above it hangs a 19th-century gilt mirror, and along the mantel is a small grouping of taxidermy blackbirds, acquired from a museum that was deaccessioning part of its collection. The room functions as both living and dining space. Contemporary seating anchors one side, including a generously scaled sectional by Vetsak. Opposite, a long cedar dining table stretches the length of the room, custom fabricated by La Falegnameria, a Tuscan carpentry workshop founded in the early 1970s; molded resin chairs by the Italian company Calligaris surround the table. Elsewhere in the palazzo, contemporary lighting mixes with antique crystal chandeliers, and old and new furnishings feel harmonious. The aim, Hocker says, was to make the interiors feel like "a succession of people living there." In the main bedroom, a Le Bambole armchair by Mario Bellini for B&B Italia is used as everyday seating, while an 18th-century dresser from Pienza remains in service. Throughout the house, furnishings follow a similar logic: an 18th-century secretary from Pienza, a candle-storage bench from a convent in Lucca and painted wooden candelabra from the 17th century. Some paintings are leaned against the walls rather than hung, a reminder that the house continues to evolve and that not every surface is meant to be filled. Religious works hang alongside secular paintings, devotional objects sharing walls with landscapes and portraits. A late-17th-century painting of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, depicted with a palm and book, rests on the floor near a Northern Italian Cristo wood carving dating to the 16th or early 17th century. A small Flemish memento mori tavoletta from the mid- 16th century sits in the living room, while a 1917 French School painting depicting Fort Souville hangs in a bedroom, its World War I subject matter adding another layer to the house's long history. After centuries of change and many lives before theirs, the once-abandoned palazzo has begun a new chapter. "Gisela and I created something really special together," Hocker says. "This is home." 95