Santa Clara 1728 by Renée Kemps

October 2, 2017 Mindy Koenigsfeld

Welcome to Santa Clara 1728 in Lisbon Portugal. Take a peek inside this stunning home...

WE STUMBLED ACROSS AN ENCHANTING 18TH CENTURY BUILDING, IN ONE OF THE MOST ROMANTIC LISBON SQUARES, LOCATED IN THE OLD CULTURAL QUARTER OF THE CITY. SANTA CLARA 1728 IS SURROUNDED BY MONUMENTS, BEAUTIFUL PALACES AND A PARK WITH STUNNING VIEWS OF THE RIVER.

Charmed by the beauty of the place we soon discovered that we had found our new family home...

The renovation carried out under the guidance of our good friend Manuel Aires Mateus, not only respected the original heritage, but it also added serenity and comfort through the purity which defines his architecture. The outcome was a peaceful home where guests are welcomed as long time friends.

I would do anything to stay in this home. The interior design and decor are absolutely stunning. Minimal yet warm and inviting. I imagine the stay here is really special. One day!

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+ Photographed by Renée Kemps

Find out more about Santa Clara 1728, HERE.

At Home With: Designer Raphaël Van Gend

September 5, 2017 Mindy Koenigsfeld

Touring the beautiful home of Belgian-born Designer, Raphaël Van Gend.

Take a peek into his stunning home in Brussels.

“Despite an intense attention to detail, the 1920s house is uncluttered to the point of emptiness. ‘‘To me, an absence of things is peaceful,’’ Van Gend says. With a deft sense of composition, he arranged almost cinematic vignettes with a scarce amount of furniture chosen from a variety of periods: geometric brass sconces by the postwar Belgian designer Jules Wabbes, a square, patinated steel chair by the contemporary designer Franck Robichez and a creamy, undulating sofa by Pierre Paulin, originally manufactured in the late ’60s. When he couldn’t find an armchair to complement the sofa, he designed a swiveling leather captain’s chair upholstered in Kvadrat fabric. He also re-envisioned the room’s intricate floor, polishing the interlocking grid of tiles custom-cut from solid chips of oak into a pale finish.”

A beautiful space that's absolutely pristine. For how minimal and white everything is, I somehow find this space to feel very inviting. I could compare it to a Gallery space that reels you into the details of a piece of work. I want to study that sofa, walk around it, take it all in. Although, I would find it too terrifying to actually take a seat as if it were an art piece. However, Gend's studio is another story. I want to touch everything in there. Study the pencil and notebooks he has layed out on his desk to maybe get a bit of a glimpse into his creative mindset. It's truly an inspirational space.

View more images and read more about Raphaël Van Gend online via The New York Times, here.

Inside Samir Shahid's Minimal Home.

June 28, 2017 Mindy Koenigsfeld

'“At work, I have so much stuff around me,” Shahid explains. “And then you come here and it’s serene, calm.” This strict aesthetic applies throughout the apartment, from the streamlined kitchen to the shower taps in the master bath.'

I remember bookmarking this interview forever again but I always look back at it as an inspirationional interior. The sleek, minimal apartment is a breath of fresh air. Everything has a place and a purpose.

“I always use the words ‘simplicity’ and ‘direct,’ ” he says.

'To enter Shahid’s three-story prewar apartment in Greenwich Village is to understand those words, and to get the sense that success has bought him something else: silence. In a way, it is a reaction to the demanding whirl of fashion. He has created a nearly empty setting in which even his most soul-satisfying possessions — books, art — are banished from sight behind doors that blend seamlessly with the walls. It’s as though he has chosen to contain his passions in order to clear his head and, at the same time, draw out the openness of the space.'