“I look at myself as a professional who plays with senses more than rationality to achieve the pleasantness of the spaces I work in,” admits Turin-based, Italian designer Carlotta Oddone. “I like places and objects that – boom! – hit you straight in the heart and not the brain.”
Asked to describe what senses her own home, which she shares with her husband, two sons and a student from the Republic of the Congo, would evoke, she elaborates, “It’s like a Coltrane note or a gracious patchouli scent. No caviar or champagne; luxury is often easy and predictable. I like more of a mix of violet, nasturtium and chicory – unconventional ingredients with a surprising taste.”
(Left) Artwork by Anna Maria Colace. (Right) Black Edition wallpaper for Romo, IC Lights by Michael Anastassiades for FLOS, tropical velvet cushions by Oddone.
A look around her rooms confirms this. They are loungy and mellifluously fluid, like a riff on Coltrane’s tenor sax, earthy and spicy like patchouli, and sweet yet piquant like the aromatic plants she enumerates. The house was built by a cardiologist in 1930, who also had a detached cottage erected in the garden for his driver. Oddone’s four-bedroom residence, which occupies about 2,370 square feet, comprises the first floor of the original doctor’s house and the garden cottage.
Large kitchen cabinet, custom designed by Oddone, collections of 1950s chairs, iron table designed by Oddone and ceramics by Turin artist Maddalena Boero.
Oddone herself, who holds a degree in philosophy, began designing fabrics after a successful career in journalism and a stint in Rio de Janeiro, where she absorbed the vibrant colors and bold patterns of that culture. Her signature became floral, avian and animal designs that were bold and over-scaled.
Yet none of the designer’s work startles you into a sense of effrontery because they are reproduced on sumptuous textiles like thick, course linens, silk velvets and cotton viscose. This softens their edges and effectively sidesteps the insolence of many outsized patterns, arriving at something more tactile and rich. Her business eventually expanded into handbags, poufs, lighting, china, pillows and wallpaper, some of which decorate her own home and the various residential projects she now also designs. Recently she has dipped her toes into the American market through the Italian design platform Artemest.
“Hard and graphic is not my style choice,” she admits. “To the contrary: softness is key. I am often asked for exactly that – to smooth and soften spaces that seem a bit rigid after a rigorous renovating project. Textiles are my main partners in this job.”
Indeed, Oddone’s Turin home is all right angles and blocky rooms. These are first mitigated by coats of luscious jewel tones applied to the walls, many of them in mottled textures like Venetian plaster or distressed finishes (i.e., a custom cabinet in the kitchen, door frames). One exception is a fire-engine-red bath, which was a way of vivifying a small windowless box. The red creates, she notes, a kind of “wow effect.”
There are also plenty of flowers and patterns, often covering vintage furniture (“I like everything that has a story”). And tones of warm amber, deep turquoise, smoky garnet, ethereal amethyst and luminous tourmaline bring on visual depth and moody lounge vibes.
Oddone’s unique touches, as well as the weathered wall surrounding the garden, create an atmosphere that belies the reality of the busy metropolis of almost 850,000 people that surrounds her. It is, she happily observes, “something between an urban apartment and a charming country house.”
Photography by Barbara Corsico.
Styling by Chiara Dal Canto.
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