“I’m a designaholic,” jokes Claudia Pignatale, founder of the now internationally renowned gallery, Secondome. “I try to mix all the things that I love in one project.” Her self-styled aesthetic, “mix and match with a touch of color,” certainly rings true for her home, but also for Secondome. Located in the heart of Rome, Italy, just a few blocks from the Tiber River, Pignatale opened the doors to her gallery/workshop in 2006 to elevate emerging designers and artists, particularly those who create limited-edition pieces in an old-world, artisanal fashion. The result? Objets d’art swathed in a contemporary whimsy.
“I’m curious, like a monkey,” explains Pignatale, who fancies the projects of fellow Italian Gio Ponti – calling his coffee table tome her bible – as well as the interiors of French architect India Mahdavi.
“I like to travel, and I travel a lot for work. You can find inspiration everywhere, but the first inspiration for me comes from the building,” she describes. “I usually do projects with art and design together, and as the master says, ‘The stronger material is art.’”
For Pignatale’s own home, lots of color and joie de vivre sensibility peeks out at every turn, highlighting her philosophy that the mind follows the energy of the room. “You’ve got to see cheerful designs and colors to be cheerful yourself,” she states. Take, for instance, her living room: A floor-to-ceiling and nearly wall-to-wall bookcase adorned with books, pottery and sculptural accents grounds the room, with an asymmetrical loveseat resting in front and three punchy coffee tables of varying heights and shapes capping the little sun-drenched nook.
These streaks of abundant sunlight are the most crucial design element, not only in this room but also throughout the entire home. “It is the most important thing you can find in interiors,” Pignatale explains. “When the light changes, the perception of the room changes. Every space is a mix of light, nature, view and what you put in to be in harmony with those elements.”
Unafraid of a bright hue or a playful piece of décor, like the nearly life-size, ocean-blue penguin that lords over the kitchen, Pignatale’s style is, above all, fearlessly fun. “It’s a beautiful, colorful world, not a black-and-white world,” she affirms, “even if I wear black and white myself.”
Photography by Serena Eller.
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