Romance is redefined in this old building in Treviglio

Romantic living: East of Milan, in the Lombardy town of Treviglio, a young designer puts romance into the future: In the old building Daniele Daminelli designed for his family, his own designs, vintage pieces and poetic nostalgia come together in a playful way.

For Daniele Daminelli, the living room has a "calming atmosphere": he himself designed the mirrored tables, the ceiling lamp in the style of Angelo Lelli is an antique. Laura Fantacuzzi & Maxime Galati Fourcade / Photofoyer

A dove with half unfolded wings, cobwebs on which glistening light falls, an ultra-modern table made of aluminum and glass, or a baroque carnival queen in a motion blur: on Daniele Daminelli's Instagram account, the splinters of a perception are lined up that always seems a touch more delicate and poetic than the vast majority of user worlds. "I see myself as a futuristic romantic," the 34-year-old designer says about himself.

There were long discussions about the walls in the bedroom: "Giulia really wanted a feminine tone. Finally, she convinced me by showing me a pale pink shoe box by Miu Miu. Now the room is my favorite because of the piercing light."

Laura Fantacuzzi & Maxime Galati Fourcade / Photofoyer

Things lighten up in the bedroom: against a pink background, Marcel Breuer's somewhat technoid-looking couch in black leather and a floral still life by Giulia's grandfather dally lightly with each other. The ceiling fresco and the cement floor are among the original elements of the apartment. During the remodel, they also came across an old fireplace that was turned back into a purely decorative hearth. The floor lamp next to it is by Azucena.

Laura Fantacuzzi & Maxime Galati Fourcade / Photofoyer

Daniele Daminelli rethinks romantic living

His style was mainly shaped in Milan, where he studied at the private Istituto Europeo di Design and later worked for interior tacticians Dimore Studio - he found his "best teacher" in co-founder Emiliano Salci. In the meantime Daminelli designs from his own studio 2046 - apartments, stores and furniture like the "Tavolo 01" for Nilufar.

In the living room of Giulia Crippa and Daniele Daminelli, the deep red of the walls, which tips into violet, effectively lends a touch of the princely. The South Sea blue Fifties sofa came from an auction, the multi-armed floral chandelier from an antique market in Liguria. Daminelli made the white painting himself and also found the butterfly behind glass (next to it) at a flea market.

Laura Fantacuzzi & Maxime Galati Fourcade / Photofoyer

For Daniele Daminelli, the living room has a "calming atmosphere": he himself designed the mirrored tables, and the ceiling lamp in the style of Angelo Lelli is an antique.

Laura Fantacuzzi & Maxime Galati Fourcade / Photofoyer

The studio is located in the small town of Treviglio in Lombardy. His partner Giulia Crippa bought a 130-square-meter old apartment there a few years ago (the house is from 1907), where the two now live with their children Camilla and Giacomo. Before the young family moved in, it was renovated from top to bottom, and so Daminelli's vision of style moved right in: "Where the original architectural structure appealed to me, I left it as it was - a ceiling fresco, the windows, the floor, yes, we even uncovered a forgotten fireplace! But to the corners that were more about storage and functionality, I tried to breathe contemporary energy - with furniture from different decades that sort of retell the evolution of my taste!"

"The closet in the bedroom (left) is from the 1940s and a real masterpiece - a lucky find from the flea market, even if we don't know who made it," explains Daminelli.

Laura Fantacuzzi & Maxime Galati Fourcade / Photofoyer

"The floating pink was chosen by Giulia - in a relationship you have to compromise!"

The bathroom and kitchen were covered with tiles by Ceramica Vogue. The purple upholstered chairs by Gio Ponti at the Saarinen table were bought secondhand by the owner of the house, as was the ash wood cabinet. He also found the Scarpa glass chandelier at an antique dealer. The color scheme of the apartment is always based on Chiaroscuro, the chiaroscuro painting that the early Baroque painter Caravaggio applied. Daminelli was interested in "the intense relationship between light and colors. The house cat Gina, drawn in black and white, could hardly fit better into the concept.

Laura Fantacuzzi & Maxime Galati Fourcade / Photofoyer

Bathing is all the more beautiful with indirect northern studio light. The vintage chandelier also hangs in the bedroom and is by Hans- Agne Jakobsson. The mirror and applique are from antique markets.

Laura Fantacuzzi & Maxime Galati Fourcade / Photofoyer

The all-dominant color scheme was inspired by the baroque painter prince Caravaggio: Most of the walls are bathed in a heavy wine red. "The floating pink in the bedroom, however, was chosen by Giulia," Daminelli notes. "You just have to compromise in a relationship!" The two did agree, however, on a historic wall hanging populated by birds and woodland flowers that countered the pragmatism of the large built-in closet in the hallway: The couple made it a gift to each other.

"My life partner is my most difficult customer, but she inspires me every day," Daniele Daminelli enthuses. It took half a year to redesign the apartment, in which Daminelli wants to pair "the romantic sophistication of past times with a comfortable lifestyle of today." In the hallway, for example, a built-in cabinet made of matt-lacquered plywood, which the interior designer inserted, and a runner in luminous colors enter into an only apparent mesalliance with an old wall hanging made of embroidered silk.

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