Despite surviving a World War relatively unscathed, this 100-year-old apartment, located in a tenement block in the centre of Warsaw, had retained none of its original features. For the local interior designer Katarzyna Baumiller, it was important to reintroduce those elements.
She salvaged what she could, from architraves to ceiling roses, and lovingly recreated the rest. Despite this care and attention, though, she was determined for her design not to be defined by the home’s grand character.
‘I have deliberately juxtaposed rich plaster mouldings and classical parquet with reflective tiles and elements of coloured, lacquered steel,’ she tells us. ‘The interior is enriched by refined materials, but I have treated them with detachment and humour.’
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It’s a devil-may-care attitude that is shared by this home’s owners – a young family who recently moved back to Poland from New York City. ‘They approached unusual ideas with boldness and encouraged me to look for new forms,’ says Katarzyna.
The result is sculptural mirrors that reflect the minimalist rooms in unexpected ways and beautiful dip-dyed curtains (named ‘Synaesthesia’ by Katarzyna, after the neurological phenomenon that causes people to associate colours with numbers and letters).
The latter’s flashes of lavender, pink and indigo stand out against a stark white backdrop. They are shades that reappear on lighting and bespoke cabinetry, as well as an incredibly abstract piece designed especially for the owners’ cats, one of which has mobility issues – its unique shape allows them to safely jump on and off the structure.
This project has inspired Katarzyna so much that it’s the basis for a new furniture line which, she divulges, ‘combines craftsmanship with creative frenzy’. @katarzynabaumillerstudio
