Achille Salvagni Opens The Doors To His London Atelier

After more than a year in stand-by, designer Achille Salvagni has finally opened the doors to his new London atelier. Located in Mayfair District, the city’s poshest neighbourhood, the two-story gallery brings together all of Salvagni’s most prized creations under one roof.

The space also allowed Achille Salvagni to be his own client and build his vision from the ground up, transforming the location’s existing rough bricks, uneven concrete floors, and disjointed floor plan into a soothing cocoon for his latest furniture and lighting designs.

Inside, the architectural designer installed buttery herringbone wood floors, meticulously handcrafted plaster walls, and experimented with suspended ceilings and shapely mouldings that conceal modern-day technologies, like digitally controlled spotlights. Windows framed in bronze lend a warm glow while serving as the dynamic stage for pieces crafted from likeminded materials.

Linking the two levels is a wavelike staircase composed of blue South American marble, punctuated with whimsical details, including a small sculpture from Fabio Gnessi, and cast-bronze “coral” detail.

The atelier’s separate floors allow for Achille Salvagni to demonstrate different settings for his remarkable designs. On the street level, pieces like the sinuous new Alligator sofa are displayed in an unobstructed floor plan, while the lower floor creates cosy nooks for more intimate interactions with items and vignettes.

An airiness to the atelier allows for visitors to view these new and existing furnishings in a gallery-esque setting, while at the same time demonstrating their functionality. Most prominent, an update of the designer’s iconic Spider chandelier has been rendered in blue-lacquered bronze and expanded to almost 12 feet in diameter.