For this year’s Salone Del Mobile, Carl Hansen & Søn created The Milan Home, a carefully curated apartment to explore the way we translate our spaces into a home. Asking “How is a space transformed into a place to live? How does a collection of furniture become a sanctuary?”, the space explored how people experience their homes, layer by layer.
With set design and styling from our long-time collaborator Despina Curtis, each room represents a new chapter in living as the rooms unfold. All photography Ben Anders.
“Our home is a place for comfort and privacy while at the same time serving as a mirror to reflect our identity. Each day, as we inhabit and experience our house, we create more layers for our homes. Emotions, atmosphere, memory, attraction and comfort are as much of our home as the furniture we choose to have in it, and it is the relationship between the two that translates a space into a 'lived in' home - somewhere that is ours, that leave us with a sense of wellbeing and self. Carl Hansen & Søn put these immeasurable assets to the forefront: we celebrate the spirit that inhabits a home, spaces that are designed for real life, for everyday lives. Our design principles reflect the adaptability and functionality of modern life with the soul and heart of crafting the beautiful pieces of furniture that we choose to share our lives with. Providing a thoughtful framework for the rituals and functions that make a home, our collection sets the scene for everyday life: a space that is always evolving and growing - being lived in.” Carl Hansen & Søn
CHAPTER 1: THE HALLWAY: “HOME & PRIVACY”
The Milan Home 2017' by Carl Hasen & Søn. Set design & styling by Despina Curtis; Photography by Ben Anders
THE MILAN HOME 2017: Explore the first chapter of The Milan Home as we transition from the outside world into the hallway - a space for privacy as well as public display
Our home functions as a transition between our public and private lives, with the hallway as the most direct passage between the two. This space is the entranceway to our house and perhaps our homes and lives as well.
Rich walnut woods and upholstered midnight blues create an elegant yet unobtrusive first impression, with the ingenious Mogens Koch bookcase featuring a curated selection for the public eye.
The room is both a heartfelt introduction to our home as well as a 'separator' of the outside world. It is always a game of hide and display, as we make suggestions to our private lives as well as external eyes during the transition between what we share with others, and what we keep for ourselves.
CHAPTER 2: THE KITCHEN: "HOME & SHARING"
Set design & styling by Despina Curtis; Photography by Ben Anders
The Milan Home 2017' by Carl Hasen & Søn. Set design & styling by Despina Curtis; Photography by Ben Anders
THE MILAN HOME 2017: Discover the second chapter of The Milan Home as we enter the kitchen - no longer a purely functional space but a place for social encounters and spending time together.
No longer hidden from public view as an entirely practical space, the kitchen has become the heart of the home - balancing the intrinsic function and practicality of the room with surroundings that encourage sharing, socialness, being together.
The desire for these values has shifted our view of the kitchen: we strive to create a beautiful and artful space that can contain almost all elements of lived-in life. It is also a space for conscious function and decision - prioritising eating together as a family.
This newly important space for dwelling inspires the desire to surround ourselves with beautiful and enriching materials that add to our social encounters - a feast for all senses. The Mogens Koch bookcases and cabinets play a key role in creating a tactile and crafted backdrop to this room's experiences.
CHAPTER 3: THE DINING ROOM: "HOME & REPRESENTATION"
The Milan Home 2017' by Carl Hasen & Søn. Set design & styling by Despina Curtis; Photography by Ben Anders
THE MILAN HOME 2017: In the third chapter of The Milan Home we are invited into the formal dining room - a space for special gatherings and representation
A room reserved almost entirely for special occasions, the table marks the difference between routine and feast day. This room is more formal in its aesthetic using modern walnut paneling on the walls, referencing the room's traditional function.
Traditionally a place of hierarchy where everyone had his or her place at the table, our modern dining area create an equal space for sharing thoughts and inviting people into your home, reflected in the warmth and tactility of the wood, rounded corners, organic shapes and low-backed chairs that are the antithesis of the stiff and formal dining scene.
More than just a room with table and chairs, this space is where we enjoy lingering, talking and discussing well beyond when the meal ends.
CHAPTER 4: THE STUDY "HOME & IDENTITY"
The Milan Home 2017' by Carl Hasen & Søn. Set design & styling by Despina Curtis; Photography by Ben Anders
The Milan Home 2017' by Carl Hasen & Søn. Set design & styling by Despina Curtis; Photography by Ben Anders
The fourth chapter of The Milan Home explores the study - a place to open your mind and reflect.
The study is generally a protected space in a home. It is often personal to one individual, or a shared space where two minds work companionably. In our home the study is not a fortress, instead it is passage between two more social rooms that acts as a pause. Its position within the space encourages it to be somewhere to open the mind, to reflect.
We have split this room into two smaller spaces, incorporating the Poul Kjærholm desk for a classic set-up, and using the leather seating area as a place for relaxation and decompression, showcasing the beautiful soft leathers in the collection.
CHAPTER 5: THE LIVING ROOM: "HOME & MEMORY"
The Milan Home 2017' by Carl Hasen & Søn. Set design & styling by Despina Curtis; Photography by Ben Anders
THE MILAN HOME 2017: Settle into the living room as the fifth chapter of The Milan Home unfolds. The living room is a space curated around nostalgia, memory, and warmth and sets the scene for some of our most heartening moments.
The living or 'family' room is where some of our most comforting memories are formed. It is a space we curate around nostalgia, around security, around comfort. Every piece chosen for this room enhances and reflects the owner's personality and is often the most curated space in the home: always a play between our presentation to the outside world, and the physical embodiment of a lifetime of memories and emotion.
Our modernist family room has a bold colour palette inspired by 1930's architecture. The angles and curves in the furniture encourage a visual flow and comfort.
The angular fireplace, surrounded by elegant and timeless Ole Wanscher pieces, is a central element of the living room and instantly connects to the sense of home in an almost archaic way. Once upon a time, there could be no home or life without a fire. This symbolism of the fireplace is a strong identifier of home and creates warmth and atmosphere - almost like the Danish hygge.
"Homes are as much about memories and aspirations as they are about walls and shades of paint."- Avi Friedman
CHAPTER 6: THE BATHROOM: "HOME & INTIMACY"
The Milan Home 2017' by Carl Hasen & Søn. Set design & styling by Despina Curtis; Photography by Ben Anders
THE MILAN HOME 2017: The sixth and concluding chapter of The Milan Home opens the door to the bathroom - a darker, calming space that creates a sanctuary and a cocoon for nurturing oneself.
The bathroom is where rituals are carried out each day before we get ready to leave our home, or to replenish our body and mind after a long day before going to sleep.
The focus is on materials that connect naturally to the sense of touch: the crafted Mogens Koch Bookcase works as a natural extension of our wider home into this intimate space.
Taken from ‘The Milan Home 2017’ an initiative by Carl Hansen & Søn for Salone del Mobile, 2017. View Carl Hansen & Søn designs.
Set Design and Styling by Despina Curtis
Photography by Ben Anders
