House Tour: Old meets new at this floral designer's lush home and atelier
By Asih Jenie -
At floral designer Dylan Tripp’s home in Rome, houseplants are allowed to grow unmanicured, the furniture is a delightful mix of designer pieces, fine antiques and handmade mementos, and anywhere you stand, you have a connection to the garden.
Floral designer Dylan Tripp’s home in Rome is something out of a story book. Nestled between the arches of the city’s historic Felice aqueducts, the cosy abode opens up to a garden more than triple its size.
Formally trained as a fashion designer, Dylan has worked for luxury fashion houses Fendi and Valentino and opened a lifestyle concept store before branching out into floral design in 2012.
These days Dylan spends his time making floral artworks for discerning clients.
Dylan shares the home with his partner and their daughter. He renovated the interior of the 900 sq ft home himself.
The property’s vast, 3,200 sq ft garden serves both as his atelier’s workshop, and an outdoor space for entertaining family and friends.
“It is very relaxing to touch the earth, to caress petals and plants, to establish a strong bond with nature, it is like being a part of an ancient world,” he says.
He has reinforced the indoor-outdoor connection by enlarging the main entrance, adding windows on both sides of the door to create a square opening that frames the garden. The ground floor is basically one rectangular large open space containing the living, dining and kitchen areas. Anywhere one stands on this floor, one can always get a glimpse of the garden outside.
The interior of the home is a charming mix of old and new. Its curated content speaks of a homeowner well-versed in the world of design. Yet, there is an exuberant mish-mash of things and an organic quality to the home that renders it warm and approachable.
Furnishing the living room are 1950s vintage sofa and armchairs from Porte de Clignancourt market in Paris. The floral tapestry on the wall is an 1860s trompe l’oeil curtain from an old estate in Provence.
Designer furniture pieces exist harmoniously with fine antiques and handmade souvenirs acquired from trips around the world. Here, red vase by Gaetano Pesce sits on top of a red table by Maarten Baas, adding a delightful pop of colour into the room.
Houseplants have been allowed to flourish unmanicured, so has the book collection, which runs the gamut from heavy design tomes to well-thumbed children’s books.
In the kitchen, Tom Dixon’s Etch lights are paired with antique frames and paper pulp vases from Serax.
Here and there, the original architectural feature are juxtaposed with fresh finishes. This is most apparent on the floor, where old decorative cement tiles meet the new, seamless resin-coated concrete floorings.
It is dressed in mint, navy, white and metallic accents - a gender-neutral palette that is fun and fresh.
The minimalist design of the sink juxtaposes nicely with the original cement floor tiles and many decorative mirrors.
The stairs leading to second floor is unassuming and decorated with memorabilia.
The same old-meets-new approach applies in the garden, where existing trees and shrubs grow lush between furniture, their leaves and branches peeking, poking and intruding.
Dylan delights in the gentle, playful invasion, taking the inspirations and letting the flora inside the interior as a guest and a leitmotif that gives the home its distinct characteristic.