Livingetc | COV-ISS4 | P3

Irene Gunter doesn’t start with moodboards or color swatches but a with a list of questions instead - a foolproof list guaranteed to make your house a home, as she tells our executive editor Pip Rich

The Designer Setting Out a Whole New Way to Decorate

Pip rich Irene, I’m always inspired by your very thoughtful approach to design. What is informing your decor decisions at the moment?IRENE GUNTER I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few months about what makes people feel at home, and how I can harness that sense to create better spaces. What I’m finding to be more interesting than aesthetics, and asking people what colors they like visually, for example,is to ask them lots of other weird and wonderful questions instead. Things like what time they wake up, what they do the moment they wake up, what they do when they come home – if they need a space to dump their things while they say hello to kids or pets or grab a drink. It helps me build a better understanding of the design they’re going to need.PR That makes sense, to decorate for real life rather than an imagined version of it.IG Right. And then to find out what the concept of home means, I ask my clients for their favorite childhood memories, which could be anything from their grandmother’s piano to a Mickey Mouse motif they had on their bedroom wall. Whatever made them feel safe, soothed or uplifted. In this way, you start to get into the nitty-gritty of a person’s soul, to understand what puts a smile on their face. We might end up then putting a nod to Mickey Mouse inside a cupboard where only they will see, but it will always help them feel grounded.

PR So this is like a checklist that anyone could ask themselves before they begin any redecoration project, and try to fold those memories into their designs?IG Absolutely. A home is somewhere that is meant to ground you. The more connections we can feel to our surroundings, the better. Because we’re moving away from open-plan spaces on the whole, we need to find other ways to connect to people who aren’t necessarily in the same space as us. This could be through visual connection – having a piece of art that you can see through a doorway that attracts you into adjoining rooms – or good acoustics.PR Is this approach changing what you’re putting into a room?IG Yes. Be sensible about how many seats you’ll need, and don’t overcrowd a space with more chairs than you’ll ever have people. The ergonomics of a space are reduced if you cram it with furniture. I’m a big fan of window seats – people are drawn to light – so could you focus your seating around the window instead of, say, a TV? Isn’t that more appealing?

A home is somewhere that is meant to

ground you. The more connections we

can feel to our surroundings, the better.

Photography Shane McCauley / @shanemccauley stylist Danielle Goldberg / @daniellegoldberg Hair Stylist Irinel de Leon @ Mane Addicts / @hairinel Makeup Artist Dana Delaney @ The Wall Group / @dana-delane Manicurist Natalie Minerva @ Forward Artists / @natalieminervanails Set Designer Cecilio Dolcetto Lara Ramirez / @dolcetto Director / DP James Ollard @ Amusement Productions / @amusementproductions.la Director of Production Samantha Rockman / @rockman_productions Executive Director, Entertainment Jessica Baker / @jbake21 VP of Creative Alexa Wiley / @awiley_creative Global Brand Director Sarah Spiteri / @Sarah Spiteri

Return home

PR You are always so good at lighting. I think of the pink dining room in one of your projects (above), and the way the lights are conical so as to create such an intimate, downwards flow of illumination, drawing people together.IG The magic touch is when you have beautiful lighting, anything that creates cosiness and isn’t too architectural. That dining room ceiling was painted in Rouge II by Paint & Paper Library, one of my favorites. It makes you feel flattered, so I also use it in bedrooms, as its plaster hue helps you feel good even when naked! PR I agree! Back to ceiling colors, when would you go darker than the walls, as you did with that dining room? IG When I want to make the ceiling seem lower. That’s not a bad thing when you’re looking to foster intimacy. A notion that can bring people together, make people feel soothed, and, yes, like they’re at home.

Italian design houses are where trends begin, and this edit of recent launches from the world’s best brands is what is informing all the key looks and references right now

Emerging Icons: The Italian Furniture Shaping How Designers Are Decorating Now

Photography Ori Harpaz

The colors and shapes of this dining room, designed by Irene Gunter, were chosen to help bring people together and allow them to have a good time

The designer Irene Gunter

Lead image: The living room of Rancho Pelicano in Malibu, a recently completed project by LALA Reimagined which embodies the Playfulist trend

PR You’re also not allergic to stripes, which often appear… though they’re the opposite of waves! Lots of angles. Why do you like them, too?AF I think it’s the combination of the colors that we get by using stripes, and how unexpected they can be. Pink and green, or burgundy and light blue, we’re so attracted to that graphic style. LM We never tiptoe around stripes – we’ll never not have them. Perhaps it’s a pillow cover or a painted tile, but it’ll add an extra element that Playfulism is all about. Oh and we love checks too, we often sneak in a good check. AF Stripes are like rattan – timeless. You almost can’t go wrong.LM Using them is like being an artist. Focus on building a palette around the softer color, the one that feels like a background, and that’s how you start to curate, to create a perfectly playful home.

AF We only use them when they’re going to be really impactful. In a formal living room, they possibly won’t make sense, but in a dining room we might sneak them in on the chandelier. But we practise restraint – if it’s not a wave it’s a pop of color or some sort of adornment that feels like a piece of jewellery. In that formal living room, for example, there’s no wave but there is a sconce by Ladies & Gentlemen that arches over the whole space.PR Talking of restraint, that’s why I am so drawn to your work. Despite your use of color and shapes you’re not maximalist – I think of you as great editors who always know exactly where to pull back, how to ground a scheme or stop it feeling cluttered. And that’s hard!AF Well thank you! We balance each other out and pull each other back. But Playfulism is never about being overpowering, there’s a calm to every scheme, perhaps in the neutral color of the walls. LM We’re allergic to bright white, which would feel too stark and make all the pieces we’ve chosen stand out too much, but we like a color called Kashmir from Portola Paints which is warmer – it’s not white, but it’s not quite off white, either.

Pip rich OK, tell me why you love waves so much – they’re in every project you do, and almost every room.Lia McNairy They really are! We’re motivated by what doesn’t fit into a box, and waves just simply don’t. They create a fluidity of movement, they take a space out of the rigid mode of everything being on an angle. Azar Fattahi In California, we battle with new builds. The homes are all cookie cutter, rectangular, there’s a formula. We get hired to deconstruct that, to remove the rigidness, and the first thing we bring is waves and scallops.PR They’re such an important part of the Playfulism movement, and you’re the first people I can think of who really embraced them. AF Well, they create a curiosity, a beautiful circus. They feel more luxe. Even on something as simple as a shoe rack, Lia came up with the concept of giving it a wave.LM I just couldn’t find anything I liked, all the shoe racks on offer would have been mortifying to be the first thing anyone saw in an entryway. So I had one custom made, black with a merlot-toned cushion on top. PR Are there any caveats to adding waves? Times you wouldn’t use them?LM In Malibu, we had a waved sectional sofa custom made for the family TV room. We just had to make sure the back was a bit higher on the wavy parts so there was something you could actually lean back on and sink into. Covered in a Schumacher fabric, those parts became like personal headrests.

Playfulism is never

overpowering, there's

scheme, every

Return home

other ways to connect to people who

spaces on the whole, we need to find

Because we’re moving away from open-plan

aren’t necessarily in the same space as us.

The Kitchen Design Moods Setting the Tone and Trends for 2025

The Design Direction of the Season - Fall’s Key New Decorating Trend

Our Editor Explains the Italian Design Trends Shaping the Lookand Feel of 2025

The colors and shapes of this dining room, designed by Irene Gunter, were chosen to help bring people together and allow them to have a good time

The designer Irene Gunter

surroundings, the better.

we can feel to our

The more connections

meant to ground you.

somewhere that is

A home is