Belgravia Residence

Belgravia Residence is a minimalist house located in London, United Kingdom, designed by Child Studio. In a striking bathroom of emerald-green Verde Guatemala marble, a vanity counter seems to emerge organically from the wall, its curves carved with the precision of water sculpting stone. This masterful detail in Child Studio’s Belgravia residence project speaks volumes about their approach to craft in the modern era – where traditional artisanal techniques meet contemporary design sensibilities.

The 3,200-square-foot London townhouse represents more than just a renovation; it’s a meditation on time itself. Child Studio’s founders Alexy Kos and Che Huang have orchestrated a dialogue between centuries, where Georgian architecture converses fluently with early 20th-century European modernism. Their approach reveals a deep understanding of craft’s role in bridging historical memory with present-day living.

Consider the living room’s dramatic 5-meter-tall wooden library wall, inspired by Karl Lagerfeld’s Paris studio. This isn’t mere homage – it’s a recognition of how personal collections shape living spaces, transforming them from mere rooms into repositories of knowledge and taste. The designers’ decision to partner with English and Italian artisans for bespoke elements throughout the home reflects a crucial understanding: that craft excellence requires not just vision, but also the right collaborators.

The material palette tells its own story of contemporary craft. As Huang and Kos explain, they focused on “hand-crafted wood, solid stone and tactile fabrics” – traditional materials deployed with modern sophistication. In the principal bathroom, the collaboration with a small Northern Italian marble workshop echoes the meticulous stonework of Charles Siclis’s 1930s Villa Serralves, demonstrating how historical craft techniques can be preserved and reinterpreted for contemporary spaces.

Perhaps most telling is the designers’ treatment of transitions – both physical and temporal. The custom furniture pieces, designed to fit “seamlessly around this unique property,” create a fluid conversation between periods. A Pierre Jeanneret chair might sit comfortably beside a contemporary ceramic lamp, each piece respected for its own merit while contributing to a larger narrative.

The project’s genius lies in its resistance to easy categorization. Neither strictly preservation nor pure modernization, it instead occupies a thoughtful middle ground where craft serves as a bridge between eras. The recurring motif of undulating curves – seen in plaster ceiling coves, wooden furniture, and marble elements – provides a unifying thread that ties together disparate historical references while creating something distinctly contemporary.

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