A
nthony Minichetti’s opportunity to gather inspiration through travel began when he was just a child. On annual trips to visit family in France and Italy, Anthony never tired of peeking into the numerous cathedrals tucked away on remote streets. “I was exposed to treasures of art and architecture at a very young age,” he recalls. He touched every surface, analyzed every icon and experienced all the texture and proportion that are evident in much of his current work. In this project, Anthony brings that sense of texture and proportion together in perfect harmony with pieces from the client’s art collection. “In our projects, sometimes we are lucky enough to create a destination place so that our clients feel they are transported when entering a space within their own home,” he says. “Clients usually mention luxurious locales they visited in the past as reference to how they want to live; we incorporate the art and sculptures they acquired from those travels into the architectural design.” A wood-carved Buddha rests on a pedestal ensconced by custom radial
Designer Section A.indd 51
staircases, with a decorative oil-rubbed bronze balustrade leading to the sunken bathing-pool room. The room also includes adjacent steam and sauna rooms enclosed in frosted glass, an alabaster bowl sink mounted on dark walnut cabinetry, and leaf-laminated wallcovering that provides the perfect backdrop for the carved wooden panel, also from the client’s collection. The luxury feel extends to the secret garden housing another Buddha—this one of stone and weighing two tons—which was the core of the contemporary, Balistyle beach house project. “I enjoy creating architecture and backgrounds of rooms that support figures of art,” Anthony says. “The serene niche, subtlety illuminated by rays of sunlight, can be viewed while travelling through spaces within the property.” As for his own future travels, Anthony finds it challenging to carve the time and space out of his schedule to get away. Instead, he collects fresh inspiration from around the world by visiting local museums and antique shops. “All these eclectic objects have a history and have been gathered from around the globe,” he says. “Noticing beauty of craftsmanship in objects always triggers inspiration.”
9/15/15 8:48 PM