Piero Lissoni's Milan flat

What does the architect's home look like? Today we take a look at the Milan flat of the minimalist Piero Lissoni.

'Simplicity cannot be trivial. It is the flip side of complexity,' says the famous Italian. He works for simplicity, which is why he chooses to keep his flat very simple and laconic.

"Whatever I do, whether it is object or interior design, I try not to overstep the limits of usefulness and believe that a minimum amount of detail is a definite plus in any project. All my projects reflect this view. In particular, my Milan flat," says Piero. The flat is located in the heart of the city, in a typical 50s building. 'I have a lot of fun when guests come over,' continues the designer. - They come up to me (I live on the top floor) with such frightened faces! The house in which I live really does look frightening - what can you expect from a building from the 50s, and built in the wake of the first post-war, admittedly rather clumsy, attempts at urban planning? But once in my flat, everyone relaxes and comes to their senses. My friends say you understand what peace is here."

"It's a place for relaxation," admits Lissoni. - I don't remember that this was the main objective from the beginning, but towards the end of the project it became clear that the interior was entirely relaxed.

In place of the previous boxy rooms, the cramped walls have been replaced by a new solid space made up of several living areas. The main one is the living area. "I saw the interior of the flat in general and the living room in particular as a shell, a case for light and air," explains the designer. Thanks to the fact that the flat is on the top floor and has several large windows, there really is a lot of light. "They say Italy is a sunny country. They say Italy is a sunny country. But not in Milan. Judging by this city, Italy is greyer than London,' smiles the designer. - So it was important to me to bring a sense of light into the interior.

Another idea underlying this interior is the desire for harmony. Pierrot Lissoni understands this in his own way: "It seems to me that harmony does not necessarily mean simplicity, which I like so much. For example, a baroque church: it seems to be an overabundance of decor, scrolls, more scrolls, gold in huge quantities, but it may turn out that all this external chaos conceals a stunning internal harmony and in fact everything is organised in a more than genius way. At the same time the strict puristic architecture, which seems to be as simple as two times two and four, and disorder simply has no place here, can be charged with catastrophic disharmony. The interior of this flat is harmonious - without being chaotic or pretentious.

"Sometimes the houses in which the designers themselves live are transformed into veritable personal museums. In my flat, of course, there are a lot of things created by me, because you can't hide from yourself. But in addition to my works, you can also see works by colleagues, such as Ettore Sottsass, Paola Navone and Shiro Kuramata. And also antiques. I love antiques," stresses the designer.