The search for interior design stories is endless and involves everyone on staff. Although Tom Delavan, our director of design and interiors, finds most of the residences that we publish, anyone can pitch a house story. Often we’re tipped off to an interesting project by a publicist, architect, interior decorator, writer or photographer, but the really exciting ones are those we discover in a more roundabout fashion — few things are more thrilling for us than when someone says, “Hey, I know of an incredible house that you guys might be interested in.” It’s in fact become something of an office joke; whenever any of the editors are taking a meeting with anyone, anywhere, about anything, Tom or I will always remind them to ask if they know of any good houses.
My favorite finds, though, are the ones that we stumble upon. A year ago, one of our editors at large, Nick Haramis, was researching a story on artist collectives when he heard about a group of young art-school graduates. Not only were they designing subversive, one-of-a-kind furniture and decoration but they’d made virtually everything — a sink fixture from a pétanque ball; a tub from urethane rubber — in their shared house, a place they call Espace Aygo, a formerly run-down building in a crowded Brussels neighborhood.
The story about artist collectives never happened (well, not yet, anyway), but we knew as soon as we saw the scouting photos that we had an unforgettable home story. In an era of overly polished design, in which residents’ taste is overshadowed — or filled in — by their decorator’s, spaces like Espace Aygo remind us all that a house is more memorable not when it’s polite but when it has a real point of view; when you can see the hands that dreamed and made it. It’s also a reminder that you don’t need a lot of money to make a home your own — you just need perspective, imagination and a dedication to living your own way. I happen to love Espace Aygo’s aesthetic and would happily move in. But even if you don’t, you can’t help but recognize the collective’s wit, ingenuity and imagination. And that, in the end, is what makes a home.
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