We bring you yet another one of the world’s best design projects. Jorge Canete’s work is more than a job, it it is a way of living. Materializing emotions that come from a poetical vision of the world, this interior designer is able to create unique spaces and a sense of belonging. COVETED MAGAZINE has covered La Dolce Vita in Blue, a one of a kind project signed by Cañete in partnership with BOCA DO LOBO.

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LA DOLCE VITA IN BLUE

“Timeless sea breezes, that for aeons have, blown ancient rocks, you are purest space, coming from afar…Oh, how a fruit-bearing fig tree feels your coming high up in the moonlight.”

Reiner Maria Rilke, 1908, written in Anacapri

Just off the coast of Naples and Salerno, between Cape Miseno and Amalfi, a great rock erupts, as if in a dream, from the surrounding cobalt blue Mediterranean Sea. This is the island of Capri, an island of impossible beauty that has forever attracted artists, philosophers and those in search of a summer-sized slice of La Dolce Vita. Authentic villages, splashed with color, and fragrant gardens cling to the rock in defiance of the surrounding enormity of the sky and ocean. Capri evokes euphoria in visitors who inevitably fall under its spell.

Close to Anacapri, the Villa delle Scale (Villa of the Stairs) is one of the few remaining Caprese villas from the early 19th century. This historical mansion is a typical all-white house surrounded by a very elegant terraced garden. Swiss designer, Jorge Canete was commissioned to compose a private retreat and weave Italian contemporary design with Caprese tradition for an international couple and their young family.

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Tradition and Modernity

“The idea was always to blend modernity and class”

The main features of the house have been restored with a view to preserving its character: old tiles for the flooring and a high ceiling with arcades. The main concept was nonetheless to blend the house’s traditional features with contemporary elements, such as contemporary EDEN CENTER TABLE by BOCA DO LOBO. The result is a combination of antique elements with modern features. A mixture of memory and modernity. Items of contemporary art were specially commissioned from the artist Philippa Smith, who stayed in the villa for several weeks in order to create paintings onsite, inspired by Mediterranean nature and sea.

Mirroring nature

“Ultimately the goal was to evoke a sense of freedom by bringing the qualities of light and nature into the interior spaces of the home”

By adding a veranda to the main building, moreover, nature and the garden can be seen through the window of the house. With this addition, the outside indeed seems part of the house and we lose our sense of whether we are inside or outside. This sensation is enhanced through the use of mirrors in the dining room to bring nature and the view of the sea into the house. These effects were achieved with mirrors, a glass winter garden, white gold leaf, and the art of Philippa Smith.

Commissioned art

“We talked about the dialogue between the art and the house. Each piece is created specifically for the place it occupies within the house.”

Artist Philippa Smith was specially commissioned to create the art. Smith spent considerable time on the island studying the qualities of light and color, and after consultation with Canete, created all the art in the villa with a view to bringing the Capri outdoors inside. The art therefore has an immediate contextual relevance. The blue, grey and white colors and sometimes even the shapes are inspired by the villa’s immediate surroundings.

Blue is in the air

“Stairs, nature and variations of the color blue are all part of La Villa delle Scale’s DNA”

Special lighting and materials were carefully selected to yield this ethereal and bluish atmosphere. Particular care was taken with the lighting and the color scheme of the textiles, which are directly inspired by nature and the sea that the villa overlooks: pale blue, greys and subtle greens. Over 40 brands of textiles and more than 75 makes of furniture and lighting weave a rich tapestry of form and color, all intended to heighten the sense of wellbeing and romance.

This is a villa in which the codes of La Dolce Vita are reappraised, albeit here with a poetic and contemporary twist. The mood really does take its inspiration from this iconic period, although here, as in dreams, it is tinted blue.