Over the past 20 years, Roman designer Achille Salvagni has made a name for himself by creating museum-quality furniture and design objects out of noble materials like bronze, precious stones, exotic woods, and sumptuous textiles. His sculptural yet functional pieces are released in limited editions and snatched up by collectors around the world. Now, almost two years to the date of his London atelier opening, Salvagni has his sights on New York.
Opening November 18 on Madison Avenue (between 68th and 69th Streets), the stateside edition Achille Salvagni Atelier marks the next step in the partnership with his longtime US gallerist Maison Gerard, a collaborator in the new endeavor. (Benoist F. Drut, the owner of Maison Gerard, was the first to encourage Salvagni to launch his own collection in 2013.) Unlike Maison Gerard’s downtown gallery, which sells pieces by more than 100 designers, the Atelier will focus primarily on its namesake’s designs as well as a selection of 20th-century rarities curated by Salvagni and Drut. (Think works by Gio Ponti, Fontana Arte, and Jacques Adnet.)
“Maison Gerard will still continue to sell my pieces downtown for a certain clientele. And I will serve uptown with their partnership, a different kind of flair and the same pieces but displayed in a different way—let’s say organized around my mood board,” Salvagni tells AD PRO.
At 4,000 square feet, the Madison Avenue gallery is Salvagni’s largest atelier yet. And while Maison Gerard’s East 10th Street location puts it in close proximity to other design stores, such as ABC Carpet & Home and Design Within Reach, Salvagni chose the Upper East Side as a strategy to reach private collectors, which make up about 50% of his clientele.
“When I started, many articles associated my pieces with small jewels. And I said, ‘You know what? If I create jewels, I want to be surrounded by jewelry. I don’t want to be surrounded by furniture galleries,’” Salvagni explains. That same thinking parlays into the design of the new gallery, where clean vignettes of one or two pieces allow the emphasis to be on the lustrous craftsmanship.