Just like every other aspect of interior design, color is a conscious choice. Color has always played a key role in communication, sending messages that are appealing or off-putting. Architect Nadia Orecchio has long explored color through her styling and interior design projects, and she has now created an entirely pink home that expresses femininity, elegance, romanticism, and a pop sensibility all at once. The apartment stands as a bit of aesthetic madness, catapulting her guests into an extravagant, almost fairy-tale world.
“Dealing with this apartment was a real challenge,” Nadia says, “a feat of complex, stylistic choices and color and geometric combinations. The goal was always to transform a traditional three-room apartment into a modern and very personalized environment.” The impetus for the project was Giovanna Siliprandi, the architect’s partner and muse, who, with her delicate features, fair skin, and warm red hair, inspired Nadia to create a home that captured Giovanna’s spirit. “Ornella Vanoni, a great artist and family friend, exclaimed as soon as she entered the apartment, ‘You have made an apartment that looks just like her.’”
Pink, an eclectic and vital color—symbolizing the ability to give and receive love—includes among its countless unique traits being able to transcend gender divides. If one associates pink only with femininity, well, a history lesson is in order. In the first half of the 19th century, pink was not automatically associated with women: it was the opposite. Because of its proximity to red—a color that expressed strength, virility, and military prowess—pink was seen as a masculine hue.
Exploring the color’s many nuances, the great designer Alessandro Mendini helped the world discover how objects could be given a new identity precisely through the very simplicity of color. Following Alessandro’s lead, Nadia has become a leading proponent for an interior design approach built around harmony and delicacy. With pink, Nadia has transformed her apartment into an ethereal place where one can dream and immerse oneself in an almost surreal universe.