Whether masterminding sumptuous apartments in Rome or award-winning yacht interiors, each project by Achille Salvagni has the distinctive quality of feeling like his finest—a testament to the Roman designer’s avowed sense of modernism imbued with top-notch materials, impeccable craftsmanship, and a deeply layered narrative. Nearly two years after Salvagni brought an array of museum-quality furnishings to a pristine gallery space in London’s tony Mayfair district, the multihyphenate has unveiled a like-minded space on New York’s Upper East Side in partnership with longtime gallerist Maison Gerard.
It’s a full circle moment for both parties—Maison Gerard founder Benoist F. Drut convinced Salvagni to launch his own collection back in 2013. His materially rich pieces take pride of place throughout the newly opened 4,000-square-foot setting, Salvagni’s largest atelier yet. A new edition of the coveted Spider Chandelier sets the tone in a lustrous pink, as does a pair of Gae armchairs upholstered in an artisan-woven textile designed with Toyine Sellers. They join another imaginative lounge chair inspired by ancient Egyptian furniture whose backside mimics the silhouette of a lion’s hind legs. The roster of new pieces will intermingle with 20th-century rarities by the likes of Gio Ponti, Jacques Adnet, and FontanaArte.
Drut likens Salvagni to a design couturier whose uncompromising vision involves only the finest materials: bronze, precious stones, and sumptuous textiles, all crafted by the world’s most skilled artisans, including a longtime Vatican collaborator. “As a gallery whose origins are in fine French Art Deco, it’s no surprise that we embraced Salvagni’s work, which shares the same attention to detail and never-ending search for refinement as did the architects and designers of this period,” Drut says. “Much like a Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann or a Jules Leleu, Salvagni can be considered a contemporary décorateur ensemblier, masterfully creating entire rooms with nothing but original works.”
