Dutch Courage: A Collectors home in Amsterdam by DAB Studio.

If the aim of the 1910 Amsterdam School movement was to create a total architectural experience, inside and out, then DAB Studio has very successfully followed in those footsteps. Housed in an Amsterdam School building, renowned for its intricate brickwork and sculptural architecture, the Collectors Home has horizontal lines and stained glass to prove it. As if giving clear instructions as to how one should sit, stand and experience the space, the furniture selection dictates all, and alongside the tonal colour palette’s request for a certain emotional response, the experience is very much curated.

With a perfect balance of feedback and freedom from the clients, the DAB Studio team were able to establish the key design principles shaping the interior of the home and take it just that one step further. Through the use of a rich, earthy colour palette and textures to match, we see the marbled mahogany feature wall in the living room come to the fore, complete with the soft glow of the ring-like wall sconces that pay further homage to the Amsterdam School period.

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Here, the warmth and wobble-shape of the Gubi GMG chaise longue, upholstered in fabric ‘Adamo & Eva’ by Dedar, are in conversation with the Massimo & Lella Vignelli coffee table. With its rectangular and cone base, the coffee table resembles the perfect drawing exercise. Placed perfectly next to the fireplace is the almost non-negotiable design essential for any home—the Marcel Breuer’s Wassily chair in black.

The fireplace, posing an issue if (re)moved, was reconstructed and enlarged, resulting in a very intentional move to be off-centre, creating space for another Amsterdam School reference in the small black marble disc. Following on from the glass top of the coffee table, we see the material repeated in the fireplace threshold. In the dining room, centred above the DAB-studio-designed table, we see a 17th-century contemporary artwork, which alongside the Wassily chair and Cassina Soriana sofa, were the only ‘non-negotiable’ requested items by the clients.

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The silk curtain colour, an opulent ochre, speaks to the kitchen benchtop, which almost looks like a golden olive oil was poured over the stainless steel. Featured here, we also see a hammered, red copper fringed table lamp by Hendrik Methorst from the DAB Studio collection, paired alongside a classic artwork from the client’s private collection and tying in beautifully to the burnt sienna hues of the timber cabinetry underneath.

A Collectors Home by DAB Studio is an exquisite example of a translation from an architectural movement integral to the city in which it is situated into a modern interpretation that suits a modern lifestyle. Through the fine curation of the client’s private art collection, new artworks and iconic furniture pieces, A Collectors Home has come to life.

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[Images courtesy of Dab Studio. Creative Direction & Photography by Alice Mesguich.]