Project name: The Art of Flight

Location: Sydney, Australia

Date completed: December 2018

Interior Designer: Blainey North

With a brief to create a luxury bachelor pad Blainey North were inspired by the concept of the Art of Flight. A pioneering effort where extreme speed, engineering and aerodynamics became paired with luxuriously rich craftmanship. This concept of lining a working machine with luxe materiality and supreme comfort, saw the designer take a new approach when designing an urban inner-city residence.

Bold directional lines of repetition prove to act as a runway, transporting those who enter the deeply rich entry foyer into a realm of glamour. Each line directs the viewer, seamlessly connects the softness of the silk carpet to the rich macassar panelling, housing an inset metal line and soft strip lighting that wraps a wall to ceiling upholstered centre-wall panel.

Referencing the refined experience of flying in a private plane, masculine tones used in navy velvets, rich black leather and rare macassar ebony create a sense of warmth – a bit like an interior of a modern-day jet. Framing each piece of furniture and joinery, the tactility of leather creates a sensuous experience for the modern-day globetrotter.

The luminous TV Unit. Using a palette of warm satin gold metal paired with the tactility of a wrapped leather and recessed lighting creates a decadently crafted watch-like piece which glows from day-to-evening, establishing a sublime ambience of calmness.

Working with rare, luxurious and sensual, textures and materials, the approach was to retain the existing gallery-like walls and create a pared back series of moments where built forms acted as loose pieces of furniture. This proves to work well within the original architecture of the building creating a new-age approach to interior-design for the contemporary user.

Working within an existing shell of contemporary gallery-like walls, our design scheme respected the architecture of the building and the harbour foreshore which became the virtual “backyard” of the apartment.

The sourcing of quality large-scale Macassar Ebony proved to be a significant effort, involving artisanal cabinetmakers and timber specialists to source and book-match each piece, to create lavish high-gloss panels which were then hand-fitted to various pieces of joinery and furniture. The entry foyer lined in Macassar Ebony and then inlayed with satin champagne gold and recessed lighting involved a masterplan of minds, to precisely line up a custom graphic design across a silk rug, matching console and ceiling design to the very millimetre.