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88 town issue 6winter 2014

Sam Pratt and Valerio Capo, Gallery FUMI

You can almost see the ropes and pommel horse in this 120-year-old ormer gym in Hoxton Square, nowthe live/work space o Sam Pratt and Valerio Capo, owners o design gallery Fumi. Te gallery was born in2008 ater Pratt nished a 20-year stint trading in the City and Capo let a job in marketing. Tey havebuilt up a stable o artists and designers who will be, they hope and trust, the next generation o RonArads, and with an openness to experimentation and new materials, this listed building is its showcase.

Te robust oorboards are original, as are the exceptional hardwood doors including a greatconcertina door: an original eature which they oten use. It really helps to divide the space up when youneed to,says Pratt, who had to stop the vendor rom painting the old doors, and restrip them.

In the middle o the space is a carbon-bre table by Studio Silverlining: British designers in FUMIsstable. Another big statement is a screen by Zo Ouvrier: as i a orest has intervened in the apartment. Teresa big Campana Brothers soa, and objects by other designers handled by FUMI, including a bent metal chairby Tomas Lemut, a French designer who works a lot with classic materials. Tree circular mirrors y upthe wall, and two Paul Cocksedge pendant lights hang in the huge space. Extraordinarily, theyre made out opolystyrene: Te same stuf that cofee cups are made rom, baked as hard as ceramic. Also exalting the arto material transormation are a ew pieces by Studio Markunpoika: uomas [Markunpoika] encaseswooden urniture in metal, then burns the wood.Te result is an elegant, weightless ligree.

Te bedroom is on a mezzanine oor, their bed covered by a very shaggy rug, brought back rom theAtlas Mountains in Morocco. Above it is a painting by Carolyn Becker, and to the side a cabinet by PeterMarigold and a chair by ina Roeder. On suraces are all kinds o goodies: a colourul Murano glass vase,a blue glass object by Ettore Sottsass and on a plinth, a ceramic woman by artist Stephen Johnson atop atray made o quartz cr ystals, bought in Brazil. Its a bit o a celebration,says Pratt.

Gallery FUMI, 16 Hoxton Square N1; galleryfumi.com

The home o Valerio

Capo, seated, and

Sam Pratt, the owners

o design gallery FUMI,

is a ormer gym in

Hoxton Square.

Opposite: a textured

artwork by

Rowan Mersh

PRIVATEVIEWSFor Londons gallerists, home is where the art is. As they gear up orthe PAD and Frieze art airs, own gets a guided tour o the homes andprivate collections o three leading design and art-world tastemakers.ByOliver Bennett. Photographed byAntony Crolla

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90 town issue 6winter 2014

The hardwood

concertina doors are an

original eature, and

come in handy or

closing o the kitchen

and the bedroom, which

sits above it on the

mezzanine oor. In

ront o the doors is

a bent metal chair by

Thomas Lemut

Clockwise rom this

picture: a Faye Toogood

bowl and Pieke

Bergmans glasswork

sit beneath a mirror by

Sam Orlando Miller;

the pairs oce, also

on the mezzanine,

with a blue vase by

Ettore Sottsass in

the oreground; chair by

Studio Markunpoika

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92 town issue 6winter 2014

The main living space

eatures a screen by

French artist Zo

Ouvrier, and black and

white pendant lights by

Paul Cocksedge made

rom baked polystyrene.

To the let is a

carbon-fbre table by

Studio Silverlining

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94 town issue 6winter 2014

In a short time, design arthas elevated chairs, tables, lamps and loungers into limited-edition objects odesire and a great advantage o dealing in design art is that you can sit on your stock. I only showwork I can share my space with,says Loic Le Gaillard, co-ounder o Carpenters Workshop Gallery. Itsa test.Le Gaillards lair is a muscular rejig o an old synagogue: basically a big lot that has landed in cosyClapham. I had to nd a place where I could show work,says Le Gaillard. Its so important as a gallerist.

Le Gaillard grew up in Paris, son o an art-dealer ather. He opened the CW Gallery in Chelseawith Julien Lombrail in 2005, adding urther spaces in Mayair in 2008 and in Paris in 2011. He haslived in London or 21 years and loves it: From a business point o view, you can do things that you missin Paris. People with ideas move here. And the restaurants are nally OK.

In the middle o Le Gaillards space are two soas, laden with Christian Lacroix cushions and acing asteel table by Dutch designers Atelier Van Leishout (AVL) called the echnocrats able. One o myavourites: a real sculptural piece, he says. Above it is an arresting Frederik Molenschot City Lightchandelier. Its made to look like a city when the l ights come on, says Le Gaillard. Te sublime leads to theun with his Campana Brothers Cake Stool, made rom urry toys: It brings out the inner child. Less child-riendly is a Marina Abramovic nude sel-portrait, although a stufed, and bandaged leopard adds humour.

Te white rident chair is made by Rick Owens rom bulls bones. I like the simplicity o it, hesays. Its surprisingly comortable. Around the side, a Vincent Dubourg sideboard o hand-bent steelcompletes the butch efect. I love the violence o it,says Le Gaillard.

CW is thriving, but Le Gaillard reckons design-art still has a way to go. In ne art there are perhaps200 A-list galleries in the world; in design, perhaps o ur,he says. Were still scratching the sura ce.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery, 3 Albermarle Street, W1; carpentersworkshopgallery.com. Te gallery appears atPAD London, October 16-20, Berkeley Square, W1; pad-fairs.com

Above: Loic Le Gaillard,

co-ounder o

Carpenters Workshop

Gallery, in ront o

a painting by French

artist Julien Beneyton.

Let: the Technocrats

Table by Dutch

designers AVL

dominates the living

space. Above it is a City

Light chandelier by

Frederik Molenschot.

The painting is by

French artist

Romain Bernini

Loic Le Gaillard,

Carpenters Workshop Gallery

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96 town issue 6winter 2014

Clockwise rom above:

the main living space

eatures, in the

oreground, a Trident

chair by Rick Owens

made o bullsbones,

and towards the rear a

Cake Stool by Campana

Brothers, ashioned

rom cuddly toys; a

sel-portrait by Marina

Abramovic looms

above Hunting Accident

by Belgian artist

Pascal Bernier; the

mask on the wall is by

Thomas Houseago

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98 town issue 6winter 2014

Pilar Ordovas, Ordovas

Unlike Loic Le Gaillard, for whom the home is an extension of the gallery, Pilar Ordovass home is more ofa retreat rom a lie where one could be at a private view or a dinner every night o the week. I entertain atwork and want to relax at home,says the elegant madrilea.

Ordovas has been in the UK or 15 years. Ater studying history o art in Edinburgh she worked atChristies, then the Gagosian Gallery. wo years ago she converted a space in Savile Row into a two-levelgallery. She and her husband Nicholas also moved to this house in Battersea, which had already beenreurbished to usher in light. Floor-to-ceiling windows, glass balustrades and even a retractable skylightin the roo mean that its very open. I go to sleep looking at the stars,she says. I sleep well.

Te gallery, simply called Ordovas, is a classic white boxthat had been a shoe shop since the 1950s,and endeavours to have a museum quality programme. Currently on show is a unique joint project withthe Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam linking Rembrandt with Frank Auerbach, the 82-year-old British artist.A painterspainter,she says, the artist that Lucian Freud collected most.

Freud was a riend o Ordovas, and there are a ew ramed photographs o him in the house. Greyand white walls contrast with dark wood oors, while bare raw concrete walls bring an air o adobe toSW11. Nicholas doesnt want to hang anything on them, she says.

Artworks are ound elsewhere. Tere are two Chris Oli prints in the living room the rst pictures webought together and in ront o them sits an Arco lamp by Achille Castigl ioni. A cowskin and a chest inthe centre o the room add texture. Teres a print oReleaseby Richard Hamilton, the Pop artists image oMick Jagger handcufed to art dealer Robert Fraser; photographs by the Chilean Denise Lira-Ratinof,whom the couple admire, and a picture by American artist Glenn Ligon. An unusual curio is Ordovasslovely collection o Spanish ivory boxes rom the 18th and 19th centuries. Teyre dance-card holders,inherited rom my ather, says Ordovas. In the old days when you went to a da nce, youd put boysnames inthe boxes.Tey add a personal touch to a dwelling in which any art an would eel very much at home.

Raw ruth, Auerbach-Rembrandt, is at Ordovas, 25 Savile Row, W1, until December 1; ordovasart.com

Right to let: gallerist

Pilar Ordovas, seated in

ront o the sitting rooms

bare concrete walls;

a print o Release by

Richard Hamilton;

personal photographs

hang on the walls o the

staircase, including one

o Ordovas with her

riend Lucian Freud

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100 town issue 6winter 2014

From top: a cowskinand a wooden chest

add texture to the living

room, where a pair o

Chris Ofli prints hang

to the rear, behind an

Arco lamp by Achille

Castiglioni; a ramed

work by the Chilean

photographer

Denise Lira-Ratino

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