In a historic Milanese building, this apartment for a DJ flexes a measured tempo of black gloss, stainless steel and rigorous ’80s- and ’90s-inspired furnishings.
With lashings of stainless steel, lustrous lacquer, opaline glass, concrete, black linen and decorative pony hair, this 70-square-metre apartment sets the stage for a precise furniture fit-out.
Composed of ’90s vintage pieces with an austere, retrofuturistic touch, studioutte co-founders Guglielmo Giagnotti and Patrizio Gola devised a restrained, cohesive envelope. As Giagnotti explains, “in which reflective surfaces expand the perceived space while softer textures keep the atmosphere intimate.”
Occupying a typical Milanese building with original 1900s features—a fragmented layout, small, tiled bathroom and introverted rooms—Giagnotti and Gola aimed to minimise its heritage details, leaving just an “underlying layer of existing decorative elements” seeking instead to “completely transform it into a contemporary cocoon,” Gola says.
From top to toe, the apartment benefited from an architectural and interior overhaul, including the addition of furniture and decoration. By cracking open its interior belly and reorganising the format, the designers sought to gain as much floor space as possible. To do so, they enlarged the master bathroom with a substantial steel connection between the living room and entrance hall, adding several reflective materials in the bedroom to enhance the sense of openness and space.
Proudly aloof, the apartment’s razor-sharp angles and edges were guided by the client’s brief “to push things as radically as possible … [to] go brutal, but with sophistication,” Gola says.
Rebellious yet reserved, its handsome, techno aesthetic was inspired by the Paris-born owner’s output as a DJ and multidisciplinary creative.
Studioutte Helga lamps for Poliform flank studioutte Biga armchairs, while a Hypercode rug by Roberto Sironi for cc-tapis sits underneath. A studioutte Objet trouvé coffee table made from blackened iron sits with a sculpture from Brun Fine Art. The walls are finished in glossy spray paint.
Art and decorative objects played a major role in warming up the masculine canvas, with the addition of a marble lion’s head, a 17th-century classical St. Sebastian, a rice-paper Isamu Noguchi lamp and an antique turtle shell. Artificial lighting comes by way of low-lit lamps while daylight seeps through Venetian blinds in their original frames, casting shadows across the interiors and bouncing off metallic surfaces, cultivating a moody, nighttime atmosphere.
Referencing the sensual minimalism of American designer Ward Bennett and the slinky disco glamour of fashion designer Halston, Giagnotti and Gola also looked to the early works of pioneering female architect and post-war Italian designer Gae Aulenti for inspiration.
The pair’s objective was to “prioritise clarity and functionality”, a goal they achieved by marrying precision furnishings with muted, colour blocking to help “neutralise the perception of the site” and its compact floorplate. To enhance the spatial depth and emphasise vertical elements, they crafted built-in furniture, inserted narrow, glazed slits into the walls, suspended stainless steel cabinetry, introduced lower-than-standard heights for interventions and furniture, and created continuity between the shiny boiserie panels and glossy floor, “the two surfaces reading as a single reflective, enveloping skin,” Gola adds.
VR Apartment by Studioutte was originally featured as part of our 2026 Milan issue of est magazine, ‘Italy by Invitation’.
On the bespoke studioutte dining table are candlesticks from Brun Fine Art. A Seconda chair by Mario Botta for Alias sits off to the side.
The bed is dressed in a black pony-hide cover.
In the bathroom, the vanity is made from Zimbabwe black marble, complemented by a bespoke studioutte mirror.
