May 27, 2021

Text: Tami Christiansen

Artist/Designer Henry Timi Finds Depth in Simplicity at His Milan Loft

The Milan loft of artist/designer Henry Timi exhibits an almost monastic purity. All surfaces—walls, ceilings, rough stone floors—are brushed with a layer of clay, forming a chalky backdrop to a curated selection of minimalist furnishings from the designer’s HenryTimi brand. Even the monolithic chiseled-stone kitchen and the bathroom vanity, more site-specific sculptures than fixtures, align with his resolute vision: simple, restrained, refined, luxurious. Exuding a reserved elegance and honesty, his geometrically reductive creations, whether a pewter vase or a planar oak chair, celebrate their raw materiality—a unique bond with their organic origins. “My designs revert to the pristine state of things: monochromatic elements and singular natural materials,” Timi says.

The HenryTimi founder at his Milan loft, in the city’s Brera neighborhood. Photography by Nathalie Krag/Living Inside; produced and styled by Tami Christiansen.

In addition to being a showcase of Timi’s rigorous ideology, the 1,290-square-foot loft is a place of quiet and hidden functions. Bookshelves are disguised behind door panels, and kitchen cabinets and bathroom elements are elegantly integrated into the architecture. “My home is an example of research and experimentation, an artifact of my essence,” the designer says. That Timi treats his dwelling as a sort of R&D facility is only appropriate since the apartment, in the city’s Brera neighborhood, is
located in an early-20th-century former laboratory building. “It was the space itself that informed the project,” Timi notes, describing how his renovation uncovered tall archways—poetic references to ancient Roman architecture—that, in lieu of walls, demarcate transitions between rooms.

Bookshelves in the living/dining zone—furnished with a table and HT112 armchairs in whitened oak—are hidden behind clay-painted floor-to-ceiling doors; the shape of the built-in custom sofa mirrors the bend of the bookshelf wall. Photography by Nathalie Krag/Living Inside; produced and styled by Tami Christiansen.

The HenryTimi brand ethos is one of “refusal of the unnecessary,” the designer explains. “What influences my work is the search for aesthetic perfection, for absolute quality, for the essence in absence, for the symbolic and for the eternal,” he continues. “I have always been fascinated by primordial forms and rejected décor and opulence.” He certainly walks the talk.

Presiding over the bathroom, Timi’s HTGR702 Biancocanale stone vanity/basin—a design collaboration with Giorgio Rava—has the suggestion of a half-carved work in progress. Photography by Nathalie Krag/Living Inside; produced and styled by Tami Christiansen.
Like all of Timi’s creations, the monolithic marble HTGR604 kitchen, a 2014 collaboration with Rava, was handcrafted in the designer’s factory. Photography by Nathalie Krag/Living Inside; produced and styled by Tami Christiansen.
Tall arches—a vestige of the original space, a former laboratory—frame the hallwaylike kitchen. Photography by Nathalie Krag/Living Inside; produced and styled by Tami Christiansen.
 A handcrafted HT112 Cerchia armchair by the designer. Photography courtesy of HenryTimi.
HT913 Cinquatacinque pitchers in pewter. Photography courtesy of HenryTimi.
Another sink basin, HTGR702 Corpo, also by Timi and Rava, in carved marble. Photography by Nathalie Krag/Living Inside; produced and styled by Tami Christiansen.
In one of two identical bedrooms, a custom HT803 bed in whitened oak with HTLT901 vases, a 2014 collaboration with Leonardo Talarico. Photography by Nathalie Krag/Living Inside; produced and styled by Tami Christiansen.

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