游子记忆中的家园 · 奥斯卡·皮科罗的伦敦公寓

Oscar pictured with his ‘Lampada Cappello’ lamp

Oscar sitting in the 'Buffalo Mozzarella' chair by Elliot J Barnes

Oscar's ‘Lampada Cappello’ lamp

Sicilian-born artist and designer Oscar Piccolo is not long out of a Fine Arts degree at Chelsea College of Arts but is already turning heads, not least with his signature ‘Lampada Cappello’, a timeless-feeling composition of a pleated lampshade atop a lithe, squiggly iron base.

Through Dello Studio, meanwhile, a creative partnership for which he pairs up with Paris-based interior designer Charlotte Taylor, his proclivity towards curvy geometry finds further expression in retail fit-outs for Paloma Wool and the shapely ‘Onda Chair’, which recently made an appearance in the apartment we curated with Laura Fulmine at Television Centre.

Here, Oscar tells us how he assembled his interior from found objects, why he enjoys living alone, and the ways his nomadic childhood spent in places like Ghana and Turkey influenced his aesthetic interests and notions of home.

: “All my friends make fun of me because I have wooden fruit in my fruit bowl. Why?! To me, they’re beautiful objects I happened upon in a charity shop, and they remind me of the places I grew up in.

“I was born in Sicily but we lived in Ghana, Turkey, Egypt and Libya throughout my childhood. I think the fruit reminds me of Ghana the most because everything there was made of wood, it was like being in the wooden version of The Flintstones – I loved it.

“When we moved to Ghana we moved into a big, beautiful house with nothing in it but mattresses. My mum, being the creative one, started to source and draw furniture, which she would then have made. I started growing up with the idea that you could make things from scratch rather than just buy them.

“Then, when we moved to Istanbul and later Egypt, all the things we had accumulated came with us, so that the idea of home became less about a physical place but more about the objects that carried significance and meaning.

“Because life was so uncertain in that my sister and I moved schools all the time and had to make new friends every couple of years, my parents created stability for us by always having the same dining table, sofa, bedroom and objects everywhere we went. My idea of home was my bed, the blue table we ate from or the African sculpture in the living room.

“I think my formative memories of home, the beautiful places we lived, and the importance that was placed on objects, has definitely inspired my work, from both a materials perspective and how I see objects.

“From a materials point of view, I grew up around so many raw, natural things like wood, stone and earth, and I think that rubbed off. There’s a lot of colour in those places but there’s an earthiness about them too, which, together with the intensity of light in somewhere like Egypt, say, gives a very warm feeling.

“And my childhood also made me see objects as significant and meaningful in their own right, away from their functionality. When I was designing the lamp, for example, I wasn’t thinking about how it could bring light – I was thinking of it as an object that might be switched off as much, or more than it’s turned on.

“This space is full of things that I appreciate as objects. I love vases, for example, and I have a collection formed of pieces friends have given to me from South Korea, charity shops and Paris – all over the place. They range from small to large and I even have a pair of bookends that have vases on them, which marries my weird thing for vases and books quite nicely.

“My book collection is a mix of ones I’ve had for years and, although I’ve read them, they now exist as objects I admire and love. Others are from charity shops and this Japanese bookshop that used to be in Soho but is now closed, sadly.

“I like that most of what’s here has a story, and isn’t just a collection of pretty things. Some of the furniture, for example, is from my friend Maxime Fisher, who runs Beau-Traps and is great at sourcing antiques. The ‘Buffalo Mozzarella chair’, meanwhile, is something I am babysitting for my friend Elliot J Barnes who has moved in with his girlfriend (she doesn’t want it in their flat). It’s named after mozzarella – why wouldn’t you want to sit in it?!

“I think if you could see my first flat in London, where I moved five years ago, you would be able to see the evolution of my style quite clearly. The blue bookshelf here, for example, is something I made when I first started studying and it’s much more colourful and geometric than anything I would make today. I have such a connection to it, though, that I wouldn’t get rid of it.

“Moving here into my own space made me realise how much I cherish having the freedom to do what I want with it, and to be able to do whatever I want in it. Home is really important to me, and I’m quite particular about how I like my things, so I appreciate the liberty to make and use this space as I want to.

“It also doubles as my studio, office and where I send out all my lamps from. So, there are some fun times in the flat, and there are some not so fun times, like when I have to reply to never-ending emails asking for my customer service department and there are boxes everywhere!

“I think sharing a house is a beautiful thing but it’s also beautiful to have your own space. If I want to pack lamps up for delivery at 3am, I can. Ok, maybe I sacrifice living closer to where I need to be a lot of the time, but this flat is my world, and I have the freedom to do whatever I want to it.”

Having/finding a space where I can both work and enjoy everyday life equally – a good balance of both.

I’m really torn between the features, spaciousness and light of Hoxton Street and Archway Studio’s sculptural quality – I feel Id enjoy living in such a defined architectural space.

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