THE FABRIC OF LIFE

Designer Carlotta Oddone's fascination with cloth and colour is evident in the exquisite use of rich hues and furnishings in her Turin home

- EMMA J PAGE

STUDY

'I love that this wallpaper is modern but it feels like a classic artwork, says Carlotta. Large Poppies wall panel Eva Germani for Wall&deco. Candy chairs by Carlotta Oddone

SITTING ROOM

These shades of pink and ochre are luxurious, especially in velvet form. Artwork, Anna Maria Colace. Cotton and velvet curtains; printed cushions; raw iron coffee table, all Carlotta Oddone

At first glance, the home of interior designer Carlotta Oddone is full of contradictions: an urban apartment with a rustic garden; a colour-saturated space that has the effect of being deeply mellow; a floral-laden interior that also feels contemporary. But linger here and a sense of harmony emerges - the result of a quick and confident eye. 'Yes, I am very sure in my decorative choices, even if not always in other areas of my life,' says the Turin-born interior designer, whose 1930s home occupies a busy street in the Piedmontese capital. 'I've always liked to be unconventional.

Carlotta has long had a fascination with colour and pattern, evident in the fact that she is also a textile designer and a colour consultant for influential fabric producers. 'My mother owned an interior design store and my grandmother was a tailor,' she says. 'I was always asking them to make clothes for my dolls, so I grew up surrounded by fabric. Nonetheless, her career is a far cry from her former life as a newspaper journalist. Some years ago, with a family that includes Nicola, now 20, and Pietro, 23, Carlotta swapped long days in the office for interior design, the better to fulfil her creative ambitions. It was around that time we bought this apartment,' she says. 'It inevitably became a testing ground for new ideas, unusual colour combinations and an unconventional layout.