Balancing Act

At their new home and studio in Lisbon, French design duo Olivier Garce and Clio Dimofski bridge timeless craft with the present moment

- HANNAH MARTIN

When Olivier Garcé and Clio Dimofski first saw their Lisbon apartment, W it was the architecture that sold them. Rendered in elaborate Pombaline style, the original 19th-century details (ceiling ornaments, picture-frame moldings) remained untouched, if perhaps a tad forlorn. "It needed a lot of work," recalls Dimofski, explaining that fixer-uppers are common in the old but newly buzzy neighborhood of Anjos. "We wanted to keep and restore as much as we could," adds Garcé. "It's part of our philosophy."