Juan Poggi and his Zen Ranch
Designer Juan Poggi Transforms a One-Story Ranch Home into an Eastern Oasis
Poggi’s first shop opened on Miracle Mile in 2006, and later in the Minorca building on Douglas Road. The Peruvian native remains a Gables resident today, and his house on San Antonio Avenue just west of the Shops at Merrick Park is a perfect sample of his philosophy that homes “are certainly temples, dedicated to items gathered through travels, or made-to-order pieces.”
Juan Poggi has made a global reputation for himself with interior designs that are dramatic, personal, and dream like in their color palettes. With award-winning interiors from Paris to Palm Beach, Poggi prides himself on seeing each space through his clients’ eyes combined with his own imagination, of course.
It is also a remarkable transformation of a ranch-style house into a home not out of place in Kyoto. “The house is definitely about my love for Japanese architecture and design,” he says. “The idea is to keep everything open because I like to entertain to keep it open and integrated.” By connecting rooms in the 3,000 square foot building, Poggi maximizes the space, offsetting the 8-foot-high ceilings. It is a home, he says, with “only three doors inside.”
Foyer
“This is the first thing you see coming into the house,” says Poggi: Three ceramic clay stones from Atelier Vierkant in Belgium, with the vibe of a Zen garden. “You can sit on them, but mainly they are decorative pieces.” The floor is French white oak; the curved inset wall, which hides an embedded bar, is of stained reef-cut oak.
Entrance
The rear wall is gold leaf applied in a pattern of squares. “I wanted some- thing with a little sheen but also subtle,” says Poggi. “You basically see it as you leave the house.” The table in front of it, from Luminaire, was designed by Japanese architect Tokujin Yoshioka; the chair, made of mahogany, stained black, is designed by architect Miguel Rodrigo-Masuré, and uses no nails.
Living Room
The black leather ottoman and natural linen sectional sofa are both by Living Divani, and from Luminaire, as is the long Maxaalto chair. Poggi designed the platform coffee table, made of white oak and one-inch-thick glass. The dining table in the rear is by Flexform, with wishbone chairs by Fritz Hansen. The bookcases of unfinished maple plywood were designed by Poggi, as were the fake horsehair handles to the TV cabinet on the right. The woolen rug was designed by Poggi and made in France by Solstice.
Kitchen
“My idea was for people to be there next to me when I’m cooking,” says Poggi, for which he uses six Lem Piston hydraulic chairs against an island of black “leather finish” granite. Poggi designed the overhead grid of white oak “to create more of an ambiance in the space, to make it cozier,” he says. The wall paneling is stained walnut, while the cabinetry (also Poggi designed) is lacquered wood, made by Downsview in the DCOTA.
Bedroom
The alcove bed and frame are by Maxalto, from Luminaire. The frame is stained black oak, as are the custom-made cabinets, both designed by Poggi. The two side tables by Mobilfresno are Spanish-made dark oak. The solar shades for the windows go to the top of the walls, to maximize the 8-foot ceilings. The statue is Chinese, of a boy holding a fish for good luck.
*Photos by Kris Tamburello