This week we tour the home of art and design collectors, Andrew and Françoise Skurman. Françoise and Andrew Skurman live in an ethereal apartment high above Nob Hill. They are dedicated collectors, constantly on the hunt for provocative contemporary art, experimental furniture, and artist-designed conceptual furniture. A pure white background shows their large abstract paintings, modern furniture and antiques in full force.
"When I was growing up in Paris, I dreamed of designing a chic white and silver apartment," said sculptor Françoise Skurman. "Now I'm living my fantasy in San Francisco. It's all about beauty and the luminous white interior."
The Skurmans are constantly editing and energizing their collections, adding depth with dramatic new pieces. They live with their collections, savoring and appraising them and studying them every day.
"I don't buy for 'investment', I buy for the love of the object," said Andrew Skurman. Living with the work of avant-garde and accomplished designers and artists is very satisfying and fulfilling, he said.
"Our apartment is so different from anything I ever design for my clients," said Andrew. Friends who come for cocktails are entranced by the magical effect of shimmering glass floors, reflective walls framed with polished steel baseboards and ceiling reveals, and floor-to-ceiling windows with just a sliver of silken white curtain.
For the Skurmans, the apartment continues to captivate. Early morning light tints the walls in pearlescent tones. Sunsets paint the rooms in a glow of rose pink. Later, the lights of the city flicker far below, and the apartment seems to float in the darkness.
A Louis XVI recamier, an heirloom from her Parisian family, was restyled by Françoise with pale grey paint and white jacquard upholstery. The 'Org' coffee table is by Fabio Novembre for Cappellini. The plaster torchères, circa 1940, are by Paris designer Serge Roche, silver-leafed guéridons are from the Estate of Gianni Versace.
Damien Hirst's Bromphenol Blue-Cylene Cyanol Dye Solution, 2005, hovers above a stainless steel fireplace next to a pair of Louis XV fauteuils finished in silver leaf.
A Louis XV chair, re-imagined in silver gilt by Rossi Antiques graces Spiral Painting, 1976, by Robert Slutzky.
Antique and modern collide in the dining room, where the glass tile floor shimmers beneath the tracery of Tom Dixon's dining table.
Alessandro Twombly's The Fall of Icarus, 2003, hangs above the dining table.
Françoise perched her new plaster figure, Dona Mariana, atop a custom-made white-painted rope cabinet by Christian Astuguevieille.
The Louis XVI bed, inherited from Françoise's family, is dressed with white pique by Scheuer Linens, the bedside tables were designed by Andrew Skurman. Paintings are by Stephanie Peek, left, and Olivier Debré, right, a girandole from the Yves Gastou Antiques Gallery in Paris stands on the bedside table.
19th century Venetian mirrors, acquired in Paris, grace the bedroom wall.
A 1940s Cubist plater bust was acquired at San Francisco's famed Fall Antiques Show.
Venus Refuses The Apple, a new plaster sculpture by Françoise Skurman, stands in the bedroom. The floor is white glass Japanese tile.
Hope you enjoyed this week's house tour. Have a lovely week.
xo,
Emi
Sources and credits: C-Home and The Style Saloniste
