Between the lines

A sense of tranquillity flows seamlessly from quiet, traffic-free streets into the apartment of Italian design guru Piero Bisazza and his wife Karin. Their home, which is set in an 18th-century palazzo in Vicenza, northern Italy, is similarly serene, its interior enhanced by a deliberately harmonious and decorative palette. "When things are balanced and orderly," explains 53-year-old Piero, the CEO of his family's eponymous mosaic tile business, "then I feel calm".

The decor is designed to soothe and inspire. A soft grey hall gives way to a pink corridor leading to various colourful rooms, including a pearly-grey kitchen and sky-blue and olive bedrooms. Four bathrooms are tiled, floor to ceiling, in bold blue mosaics. Remarkably, Piero is colour-blind, although he insists that it hasn't affected his working life. "It has intensified my awareness of shapes, size and balance. I have my own personal method of assessing colours," he says, the details of which he won't reveal. Clearly it's successful. "I'm proud of not having a single white room in the apartment," he explains.

Since taking over the business in 2000, Piero has pulled off the unlikely feat of turning a traditional building material into a must-have item for fashionable interiors. Set up in 1955 by his father, Renato (who, aged 84, still goes to the office every day), the Bisazza company was part of the postwar search for new construction materials.

Originally a small operation that made glass tiles by hand, it has now been transformed into a technologically advanced manufacturer and, under Piero's direction, an international luxury brand. Bisazza's advertisements sit happily between Chanel and Ralph Lauren in glossy magazines, and Bisazza tiles have upped the glamour quotient in venues such as Marco Pierre White's London restaurant, Marco, Sydney's opera house and even Cher's swimming pool in Los Angeles. Projects for Justin Timberlake, Orlando Bloom, Karen Millen and Jonathan Ross are among recent commissions, and creative alliances with hot designers including Jaime Hayon, Marcel Wanders and Andree Putman have given both the tile and homeware collections a contemporary edge.

Piero's home provides him with a much needed retreat from a busy schedule of international travel.

"I enjoy pushing myself at work," he says, sipping an espresso, "but, deep down, I'm a contemplative person - although intensely curious." Both personal attributes - curiosity and a sense of calm - are mirrored in this flat, which he bought eight years ago. In fact, he bought two adjacent apartments in the city's historic centre and removed the dividing wall to create a huge 500 sq m space occupying the entire second floor of the palazzo. Injecting symmetry was his first remodelling task. "There wasn't a 90-degree corner angle anywhere," he sighs. "I had to realign all the doors and walls."

He then concentrated on the design. Many of the furnishings - cabinets, chairs, sofas, chests, clocks - are original Biedermeier pieces (the highly collectible decorative furnishings made in central Europe between 1820 and 1860). Their graceful, architectural presence is interspersed with 20th-century pieces such as Mies van der Rohe's 1960s Barcelona chairs. "I'm conservative in taste, but like to be surrounded by things that are relevant to contemporary living," says Piero. The library, with its floor-to-ceiling shelving, reflects his passion for art and design. This room leads to an intimate den in which warm red walls provide a contrasting backdrop for a collection of monochrome Polaroids: portraits, fashion models and nudes by Andy Warhol, Helmut Newton, Rankin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Carlo Mollino and the Japanese photographer, Araki. Displayed symmetrically, in identical frames, their presentation is the epitome of order and balance. Just how Piero Bisazza likes it.

* www.bisazza.com

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