Constanze Von Unruh Interior Designs

Linnea Engemann & Nishma Agarwal’s Blog: A community centre in a favela on the hill side of VIsta Alegre fundraising page:   http://www.everyclick.com/vista_alegre/info

Color vibrancy and texture against the classical backdrop of a cloister in the middle of Milan. Traditional and contemporary united in meditation by the queen of soulful chic Paola Lenti! Sent from my iPhone

Sensing Spaces, the current (25 January to 6 April, 2014) architectural exhibition at the Royal Academy is exhilarating and frustrating in equal measure. Exhilarating for its conceptually innovative approach to exhibiting architecture. Frustrating for ‘discovering’ the sensuality of the interior – the theory and practice of the much maligned profession of Interior Design.

Interiors are visceral experiences: they influence our emotional well being, they feed our senses, they trigger memories and they are always just a touch away. However for centuries , in the hierarchy of the senses, the visual sense has been regarded in the highest position. The haptic sense was viewed and dismissed as primitive, non abstract, non academic. Is it a sign of the 21st century and our lack of authentic experiences that we yearn for an immediacy and a physical connection to our own bodies?

In the 17th and 18th centuries having a porcelain room was all the rage for aristocrats. It displayed wealth and status and cultural know-how. The experience of the space then as today is shock and awe, the sheer volume and detail overwhelming.

At the restaurant Kaefer in Munich there are several private dining rooms with different themes. They are all wonderful but I have a special weakness for this cabinet which reminds me of the Porcelain Room at the Charlottenburg Palace. Precious and intimate it wraps around you and your dining partner. Pure joy looking at the different designs of the porcelain and an atmosphere like a film set.