The sophisticated masculinity of French finance professional Yoram Layani's Bonham Road bachelor pad reflects his Renaissance-man interests as a keen home cook, dinner party host and DJ.
'I love the spacious feeling and industrial look of New York lofts, so that was the brief I gave my interior designer - lots of light, space and workshop-style materials,' says Layani. 'I didn't want an over-the-top designer flat, though, so we went for wood in the kitchen and on the floors, to preserve a warm and comfortable feeling despite the use of bricks and metal accents.'
Interior designer and fellow French expat Peggy Bels was tasked with transforming the three-bedroom, 1,000 sq ft space into an airy loft. The first order of business was to knock down the internal walls to expose the kitchen and create an open-plan layout, with a spacious bedroom separated from the living room by a sliding glass door (a curtain can be pulled across for privacy). A dramatic black mosaic-clad bathroom was installed behind the bedroom, with two entrances so it can be an en-suite and entered from the living room.
The main materials employed in the redesign were 'brick' (4mm-thick, brick-effect tiling), oak and matte-black metal, which was used for the custom-built kitchen cabinets and bespoke furniture, including the bed, which has built-in storage.
'The amazing thing about using this salvaged industrial metal is that you never know what you're going to get because it's not uniform,' Bels says. 'You could have a piece with a beautifully rusted look.'
Against this minimal backdrop are statement pieces of furniture, such as a custom-designed red sofa and a black-and-white pony-skin chair. Bels' attention to detail extended to having pinstriped cushions and black bed sheets with white piping made by a tailor.