09
THE EXTRAVAGANT KITCHEN
T
hey couldn’t bemore different.He’s
a burly mariner and she’s a petite
artist.WhileGiuseppe was steering
giant tankers and ships across the Seven
Seas, Tatjana was designing intricate
pieces of jewellery (which she has been
doing since her childhood and with
growing success).
They met ten years ago at Tatjana’s jewel-
lery exhibition in Hong Kong. A friend
hadaskedGiuseppe togo alongwithhim
to the preview. ‘Her eyes are just as be-
guiling as her jewellery,’ says Giuseppe
who is still very much in love. She im-
mediately fell for his self-confidence and
pleasant manner. It didn’t take long for
them to decide to live together. When
Giuseppe was given the possibility to go
into early retirement, he jumped at the
chance. Giuseppe and Tatjana found ‘La
Fornace’ an old, shut-down brick factory
between Grosseto and Follonica in
southern Tuscany. Giuseppe knew the
region from his youth. Step by step they
turned the run-down works into a dream
residence. ‘On a clear day you can see the
sea fromthe topfloor,’ saysGiuseppe, ‘it’s
just 20 kilometres away.’ Once a sea-dog
always a sea-dog,’ chuckles Tatjana.
They might look very different but their
tastes and demands in terms of kitchens
are very much the same. A kitchen must
not only be beautiful but also practical.
Tatjana didn’t only provide the ideas for
the cooking island and wall cabinet
above the sink, but also helped out with
the design. ‘Jewellery only needs to be
decorative,’ says the dainty Russian, ‘but
a kitchen must primarily be functional,
otherwise you can’t enjoy its beauty.’
The extravagant wall cabinet above the
sink is equipped with electric SERVO-
DRIVE and has a drip tray at the bottom
so that dishes can be left in the cabinet
to dry. ‘Martini Mobili’, a kitchen com-
pany from Bovolone near Verona, me-
ticulously implemented all the details,
‘If a kitchen isn’t functional,
you can’t take pleasure in
its beauty.’
DREAM COUPLE
Retired captain Giuseppe
Spirandelli and jewellery designer
Tatjana Regolova have found their
dream house
DREAM HOUSE
They found the old brick factory
‘La Fornace’ near Grosseto in southern
Tuscany, lovingly renovated it and
turned it into their retirement home.
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kitchen inspirations
