home, once a 17th-century sugar warehouse. Rising high above the tiled rooftops
of one of the city’s most poetic canals, the space created by its owners, design
team George Gottl and Oliver Michell of Amsterdam-based UXUS, exemplifies the
pair’s working approach: to create what Gottl calls “evocative environments that
express the individual’s taste and embody their ideas of their life in their home.”
Comfort intimacy, and relaxed good humor—these simple pleasures decant into
the couple’s passion for life, enlivening the sun-filled space like a growing smile.
Drapes, rather than walls, articulate the private areas of the loft—the master
bedroom, guest room and closet. “One reason for the drapes,” Gottl admits, “was
financial. We saved a great deal of money by using curtains in place of walls. But
we also didn’t feel that we should break up a space that had survived intact for
300 years.” Made from beige apparel-quality Italian linen, the drapes, notes Gottl,
who sewed them himself, impart “warmth and texture, and give movement to the
space.” Light shimmers and glows through and around the fabrics, falling into the
It is in such sophisticated sleights of hand that the true mood of the home emerges.
of whites, grays and browns—enhance the tones of the home’s original honey-colored pine beams, and carve separate zones within the loft, creating coziness
and order within a space that could otherwise appear cavernous and cluttered.
