A Milano chair, Palatino cabinet, Tutankhamun chair, and Emerald side table on view in Achille Salvagni's Madison Avenue gallery.
Photo: Michael Mundy
Go Inside Achille Salvagni’s Artfully Curated New York City Flagship
The Galerie Creative Mind brings his elevated style to a Manhattan gallery precisely composed with his bespoke designs
Achille Salvagni. Photo: Lori Hawkins
Sinuous cabinets lined with parchment and adorned with bronze details plated in 24K gold, side tables of gleaming Murano glass, and a multiarmed chandelier with illuminated onyx aptly named Spider are just a few of the unique creations housed in Italian designer Achille Salvagni’s recently opened New York gallery. The new venue puts the breadth of his made-to-order collections together in one artfully curated space, which echoes the precision and glamour of his meticulously devised residential and yacht interiors.
“I define myself as a couturier of furniture design, so the gallery is a canvas for other designers to be inspired,” Salvagni explains. “The atelier is a sort of domestic, environmental mood board.”
Inside Achille Salvagni’s new Manhattan gallery, one of the designer’s signature Spider chandeliers hovers over his Emerald side table and (from left) Tutankhamun, Amboseli, and Milano chairs. Photo: Michael Mundy
An alcove outfitted with the designer’s Giò cabinet, Lancea lamp, Clouds mirror, and Gae armchair. Photo: Michael Mundy
Salvagni, a Galerie Creative Mind, was drawn to the Madison Avenue building’s distinguished limestone façade and proverbial good bones, opting to remove the floor that had previously divided the interior into two levels, giving breathing room to his massive chandeliers that stretch above vignettes of his limited-edition seating, tables, and lamps. “Collectors love the idea of entering into an entire world and experiencing all the variations of the same body of work,” he says.
“I define myself as a couturier of furniture design”
Achille Salvagni
The gallery's private consultation room features new pumpkin-shaped silk pendant inspired by Piero della Francesca’s Brera Madonna suspended over a 1930s Gio Ponti zodiac table with a FontanaArte dome. Photo: Michael Mundy
Like his celebrated interiors, which fuse elements of both classicism and modernism, the design destination features towering archways, creamy plaster walls inlaid with bronze, and parquet floors of honed oak. A niche outfitted in terra-cotta-hued silk wallpaper hosts one of Salvagni’s signature cabinets in rosewood with asymmetrical bronze inlay. In the private consultation room, a 1930s Gio Ponti zodiac table with a FontanaArte dome that Salvagni considers “the quintessence of elegance and chicness” is topped by a new pumpkin-shaped silk pendant inspired by Piero della Francesca’s Brera Madonna and crafted by a Roman seamstress, who had worked for architect Renzo Mongiardino for 35 years and Salvagni coaxed out of retirement.
A Dumas chandelier, Bubbles sconces, a Circeo screen, and an Alcyone sofa displayed in the Madison Avenue gallery. Photo: Michael Mundy
The gallery's welcoming front area is situated with a variety of Achille Salvagni furniture and lighting designs. Photo: Michael Mundy
“Achille’s intellect and curiosity are expressed through his designs,” says Benoist F. Drut, a partner in the gallery and owner of Maison Gerard. “He plays with geometry and engages with history, always pushing his boundaries to evolve as an artist.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2023 Spring Issue under the headline “Madison Masterpiece.” Subscribe to the magazine.
Cover: A Milano chair, Palatino cabinet, Tutankhamun chair, and Emerald side table on view in Achille Salvagni's Madison Avenue gallery.
Photo: Michael Mundy
