Astolfi Home

The Portuguese artist, architect and designer Joana Astolfi lives in Lisbon with her six-year- -old daughter Duna and their Dachshund, Lola. Her house nestles on the fifth floor of a classic Estado Novo building in a central urban district. Its 130 square meters are divided into a large living room, kitchen, two bathrooms and four bedrooms; Astolfi uses one of the bedrooms as her home office, and has converted another into a library and music room with a daybed for occasional overnight guests. A small terrace links the office to the master bedroom. She arranges all interior elements - from furniture to color palette to objets d’art - to create distinct spaces (which she calls “moments”) that help to evoke different moods for different times of day. For Astolfi, all “moments” are inclined toward moods of comfort, safety, happiness and joy. “My house is an embodiment of my personality,” she says. “The objects that I love to have near me - they’re actually my way of life, my interests, narratives, my memories, that accompany me everywhere I go.” Even - and perhaps especially - when she is not going much of anywhere: while working and schooling Duna here during the past year, Astolfi has come to appreciate the comfort and functionality of home more than ever. For her, the aesthetic beauty of her space is also “essential.”