You walk through the apartment of interior designer Rachel Smékalová like a gallery. In every corner, a striking piece of furniture or design solitaire peeks out at you, while your visitor silently observes the opulent stucco ceiling. Our two #1212 wall shelves were recently added to a collection full of color and elements with a story.
„For the five years we've been together, we've been looking for a shelf we can both tolerate.“
Rachel believes that each space tells itself what it needs. That's why she has gradually created a colourful collection of marble, wood and brass in her apartment, where she lives with her husband and two children. What was missing in the home, however, was a practical shelf that would reach the level of the other pieces in its design while fulfilling a storage function.
How did you hear about Fleysen?
I clicked on an ad on Instagram. We wanted a rack but couldn't decide on a colour. Then the pink one came up, which I love, as well as peach or pale blue. I always say I love the colors of the sky, whether it's at sunrise or sunset. So when I saw this pink, it was clear I had to have it.
What attracted you to the furniture?
My husband has been saying ever since we met that we need some callax - it's the most basic shelf from Ikea that everyone had at one time. Well, I say I don't want a callax in my life. So for the five years we've been together, we've been looking for a shelf that we can both tolerate. And this design is airy, light, I like that the shelf doesn't stand on the floor, and I like the color. So I recognized that we could have this callax in our lives.
How does this piece of furniture fit into your interior?
The blue shelf in the kitchen quite easily, but the pink one in the living room is a standout piece thanks to the material. We've only had wood, marble and brass so far. So a modern material like that stands out a lot in this interior. I didn't know what to do with this corner for a long time and changed it about 15 times. It never felt right, for example there was a chair that nobody sits on. Now there's finally something that belongs there functionally, plus it takes the opulent living room down a bit, which I love.
At the same time, we have a lot of vintage stuff from the 60s, 70s, which used to be made of darker wood, but nowadays the trend in furniture is to do this lighter oak, which doesn't quite fit. And I think the metal is nice for our vintage pieces because we don't have to break anything up with the light wood.
What pieces of furniture or accessories did you match our shelves with?
It's a collection of old and new things. On the kitchen shelf we have, for example, second-hand French porcelain, a Ditmar Urbach plate, next to that a Rückl from Rony Plesl's time, two mugs that I recently polished, my favourite cookbooks and other things. So it's a collection of objects that I like and that have a story for me.
Is Fleysen your first major metal furniture?
Actually, yes. For example, our marble table that we had made has a painted metal base, and then we have various metals like chrome or brass, but more in a subtle way like lamps or chair legs.
Do you see any advantages and disadvantages to the metal? Did anything surprise you?
It's super practical to just wipe it down and not have to worry about anything. We sometimes rent out an apartment through Airbnb and with marble, for example, I have to explain to people all the time that they can't put wet things on it. It's annoying but necessary. With metal, we don't have to deal with anything and it's stress-free.
Were you worried about coloured furniture?
I believe that when you move in somewhere, you kind of tell the place what it needs. And this apartment of ours told me that it needed colour and wildness, to knock down those opulent ceilings and create such a colourful collection. The cleaning lady comes in once every two weeks, and every time she comes in, I realize I've changed her place again.
So, to answer the question, we definitely weren't afraid of color. On the contrary, we are happy to add more pieces to our color collection. The walls here in our house are not white, but more of a beige-orange. So without the furniture, the place looks a little old, but the colors break it up.
Note: Rachel Ahuja Smékalová is an interior designer and founder of Rachel Ahuja, a creative studio that focuses on commercial interior design and visual merchandising, and co-founder of Qurated, a concept store featuring vintage accessories and furniture. She lives with her family in Prague.
Do you enjoy the series Is it at Home? Take a peek into another Prague apartment, where actor Tomáš Měcháček lives and which boasts our shelves, this time in three different colours.
Photo: Dita Havránková
