Recently I came across the photographer Michael Himpel via Lumas Gallery and his shots of beautiful old interiors, all with that fascinating dilapidated but luxe feel, all empty and all belonging to historic villas in Havanna, Cuba.

Only little later I saw an advertising campaign of German furniture manufacturer WK Wohnen in print media (February 2008). - And I recognised the rooms! Single modern pieces were placed into these old villas in Havanna for shooting the campaign - in November 2007 with photographer Michael Himpel and Creative Director Christian Follert. The rooms usually are not empty. For the shooting the owner's furniture was taken out. I wonder how these interiors normally look?

See here the photographs with and without furniture :

via WK Wohnen

Villa Eulalia, Havanna by Michael Himpel via Lumas

"the charme of past times is present in Havanna ..." via pmi publishing

Villa La Guarida by Michael Himpel via Lumas

What a ballroom !

via WK Wohnen

Villa Carlos, Havanna by Michael Himpel via Lumas

What a ceiling lamp ?!

via WK Wohnen

via Eulalia, Havanna by Michael Himpel via Lumas

What a flooring !! Love the tiles !!

And when writing about advertising modern / luxe furniture in rough / shabby rooms, I want to post two more samples :

red sofa (Charles) above by B&B Italia ...

... in the same room that I posted it in Feb. 2007 !

However the above picture is not taken from an advertising. If I remember well it was the furnishing of a house in Italy. The style was called "neo-shabby chic" by the magazine it was featured in (Casa International, Beijing).

I do love the fresco !

This is clearly advertising for an Italian divano - the location looks like an abandoned church , similar feeling to the other two pics before.

While the German advertising campaign was this year, I am not sure about the Italian ones. The last (mantelassi) is from about 2 or 3 years ago. However, I do not care if a style is in or not. It has to fit. This shabby chic or rough luxe style just fits to old historic buildings that have a past to tell and to preserve. I hope that I can preserve some interior walls and ceilings in our palazzo in Italy that are testimonies from so many years.

My next post should show some dilapidated walls, ceilings and fresci of our Palazzo Pizzo ...

To round up my recent posts about rough luxe - or shabby chic - I want to provide a few links to some similar content, posted recently or a bit ago, here for the interested reader :

Rough luxe and the new antiquarians by The Architectural Antique Review (09/2009)

Rough Luxe by Wall Street Journal (WSJ, 09/2009)

Rough Luxe Hotel by Designers Block (03/2009)

Cote de Texas about Belgian Design (01/2009)

A description of Boho Modern by Decor8 (01/2008)

Axel Vervoordt