Altana Palazzo Pucci, designed by Gae Aulenti
photographed by Ivan Terestchenko


There aren't that many places truly "flamboyant".
The Altana of the Palazzo Pucci is one of them, a very very rare specimen.


combining gothic architecture with modern steel structures.











I received a letter from a dear friend, Ivan Terestchenko about a month ago. Inside this email, were images of the most extraordinary interior apartment I perhaps have set my eyes upon. Designed by Gae Aulenti, and photographed by Ivan.

Over the next few emails, Ivan Terestchenko shared his photographs along with a story of how he ended up photographing this space trapped in time. I'll be posting this week the images and the story Ivan shared with me.




Thank you Ivan.

Your work and generosity continues to leave me speechless...




















































Ivan Terestchenko writes,

"When I was in my teens, in the 70's, my father gave me as a birthday present a subscription to a wonderful magazine: "Connaissance des Arts". It still exists today but is nothing compared to what it was then. Anyway, each month I couldn't wait for the next issue to arrive. It was full of wonderful art but also of the best decoration worldwide.

Still today I can remember the thrill when I saw a Venetian chapel turned into a private house, extraordinarily elegant and chic beyond imagination, combining gothic architecture with modern steel structures. Much later when I became a photographer and started to work for magazines, I had these places in mind.
There aren't that many places truly "flamboyant". The Altana of the Palazzo Pucci is one of them, a very very rare specimen.

I had heard of the Altana, by my brother's girlfriend, a very beautiful italian girl, who was a friend of the Pucci's. I hadn't seen anything but I knew this had to be flamboyant. In the end of the 1990's, Vogue opened a title in Japan and I proposed the editor to do a story on Pucci which had almost fallen into oblivion.


This is the beginning of the story, but it's getting late, 2,30 AM, and I need to get some sleep...


I'll tell you more later...



(tomorrow)








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IVAN TERESTCHENKO photography

"From Ukrainian origins, born in England and educated in France, Ivan Terestchenko read History of Art at the Ecole du Louvre and was a painter until the age of 30 when he switched to photography and landed his first assignment with french Vogue. He soon gained international recognition documenting the private homes of fashion and high profile designers for magazines worldwide including The World of Interiors and Casa Vogue Italy.

Ivan travels extensively, sailed twice across the Atlantic ocean and is a passionate surfer. He also paints and sculpts."






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