IVAN TERESTCHENKO

Cover story: Lapo Elkann's Paris pied a terre photographed for AD Russia June 2010. Lapo Elkann, the name alone is a calling card. It rolls in the mouth like something exotic, slightly extravagant, intriguing. Grand son and heir of the famous avvocato Giovanni Agnelli, born in New York, brought up in Brazil, London and France, in turn, worker , under a nickname of course, in one of his grand father’s factory, personal assistant to Henry Kissinger, before joining Maserati and finally the family heirdom Fiat, and last but not least, elected the most elegant man in the world by Vanity Fair. The good fairies have been busy. Now how should the nest of a bird which such a rare pedigree look like ? Discouragingly simple. Lapo didn’t buy the place nor went through the troublesome hassle of having anything built. He just found it there already built, a stone throw away from the Seine, signed the lease and walked across the street to his friend’s Gallery Yves Gastou and furnished it. Something between a garçonniere and a playground, everything at close hand without a hint of affectation or show off but a cunning eye on proportions and quality. The entrance leads to a small kitchen opening on a large sitting room with Italian flag-like high curtains and an oversized original DS 500 sofa from De Sede and a rare coffee table by Jean Claude Fahri. The large hanging 1970’s vintage lamps where already there. Up a small staircase, the bedroom is adjacent to the bathroom- cloakroom. The bed is itself a monument of design in polished steel by Pierre Cardin surrounded on both sides by a whimsical pair of Mickey Mouse chests in lacquered wood designed by Walt Disney… And toys everywhere. According to Lapo, design flows in his blood as an inherent part of his Italian roots. Why should he pretend in anything ? He has it all. Fortunato indeed.