Romy & Ilya’s home
Vibrant colours, imaginative shapes, eye-catching art pieces, quirky finds from all over the world and many favourites from their own collections.
Ilya and Romy’s apartment in Amsterdam is a happy place that reflects the positive spirit and creativity of its owners.
Romy: ‘Our interior style? I don’t know. Our house just shows who we are; it is typically Ilya and Romy. Playful and personal, a mix of old and new. I’m very intuitive; I’m moved by shapes and colours.’
Every month Romy and Ilya change houses. One month they live in their house in the French countryside, the other month they stay in their apartment in Amsterdam. This way they enjoy the best of both worlds.
Romy: ‘I can’t live without the energy of the city, the museums, the theatres, but I also appreciate the outdoors, and Ilya likes to hang out among the trees as the nature man he is. Fortunately, when we stay in Amsterdam nature isn’t that far either. We only need to walk a couple of minutes to find ourselves in one of the lush parks of Amsterdam. Even our border collie Umka, who loves to roam through the French woods and meadows, doesn’t complain when she is in Amsterdam.’
‘During the pandemic we launched a new brand, Atelier Toit. Since then the handmade wooden Atelier Toit objects take over our walls and shelves. We just can’t resist them! They are original and poetic and they make excellent statement pieces.’
‘Two of my favorites are the Franklin and Presley candleholders that Ilya designed. They are very robust, witty and elegant at the same time. They allude to the eighties in their shape and the twenties in their colors. When we had the bookcase in our living room made, we specifically asked for a compartment big enough for the Presley candle holder.’
‘Just recently we created some small unique art works together with artists Jantien Baas and Monika Nowak who are part of our design team. These are mere assemblies of shapes, assembled and painted from left-over wood in our studio. These pieces are delicious bits of eye candy with a striking expressiveness in all their simplicity. They will be launched on our Atelier Toit website in May 2023.’
‘Of course you can also find Studio ROOF designs all over our house. I love to make collages of all sorts of items.’
‘Currently we are working on a new collection for Autumn Winter 2023 that will include lots of ornaments, mobiles and new birds but will also contain a capsule collection with three signature pieces that reinterpret our previous legendary bestseller ‘Tree of Life’ that won lots of design prizes in the years 2009 to 2012. These new trees are designed in collaboration with artists Elisabeth Vidal and Jantien Baas and of course one by Ilya as the designer who has been at the base of all of our collections since the beginning. They are going to be real eyecatchers.’