Cover Multiple seating arrangements within the living room of this Mayfair apartment, including terracotta-toned armchairs
Multiple seating arrangements within the living room of this Mayfair apartment, including terracotta-toned armchairs
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South African-born designer Christian Bense layers Art Deco references with mid-century influences across a lateral Mayfair apartment at London’s 60 Curzon, creating distinct zones within an expansive single-floor layout
In a lateral apartment spanning just over 4,000 square feet on London’s Curzon Street, the South African-born, London-based interior designer and founder of CB Design Studio, Christian Bense, has created a residence that moves fluidly through nearly five decades of design history. The four-bedroom home occupies a single floor of 60 Curzon, a boutique building in Mayfair whose Art Deco-inspired façade and interior architecture by Thierry W. Despont provided both framework and creative tension for Bense’s first residential development project.
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Above Christian Bense in the sitting area, where soft pinks, powder blues and creams define the main living spaces
Christian Bense in the sitting area, where soft pinks, powder blues and creams define the main living spaces
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The apartment’s central challenge was its open-plan living space, a room large enough to feel cavernous without careful intervention. “The scale and open-plan layout of the living space in the apartment was a challenge, but also an exciting opportunity to create a dynamic and multi-functional space,” Bense explained. “We introduced zoning here to address this and to ensure the space didn’t overwhelm. You could easily have felt lost in there had we not carved up the room in this way.”
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The open-plan living space unfolds across three zones with layered rugs defining each area
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That zoning appears in three distinct areas: a refined sitting room, a more formal seating area, and a dining space centred around a Galvin Brothers table. Velvet art-deco chairs and a bespoke boucle sofa anchor the room beneath an Italian Gaspare Asaro pendant light, while layered rugs establish visual rhythm. A mohair tapestry by Frances VH introduces, as Bense describes, an organic South African element into the otherwise tailored composition.
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Above The entrance corridor features a gallery-style arrangement with seven curated artworks and a bespoke runner rug
Above The entrance hall has a timber cabinet displaying artwork and decorative objects
The entrance corridor features a gallery-style arrangement with seven curated artworks and a bespoke runner rug
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The apartment’s layout extends beyond this central living area to include a separate kitchen, a snug, a library, and two studies. This arrangement allows the residence to function as both an entertaining space and a working home. The principal bedroom and three additional bedrooms branch directly off a central corridor lined with seven curated artworks, a gallery-style passage that Bense designed with a bespoke runner rug.
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The living room’s multi-functional layout, which Bense zoned to prevent the large open-plan space from feeling overwhelming
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“There is always a balancing act between over- and under-furnishing a room, regardless of it being large or small,” Bense noted. “I think it is always important that one ensures that there is always intention behind a piece of furniture, so that nothing feels like it needs to be there.”
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The dining area has a round table and bench seating, demonstrating Bense’s approach to creating multiple functional zones within the open-plan layout
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That intentionality extends to the apartment’s varied material palette. Timber, brass, lacquer, marble and silk appear throughout, though Bense employed them differently across rooms. In the study, abaca wallpaper by Mark Alexander provides an earthy backdrop for a curved, dark-wood desk with bronze detailing, handcrafted in Italy. The snug features a deep sofa in merino wool velvet. Both rooms use richer, saturated colours paired with darker flooring and metal accents. This is a deliberate shift from the soft pinks, powder blues and creams that define much of the residence.
“For rooms like the study and the snug, we delivered interiors which felt more atmospheric,” Bense said. “It’s essential to create moments of contrast in design and allow certain spaces to take on their own distinct personality.”
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Above The study features abaca wallpaper by Mark Alexander and a curved, dark-wood desk with bronze detailing, handcrafted in Italy
Above The snug demonstrates Bense’s approach to creating contrast with saturated colours and darker tones
The study features abaca wallpaper by Mark Alexander and a curved, dark-wood desk with bronze detailing, handcrafted in Italy
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The principal bedroom shows this attention to distinct character. Defined by a curved window overlooking the Gustafson Porter + Bowman courtyard garden, the room is fully wallpapered. Bense balanced this enveloping treatment with soft, layered textiles. A bespoke emperor bed by Robert Langford is the focal point, flanked by carta and bronze bedside tables from New York design studio DeMuro Das.
“The principal bedroom is one of our favourite spaces,” Bense said. “The unique curved window and fully wallpapered room create a serene retreat which feels both light and airy as well as enveloped and soft at the same time."
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Above The kitchen with cream cabinetry and marble backsplash
Above A view showing the connection between spaces, with darker wood flooring in select rooms creating visual transitions
The kitchen with cream cabinetry and marble backsplash
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Above A corridor detail showing the layered approach to materials, including timber, brass and decorative objects
Above The 108-square-foot terrace features a Neptune outdoor armchair and Pierre Frey-upholstered dining chairs
A corridor detail showing the layered approach to materials, including timber, brass and decorative objects
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The apartment’s furnishings and artworks came from more than 18 countries, a breadth of sourcing that reflects Bense’s conception of the target resident. “We really wanted this apartment to be a real example of the types of clients who would buy: Worldly, well-travelled, layered with an appreciation of art and interesting design,” he said.
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The principal bedroom is defined by its curved window overlooking the Gustafson Porter + Bowman courtyard garden, featuring a bespoke emperor bed by Robert Langford
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This global sensibility appears in pieces like the Italian pendant light, the South African tapestry and commissions from South African artists in the bedrooms. The 108-square-foot terrace continues this thread with a Neptune outdoor armchair and Pierre Frey-upholstered dining chairs.
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Above A bedroom view showing darker flooring that creates visual transitions between spaces
Above Bedroom storage featuring timber cabinetry, decorative objects, and artwork
A bedroom view showing darker flooring that creates visual transitions between spaces
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Above One of the additional bedrooms has a terracotta-toned armchair, introducing warmer tones to the palette
Above A bedroom featuring dark grasscloth walls and a plaid throw, showing Bense's approach to creating contrast
One of the additional bedrooms has a terracotta-toned armchair, introducing warmer tones to the palette
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“We really wanted to explore a new definition of luxury, demonstrating that luxury doesn’t need to feel minimalist and elusive,” Bense explained. “It should feel warm, inviting and have depth and texture that resonates with anyone who walks into the space.”
The result is a home that references the building’s Art Deco bones while pulling from design periods spanning the 1920s through the 1960s. Bense describes this layered approach as walking the line between honouring the past and informing the future. For Mayfair, a neighbourhood where history weighs heavily on contemporary design, the apartment offers one answer to how those elements might coexist beautifully on a single floor.
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Photography: Studio Rochowski
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Jennifer Choo is Regional Managing Editor of Tatler Homes, covering architecture, interior design, and art across Asia. Based in Malaysia, she oversees regional content on luxury residential design and contemporary art collections. Legally trained but choosing to pursue her passion for design, she previously led notable design publications and worked as an interior stylist and art consultant for property developers, design firms, and private clients.
