Celebrity Designer Vicky Charles Takes on Miami’s Luxury Condo Scene as Lead Interior Designer for The Villa in Edgewater

Known for a star-studded client roster including celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, Emma Stone, Harry Styles, David and Victoria Beckham, New York design studio Charles & Co is embarking on its first full-scale luxury condominium project, The Villa in Miami's Edgewater neighborhood. The tower is also known as the first residential development for the buzzed-about hospitality brand Major Food Group.

Of the residences’ many impressive design elements, the kitchens have to be a favorite. Vicky Charles worked alongside none other than Major Food Group’s Mario Carbone to create a chef style kitchen which serves as a focal point within the tower’s vertical villas. Designed as a gathering area for unwinding or entertaining, the kitchens marry Wolf appliances with pasta sinks reminiscent of traditional Italian culinary ethos with a state-of-the-art twist.

New York design studio Charles & Co. developed Villa’s interiors by merging a sophisticated European sensibility with a focus on warmth, romance and the waterfront setting. Each full floor estate-style residence overlooks the water, while sitting high in the sky. The design studio employed the use of noble materials throughout, with travertine marble, wood flooring and soft lighting setting the tone.

The building’s stunning location, sitting on the bay’s edge, formed the basis of Charles & Co’s design inspiration, where the notion of waterfront city living brought up thoughts of cosmopolitan European destinations like Venice and the romance of the French Riviera. The design was heavily inspired by some of the most iconic villas of great Italian architects. The designers looked to these homes as a source of inspiration with their grand entries and overall sense of wonder. Stylized details and motifs are paired with soft furniture and textiles to offer a sense of grandeur while still maintaining a relaxed residential feel. The rich heritage of these cities also inspired the studio’s material choices, with their muted pastel marbles, patinated metals and warm woods. Soft pinks, greens and ochres all work together to create a calm and timeless palette which responds to the natural Miami light. Organic shapes and soft edges are layered with texture and pattern which is echoed from the lobby to the apartment units.

Leading exterior design is local rising star Kurt Dannwolf, Architect of O’Donnell, Dannwolf & Partners (ODP Architects), who created drawings for the elegant 650-foot-tall crystalline tower. ODP Architects has served as a favorite Miami local architect of record and collaborator for many renowned design architects such as Zaha Hadid Architects, Foster + Partners, OMA, KPF, SOATA, Elkus Manfredi Architects, Herzog & de Meuron, and MAD Architects.

The architects also engaged the structural design firm of DeSimone to engineer this impressive structure. DeSimone has offices around the world with its primary offices in New York and Miami, Desimone has designed over 10,000 structures and among them many of the most recognizable high-rises in New York, Miami and globally.

Rounding out the design team for Villa Miami is one of the world’s most renowned landscape architects from Switzerland, Enzo Enea, who’s had a long presence in Miami and a history of exceptional projects locally as well as globally.

The landscape design for Villa responds to the site’s genius loci (spirit of the place). Situated on beautiful Biscayne Bay, the landscape design incorporates a plant palette of native Floridian sub-tropical species with large specimen trees which provide shade in the urban setting and thrive in the waterfront exposed site. The lush planting creates intimate gathering spaces that enhances the user experience and frames the expansive water and skyline views. The warm wood decks and natural stone along with the vegetation complement both the architecture and interior design to create one holistic project.