Unique homes J.J. Martin

› Portrait of J.J. Martin in front of a pair of 1940s still-life paintings by her great grandmother, Swedish artist Katrina Van Ike. Photography by Josh Shinner as featured in ’A Room of Her Own’ by Robyn Lea.

California born, Milan-based J.J. Martin co-founded the Italian fashion and homeware brand La Double J in 2015 with a mission to shine a light on Italy’s unsung historic manufacturers with 100% Italian-made maximalist design. J.J. came across her magical Milanese home with the help of a local doorman and inevitably proceeded to wave her colourful wand. Not a white wall in sight, a palette of pattern, colour and contrast, J.J. Martin’s home is a clear reflection of her dazzling personality.

Tell us about your home?

The building is Gothic Revival style from 1910 - it looks like a castle from the outside. The entryway is plastered with incredible mosaics and it has a grand and spooky vibe which I love. I found it totally serendipitously by interviewing the local Milanese doormen around this neighbourhood and they pointed me in the right direction. This was after a very long and painful search process that yielded nothing using the traditional avenues. As usual, everything happens in Italy through ‘passa parola’ - word of mouth.

On what way does your personality reflects your home?

There is not a single white wall in my home so that might explain something. My home is filled with contrasts. There’s a lot of pattern and colour, but then it’s also quite rigorously designed. I think that reflects my personality because I am a woman of deep contrasts. I am super spiritual and also do the most superficial job on the planet by selling clothes. The house is both very old and very new, I have a mix of vintage pieces that I’ve found and a lot of really modern things. I’m like that as a person as well: yes, I like technology and what that affords me, but I am kind of an analogue person, an old soul in a modern body.

› Vintage bamboo chairs with cushions of a La DoubleJ fabric. Custom Tree of Life wallpaper was created from an illustration by artist Kirsten Synge based on collages Martin found in Bali.

What’s your idea of a home?

I have only become conscious of this recently, but for me home really reflects states of my personal awareness. When I get into a new headspace - mentally, emotionally, energetically - it is interesting how the interior of my existing home will change, or I will move apartments altogether. The home is an extension. It’s almost like the energy body or the aura that’s around me extends into the house itself. It's important to keep that clean and orderly. It has to be warm, and it has to be a place where I feel supported. It’s important that my home is both a refuge and nest for me personally but also a place where I can welcome other people and really share the space.

How would you describe your design aesthetic?

My style is really a reflection of my inner world of creativity, which is quite unconventional. I love wackiness and playfulness but then I also love sober seriousness. Let’s just say, I put things together that most people wouldn’t. That’s what I do at my company, La DoubleJ - the ingredients are unusual. I’ve been looking through old photos recently and it’s pretty funny seeing how I dressed and decorated things 15 years ago, 25 years ago. I didn’t have the style I have today. It’s been a process of discovery that has been birthed through me, searching for things honestly that bring me joy - it’s not always about finding beauty, sometimes it’s harmony. The true mark of style is finding your own imprint and not being sanctioned by anyone else. Sometimes I’m wacky, sometimes I’m woo-woo, sometimes I’m extremely sophisticated - it’s all very feeling based.

› Photography: Filippo Bamberghi as featured in ‘A Room of Her Own: Inside the Homes and Lives of Creative Women’ av Robyn Lea, (Thames & Hudson, 2021).

› The custom armchairs and ottoman wear a vintage print reissued by Prada, and the stools are covered in a La DoubleJ print. Photography: ‘as featured in A Room of Her Own: Inside the Homes and Lives of Creative Women’ by Robyn Lea, (Thames & Hudson, 2021)

Do you have a favourite style epoch?

I love the Liberty period in Milan, which is the period just before that in which my house was built (my house is not Liberty, it’s old school). I love all the Liberty designs you can find throughout Milan just because I find it so feminine and beautiful and sinuous - it’s gorgeous.

Do you collect anything?

I collect everything: crystals, essential oils, vintage jewellery, Murano glasses, porcelain plates. There are collections all over my house - it’s hilarious.

What inspires you?

My spiritual teachers, both living and dead – not to get too weird - are the most inspirational figures in my life. Everyone from my energy healers to my multi-dimension spiritual teachers, to angel channellers. I love working with energy and the realms of the invisible and what is available to humans beyond our minds and bodies. This is what inspires me and keeps me going in this dense existence inside the 3D bodies we have - knowing that there is so much more behind what we actually see.

› Photography: Filippo Bamberghi as featured in ‘A Room of Her Own: Inside the Homes and Lives of Creative Women’ av Robyn Lea, (Thames & Hudson, 2021).

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I collect everything: crystals, essential oils, vintage jewellery, Murano glasses, porcelain plates. There are collections all over my house – it’s hilarious.

› In the meditation room, Balinese palm-frond fans surround an antique Tibetan altar on a vintage Italian console; ceiling painted by artist Jay C. Lohmann. Photo: Filippo Bamberghi as featured in ‘A Room of Her Own: Inside the Homes and Lives of Creative Women’ av Robyn Lea, (Thames & Hudson, 2021).

What’s the favourite part of your home?

My meditation room. I have a room that is technically a bedroom with no furniture except for an altar and a bookshelf. I had the whole room painted midnight blue and the ceiling painted in a star constellation with gold leaf by a friend of mine who specializes in fresco work to replicate the Byzantine churches in Ravenna. I am crazy about Byzantine art and Italian churches, especially Sicilian baroque. This is like having my own temple space in the home, this is the place where I have my morning practice, yoga, meditation. It’s the place where I lead energy healing groups. It feels like a space that is not asking anything of me and is there to give me something.

What has shaped your interior style?

Working as a journalist for eight years as the Milan editor for Wallpaper magazine definitely shaped my interior style. I've always been quite flamboyant and maximal and a lover of pattern, print and decoration so it was so funny for me to be working for a magazine that was really focused on minimal style. Working for them gave me an education into the world of both contemporary modern design and Milan’s design history. I fused that knowledge with my decorative tendencies and the result is what you see in my house.

When are you the most creative?

When I am totally relaxed when there is no deadline when I'm laughing, when I'm playful, when I’m having fun and when I am feeding off of other people’s energy.

› A vintage needlepoint picture found on Etsy hangs above an Arflex sofa in peacock-blue velvet. The glass tables were a flea-market find. Vintage ottoman in a David Hicks fabric; 1970s leather chairs; early 1900s Chinese rug.

Tell us about an art piece or object that means a lot to you?

The wallpaper in the dining room is artwork painted and designed by the artist Kirsten Synge based on some collages that I found in Bali. I gave them to the artist and she created this incredible reinterpretation of it. Then we printed that onto paper and had it custom-designed for the space in my dining room. It is the most joyful, exuberant pattern and colour play - she even added my dog into the corner of the design. It is like the room itself has been surrounded by this artwork.

What are you looking for at auctions?

I love to buy vintage jewellery at auctions. I feel I have an eye for it. I'm not looking for fancy pedigree pieces, I just look for shapes that are incredibly unique. I'm crazy about chairs and jewellery and glass objects - those are the kinds of things I lean towards. I’m always looking for shapes I have never seen before.

What was the latest thing you bought at an auction?

A silk satin tapestry embroidered with flowers and a giant peacock – it’s now hanging in my hallway.

Your top three favourite spots in Milan?

– My home away from home is Pasticceria Cucchi. It used to be my office when I was a journalist and since then we have done lots of takeovers with La DoubleJ. They are like family; I love that place.

– I love Latteria San Marco for a very simple home-cooked meal.

– Chiesa di San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore, a 14th Century church on Corso Magenta. This is just the most extravagant, incredible, painted, sculpted, gilded, inspirational interior. I really get inspired by Italian baroque interiors.