VW HOME- by Susanna Salk for 1stdibs
Whether exploring a six-hundred-year-old Bhutan temple or the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Vicente Wolf has devoted a life-long search for both the exotic in the every day and the every day in the exotic. Says this celebrated interior designer: “If we can take the traveler’s eye into our daily environment and translate the intensity you feel in an exotic situation to the experience of entering a room, you will come to understand the soul of a space. It’s all about learning to see.” And Learning to See seems to be a golden thread in Wolf's design outlook – it's the title of his first book; he's published two.
Being dyslexic forced Wolf to cultivate his intense visual strengths at a young age: “I had to depend on my mind’s eye,” he remembers. “At home I’d spend hours playing in my room with imaginary friends and moving the furniture around. Interior design was a career I didn’t even know existed. Arranging furniture was very calming and it came to me naturally.” When his parents bought a new house, the furniture arrived just as they were leaving for work. By the time they came home, Wolf had arranged the whole house.
Not being able to read easily, the knowledge and opinions of “authorities” was often beyond Wolf’s reach. “As I got older, I found I had to rely solely on my own judgment, and my independence became a pattern. I once enrolled in design school, but when the teacher said that the rule is for curtains to be two inches off the floor I walked out and never went back. The concept of a curtain brushing the floor has never been a negotiable fact for me – going against it would be fighting my natural instinct.”

Having now brought his unique vision to his client’s homes for over thirty years, Wolf wanted to also share his global souvenirs, so in 1999, he launched his emporium: VW Home. Handpicked artifacts and antiques plucked from frequent journeys to Europe, Asia, Africa, and beyond fill a sunny 3,000 square foot Manhattan loft. One feels like they’ve just entered the most unique (not to mention serene), street market in the world. The inventory is as eclectic as it is evolving: Expressive masks from Papua New Guinea, Cinnamon Tree bowls from Indonesia, antiques from Paris or colorful shawls from India. “I am always changing the selection,” says Wolf, “so people can experience design on an international platform.”
The added bonus are items which Wolf has designed himself: from lighting, sterling silver flatware, mirrors, and luxury upholstery – each piece echoes his aesthetic for elegant, timeless design, no matter what or where the origin. In 2008, Wolf took his design creed to the next level by launching VW Home Design, a custom in-store service which utilizes the showroom's products to recreate Wolf’s style sensibility in customers’ own homes. He calls it "Ready-to-Wear" as opposed to his traditional "Couture" interior design service.
With Wolf’s deft eye and passionate heart behind everything on display here, there is an inestimable sense of trust that rooms will become both beautiful and personal. "As a designer, I’ve learned to be guided by the pleasure principle,” explains Wolf. “I design through an associative visual logic; the patina on an old stucco wall in Morocco might translate to rough and tactile fabrics in a Manhattan living room. I believe you can find your own style simply by becoming conscious of the things that bring you pleasure and by opening your eyes to beauty around you.” So while VW Home offers Wolf's imitable style for the taking, at the end of the day, he encourages independence and not imitation: “I hope to instill a sense of confidence in people that empowers them to develop the trust of their own eye.”
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