The late Karl Lagerfeld installed an underwater sound system in the pool at his one-time holiday home in Biarritz that offered crystal-clear sound — even if he wasn’t much of a swimmer.
A similar one will be installed on the wellness floor of a new Karl Lagerfeld-branded luxury apartment building in Lisbon, Portugal, one of myriad features that wink to the taste, interests, wisdom and legacy of the iconic German designer.
At Karl Lagerfeld headquarters on Wednesday, editors oohed over a scale model of the 11-story structure, with its sleek, gridded facade, private jacuzzis on each balcony, and a private terrace to lay out yoga mats — or cocktails.
Construction is expected to start soon on this urban oasis located at 48-50 Rua Braamcamp in one of the city’s toniest downtown quarters, with move-in dates sometime in 2028. Only 10 apartments are up for grabs, eight of them full-floor and spanning 234 square meters. A duplex and triplex are also available, the latter spread out over 378 square meters.
Prices are still under wraps but the fashion house’s partner, Portuguese developer Overseas, already has a list of potential buyers.
“It’s a very limited offer for a great project, so we’re not concerned that this won’t fly off the
shelves very fast,” Pier Paolo Righi, chief executive officer of Karl Lagerfeld, said in an interview.
The project was announced two years ago and is billed as the first branded residential project in Lisbon — and one committed to minimal environmental impact and biodiversity loss.
“Karl would have loved the creative challenge,” said Righi, explaining that the new building is sandwiched between tall edifices from the ’60s and ’70s, and required an architectural concept to bridge them. Hence, a composition of vertical lines with a sculptural V framing the entrance, flecked with touches of gradient red.
“He was always about respecting what’s there, and then taking his creative wisdom and amplifying it,” Righi said.
The facade and interior design were developed in collaboration with The One Atelier, with crucial input from two longtime members of Lagerfeld’s inner circle: Caroline Lebar, head of image and communications at the fashion house, and Sébastien Jondeau, the designer’s longtime personal assistant, bodyguard and a Lagerfeld men’s brand ambassador.
Both were circulating Wednesday amid interactive touch screens broadcasting renderings and floor plans, along with samples of the luxury materials including lacquer, stone and wood, most in the pale and silvery register Lagerfeld favored for homes in his twilight years.
The designer’s handwriting is all over the property, with some of his famous quotes spelled out in brushed steel on the walls — “What I love best in life is new starts,” one reads. There are also bookshelves in every unit, winking to his love of reading, and black-and-white uniforms for the staff, which includes an on-site concierge.
Renderings show the apartments decked out in Lagerfeld’s namesake furniture line and homewares range, first introduced in 2023 and reflecting the late designer’s passion for interior design, and enduring love of Art Deco and Bauhaus aesthetics.
The Lisbon apartments are the Lagerfeld company’s fourth such project, underscoring the burgeoning market for branded residences. (The others, still under development, are in Marbella, Spain; Dubai, and Malacca, Malaysia.)
There is also a lavish 271-room luxury hotel in Macao branded Karl Lagerfeld, which exemplifies the late designer’s unique ability to straddle extreme luxury, and what he dubbed “masstige” fashions at his signature fashion brand.
“There is no other name designer who has been able to make such a broad span like Karl did, working for Chanel and Fendi and the same time inventing designer collaborations with H&M,” Righi said, referring to his mold-breaking tie-up in 2004. “His inspiration and aspiration always was to basically be there for a broader audience… So for us, taking his legacy into the future means that we can equally play the super luxury part as well as the very accessible part, because that is very much who Karl was and what his legacy is.”
To wit, buyers have the option of outfitting their units with Karl Lagerfeld Maison furnishings, or filling their shelves with affordable Karl figurines.
