At Home on the Peninsula with Silvia Ragn

When Silvia Ragno bought her first apartment on the Peninsula in 2013, The Tide hadn’t even been completed yet. She and her husband, Ricardo, were living in Brighton but working in London and searching for somewhere for them to stay during the week – a flat overlooking the Thames so that they would be reminded of the sea, and a modern space that would act as a counterpoint to their Grade I listed home. The Peninsula fit the bill and, they were sure, had real potential to become an incredible community to live in, so they decided on an apartment in Lower Riverside. Right now, though, Ragno is living in a two-bedroom, Tom Dixon-designed flat in Upper Riverside; life changed and the pair first moved permanently to London and then decided to switch to one of the newly developed buildings, buying off-plan in 2015. Devastatingly, Ricardo passed away just as they were preparing to move in and so Ragno has had to adjust to living there alone.

The fifth-floor apartment, with its plant-filled balcony and views over The Tide (“I love plants but not gardening,” says Ragno) is a minimalist’s dream, all clean lines and neutral shades with flashes of deep red alongside Dixon’s signature copper detailing. Decorating it was a fun but understandably emotional affair for Ragno and very much a team effort; she enlisted the help of friend and interior designer Daniela Condo to help her transform the compact space into a sanctuary where she could work and relax. “My husband and I spent 20 years together and always furnished everything together, so suddenly I found myself in this new environment and not knowing what to do,” she says. “I’ve got a busy job and I don’t like to spend time scrolling through thousands and thousands of choices.” Condo helped her work out exactly what she wanted from the environment, finding fittings and furniture options for her to choose from and helping to filter through her existing pieces and decide which ones to keep. “I think that’s the most difficult part – that you have things that you’re attached to but then they don’t fit,” says Ragno. “To share that process with another person means really exposing yourself and being vulnerable. That’s in part why we became such good friends; because we had to discuss all that history and the emotional attachment.”

Ragno grew up in Milan but has been living in the UK for 30 years. A scientist and biotech expert, she’s the Chief Operating Officer of a start-up that she co-founded, which is developing a pioneering new medicine for a rare disease of the eye. On a day-to-day basis that means working from home, so it was important that her apartment offered a calm, comfy space that could both act as an office and a place for her to switch off. “For me, my flat is an expression of myself; my home is my cocoon,” she says. “I would say I’m quite a minimalistic person so it’s very modern, very decluttered with a few details that soften it. It’s a warm but at the same time very linear place, with a harmony of colour and shape. Dani really helped me a lot to make a home that’s practical but also really beautiful and welcoming and that uses the space very carefully.”

For the past two years Ragno has been learning tango, taking classes remotely when they weren’t running face to face, and transforming the flat’s second bedroom into a peaceful tango/yoga studio complete with an enormous mirror and practice bar. “I love everything about tango,” she says. “I think it’s theultimate dance in terms of elegance, structure, posture. It takes a long time to learn so you need a lot of discipline and commitment but I love the music and the sensuality; I love that it’s a couples dance and there are very distinct roles that you have to follow – it’s very fulfilling actually.”

And, aside from her dancing and yoga, her local friends and neighbours have offered her much-needed escape and support. “The Peninsula has been a real blessing over the past year and a half,” she says. “It’s extremely social: we’ve got this huge WhatsApp group and I have a core group of neighbours that I’m friends with. You’d go out to do your usual walk around the river and you would always bump into someone you know. It’s a very beautiful feeling. There’s an amazing community spirit and I absolutely love it.”