The influential French fashion photographer Guy Bourdin (1928-91) had his first shots published in Vogue Paris in 1955, gaining compete artistic freedom in the 1970’s golden period and continued to work for the magazine until 1987.  His style was unique and brought to the forefront vintage styles in his imagery, and what he did with pool photographs really highlighted the deep blue colours with contract to their surrounding.

On the one hand, a swimming pool gives to an architect or a designer the chance to make the best possible use of all the beauty, fluidity and perfection of water, whilst on the other hand the pool area is the client’s most important place to entertain friends and family.  So it is about striking the right balance as the result speaks to the client’s own style and lifestyle.

For this reason, what I consider most at the start of a pool project is what the client needs and desires, their ideal lifestyle and how they want to use and experience that space.  With the right landscape design, pools can also provide the ultimate eye candy to complement one’s home.

The Client is my muse and so is the architecture and the location. Nothing goes by itself. The swimming pool could be a fundamental element to give a new spirit to the exteriors and could represent the starting point to tell a new story.

I love designing swimming pools exactly as I do with interiors, focusing on natural lights and loving the fusion of dramatic patterns, colours, materials and details. I generally follow a specific colour palette to tie everything together and I find it amazing when pools with strong tiles surrounded by vibrant matching colours of fabrics and stunning details complement each other.

Sometimes inspiration could come directly from fashion and I love to replicate this on the pool and beyond design some patterns, prints and elements that I found stylish in a vintage dress or scarfs or coat. Details that make all the difference!

Author Credits: Marianna Morelli @Myonlywoodhouse