Art Collectors and Interior Designers Friedrich and Johanna Gräfling on the One Element Every Home Needs to Feel Naturally Inspired, Not "White-Cube"
The Frankfurt-based couple thinks it's time to give artworks the role they deserve, but simply hanging them on walls won't pass the style test
As two of Europe's keenest collectors, deciding where to hang an artwork has gone from dilemma to everyday job for couple and interior designers Johanna and Friedrich Gräfling. The duo has been acquiring contemporary pieces from as early as their university years, when, to remedy their tight budget, they would collaborate with artists and even exchange creative services. Slowly building their archive from the ground up with an eye toward innovation in conceptual work, installation, sculpture, painting, and video art, they managed to gather enough pieces to launch Schlachthaus, an experimental exhibition space set inside a former slaughterhouse, which launched in the early 2010s.
Unsurprisingly, their eponymous, Frankfurt-based multidisciplinary design studio, Gräfling, has since become known for its refreshing blending of art, architecture, and everyday life inspiration. Versed in the three-dimensional language of plastic arts as they are in the chiaroscuro of the most compelling canvases, the designers bring the same theatrical quality to the residential transformations, historic renovations, and immersive art-led spaces they bring to life. This approach is best distilled by Salon Kennedy, the domestic gallery concept Johanna and Friedrich Gräfling inaugurated in a storied 1904 villa in their home base of Frankfurt, crafted to favor a more intimate, immersive experience rooted in IRL connection and dialogue.
The owners of over 400 original artworks, including masterpieces by prominent names like Alicja Kwade, Michael Sailstorfer, and Grace Weaver, the wedded duo and creative powerhouse knows a thing or two about how to hang art. What's clear from the start when I speak with them, though, is that simply placing artworks on a wall is not enough to ensure your interior feels artful. Instead, what lies around, over, and below your chosen inspirations is just as important — if not more — than the artworks themselves. Carry on reading to find out more.
What's the Biggest Mistake People Make When Decorating a Space With Art?
"One of the most common mistakes we see is treating an artwork like a color chart — lifting its dominant shades and repeating them in cushions, rugs, and curtains," Friedrich and Johanna Gräfling explain.
"There's a common misconception that art belongs at the very end of an interior design project. The walls are painted, the lighting is installed, furniture has been placed — and only then does someone ask what should be hung above the table. We have always approached it the other way around.
"For us, art is rarely the finishing touch. More often, it is the starting point. An artwork can shape the atmosphere of a room long before decisions are made about materials, colors, or furniture. It can influence scale, introduce visual tension, dictate rhythm, and even determine how someone moves through a space. Rather than filling an empty wall, we prefer to let art establish the room's point of view from the outset.
"That doesn't mean designing an interior to match a painting. In fact, we would strongly advise against it. One of the most common mistakes we see is treating an artwork like a color chart — lifting its dominant shades and repeating them in cushions, rugs, and curtains. This often diminishes both the artwork and the room. Instead, we think of art as a compass rather than a blueprint. An interior should respond to a work, not imitate it."
What's the Ideal Relationship Between the Artworks of an Interior and the Interior Itself?
"An artwork can shape the atmosphere of a room long before decisions are made about materials, colors, or furniture," adds the duo. In the picture: Friedrich Gräfling.
"The strongest relationship between art and interiors doesn't always come from harmony; often, it comes from contrast.
"That response might be inspired by the emotional tone of a painting, the rhythm of its composition, the texture of its surface, or a subtle secondary color rather than its most obvious shade.
"A bold painting can feel even more expressive within a muted interior, while a quiet conceptual work may gain unexpected presence against richly coloured walls or highly tactile materials. Tension can be just as rewarding as perfect visual agreement."
We Often Hear About 'Gallery Walls' — Is That a Good Way to Include Art in a Scheme, or Not?
When decorating with art, "moments of restraint are just as carefully designed as the objects themselves," they recommend.
"Art behaves differently in a home than it does in a gallery. A museum offers the ideal conditions for viewing: uninterrupted walls, controlled lighting, and very little visual competition. A home is something else entirely. Here, art has to coexist with furniture, books, windows, lamps, architectural details, and the constant movement of everyday life.
"We don't see this as a compromise. Quite the opposite, these relationships make art feel more alive. Living with art means encountering it repeatedly — passing it in a hallway, catching sight of it through a doorway, or noticing how it changes with the afternoon light.
"A home should never become a white-cube gallery. Instead, art should help shape the character of everyday life, becoming part of the way a space is experienced rather than simply observed."
How Can One Ensure Art Supports an Interior Scheme, Instead of Crowding It?
At home, "art has to coexist with furniture, books, windows, lamps, architectural details, and the constant movement of everyday life", insist Friedrich and Johanna Gräfling.
"This is where what we call 'white space' becomes so important. Also known as negative space, white space doesn't necessarily mean white walls. It's the visual pause that allows an artwork to breathe.
"It might be an uninterrupted section of pigmented plaster, a low piece of furniture beneath a painting, an unoccupied corner, or simply the decision not to hang another work nearby.
"These moments of restraint are just as carefully designed as the objects themselves. Not every surface needs to be activated, and not every wall has to tell a story. Empty space is never synonymous with an unfinished interior; it creates hierarchy, gives the eye somewhere to rest, and allows individual works to maintain their own atmosphere."
How Do You Decide How — And Where — to Style an Artwork?
Besides artworks themselves, patterned furnishings and material accents can also help your scheme stand out to the eye. In the picture: Johanna Gräfling.
"Whenever we place an artwork, we ask ourselves a series of questions: what emotional energy does it carry? Is it quiet, confrontational, melancholic, or playful? Does it need distance or intimacy? Natural light or a darker, more enclosed setting? Should the surrounding interior create harmony or deliberately introduce contrast?
"We also think about movement: what is the first glimpse of the artwork from a doorway or adjoining room, and how does it reveal itself as someone walks through the space?
"These questions have informed many of our projects. At our Frankfurt exhibition space, Salon Kennedy, we deliberately avoided creating a conventional white-cube gallery. Instead, artworks sit alongside furniture, textiles, color, and architectural details in a distinctly domestic setting, allowing visitors to imagine how they might live with art themselves."
What's the One Piece of Advice You Wish Someone Had Shared With You When You First Started Engaging With Art in Interiors?
Who said art is just for the grown-ups? In this playful kids room designed by Gräfling, mural-like soft walls bring whimsy and fun into an otherwise geometrically cut environment.
"For anyone designing their own home, our advice is simple: begin with an artwork you genuinely want to live with, not one that happens to match your existing scheme. Introduce important pieces early in the design process, before all finishes are finalized.
"Think about sightlines throughout the home, not just the frontal view. Most importantly, resist the temptation to fill every empty wall. Leave room for your collection to grow.
"An art-led interior isn't about matching a room to a painting — it's about allowing art to give the room direction."
Shop a Gräfling-Inspired Wall Art Selection
Want to get the inner scoop on Friedrich and Johanna Gräfling's latest Berlin Villa? See how the duo transformed a 120-year-old house into a kaleidoscopic canvas. Need more hot takes? Revisit our conversations with today's burgeoning designers for opinionated explorations of home and living.
Keen to get it all in one place, and one click? Become a member today by subscribing to the Livingetc newsletter, and read all of our stories before everyone else.
