In this issue
TWIST N SHOUT
For a classic Parisian apartment in a 19th-century building, one design firm found inspiration in the beauty and rarity of gemstones.
BY GAY GASSMANN
DESIGNER UCHRONIA
BRING THE DRAMA
Designer Casey Kenyon reimagines a theater director’s New York City lair as a stage for living.
BY CAMILLE OKHIO
DESIGNER STUDIO KENYON
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CONTENTS
MAY 2023
E L L E D E C O R
16
FÉLIX
DOL
MAILLOT
THE DEBUTS ISSUE
62
TWIST N SHOUT
For a classic Parisian apartment
in a 19th-century building, one
design firm found inspiration
in the beauty and rarity of
gemstones.
BY GAY GASSMANN
DESIGNER UCHRONIA
70
BRING THE
DRAMA
Designer Casey Kenyon
reimagines a theater
director’s New York City
lair as a stage for living.
BY CAMILLE OKHIO
DESIGNER
STUDIO KENYON
76
NEXT UP!
Meet the designers behind
eight game-changing studios
that are pushing interiors
into the future—and doing
so with wit and originality.
BY CAMILLE OKHIO
84
HOW TO LIVE
WITH HISTORY
In Downeast Maine, a rare 1960s
home by local icon Emily Muir
gets a shipshape renovation.
BY KATHLEEN HACKETT
DESIGNER
ANGIE HRANOWSKY
92
THIS IS THE REMIX
See how one designer built on
good bones to create an idyllic
Manhattan apartment for her
most intimidating clients:
herself and her husband.
BY CATHERINE HONG
DESIGNER
AUGUSTA HOFFMAN
In the living room of a Paris
apartment designed by the
firm Uchronia (page 62),
the lounge chair is by
Pierre Paulin, and the
orange cocktail table is
by Bert Furnari Studio.
21. elledecor@hearst.com
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E L L E D E C O R
18
C O N T E N T S
CHRISTIAN
HARDER
The dining area of
a Manhattan studio
apartment designed by
Casey Kenyon (page 70)
features a light fixture by
Apparatus above a custom
table and banquette.
Scan the QR code for
ELLE DECOR’s exclusive
coverage of the Salone del
Mobile design fair in Milan!
ON THE COVER
A view into the living room of an apartment in Paris
designed by Julien Sebban of the firm Uchronia.
PHOTOGRAPH BY FÉLIX DOL MAILLOT
24
EDITOR’S LETTER
27
WHAT’S NEXT
Buzzy spring introductions from
five on-the-rise design studios
30
FASHION +
FURNITURE
It’s not just wood—pieces in
all manner of organic, natural
materials are trending today
34
THE AGENDA
What’s shaping our tastes and
topping our to-do lists this month
38
RENAISSANCE
ALFRESCO
MolteniC’s new outdoor
collection is a breath of fresh air
40
JEWELRY BOX
Prepare to be swept away by
Bulgari’s latest high-jewelry line
42
TALENT
Jean Lin, founder of the co-op
and showroom Colony, is going
all out to foster up-and-coming
designers.
BY LORI KEONG
44
SHORTLIST
Bounce-music maestro and
TV star Big Freedia shares eight
things she’s loving right now
46
HOUSE CALL
We visit an outré oasis in the
Southern California desert,
courtesy of designer Leah Ring
53
BUILDER
How do you raise a decorating
genius? Start with a bold nursery.
BY KATHRYN O’SHEA-EVANS
58
POINT OF VIEW
After years of flea-market trips,
one writer discovers her past in
the things she has kept.
BY MONA SIMPSON
102
RESOURCES
104
MY KIND
OF ROOM
For designer Hannes Peer,
the eclectic legacy of Italian
architect Carlo Mollino
continues to inspire
22.
23. E L L E D E C O R
20
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22
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E L L E D E C O R
24
E D I TO R ’S L E T T E R
FROM
LEFT:
MARCUS
MORRIS;
FÉLIX
DOL
MAILLOT
W
elcome to our first-ever Debuts Issue! The idea for this
edition of the magazine came out of conversations Team
ELLE DECOR began a year ago, after spending much of the
previous winter in pandemic isolation. Last spring, we were all hungering
to capture the effervescence of that optimistic “now what?” moment. We
also wanted to create a platform for new talent working across interiors,
object design, and more. The result of all that thinking and planning is the
magazine you now hold in your hands: an all-out lovefest for emerging
currents and talents in the world of design. What unites everything in
these pages is a spirit of joy, irreverence, and curiosity, together with a
fearlessness about working in new ways.
Our cover story certainly embodies all of the above. I’ve been a fan of
Paris-based Uchronia—and its particular blend of playfulness, bold color,
and smart historical references—since I first met the principals of this
design studio in the fall of 2021. The interiors project we are featuring is
their renovation of a classic Haussmannian apartment in Paris, whose
daring new scheme was inspired by gemstones and precious metals. The
result, with its jewel-toned dégradé walls and daring furniture choices, is
THE
DEBUTS
ISSUE
a breath of fresh air. This buzzy studio is
clearly going places.
Also this month, in a portfolio entitled
“Next Up!” we introduce eight on-the-rise
interior design talents whose work we’re
especially excited about right now—and each
of them has been shot by photographers who
are themselves up-and-comers. The designers
we chose to highlight—several of whom have
projects appearing in this very issue—are all
being featured in ELLE DECOR for the first
time. So sit down. Get comfortable. The show
is about to begin. ◾
The living room of
a Paris apartment
revamped by local
studio Uchronia
(page 62).
30. BY PARKER BOWIE LARSON
PHOTOGRAPHS BY VINCENT DILIO
STYLED BY ANDY HARMAN
THE
STARSOF
THE
SHOW
Rising design studios take
center stage in five buzzy
spring introductions.
STEFAN BISHOP
Outward floor
lamp in an alabaster
plaster-and-fiberglass
composite.
36″ w. x 30″ d. x 76″ h.;
price upon request.
ralphpucci.com
31. 28 E L L E D E C O R
W H AT ’S N E X T
STUDIO X
Iris vases and ash-
tray in pink resin.
6″ dia. x 13″ h., $345;
4″ dia. x 2″ h., $75.
artemest.com
TREY JONES
Trellis ladder-back
wood composite chair.
22″ dia. x 65″ h.; price upon
request. cultureobject.com
MARROW
Lamp No. 20 in linen
and powder-coated steel.
20″ w. x 15″ d. x 27″ h.;
$6,500. emmascullygallery.com
IN COMMON WITH X
SOPHIE LOU JACOBSEN
Calla and Gemma petite
table lamps in brass.
6″ dia. x 8″ h.; $1,500 each.
incommonwith.com
32. MOLTENIC FLAGSHIP STORES
160 MADISON AVE, NEW YORK NY 10016, T 212 673 7106 — 4100 NE 2ND AVE, SUITE #103-203, 33137, MIAMI, T 786 652 1500 — SHOP.MOLTENI.IT
BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS HOUSTON LOS ANGELES MEXICO CITY BOGOTÀ
moltenigroup.com
33. E L L E D E C O R
30
FAS H I O N + F U R N I T U R E
ROOT
CHAIR:
JOSEPH
KR
AMM
THE
NATURAL
LOOK
While wood has long been a go-to
material in furniture, fresh new work
shows that designers are branching
out, making use of coconut shells, agave
fibers, and more. Organic shapes and
motifs are also on-trend for dressing this
season, as in this breezy spring ’23 Dior
look (top right). —Helena Madden
Dior’s floral,
lacy spring
2023 runway
epitomized the
natural vibe.
DRIFTWOOD
AND WALNUT
Root chair by
Joyce Lin.
30″ w. x 29″ d. x 34″ h.;
price upon request.
r-and-company.com
ASH WOOD
Sougi table
by Carlès
Demarquet.
47″ w. x 24″ d.
x 34″ h.; price
upon request.
armelsoyer.com
COCONUT
SHELLS
Colette mirror.
29″ w. x 4″ d. x 41″ h.;
$2,824. palecek.com
RED TRAVERTINE
Stone Seat Grooved
by Ian Collings.
10″ w. x 13″ d. x 18″ h.;
$10,500. thefutureperfect.com
34. 15675
28009
25294
L O N D O N · N E W Y O R K · L O S A N G E L E S
M A N S O U R . C O M · 3 1 0 . 6 5 2 . 9 9 9 9
35. E L L E D E C O R
32
FAS H I O N + F U R N I T U R E
CONSOLE:
JOSEPH
KR
AMM;
TABLE:
BEN
BLOOD
Jacquemus paired
dramatic raffia
hats with its sleek
spring silhouettes.
RATTAN
Sea Urchin pendant.
45″ dia. x 20″ h.;
$3,200. coupdetatsf.com
ASH WOOD
Hand Foot console.
48″ w. x 16″ d. x 33″ h.;
price upon request.
casey-mccafferty.com
DYED AGAVE FIBERS
Black Furry armchair
by Fernando Laposse.
47″ w. x 40″ d. x 27″ h.;
price upon request.
friedmanbenda.com
CORK
Clover table
by Grain.
36″ w. x 15″ d.
x 16″ h.; price
upon request.
goodcolony.com
BEECH RODS
Sea Anemone
28 side table by
Pia Maria Raeder.
20″ w. x 22″ d. x 26″ h.;
price upon request.
galeriebsl.com
36. 800 620 8490 | OFFICINEGULLO.COM
THE QUINTESSENTIAL KITCHEN
37. E L L E D E C O R
34
W H AT ’S N E X T
FROM
TOP:
TIM
HURSLEY;
ANDREW
CEBULK
A
Studio Gang’s origami-like
roof design for the newly
reopened Arkansas
Museum of Fine Arts.
An 1834 former seed store
in Charleston is reborn as
a flagship for the Juliska
home-decor brand.
SHOP: CHARLESTON
TABLE TALK
With its mouth-blown glassware and floral
ceramics, homewares line Juliska epito-
mizes gracious living. Now the lifestyle
brand has a home of its own: a 4,000-
square-foot flagship in an 1834 former seed
store on Charleston’s King Street. Capucine
De Wulf Gooding, who founded Juliska with
her husband, David Gooding, moved from
Connecticut to the South Carolina city in
2001. “There is a sense of hospitality and
tradition here, and everyone entertains,”
she says. Designed with Douglas Little and
Patti Wilborne, the flagship has a Bohemian
Bar devoted to Czech glassware and a
studio for “romantic arts” workshops like
calligraphy and mixology. Coming soon:
a garden café with lunch and tea served on
Juliska dishes. As for those striking flower
displays? “They’re by my mom, Vicky
Cameron,” De Wulf Gooding says.
—Ingrid Abramovitch
juliska.com
VISIT: LITTLE ROCK
PLEATS,
PLEASE
For a unique cultural excursion this spring,
put Arkansas on your itinerary. Last
month, the capital, Little Rock, saw the
reopening of the Arkansas Museum of
Fine Arts with an impressively revitalized
campus designed by Studio Gang with
landscape firm SCAPE. The museum,
which has undergone several expansions
over its 86-year history, is now united by a
breathtaking pleated roof, allowing visi-
tors to fully experience the breadth of its
permanent collection of works on paper,
regional art, and more. “We realized we
needed something new and exciting,” says
architect Jeanne Gang of her eye-catching
design. The inaugural exhibition,
“Together,” will feature works by artists
Elias Sime, Ryan RedCorn, LaToya Hobbs,
and others. —Anna Fixsen
arkmfa.org
THEAGENDA
What’s shaping our tastes and topping
our to-do lists this month.
38.
39. E L L E D E C O R
36
W H AT ’S N E X T
DAR
MIMA:
ROMAIN
RICARD
THE NEW ANTIQUARIANS
Go inside the homes of a
new generation of collec-
tors and design champions
in this Monacelli book by
Michael Diaz-Griffith,
executive director of
the Design Leadership
Network.
ALCHEMY: THE WORLD
OF DAVID ADJAYE
Written by Spencer
Bailey, with a preface
by the famed architect,
this Phaidon tome tells
Adjaye’s story through his
favored materials, from
stone to wood to glass.
JOHN PAWSON:
MAKING LIFE SIMPLER
Deyan Sudjic’s dive into
the minimalist architect’s
archives is an exquisitely
illustrated Phaidon book.
He explores Pawson’s
designs for such clients as
Bruce Chatwin, Calvin
Klein, and Karl Lagerfeld.
HAUTE BOHEMIANS:
GREECE
In the newest book in the
Vendome Press series,
the photographer
Miguel Flores-Vianna
ventures across Greece to
explore beautiful homes
in idyllic settings.
JOIE: A PARISIAN’S
GUIDE TO CELEBRATING
THE GOOD LIFE
American expat Ajiri Aki—
doyenne of the lifestyle
brand Madame de la
Maison—shares her passion
for French living in this
Clarkson Potter edition.
BOOKS
READ THE
ROOM!
This season’s authors
range from design giants
to new voices. Here are
five of our favorites.
—Bebe Howorth
DINE: PARIS
BETTER
TOGETHER
Perched atop the Institut du Monde Arabe
(IMA) is Paris’s hottest new restaurant—
Dar Mima, a Laura Gonzalez–designed
confection from Laurent de Gourcuff,
founder of hospitality group Paris Society,
and French actor Jamel Debbouze. Named
for and in tribute to Debbouze’s mother,
Fatima, the space was conceived as a
bridge between Moroccan and French
cultures. Gonzalez mirrored the iconic
metal moucharabies that adorn the IMA’s
wooden facade, then expanded on her
opulent concept with wood marquetry,
marble, hand-painted frescoes in gold leaf,
decorative plasterwork on the ceilings,
and, of course, lots of pattern.
—Sean Santiago
darmima-restaurant.com
SEE: NEW YORK CITY
TALENT
SHOW
Launched in 2016, the Loewe Foundation
Craft Prize has rapidly become a harbinger
of greatness. This May, the work of the current
crop of 30 finalists will go on display in the
late artist Isamu Noguchi’s studio across
the street from the Noguchi Museum in
Long Island City—the first time a public
exhibition has been staged in the space.
Pieces on view include those by Tanya
Aguiñiga, working in terra-cotta and
synthetic hair; Claire Lindner, with
glazed stoneware; and Liam Lee, whose
felt and plywood chair evokes natural
forms, provoking “a feeling of semi-
recognition,” he says. The prize’s panel
of experts wanted to explore craft
beyond its traditional definitions
this year, and it shows. —S.S.
noguchi.org
FROM LEFT:
Buisson n°2 by
Claire Lindner;
Chair 11 by
Liam Lee.
The interior of Dar Mima
restaurant in Paris.
41. E L L E D E C O R
38
W H AT ’S N E X T
MA
X
Z
AMBELLI
L
aunching an entirely new cate-
gory as a heritage furniture
company requires both respect
for one’s roots and a vision for the
future. MolteniC’s creative director,
Vincent Van Duysen, certainly had
this in mind while working on the
brand’s debut outdoor collection.
For Van Duysen, Molteni’s extensive archives
were a huge source of inspiration: An entire seating
line arose from Luca Meda’s Palinfrasca sofa, origi-
nally designed in 1994, while Gio Ponti’s classic
D.150.5 chaise longue and the D.154.2 armchair have
been reissued with an eye to sustainability. Van
Duysen also looked to contemporary designers
Foster + Partners and Ron Gilad to reinterpret,
respectively, the Arc dining table in a cement finish
and the Panna Cotta side tables in iron and lava
stone. Van Duysen’s own suite of furniture, Timeout,
consists of a sofa, lounge, and dining furniture with
elements of woven polypropylene rope.
“The collection is defined by an innate sense of
savoir faire,” chief marketing officer Giulia Molteni
says. “There is a strong emphasis on craftsmanship,
delving into the rich tradition of Italian design.” By
striking the right balance between legacy and
modernity, MolteniC’s migration outdoors is poised
for success, Italian style. —Parker Bowie Larson
RENAISSANCE
ALFRESCO
An Italian brand’s new
outdoor collection is
a breath of fresh air.
CLOCKWISE FROM
TOP LEFT: The D.150.5
chaise longue; CMO
Giulia Molteni and
creative director
Vincent Van Duysen;
the Palinfrasca daybed;
D.154.2 armchair;
Arc table by Foster +
Partners; Green Point
dining chair by
Van Duysen.
molteni.it
42.
43. 40 E L L E D E C O R
J E W E L RY B OX
High-jewelry
necklace from Bulgari’s
Mediterranea collection
in pink gold with
turquoise, diamonds,
rubellites, and sapphires.
Price upon request.
bulgari.com
SWEPT AWAY
The Roman jewelry house Bulgari may be most famous
for the iconic Serpenti line, which celebrated its
75th birthday this spring. But while the snake is synony-
mous with the brand, it does not define it. Bulgari’s
new high-jewelry collection, Mediterranea, makes this
point spectacularly. Inspired by the sea, from its inky
depths to its frothy coastline, the collection puts the
house’s affinity for colored gemstones front and
center. Take for example the 76 carats of pear rubellites
dangling from this collar of pavé diamonds, offset by
sapphires and turquoise. To quote a certain animated
mermaid: “I just don’t see how a world that makes such
wonderful things could be bad.” —Sean Santiago
44.
45. E L L E D E C O R
42
TA L E N T
PORTRAIT BY ZACHERY ALI
EQUAL
FOOTING
Jean Lin, founder of the
design co-op and showroom
Colony, is taking the next
step in her mission to foster
emerging talent.
ALTRUISM IS A DAILY PRACTICE, A MUSCLE
waiting to be tensed and strengthened.
For Jean Lin, the founder of the New York
City showroom and design co-op Colony,
it’s a muscle she has dedicated her career
to exercising. Colony launched in 2014
with a collective business model that
eschews industry standards in favor of
minimal commissions and a monthly
membership fee; Lin is now expanding
the scope of her mission with the debut
of a residency program for emerging tal-
ent. The first collections are on view at
the showroom through May 5.
The incubator program pays for
residents’ studio spaces while offering a
curriculum, real-time feedback on works
in progress, and part-time duties on the
showroom floor. It’s a pressure cooker,
but “pressure creates the best work,”
says Lin, whose own career path was far
from straightforward.
Lin studied psychology at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
later working in social services and
then in fashion—her first paying job
was for J.Lo’s now defunct clothing
line. A pivot to editorial work
scratched her itch for creative expres-
sion, but it wasn’t until Reclaim NYC,
a charity furniture auction she
cofounded in the wake of Hurricane
Sandy, that the idea for Colony
really took shape: a perfect mar-
riage of her artistic drive and
philanthropic leanings.
The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, Lin
was raised in a predominantly white town in
Massachusetts and has always seen herself as an
underdog. But reinvention takes a self-described
“wiring for risk-taking” that has allowed her
to grow Colony from a cash-
strapped business into one that
now offers interior design ser-
vices and consulting; it is also
often credited with nurturing the suc-
cess of studios like Allied Maker and Egg
Collective, both among Colony’s founding
group of artists. “Maybe that’s why we’ve
been in the game for so long,” Lin says.
“I keep pushing. I don’t sit back and say,
‘I did it.’” —Lori Keong
Jean Lin in a
sweater by Akris.
RIGHT: Marmar
Noon valet, by
Ingemar Hagen-
Keith. BELOW:
Alexis Ginger
New Morning
side table, by
Alexis Tingey and
Ginger Gordon.
goodcolony.com
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47. E L L E D E C O R
44
S H O R T L I S T
BOWERS
PENDANT:
COURTESY
OF
THE
FUTURE
PERFECT;
VINTAGE
SIGN:
COURTESY
OF
INDIGO
ARTS
GALLERY
AS TOLD TO SEAN SANTIAGO
PHOTOGRAPH BY MALIKE SIDIBE
BIG FREEDIA
The Beyoncé-sampled bounce-
music maestro, TV star, and
nascent hotelier in her native
New Orleans shares eight things
she’s loving right now.
5. LINENS
I set my table with
these linen napkins
and the goblets that
I inherited from
my mother.
boleroadtextiles.com
6. LADY DAY CANDLE
This Billie Holiday–inspired candle
is my signature scent at home.
harlemcandlecompany.com
7.
CHAIRISH
I’ve had my
eye on this
burl-wood
table on my
favorite site
for shopping
vintage.
chairish.com
3. TRAVEL
MUG
I am almost
always on the
road, so I take my
coffee to go—and
with lots of sugar!
fellowproducts.com
1. BRADLEY BOWERS
His design work is unlike anything
I’ve ever seen. We have a collabora-
tion coming soon, so stay tuned.
bradleylbowers.com
4.
CASHMERE
ROBE
My new Elder
Statesman robe
makes me feel at
home, wherever
I happen to be.
elder-statesman.com
2. BARBERSHOP SIGNS
I can’t get enough of these vintage
signs from Ivory Coast and Ghana at
Indigo Arts Gallery in Philadelphia.
indigoarts.com
8. AMAN
NEW YORK
The bathtub here is
fit for a queen. And
the heated toilet
seats are beyond!
aman.com
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52. PROMOTION
AMANDA RICHARDS DROPLET FLOOR LAMPS
This floor lamp is sculpted from resin and pewter by Brooklyn-based
designer, Amanda Richards. Her practice focuses on lighting as sculpture,
utilizing recycled materials. Vintage metal objects are revived by melting
pewter and letting the substance flow in its organic form. This piece can also
be used as table lamp or bed side lamp. The light bulb is shielded by a smooth
resin surface highlighted by swirling metallic streams, creating a dream-like
glowing effect. tulestefactory.com/collections/amanda-richards
53 WEST 53, HONORED HOST OF THE ELLE DECOR
PENTHOUSE BY FOX-NAHEM
Jean Nouvel’s architectural wonder in the heart of Manhattan features
museum-quality condominium residences by Thierry Despont and over
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to over $63M. Immediate Occupancy. 53west53.com | @53west53
Sponsor makes no representations except as may be set forth in the offering plan. ELLE DECOR is a third-party company engaged for
design services. Square footages are approximate. Staging is not included. Views vary and may be obstructed in future. THE COMPLETE
OFFERING TERMS ARE IN AN OFFERING PLAN AVAILABLE FROM SPONSOR. FILE NO. CD14-0230. SPONSOR: W2005/HINES WEST
FIFTY-THIRD REALTY, LLC, C/O HINES, 345 HUDSON STREET, 12TH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10014. EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY.
THE FUTURE OF ECO-CONSCIOUS LIVING
Join us on Friday, April 28 at noon eastern time for “The Future of Eco-
Conscious Living” second annual summit. This year, a talented lineup of
experts will explore sustainable ideas and solutions through smart homes,
outdoor spaces, urban development and more. Featuring conversations
that include healthy materials, tree canopy inequity, food insecurity, and
innovative technology. Registration is now open. hdcsustainability.com
TIMBUR STACK BENCH
A direct descendant of the Stack Stool in long form. The Stack Bench
is laminated FSC Baltic Birch plywood in an obround form with an
ergonomic forward lean and a flat top with compound radiused edge.
Custom material and finish by request. Color is customizable from
any Pantone reference. tulestefactory.com/collections/timbur/
products/stack-bench
DESIGN. FASHION. CULTURE.
ELLE DECOR|LIFE
2023
THE FUTURE OF
ECO-CONSCIOUS
LIVING
Evan
Joseph
53. 1
2
E L L E D E C O R
46
H O U S E C A L L
BY SEAN SANTIAGO
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAURE JOLIET
STYLED BY NATASHA LOUISE KING
FOR
DETAILS,
SEE
RESOURCES
LET’S GET LOUD
Designer Leah Ring crafts an outré
oasis in the Southern California desert.
A
n exercise in letting go—that’s how the
designer Leah Ring describes her Yucca
Valley, California, home, a secondary
residence she shares with her husband, the art-
ist Adam de Boer. De Boer, in fact, proposed on
the property, though one year and a renovation
later, a rogue sandstorm blew through on the
day of the nuptials, a fitting welcome to desert
life if ever there was one.
Ring—whose six-year-old Los Angeles–
based studio, Another Human, works across
residential and commercial interiors and prod-
uct design—finds ample inspiration off the
beaten (and sometimes brambly) path. Having
studied under ELLE DECOR A-List designer
Frances Merrill of Reath Design, she was well
equipped to spot the potential in the com-
pound, an atypical if otherwise unremarkable
arrangement of four buildings just outside
Joshua Tree National Park.
“I didn’t want something that had been
flipped,” she says. And flipped it was not: One
of the buildings even lacked a foundation. Ring
painted each a poppy hue and set about mani-
festing “the most extreme version” of her taste
throughout, designing a dynamic weekend
retreat where she could replenish her creative
juices while still being a stone’s throw from the
city. The result of the yearlong renovation
happily leaves timidity, well, in the dust.
GO FOR BOLD
1. In the living room of the
560-square-foot primary
house, the sconces are from
Etsy, one of Leah Ring’s go-to
sources. The custom sofa is
upholstered in denim, and the
cocktail table was made by
Ring’s cousin.
2. The lavender dining table
was fabricated by Objects
for Objects. The bench cush-
ion is upholstered in the same
fabric as the curtains but in
inverted colorways.
55. 4
5
3
E L L E D E C O R
48
H O U S E C A L L
“ T h i s h o u s e w a s
a n e x e r c i s e i n
l e t t i n g g o .”
– L e a h R i n g
SWEAT THE DETAILS
3. Vibrant color is one of
Another Human’s hallmarks.
While the exterior of the pri-
mary residence is painted
lavender—a nod to area
sunsets—Ring’s favorite hue
is an acidic shade of green.
The lime green and aqua
tile combination was one
of her first design decisions
for the property. It defines
the kitchen, where the color
scheme is echoed in the
countertops by Cambria
and is repeated in other
tones in the primary bath-
room. The Alno hardware
coordinates with the back-
splash, and the cabinet
paint is Electric Slide by
Benjamin Moore. The vase
is by Bari Ziperstein; the
Moroccan rug was sourced
from Etsy.
4. Leah Ring with her hus-
band, Adam de Boer; a
work by de Boer hangs
behind them. His painting
studio is in a separate build-
ing. The chair is an archival
Another Human design.
5. One of the structures
on the compound is Ring’s
home office. The facade is
painted green, and the inte-
riors are clad in a wallpaper
that Ring had custom-made,
working with Magic Murals
on her selected source
imagery and design; the
desk was made by Fire on
the Mesa. “It’s great for cre-
ative work,” she says of the
space. “But it’s so fun, it can
be hard to concentrate.”
57. 6
7 8
E L L E D E C O R
50
H O U S E C A L L
“ I a l m o s t w a n t e d
i t t o h a v e
Ly n c h i a n m o t e l
v i b e s .” – L e a h R i n g
CONSIDER CUSTOM
6. “I almost wanted it to
have David Lynchian motel
vibes,” Ring says of the
guesthouse bedroom, which
features a custom-designed
bed and headboard; the
color-matched linen-blend
bedspread has a magenta
fringe. The nightstands are
by Kartell.
7. Above the bed in the
primary bedroom is a soft
sculpture by the artist Lilah
Rose, commissioned for the
space. The nightstand is
inspired by a Jean Royère
design and was fabricated
by Objects for Objects.
8. In the primary bath-
room, Ring specified a
Vola showerhead in pink
and powder-coated other
fittings to match. “I’m for-
ever powder-coating toilet
handles,” Ring says. The
painted toilet seat is by
Angeleno artist Peter Shire.
58.
59.
60. E L L E D E C O R 53
B U I L D E R
PAUL
DYER
BY KATHRYN O’SHEA-EVANS
A view into a nursery
by Marea Clark in
Diablo, California,
with scalloped
valances and taupe
curtains over gold
oak cribs.
START ’EM YOUNG
Raising a decorating genius?
A bold nursery is a good way to begin.
61. E L L E D E C O R
54
B U I L D E R
FR
AN
PARENTE/OT
TO
A
t the risk of offending a flotilla of momfluencers,
I’ll say it: Having an aesthetically flawless nursery
does not matter. Not to the baby, at least. “We
have to remember when we design these rooms that we’re
human animals,” says New York designer and mother of
three Celerie Kemble. “And the less perfect an environment,
the more tolerant and flexible the child. Probably.”
To be clear, Kemble nurseries are fantastical visions
that could have been dreamed up by Ludwig Bemelmans
himself. But she tries to pare them back as much as possible.
“The people who spent four months of their pregnancy
buying everything they’re supposed to buy and getting lists
from friends, I think they just end up with a wretched
child,” she says. “It can’t sleep in daylight. A cold baby wipe
on its butt and the night’s over!”
Not that there isn’t plenty to aspire to. A nursery is part
of your child’s entrée into the wider world, so a whiff of
Custom color-blocked
cabinets, a Moroso
rocking chair, and a
Cassina side table in a
New York City nursery
by Ashe + Leandro.
fabulousness is to be encouraged. One key, designers say, is
to splurge on the things that will last. New York designer
Rodney Lawrence recently sheathed the room of an Upper
East Side firstborn in a silver-leaf de Gournay wallcovering
bursting with mauve, pale lavender, and plum cherry
blossoms. Once the crib—in this case, a brushed brass and
shagreen piece from Kifu Paris—and other accoutrements
are gone, you have “a beautiful wallcovering in a room that
you can convert back to something else, or it can go to the
next stage in the child’s life.”
Designer Thomas Jayne likewise urges clients to invest
in grown-up furniture pieces that can mature with their
child rather than throwaway options. Appropriately bolted
to the wall and topped with a changing pad, a Louis Philippe
burl-walnut chest can function as a changing table, then
easily transition back. In lieu of a bulbous glider, a storied
rocking chair “gives some soul to the room.” Jayne himself
grew up with a lithograph by Grant Wood in his childhood
bedroom that’s now proudly displayed in his SoHo loft, and
he always suggests that his clients invest in one piece of art
that can be toted along with their kid through life: “It
doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive, but it’s best if it’s
not overtly juvenile.”
When he was designing the nurseries for his two chil-
dren, Atlanta designer Vern Yip opted for choices that
would stand the test of time, including antiques culled from
trips abroad (like an 18th-century lamb from a Nativity set
bought in Barcelona) and paintings that he and his husband
commissioned from classically trained artist James Way.
More than a decade later, all their choices have held up.
“The only difference is, there are no longer cribs,” he says.
Above all, safety is paramount in a nursery. A sense of
uncluttered spaciousness also helps—for the child and also
for parents during those brutal 2 a.m. feedings. “Make it a
nice environment for weird hours,” Kemble says. “A baby is
in a state of larval ignorance for the first couple of years,
and then all they really want by ages two and three is space.
The more you dazzle them with sophisticated toys when
they’re little, the greater the turnip you’re going to raise.”
When my own son, Guy, was born in 2020, there was a
lot of freshman-year upheaval for my husband and me to con-
quer on little sleep: diapering, breastfeeding, swaddling. The
one thing we could control with a surgeon’s precision was his
nursery, where we hung a wallpaper panel of the Virginia
countryside behind his blond wood crib and trotted out hand-
made toy sheep from Minnesota, a holdover from my own
childhood. As soon as Guy could form a coherent sentence,
however, he asked me to take the wall panel down—he didn’t
like its toothy horse and thought it would bite him in his
sleep. Now that he’s a toddler, we’ll never have that sense of
control we thought we had when we welcomed him into the
nursery. His cuteness, though, is guaranteed to remain. ◾
62. Lumens.com
Mizu Multi-Light Pendant by Terzani • Eave Modular Sofa Collection by Menu • Eden Queen Round Rug by Moooi Carpets
Lumens is proud to support authentic design as a member of Be OriginalAmericas.
63. E L L E D E C O R
56
B U I L D E R
BY HELENA MADDEN
LOUIS
VUIT
TON:
PHILIPPE
L
ACOMBE
1. CUSP
CABINET
Keep your
nursery floor free
of (some) clutter
with a whimsi-
cal and elegant
storage solution.
48″ w. x 21″ d. x
75″ h.; $14,200.
mousstudio.com
6. HOOKS COAT RACK BY NATHALIE DU PASQUIER
Add a hanger with Memphis Group stylings to
create a nursery with extra personality.
42″ w. x 4″ d. x 9″ h.; $899. store.moma.org
2. PULSE RUG
BY DUCCIO
MARIA GAMBI
If you’re out of
ideas for art on the
walls, this textural
rug adds a fuzzy,
functional master-
piece to the floor.
98″ w. x 106″ l.;
$7,925.
cc-tapis.com
5. WHIRLYBIRD
In Farrow Ball’s ultra-
durable new finish, Dead
Flat, this is just the calming
hue your baby needs.
$140 per gallon.
farrow-ball.com
7.
BLUE PERIOD
MIRROR BY
AMELIA
BRIGGS
Both playful and
striking, this mirror
offers more than
just a moment of
reflection.
35″ w. x 46″ h.;
$4,900.
kellywearstler.com
3. LOUIS
TEDDY BEAR
Nothing says
playtime like a
plush teddy bear
patterned with
Louis Vuitton’s
monogram.
7″ w. x 4.5″ d. x 14″ h.;
$1,370.
louisvuitton.com
4. VOYAGE
LE PETITE
Help your young ones
count a few extra sheep
with this curvaceous
rattan crib.
38″ w. x 25″ d. x
55″ h.; $1,250.
kennethcobonpue.com
BABY STEPS
Looking to add style
and fun to your nursery?
These chic decor
options will help.
64.
65. E L L E D E C O R
58
P O I N T O F V I E W
BY MONA SIMPSON
THE
INTERIOR
ARCHIVE
X
TRUNK
ARCHIVE/
JOANNA
MACLENNAN
BUY,KEEP,TOSS,ENJOY
After years of Sunday-morning flea-market trips, a writer
discovers her past in the things she decided to hold on to.
66. E L L E D E C O R 59
F
or many years, I set my alarm to ring at five on Sunday
mornings. I’d slip out of bed, leave my young husband
sleeping, and dress in the dark. My friend Anna waited
outside in an SUV. We drove on the empty streets of our
Southern California neighborhood to the coffee shop, which
was supposed to open at six but rarely did. If luck was on our
side, we carried out extra-large lattes for the drive and
arrived at the flea markets just before seven—Pasadena City
College on the first weekend of the month; Rose Bowl, the
second; Long Beach, the third; and Santa Monica Airport,
the fourth—just as the vendors, many of whom we knew by
name, were setting up their stalls.
We strolled the aisles slowly. It was our time to talk.
Our problems and our hopes were legion. Anna and I were
just beginning our home lives. She had two boys; I had one.
I’d begun my life as a swap-meet goer in college when I’d
rented a cottage in Berkeley, California, that was sur-
rounded by berry bushes. My preference was for waffles
with more berries than batter, but the juice from them
wrecked an electric waffle maker after only a few months. I
found an old cast-iron over-the-burner contraption at the
swap meet for a dollar.
Anna and I thought about our kids’ rooms especially. I
found two French faux-bamboo twin beds, a freestanding
blackboard, some thick homespun calico for duvet covers.
Anna zeroed in on old toy trucks: She planned to devote the
whole backyard of the rental house to a sandbox. We bought
for bargain prices and for beauty. We had no heirlooms yet.
We wanted our homes, even rented, to be beautiful and to
feel settled. Sometimes we didn’t find anything to buy, but I
can’t remember ever returning home without new resolves.
On those flea-market Sundays, time seemed to stretch.
We had the hour there and the hour back in the car for con-
versations, which seemed to wind and climb. We talked
while we shopped too, with interruptions for bargaining.
Our husbands were often the subject. They didn’t do
enough, we thought. Both brilliant men, ambitious in their
work; less ambitious, we felt, in the energies devoted to
communal family life. We thought seriously and philosoph-
ically: about marriage, about motherhood, about work.
Time, as it turned out, was what we never had enough of.
We also bought gifts. Being previously owned seemed to
make an object more unique. Though these presents weren’t
exchangeable, they were one of a kind and not directly trace-
able to a price. We loved Miriam Haskell’s jewelry, vintage
necklaces, and earrings from the 1930s and ’40s. They were
just expensive enough to be special but still affordable in the
way “real” jewelry would not have been then. Vintage Christ-
mas tree ornaments were favorite gifts. As were old dowels,
which could be grouped together to make stunning meno-
rahs. I found a vintage printed felt skirt for the tree.
Sometimes we returned to houses where everyone was
still sleeping. So as not to wake up slumbering families, we’d
meet later to carry the larger items in. It felt like magic to
slip back into bed—after having had an adventure, figuring
out a possible solution to this week’s urgent problem, and
buying a set of Swedish crystal wineglasses—and to have
missed nothing at all.
Then the time came for us to move into permanent
homes. Little by little, we furnished them. Not all at once,
our Sunday runs to the flea markets became less regular.
The kids began to have practices and tournaments and
dance competitions on weekends, which required early
wake-ups for other kinds of drives. Besides, our houses had
become settled.
Eventually, Anna and I became obsessed—along with
everyone else with older children who’d grown up in one
house—with decluttering. We wanted less: We donated; we
organized; we purged.
Now our children live in their own apartments, and
Anna and I see them for dinner, the way we see our friends.
But we haven’t returned to the flea markets. Sunday morn-
ings, now, we each make coffee and sit at our desks, reading
scenes we’ve written for books, looking for patterns. Novels
and memoirs, like homes, are made of many scraps from
different places and times and are also dependent on the art
of arrangement.
But we still live among things found during those dawn
runs out of our houses, when our families slept. A dispro-
portionate number of things from the flea market survived
our many purges. Anna now lives in a high-rise in Brooklyn;
it pleases me to recognize her Gustavian corner cupboard
and four small Craftsman-framed photographs and to
remember the stalls they came from. When I walked
through my own house to remember what had come from
the markets, I found treasures in every room. ◾
Mona Simpson is a best-selling novelist whose new book,
Commitment (Knopf), was recently released.
WHAT I KEPT: DINING ROOM
Orchard Ware dinner ware with
dogwood blossom motif, ser vice for 40;
four Audubon bird charts on wooden dowels;
Mikasa china in white with gold edging;
cowbells
WHAT I KEPT: BEDROOM
Small oil painting of an orange and
an orange blossom; Japanese landscape
painting of Mount Fuji, on a metal surface;
artist’s wooden model of a torso with
ver y long legs; African stool
WHAT I KEPT: KITCHEN
Japanese tea set;
seasoned cast- iron pans;
glass refrigerator containers;
glass pedestal cake plates;
primar y- colored Pyrex nesting bowls
68. E L L E D E C O R 61
Nothingthrillsusmorethan
discoveringnewtalentswhosefresh
takesgiveaglimpseofwheredesign
isheaded.Thismonthwespotlightthe
creamofthecrop—allmakingtheir
debutsinourpages.Takeabow!
70. Written and produced by Gay Gassmann
Photographs by Félix Dol Maillot
The living room of
an apartment in a
19th-century building in
Paris, which was designed
by the firm Uchronia.
Sofa and matching cock-
tail table by Edra; lounge
chair by Pierre Paulin;
orange cocktail table
by Bert Funari Studio;
orange floor lamp by
Ettore Sottsass; bookshelf
by Wendy Andreu and
Bram Vanderbeke;
mirror by Uchronia x
Kazus with a vintage
frame; floor lamp (left) by
Kazuhide Takahama. For
details, see Resources.
The beauty and
rarity of gems
drive the decor
of a classic
Parisian
apartment.
71. E L L E D E C O R
64
young, worldly couple
moves into a classic
Haussmannian building
near Paris’s Champs-
Élysées and is faced with
a choice: stay true to its 19th-century character, leaning into
the high ceilings, marble mantels, and gracious rooms, or
throw caution to the wind. One glance at its color-saturated
rooms and it is evident which route this couple chose.
It was Julien Sebban, the Paris-born founder of the four-
year-old firm Uchronia, who helped the homeowners to
demolish their comfort zone. Sebban, who was based in
London for six years to study architecture, has quickly
made a name for himself with spaces that tap into the
zeitgeist with abandon. Most notable may be the restaurant
Forest, opened last year at the Musée d’Art Moderne de
Paris, and before that, Créatures, a pop-up eatery atop the
Galeries Lafayette that’s since become a seasonal staple of
the city’s dining and social scenes.
The firm’s name is itself a neologism taken from
Uchronie, the title of a book written by 19th-century French
philosopher Charles Renouvier, referring to a hypothetical
time period of our world. Sebban’s multidisciplinary collec-
tive, then, is something of an anachronism, straddling our
current moment and some whimsical, acid-tinged version of
it hovering just beyond the scope of our peripheral vision.
Uchronia’s signature use of outsize motifs, undulating
lines, bright colors, and pattern have made each of its proj-
ects an instant social-media star. “The homeowners wanted
to keep the idea of a traditional Haussmannian apartment,
but with crazy details,” says Sebban of the 2,600-square-
foot space, situated in the tony Triangle d’Or district in the
city’s 8th arrondissement. “So we kept the original layout
and the floors but turned everything upside down.”
The homeowners are both involved in the world of lux-
ury and often entertain; their space needed to be designed
to suit this lifestyle. Beyond that, they wanted everything to
reference jewels and stones. “We imagined walking into our
jewel box, each gem blown up to an architectural scale,” the
wife says. “That is exactly what we got.”
For Uchronia, this was a point of departure. The firm’s
prodigious use of curves wouldn’t cut it—quite literally,
in this instance, as the clients wanted elements of the inte-
rior to look faceted, like gemstones. To create that feeling,
the firm focused on the details: a mirror was added above
the mantel, layers of Japanese gold leaf inset along its edges
in emerald and aquamarine tints; custom hardware was
designed to reference different stones—malachites, sap-
phires, opals, and rubies; painted silk curtains, color-
matched to each room’s jewel-toned walls, were specially
commissioned from the artist Justin Morin.
The dining room table was made in seven pieces so
that it might be pulled apart. It seats 16, and the center can
be removed and used as a side table for serving. All in all
there are 40 legs, each of which is treated like a piece of
jewelry, rendered from hammered steel. In the kitchen, the
firm designed and fabricated its first-ever stained-glass win-
dows; elsewhere, a custom dégradé wall treatment (a gradi-
ent color scale that, unlike ombré, allows for a range of
hues) was developed in collaboration with Atelier Roma and
deployed in the living room in blue and in the dining room
in a mossy green. “Where it was once banal,” the wife says,
“it is now magic.”
The clients eschewed editions; the apartment is fur-
nished with vintage finds from auctions and the Paris flea
market, alongside custom Uchronia pieces. In total, the proj-
ect took seven months devoted exclusively to design and
decoration. “Their free spirit spoke to us,” the wife says of
Sebban and his team. “When we met Julien, we knew that
he could translate our specific interests, our desires, our
way of living into a wonder-filled home that felt like us.”
What could be more classic than that? ◾
72. The gradient walls of the
dining room were created
by Atelier Roma and are
inspired by malachite.
Table and round side table
by Uchronia; chairs by
Kazuhide Takahama in
a Dedar fabric; vintage
pendant.
OPPOSITE: Through the
doorway into the living
room, the blue chair and
footrest are by Marzio
Cecchi. Accent chair by
Arthur Ristor; vintage
chandelier.
73. E L L E D E C O R
66
ABOVE: In the kitchen,
the vintage table has a
custom yellow glass top
by GlassLab and chairs by
Gae Aulenti. Stained-glass
windows by Uchronia with
American Supply.
RIGHT: The fumoir off
the dining room features
a BB Italia velvet sofa.
Checkered ashtray by
Touche-Touche; side
table by Gaetano Pesce.
74. E L L E D E C O R 67
“We kept the original layout, but
turned everything upside down.”
—Julien Sebban
75.
76. E L L E D E C O R 69
In the bedroom, the custom
bed is in a Dedar fabric.
Curtain fabric, Rubelli;
carpet by Uchronia; Babel
table lamp by Àngel Jové
for Santa Cole.
OPPOSITE: The vintage
egg chair by Peter Ghyczy
is the focal point of the
dressing room. Sybilla
mirror with console by
Ettore Sottsass; wall
paint in Strong White
by Farrow Ball.
77. By Camille Okhio
Photographs by Christian Harder
In the living area of
Stephen Sposito and
Michael Brandley’s
Manhattan apartment,
designed by Casey
Kenyon, a vintage
de Sede sofa is
re-covered in a Dualoy
suede. Vintage Italian
side chairs; 1960s
LaVerne cocktail table;
urn by Rick Owens;
artwork by Chris
Vassell. For details,
see Resources.
Casey Kenyon
reimagines
a theater
director’s
New York
lair as a stage
for living.
79. e all love a bit of theater
in our lives, but it’s got to
be the right kind. For
New York–based interior
designer Casey Kenyon,
the best spaces m i x
drama with comfort. So it
was fitting that one of his
first clients, Stephen Sposito, was a theater director who
commissioned Kenyon to design his studio in Hell’s Kitchen.
In the four years since the designer founded his firm,
Studio Kenyon, he has swiftly gained a reputation for
creating layered interiors with equal parts showmanship
and sensitivity. He developed his eye first by working as
an assistant to Marc Jacobs, helping the fashion designer
while he was decorating his Greenwich Village home.
“Casey is supportive, agile, and empathetic,” Jacobs says.
“He absorbed my appreciation for things, researched them,
and went further. He’s like a sponge.”
Eventually, Kenyon set out on a design path, working
initially for ELLE DECOR A-List firm Gachot Studios and
then as design director at the trendsetting New York light-
ing and furniture studio Apparatus. Sposito, who has been
an assistant director on such Broadway shows as Wicked
and The Book of Mormon and has directed operas, was a
fan of Apparatus’s and noticed Kenyon’s work with the
brand on Instagram. He reached out via direct message, and
soon Kenyon had one of his firm’s earliest projects.
The brief was to squeeze the most out of the studio
apartment Sposito shares with his partner, Michael
Brandley, and make it sing. But given the vagaries of his
profession, he also needed Kenyon to be flexible. “We had
to pause every so often and wait until I made a bit more
money,” says Sposito, whose industry was hard hit during
the pandemic. “And Casey was great about that.”
Located in a 1911 building, the 1,000-square-foot studio
had gained a small bedroom with a windowed wall in its
previous iteration. Kenyon swapped out its frosted glass
wall for clear, adding corduroy curtains that can be closed
for privacy. When the draperies are drawn, “it’s like a warm
cocoon,” Sposito says.
For Kenyon, every project starts with an image. After
gently dissuading Sposito from a quieter country aesthetic
(think tiny stools and George Nakashima–esque furniture),
the designer steered him in the polar-opposite direction
toward a slick 1970s New York vibe. “In the city you need
something that feels like a little city,” Kenyon says. He
showed Sposito and Brandley a picture from a 1970s maga-
zine story on the late philanthropist B. Gerald Cantor’s
Manhattan apartment. Awash in browns and reds, that
space had reflective surfaces and luscious textiles and a
lighting scheme designed to be universally flattering.
While he gave it his own spin, Kenyon stayed quite faith-
ful to the slick and sensual 1970s palette. In the living room, a
vintage Jean Prouvé daybed upholstered in an inky velvet now
separates the living and dining areas; nearby, a metal sculp-
ture by Val Bertoia (Harry Bertoia’s son) adds delicate balance;
an Apparatus light above the burl-wood table speaks the same
dynamic sculptural language. Meanwhile, in a corner, a monu-
mental Rick Owens vessel makes a statement of its own.
An Apparatus fixture
hangs over a custom
burl-wood table in the
dining area. Vintage
daybed by Jean
Prouvé; metal sculpture
(right) by Val Bertoia.
80. E L L E D E C O R 73
Design heavy hitters abound in the apartment, even if
they are not front and center, like the Charlotte Perriand
sconces scattered throughout the living and sleeping areas.
Indeed, Kenyon endeavored not just to decorate, but also to
help Sposito achieve his dream of becoming a collector. “I’ve
always wanted to own great art and good furniture and
antiques, but it seemed so out of reach for someone without
tremendous wealth,” Sposito says. “Casey taught me that if
you are passionate and into the hunt, deals can be found.”
The de Sede sofa in the living area is just one of many
examples of the thrill of the chase. Purchased from one of
Kenyon’s friends, the piece was in shreds, so Sposito was
able to buy it at a great price; it now looks brand new in its
buttery suede upholstery.
At the end of the day, this is still a compact studio
apartment. But in Kenyon’s world, size doesn’t matter. To
him, even a small space can be a stage for excitement. All it
needs is the perfect plot. ◾
81.
82. 75
E L L E D E C O R
Double-face corduroy
curtains blend with walls in
a custom brown hue in
the bedroom. Artwork by
Mildred Crooks.
OPPOSITE: The custom
bed is covered in a Dualoy
shearling and Dedar fabric
and topped with Society
Limonta bedding. Side
table by J.M. Szymanski;
vintage sconces by
Charlotte Perriand; art-
work by Ken Eastman.
83. TIFFANYTHOMPSON
photographedby
MeronMenghistab
For Tiffany Thompson of Duett Interiors,
symbiosis is vital. The spaces she creates are
a genuinely collaborative effort between
designer and client. “It really isn’t about me,”
Thompson says, “but about how my work
can inspire others to be the best version of
themselves.” Founded in 2019, her firm—
based in Portland, Oregon—has crafted
cozy, livable interiors for families from
Minnesota to Miami. Pro athletes and
sporting-goods institutions have become
her most loyal clients, as she’s designed
offices for Nike and homes for NBA stars like
D’Angelo Russell. Later this year, she’ll be
expanding her profile with the release of a
line of furniture and homewares.
duettinteriors.com
84. 77
E L L E D E C O R
byCamilleOkhio
UCHRONIA
photographedby
MatthewAvignone
Radioactive hues are deployed like neutrals
in the work of Uchronia (see page 62), the
Paris-based interior and furniture design
studio founded by Julien Sebban (pictured
at left, with his partner Jonathan Wray) in
2019. “We’re not afraid of anything that
could be seen as kitsch or passé,” Sebban
says. “We try to reveal the extraordinary in
the underappreciated.” Uchronia has brought
its zest into historic interiors like Forest
restaurant at Paris’s Musée d’Art Moderne
and more. Their collaborations with
decorative-arts stalwarts like silk manufac-
turer Prelle meld the old with the new, making
an argument for how the past can be zhuzhed
to remain exciting and fresh. uchronia.fr
Introducingeightgame-changingdesignstudios
pushinginteriorsintothefuture—anddoingitwith
witandoriginality.
85. ANGIEHRANOWSKY
photographedbyWulfBradley
Coming to interiors in 2008 from graphic
design, Angie Hranowsky (see page 84) is
no stranger to fusing the unexpected with
the familiar. The work she executes out of her
Charleston, South Carolina, studio runs the
gamut from traditional family homes with a
twist to riotous pieds-à-terre exploding with
color. It’s research that grounds her. “I’m
not formulaic in my approach,” Hranowsky
says, “but I am forever curious.” With her
mostly residential clients scattered through-
out the United States, a devotion to balance
and ease keeps her rooted: “Good design
demands a freshness of vision, and it should
feel effortless.” angiehranowsky.com
86. 79
E L L E D E C O R
STUDIOKENYON
photographedbyIkeEdeani
Casey Kenyon is a design chameleon. Even
before founding his New York–based firm
in 2019, he was uniquely adept at immersing
himself in one period or style until he became
an expert. With Studio Kenyon (see page 70),
he has unleashed his talent within the realm of
residential interiors, working with a diverse sta-
ble of clients to create spaces that are as trans-
portive and atmospheric as they are deeply
personal. “My ideal is to design in a way
where the client’s reality looks as good as pos-
sible,” Kenyon says. To achieve this, he takes
note of all the mundane details of life at home,
turning them into an opportunity for visual stim-
ulation, comfort, and surprise. caseykenyon.com
87. 80 E L L E D E C O R
LEAHRING
photographedbyMaggieShannon
Los Angeles–based designer Leah Ring
was working at ELLE DECOR A-List studio
Reath Design when she began making
furniture under the moniker Another Human
in 2017. Two years later she went out on
her own, expanding into full-service interior
design (see page 46). Since then she has
decorated large- and small-scale residential
and commercial projects, mostly in Califor-
nia. Her rooms are recognizable for their
of-the-moment palette: hues like bubblegum
pink and supernova yellow meet fresh mints
and sky blues. “Color is always the starting
point,” Ring says. “It has such strong emo-
tional power.” anotherhuman.la
88. ESTELLEBAILEY-BABENZIEN
photographedbyFumiNagasaka
In 2007, before becoming a designer,
Brooklyn-based Estelle Bailey-Babenzien
made a name for herself through her Tumblr
Dream Awake, sharing images of archi-
tecture and art. Now she offers a range of
services, from creative direction and visual
merchandising to interior architecture and
branding. She is equally open-minded in the
projects she takes on, designing anything
from a Black-owned crab shack in Crown
Heights, Brooklyn, to actor Adrian Grenier’s
brownstone a few miles away. “We only
work with people who share a similar
ideology and a sense of social and environ-
mental responsibility,” Bailey-Babenzien
says. “That’s what keeps business personal
and a pleasure.” thedreamawake.com
89. AUGUSTAHOFFMAN
photographedbyYudiElaEchevarria
The simplest interiors are often the hardest
to pull off, but Augusta Hoffman (see
page 92) has the refinement to make a little
look like a lot. Founded in 2020, her epon-
ymous New York–based firm has gained
both clients and attention quickly, all due to
her deliciously rich, devil-may-care aesthetic.
Sumptuous textiles and burnished metals
form the backdrop for rooms that inspire
wonder without one knowing exactly why.
“Design should be exploratory and enjoy-
able,” Hoffman says. “Our spaces ultimately
embrace elegance, but we never take our-
selves too seriously.” augustahoffman.com
90. 83
E L L E D E C O R
STUDIOMUKA
photographedbyCherilSanchez
Ten years after meeting (and falling in love)
at Pratt Institute’s architecture program, Zabie
Mustafa (at left) and Neda Kakhsaz formed
Studio Muka. Their multidisciplinary practice,
based in Los Angeles, spans ground-up architec-
ture as well as residential and commercial inte-
rior and furniture design. Their work is rooted
in location and history, with projects ranging
from eco-friendly desert escapes to Brentwood
homes with a Wiener Werkstätte edge. “We
look at every project as an opportunity to learn
something new,” says Kakhsaz, who previously
worked with ELLE DECOR A-List firm Studio
Shamshiri. “Discovery and experimentation are
taken very seriously, but we’re also romantics.
Design serves a function, but it should ultimately
evoke feeling.” studio-muka.com
91. 84 E L L E D E C O R
By Kathleen Hackett
Photographs by Maura McEvoy
Styled by Basha Burwell
In Downeast
Maine, a rare
1960s home
by local icon
Emily Muir gets
a shipshape
renovation.
92. The living room of a
house on Deer Isle, Maine,
designed in 1968 by Emily
Muir and renovated by
designer Angie Hranowsky
with architects Bill Bowick
and David Bouffard. Sofa
and dining table by RH,
Restoration Hardware;
cocktail table by Artifort;
vintage rattan chair in a
fabric by Tulu Textiles;
pendant by Naoto
Fukasawa; sand paintings
by Emily Muir. For details,
see Resources.
93. E L L E D E C O R
86
aine summers are mythic, its coastal cottages perhaps even
more so. There are the shingled behemoths built by
19th-century rusticators, Greek Revival captain’s houses
clustered in seaside villages, and simple fisherman’s shacks
strung along the ocean’s edge. None of them interested
Carolyn Evans as she scrolled through rental options from
her Charleston, South Carolina, kitchen in the spring of
2020. “We’d never been to Maine, but friends had moved
there to escape the Southern summers, and we were feeling
that heat,” says Evans, a psychotherapist and author. Those
friends happened to be Bill Bowick and David Bouffard, an
architect duo who knew exactly what she and her husband,
Ray, wanted. The couple had recently traded in a traditional
1840s Charleston “single” for a 1950s midcentury home, all
angles, glass, and brick, with an open floor plan. “I just love
a straight line,” Evans says she realized. “I have a hard time
living with a curve.”
Which is why the minute she opened an email from her
friends with a listing for a rental house on Maine’s Deer Isle,
she immediately booked it for the month of August. Built in
1968, the home is on 12 acres and overlooks the Atlantic
Ocean and Crockett Cove. “It had me at the full glass front,”
she says. “But the fact that it also sits on a huge piece of
granite that hangs over the water? You can slip into nature
without disturbing it.”
Even better, it was designed by Emily Muir, an artist
environmentalist, philanthropist, and self-taught architect
whose homes were legendary. Her legacy is bound up in
45 modest cottages scattered in and around Crockett Cove
at the tip of one of Maine’s storied peninsulas. She was
instrumental in bringing to Deer Isle the esteemed
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, designed by the archi-
tect Edward Larrabee Barnes. Between them, the pair put
down Maine’s modernist roots with a shared vision: that
every building be a showcase for the landscape. Muir died
in 2003 at the age of 99.
Evans eagerly moved in for what she thought was a
month’s respite. But two weeks into the rental, she learned
that the house was going on the market. “Muir’s places
rarely come up for sale and are almost never as intact as
this one,” she says. “So we made an offer, thrilled by the fact
that we actually got to wake up there before signing any
papers.” The couple and their two adult children, daughter
Reese and son Marshall, were all on board with the deci-
sion. By September, the place was theirs.
In short order, Evans called Charleston-based interior
designer Angie Hranowsky, whom she credits with cultivat-
ing her love of midcentury modern architecture. The Maine
house took Hranowsky’s breath away. “All you can do when
you walk through the door is look outside,” she says. There
was nothing she could do on the inside to compete with that
view. So taking her cues from the original architect, she
didn’t try. “Muir was not pretentious or flashy, and she cer-
tainly wasn’t extravagant,” says the designer, who mostly
restored what was there. She added a fresh coat of paint to
the kitchen cabinets and covered the counters with new
sheets of Formica. Where the floorboards were rotted, she
matched new ones to the old. She furnished the rooms in
classic Maine-cottage fashion, with a hodgepodge of pieces
that seem like castoffs from a primary home. A pair of sofas
was placed back-to-back, one facing the water, the other
peering into a roaring fire.
It is this sensitivity to environment that drew Evans to
work with Hranowsky on the project, their third together.
And it is likely what Muir, too, was after. “You can just feel
her commitment to working with the land, whether you are
looking at the house from the water or looking at the water
from the house,” Evans says. Indeed, she was so inspired by
the house that she relented on her straight-lines rule and
left the curved vanity in the bathroom as is. “What was
important to Muir,” she says, “is now important to me.” ◾
Homeowner Carolyn
Evans with her daughter,
Reese. Outdoor lounge
chairs by Houe.
94. A vintage Danish mod-
ern chair faces a family
heirloom, an antique
Windsor chair with a
cushion in a Martyn
Lawrence Bullard print,
in the fireplace and TV
room. Nesting tables
by Gianfranco Frattini;
1970s pendant by
Jo Hammerborg.
95. LEFT: The stairwell has
the original pine shiplap
siding, pink granite wall,
and rope banister.
ABOVE: The back
porch was designed for
game playing, dinner,
and cocktails. Custom
fir table by Brad Rice;
vintage pendant.
“It had me at the
full glass front.
And the fact that it
also sits on a huge
piece of granite
that hangs over
the water?”
—Carolyn Evans
96. 89
E L L E D E C O R
Hranowsky preserved
the home’s original
kitchen design, repaint-
ing cabinets in close
color matches. Vintage
pendant by Paavo Tynell;
Forbo Marmoleum
flooring in Berlin Red.
97. ABOVE: The chair in the
primary bath is by Emily
Muir. Porcelain hex tile
by Casablanca.
RIGHT: The primary bed-
room is oriented toward
the water. Bed coverlet
by Area Home; vintage
Wakefield Brothers wicker
chair, Deer Isle’s Ronald
Harte Antiques.
100. 93
E L L E D E C O R
By Catherine Hong
Photographs by Tim Lenz
The dining area of Augusta
Hoffman and Jonathan
Swygert’s downtown loft
in Manhattan, designed by
Hoffman. Custom traver-
tine table; vintage chairs
by Afra and Tobia Scarpa;
sconces by Pinch; hand-
painted mural by James
Mobley; rug by Stark
Carpet; artworks by Jeff
Joyce.
OPPOSITE: In the kitchen,
the cabinets are painted
in Russian Olive by Behr.
Custom pendant by Edition
Modern; fittings by
Waterworks. Interiors styl-
ing by Benjamin Reynaert.
For details, see Resources.
Augusta Hoffman builds
on good bones to create
an idyllic Manhattan apartment
for her most intimidating clients:
herself and her husband.
101. E L L E D E C O R
94
ny decorator can slap on a scenic
wallpaper and call it a day. But
when it came to designing her
“first grown-up apartment,” New
York City interior designer
Augusta Hoffman wanted some-
thing that would be unique. She
reached out to James Mobley, a
decorative artist in Los Angeles with whom she had never
worked, and told him her vision. “I shared my dream of cov-
ering the walls in a grisaille scenic mural,” she says. The
result is one of the most unexpectedly romantic eat-in
kitchens south of 14th Street, a moody and atmospheric
space combining olive-green cabinetry, Mobley’s ethereal
Hudson River Valley–inspired landscape, and spherical ala-
baster pendants that evoke a pair of full moons.
The entire apartment, a converted loft in an unprepos-
sessing building on lower Broadway, is a testament to
Hoffman’s deft hand with color, command of classical
forms, and confidence in her aesthetic vision—attributes
not often seen in a designer so young. The 31-year-old
Dallas native founded her eponymous firm just five years
ago but has already established a reputation for tailored,
sophisticated small spaces grounded in classical architec-
ture. Hoffman interiors tend to be pared back yet gently lay-
ered, with a sober beauty that eschews campy old-world
flourishes. Her most recognizable calling card is probably
her palette: a slender, tonal range of subdued greens,
creams, and ochers, with accents of black for depth. “I am
still pushing myself to expand my colors!” she says. “But it’s
true, I do love green. I think of it almost as a neutral.”
Thanks to a prior gut renovation by the late Paul
Fortune and ELLE DECOR A-List firm Gachot Studios, many
of the apartment’s enhancements were already in place
when Hoffman and her husband, Jonathan Swygert, pur-
chased the place. “I loved the juxtaposition of the sort of
‘uptown’ finishes—the moldings, the traditional walnut-
stained floors, the marble in the main bath—in the down-
town environment,” she says. “You come off the bustling
street and through our dingy lobby, but then the elevator
directly opens into a warm, refined home.”
The tranquil living room is proof positive of Hoffman’s
approach to soft-spoken elegance. While its white-on-white
scheme might at first seem in line with any number of chic
living rooms, there’s more here than meets the eye. The
walls, upholstery, and window shades are a carefully modu-
lated combination of creams, whites, and pale beiges in a
range of textures, avoiding the doldrums of spa-like mono-
chromatism. “I hate when things are too matchy-matchy,”
says Hoffman, who even chose a sofa and ottoman with a
similar, but not identical, style of tufting. At the same time,
Hoffman does appreciate the power of a hushed echo. Con-
sider the monumental hand-painted Chinese screen above
the living room sofa. One might imagine the landscape
would compete with the mural in the kitchen—but it works.
“They interact beautifully,” says Augusta Hoffman Studio
designer Emma Stang, who collaborated with Hoffman on
the apartment. “It’s as if they are in conversation.”
Of course, acting on instinct is not enough to build a
business. There’s the matter of listening to one’s clients—
which in this case meant Swygert, who despite being
102. E L L E D E C O R 95
A Perle Fine artwork hangs
above the mantel in the
living room. Sofa (left)
by Lawson-Fenning in
a Pierre Frey fabric; cock-
tail tables designed by
Jonathan Swygert; lounge
chairs by Blasco; side
table (below window) by
Andrianna Shamaris; lamp
by Pinch; carpet by Carol
Piper Rugs.
Hoffman’s longtime sweetheart (they’ve known each other
since they were 12) had no intentions of giving his wife
carte blanche over their new home. “I had a lot of opinions,
and I didn’t exactly hold back,” he says. Most notably, Swy-
gert, a product developer, wanted their bedroom to be more
traditionally “masculine” than Hoffman had originally envi-
sioned it. “I kept saying that I would love some area that felt
more like mine, especially because I was going to be work-
ing from the room as well,” he says. “I told Augusta that I
hoped the bedroom could have the feel of a study, maybe
even with a leather sofa.” (It may have been this point, he
notes, at which “she called me her most difficult client.”)
Hoffman admits to being skeptical, but she came
through with the goods. She enveloped the walls with rich
tobacco-colored Scalamandré grass cloth (“I love that
organic, rusty color,” she says), installed a black marble
mantel, splurged on a custom silk Diego Mardegan chande-
lier, and even found a very handsome brown Arne Norell
sofa for the foot of their bed. “What can I say?” she asks
lovingly. “It was his dream.” ◾
103. E L L E D E C O R
96
PORTR
AIT:
YUDI
EL
A
ECHEVARRIA
ABOVE LEFT: Designer
Augusta Hoffman with
her husband, Jonathan
Swygert.
LEFT: In the entry,
an antique Spanish
Mission–style table serves
as a sideboard. Custom
mirror; sconces by
Edition Modern; chair
by Design Frères.
ABOVE: A piano by
Steinway Sons anchors
the living room. Bar cart
by Vereinigte Werkstätten;
floor lamp by Jacques
Adnet with a lampshade
by Fermoie; custom shelf.
104. E L L E D E C O R 97
“I hate when things are
too matchy-matchy.”
—Augusta Hoffman
105. E L L E D E C O R
98
A vintage French
sink with fittings by
Waterworks makes a
statement in the powder
room. Floor and walls
in travertine and
Calacatta Viola marble;
wallpaper by Holly
Hunt; vintage sconces.
OPPOSITE: A painting
by Ethan Cook is the
focal point of the hall-
way. Runner by Beni
Rugs; wallpaper
by Gracie Studio.
106.
107. E L L E D E C O R
100
ABOVE: Breccia marble
covers the main bathroom.
Antique chair in horsehair;
lamp, Urban Outfitters;
plaster finish in Highland
by Portola Paints
Glazes.
RIGHT: In the main bed-
room, the bed is by CB2.
Sofa by Arne Norell;
table by Laverne; vintage
chair in a Loro Piana fabric;
wallpaper (behind bed) by
Gracie Studio; lamps by
Adam Otlewski; side tables
by Jean-Michel Frank;
sconces by Rayon Roskar.
“It’s true, I do love green.
I think of it almost as
a neutral.”
—Augusta Hoffman
111. 104 E L L E D E C O R
MY K I N D O F RO OM
BART
KIGGEN
AN AUDIENCE
WITH THE MAESTRO
For designer Hannes Peer, an Italian architect’s
singular legacy continues to inspire.
“I tell all of my architecture students
that they need to see Casa Mollino
at least once in their lifetime.
I originally visited the house in Turin,
Italy, 10 years ago on a weekend
trip. It is the perfect Gesamtkunst-
werk and a master class in layering.
Carlo Mollino was one of the first
architects with an intentionally
eclectic approach, putting
Japanese design in conversation
with Italian craft, or pairing Murano
chandeliers with Saarinen chairs.
He was able to tell so many stories
at once in such a small space. His
work encouraged me to dare with
textures, to dare with colors, to go
bold or go home. If you look at
Casa Mollino with an open mind,
it’s all there: the materials, the
colors, the cinematography,
the daring—the drama!”
—As told to Camille Okhio
The living room
of Museo Casa
Mollino, designed
by Carlo Mollino,
in Turin, Italy.
carlomollino.org/
museo-casa-mollino
112. Bringyour
appetite
for
discovery.
When you walk through our doors, bring an idea.
A dream. A vision. Our showroom is designed to
inspire you with on-site chefs, product experts,
and exclusive events — all so you can fully
experience everything your kitchen can be.
We’ll bring you the showroom
experience you’ve been waiting for.
Scan to book an appointment.