Where Did Michael Cox Travel For Unique Inspiration?As told to Deborah L. Martin DREAM TIME Our “dream space” has history, culture, and architectural integrity. We love to take a space that has incredible bones and the patina of another era and re-invent, re-interpret, and update for comfortable and contemporary living. AROUND THE WORLD Travel is our most constant source of inspiration. We’re drawing on a trip to Marrakesh and Tangier for our take on “Morocco in California” for the windows we’re designing for Legends. Our recent visit to Paris brought chic finishing touches to a Manhattan apartment. And our collaboration with the great Milanese house of Fornasetti is seeping into our renovation project in Florida. IN THE BEGINNING The renovation of a ski chalet in Austria had a profound impact on the trajectory of the firm. Researching Tyrolian style, working through language barriers, and cultivating relationships with local artists and antique dealers from Vienna and Salzburg was challenging, rewarding, and inspiring. TIME TRAVEL I want to visit the Ottoman Empire circa 1540—and as Suleiman the Magnificent of course. My visit to the Topkapi palace in Istanbul was like seeing Aladdin’s cave for the first time. Seeing fragments of the opulence of the Ottoman Empire’s golden age was incredible and learning of the creative, artistic, and architectural advances of the period was beyond inspiring. And to be painted by Titian—that’s about as significant as it gets. FAVORITE THINGS This is as difficult as asking a parent to choose a favorite child! But what comes to mind are […]View
How To Honor A Furniture Design Icon’s Beautiful LegacyWritten by Nicole Haddad Photography by Vladimir Kagan Design Group American-emigrated, German-born designer Vladimir Kagan’s (1927–2016) prolific body of work—emblematic of the most daring of midcentury modern design—is unique in its enduring appeal. Innately sensuous, organic forms combine comfort and materiality with highly-engineered forms—and showcase an unstoppable imagination. The director of Design and Production at Vladimir Kagan Design Group since 2015, Chris Eitel first apprenticed for Kagan (or “Vladi,” as he calls him), in the summer of 2013 before finishing his last semester at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, MI—where Kagan consulted on the furniture design curriculum. Eitel grew close to the designer and his family in the interim—oftentimes sailing in Nantucket, schmoozing at cocktail parties, and discoursing at all hours until summer’s end. After completing his BFA, Eitel returned to work for Kagan. “We shared a lot of commonalities,” he says. “Though we both designed and gravitated toward more modern takes on furniture, we truly loved antique furniture,” he explains. “The idea of creating an illusion within a product also fascinated us—if you could float or cantilever a piece, he did it. He took a fun approach to thinking about furniture design that really drew me.” Chris Eitel—protégé of the late design icon, Vladimir Kagan—carries on the Kagan legacy with a new collection at Holly Hunt Kagan and his team were well versed in technological advances, so when Eitel brought 3D printing into the mix, it just upped the pace. “Vladi taught me that you […]View
A New Penn District Residence for Those On The GoWritten by Kelsey Mulvey Photography By VUW Studios For Brook Quach, design director at Workshop/APD, 300 West 30th Street was “always meant to be for commuters.” With neighbors like Penn Station and Moynihan Food Hall, the new Penn District residence has an on-the-go mentality that has become synonymous with New York City. When Quach was asked to put the final touches on 300 West 30th Street, which has officially begun sales, he wanted to create an efficient-yet-elevated respite for the metropolis’s movers and shakers. To bridge the gap between practical and well-appointed, Quach drew inspiration from the Mondrian-reminiscent lines Studio C Architects added to the building’s exterior and peppered lighter touches throughout. “We always try to marry what’s going on outside with the interiors,” he explains. “We used [the building’s facade] to establish our inspirational language; to see how we could implement those design elements indoors.” That deft mix of hard and soft elements is on full display the moment guests step inside the building. Wall paneling and a bespoke logo inside the lobby play into the elevation’s angular elements, while the custom lighting Workshop/APD designed with Arteriors adds a delightful touch of whimsy. “The Penn district is New York’s next big neighborhood.” —John Felicetti, Vice President, Corcoran New Development Tenants reach the 69 units through a series of Talk Carpet–clad hallways that harken back to the exterior’s Mondrian-like display. But inside each unit—be it a smaller studio or two-bedroom penthouse suite with a large terrace—that special juxtaposition of materials […]View
Explore One Young Family’s Beautiful Seaside EscapeWritten by Robyn Alexander Styling by Sven Alberding Photography by Greg Cox Germany’s Baltic Sea has been attracting holidaymakers since the mid-19th century. Thekla and Einar Osterhage (who live and work two and a half hours away, in Hamburg) chose this spot to build a holiday cottage because of the area’s “amazing coastline” as well as the unique “shape of the landscape in combination with a kind of mysterious light.” The Osterhages had been searching for the right piece of land on which to build their holiday house for quite a while when, says Einar, this one suddenly appeared. “It even had a view of the sea,” he adds, a semi-requirement that they “never expected to be fulfilled. Even more of an attraction was the property’s open-ended vistas of the surrounding landscape in both easterly and westerly directions—a feature that meant the house could be designed along a dawn-to-dusk axis, flooding it with light throughout the day. The couple worked with architect Anja Richter Modersitzki, who created a design that cleverly shifted and tweaked what Einar describes as “the strict symmetry and rectangular angles” the couple had initially envisioned. By doing so, he adds, she “offered new perspectives that the final structure greatly benefits from.” One such element is the large, off-center picture window on the rear facade of the house, which is perfectly placed to frame a large tree. The window “is the result of the imagination of our architect, who designed it and placed it asymmetrically in a […]View
The Amazing View From One Hotel’s Rooftop Infinity PoolWritten By Kaitlin Clark Photography By Alex Filz A new, boutique hotel tucked away in a tiny German town along the fabled Romantic Road is reviving a rich architectural heritage, an 800-year old history and, an unspoiled medieval townscape. Located in the Wörnitz Valley of Bavaria, Dinkelsbühl is one of the only remaining walled medieval fortress towns in Germany. A key port along the international trade route, the city was heavily fortified, surrounded by a one and a half mile wall studded with 16 watch towers and enormous metal gates. Many of the surrounding towns were destroyed in both world wars, but somehow Dinkelsbühl survived virtually unscathed—its towered walls, cobbled alleys, and half-timber framed houses standing exactly as they have for centuries. Sitting opposite the late-Gothic Cathedral of St. George, Goldene Rose is a newly redesigned five-star hotel. The main structure has served as a hotel dating back to the 15th century, although written records place the town’s origins in the 12th century, and local lore says it was founded 300 years earlier, around the 8th century. It is rumored to have hosted Queen Victoria during her famed 1891 journey across Europe. Suffice it to say, these walls have witnessed empires growing and crumbling right on their doorstep. As the four surrounding properties, each serving a different function—a casino, a brewery, and a warehouse— were put up for sale over the years, the current owners snatched them up, with the idea to combine them into one grand structure. They enlisted […]View
How One Los Angeles Designer Learned to Love DivisionWritten by Thomas Connors Photography by Stefan Merriweather Good fences make good neighbors. That line may be the only one most of us recall of Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall.” Fewer of us probably remember that those words were a criticism, not an edict to live by. Evoking a rough New England landscape, the poem had nothing to do with interiors, but for those averse to open-plan living, it could well serve as a mantra. L.A.-based architect and designer Kevin Klein has worked the open plan beautifully for several clients, but in his own home—a 96-year-old French Normandy affair in Los Feliz—he cherishes the separation of spaces. Though part of L.A., the neighborhood’s proximity to Griffith Park and its network of hiking trails makes it feel like a trip to the country. “One of the things I liked the most about this house was the traditional layout, where the kitchen is isolated from the dining room and living room,” says Klein, who spent a decade in hospitality design, collaborating with Philippe Starck and Kelly Wearstler, among others. “I know that runs contrary to what many people are after, but I think a division of spaces, where each acts independently of the others, makes a house feel a little bit more romantic.” Although Klein embraced the existing format of the house, which he shares with his wife Carly, wholesale director at Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS, he wasn’t at all keen on a decor of green laminate, fuchsia drapery, and gaudy wallpaper. He gave […]View
Antique Beams Meet Modern Art In a Beautiful ReinventionWritten by Tate Gunnerson Photography by Adrian Gaut Envisioning a relaxing weekend retreat, a fortysomething New York City couple acquired a reinvented barn with rustic century-old, exposed beams on about 100 acres in the Hudson Valley. When they began spending more and more time there during the pandemic, they hired interior designer, Todd Raymond, to help them make it their own. Raymond knew straightaway that the pieces he selected would need to defer to the prominent architecture. “There was sort of a dance,” Raymond says. “How do we make the furniture important without detracting from the beautiful old beams?” Originally a Dutch barn that was later deconstructed, the house’s former owners had commissioned an architect to reimagine it. A simple cedar-clad envelope now surrounds the weathered post and beam structure, which acts as an endoskeleton. A breezeway with glass garage doors on either side and an open mezzanine level introduce a feeling of modernity despite the rustic beams. Taking his cues from the clients, Raymond painted the walls white and the millwork and cabinetry in a dark blackish hue. Playing off the polished concrete flooring and rustic wooden details, it’s a crisp, contemporary backdrop for a mix of new and iconic vintage furnishings rendered in a monochromatic color palette. “The client’s style is sleeker and more modern with a little bit of glam,” he says. During the nearly 18-month project, Raymond and his clients visited showrooms in Manhattan, custom furniture studios in Brooklyn, and a myriad of charming shops offering […]View
Pure Or Perilous? Inside One Renovation’s Pale PaletteWritten by Paul Hagen Photography by Nicole Franzen Behind the red-brick facade of an Upper West Side town house hides a creamy and carefully crafted living space. Residential design studio Chango & Co. managed the design and architecture of this radical renovation, including a three- story-tall addition. But its defining feature may be the way its white walls suffuse the space with a soft glow. “One of the goals at the beginning of the project was to help the home and structure feel free,” says Susana Simonpietri, creative director of Chango & Co. The building had been converted into an apartment building, so Simonpietri’s goal was to restore its glory. Post-renovation, says Simonpietri, “the entire home feels like a big breath of fresh air—clean, uncluttered, and visually liberating.” “The clients gave us a tremendous amount of trust and freedom,” says Simonpietri. “They wanted the space to feel light, with neutral colors and a layered approach.” And though some might worry about living with white, Simonpietri does not. “We very often use creams and whites in projects for young families,” she says. “White doesn’t fade and is one of the easiest colors for washing and cleaning.” Experienced with the palette, Simonpietri’s team used materials that are easy to maintain. Visitors meet an open concept first floor, which flows from living room to kitchen to dining space. Simonpietri used the width of the stair stack to delineate space for additional storage and a powder room, so neither interrupts the path from the […]View
How One Remarkable German School Shaped DesignProduced by Samantha Emmerling Photography and written by Lee Mindel, FAIA German architect Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus School in 1919 with the intention of uniting art, craft, and technology to reimagine the material world. The school’s influence is the throughline that connects all modern design. Bauhaus has become almost synonymous with modern design, and for good reason. Founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany, the Bauhaus school, which was in operation for 14 years, was the most influential design school of the 20th century. Gropius’s intent was to reimagine the material world by integrating all the arts. The guiding principle of combining architecture, furniture design, and typography with new technologies was, in his words, “that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but simply an integral part of the stuff of life, necessary for everyone in a civilized society.” Originally located in Weimar, in 1925 the Bauhaus moved to a new building in Dessau, designed by Gropius. His innovative use there of industrial sash, glass curtain walls, and an asymmetrical pinwheel design forged an unforgettable path in the development of what we now call modernism and the International Style. Bauhaus’s famed faculty included (to name just a few) Paul Klee, Oskar Schlemmer, Wassily Kandinsky, Josef Albers, Marianne Brandt, Henry van de Velde, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who was the school’s last director prior to its closure in 1933. Gropius, Albers, Bayer, and Mies van der Rohe would later move to the United States […]View