Cultured Lifestyle Magazine

CULTURED LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE

MAY / JUNE 2018

A Man of all Seasons

by Project Senior Designer, Craig Strulovitz
Interior Design: Glenn Gissler 
Photography: Gross & Daley

Not all professional interior designers have a signature ‘look,’ a Brand to call their own. Some have cleared the hurdle—Glenn Gissler being one—a designer who brings his own perspective and profession.

 

Layer architecture, 20th-century art, literature, fashion, historic preservation, architectural history and immediately you see Gissler’s expertise is not just interior design.

His interests and knowledge manifest the diversity of the work–exquisitely crafted and integrated into the architecture of the space.

Recently celebrating a 30th anniversary, Gissler has authenticated that he is a designer bringing a culminated perspective to the profession. The work is diverse.

What makes his work so special, is his ability to marry architectural concept with curator sensibility—a reverence for fabric, mixed with natural lighting—ultimately Gissler and client create environments built and nuanced around personalities and needs.

This project from a Colorado couple with a fantasy of the Ottoman Empire, richly figured carpets and ornaments for their two bedroom apartment in a 1920’s Greenwich Village building.

Gissler and Senior Designer Craig Strulovitz decided to articulate the room separations using casings, moldings, and portieres to create a greater sense of sequence to the rooms. To further emphasize room separations, the color palette colorations were changed from one room to the other, with a livid lacquered cinnabar as the color in the entry. Judiciously placed mirrors expanded and lightened the spaces.

Very interested in vintage textiles, the clients wanted to create a warm and rich oasis for the time they spent in NYC. Gissler introduced a layering of Persian rugs and embroidered or tapestry wall-hangings. A selection of patterned textiles, woven or embroidered rather than printed, and often antique in appearance, are carefully juxtaposed. Many of the upholstery and pillow fabrics are actually new, but they have a luscious, aged look.

The result is not a recreated Turkish Interior, but a place where imagined and actual travel meet the incomparable comfort of home in this case, a second home in one of the most charming neighborhoods New York City has to offer.

NOTEBOOK: The entry was lacquered in the Farrow and Ball color Loggia. Upon entering the apartment you are greeted by an 18th Century English oak chest of drawers placed in front of an oversized copper clad mirror, used to display an array of curated objects including a brutalist lamp and tramp art box. The room also includes a fantastic work by artist Giorgio Morandi.

The dining room became a Library Area which can be used for occasional entertaining, centered upon the Empire round table the clients brought from Colorado. The vintage chairs are from an Art Deco ocean liner. Meant to be flexible, the table may be set up as a dining table, buffet, or bar. At right, a portiere in Kavet’s double-sided “interweave” fabric marks the separation from the bedroom.

In the living room is an antique Tabriz area rug with stylized floral pattern in indigo and cream, is keynote of this richly patterned and textured room. The custom Belgian sofa is from Jonas. Interesting objects—two Paris of mounted oryx horns; a cross-legged Aesthetic Movement table—add detail and depth. Boudin armchairs upholstered by Jonas in Bellinger’s vibrant Paprika “Pasha” velvet flank the exquisite late 17th century English crewel embroidery with exotic floral motif, from Fuller’s Fine Art Auction. The antique Korean blanket chest made of elmwood with original iron hardware, severs as a shared table.

A Victorian Eastlake side table, in the sitting room, is juxtaposed with a pair of Dorothy Draper walnut tables from Assemblage, Ltd. The long English roll arm sofa in charcoal linen is from Restoration Hardware. The Patrick Naggar candle scones for Pucci are modern, yet Thomas Edison-like, of blown glass, with barequartz bulbs. Photograph above the sofa is by Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Paint and light fixtures were used to transform the white kitchen to a warm and inviting gathering space.

The master bedroom is nothing less than sumptuous and enveloped in a soft green palette. The walls are papered in a Fiori pattern by Rose Tarlow, woodwork is painted with Farrow and Ball ‘Lichen,’ the curtains and portiere as a custom made from Corragio fabric in the same pale teal. Above the upholstered headboard hangs a vintage textile, from the clients own collection, printed on velvet.

Artists Magazine

Artists Magazine

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

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Intersections: Art and Design

by Allison Malafronte
Photos by Gross & Daley

Lighting & Decor

Lighting and Decor

NOVEMBER 2017

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Last Look photos by Gross & Daley

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Last Look

Clients come to Glenn Gissler for his style, but they stay for his art expertise. The New York-based designer goes above and beyond to help his clients choose artwork for their homes and has sage advice to share: Never buy artwork on vacation! See how Gissler composed this Chelsea loft.

 

1. It is a misnomer that white walls for art is a neutral surface: I think that white can be quite harsh. Art take out of a gallery setting and put in a home can have a strong effect on the art itself; the humanity is more legible and it impacts the experience of spaces profoundly. Art and objects are in a dialog with each other such that things from different time periods can be curated to be in a rich conversation. 

2. I tend to go for more understated furnishings and stronger art. Placement of art and furniture are both very important and require great consideration. Depends on the scale of the room. Too small is too small and too big is too big, and like the story of Goldilocks and the three bears, the challenge is getting it “just right.” There have been an abundance of articles on people doing so-called salon hangings—clusters of miscellaneous framed works on a wall. Quality matters. It is better to have a few well-scaled good things than a plethora of not-so-good works.

3. To learn more about art, join a museum and go reguarly, not just to the openings and parties. Engage with the curators and art dealers to learn more about wat you are looking at. Subscribe to magazines about art. Search out the best art dealers and talk to them to learn more. It is not something you can do overnight–cultivate your eye–look, look, look. Look at and read books about art.

 

NYC&G

NYC & G

NOVEMBER 2017

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Chic Retreats: Living Room

“I live in Brooklyn Heights, so my goal was to respect the history and architecture of the town-house while making it comfortable for today,” says designer Glenn Gissler, who paired a curvaceous Vladimir Kagan sofa with early-20th-century French furnishings and 20th-century paintings, all from 1stdibs.

LUXList

LUXLIST

NOVEMBER 2017

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Designer Edition

by Rachael Tinari-McNamee
Photos by Gross & Daley

Visit the full article at RubyLux

 

Initially, a student of architecture, Glenn combines his in-depth knowledge of structure with other facets of design, including fashion, art, literature, and history, in order to design the spaces he is known for. Based in New York, his firm, Glenn Gissler Design, has designed homes around the US for a wide range of clients and been featured in multiple popular design publications including House Beautiful, Elle Decor, House & Garden among others.

With an undeniable quality of tranquility surrounding Glenn’s designs, he expertly interweaves furnishings from all manners of eras and styles to create a landscape which can be at once appreciated as a whole and for the individual quality of each piece. The resulting effect is one of ultimate composure – which skillfully balances beauty and grace with the practicalities of daily living. Discover more about our LUXList Designer’s inspiration and aesthetic! See his favorite pieces from RubyLUX.com.

 

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Describe your design aesthetic in a few words?

A mix of contemporary and traditional that is comfortable and polished without seeming ‘decorated’

What do you love about using antiques in your designs?

I have spent a good portion of my life learning about art, design, history, cultures both near and far. I prefer to mix objects and furnishings from all eras and origins. I have come to realize that my design work is more about a process of seeking essential elements for comfort and delight that includes objects, artwork, antiques, furniture, and textiles that is both half-full and half-empty; where the individual elements can be seen and understood on their own, but they are also in a dialogue with each other.

What inspires you?

My formal education was more rigorous in architecture and historic education—I didn’t study furniture, textiles, etc. All those things I learned on my own, although my background did bode well for what I wanted to do. It’s in my blood and it remains in my blood—the coalescing of art, architecture, design, lifestyle, and experience.

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What is a favorite piece in your home?

I have had the good fortune to live most of my adult life with fine art.  Thinking my way through my apartment in Brooklyn Heights room-by-room the one item that stands out is a small abstract gouache painting I made in the 7th grade that hangs in my bedroom.

What are some details of your signature style?

The one word that others use to describe my work is calm – that is, of course, a feeling not a detail. Details would often include fine art, rich but understated textiles that are both new and vintage, typically a soothing palette, tailored upholstery silhouettes and a rich landscape of multi-cultural and historical objects and accessories.

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About Glenn Gissler

Glenn Gissler Design is an award-winning, and widely published Manhattan-based design firm established in 1987. Gissler brings a multidimensional outlook to interior design. Trained as an architect at the Rhode Island School of Design, he has far-reaching interests in 20th-century art, fashion, literature, sociology, architectural and social history, and a general interest in objects as cultural artifacts.  With a focus on residential projects, Glenn joins architectural concepts with thoughtful applications of lighting, fabric and distinctive furnishings and is committed to providing beautiful and extremely livable environments in which his clients are inspired to fully express themselves.

He has worked with young professionals, couples, families, empty-nesters and created exciting pied-a-terre residences in New York City, the Metropolitan area, Long Island, Westchester County, Chicago, Massachusetts and Florida. His work is stylistically diverse and is regularly seen in magazines and books, Elle Décor, House Beautiful, Town & Country, House & Garden, New York Spaces, Hamptons Cottages & Gardens, Interior Design, New York Times Sunday Magazine, Art & Antiques and Interior Design Master Class by Carl Delatorre.

As a member of the Board of Directors – RISD Museum (Rhode Island School of Design)he has donated many designs and decorative art objects to assist the Museum in expanding its current holdings of 95,000 objects. Glenn was the 1017 President of the New York Metro Chapter of ASID (American Society of Interior Designers), and among many other innovative initiatives and programs, he launched the magazine DESIGN to represent the chapters many activities, and just organized twelve events on behalf of the chapter for ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) at Jacob Javits Convention Center.