Gracious Apartment – Upper West Side

An eclectic array of furniture marks the transition from living room to dining room, the latter seen through wide French doors. In the Living Room, an antique Italian armchair by Ulrich Guglielmo, from the 1950s echoes the curves of the Danish Modern rosewood pedestal table, the Frank Gehry Wiggle Chair, and Herve van der Straeten’s “Tornade” lamp.

UPPER WEST SIDE – NYC

Gracious Apartment

Works of fine art by Picasso, Cy Twombly, Brice Marden, Al Held, and Terry Winters hang amid furniture of comparable aesthetic stature in this classic ten-room apartment on West End Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. For the clients, empty nesters, we mixed mid-twentieth century design with traditional forms of furniture that speak to supreme comfort. So distinctive are certain 20th century artifacts–icons of the avant-garde of their time–that they approach the level of fine art.

Seen with a magnificent Sultanabad carpet, c. 1900, deeply upholstered English-style sofas and armchairs, and plain yet luxurious draperies, the contemporary objects such as architect Frank Gehry’s corrugated “Wiggle Chair” take on new resonance and context; just as an Ethiopian carved wood chair, c. 1900, seems mysteriously to fit with the undulating mahogany and brass cabinet by Tommi Parzinger, c. 1950, we chose for this project.

This residence fuses luxury with restraint, comfort with discipline, and fine art of the highest order with consummate works of decorative art. It represents a lively and inspired collaboration between clients and the designer in creating a new collection, and implanting its art and artifacts in a home as livable as it is stylish.

Surprising harmonies in rich reds, ebonies and honey tones are exemplified by the custom red wool area rug from Martin Patrick Evan; the Chinese camphor wood altar table from Shanxi Province, c. 1850; and textiles from Donghia and Gretchen Bellinger. An aquatint etching by Cubist artist Jacques Villon is posed on a cast iron artist’s easel.

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Comfort meets culture: above the custom sofa from Jonas Upholstery in Holly Hunt’s “Great Plains Paisley” are two prints by Brice Marden. The custom coffee table is topped in pale gray honed marble; the walls are in a Donald Kaufman paint; and antique Asian modern lamps are from Glenn Gissler Design’s inventory.

The 1947 painting, “Fugue,” by Abstract Expressionist James Brooks, rivets our attention. Poised on the custom coffee table is an ancient work of Pre-Columbian art, a Colima Carinate Vessel, between 300 B.C. and 300 A.D., from Douglas Dawson Gallery. (Second) A corner devoted to interesting early and mid 20th century design: the Vienna Secession side table by Gustav Siegel, c. 1905, accompanies a luxurious tufted custom daybed upholstered in Lee Jofa’s “Tahira Ottoman” fabric. The modernist floor lamp was designed in the 1950s by Austrian designer J.T. Kalmar.

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Picasso’s portrait of Dora Maar of 1939-42 hangs above an Ethiopian carved wooden chair, c. 1900, from Kimcherova. On the adjacent wall, above Austrian designer Tommi Parzinger’s mahogany and brass cabinet, c. 1950, hangs a print by contemporary abstract artist Terry Winters.

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A quartet of bold ink drawings by Al Held defines this space, where a comfortable banquette in a Holly Hunt Great Plains Fabric surrounds a custom table of solid walnut. The distinctive side chairs are by Ico Parisi, Italy c. 1947, from Leon Hamaekers. The milk glass chandelier with Edison bulbs is from Early Electrics.

"A day doesn't go by where I don't find myself thrilled to be in this apartment!"

– Client

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Comfort and earthiness define the Family Room, with two deep, boxy Jean-Michel Frank sofas upholstered by Jonas Upholstery. The rugged central light fixture–a new machine age artifact–was custom made by Daniel Berglund, its frame composed of industrial conveyor belt links. A boldly striped wool rug from Martin Patrick Evan grounds the ensemble.

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Two framed collages by Conrad Marca-Relli from Hollis Taggart Galleries invoke a neo-primitive element. A large Nassau coffee table from Williams-Sonoma invites piles of books. The room’s woody quality is accentuated by vintage or contemporary hand hewn wooden side tables, including the round Heliotrope table from Newman Studio.

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Soft neutrals create an inviting sense of repose. The king sized upholstered bed is by Baker, Knapp & Tubbs, the fabric by Pollack. Contemporary designer Lindsey Adelman’s chandelier is of oil-rubbed bronze with hand-blown glass globes; the unusual floor lamp is by French designer Rispal, 1955; and the bedside chrome and clear glass table lamps are from Saladino.

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A curvaceous Boudin armchair with ottoman, upholstered in Pollack fabric is perfect for reading, illuminated by the Rispal lamp. The sculptural Tetra table is from C.S. Post & Co. Custom flat roman shades in Sahco fabric and curtain panels in Pollack fabric were made by Boaz Sharoni Design. The carpet is from Paul H. Lee.

Senior Designer Craig Strulovitz
Photos by Gross & Daley

Kors Penthouse – Greenwich Village

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The Foyer is classic Kors, the tufted Florence Knoll daybed on steel frame and legs seeming to float against the genuine zebra rug from Global Leathers. The stainless steel and glass “MR Table” is by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, c. 1927, from Knoll.

GREENWICH VILLAGE – NYC

Kors Penthouse

Since 1987, Glenn Gissler has designed a series of luxuriously minimal apartments and showrooms for fashion designer Michael Kors. The interior design and landscaping of Kors’ most recent residence, which he shares with his husband Lance Le Pere, cover a 2200 square foot penthouse loft with a 1500 square foot terrace in Greenwich Village. The project represents Gissler’s definitive showcase for Kors’ streamlined aesthetic, now realized on a grand scale.

Kors’ taste and design imperatives over his long working relationship with our firm have remained a constant. Kors espouses a disciplined palette of white, black and gray; a vocabulary of materials consisting of polished chrome, stainless steel, marble and wood; a penchant for upholstery using Kors’ own grey flannel suiting fabric, black leather and white canvas.

This design repertoire is handsomely woven into the residence, now furnished with icons of mid century furniture design by Mies van der Rohe, Florence Knoll, George Nelson, Achille Castiglione and Warren Platner. Hundreds of books and silver-framed photographs of friends and family soften the stylish, slightly austere space, expressing ease as well as elegance. The penthouse epitomizes Kors’ hallmark of luxury without fuss.

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A vintage photo of cigarettes by photographer Irving Penn hangs above a simple black granite surround we designed. A 1960’s chrome floor lamp offers light over the Warren Platner chrome and glass side table and the Barcelona Chair and Stool by Mies van Der Rohe.

A spacious orchestration of mid-century classics marks the living room. At left, a suite of Florence Knoll furniture: the tufted sofa, a rectangular coffee table with satin chrome base, and chrome and clear glass side table. At right, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s famous Barcelona Chair and Stool, c. 1929 and Warren Platner’s silvery side table.

"We travel constantly and we live a hectic, fast paced life and needed our NYC apartment to feel like a calm luxurious and sleek retreat. Working with Glenn Gissler was a seamless way to find the balance between clean pragmatism and laid back luxe that we were looking for.”

– Michael Kors & Lance Lepere

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The classic mid-century Florence Knoll sofa and steel and glass tables, and marble column lamps sit in front of a wall of closed storage and open bookshelves with Kors’ collection of biographies, fashion and lifestyle books.

Kors preferred the sheen of the wood floors over any sort of floor covering that helps give the open plan apartment a loft-like feeling. The palate of the apartment is very consistent – grey flannel, black leather, chrome and white, wood Venetian blinds, and wood floors with classic modern furniture and lighting throughout.

"My apartment is clean, spare, and simple, but the pieces have presence and quality, which is the same approach I take to designing clothes."

– Michael Kors

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The polished plainness of this space is notable, as is Kors’ and his husband Lance Lepere’s avowed penchant for ordering in from New York’s finest restaurants. The sleek choice of furniture–the custom Wooster table from Desiron with marble top, coupled with quintessential ’70s Spoleto armless chairs from Knoll–sets a shipshape scene for dining.

We might, echoing Le Corbusier, call Kors’ kitchen a “machine for living,” so pure and unadorned are its lines and volumes, so stark it’s palette, all white except for the shining controls on its Viking 30″ range, and the polished stainless steel and woven black leather of the counter stools.

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Kors’ bathroom is a place of beauty, every inch sheathed in Stone Source’s Calacatta Vision marble, notable for the fine veins of grey in its pristine white surface. The sinks are a triumph of simplicity, the shape and concept ancient in inspiration: Kohler’s “Timpani” vessel sink in stainless steel.

Simplicity and purity abet pure luxury in the master bedroom. The custom king platform bed is in dark walnut with Parsons legs, accompanied at its foot by a three-seater stainless steel and leather bench from Knoll. A velvety custom area rug from Stark, bound in black canvas, creates softness underfoot.

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View looking at the wisteria-covered pergola above the built-in seating area.

Large custom dining table looking East to chaise lounge and oversized square umbrella.

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A modern Wisteria arbor creates a cool shaded place in the hot sun, and a romantic place to sit and gaze at the views south at night.

A bank of potted miniature Japanese maples contrast with a boxwood hedge, all overlooking a magnificent view of downtown Manhattan.

A bank of potted miniature Japanese maples contrast with a boxwood hedge, all overlooking a magnificent view of downtown Manhattan.

Senior Designer Craig Strulovitz
Photos by Gross & Daley

Modern Living – Upper West Side

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The Dining Area in this open loft-like penthouse apartment has views South over the Museum of Natural History with a broad and expansive view of mid-town Manhattan

UPPER WEST SIDE – NYC

Modern Living

Once one passes through the Foyer, this top floor light-filled apartment takes full advantage of the views south over the Museum of Natural history and a broad and expansive view of mid-town Manhattan.

We reconfigured this pre-war apartment with a more open layout for a cosmetic industry executive. This top floor apartment had a great bonus feature, more ceiling height! The original nine-foot ceiling was removed and the ceiling raised to almost eleven feet creating an enviable lofty experience.

One of our studio mantras is “Storage is a key to mental health!”; the opening up of this apartment did not sacrifice storage – to the contrary, the storage space increased substantially.  Aside from the Kitchen cabinets, there are more than thirty-five linear feet of closet space, a queen-sized Murphy bed, and a washer/drier closet!

In the public spaces, the apartment balances classic modern forms, calm neutrality, and comfort, with some visual excitement. The palette of materials and textiles in the public spaces is a range of grays with blues and some hots pops of red.

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The open loft-like apartment has a kitchen that is partially open to the Dining area allowing the southern light to fill the room during the day.

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Kitchen cabinets are in two different values of grey to add visual layering and to differentiate  between areas of the apartment.

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Living Room seating group with a pair of vintage Robsjohn-Gibbings arm chairs, built-in bookcases, and a striking photograph by Jeffrey Rothstein

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In the 21st century having a television is a common necessity, but finding a convenient and discreet location can be a challenge. The large built-in bookcase and the remarkable view balance the glossy black of the flat screen television, which is a perfect distance and height for viewing.

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The red elements in the artwork tie in with a clear visual line of sight to the red urn in the Living Room. A Lindsay Adelman light fixture marks the center of the room that corresponds to the center of the round area rug below.

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In the bedroom, the owner wanted a calm space with some glamour. The first purchase for this room was an antique Japanese textile with graphic curvilinear shapes on a mottled green field mounted in a gild frame that hangs over the bed. The 1920’s crystal Moser lamps from Czechoslovakia  sit upon custom oval bedside tables covered in an ivory linen. The textile inspired the use of complimentary lavender walls and rich purples, and other green accents.

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A vintage porcelain lamp  sits upon a custom wood bureau with linen-faced drawers. The striking Lucio Fontana work on paper from the 1970’s brings the rich color purple to this corner of the room seen from the bed.

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The Office is open to the Living Room such that there is a flood of light throughout the public rooms due to the unobstructed Southern light. The back wall are cabinets for office storage, out-of-season storage, guest storage and a Queen-sized Murphy bed. The chandelier (one of a pair) are from Schoolhouse Electric.

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Dark slate floors without a curb into the shower and a linear drain help to expand the sense of space in this small interior bath. Graphic marble subway tiles gives the room a lot of visual personality only surpassed by the porcelain enamel vanity cabinet in fire engine red!

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The dark slate floors are used in the Master Bathroom but with a softer veined marble walls and wainscot. An enormous full-height medicine cabinet gave this cosmetic industry executive plenty of room for her lotions and potions.

Senior Designer Craig Strulovitz
Photos by Gross & Daley

Reinvented Tradition – Park Avenue

Glenn Gissler - Sharpe Nyack - New York State

A vibrant canvas by the late American abstract impressionist painter John Opper takes pride of place in the apartment’s gracious living room. Two deep-seated sofas are upholstered in lush blue velvet, with a pair of club chairs covered in a Zak & Fox textile and two Regency-style benches covered in paprika-hued velvet. The curtains were tailored from a Cowtan & Tout floral fabric.

Upper East Side – Park Avenue

Reinvented Tradition

This expansive Carnegie Hill apartment, just steps from The Guggenheim Museum and Central Park, is owned by a couple who have called it their home for nearly four decades. They raised their two children here and have entertained a multitude of friends and family over time.

With the children grown and having moved on to create their own lives, this couple was ready to redecorate the public and private rooms. With a penchant for traditional design and an interest in having their home feel fresh again, they contacted Glenn Gissler Design.

In our initial meetings, my clients shared their appreciation for jewel tones, which informed our palette, as set against warm and cool neutrals that serve as a backdrop. And while virtually all the furniture and furnishings–new, vintage, and antique–were fresh acquisitions for this apartment, we chose pieces that echo our clients’ taste for classical aesthetics.

When the installation was complete, one of my client’s longtime friends came to visit, offering her the ultimate compliment: “It’s beautiful, and while everything is different, I see YOU in all of it!” Glenn Gissler Design considers it a compliment, too.

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In the living room, a custom basketweave pattern area rug carpet in shades of sandstone grounds the space with a subtle rhythmic geometry. In the foreground, a ceramic vessel by Pablo Picasso rests atop a Paul Frankl table from the 1930s. The cheerful brick-colored glazed ceramic lamp, one of a pair, is mid-20th century from France.

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Across the entry gallery, we placed an Aesthetic Movement console table, replete with Wedgewood cameos ringing the apron. The gilded Neoclassical mirror was part of the homeowner’s collection. A pair of mahogany side chairs flank the console, resting atop a custom carpet with a stylized double–helix border. The pale blue ceiling balances the warm tones perfectly.

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On one side of the entry gallery, a pair of lyrical metal sconces recall the work of Alberto Giacometti, bathing the space in an amber glow. Hanging between them is a minimalist work on paper by Ellsworth Kelly. The bench is a custom piece Glenn Gissler Design created for the room; it is covered in a Studio Four fabric and is detailed with brass sabots capping the legs. A small ball-and-stick Aesthetic Movement table from the late 19th century completes the tableau.

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A handsome console table and a pair of vintage chairs greet guests in the apartment’s elevator vestibule. The framed vintage black and white photographs of life in New York City in the late 1940s are by Arthur Leipzig are from the client’s collection.

Divers, East River, 1948
Chalk Games, 1950
Stickball, 1950.
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The dining room walls, and adjacent seating area, are upholstered in a cabbage rose-patterned fabric from Cowtan & Tout; the walls absorb noise and provide perfect acoustics for lively conversations. The wall pattern informed the color choices for the cabinet insets and the upholstered dining chairs, which are backed in a Venetian-inspired textile from Le Gracieux. The Regency-style dining table, which we restored, expands to accommodate larger parties.

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The curious, almost Aztec-like face on Pablo Picasso’s “Visage dans un carré” plate, 1956,  peers into the dining room from the center of the built-in cabinetry.

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Across from the dining room is an informal seating area with gracefully tailored upholstered pieces covered in textured neutrals. A built-in desk at the far end provides space for writing notes or answering emails. Sheer Roman shades diffuse the afternoon light.

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A charming home office was fashioned off one corner of the blue bedroom, stylishly defined from the larger space by a portiere curtain. The striped Roman shade, desk chair, and window seat are all made from Cowtan & Tout fabrics.

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A shade of barely-there blue paint wraps the perimeter of this peaceful bedroom. The photo by Mary Ellen Bartley sets a calming aesthetic. The undulating chandelier provides overhead light, while a pair of crackle-glazed lamps perched atop a pair of mahogany nightstands, illuminate for pre-slumber reading. The decorative pillows are covered in textiles from Kravet.

Senior Designer Craig Strulovitz
Photos by Gross & Daley

Waterfront Retreat – Maine

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The design of the house, both inside and out, recalls vintage summer houses on the Maine coastline. The spacious, yet cozy, Living Room takes full advantage of the view across the water towards Mount Desert Island dissolving the relationship between inside and out. offers a plethora of different seating and lounging options depending upon the time of day, the activity at hand, or the number of people that have gathered.

SORRENTO, MAINE

Waterfront Retreat

Shore House, as its owners call it, is a new house with deep roots in history, intimately connected to both to both time and place. Its architecture reflects the strong vernacular traditions of downtown east Maine but in a modern enough way that you know that it is of now, not then. Like so many of the best houses, it is a study in subtle contradictions, some yin and some yang. At once elegant but casual, buttoned-up but laid-back. Inside you’ll find family treasures mixed with auction house finds and up-to-date additions. Throughout, says interior designer Glenn Gissler, it shows the owners’ “appreciation for patina, quirkiness, and the willingness to tolerate less than perfection, giving the house a sophisticated and considered aesthetic with a ‘nothing precious’ vibe.”

It is a quiet retreat for two but near enough to extended family to be a gathering place for many. It is, as the owners spelled out, a house that is comparatively small but, as Gissler puts it, “lives spaciously.” Gissler, who is based in New York, had worked with the homeowners before; their home base is Boulder, Colorado, but they have a pied-à-terre in Manhattan that he designed. The architects–Kay Stevens Rosa and Augusto Rosa of Bar Harbor’s A4 Architects—had not previously worked with the couple but found that their goals and ideas for making the house were perfectly aligned.

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A vintage Thebes stool is set with a pair of modern wing chairs in rich raspberry cotton velvet that flank the fireplace used on cool summer evenings. The custom-made tile surround soft iridescence. When the nights are warm, the chairs have the best view looking south towards Mount Desert Island.

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The stairway features an American arts and crafts table, circa 1910, with a  number of vintage and antique items, with a flower arrangement gathered from the property. The print on the stair landing is from a local artist, 90-year-old artist Dan Miller.

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While much of the furniture in the house was already in the family, the farm table was custom made for the living room; the chairs are Yorkshire spindle-backs with rush seats from the late-eighteenth or early-nineteeth century.

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In the kitchen, vintage turned chairs with rush seats pull up to a center island topped with Vermont granite. Overhead is a new vintage-style Holophane light fixture. The cabinets, which were crafted locally, are hand painted in Farrow and Ball’s “Pelt.”

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Nearly every room in the house has views of the water with the Kitchen being no exception. The spacious eat-in Kitchen has stools and vintage chairs with rush seats, with the understated vernacular building methods including board & batten walls, and a wood-clad ceiling.

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Dreamy spot in all seasons with a  view to Mount Desert Island beyond

"Wow, Glenn and Craig, the interior lighting you have found for us is wonderful. We love the look of every piece, and as a whole. Great job, thanks very much."

– Client

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The design of the house connects it both to its setting and to the coastal traditions of downeast architecture.

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A circa-1910 American arts and crafts oak desk provides work space in the office, and an articulated oak armchair with wide drop-leaf arms (also American, circa 1910) offers a spot to relax and read. Sailing memorabilia, including a framed chart, serve to reinforce the house’s seaside location.

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The bedroom features a window seat as well as an antique hooked rug. The antique painted table was bought at auction. The jolly and stylish Lollipop chair by George Hunzinger is from the late-nineteeth century.

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In the owner’s suite has an understated country elegance, the steel four-poster bed and the Gustavian-style chests are paired with vintage cloisonné lamps.

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The flagstones for the terrace were found on the property which helps to literally ground the house. The double sliding doors make for a dissolution between outside and in, with a view to the sophisticated but livable decor inside.

Senior Designer Craig Strulovitz
Photos by Jonathan Reece