Feeling a bit like Marco Polo, I joined in the DLS’s full day tour of the studios of ‘Brooklyn Makers’ organized by Wanted Design founders Claire Pijoulat & Odile Hainaut.
While I had to keep checking a map to see where exactly we were, it was rewarding to meet and experience members of the rich creative community that’s developed in Brooklyn in recent years. Here are some of the craftsmen I found most interesting…
Recently a friend from California made the comment “Brooklyn is the hippest place on earth.”
And I thought, I live in Brooklyn. Well, actually Brooklyn Heights.
But the truth is Brooklyn is enormous, and has countless distinct neighborhoods including a multitude of ethnic groups – and the entire range of the socioeconomic spectrum – as well as pockets of unique and creative enterprises.
And while my neighborhood is very beautiful, it most certainly is not hip.
Now I admit I am older than 22; I have not grown the ubiquitous Brooklyn beard; and while I have seen and done some very cool things in Brooklyn, I cannot say I am on the pulse of all things Brooklyn.
I was looking forward to Day 2 of the Design Leadership Summit 2014 at Industry City in Brooklyn – wherever that turned out to be….
The 2014 Design Leadership Summit started off with requisite cocktails and raconteur Fran Lebowitz in a conversation with Deborah Needleman – Editor-in-Chief of ‘T’, the New York Times Style Magazine. Lebowitz, as anticipated, was in full ‘Fran Lebowitz mode’ opining about the state of New York City “post–Bloomberg” and reminiscing, or rather bemoaning, the things about ‘old New York’ that have disappeared…
Textile presentations are often given by ‘outside sales reps’; they can be useful, informative and fun. However when the person who designed and developed the textiles makes the presentation it is an entirely different experience.
ENTER – Gretchen Bellinger!
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This Master Bathroom in a pre-war apartment building on the Upper East Side was designed with an old-school sensibility.
By removing the bathtub to install an oversized stall shower with a vintage-styled shower door in matte nickel, the room feels much larger and lighter, and reflects the ‘take a quick shower’ lifestyle of the owner.
The custom vanity we designed has a stone top with built-up edge in ‘Perlino Bianco’ from Stone Source.
Both the ‘Astoria’ faucet set with lever handles and the ‘Opus’ wall sconce in matte nickel are both from Waterworks.
By using the same tiles in the shower and on the floor one experiences the entire footprint of the room – making it feel more spacious. The tiles are marble mosaics from Sicis with a field of ‘Verde Luna’, with ‘Bianco Antico’ used for border tiles.
The shower wall tiles are ‘Lanka’ subway tiles from Nemo Tile.
Wall and ceiling paint from Benjamin Moore – Historical Color Collection ‘Clarksville Gray’.
