As a global melting pot, New York City is known for its diversity in culture, food, and shopping. As the city’s many interior designers know, this means that at the myriad home decor shops, galleries, and showrooms across the boroughs, there is plenty of opportunity for exploration and discovery. AD PRO asked some locals to share their coveted spots. From hidden gems for vintage pieces in Brooklyn to top-notch galleries in Manhattan, these recommendations will inspire plenty of in-person or virtual browsing.
“
The place to find unique and one-off pieces, including beautiful patinated leather satchels and delicate and lovely glassware. It’s one of my top spots for client shopping! Owner Thomas O’Brien has excellent relationships with smaller brands that truly deliver high style.” Joy Moyler
Leyden Lewis packs happiness into his bijou Brooklyn apartment
The interior designer and Black Artists + Designers Guild member knows how to prioritise the important things – art, passion and people David A. Land
At just 17, Leyden Lewis had already decided that he wanted to transform people’s homes. Still in school, studying illustration, he got a part-time job as an assistant at an interior decorator’s studio to pick up some extra cash. ‘When I walked into those homes, at that early age, I had no idea that people lived with museum-quality pieces of art,’ he recalls.
He was used to being surrounded by his father’s paintings, but this was something else entirely. The possibilities were exciting, and it was, he says, ‘a total buy-in moment’.
Creative Voices: Honoring Black History Month
February 1, 2021
In honor of Black History Month, the
Interior Design team is spotlighting the narratives, works, and craft traditions of Black architects, designers, and creatives. See our full coverage here, including interviews with industry innovators.
The Orejen collection by the Black Artists + Designers Guild for textile manufacturer S. Harris is exactly as its name (phonetically) suggests a deep dive into the landscapes, heritage, and craft traditions of the cultures referenced by each fabric, wallcovering, and trimming.
In the wake of the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, SmithGroup principal Dayton Schroeter and associate Julian Arrington wanted to help Americans understand that the killings weren’t isolated events, but part of a 400-year history of systemic racism. The designers conceived of a public installation called Society s Cage, temporarily erected on the National Mall last summer.
How Home Design Kept Me Sane in Lockdown This Year
While finding solace in design projects, one writer remembers just how lucky she is to feel safe at all.
By Gabriella Fuller Illustration: Angie Wang
The day after New York City shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I watched people fight over the last roll of toilet paper at a deli, and a guy I met on a dating app offered me his only bottle of hand sanitizer. After that, I didn’t leave the house. Our homes became our refuges and our panic rooms. Designing my own escape within became a priority: I repainted my closets; I covered my kitchen in white laminate; I reupholstered my sofa in a thick sunflower-colored cotton that my grandmother left behind when she moved to Florida, where she was now in a nursing home no one was allowed to enter. I sewed pillows in chartreuse velvet and painted large abstract canvases in jewel tones. I waited for seven o’clock, when the city came alive for a few minutes to cheer frontline