M
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B075
Boreum Hill
BROOKLYN, NY
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Like a bespoke
garment that
accentuates
every curve
Channeling the punctuated palette and lush textures of a 1910 Henri Rousseau painting
hanging in MoMA just a short walk away, a 47th-story Manhattan pied-à-terre flaunts its own collection of captivating art in an eclectic setting with enviable views.
The grand proportions and perhaps
intentoionally exhibitionist-scaled windows of
this six-story,new construction townhouse
provided an invitationto theater - and to
the curiosity of voyeuristic passersby.
![Copy of [CLAIRE-ESPARROS]_StudioMHLI_75ABond5728.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ec4a2_ec2ec312755848848cf579ad3dcdac32~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1372,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Copy%20of%20%5BCLAIRE-ESPARROS%5D_StudioMHLI_75ABond5728.jpg)
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Imagine Alice fell down that rabbit hole to find Tom of Finland and Salvador Dali as guests at the Mad Hatter's after-hours tea party amongst curious furniture and psychedelic works of art. Upending traditionally feminine associations of light purple, we swathed the apartment’s walls and ceilings its calibrated hues to cocoon the space in gauzy sensuality and amplify dynamic plays of light and shadow.
Amanda Church's swirling, technicolor oil painting pairs with a Roger Herman vessel in the dining nook, where a bouquet of candlesticks seemingly plucked from a Dr. Suess landscape perches on a custom terrazzo-topped table.
![[CLAIRE-ESPARROS]_StudioMHLI_75ABond5927.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ec4a2_d5a956ed241e4f058f3057332f5294da~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_700,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/%5BCLAIRE-ESPARROS%5D_StudioMHLI_75ABond5927.jpg)
The living room's hero, a channel-tufted purple velvet sectional, was designed to fit the room precisely. And above a madcap composition of lounge furnishings, a suggestively bulbous inverted domed wire net chandelier by Rick Tegelaar — the very first of its design shipped to the US — hangs from ice-rink slick high-gloss ceilings.
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I had absolutely no clue how to furnish my apartment or even lay it out. In a matter of seconds Marc brilliantly blocked the whole space and assembled precisely the right ingredients to turn my blank, awkward apartment into a true showpiece. I continue to be dazzled every time I open the front door.
The primary bedroom's illuminated headboard and inset wainscoting were matched to existing cherry-toned flooring to unify the perpendicular planes. Emerging from the wall as a zig-zagging desk and dresser system, it gently prompts movement through the space. An irreverent, MHLI-designed latex-upholstered platform bed houses a storage cabinet below for the client's massage table.
As a space-saving mechanism, razor-thin bronze fins wrap both corners as shelving and night tables.A wardrobe faced in ribbed bronze mirrored glass occupies a formerly unusable niche. For a crowning touch, and what has become an MHLI signature: color-matched powder coated aluminum valances to veil motorized blackout shades.
PROJECT DETAILS
• Invigorate apartment with moxie and color to mitigate sterile environment
• Elegantly resolve awkward layout and furniture locations
• Mazimize storage in the primary bedroom
• Create a comfortable work-from-home space
Interior Design
Tensions of hard and soft, sinuous and sharp, rational and psychedelic are explored in the bachelor pad of a publishing creative director. Inspired by the Surrealist masters and subversive 1950s homoerotic iconography, we drew from the vibrancy and spirited pattern captured in the client's wardrobe. Sensual materials of latex, faux fur, velvet, chain mail and gloss lacquer are executed with aplomb to transform this former white box into a cheeky wonderland.
This new construction corner unit came with high-end appliances, modern finishes, and windows on two elevations which visually connected opposite ends of the apartment. But an irregular layout made any standard furniture plan impossible, leaving our client to cobble together a temporary fix of mismatched dressers, lamps and miscellaneous furnishings. We devised a solution to capitalize on 'dead zones' using custom millwork to architecturally integrate living, working, and sleeping functions while providing ample storage opportunities.
Design: 8 weeks
Implementation & Construction: 15 months
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Houston, TX