Add Some Dramatic Furniture Into Your Home
New York design studio Apparatus debuts an imaginative collection.
New York design studio Apparatus debuts an imaginative collection.
Even as a startup, the Manhattan-based design studio Apparatus cultivated a very specific mood in its Chelsea gallery. Flowers, incense, a meandering circuit of rooms that wove in and out of dimly lit factory spaces, a killer sound system: They cued a certain sensuality and shopping-as–cocktail party atmosphere, stoking a desire for the company’s adventurous collections of furniture, lighting and objects.
The enforced solitude of the past 18 months pressed pause on the party—though not on sales, which have boomed. During that time, Apparatus has delved deeper into its creative sourcebook to design its biggest collection to date, nearly a decade after the studio first opened. Gabriel Hendifar, artistic director and co-founder, calls the 40-piece offering Act IV. Launching in October, it lives up to its theatrical billing in ways that past Apparatus collections only hinted at.
Hendifar’s visual interests have always been sweeping, from Wiener Werkstätte textiles to Persian marquetry. For Act IV, he drew on the optimism of mid-century modernism and the ethereal, attenuated lines of Near Eastern craft. Among the standout pieces are chairs with skinny upholstered backs; globe lights suspended in suede harnesses, like trapeze artists; and geometric carpets with brass “seams.”
Though Hendifar hadn’t tried his hand at designing seating or carpets before, he pushed himself to take on both. “Making anything, I think, tells you about making everything else,” says the L.A.-born Hendifar, 40, a former fashion designer. “Ultimately it’s about, What does this thing make me feel? I mean, both literally, How does it feel? And then, What does it make you feel emotionally? For me, those are the two guiding questions.”
A few months ago, Apparatus rented a Brooklyn soundstage and mounted a full-blown performance of Act IV, the collection. Films and images were produced to live online, with costumes courtesy of American couturier Ralph Rucci, a supporting cast of pieces from Naga Antiques and a star turn by model Debra Shaw. Participating in spirit, though not in person, was Apparatus co-founder Jeremy Anderson, who has left the day-to-day business to focus full time on his ceramic practice.
Like the rest of Apparatus’s offerings, Act IV is being produced globally and finished in its New York studio, which expanded this past summer to a 45,000-square-foot site in Red Hook, Brooklyn. And in the Chelsea gallery, a refresh is underway—one that might someday soon give Act IV a proper opening night. All Apparatus Act IV items: prices upon request, apparatusstudio.com.
Reprinted by permission of WSJ. Magazine. Copyright 2021 Dow Jones & Company. Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Original date of publication: September 29, 2021
This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan
Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.
After more than a year, prices have finally levelled out in prime central London, while outer London saw a small uptick in high-end prices from the previous quarter
The first quarter of the year brought some long-awaited signs of recovery in London’s luxury housing market, offering the first positive quarterly price growth since September 2022, according to a report from Savills on Wednesday.
After six consecutive quarterly price falls, luxury home prices in central London levelled out in the first three months of the year, with a 0.1% quarterly uptick in prices. The £3 million to £5 million (US$3.79 million to US$6.32 million) market saw a slightly larger increase of 0.3%.
Outer London’s luxury market saw greater quarterly price growth, with home prices up 0.8%, as some stability returned to mortgage costs and lured more buyers back to the market, according to the report.
All of this is evidence that the market is “in early stages of recovery,” according to Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills.
“The outlook for the housing market has certainly improved, partly because the mortgage market has recovered more quickly than expected,” Cook said in the report. “With the first rate cut rapidly coming into view and recessionary risks easing, greater stability has returned to the cost of mortgage debt, which has positively impacted domestic prime markets, where many buyers rely on borrowing, most notably in leafy outer prime South and West London, as well as the commuter belt.”
Outside of London, prices across the U.K. saw no quarterly growth heading into the beginning of the spring market, which is expected to bring higher levels of buyer activity in many regions.
Suburban regions saw prices dip just 0.1%, while urban areas—like Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and Bath and Oxford in England—saw prices increase by 0.6%.
Cook said regional buyers are more likely to be concerned about market uncertainty than London buyers in the lead up to the general election.
“As a result, buyers are still expected to be less committed until the dust has settled,” he said.
Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.
This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan