The 2015 NYC&G Innovation in Design Awards Winners: Interior Design
WINNER: Glenn Gissler Design
There is artwork to behold at every turn in this 11-room apartment in a prewar Upper East Side building. The clients, collectors of mostly 20th-century American art, furniture, and decorative objects, as well as French 1940s neoclassical treasures, wanted Glenn Gissler to accommodate their collection while creating livable interiors. Gissler carefully positioned furniture and artwork throughout, devising a layout redolent with a careful mix of eras and textures. Judge Alan Tanksley says it in one word: “Love!”
RUNNER-UP: Marcia Tucker Interiors
Most college students studying fashion live in cinderblock dorm rooms. But Marcia Tucker’s client, an international student, wanted her downtown one-bedroom to function as a calm oasis that would serve her creativity. The designer chose a black-and-white palette, accented by warm wood hues, and custom-designed built-ins to solve the client’s storage needs. Surprising details include a wall-mounted headboard composed of squares of black leather and an office-area wall clad in reclaimed barn wood. “Spacious, proportionate, perfect,” says judge Tara Seawright.
FINALIST: Dale Cohen Design Studio
Designer Dale Cohen insists she was not “looking to re-create a period interior” for her client, a middle-aged gentleman living in an apartment in a historic Emery Roth building. In the library, Cohen preserved the original cabinetry, but updated it by adding a “French polish” to the wood and carrying the paneling onto the walls, while the whole of the apartment is lit with new and vintage lighting fixtures. The finished result has a “beautiful flow,” remarks Tara Seawright, while judge Shawn Henderson acknowledges its “nice design layers.”
FINALIST: Haver & Skolnick, Architects
The owners of this 11-room Central Park West duplex wanted their apartment to be a contemporary setting for their collection of modern paintings and glass. Neutral cream-colored walls serve as a backdrop to a carefully curated selection of modern furnishings that both complement and contrast with the elaborate architectural detailing of the 1907 Beaux Arts building. “A clean, cohesive project, with nice details,” states Tara Seawright.
FINALIST: Lori Margolis Interiors
“Glam” is how judge Alan Tanksley responds to Lori Margolis’s design for a large Park Avenue apartment, while Shawn Henderson cites the “very pretty elements” used throughout. Circular brass coffee tables and mirrors, vintage Italian 1950s hanging pendants, and a sweeping custom daybed in the living room make for a restrained panache.
A version of this article appeared in the October 2015 issue of New York Cottages & Gardens with the headline: 2015 NYC&G Innovation in Design Awards Winners: Interior Design.
