The commanding Anish Kapoor sculpture inside the living room of this Tribeca apartment is more than decorative. Carved from alabaster in a spherical shape, the striking artwork also signals to visitors of this nearly 3,900-square-foot home the integral role that contemporary art played in shaping its interior design. “Everything revolved around the art,” says Brittany Giannone, owner and principal at ABD Studio. “The collection informs the interior design, but we didn’t want it to overwhelm it.”
The San Francisco–based interior design firm collaborated with New York architectural studio Frances Mildred on a project where a diverse roster of artworks dot virtually every corner of the sun-filled space. Dan Flavin, Helen Frankenthaler, Donald Judd, and other art world heavyweights create an understated elegance in a spacious plan with a penchant for midcentury design. The result is a tactile and sophisticated residence that successfully balances fine art and design in a space blessed with spectacular New York City views.
A large abstract painting, Traveling, by the LA-based artist Mary Weatherford, hovers above a vintage Josef Frank table in the dining room. It’s surrounded on one side by Joaquim Tenreiro chairs in jacaranda rosewood and a bench with Anni fabric in a camel color on the other. The hall to the primary suite, meanwhile, includes a fluorescent-light sculpture by the American minimalist Dan Flavin that glows across the wall. The sleek and commanding artwork shares the narrow space with a vintage Serab runner rug from Iran and a vintage Italian lounge chair upholstered in an Etro textile.
While one end of the living room houses the Anish Kapoor sculpture Disc 2010, the other is anchored by Wishbone, an enthralling 11-foot-tall redwood sculpture by artist JB Blunk. A wall of casement windows frames one side of the arched artwork as it peers down on an upholstered chair and a walnut wood desk. A custom lamp made from a vintage African ceramic with a silk custom lampshade sits atop the desk.
“The artwork set the tone from the beginning and Brittany understood how to balance that with the furnishings,” says the home’s owner, a longtime arts patron and philanthropist. She and her husband live full-time on the West Coast and are repeat clients of ABD Studio, having worked together on four prior projects. “We never wanted the art to overpower the interiors, but that’s a real challenge with some of the larger pieces in this collection,” she adds.
