Step Inside

I started my furniture redesign business in October of 2020 from my spare bedroom in Crown Heights. It didn’t take long before my house was crammed with old and newly refinished furniture. It was a revolving door. One day there’d be two sofas in the living room, the next day eight dining room chairs. After reading Danny Meyer’s book, Setting the Table, on vacation last August I knew it was time to take the next step in growing my business, finding a studio space!

I looked in Gowanus, Industry City, and in Bushwick. Gowanus was appealing because it’s a hub for creatives. Industry City was all newly refinished and has a lot of amenities but it felt a bit secluded. Bushwick wasn’t convenient for me. Any way, there wasn’t a space in any of those neighborhoods that was screaming for me to rent it. While scrolling through Instagram I found a garage across from where the old Brooklyn Flea used to be on Vanderbilt Avenue in Fort Greene. The last tenant used it to park two cars. I knew I could transform the space, though, and catch the attention of passersby by leaving the garage door open.

The idea is to create an experience for customers and designers who come to shop here. The garage had four double sets of low hung fluorescent lights and a garage door light with a motion sensor. I disconnected the motion detector and sourced an oversized 19th century copper French chandelier from Lumber+Salt. My fabric library is housed in two vintage metal shelving units outfitted with 15 individual hanging baskets on each side. The center studio table belonged to my eccentric grandmother–it’s a bronze sculptural French brass dining table featuring a pair of enormous ram’s heads, attributed to Alain Chervet.

I’m trying to fill the space with as much unique work as I can get my hands on. Notice the colorful paintings by Verona Penalba, a Greenport-based artist whose work I’ve been collecting for the last couple of years. The large spider perched in the corner is on loan from House SFW, recently named by House Beautiful as one of the best home good stores in the country. Everything is for sale.