KIPS BAY, NYC
ATTIC KITCHEN, UPPER EAST SIDE
Each year Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club charity creates an exhibition to transform a Manhattan home into a series of rooms that showcase fine furnishings, art and technology and a fresh take on contemporary living.
They offered a quirky location across the top attic floors, with low height, sloping ceilings and awkwardly located windows with spectacular views across the Upper East Side. The space was gangly and full of character, and it needed clear planning. Johnny’s idea was to use a mixture of freestanding and built-in furniture to absorb the effect of the awkwardly leaning walls unaligned windows. A simple but dramatically eye-catching island was crucial to Johnny’s approach to focus the eye on the centre of the space.
The eight-storey building’s elevator stopped two floors below the attic and by the time visitors arrived most were tired out. Therefore we invited them to sit down at our banquette with a good sized table and an old-fashioned settee. To play up the garret-like atmosphere we furnished the attic with Persian rugs, plants, toys and books.
We created a relaxed and friendly kitchen also by using plenty of fine wood finishes, for example American Cherry. Other decorative features are patterns of casual swirls on faceted glass, inlay inspired by the chequered strips on New York taxicabs, curvaceous cabriole legs to keeping the underneath parts of the island open, spider-inspired table legs and wiry cupboard bars made by the artisan blacksmith, Paul Jobst.
The kitchen was sponsored by Jenn-Air and made by workshops in the UK. The styling accessories were supplied by Ad Hoc Softwares in SoHo.
