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New York Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
A Moody, Gothic Writer's Home on Long Island
COASTAL STYLE HASN'T always been synonymous with whitewashed, sun-soaked spaces. In fact — as Stephen Alesch and Robin Standefer, the husband-and-wife design team known as Roman and Williams, learned a decade ago while working on Nantucket's circa 1850s Greydon House hotel — shadowy interiors were the norm along America's Northeastern shore until the mid-20th century. 'It wasn't like, 'How can there be more glass?'' says Alesch. 'You wanted to protect the interiors and the fabrics.' Alesch, 59, and Standefer, 61, who started their careers as production designers in the 1990s and have since imagined everything from celebrity homes to hotels and their own restaurant and store, La Mercerie, in SoHo, were entranced by that dark and moody seaside aesthetic. And so in 2019, when they were hired to make over a Hamptons retreat for a pair of writer-directors, they decided to go dark. From the outside, the home is a classic Cape Cod, complete with cedar shingles, fluffy bushes of panicle hydrangea and a white picket fence. Inside, however, it's dominated by a palette of almost-black aubergine, stormy blue and deep teal green and furnished with Turkish carpets, English antiques and copious woodwork. 'It's Beach Gothic,' says Alesch. 'It breaks right through that classic blue-and-white thing.' Built in 1885 as a three-bedroom cottage, the 2,000-square-foot house was stripped down to its studs after Alesch and Standefer discovered extensive wood rot beneath a 1990s renovation. With nothing left of the original interior, the pair were free to recast it as a generous one-bedroom informed by vintage steamships and the Carpenter Gothic movement, an Americanized blend of Gothic Revival and vernacular styles that emerged in the mid-19th century. It was about rural construction: 'a carpenter, a stack of wood and whatever gutsy, beautiful details they could make out of it,' says Standefer. Embracing that idea, Alesch covered almost every wall and ceiling with custom tongue-and-groove beadboard and added flattened arches to the doorways, creating the sense of being inside an antique ocean liner. That nautical feel is underscored by the high-sheen finish on the walls and ceilings, which are painted in bespoke shades produced with Farrow & Ball and Fine Paints of Europe. 'We talked a lot about noncolors — those weird shades that are only found in nature,' says Standefer, who took inspiration from the flora of the surrounding property, a 1.5-acre lot with raised vegetable beds and cutting gardens surrounded by fields of Queen Anne's lace and grasses. The entryway to the house is lacquered a smoky algae green and is defined by a central staircase with a deep purple lacquered banister and square finials carved by Alesch in a manner 'typical of shingle-style homes in Massachusetts,' he says. To the right, a 225-square-foot media room clad in walnut-stained wood features a fireplace lined with glossy hand-cut tiles in variegated hues of sage and evergreen by the Connecticut-based manufacturer Bantam Tileworks; a Roman and Williams custom-designed ottoman upholstered in a 1920s Turkish Oushak rug; and a custom roll-arm sofa covered in flame-stitch velvet from Watts 1874, a 150-year-old British maker of textiles, wallpaper and clergy vestments. Behind the media room is a 390-square-foot living-dining area painted a menacing teal inspired by the North Atlantic during a nor'easter. It's centered on a small, Georgian-style mahogany dining table and bookended by two intricate built-ins designed by Alesch: on one side, a window seat upholstered in gold velvet from Pierre Frey with antique embroidered lumbar pillows from Pakistan's Swat Valley; on the other, a paneled reading area with custom shelving. Between them stands a floor-to-ceiling dishware cabinet that Alesch and Standefer designed specifically to display a rare 70-piece set of Herend china, hand-painted with orange-red flowers, that Standefer purchased at auction. They chose the china first and then the color for the room, much as museums choose wall colors to set off objects in an exhibition. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
24-04-2025
- New York Times
A Paris Hotel With Rooftop Views and a Rock-Climbing Wall
In Paris, a Hotel That Mixes Past and Present Paris's 17th Arrondissement, near the city's northwestern limits, is mostly residential, so it's not typically front of mind for visitors to the French capital. But the opening of La Fondation, a 58-room hotel with interiors by the New York-based design firm Roman and Williams, might shift that mind-set. It's part of a new 10-story complex that also includes an office space with rooftop gardens, a gym — which features a rock-climbing wall, 80-foot-long pool and multiple fitness rooms — and a spa with saunas, a hammam and treatment rooms. Hotel guests get access to all of this, along with two French restaurants — a classic bistro and a fine-dining option, both helmed by the local chef Thomas Rossi — and a rooftop bar that offers sweeping views spanning from the Sacre Coeur to the Eiffel Tower. For the hotel décor, Roman and Williams referenced the city's late Modernist period: rooms feature color-blocked walls bordered by oak frames — a nod to Yves Saint Laurent's 1965 Mondrian dress. In the common areas, large-scale commissions such as a wooden wall sculpture by the Croatian artisan Vedran Jakšić or the painted ceramic tiles by French artist Pierre Yves Canard, merge with the architecture. 'There's a constant interplay between refinement and rawness, fashion and function, Paris then and now,' says Robin Standefer, a co-founder of Roman and Williams. La Fondation opens April 28; from $440 a night, A Pocket-Size Guide to Modernist Buildings Around the World The Prague-based design historian and photographer Adam Štěch had an early fascination with marine biology. 'My role model was [the French oceanographer] Jacques Cousteau,' he says. 'I wanted to be an explorer.' Štěch, who later developed a keen interest in architecture, has visited nearly 50 countries, documenting notable 20th-century buildings and forgotten ones too. As a result, he often fields inquiries from friends bound for Honolulu or Paris or Mexico City. 'What should I see?' goes the familiar refrain. 'Tell me some hidden Modernist gems.' Now — thanks to the online magazine and first-time book publisher Sight Unseen, with support from the Swiss company USM Modular Furniture — these answers arrive in pocket-size book form. 'Modernist Travel Guide' is a tour of 30 international cities, each with a dozen or so highlights. Some, like the psychedelic Pannenhuis Metro Station in Brussels or Arne Jacobsen's canopied gas station outside Copenhagen, are open to the public. Others, like the Berlin example of Le Corbusier's colorful Unité d'Habitation buildings, can only be admired from the street. The book's breadth — a Madrid optics institute, a Los Angeles deli, a little-known London storefront designed by the Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius — prompts an offbeat scavenger hunt, wherever you might wind up. 'Modernist Travel Guide' will be available May 8; $38, In New York's Chelsea, an Exhibition and a Restaurant Dedicated to the Painter Teruko Yokoi The Japanese Swiss artist Teruko Yokoi lived and worked in New York's Hotel Chelsea for three productive years until she moved out in 1961. She never returned, says her daughter, Kayo, who has managed her estate since her death in 2020. But next month, the abstract painter and collage artist will have a homecoming of sorts with the opening of a Japanese restaurant named after her and an exhibition at the nearby Hollis Taggart gallery. The restaurant, in the hotel's cellar, will serve simple Japanese dishes (plated on the chef Tadashi Ono's own ceramics) across a 12-seat sushi bar and dining room, with a cocktail area specializing in Japanese whiskies. Guests can access it from inside the lobby or, through an exterior staircase tucked between the hotel's main entrance and a longstanding guitar shop that leads into a small, subterranean garden passageway. Nine of Yokoi's paintings from throughout her career will be on display and, a few blocks over, 25 others will comprise a gallery survey co-curated by her grandson, Tai, who also oversees her estate. Titled 'Noh Theater,' it draws parallels between that traditional form of Japanese performance and the artist's work. Both often employ tea paper (the former for its programs) and are characterized by 'slow, deliberate and symbolic movements,' as Tai writes in an accompanying essay. Kayo says her mother had a history of showing her work beyond galleries: After relocating her family to Switzerland following the dissolution of her marriage to the painter Sam Francis, Yokoi exhibited her work in public spaces like restaurants and hospitals. 'She wanted to bring beauty and create a refuge from this tumultuous world,' Kayo says. 'I think she would be very happy about this.' The restaurant Teruko will open in mid-May; 'Noh Theater' is on view from May 1 through Jun. 14, A Restored 10th-Century Monastery in Spain, Now Open as a Vacation Villa In 2006, the Spanish food industrialist Juan Manuel González Serna happened upon a dilapidated 10th-century monastery near the Castilian village of Baltanás. He stopped to marvel at the stone ruins and the densely wooded hills. On his way home, González Serna called his wife, Lucia. 'He said he had fallen in love with the place,' she recalls. The couple purchased the land and began a 13-year restoration of the Monasterio de San Pelayo. Since 2019, the 15-bedroom home has been the couple's private residence but, as of this year, it's open to the public as an exclusive-use villa. The Spanish architect Rafael Manzano, who specializes in the renovation of historic places like Seville's Royal Alcázar, worked with archaeologists to peel back the site's 1,200 years of history, uncovering Romanesque walls, the remnants of a Medieval cloister, a hammam and hundreds of burial crypts. That layered history inspired the design of 60,277 square feet of added living and dining space, where 17th-century Dutch tapestries, antique Cuenca carpets and wood-paneled ceilings add warmth to the otherwise monastic setting. Collaborating with Madrid's Prado Museum, the owners restored several works of art from their private collection, including a 13th-century sculpture of Jesus and a painting from the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens. Horseback riding, hunting, flower workshops and asados can be organized on the nearly 5,000-acre estate, which is fed by a network of springs and covered with holm oak forests, truffle fields and wild rose, thyme and lavender. While the vineyards of Ribera del Duero are less than 10 miles away, the property can organize private tastings on-site. From $6,370 a night, A Photo Book That Captures the Plant Life and Military Presence in Okinawa, Japan The French artist Victoire Thierrée's first photo book begins with an eerie exclamation: The title — 'Okinawa!!' — shouts across the publication's glossy acid green cover. In name and in subject, it's a contemporary echo of the renowned Japanese photographer Shomei Tomatsu's work 'Okinawa Okinawa Okinawa' (1969), the first record of the American military base culture on the island. Thierrée, who is also a sculptor and filmmaker, presents her own photographic study of the lush landscape, still marked by signs of the 32 U.S. military facilities operating on Okinawa today. Barbed-wire fences and distant communication towers emerge from the vegetation, while helicopters whir in pairs overhead. 'The island is in the middle of paradise, but can transform into hell very quickly,' says Thierrée, who used vertical black-and-white compositions and harsh midday sunlight to subvert the natural technicolor beauty of the setting. Alongside these unconventional panoramas are minimalist, close-up studies of pressed plants: tangled nests of vines, overlapping ferns and other specimens collected from the Ryukyu Islands in 1951, six years after the devastating Battle of Okinawa. Of the thousands of botanical entries that make up the complete herbarium (housed in the Smithsonian Institution Archives), Thierrée says she was drawn to certain samples because they originally took root in proximity to violence. 'These plants either saw the war or they grew directly on the battlefields,' the artist explains. Reproduced in outsize scale in her photo book — and at a concurrent solo show at the Collection Lambert museum in Avignon, France — the natural world becomes disorientingly entangled with military technology. From one page to the next, a flattened leaf can be as arresting as the blurred silhouette of a fighter jet. About $50, The exhibition 'Okinawa!!' is on view at the Collection Lambert in Avignon from April 19 through June 15. Dishes Decorated With Henri Matisse Pieces When Alex Matisse founded the pottery company East Fork in Asheville, N.C., in 2009, he didn't want his famous last name to overshadow his passion for clay. 'My focus has mostly been to escape the family name and build something that stands out on its own,' he says. Since then, East Fork has become known for its ceramic dishes in earthy colors. Now the 40-year-old-potter has decided the time is right to pay homage to his great-grandfather Henri Matisse with a collection of plates, platters and mugs adorned with some of the artist's most recognizable motifs. A quartet of female portraits from the 1940s decorate dessert plates; a 1951 drawing of a tree spreads over a larger platter. A suite of blue nudes from 1952 are distributed on dinner plates in Matisse's iconic dense blue hue. The main challenge, Matisse says, was perfecting the decal process to capture the artist's signature azure tone and subtle strokes. East Fork ultimately partnered with a French supplier responsible for printing Hermès's tableware, and the Asheville team mixed a new tone of blue called La Sirène, which Matisse considers a nod to his ancestor's recognizable hue. The Matisse Collection will be available for preorder on April 25; from $68 for a mug,
Forbes
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Easter In New York City: Last Minute Reservations
Spit-roasted lamb will be served at Estiatorio Milos for Greek Easter Forget to book Easter plans? Don't fret! Plenty of top restaurants still have space on Easter Sunday, April 20 for luxurious brunches, family feasts and more – no need to commit to a prix-fixe, there are plenty of excellent ala carte options at restaurants still offering reservations. Here's where to snag a spot this Easter in New York City. Head to france by way of Soho for Easter at the beloved French from acclaimed design studio Roman and Williams. Chef Partner Marie Aude-Rose is offering three specials for the holiday: a white asparagus salad with smoked cream, bottarga, clementine, and fresh herbs; duck and foie gras with puff pastry, duck jus, mustard and arugula salad; and a rhubarb sorbet with pink pepper French meringue, and elderflower whipped cream. Fresh flowers from Flora Field Studios will adorn every table for extra festive flare. Greek Easter is also this weekend, and both of Milos' Manhattna locations are celebrating. Milos Midtown will be open post-midnight Mass, on the evening of Saturday, April 19th, for a special dinner served until 2 a.m. A live band will play while guests enjoy a set menu ($150 per person) of traditional Easter dishes such as Magiritsa Soup; spring lamb with roasted potatoes; traditional Easter salad; and koulourakia with tsoureki and red egg. Ahead of the feast, the lamb will roast on a sidewalk spit starting at 4:30 p.m. Milos Midtown and Milos Hudson Yards will be open for Sunday Brunch, with ala carte menus and Easter specials. Join in the Italian tradition of celebrating family, friends, and the changing seasons through food in Nolita. Il Buco's $95 Easter prix fixe menu includes three courses with various options. To start, guests can choose from kingfish ceviche, an escarole heart salad, Tuscan black kale, huevos al horno, and frittata al funghi. For the main course, il Buco is offering a grilled filet of wild Long Island seabream, cast iron seared Rohan duck breast, and two house-made pastas: ravioli with fresh ricotta and wild ramp pesto, and campanelle with Hudson Valley lamb sausage. To finish,enjoy the chef's selection of Easter desserts. Get cool and casual this easter Williamsburg's beloved diner recently re-envisioned by Executive Chef Jackie Carnesi. From 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Easter Sunday, Kellogg's will be offering a number of holiday dishes, in addition to its diner classics. Specials will include braised lamb with pistachio mint salsa and buttery peas, cherry cola glazed ham with red pepper jelly and arugula salad, fried goat cheese and arugula salad, carrot cake, and mini strawberry rhubarb pies. Celebrate Easter with an à la carte menu featuring seasonal delights and exclusive holiday specials from Executive Chef Romain Paumier and Executive Pastry Chef Katalina Diaz Brunch specials include a black truffle croque monsieur, and French toast in addition to Foie Gras rhubarbe, and much more. Dig into seafood this Easter at Flex Mussels on the Upper East Side. In addition to the regular menu, Flex will serve a special burrata with wild arugula, Sicilian olives, croutons, and lemon vinaigrette. Another Easter special at flex, hyper-seasonal crispy soft shell crab served with celeriac slaw and dill remoulade.
Wall Street Journal
07-02-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Celebrities and Design Nuts Love This Luxury Store in Manhattan. You Can Shop It From Anywhere.
The New York City design firm Roman and Williams had a global portfolio of homes, hotels and restaurants under its belt when it opened its SoHo shop in 2017. Custom pieces always shaped its interiors, from the glamorous Boom Boom Room lounge atop the city's Standard Hotel to residences for the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow. The shop, Roman and Williams Guild, extended its wares' reach beyond its elite clientele. Design nuts soon converged on it. Guided less by one style than a love of craft, history and nature, the Roman and Williams team uses a modern eye to nudge traditional forms into the here and now, explains Robin Standefer, who with husband Stephen Alesch founded the studio. 'None of the pieces speak too loudly,' said Standefer of their own designs as well as those on offer from artisans around the world.
