5 minute read
MY SPACE | COLIN KING
New York-based interior stylist Colin King takes est through his live-work space in Manhattan's Tribeca neighbourhood, sharing anecdotes from the design process, learnings from his career so far, and the importance of arranging things.
LOCATION | New York City, North America DESIGN AND STYLING | Colin King PHOTOGRAPHY | Rich Stapleton WORDS | Holly Beadle
Colin describes his apartment as “a picture of old New York”, with the elevator opening right into the front entrance. To the left as you walk in is his bedroom – the glass doors, he says, means he gets to wake up with the light. Straight ahead is the open-plan kitchen, dining and living space.
Your home is located in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighbourhood, in a former pre-war factory building. What do you love most about where you live?
I didn’t really have Tribeca on my mind when I was looking for a live-work space, it kind of just found me. I’ve always been really attracted to loft-style apartments – how ‘old New York’ they are – of which Tribeca had many. What I’ve found while living here is the sense of openness; everything isn’t stacked up like you’ll find in other parts of the city, and the buildings aren’t quite as tall.
Could you describe your first encounter with the apartment?
When I first laid eyes on the space, there was soot and dust everywhere, the floors were covered in this dark, over-varnished wood and drab curtains clung to all the windows. My first reaction was “absolutely not” – I wasn’t after a ‘fixer-upper’ job. A month later, this place was still on the market so I decided to go back, this time challenging myself to see it through a different lens. I ended up seeing it more for what it could be and less for what it was, which pushed me to take the leap.
On the topic of not overthinking a space’s contents, Colin says, “I bought the dining chairs before I knew what the dining table looked like, because I just loved the dining chairs so much.” The ash dining table was custom-designed by Colin and built by J Picken.
Describe what you had originally envisioned your home to look and feel like. Is the result different in any way to what you had imagined?
Truthfully, it doesn’t look anything like I thought it would. One of the earliest things we did was strip the floors back; I thought it was just going to take the shine off and reveal the dark wood underneath, but it actually ended up taking the stain off as well, revealing these beautiful pale pine floors. That completely transformed my vision for the space as I had to come up with a whole new palette to go with light-toned floors.
The bathroom features a vintage French gilded mirror, a LUhans Indoor Outdoor sconce and a 1970s Krogenæs Møbler Norway pine stool.
– Colin King
The beige colour of the walls Colin had custom made to be able to absorb the red tones of the surrounding buildings. “At certain times of the day, because of how many windows there are, the whole apartment adopts this pink undertone,” he reveals .Arranged in this space is a custom-made daybed by Oliver Westermeier and Luccio Massa, a George Nakashima timber chair and a Cassina 637 Utrecht armchair.
Talk us through the palette; how did you go about selecting such a serene line up of materials, textures and colours?
I tried not to spend too much time worrying about whether things were going to go together, and instead just focused on finding things that I loved. I think I have every wood species you could think of in here and be it unconventional, they all work together harmoniously. I’ve had to unlearn the idea that in order for a space to work everything needs to match. My biggest fear now is making a space look too decorated.
How is your space a reflection of you?
A lot of people, when they first visit the apartment, say how calm and serene they feel. In the crazy city that we live in, that’s pretty rare. The elevator opens up and there’s this enveloping warmth that comes from the colours and the textures. Even though it’s taken me a while to acknowledge it, I think that’s how I make other people feel as well; warm and comfortable.
The living space also features a custom made sofa by Grant Trick, a 1970s travertine coffee table topped with stacks of books, a Cassina 053 Capitol Complex chair and a painting by Milton Resnick.
How does light influence your daily movements in your home?
I love seeing the light in the apartment change throughout the day. I have lots of tall buildings around me, so I never actually get to see the sun rise or set, but what I do get is light reflecting off the surrounding windows. I get these long, beautiful shadows as a result, which change size and shape. I think light really brings me into the present moment because it's something I notice throughout the entire day.
Could you tell us about your debut book, Arranging Things?
Being self-taught, I never really thought I had my own process or way of doing things. I worked with this amazing writer on the book who was really able to tease that out of me. He also gave me the vocabulary to share my process with an audience. I’ve tried not to make it too formulaic though because in a world of infinite possibilities, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. I also try to stress that the things you’re arranging don’t necessarily need to be new; the book’s about dusting off old favourites, “shopping your own shelves”, and looking at your objects in a new light. It doesn’t really matter what’s in a room – what matters is how those things are arranged.
Colin’s work revolves around a lot of trial and error. The kitchen island he redid three times, before landing on what he describes as a “utilitarian box”, with wheels attached to the bottom and ample storage. “As discouraging as this whole process was at the time, it was only after I realised what the space didn’t need that I came to understand what it did need – and you’re always able to laugh about it at the end,” he says.
Colin describes the colour of his bedroom walls as a close match to ‘oxblood’, which has a distinctive calming effect. “I chose the colour to be a strong contrast from the rest of the beige-toned interiors, which are calming in a different sense of the word,” he says. The piece hanging above Colin’s bed is by Malcolm T. Liepke; Colin designed the vases on his bedside tables.
