Feature: Au Natural
05/01/2007
If Shakespeare had written Henry VI today, the motive behind his mirthful, "The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers," would be crystalline clear: He’d have wanted their office space. That is, if he were living in New York and aware of this loft in Tribeca, formerly housing U.S. Attorney offices, now home to management consultant James T. Root, his wife, Eva Chen, and their two toddlers.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();) |
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();) |
For Root and Chen, criminal intent was fortunately unnecessary; fast action, however, was. Manhattan’s real-estate market was running full gallop, and Chen was nearing the home stretch of her second pregnancy. "I called Sabrina, and she was here in 15 minutes," says Chen, referring to interior designer Sabrina Balsky, who, with husband and business partner Peter S. Mason, designed Chen and Root’s previous loft. What Balsky found on that initial visit was a 3,600-square-foot white box with 34 windows facing four exposures, a code-ready tabula rasa awaiting not just an aesthetic imprint but a physical footprint as well.
A mere decorator might have balked, but not Balsky, who studied interior
design and fine art at Canada’s York University and Mount Royal College before
establishing her namesake company in Toronto in 1981 and opening offices in New York in 1999 and Florida in 2006. For she and Mason, who
holds a degree in interior architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design
and joined the company in 2003, the project’s scope was ideal. "With our skills,
there’s no disconnect between architecture and design," says Balsky, noting that
most of their projects include complete build-outs, and that many of their
clients seek the firm’s opinion prior to purchasing a new property.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
The dining room painting is by Yusuf Arakkal. (Click image to enlarge)
In this case, the client’s requirements were conceptual as well
as concrete. Chen and Root wanted a kitchen and an office that could be closed
off from the rest of the apartment, and a floor plan that would feel less like a
loft and more like a traditional home. Balsky and Mason deemed all doable, and
proceeded to divide the space into two wings—a master suite and home office in
one, and the discrete kitchen, conjoined living and dining rooms, and children’s
and guest rooms in the other. The elegant, not-so-simple solution has proved
exceedingly easy to live with. "It’s very much our wing and the rest of the
house," says Chen. "We can go directly into the office in the middle of the
night or early in the morning without disturbing the kids or guests."; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
The hallway leading to the master bedroom is
softened by a sheepskin rug, a favorite of the couple’s children. The 16th-century buddha is from China’s Yunan province. (Click image to enlarge)
That degree of consideration, hardly happenstance, is carefully calibrated.
"We think of how our clients live their lives, and create spaces through
interior architecture that supports bespoke lifestyles," says Mason. The list of
ponderables ranges from the quotidian to the grand occasion. "A wonderful
advantage of the office’s location is it has become the repository for handbags,
keys, wallets, all of which are out of the bedroom," says Chen, the office
smoothing the transition from the outside world to the private realm, and
leaving rooms such as the bedroom free to perform their intended functions, Blackberry- and briefcase-free—and with better Feng
Shui.
Top: A painting by Rekha Rodwittya hangs in the
master bedroom. Bottom: The master bathroom is outfitted in rosewood and
marble. (Click images to enlarge); function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Flow and functionality are likewise found in the public rooms.
"When James and Eva entertain, it’s with staff," says Mason, explaining the need
for a closed kitchen to confine cooking smells and prep areas. But the couple
prefers the parties themselves to be more casual and contemporary than Park
Avenue petrified. Hence the combined dining and living rooms, the two areas
articulated (but not obstructed) by the rooms’ architecture: The dining room’s
ceiling is flush with the flat, or lowest point, of the living room’s coffers.
"Whenever possible I prefer to build in architecture," says Balsky, pointing to
the coffered ceilings also in the bedroom and sitting room and the substantial,
five-inch window frames in the office.
It is the loft’s interiors, however, that most clearly
illustrate the couple’s love of exotic materials and the design team’s love of
working with them in ways that emphasize authenticity and artistry. "We don’t
like fake materials," declares Balsky, stating a company credo. "No melamine, no
laminate, no false anything if we can help it. And we make every effort to
protect a material’s natural characteristics." Unstained, richly veined African
tigerwood and rosewood are found throughout the loft, from the customized
radiator surrounds with their nickel-plated grills, to custom cabinetry in the
kitchen, master suite and office—a tour de force of tigerwood walls,
bookshelves, cabinets and desks.Not that rarity and luxury are restricted to the woods. In the
master bath, the hardware is silver-plated, and the sink surround, floor and
walls are Thassos marble, azul
cielo marble and mother-of-pearl.
Semiprecious tiger eye covers floor tiles and door pulls in the guest bathroom.
Onyx and silver-leafed sconces and a sheepskin runner adorn the dressing room
and hall leading to the master bedroom. Suede upholsters the living room’s
walls. ; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
The guest bathroom has a checkerboard floor of
white Thassos marble and Spanish tiger eye, a semiprecious stone. Balsky
chose a rococo-style mirror and painted it white. (Click image to enlarge)
Nor is the furniture less than luxe. With the exception of
antiques, such as the teak Javanese cabinet and altar benches in the living
room, some 90 percent of the pieces are custom made. "We believe in building and
buying once, making and accumulating pieces that can be reused and passed down
to another generation," says Mason, emphasizing that the price of bespoke
ultimately pays for itself, perhaps many times over: fiscally, in terms of
quality construction, and in the satisfaction of having exactly what one
wants.
That philosophy can be applied to entire projects as well as individual pieces of furniture. Just ask Chen and Root: Their previous Balsky-designed loft sold within 24 hours of being put on the market, and nearly every stick of furniture, in addition to the lighting, made the move to their new home.
Sabrina Balsky Interiors, 212.585.0441