By stufflovely
Because they know I collect vintage, people have started to reach out to me. They send me messages saying, “Hey, I have this. What would you give me for it?” I get about 50 messages a day and emails from random websites that I’m searching for stuff from.
Eventually, I was collecting so much and mashing all these precious objects in drawers I couldn’t even close anymore. It was really bad, but I couldn’t help it. I needed to buy them. If something rare came up, I was like, “I have to have this.”
My husband and I have a two-bedroom apartment, so I just had everything in the second bedroom. Once we started to sort of work again after COVID hit, all my assistants had to come into my house to get our kits. That felt a bit dangerous.
Because of COVID, the prices for places became so low, so I found a huge, amazing space that’s three blocks from my house. Inside, it did not look cute, but we have a friend who is an architect/designer, Martina Guandalini. I told her my concept: something art deco, but modern, maybe with a little Hollywood Regency because I always go overboard, and a little pop art. She agreed to put it all together.
Building it out, getting the right paint color of the Yves Klein blue took months. I was so specific about that. I wanted you to open the door to the office and be hit by the color like when you’re standing in front of a Yves Klein painting or even a Mark Rothko, and you’re enveloped by this one color. It’s such a powerful feeling. I searched everywhere to find that color. There’s a store in New York City called Ressource that makes the most amazing paints. But it was ridiculous, $200 for a little jar. I was on a budget, but I had to have that paint.