But can we call it just wall paneling? Indeed, it is a paneling because the beautiful whitened oak veneer incredibly continues for all it’s length. But inside you find: an entire closet, the main entrance of the loft, the emergency exit to the building’s stairs, a small laundry, some kitchen cupboards with ovens and appliances and finally a small pantry.

The design of this piece it takes us more time than all the others because it depends from appliances chosen by the customer (see a beautiful sketch).
It almost puzzles us to find a place for the huge washing and dryer machine and every single appliance like oven or coffee machine and whatever…

The final design is not a bad compromise of those different functions: it comes from them and it is like a “Mondrian” abstract outline. The wow effect certainly comes when you open all the doors and see what is inside this huge plane wooden surface! Guess how we managed it…like we do for yachts!

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The media cabinet is a huge piece of our production and hosts all the media devices of the loft and a hidden opening to the freight elevator( Please  see our 3D drawing compared to the picture above). You can find it in front of the entrance door of the loft and it is definitely the most important piece of the loft furniture.  Actually it is not a simply piece of furniture , but it is part of the loft’s interior.  ( it s impossible to move it away from here!) It is designed like a portal of solid Italian walnut stripes with a big niche in the centre.   The portal is aligned with the main beam of the ceiling and the AC duct is covered in the upper part behind it. The niche has a glass backdrop divided in two ( the doors to the freight elevator): the glass sandwich panel is made of two glass layers – transparent the first, opaque the other- with a linen fabric inside.
I personally choose and put together each peace of solid wood (see picture below) that Silvio cut by hand. It is very impressive.

Exactly: in 29 days the bespoke interiors are ready to be shipped to New York!

Of course Paolo and I supervise all the making process of what we have just designed. There is only a glass door between our office and the workshop. We often go in and out to check everything is done perfectly and take some picture of each manufacturing phase to share with both Diego and the Design-Apart team and Chris, the client. Indeed, the streaming helps us to inform very rapidly everyone involved in the project about the production and let them take part of it even though they are actually very far away.

Chris is amazed: just back from his summer holidays, he finds the photo-streaming and sees his furniture during the making. He simply writes: wow!

At the same time, in Ermesponti, our technician Mattia prepares all the production drawings and easily the making process starts according with them.

Each master carpenter is in charge of a specific item: Silvio of the media cabinet, Giuseppe of the hall- kitchen boiserie, Roberto of the main tv corner cabinet, Marco of the Sintagma’s bookshelves and finally Alberto, the cherry on the cake, taking charge of the small console table that goes in front of the entrance.

Although we have plenty information about the loft, we can’t go on with the actual drawings of bespoke interiors until we have made our special and specific survey.
Paolo goes for a one-day-trip in NY. He meets Chris and Bill and makes an accurate survey of the loft. It’s not only a question of precise measurements. In our team, he alone has the experience to catch certain details about “before”, and with a natural problem-solving attitude, he understands how structural details interfere with the project (see our “Mondrian” media cabinet). Moreover, he can predict the transformation of the worksite, so that, by the end, everything perfectly matches.

It is not only about technical skills: an educated and sensitive architect like Paolo is able to feel the ” genius loci”, the distinctive atmosphere of a specific location, so that the final result will be that of a home with character, not that of an anonymous house.

3D Rendering of the media cabinet, kitchen cabinet and “Mondrian” wall paneling

As a good tailor, we always start from a deepened dialogue with the client and a meticulous survey of the location.
We start to plan only after receiving from Chis, the loft’s owner, the basic requirements for it. We make the 3D drawings to let him visualize our first proposal and we develop it until we get what he needs. We establish a good relationship with him during this short period, we exchange lots of mail with him and with his local architect, Bill.

Now we have the first Design-Apart showroom! The location it’s amazing; a huge second floor loft on the west side of the 25th Street, just a few steps from Madison Square Garden.

Diego gives to Paolo and me the task to do the project. Actually, we are the only ones in this newborn team to have the professional experience (more than ten years, all over the world) for planning a whole project and bespoke interior like this and in such a short time!
We are proud to become the project HUB of Design-Apart! After Paolo’s survey, we are to complete the actual drawings for the works on site coordinated by Bill, the local architect and by Enrico, one of the founders of Design-Apart, especially in the last phase, before receiving the bathrooms and the furniture.

After receiving the layouts of each location, I suggest Diego to send each client an easy questionnaire to fill in, so to get almost the basic requirements from each candidate (for us it’s impossible to start planning a bespoke interior without knowing nothing of the client!). As soon as we receive the answers, we begin to plan.

We haven’t enough time to develop the 3 D drawing for each of them: its the middle of May, Diego and Enrico are in NY for the ICFF and have to meet the clients in the following week. But I can make easily by hand a lots of sketches, to show them how the single loft can be designed and furnished. Incredible: they like my sketches so much! One of them is so impressed that the week after, June the 6th, he decides to sign the contract!