Di An Di is a Vietnamese Restaurant and Bar in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The interior is meant to reflect the food and the culture of the restaurant itself - Fresh, bright, modern, and driven by community. The design/build team of Huy Bui and Michael Yarinsky tapped into the finest in the Brooklyn Design Community to manifest the vision of the founders, Kim Hoang, Dennis Ngo and Tuan Bui. Custom lighting is by Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, custom wallpaper is by Calico Wallpaper, wood surfacing is by Madera Surfaces, and the custom banquette framework was fabricated in the neighborhood at A/D/O.
Their name of the restaurant is an endearing phrase in Vietnamese between friends and families that translates to “Let’s go eat.” Brought to you by first generation Vietnamese-Americans, it features high quality Vietnamese food that's rooted in tradition but served in a contemporary, festive and resolutely New York setting. This is what the space delivers.
Photography by Charlie Schuck
Originally built in 1883, The Cedars sits between the bay and the sound, at the entrance to the quiet town of Orient, New York. A few years ago a young couple began to envision the house as a place that would not only pay homage to the history of the place, but also fit their personalities. They wanted something design-forward, light, bright, and full of art and design. They then teamed up with Michael Yarinsky Studio to breathe life into their vision for the interiors and detailing.
As the house overlooks the Long Island sound, the scenery is ever-changing - with each unique sunset bathing the home in color. The interior references the moment when the ocean meets the sky. The color selection consists of muted blues and greens, contrasting with white-washed floors. The wallpaper captures ethereal mood and movement of the water. The lighting is playful, and simultaneously brings together and elevates the use of organic materials in the home. The space is kept open with many moments of congregation with the intention of welcoming family and friends, over communal meals, shared stories, and intimate conversations.
The project was at its core a collaboration between creatives. It was important to Michael and the clients to work with a community of emerging designers as well as locals from the North Fork community. Lighting is by Ladies & Gentlemen Studio and Virginia Sin, wallpaper is by Calico Wallpaper and Caroline Z Hurley, custom planters by Light + Ladder, custom millwork by local David Nyce and metalwork by local Kristian Iglesias.
Photography by Charlie Schuck
Billie is a female-first razor brand - Shaving companies have always been created for men which may explain why women are still overpaying for women's razors and referred to as goddesses for shaving. Women shouldn't be an afterthought in the shaving category, deserve to have a great shave and no, they're not paying more for it. Billie is here to make a daily routine a little more delightful and a lot more affordable.
In approaching the design of Billie’s global corporate headquarters, we wanted to create an immersive space that communicated the brand vision and is incredibly functional day-to-day. In terms of how this is reflected in Billie, we began with stripping the space to its bare bones to express the beautiful windows and existing character in the architecture. Elements were then added to compliment and balance the brand, the feel of the space, and the functional aspects of a growing company. What we achieved is a balanced space that is incredibly inviting, has an uplifting character and moments of creative engagement and allusions to the brand in the details.
Custom furniture throughout (desks, conference tables, kitchen cabinetry, seating) is designed/built in house by Michael Yarinsky Studio. We used a raw/architectural material pallette of Marine Fir Plywood, Stone, and Powder-coated Steel with subtle pops of color that do not overwhelm the space. Furniture, lighting, and objects throughout are by Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, Alvar Aalto, Vladimir Kagan, Menu, HAY, Muuto, and Jessica Hans.
Looking Glass Factory is a team of inventors and artists creating the holographic future in which pieces of 3D digital spaces live in the real world through holographic displays and interfaces. Real 3D in real life, no VR or AR headgear required. The company was founded in 2014 by Shawn Frayne and Alex Hornstein with its headquarters in Greenpoint, Brooklyn - also known by most of the company as “Greenpoint, Home of The Hologram.”
From 2015 to early 2019, the team at Looking Glass Factory worked out of an old glass factory at the northern tip of Greenpoint. Eventually, they found themselves inhabiting more and more spaces within the old factory until realizing that they may have finally outgrown it. The one caveat was that they wanted to stay in Greenpoint.
In June 2019, they finally found a new home at 190 West Street, inside a former garage that sold industrial supplies. What started as an empty shell, has now transformed into a space that represents a Looking Glass future that the team is excited to grow into. Within the space itself, Looking Glass Factory has made sure to utilize different interior elements to tell the story of its historical past: cabinets lined up with Stereoscopes, Magic Viewers, and Walt Disney’s Illusion of Life, to prototypes that the team has worked on that spans the last five years.
Now, Looking Glass Factory works primarily on the software and hardware development of its latest product — the Looking Glass. The interiors of the office lend themselves to both the solo work that is required in a software/hardware development team as well as the collaborative framework that was necessary in order to bring this product (and it’s predecessors) to life.
In the design approach of the office, the team at Michael Yarinsky Studio focused on showcasing what makes the Looking Glass unique - a change of perspective. Each moment in the space is meant to challenge both the team and customers perspectives of their physical surroundings.
From the street, the office looks inviting - almost residential in nature. The lounge space, a sunlit area with a sectional and Yuko Nishikawa pendant sculptures overhead, is immediately apparent through the glass garage doors. Bordering the lounge space is a custom serpentine bookcase displaying a timeline of holograms including iterations of Looking Glass Factory prototypes. As the bookcase curves backwards into the main office, one is invited to come inside.
Upon entry, moments of engagement play with inhabitants notions of transparency, scale, and space use. The design team knew they did not want to use traditional cubicles or an open seating plan because of the drawbacks in both scenarios, so they invented a new system based on perspective. A series of L-shaped walls in a playful plan arrangement are sliced by an imaginary inclined plane. The layout of desks draws the viewer's eyes across the room as they increase in height back into the space. This is intentional: the desks modulate both light and privacy and as a playful alternative to the traditional cubicle. The team members with a more social role in the company (marketing, sales, etc) have lower walls, more light, and more room to engage with their neighbors. Team members who are more engaged in focused development work have less glare from the sun and more separation from their neighbors desks.
Private spaces line the perimeter of the open office area, including must-have conference room, call rooms, and all-hands zones. These spaces share a unifying design language communicated through custom furnishings, along with the use of dark colors and curves in contrast to the angular white forms found throughout the open office area.
At the front is an open-air but protected product viewing area for the Looking Glass line of products. Curtain enclosures will modulate light and sound, providing a gallery-type experience for viewing the Looking Glass as opposed to a traditional showroom.
The idea of the space in terms of perspective is larger as well. An office design like this is meant to be a challenge to traditional notions of what an office can and should be. The hope is the space may be a change of perspective for both the team and users that may be a catalyst for creative thought in the future.
Photography Hanna Grankvist
Madera was founded with a clear objective: to offer high quality, beautiful and sustainable wood products for architecture and design, while having a positive impact on the environment and the local economy. By practicing a forest-to-floors approach and creating a direct link between clients and the source of the wood, carefully sourcing materials from sustainable sources, designing products in-house in their Brooklyn studio and manufacturing them locally in New York, they offer an alternative that is high quality, sustainable, and locally made.
In their recent expansion, Madera took over a turn of the century warehouse space just outside the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Clinton Hill. The existing structure was incredibly run down, but had the good bones and charm they desired. The design focused on maintaining the authentic character and detailing of the existing space while creating a boutique, almost “non-commercial” program and aesthetic throughout. The idea in many ways was to make the space a gallery for wood, rather than a sales floor. To that end, the simple use of natural sky lighting, highlighting the existing structure, and a subtle, yet powerful use of Madera’s own wood as a cladding material succeeds in making a modern space with much of the authenticity intact.
Programmatically, the design also challenges the traditional showroom experience. The office space is raised and out of view of the showroom floor, the space has an in-house wood shop for quick sampling, and the product is displayed in a minimalist (think Donald Judd) way. Upon entering the showroom one comes upon an art gallery within a repurposed industrial icebox named Cooler Gallery. The gallery serves to activate the space with a monthly exhibition and opening, but also to tie the Madera showroom to the surrounding eclectic and vibrant community.
madera-trade.com reformcph.com
Photography by George del Barrio
For Specht Architects
Photography by Lauren Coleman
IN PROGRESS
A/D/O is a creative space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn dedicated to expanding the reach of design. Built for designers and open to all. As it exists has a blend of styles and influences from the Scandanavian furniture of Restaurant Norman to the heavy Brooklyn furniture in the Workspace to the more utilitarian furniture in Urban-X. This proposal is meant to unify these very different aesthetics and to elevate the look so the space reads less as a tech incubator and more as a space for/by designers.
Key to this approach is bringing in certain elements from the existing design - Minimal Clean Lines and appreciation of Design Craft. Material, Color, and Texture are key in differentiating A/D/O from other co-working spaces and incubators. We should not shy away these because it is what will make the space pleasing and comfortable.
Also key is addressing the volume of A/D/O. This can be done both through creating Verticality in interiors elements, but also delicately crafting Architectural Programming to serve the needs of the spaces and the Workspace member.
Coclico speaks to a personal identity that extends beyond style and luxury to our way of living in the world consciously, artfully, elegantly. Their materials are sourced locally in Europe, near our small, family-run factory in Mallorca, Spain. At their NYC headquarters, we not only work to underpin the design process behind each collection but also seek the highest standards of ethical and environmental responsibility. The result is a union of modern minimalism and traditional quality. Our approach to their space aesthetically echoes the ethos of the company while providing a welcoming backdrop to their products.
Currently open in Secaucus, NJ - Harmony is a medical dispensary that pride themselves on creating pure, consistent, and effective modern medicine. It is run by the leading botanists using advanced robotically-controlled-environment agriculture all on site.
If you can believe it, the retail space we designed is temporary as we gear up for a much larger, much more immersive environment for Harmony in phase 2.
When redesigning this Brooklyn Townhouse Apartment, we converted a two bedroom apartment with the intention of creating a space open to friends and family. Two bedrooms became one, and the newly opened space accommodates a large dining room. What was once a cramped Brooklyn apartment is now a machine for dinner parties. The idea for the space was to reflect and draw from a community of friends in anticipation of hosting those who have contributed through objects and art. Upon completion of the project, the 8x8 dinner party began. 8 themed dinner parties, with 8 people each, over 8 weeks.
Caroline Z Hurley produces beautifully designed textiles for the home - from block-printed upholstery fabrics by the yard to throws, pillows, rugs, and napkins. For their new space, Michael Yarinsky worked to create a new model for CZH - a street level showroom fully merged with a bustling design studio.
Conceptually Michael and Caroline wanted to merge the storefront, showroom, and the studio space. Through the use of custom “curtain beams” the space is able to be divided at times while showcasing product and without cutting down on too much natural light. Instead of walls, Michael opted for custom high back furniture to guide foot traffic. In the work areas, the furniture is light, delicate, and endlessly reconfigurable.
The showroom is meant to showcase Caroline’s textiles in-situ, but also show her incredible paintings within a living room setting with custom built furniture by Yarinsky. The flexible ground floor studio space also converts to an event space for dinner parties and other pop-up events.
The goal with the new studio was to give customers an experience - “We think the best way to showcase our fabrics and products is by feeling them as they would be in the home. We believe that feeling good in the world starts with how you feel in your home. “ Caroline Z Hurley
Photography by Charlie Schuck
Our studio designed and curated "Dwelling in Critical Space," a new collection of products and exhibition of new works from artists and designers in the A/D/O community at The A/D/O Shop.
Much of the current crop of up and coming designers focus on the aesthetics of form over all else. We hope to challenge this notion by questioning what it means to dwell in critical space - what does it mean to live with and be surrounded by work that challenges you intellectually and conceptually - what does it do to you as a consumer - what does it do to you as a maker. We will bring forth and showcase several designers that focus on the diverse nexus of conceptual thought and production. In doing so, we hope to create a vivid, challenging, beautiful, thoughtful immersive space within the A/D/O shop - for all, by the design community.
Featuring works by Rosie Li Studio, Michael Yarinsky Studio, Misha Kahn, Brendan Timmins, Devra Freelander, Virginia Sin, and [reads]. Photography by Justin Ryan Kim.
Huy Bui is an interdisciplinary artist and designer that has a practice inspired by natural systems. He builds modular units that stack and suspend in space and play host to an interconnected world of weaving ecosystems.
Huy recently partnered with frequent collaborator Michael Yarinsky Studio to revamp the interiors of his Nolita apartment - including furniture layout, kitchen, and service spaces. Much of the custom furniture and experiments throughout the space are by Bui himself and the space includes the first-ever large scale installation of friends Calico Wallpaper.
Wallpaper - Calico Wallpaper
Kitchen - Reform
Custom Built-Ins - Huy Bui
Photography Charlie Schuck
IN PROGRESS
Restauraunt Norman is the Brooklyn eatery run by Claus Meier of the Danish NOMA restaurant group. As it exists Is a large, voluminous, brightly lit restaurant situated on a corner with large-pane windows at street level. The open kitchen, stone bar, and immaculate detailing speak to a high level of craft that goes into the food served. Set inside A/D/O, it is inherently a space where designers and artists congregate.
This proposal is meant to elevate the experience of Norman though discrete interiors interventions that play on the existing restaurant. Key is creating a warm experience that is critical to making fine dining feel comfortable.
Cooler is an art gallery within a repurposed industrial icebox outside the Brooklyn Navy Yard — the physical border of large art, design, and manufacturing communities. The curation aims to reflect the essence of this intersection. Cooler Gallery seeks to be a breeding ground for thought at the crossing of fine art, design and manufacturing.
The design focused on showcasing art in an a-typical way. The small scale of the icebox paired with the large expanse of the showroom floor and the use of impactful materials are really what defines this project. Early on a decision was made to not try to create your typical white wall gallery. This has and continues to challenge artists showing at the space to take these constraints into consideration- to amazing results. Through site specific works and curated group shows, a feedback has begun to be seen between the art and the space itself.
Our Design Milk booth design at ICFF 2019. An experiment long in development for our studio has been trying to find novel ways to soften the hard edges of architecture in form, material, and use of space. In this experiment, we wrote code to simulate the behavior and form of a rumpled bedlinen. This height-field is then expressed in topographical drawing and physical relief giving the impression of a monumental scale. The drawings are expressed in field of dense fine lines and from a distance have the feeling of soft shading. The reliefs in plywood make the drawings tangible and tactile. Photography by Hanna Grankvist.
For Janson Goldstein. This 100,000 SF Public-Private Indoor Lobby Park lies at the center of mid-town NYC. The design proposed a collonade of solid extruded glass columns that divide the space. Along the collonade are several programs; flower shop, coffee shop, music stage, newsstand, and restaurant. This project successfully created a very intimate experience for inhabitants within a large public space.
For Specht Architects
Photography by Lauren Coleman
For Janson Goldstein. This 120,000 SF store was designed/built for high-end retailer Holt Renfrew. The design focuses on the architectural expression of the brand through the use of scale, articulated details, materials, patterns, light, and digital technology. The most striking design feature is the 600 LF facade, composed of 30 foot tall mirror-fritted glass with inlaid digital screens. These panels are then offset with a custom fin-shaped mullion to offset the glass panels and to allow rotation from panel to panel. This design will be the template for several more stores in the coming years.
Photography by Mikiko Kikuyama
For Janson Goldstein. This project was interesting because not only was it a 50,000 SF store plan and facade, but also because it was a complete brand launch and will now be the template for several more stores in the coming years. The design uses a combination of geometric patterns, dynamic lighting effects, and digital technology to create a wholly new retail experience defined by the architecture.
Photography by Mikiko Kikuyama
For the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in 2017. In partnership with Civilization and Visual Magnetics.
