Ridgewood, Queens, is a quiet neighborhood positioned just some miles east of Manhattan’s bustling streets. Within the final decade, the primarily residential locality, lengthy recognized for its numerous inhabitants, has seen an inflow of younger professionals trying to depart from Manhattan and Brooklyn’s hustle and bustle (and rising prices). Because the 2010s, the world’s evolving demographic has given rise to an onslaught of recent — and, at occasions, divisive — institutions, together with eating places like Rolo’s and nightlife complexes like Knockdown Middle in close by Maspeth.
Right this moment, it’s the place longtime buddies Erica Sellers and Jeremy Silberberg are making ready to unveil their eponymous gallery beneath the moniker Studio S II. However the two have chosen a reasonably unconventional venue: a turn-of-the-century townhouse.
Sellers and Silberberg’s joint effort started with the acquisition and subsequent renovation of the $1.4M USD three-story constructing. Sellers, who previously led manufacturing for artist Tavares Strachan, introduced ahead her in-depth data of craft processes. Silberberg deployed his inside design experience, having designed interiors for AD100 structure corporations, together with Charlap Hyman & Herrero and Sachs Lindores. The four-year-long challenge laid the groundwork for his or her design apply, specializing in bespoke furnishings and interiors.
Since then, the 2 have developed an eclectic fashion, without delay evoking the extreme modernism of architects like Carlos Scarpa and Vincent Van Duysen whereas borrowing fantastical cues from visionary filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick and Hayao Miyazaki. Nonetheless, the three,200 sq ft house hides primarily in plain sight, painted all-black from its molded iron crown to its concrete stoop, and nestled in a row of similar brick townhomes constructed within the early 1900s.
The interiors mirror the studio’s subversive ethos, seamlessly defying style, period and custom, all with a glossy edge. On the door, guests are greeted with a glowing staircase of floating metal steps, authentic wood floors refinished in matte black, and brushed chrome pocket doorways all through.
Neogothic furnishings and vintage heirlooms from Sellers’ late grandmother are juxtaposed with up to date collectible design, together with a zoomorphic ground lamp by Mark Malecki and an engraved stone bench by Caroline Kable. The brand new open plan affords an unbroken line of sight by means of the formal eating space, partitioned with chainmail curtains, and the kitchen, with its hand-patinaed stainless-steel cabinetry.
The breakfast nook is centered on a Nineteenth-century French church pew, upholstered in a bespoke Studio S II material, combining photos from an 18th-century ebook on demonology. Behind it, a customized wall of drawers references a chunk from the boiler room scene in Hayao Miyazaki’s movie “Spirited Away.”
Studio S Ii
Studio S Ii
Studio S Ii
The 2, who proudly establish as queer, emphasize that they purpose to problem the pressures of categorization. “What we attempt to do as a studio is to transcend style and elude class,” stated Silberberg, “A whole lot of what we purpose to spotlight in our work is the missed or underappreciated side of magnificence. It’s why we take a look at ache or demonology physique modification – as a result of it speaks to a stage of need.”
Whereas Ridgewood might not be the place NYC’s design corporations sometimes put down roots, the 2 are deeply embedded in the local people, having lived within the surrounding space for nearly a decade. “I believe we all the time needed to harness the eye of like-minded individuals who discovered related issues stunning,” stated Silberberg. “I believe Bushwick and Ridgewood really feel extra kindred with the spirit of our aesthetic.”
Sprinkled amongst Rigewood’s numerous family-run companies — from Japanese European delis to Latin American eateries — are impartial bookstores like Topos Books and accessible design retailers like Lichen NYC. Moreover, because the house will double as Sellers’ everlasting residence, residing between the town’s hottest queer venues together with These days and Basement was a “no-brainer,” Sellers added, calling herself a “techno fanatic.”
Apart from techno, Sellers is a sci-fi buff, and notes that Studio S II’s distinctive “cobbling of types” is rooted within the ideas of the style. “That’s what science fiction is all about: constructing worlds that really feel like a mixture of what we as individuals know traditionally and creating an entire new civilization out of it. It’s about bringing issues of the previous to the long run in order that it’s digestible, touchable, and rooted.”
Studio S Ii
Studio S Ii
Illuminated by a skylight, the steel staircase transports guests into one other aircraft of Studio S II’s universe. On the high of the steps, a darkened hall results in the master suite, which departs from the primary ground’s extreme black and chrome sensibilities in favor of heat woodland tones and natural textures like velvet bedding and plush wool carpets.
Mild honey-colored mild radiates from S II’s pendants hanging above bespoke nightstands, which showcase a mattress of moss solid in resin like a glowing terrarium. Straight in entrance of the mattress, metal pocket doorways result in the en-suite lavatory, the place handmade indigo tiles evoke deep oceans and one other skylight fills the bathe with solar. The crown jewel,or, reasonably, rock of the master bedroom is an 800lb live-edge Bluestone boulder that serves because the sink basin.
Studio S Ii
Studio S Ii
Studio S Ii
Studio S Ii
At its core, the home is deeply private, not solely in that each element was fastidiously thought-about by the 2, however in that each object — whether or not household heirlooms or avant-garde collectible designs — is imbued with its personal story. “In case you put time and vitality into one thing, it should keep a few of that,” stated Sellers. Silberberg echoed these sentiments. “I might be mendacity if I stated I didn’t imagine within the religious side of issues as a result of we make issues. By the sheer dedication, time, and care it takes to craft one thing, you imbue it with a certain quantity of your self.”
The 2 tie this to the rising demand for collectible design, citing “an exhaustion from the sameness” of mass-manufactured furnishings. In September 2024, Sellers and Sillberberg showcased an set up alongside 117 different exhibitors at Collectible New York, the Belgian honest’s inaugural stateside exhibition. Elsewhere, the Italian design exhibition Alcova additionally expanded past its Milan Design Week roots in 2024 with the launch of its Miami Design Week program in December 2024. Maybe the rising prominence of avant-garde collectibles and handcrafted design is rooted in a longing for individuality and authenticity in a world more and more dominated by algorithmic aesthetics, AI-generated design, and quick furnishings.
Whether or not it’s supernatural iconography, historic artifacts, zoomorphic decor, or otherworldly furnishings, Home of Studio S II displays Sellers and Silberberg’s shared fascination with the artwork of thriller and obscurity. This affinity for unorthodox design is knowledgeable by their queer identities, a lived expertise for a lot of of being othered and relegated to the margins.
Whereas recalling the night time they met whereas learning on the Rhode Island Faculty of Design, Silberberg described feeling “seen” when he first met Sellers, who held related pursuits within the “darkish” and “missed.”
“We take into consideration need so much, and infrequently essentially the most alluring elements of need are the darkest,” he stated. “I believe individuals wish to push that away, and we wish to have a good time it.”
As of the time of writing, Home of Studio S II is open by appoint solely. events can e-mail studio@studiosii.com and malaika@studiosii.com to schedule a go to.
