What attracted you to this Brooklyn apartment in Fort Greene specifically?
There’s a very original energy. I love the park in the summer, it was and is still so amazing. You go there and there will be like a cute family with kids, and then you’ll see hipsters sitting on the bench reading Proust. Then you’ve got an old lady walking her dog. It’s very multicultural and incredibly vibrant.
How would you describe your interior design aesthetic?
I like things that don’t take themselves too seriously. I like to feel that there is a sense of humor in the space—not in every single room—but in the living room, I definitely aimed to have some odd shapes and pops of color.
Which textures did you bring in first?
I do love the ceramic—I mean, with all my heart. I have a lot of pieces by a friend of mine named Natalie Gehrels. She made this ceramic side table, which is probably my favorite piece. She also has a wine store where she sells beautiful objects. My son is a big chess player, and I have a chess set of hers that is made of ceramic. I think what I love most is that they are handmade, there’s just a very warm feeling to them—things that sort of have the personality of the person behind it. With the table, for example, whenever I look at it, I think of Natalie. She has this sort of serene energy, and I feel like it comes through in the table.
How did you navigate adding color to the space?
I definitely wanted the room to have a warm, feminine feel, which I try to balance out with more neutrals and even some darker tones. Feminine might be the wrong word, but it is definitely soft. There is a lot of black in the room as well. My dining table, for example, is a stainless steel piece by an artist called Gregor Jenkin, who is also South African. I’ve tried to add in some elements to the room that have more austerity to balance out the softness of some of the other pieces and the tones of pieces which are quite soft and more feminine.