The pumping heart of Apparatus lives on an unassuming block in midtown Manhattan, in a studio that had remained relatively unchanged in this location since its first renovation in 2015. When the company opened its own factory in Red Hook, Brooklyn, last year, it provided the impetus for a reimagination.
With space freed up, Gabriel Hendifar, the studio’s artistic director and CEO, set out to transform the studio into a communal spot where his tight-knit creative team could be inspired, while at the same time fashioning a dramatic space to make an outsize impression on visitors. “I wanted a feeling of arrival,” he says of the studio, which is unveiled here for the first time.
A heavy patinated-metal door leads through an arched hallway into a soaring gallery with steel-gray walls and chain-mail curtains. A series of more intimate exhibition rooms showcases new collections and past designs. There is also a mirrored dining room with a square dining table for eight where Hendifar plans to host salon-style dinners for creatives from different fields.
Just beyond is a new staff kitchen, with an oversize terrazzo table. A leopard-carpeted hall leads to Hendifar’s private office. It’s like a modern-day memory mill, with one foot in a Visconti film and the other in Warhol’s Factory.
Styled by Michael Reynolds.
This story originally appeared in the May 2022 issue of ELLE DECOR. SUBSCRIBE
