French designer C. S. Valentin’s home base is in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, but he splits his time among clients in New York, Mexico, and Los Angeles. His NYC outpost—a rental in a prewar building—is more like a test kitchen than a full-time residence. Valentin calls it a “mid-mod wunderkammer” (cabinet of curiosities). “It’s a collage of many projects, the cities I’ve lived in, and what inspires me at the moment,” he says. After moving in two years ago, Valentin has come up with inventive solutions to tenant living: He converted the walk-in closet into a pocket-size bedroom, overlaid the kitchen countertops with cork, added a painted backsplash, and used lampshades to cover existing fixtures. Join us for a tour.
Above: To divide the rooms, Valentin came up with an unconventional solution: yellow strip curtains, the kind typically used in industrial food storage facilities, suspended from a hospital drop chain sourced from a medical supply website. The black metal and leather chairs are Arnold Lounge Chairs from Valentin’s company, Bogus Studio ($980 each); the jute Osted Rug is from Ikea. The light fixture is a rental hack—Ikea’s Sinnerlig Bamboo Shade—to cover up the landlord’s less appealing ceiling fixture. Above: The sofa is a midcentury modern American daybed of unknown origin; it’s also a place of experimentation for Valentin to try out new ideas (i.e., linen upholstery paired with raffia skirting). The coffee table, too—a 1960s French piece from a Paris flea market—is where he experiments with wood dyes and waxes. The magazine rack is the Folded Vessel by Chen & Kai, the striped pillows and throw blanket are by Valentin, the plant pots are by David Haskell of DGH Studio, and the stool is the Alvar Aalto Stool 60 in yellow. Above: A pair of Alvar Aalto 112 Shelves is mounted above a vintage black George Nelson Platform Bench (a blanket of Valentin’s own design is folded on top of the bench). To the right of the bench is a yellow Bogus Studio Arnold Bar Chair and a wall-mounted swing arm lamp from Rejuvenation (no longer available) mounted above; Valentin removed the shade so the lamp would more closely resemble the Jean Prouvé Potence Lamp. Above: On top of the radiator, Valentin has assembled a collection of home scents (eucalyptus, a Cire Trudon candle, Astier De Villatte Awaji Incense). To the right is an Artek Alvar Aalto 611 Chair. Above: Valentin’s home office has a vintage black desk, an Eames & Saarinen Organic Chair, a rug from Oaxaca, Mexico, and a wall sconce from Rejuvenation (no longer available). The shelves are Alvar Aalto 112 Shelves—a spray-painted one is mixed and matched with another in birch.
Above: Valentin bought the 19th-century painting of a Russian cadet at the Admiral Vernon Antique Market on Portobello Road in London. On the desk is a vintage bronze lamp, a colorful glass lamp globe repurposed as a vase, and a yellow 1960s Eclipse Lamp by Joe Colombo.
Above: The home gym, opposite the desk, has a color-coordinated Stamina X Air Rower and Yngve Ekström Teak Chair. For the yoga mat, Valentin took an image of the Oaxacan rug under the desk and had a yoga mat printed with the same design. Above: A Bogus Studio Arnold Chair in red is positioned in front of a Craftsman-style desk; the vintage double sconce is from a favorite resource of Valentin’s, Passeu Passeu in Barcelona, Spain. Above: Valentin modified the kitchen with a few clever interventions, including a cork countertop repurposed from an Ikea Sinnerlig table. He added an SPT Countertop Dishwasher; “It’s not permanently plugged into a pipe,” says Valentin,”so there’s no risk of a leak. You plug it into the faucet and it works perfectly.” The range is a retro-looking Avanti 20-Inch Freestanding Range. The shelves are filled with a collection of whimsical porcelain animals and vases that Valentin acquired when living in Tokyo and in Notting Hill, London. Above: The vintage enamel and metal sink cabinet is outfitted with an Enamel Soap Dish and a Polder Stainless Steel Dish Rack. The dishes are from Astier de Villatte and the wood Gnocchi Board is, improbably, from Bed, Bath & Beyond. Above: The kitchen is a room of unexpected details. Valentin created a DIY backsplash using a slab of wood painted with chalkboard paint. Using chalk, he created a diagram of mathematic formulas that “contributes to the kitchen’s investigative effect.” The toaster is a Muji Vertical Toaster Oven that, along with the ceramic dishes and furoshiki cloth, Valentin bought while living in Tokyo.
Above: A collection of baking dishes, Weck storage jars, and eclectic glassware. Valentin found the chili pepper bowl at a “Tex-Mex style mall” in Austin, Texas.
Above: The wall hanging, as well as the striped design covering the lower kitchen cabinets, is by artist Andreas Díaz Andersson, who is the brother of Valentin’s Bogus Studio design partner Alexander Díaz Andersson. A red Noguchi Akari 1AT Lamp is in the background. Above: The pocket-sized bedroom has a rug sourced from Michele Varian in SoHo, a Saarinen replica table with a blue marble top, a vintage lamp in the style of Werner Panton, and bedding from Blue Blue Japan. The emergency flashlight is from the Tokyo Muji store and the yellow Bedside Carafe is by Anna Karlin. Above: Mounted on the wall is a museum sign Valentin got from a friend, conceptual artist Cyril Duval of Item Idem. The photos below are all group photos taken from the 1930s to 1960s collected, he says, “from past lives in Paris, Tokyo, London, and Los Angeles.” In front is the Bogus Studio Circle Chair, a Greta Grossman Grässhoppa Floor Lamp for Gubi, and two 1960s Coquillage Chairs by Pierre Guariche for Meurop. For more of Valentin’s work, see:
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