00:03This project is my most ambitious to date.
00:09I built up my design firm, Studio Athena Calderon, to create all aspects of this space,
00:15allowing us to take this architecturally driven renovation to the highest level.
00:22This design takes original details of the home and amplifies them.
00:27I honored the apartment's past, yet I made this space wholly my own.
00:33I am Athena Calderon, and welcome to my Tribeca apartment.
00:45When I think about design, I'm always paying attention to that very first point of inspiration,
00:52and for me, it was the kitchen.
00:55The form of this island was inspired by a Le Corbusier desk that I saw.
01:00I really wanted the island to almost feel like it was this monastic, modernist form
01:07that was dropped into this historic setting.
01:10I went to the Mack Museum when I was in Vienna and absolutely fell in love with the ceiling,
01:16which was leaded glass, and that's where my favorite part of this home kind of came together,
01:22which was these leaded glass doors.
01:24They're open right now, but one of my favorite details is that you can completely close it up.
01:29So after I'm finished cooking and I'm about to host guests, I can close the leaded glass doors
01:35and have just this beautiful island making it be the focal point of the room.
01:39I worked in direct contact with my architect, Danielle Sigurd,
01:45and she really helped me bring these leaded glass details and the engineering to life.
01:50We worked with Amunil, which is the most incredible metal fabricator.
01:56They're in Philadelphia.
01:57I worked directly with the owner, Adam, and I got to go to their workshop
02:02and really understand the craft, the artistry, and all the love, to be perfectly honest,
02:07that went into these doors.
02:09A fun fact about this apartment is that it used to be Thierry Despont's home in the late 80s and
02:16early 90s.
02:17He's a French designer and architect. He restored the Statue of Liberty.
02:21He renovated the Ritz in Paris, as well as the Getty Center.
02:26And I just was led on a design journey that allowed me to educate myself.
02:32I knew nothing about 20th century design, and suddenly I began studying the 1930s
02:37and the Art Deca movement, probably because in order for me to design from a place of confidence,
02:42I really needed to do the work and do the research.
02:53We're in the living room, and it is most certainly the most grand space of the home.
03:00The wood paneling is likely the statement of this home, and it is historic.
03:06I worked together with the Brownstone Boys on restoring all of the wood.
03:10What I love so much about the wood paneling is the datum line that runs throughout the entirety of the
03:17home.
03:17And I took that as a statement that I wanted to use to connect all of the spaces.
03:22The focal point of the living room is definitely the fireplace.
03:27I decided that I wanted to offer some levity.
03:30The room is clad in this beautiful wood paneling, but I wanted this vertical statement that brought a little bit
03:36of lightness.
03:37So I used a St. Croix limestone.
03:39Throughout the home, one of the things I'm most proud of is a lot of the relationships that I build
03:45with so many incredible craftspeople.
03:47And there's really been a return to that lately in design, and I really wanted to celebrate that here in
03:54this home.
03:55You'll see it in the mirror that we have this beautiful hammered metal detailing.
04:00I worked with Amunil on all of the metal work, and it's just so exceptional and ties in beautifully with
04:06the vintage candlesticks that are from John Desprez.
04:10A lot of the doors are hidden, but it wasn't necessarily because I wanted to quote unquote hide them.
04:16It was more that I wanted to honor the design.
04:19I wanted to add an office where there was wood paneling.
04:23So why not make it feel hidden so you're not breaking the rhythm and the beauty of the design?
04:35We're here in my home office, which is such a sanctuary.
04:39It's wrapped in this creamy and dreamy luminosity.
04:43And I developed this wall covering with Calico, and it's inspired by parchment.
04:50We worked with an incredible artisan to kind of hand paint the parchment and the tonality, but also did scans
04:58of real parchment skins.
05:00This home office is a dream to create in, and it really gives me both the calm and confidence that
05:08I need to create and to design in.
05:13We are here in the hallway, which is a very dramatic space.
05:18We've clad this hallway in stone.
05:20It connects the public spaces to the private spaces.
05:24It also connects the historic spaces to the more renovated spaces, and it really feels like a portal.
05:32So on most days, you will find my husband in his studio, which is the sexiest room in the house.
05:40And I can lose him for hours and days on end, and you'll see why.
05:52So I've been chatting enough, so babe, why don't you take it over?
05:56So I'm a DJ and music producer, and it was important for me to have a space that just felt
06:02moody and comfortable because of the amount of time I spend in here.
06:06I had inherited so many records from my brother, who was a DJ.
06:10And even Zhivan, who's also a DJ and a music producer, has been kind of taking inspiration and pulling from
06:17Victor's music collection.
06:19And it's really beautiful that, in a way, it went from your brother to you to Zhivan, and it's like
06:24multi-generational and multi-inspirational.
06:27I mean, just the other night, like, we were in here until probably one in the morning, two in the
06:31morning, just listening to music together.
06:34Victor and I have been together for over 27 years.
06:37In every one of our homes, there has been some sort of home recording studio and home studio.
06:42So I've learned a lot about sound isolation.
06:45And essentially, you want to build a room inside of a room.
06:49So the floor is floating and the walls are away from the original walls and the ceiling is dropped.
06:55I guess I'm a sound engineer now?
06:57You are?
06:58Add that to the list.
07:09We are now in the media room.
07:11It embodies the 1930s and the Art Deco period, likely more than any space in the home.
07:18I am so in love with the lacquer doors and how they're extending vertically and breaking the datum line.
07:26I love the ceiling, which is the inverse of everywhere else in the home.
07:31Usually the wood for the paneling is at the datum line or lower, but here it's in lacquer and it's
07:38curving onto the ceiling.
07:40And it's being met by this beautiful interior skylight.
07:44The walls are padded.
07:46They are this soft silk fabric and this beautiful grid-like pattern.
07:51And it's just an amazing room to get cozy in, to be with my family.
07:57Let's head across the hallway.
07:58I'll show you my favorite guest bathroom.
08:08This is our guest bathroom and I'm in love with these large lava stone tiles and that beautiful oxblood color.
08:17They're completely oversized.
08:20I've continued this datum line, but above the datum here, we've done mirror, which is definitely a fun design trick
08:26to make a small room look even larger.
08:30It's just such a sexy little room.
08:39We are here in the guest room, which is a very special space for me.
08:44Terry Despont, the former owner of this home.
08:47This was his primary bedroom and these apothecary drawers were original to his design.
08:54And I really wanted to honor him and use and reuse the materials that were in this room.
09:02The wallpaper cladding the walls here is the exact same wallpaper that Terry Despont had in his primary bedroom.
09:09So eventually I reached out to Terry Despont's design studio and I just asked where it was from.
09:15And lo and behold, the person I ended up talking to had worked with Terry since day one.
09:21He was here when Terry lived in this space and installed this fabric.
09:25And bless his heart, he dug into the archives and he found an extra bolt of this fabric.
09:32And what's really fun is the original wallpaper that was sun faded after being in this room for so many
09:39years.
09:39I took it off the walls and I used it on the chairs that are in the dining room.
09:51We are here in my primary bedroom, which is such a beautifully romantic, cozy space.
09:58It is clad in this beautiful silk wall covering that's this icy blue, a little bit gray.
10:05And I played a lot with warm and cool tonality.
10:08I really fell in love with beds nestled inside a niche.
10:13It was something that designer Jean-Michel Franck and Paul Dupré-Lafon often did in the 1930s.
10:20And I really drew inspiration from that.
10:22So I worked together with Camp Studios and they developed this beautiful hand-painted parchment for me.
10:29I think that it was exceptionally crafted and I'm in love with the space.
10:42What I love so much about this primary bathroom is how it is completely swathed in this beautiful stone from
10:50ABC Stone.
10:51This is the same stone that's going down the hallway.
10:54And I really wanted my bathtub to sit within a niche.
10:58In doing my research and looking at 20th century design and iconic designers like Pierre Legrin was this beautiful dining
11:07table that was black lacquer and on the bottom it was silver leaf.
11:13So I drew inspiration and designed my vanity to kind of honor that design.
11:18I am so proud of the work that my entire team did.
11:24The architects, the contractors, the engineers, all of the craftspeople.
11:28I walked through this space and I am so at home here.
11:33It feels so cozy.
11:35It feels so warm.
11:36It feels like a beautiful hug.
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