1

The Brief

Manhattan apartments rarely live up to the ones that you see fictional New Yorkers inhabiting on television. Quarters, the second-floor Tribeca space opened by Brooklyn lighting studio In Common With this past May, is a notable exception. Mind you, even if the setting feels like a residence, it’s actually a showroom. Or is it a bar? “First and foremost, it’s a store,” explains Nick Ozemba, who co-founded In Common With six years ago alongside Felicia Hung. “Everything is for sale. But the way that we wanted to sculpt the retail experience was through this idea of hosting people.” Staged to evoke someone’s cozy New York living quarters, the hybrid setup at Quarters invites clients to admire products in situ by day, then encourages them to come back for a drink by night — or even to book out the bar for their next event.

2

The Setting

After a year-long search, Ozemba and Hung (shown below) were won over by a 743-square-metre corner loft one floor up in a Broadway building with soaring ceilings. Stripping away evidence of its previous tenants (including the remnants of a sauna from back when the space was a yoga studio), the duo worked with Brooklyn’s Starling Architecture to section off a bedroom, kitchen and living room, plus a hospitality-inflected bar area. “The rooms hit on all the major places that our products live in,” says Ozemba.

3

The Design

In Common With’s popular spun glass Flora lights (designed with Sophie Lou Jacobsen) and other bestsellers are subtly woven into a series of earth toned spaces that reward thorough exploration. “The thresholds create frames so that different things end up taking centre stage in different moments,” says Ozemba. Teasers for the studio’s upcoming furniture line (see: the Hugo bedframe) join the mix alongside vintage seating that speaks to In Common With’s influences: French art deco furniture, plus ’70s and ’80s Italian design. “We sourced everything on trips to Europe,” Ozemba says. “Some of the pieces were in really bad shape with mouldy foam on the inside, but we’ve given them a new life.”

4

The Details

Quarters presents a dreamy new texture at every turn. “Just like with our products, the interior is steeped in craft traditions brought into a contemporary context,” says Ozemba. The bathroom and kitchen’s handmade-in-Pennsylvania tiles are a collaboration with ceramicist Shane Gabier, while Claudio Bonuglia, an artist from Italy, hand-painted a trompe l’oeil fresco above the bar. “It’s based off this Roman myth from a mosaic that was excavated in Pompeii of this eel with an earring,” Ozemba explains. Exotic woods like burled maple and evocative stone add to the visual medley. Take the kitchen’s red quartz countertop, for instance: “It looks like pastrami,” says Ozemba.

5

The Scene

An upcoming expansion to the third floor is underway to introduce a dedicated prep kitchen plus a larger dining room. Meanwhile, food service in the Quarters bar officially kicks off this fall, guided by New York restaurateur twins Jennifer and Nicole Vitagliano (of local institutions Raf’s and the Musket Room). Everything that diners admire during their visit — from the lights above their table to the soap in the bathroom and the out-of-print Lee Bailey cookbooks in the kitchen — is something they can go home with. Thankfully, Ozemba and Hung have an ample stockpile of new surprises to swap in as customers carry out their initial treasures. After that, they’ll just have to launch some more designs of their own.