Visual Thinker: Leyden Lewis
Leyden Lewis. Photo: Alaric Campbell.
Architect and interior designer Leyden Lewis, owner of Leyden Lewis Design Studio, has taught professional practice and studio courses at NYSID since 2016. We’re thrilled that he was named to ELLE Decor’s A-List for the second time in 2020. He’s a founding member of the Black Artists & Designers Guild, and one of two architects designing BADG’s Obsidian Virtual Concept House. A child of Trinidadian immigrants, he attributes the “joy and celebration” inherent in his way of seeing to his heritage.
Interior as Installation
Lewis designed this NYC apartment for a South African couple who uses the pied-à-terre as a vacation home. He says, “My clients live and breathe art, so everything in the space serves their huge and magnificent collection.” Lewis sought to create a “gallery for living” in which every line and color draws the eye to the art. The challenges were manifold. He says, “I had to create an architectural envelope that could both serve as a rotating platform for art, and be a backdrop that could stand up to the strength of the art.” The clients wanted to evoke the expansiveness of a SoHo loft, despite the fact that this apartment is compact. Lewis had the apartment stripped to the studs. Here’s how he reimagined it.
Lewis designed a large cube clad in back-painted glass panels to encompass the kitchen. The wall of the cube is detailed to allow for flexible rotation of the clients’ art collection.
The late Columbian artist Ana Mercedes Hoyos was a friend of the clients, and her diptych watermelon painting is the foundation of the design, the only piece of art that does not rotate. The bronze fruit bowl and painting of women behind the couch are also by Hoyos.
The rustic, herringbone, reclaimed wood floor set against pristine white walls is a nod to the SoHo-esque inspiration.
Lewis layered a series of the same specified white in variations of lusters and sheens to elevate the space beyond a gallery. The walls are diamond-level white matte plaster; there’s pearl satin lacquer on the cabinetry, and the custom cube is polished white glass.
The photo on the far wall is by Thomas Ruff.
These Backenzahn stools can be used as seating, tables, or pedestals for art.
Photos: Pratya Jankong.