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WINTER 2016 / modernmag.com decorative

MODERN_cover_revise.indd 2 11/10/15 1:12 PM A New York couple, two busy lawyers with a first- The mid-century Accolay orange and Gideon black giraffe from France, dating to the born on the way, asked Gideon Mendelson to conjure the 1950s, is a scene-stealer even amidst a small white oval bowl and a yellow perfect nest for them high above the Hudson River on the and bronze by Gunnar Mendelson Upper West Side. They wanted a comfortable space with Nylund for Rörstrand, Sweden, 1950s, and a glazed ceramic lamp marked by the verve and grace where they could balance design and par- Danish firm Palshus. “It’s a really cool applies the piece,” Mendelson says of the giraffe, enting, working and entertaining. And somehow make it all “a whimsical moment that creates a look clean and easy and sophisticated—an impossible dream. conversation. If you can’t have fun, just go home!” lessons he In Mendelson, a forty-one-year-old principal designer and learned from

By Sandy Keenan Born to Design by Eric piasecki es courtesy otto g a m his best teacher, . all other i p rou his mother, g

as he creates owner of the Mendelson Group, they found an empathetic ear, The custom cabinet, designed by Mendelson, was inspired by French someone with his own intimate grasp of this work-life predic- of the 1940s and crafted by the ament. He and his modest-sized team juggle as many as ten Attinello Furniture and Cabinet company in verett Photo, Mendelson interiors that E Montauk, New York. The top is inset with large design projects at a time—from the city to Westchester marble. Above it hangs Ravening Clouds by Rachelle Krieger, 2009. The green Bitossi span the County, where he grew up, and in the Hamptons, where he ceramic lamp on the end table is one of a serves on the architectural and historic review board for his pair. Mendelson collaborates with Cynthia

Portrait: Gabriel Byrnes, a contemporary consultant, on generations beloved second-home village of Sagaponack, founded in 1653. many projects, including this one. A comfortable space with verve

and grace to And in the remaining hours, feeling of it. It’s as if I’m their storyteller.” With such Mendelson and his husband of In the Upper West Side project, he aimed for a spectacular views balance design five years, a Wall Street bond calm and neutral space with punches of color, lay- of the Hudson River, Mendelson chose to trader, are hands-on with their ers of texture, and a bit of metallic whimsy sprin- and parenting own brood—twin two-year-olds “float” the furniture kled about, all in the service of the couple’s de- away from the and a five-year-old. Their fami- sire for an international vibe. He knew it would walls and windows. ly is centered in Park Slope in a stately prewar co-op require a delicate balancing act, somewhere “be- The blue sectional overlooking Prospect Park. “When my kids are a lit- tween creating a calm space and having enough provides something tle older, and ready not to destroy it,” he says, “only energy in the room.” He’s pleased with how dy- sturdy to ground the then will I restore it.” To make everything work, he namic the layout and colors feel. space, he explains. “It’s not meant to builds in two super-long workdays a week so that he In the living- and dining-room combination, he can be home more on alternate days. You see, he un- be formal and stiff; says the wide expanses of glass convinced him to that’s why we tufted derstands the importance of comfort and safety, and have a lower-slung “floating” furniture configura- it.” The mahogany why a graceful and round mahogany cocktail table tion, making sure nothing was hugging the walls or cocktail table is (this one by T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings) was the way to impeding the spectacular views. But then he con- by T. H. Robsjohn- go in the clients’ living room. And he knows the day tradicted that approach in the master bedroom, Gibbings. will come when the sleek daybed in the living room obscuring the wall-sized window with a mid-cen- becomes a springboard for toddler tumbling. tury walnut dresser and by grouping sensual and So he listened carefully for the gist and nuance lovely objects on top, including kissing penguins of what his clients wanted their new home and life by the Swedish artist Gunnar Nylund dating to the to feel like and then went to work. “This is a scary process,” he says. “They were busy and knew they

A his-and-hers office couldn’t do it on their own. So they trusted us to alcove off the living flex our muscles.” room features a Architecturally, he considers himself more of a custom white oak classicist, and earned an undergraduate degree in desk, millwork, and pocket doors for that discipline from Columbia University. But when privacy, all designed it comes to creating interiors, his primary focus, he by Mendelson. “We leans toward the modern, often but not always with used funky fabrics to a mid-century bent. “My wheelhouse is the ’30s give some zing; and the through the ’60s,” he says. “I could get lost there. I wall covering, a Phillip love French and Italian design, some American, too. Jeffries , has a I’m a student who still has a lot to learn.” metallic vibe to it,” he says. The chairs are Once, for a Hamptons showhouse stairway land- upholstered in Water ing area, he hauled in a gorgeous mahogany propel- Stripe Emb by Kelly ler from a World War II-era plane as the room’s orga- Wearstler for Lee Jofa. nizing principle, making it a true landing pad. These The wall sconce is a days, he’s excited about hitting the refresh for contemporary piece by a Mediterranean revival mansion in the sub- Westwood Lighting; urbs, circa 1920. And he hates the two table lamps are The stained oak dining vintage. The Sodium to pigeonhole himself or the table with black metal Chloride Molecular people who hire him: “No mat- legs is Italian, dating Model on the desk is ter the style, I’m always trying to the 1950s; the set of French from the 1940s. to guide them to a more eclec- dining chairs with an tic look,” he says. “It’s less about ebony finish are also the stuff and more about the Italian, from the 1960s.

84 m o d e rn WINTER 2015 s p rin g 2 0 1 0 m o d e rn 85 1950s. “I have some fear of heights so I liked do- Mendelson opened up ing it,” he says of decorating the view, adding for a the galley kitchen onto laugh, “it’s only New Jersey.” the living room and kept it quiet. “We weren’t What’s most charming and even disarming about trying to make a major Mendelson is his tendency to quote his mother, statement; it’s just a Mimi, when talking about his work and why he de- modern moment,” he says, cided—after early forays into becoming a talent “clean and simple.” The agent—to follow her example and jump into the art deco bar stools with design world. He didn’t realize how much knowl- woven leather seats are edge she had calmly introduced him to during his French from the 1940s. childhood in Scarsdale and on their travels. At res- Animals are everywhere, taurants, he was encouraged to draw detailed body another Mendelson parts like hands and fingernails. And then as a teen- touch. In the baby’s ager in the 1980s, he remembers watching “Moon- room, the bird lamp is new but the horse is an lighting” and “Thirtysomething” with his mother antique. And the Savoy while thumbing through House Beautiful and Archi- glider chair is from tectural Digest. Quite casually they discussed what DwellStudio. The bone- they liked and didn’t like. inlaid dresser contributes He often visited her “an international vibe,” design office and was par- Mendelson aimed he says. ticularly intrigued by the Mendelson wanted the technical . But master bedroom to be it wasn’t until he was in for a calm and soft and serene, but also his twenties and work- colorful. He opted for ing for the literary agent neutral space with sea-foam greens and blues and lavenders: “A Joni Evans, at the Wil- punches of color feminine palette in a not- liam Morris Agency, that so feminine surrounding.” he had a career epiphany. A lot of the furniture Evans was always framing interesting art and pho- was the couple’s, but tographs but she never hung them; they were piled not the “wonderful old up around her office. Once, when she went away for dresser by Henredon,” a few days, he took it upon himself to organize her which Mendelson found through 1stdibs. The space in “a salon like style.” She loved it, and he real- penguin figures and the ized he was in the wrong profession. blue speckled are by Eventually, he got another degree at the New York Nylund for Rörstrand. School of and then apprenticed with Steven Gambrel before convincing his dear Mimi to come out of nearly two decades of retirement and teach him the business in a more formal way. She is now retired again and stars as an adoring grandmoth- er to his children. And what does he hear from his client, new par- ents to a baby daughter? “They’re happy,” he says, “with the life we’ve cre- ated for them.” m

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