Walk up a narrow flight of stairs in a 19th-century loft building in Tribeca and you’ll find a frosted glass door etched with 'Quarters' in elegant script. It feels almost like the threshold to a speakeasy. Step inside, and you’re met with what looks like the library and living room of a sophisticated design collector, complete with vintage Mario Bellini sofas, frescoes on the ceiling, antique tapestries on the wall, and hand-blown glass chandeliers. Down the hallway is a bar and lounge area and upstairs is a chef’s kitchen, 50-seat dining room, and office. But Quarters isn’t a private home; it’s a boutique, wine bar, events space, gallery, and showroom by the Brooklyn-based design studio In Common With.
Inside Quarters, In Common With's new Tribeca space
Quarters, which opens to the public on 13 May 2024, is an exciting addition to Tribeca’s booming gallery scene partly because it doesn’t resemble a gallery at all, even though virtually everything inside the 8,000-square-foot-space is for sale - from a $13 jar of gochujang to Paolo Buffa chairs.
Felicia Hung and Nick Ozemba, founders of In Common With, wanted to create an inviting space for people who are interested in design, including seasoned industry professionals who are trying to find one-of-a-kind artwork for a client, design enthusiasts, and those who don’t know much about the field but are curious about it. 'We're treating Quarters like it’s our own home and that's how we want everyone to feel when they're here,' Ozemba says. Expect TikTokers to descend on the extremely stylish space once they find out about it.
But mostly, Quarters is a place where In Common With, which until now has mostly interacted with its clients online, can express its full sensibility in a physical space. Inside, the brand is showcasing its collaborations with Sophie Lou Jacobsen, Danny Kaplan, Simone Bodmer-Turner.
This year, the studio, which is best known for its lighting, branched out into furniture and the pieces, which include a wood table inlaid with ceramics by Shane Garbier, are all on view. When clients visited In Common With’s studio in Gowanus, they frequently inquired about the vintage furnishings and artwork on display - which wasn’t for sale - so Hung and Ozemba have sourced similar items to round out the space. They sought out artists who aren’t represented elsewhere in New York and who practice old-world techniques, including the Italian trompe l’oeil painter Claudio Bonuglia.
The six-year-old design brand understands that while beautiful objects are worthy in and of themselves, they become more meaningful when they’re part of a spectacular experience. To wit: During Milan Design Week in 2023, the studio didn’t stage a traditional gallery installation; instead, they, along with Jacobsen, hosted an open bar furnished with their Flora lighting collection.
Quarters is a permanent, and much more elaborate, evolution of the conceit. In Common With plans to host dinner parties with guest chefs, temporary installations, and perhaps even podcast recordings there. The design, food, and literary scenes all naturally overlap yet they can remain siloed. Quarters aims to bridge the gap. 'What's exciting to us is bringing different types of creativity into the space,' Hung says.
While concept shops like Dover Street Market, 10 Corso Como, and Merci have married retail with hospitality, the precedent for Quarters actually comes from house museums, particularly Casa Pedregal. The Mexico City house by Luis Barragan is still actively occupied, but it’s open to the public for architecture tours occasionally. 'There's this element of voyeurism and intimacy in a lot of them that I have found very inspiring,' Ozemba says.
Quarters is located at 383 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York, NY incommonwith.com
