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A Showroom to Call Home

By , Curbed and New York Magazine’s design editor  who covers the city’s most spectacular interiors.

Sofie and Frank Christensen Egelund moved from Copenhagen to New York City in 2014 with their two children to open the first Vipp showroom in America, which also happens to be their home.

But this story really starts in 1939: That’s when Sofie’s grandfather Holger Nielsen, a metal welder, was asked by his wife, Marie, who had opened a hairdressing salon, to make her a waste bin. The rest you might say is Danish-design history, as the pedal-controlled bin Holger came up with now resides in residential and commercial spaces around the globe, and, as of 2009, it takes pride of place in the permanent collection at MoMA. Sofie, a third-generation owner of her family’s business, Vipp, a design company, currently lives in a Tribeca loft that used to be a former sausage factory and also serves as the company showroom.

The living room, seen above, feels like a tree house, with the foliage of the back garden in full leaf. The Zanotta sofa and ottoman can be reconfigured any which way. The carpet is from Hay, and the two Eames chairs are from Herman Miller. The standing lamp is from Ingo Maurer.

One enters the space in the kitchen, seen here, outfitted with Vipp’s wall module, which includes a stainless-steel countertop and a built-in sink and cook top. The iconic Vipp waste bin is at the back, on the left near the refrigerator. Photo: Courtesy of Vipp/Pia Ulin
The dark palette of the walls matches the freestanding kitchen units, this one containing storage drawers. The Vipp shelving above contains family pieces brought over from Copenhagen. “We had this space, and we had each other. We didn’t know anybody. The kids did not speak one word of English,” Sofie says of the day they entered the empty, all-white loft, in 2014. “We were living in a gypsy-like style for a while.” Photo: Courtesy of Vipp/Pia Ulin
The dining table and chairs, designed by Poul Kjaerholm, are family heirlooms brought over from Copenhagen. The area rug is from Tisca, and the floors are Microtopped cement. Photo: Courtesy of Vipp/Pia Ulin
The loft was completely reimagined by Sofie and Frank, who wanted a serene, light-infused space that also contained private areas that would not interfere with the luxury of the open plan. The reflections off the polished, poured-concrete floors add a glow, no matter where you are. Here, a view toward the living room from the kitchen, with a unique wall light by Birgit Ostergaard. Photo: Courtesy of Vipp/Pia Ulin
The Hästens bed in the master bedroom is visible through the custom blackened-steel-and-glass wall that allows for privacy but doesn’t close off that corner of the living area. The floor lamp by the bed is Vipp. On the right side of the hallway, the custom office desk can be moved to make way for the Murphy bed for visiting family and friends. Photo: Courtesy of Vipp/Douglas Friedman
The children’s room features a bunk bed from Urbangreen in Brooklyn. The circle rug is from Hay, and the pillows are from Lisbet Friis. Photo: Courtesy of Vipp/Pia Ulin
The tub in the master bath is from Tyrrell & Laing, and the faucet is from Vola. The Vipp shelving is in powder-coated white and complements the Microtopped cement wall treatment. Vipp, which loosely means “to tilt” in Danish, has grown from the design of one humble industrial waste bin into a company that offers the elegant simplicity of a system for living, which is a great thing for a complicated world. Photo: Courtesy of Vipp/Pia Ulin

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The Tribeca Loft That Doubles As a Design Showroom