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A New Showroom for a Pair of Longtime Designers

Designers Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz and Steven Wine created a workplace with a fantastical aesthetic.

The new showroom. Photo: Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz and Steven Wine
The new showroom. Photo: Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz and Steven Wine

Since establishing his own design company in 1992, interior designer Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz’s clients have included Lenny Kravitz, Patricia Field, and venues like the Mondrian Hotel in Soho. Meanwhile, Steven Wine started his lighting company “And Bob’s Your Uncle” in 1993, growing it to ABYU Lighting in 2007, when whimsical collaborations with artists became an important part of his line. The two have worked together since 1998 and have never played by any rules other than their own. Their first apartment together made the cover of New York Magazine’s “Home Design” issue in October 1999, ushering in the new millennium with an otherworldly interior bathed in silver aluminum paint, Eero Saarinen womb chairs upholstered in Knoll fabric that seemed to levitate off the floor, and Lenor Larsen’s “Moonbeams” fabric. Recently, they created a combined showroom — a 1,200-square-foot space, seen here, that was formerly inhabited by ABYU Lighting. It’s a mere six blocks from their apartment, and although their studio staff are working remotely for now, in time clients will be able to make appointments to visit, masked up and socially distanced, of course.

“This was done by the artist Scooter LaForge,” Noriega-Ortiz says. “He did two identical paintings, one with the faces showing — we have that one at home — and this one, where he decided to erase the faces, which we chose for the studio. Pre-COVID but very au courant, right?” The inside of ABYU lampshade in the foreground was also painted by Scooter LaForge. Photo: Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz and Steven Wine
“The rug is a sample made by Aronson’s Carpet and Flooring, which we created for the Mondrian in the Bahamas. The pattern is a print of pink bougainvillea, a flower native to the Bahamas. It’s at every elevator landing in the hotel,” Noriega-Ortiz says. Photo: Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz and Steven Wine
During the renovation, they put down a cement floor and added a kitchen, seen here. The fringe used to mask the shelving storage is white polyester from M&J Trimming. A friend gave Wine the Chinese zodiac figures that hang on the wall by the sink. Photo: Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz and Steven Wine
A day bed and collected art pieces that include an original Paco Rabanne dress and bag bought at auction hang on the wall. “Steven decided to paint the purple background to give it presence,” Noriega-Ortiz says. Photo: Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz and Steven Wine
Noriega-Ortiz can be seen here in the foreground and Wine on the table, hanging a light. “It was quite a tour de force, blending our two styles,” Noriega-Ortiz says. “Our office was very architectural and minimal, and this showroom is the opposite: It’s as whimsical as can be. We decided to take inspiration from artists’ ateliers. And we have a lot of our BNO Design furniture prototypes mixed with found pieces that were in the studio when we arrived.” Photo: Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz and Steven Wine

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A Fantastical New Showroom for a Pair of Longtime Designers