Athena Calderone’s name became synonymous with her aesthetic—earth tones and minimalistic, white-on-white decor—until her designs took on a life of their own. Inside her new, moody New York apartment, another adventure awaits.
It’s snowing outside of Athena Calderone’s new 13-foot, coffered-ceiling TriBeCa apartment that she shares with her partner, the producer and DJ Victor Calderone. The interior designer, culinary storyteller, and founder of EyeSwoon plays frisbee with her dog, Tuco, in a floor-length white Altuzarra knit dress that shows off her statuesque figure while simultaneously ordering us 20 smash burgers from 7th Street.
Inside, the view from the fifth floor makes me feel like we’re in a Viennese snow globe. There’s a walk-in vault with a tower of Saratoga water (that Calderone climbs onto); couture drapes from the closet rods; and a printer and computers show signs of a makeshift office space. A few space heaters offer a brief reprieve from the cold winter air, and music plays in the distance from her husband’s studio, one day to be a bathroom.
From the moment she laid eyes on the building, Calderone fell in love with its history and original woodwork. “Discovery is my favorite part of the design process,” she emphasizes as we tour the yet-to-be renovated space. Erected in 1902, it was originally a dairy distribution center before it was turned into condos in the late ’80s. The famed French architect Thierry Despont lived on this very site, the home’s new owner shares, before he sold it to an unnamed Japanese pop star.
As Calderone embarks on her design plans, she looks toward a moody palette with saturated hues paired with geometric forms from the Art Deco period and the Viennese Secession—visual cues that are polar opposite to her Brooklyn and Amagansett homes in which her interior design took on a life of its own, appearing across Pinterest-ready apartments. Now she is excited to go in a new direction.
In another unusual turn, Calderone’s kitchen is uncharacteristically empty due to its pre-renovation state. The decision to camp out in the sparse quarters was key to unlocking its soon-to-be vibrant future. “I wanted to discover these rooms in their purest form, just the bones, the light, and the history, as I allowed myself to dream,” she muses.
“First up? The kitchen!” Calderone exclaims of the forthcoming project that will see the area—“in its late ’80s, early ’90s power-suit state”—get an injection of the interior designer’s own aesthetic. “I have built a myriad of memories with the people I cherish most in the kitchen,” she says with a smile as she imagines future dinners in their new home. “The wine is flowing, candle wax is dripping, and the air is filled with the hum of conversation and laughter.”
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Traditionally served on Shrove Tuesday, this sweet, cardamom-flavored pastry never goes out of season for photographer Jukka Ovaskainen.
