Collaborative Living

A new exhibition by interior designer Robert Stilin and art dealer Sarah Gavlak is a homecoming in more ways than one. Friends for nearly 25 years, the pair are merging their practices to create “Living with Art and Design: A Collaborative Presentation by Robert Stilin and Sarah Gavlak” in West Palm Beach, Florida where the two met in the early aughts when they were both starting out their careers

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Against the backdrop of the late sculptor and children’s book author Ann Weaver Norton’s former home and garden, Stilin’s selection of furniture and lighting, both vintage and contemporary, is staged alongside Gavlak’s roster of contemporary artists. In the living room, an orange 1960s Djinn sofa by Olivier Mourgue is positioned beneath a dark blue portrait of actor Ryan Gosling by artist Andrew Brischler. Elsewhere, Rob Wynn’s Disregard, 2001, hangs above a glazed ceramic lamp from 1940s France, stoneware crafted by artist Adam Silverman in 2016, and a sculptural 2023 table-light by Natasha Dakhli. 

To create the exhibition, the duo dug deep into their art and design reservoirs to extract the best of both worlds. The now-New York-based Stilin, who pairs crisp and architectural designs with tactile, vintage furniture, has honed a distinct aesthetic that is both versatile and sophisticated, earning him the title of Architectural Digest’s Top 100 designers four times in the last decade. Gavlak, who opened her eponymous, West Palm Beach-based gallery in 2005, has spent her career platforming emerging LGBTQ+ and minority artists. Today, their exhibition reflects the way the city has shaped their practices, and vice versa.