F
or 14 years,Ross Alexander lived in a 200-square-foot studio
apartment on the Upper West Side. Last October, the interior
designer felt it was finally time to be able to walk more than two
feet to cross the room (one morning when he woke up, he simply
moved his arm and knocked over a lamp, which was the “last straw”), so
he found a larger apartment, a rental in a prewar building in Washington
Heights. “It’s so much more fun to bounce ideas off someone,” says Alex-
ander (who worked variously for the late Prince of Chintz, Mario Buatta;
Robert Couturier; and Robert A.M. Stern before becoming director of
product development at Kate Verner + Associates), so he turned to his
good friend Brock Forsblom, also a designer, for help. “I told him, ‘Think
Manolo,’ ” as in the designer Manolo Blahnik. Dries Van Noten’s home
outside of Antwerp was another inspiration with its rich palette and
overlay of antiques and patterns. “There is a general opinion that maxi-
malism is about clutter,” Forsblom says, “but everything in this apart-
ment has its spot, and every object engages the eye.” They created specific
“zones,” which helped create aesthetic order: “There’s the garden living
room, the gentlemanly entry hall, the scholar’s study, the Zeffirelli-
Mongiardino caravan-of-dreams bedroom,” Forsblom says. Working pro
to pro, the designers could banter about all the geeky details, as when
Forsblom asked Alexander, “Shouldn’t we do a tiny little shantung flange
to dress the cord twist, or would a tiny welt pipe be better?” And every
morning, Alexander would be greeted by a flurry of text messages with
links to various items Forsblom had found at online auctions. The two
designers enjoyed the process so much, Alexander says, “we’ve joked
about sending it all back to auction and starting over.”Controlled chaos
in Washington Heights.bywendygoodman
54
design hunting
When a
Designer Designs
for Another
Designer