This good-looking Brooklyn loft was once a babka manufacturing facility

When Kevin Seitz and Rob van Wyen – founders of furnishings model Studio Seitz – first stepped inside a former 1910 babka manufacturing facility in Brooklyn, they weren’t actively in search of a loft area, not to mention one within the flashy Williamsburg neighbourhood. But, its hovering ceilings, dramatic pure mild and authentic timber beams had been brimming with potential. By way of a meticulous eight-year intestine renovation, the 1,200 sq ft (111 sq metres) duplex was skillfully changed into the duo’s residence, workspace and showroom for his or her Swiss-made furnishings.

‘One of many benefits of renovating your personal residence slowly is that you’ve the posh of attempting one thing earlier than deciding whether or not it’s proper,’ says Seitz. Provides van Wyen, ‘We work equally with our designs; prototyping, residing with issues, and studying from them.’

A earlier residential conversion had burdened the inside with heavy concrete stairs and artificial bamboo flooring that obscured the loft’s authentic character. The couple wished to convey again that character whereas incorporating visible and structural references to Seitz’s native Switzerland, together with Zurich’s Helmhaus Artwork Museum, viaduct system and even chalet structure. Over the course of the renovation – 85 per cent of which was carried out themselves, they estimate – the duo revealed and refined the duplex’s architectural origins. ‘Loads of work went into making the condo really feel easy,’ says van Wyen.

Insulation and electrical techniques had been hid between uncovered rafters, a transfer that helped maximise ceiling top and structural readability. A disciplined palette – darkish kitchen joinery, blackened metal window frames, tactile timber surfaces and stainless {hardware} creates cohesion all through. ‘We lowered the variety of supplies and hues all through the loft and repeated sure particulars. It helped join areas that had beforehand felt unrelated,’ van Wyen explains.

Swiss precision additionally carries by, from the geometric alignment of the structure (examined out many instances utilizing short-term partitions) to the position of round energy retailers and cupboard pulls. Straightening the primary staircase freed up invaluable ground-level area for a personal bed room, walk-in wardrobe and a laundry space. Sudden spatial cavities yielded intelligent options, like a hidden mezzanine that’s now used as a 3D-printing workspace and visitor loft. A former coat cabinet was reworked right into a quiet research behind a frameless pocket door. ‘Inhabiting the area throughout building allowed us to look at how daylight strikes throughout seasons, straight shaping our synthetic lighting scheme,’ provides Seitz.

After all, the condo is crammed with the pair’s designs, together with the Studio Seitz Helm couch, Limmat occasional desk, Appenzeller sideboard and Chalet seating. Different Swiss design consists of a stainless-steel USM Haller shelve (‘The system nearly disappeared into the structure,’ van Wyen explains). There are additionally Scandinavian additions, like Reform kitchen cabinetry, and toilet vanities, lighting and furnishings from Vipp.

One significantly Swiss element is a clock that hovers between the residing space and kitchen. ‘The clock is an precise Swiss Railways clock,’ van Wyen says. ‘We tracked down the producer and had them make one for us. It is illuminated and related to a terminal in order that the time is totally correct. Go away it to the Swiss.’

Loads of the opposite objects are extra private, collected from household, travels and fellow creatives. There’s an Andrew Zuckerman portrait of a snowy owl within the bed room; handcrafted ceramics by Marcie McGoldrick; and a cowbell-shaped trophy received by Seitz’s grandfather, a champion pistol shooter.

All of it serves as a home showroom for his or her furnishings model. ‘Seeing furnishings in individual is extremely essential as a result of there’s a high quality of the hand and a sense which you can’t get from {a photograph},’ Seitz explains. ‘In our residence you get that, however you additionally get the broader context. A showroom allows you to contact and expertise a chunk, however there’s an intimacy that comes from visiting somebody’s residence and seeing how the designers themselves truly dwell with it.’