Art Direction for West Elm’s Spring 2021 campaign. Images used across marketing channels, including site, email, catalog, and social. Photographed on-location in Amagansett, NY.
Photography by Adrian Gaut.
Styling by Colin King.
Soft Styling by Fern Rudin.
Art Direction for West Elm’s Holiday 2020 “Joyful Modern” campaign. Images used across marketing channels, including site, email, catalog, and social. Photographed on-location in Brooklyn, NY.
Photography by James Ransom.
Styling by JC Garcia Lavin.
Art Direction for a West Elm Holiday feature on food stylist Jason Schreiber’s new cookbook, Fruitcake. Photographed on-location in Brooklyn, NY.
Photography by James Ransom.
Photography and writing for a studio tour feature in Design*Sponge, profiling the artist and illustrator Maira Kalman.
Studio Tour: Maira Kalman
In a time when all of lower Manhattan seems to have been overrun by big-box stores and Equinox gyms, the West Village studio of legendary illustrator Maira Kalman seems almost mythic—a romantic, unfussy, and deeply “New York” vestige of what the area used to be; something that one would expect to find in movies, but never in real life.
Housed just a few floors down from the apartment she has called home for over 30 years, Maira’s studio is everything you want a studio to be. Homasote-covered walls are bedecked with handwritten quotations, inspiring bits of ephemera, news clippings, and photographs of Maira’s children. Tools of the trade—from brushes and watercolor palettes to pigment-covered paint rags—cover workspaces, just as beautiful and interesting as the pictures they create. A Frank Gehry cardboard chair sits in the corner, surrounded by books. With a feeling that reads more “club house” than “office,” the whole space hums with creative energy.
Like Kalman’s own work, her studio’s charm comes from its imperfections and personalized touches. It’s a functional space, but one that bears the markings of time, labor, and love. Although each item within Maira’s studio seems to hold a special significance to her, like reminders of specific events or people, an outsider might look at it as something of a treasure trove. Despite its small size, this is a space you could get lost in.
Art Direction for West Elm’s Holiday 2020 campaign. Images used across marketing channels, including site, email, catalog, and social. Photographed on-location at “The Lorca,” a Catskills vacation rental owned by designers Coco and Breezy Dotson.
Photography by Ryan Liebe.
Styling by Amy Wilson
Soft Styling by Fern Rudin.
Art Direction for West Elm’s 2020 product collaboration with apparel designer Eileen Fisher. The textile products that comprised the collection were all crafted from recycled denim, made in Eileen Fisher’s studios in Upstate New York. The goal of the imagery was to highlight the material qualities of the products and the sustainable nature of their production. Photographed on-location at Eileen Fisher’s Upstate NY studio, at West Elm’s Brooklyn photo studio, and outdoors at a farm in Upstate NY.
Concepted in collaboration with West Elm Video Art Director Nadia Anderson.
Photography by Ryan Liebe.
Styling by Ashley Cheeks.
Art Direction for West Elm’s 2020 product collaboration with outdoor retailer REI. The products within the collection blended the casual, urban ethos of West Elm with REI’s focus on the outdoors and quality. The goal of this shoot was to frame REI’s typical products in a setting that would make them more appealing for casual gatherings: hang-outs with friends, picnics, and days in the park. Photographed on-location in Northern California.
Photography by Seth Smoot.
Styling by Kendra Smoot.
Art direction and writing for a home tour feature on West Elm’s blog, Front + Main profiling And North founder Emma Tuccillo. Framed as a traditional home tour, the feature performed double-duty as a showcase for West Elm’s new spring collection, with new items from the assortment subtly styled throughout the photography. On the originally published article, imagery was fully shoppable, allowing for a seamless experience between storytelling and shopping.
Photography by Landon Vonderschmidt.
Styling by Marie Sullivan.
Timeless Design In An 18th Century Cottage
Emma Tuccillo and Nick Speranza seem to have the best of both worlds. The couple recently relocated from a small apartment in Queens to Hastings On Hudson—a charming locale with all the trappings of a small town, but located a mere 40 minutes from Midtown Manhattan. Straddling the Small-Town-Big-City life suits these two perfectly, with Nick operating as the wine buyer for Eataly Vino in Flatiron and Emma helming the creative direction of Upstate New York lifestyle guide, And North. Weekdays often find Nick walking down a hill to catch the Metro North train into the city and Emma working remotely—in the eighteenth century goat barn that the two call home.
Located on the riverfront grounds of a larger estate, the red-painted two-level barn is almost absurdly picturesque. It’s modest in size, but abundant in the sort of charms one associates with Upstate New York. One can imagine Rip Van Winkle himself living here: a dutch door and a stone wall welcome guests to the tiny house; looking through the kitchen window reveals a view reminiscent of Hudson River School paintings.
Emma and Nick have met the beauty of their new surroundings with a keen set of design eyes to match. Inspired by the timeless style of Emma’s grandmother, the couple has lovingly and judiciously appointed their space with beautiful objects, both functional and decorative. The home they have crafted is one that functions as a retreat—perfect for both quiet contemplation and entertaining. “Nick and I talk about our love for our home daily,” Emma says. “We feel constantly lucky to live here and are especially inspired by the little things like a boat going by on the river, the evening light filtering through our dutch doors, or the way our family heirlooms have combined so beautifully. At night, we take in the night air on walks around the neighborhood and pinch ourselves that we get to live somewhere this beautiful.”
Art Direction for West Elm’s Summer 2020 campaign. Images used across marketing channels, including site, email, catalog, and social. Photographed on-location in Marin County, CA.
Photography by Seth Smoot.
Styling by Kendra Smoot.
