DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT 










Cullman & Kravis Associates is known for providing the highest quality of design excellence and personal service since 1984, collaborating closely with clients to realize their aesthetic ideas and practical needs. (from left to right) Lee Cavanaugh, Alyssa Urban, Ellie Cullman and Sarah Ramsey.

Since its founding in 1984, Cullman & Kravis Associates has established itself as one of the most highly-regarded interior design firms in the world. The firm, run by founder Ellie Cullman and her three partners, Lee Cavanaugh, Sarah Ramsey and Alyssa Urban, is best known for redefining the traditional interior with a more modern aesthetic. Cullman & Kravis creates homes that incorporate antiques from all periods and origins alongside contemporary art, custom furnishings and exquisite textiles. Their work is layered and complex, yet still comfortable and livable. Cullman & Kravis’ dynamic interiors blend traditional and modern into one-of-a-kind homes that reflect each individual homeowner. Ellie and her team have spent four decades mastering the mix of classic and contemporary. 



Cullman & Kravis collaborated with architect Tom Kligerman of Ike Kligerman Barkley to create this art-filled guest house in the Hamptons. The home is far from a casual beach house, displaying the client’s extensive collection of contemporary art. All of the furnishings are works of art as well, from the Hervé Langlais dining table commissioned through Galerie Negropontes, Paris while on a shopping trip with the client, to the 1950s walnut dining chairs by Ico Parisi. The accessories are contemporary collectible limited edition and unique pieces, adding rich layers of tones and textures. “Nitor” patinated and polished bronze candlesticks on the dining table are from a limited edition by Aldus, a creative collaboration between designer Achille Salvagni and architect Fabio Gnessi. A metallic gold-glazed ceramic “Gem Cluster” sculpture by Kelly Lamb gleams from a corner perch, joined by a pair of crystal-shaped hand-blown glass vessels lined in gold mirroring by Jeff Zimmerman. Filmy ombré curtains spangled with silver droplets gradate from cloud white to dramatic deep sea blue. The color palette was taken directly from the home’s surroundings, specifically the sprawling ocean views out every window. The combination of light woods and marine blues with contemporary furnishings and shiny brass finishes elevates the space to much more than a cottage by the sea. Photo by Eric Piasecki/OTTO



The library of this Georgian-style home features antiques ranging from an 18th-century Italian desk to a 19th-century French gilt-bronze chandelier to a Meiji-period Japanese vase. A 19th-century terra-cotta figure stands in the corner, surveying the room. Custom furnishings upholstered in silk and velvet sit atop an antique Tabriz rug circa 1880. The walls are clad in anigre wood paneling, and the curtains are made from hand-painted fabric by Pintura Studio. A painting by the prominent American landscape artist George Inness hangs over the Louis XVI fireplace mantel. Sprinkled throughout the room, a collection of Picasso ceramics adds a whimsical note. Custom commissions are a significant component in the firm’s interiors, and they readily draw upon their extensive knowledge of historic and contemporary design to create perfect elements for the space. Here, the pair of round pedestal side tables in the style of Jules Leleu was a custom commission, and the coffee table was crafted with a set of patinated bronze palm-form legs sourced from Newel Gallery, combined with an antique specimen marble top. The designers worked with a stone yard and a fabricator to “gild the lily” with an inlaid Rosso Collemandina marble border, making the table a truly special and unique piece. The result of mixing all of these styles is a room that feels as if it has been there forever, full of objects collected over time and travels. Photo by Eric Piasecki/OTTO





790 Madison Ave., 7th fl., New York, NY 10065      212.249.3874      cullmankravis.com 






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