Featuring 360-degree views of the Atlantic Ocean and downtown Miami, this 1,900-square-foot studio apartment on Harbor Island is Brooklyn-born artist Christopher “Flore” Florentino’s latest passion project.

A collector of midcentury-modern art and furniture since his teenage years—Flore purchased his first piece, an Eames lounge chair, at the tender age of 13—the now 37-year-old recently restored a 1963 Gene Leedy–designed ranch house in Winter Haven, Florida, to its former glory, filling it with his entire collection.

The process of designing and working on that house provided so much inspiration for the artist that he knew he had to do it again. He sold the home—and its contents—and looked for a new space to fill with his favorite things.

Returning to his adopted home of Miami, Florida, Flore purchased an eleventh-floor studio in a Chad Oppenheimer building where he had previously lived in 2016.

He started work in August of 2019, transforming the bold, open space into a reflection of his personality and passions. It was a challenge: With the Leedy home, he had great midcentury bones to work with. This space presented a very different proposition.

“It was completely raw concrete,” says Flore. “Everything. The floors, ceilings...everything.” While he loved the industrial feel, he didn’t want to live somewhere that felt like a warehouse. “I wanted to create in a place that felt warm and inviting.”

His other goal was a space that inspired his work: a true artist’s studio. To that end, he set out to create a showcase for his love of midcentury-modern furniture—filling it with pieces from George Nelson, Ray and Charles Eames, and Eero Saarinen—and an homage to celebrated Japanese designer Shiro Kuramata.

“This loft was a direct inspiration from Japanese designers, Shiro Kuramata, and my experience with Japan,” explains Flore.

He’s also heavily influenced by legendary ’80s pop artist Keith Haring. In the same way that Haring’s work disrupted the cultural and social worlds of his era, Flore’s art aims to “strip down the filters in everyday life to reveal the truth in life and ourselves,” says the artist.

In 2017, he was invited to paint at the world’s only museum dedicated to the New York City artist: the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection in Tokyo, Japan.

Flore stayed on for three weeks after the exhibition and fell in love with the culture. “It was a beautiful experience; the people are beautiful, and the country is inspiration,” he says.

Elements of Japanese design are everywhere in the studio, from the bonsai trees that litter every flat surface to the clean, low lines and open-plan living.

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Designed by Kazuhide Takahama for Knoll, a rounded Suzanne Sofa serves as the living room’s focal point, and a Japanese daybed with a mattress covered in Knoll textile anchors the sleeping area, a perfect place of respite after a day of painting.

Two Shiro Kuramata Ghost Lamps situated in the middle of the space give the studio its name, and a vintage, fluorescent 1960s light fixture evokes a Kuramata installation.

In the main room, the Japanese influence sits easily beside the American midcentury vibe evoked by classic pieces such as an Eames “surfboard” coffee table, a Knoll Womb Chair, and art by Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Their warmth and color are amplified by a Van Gogh cherry blossom wallpaper. And with cork floors and white “tin” ceilings (they’re actually styrofoam) covering the original concrete, the impression of a cozy space within this brilliant expansiveness is complete.

In addition to the living room wallpaper, other coverings help delineate the four spaces in the studio: black grid wallpaper in the artist studio/sitting room, faux wood in the kitchen, and pops of Keith Haring in the den.

The den area is also separated by a wooden room divider. “I wanted as much wood as I could to keep it warm, but also pops of stainless steel, super clean lines, and lots of color,” explains Flore of his overall design ethos.

A bold grid motif provides touches of drama, carried throughout by the gridded rugs in the main living spaces, wallpaper in the artist’s studio, and subway tile in the kitchen and bathroom. “The grid was used a lot in Kuramata’s design,” says Flore.

“I love the geometric symmetry and the contrast that the Eames surfboard coffee table on top of the gridded rug creates,” he continues. “The way the paintings and furniture in the living room play off one another—the yellow in Haring’s New York Lady Liberty with the yellow Kuramata chair, the green Suzanne Sofa with the Basquiat painting—it all keeps your eye moving along.”

The kitchen is cordoned off by aluminum air vents, painted black to contrast with the white ceilings, and a faux wood wallpaper provides a soft backdrop for the bright white cabinetry and silver appliances to pop off, softened by a line of wood-inspired vinyl cabinet fronts and a rose-quartz epoxy countertop.

“I love rose quartz: I think it’s beautiful and it reflects love, and there’s always a lot of love in the kitchen,” says Flore.

Behind the kitchen, the Van Gogh wallpaper creeps up and over into the bedroom, where a king-sized Japanese teak bed pairs with a vintage wooden credenza to create a softer, calmer space.

“I love the way wood warms up a room—the light on the wood captures that era,” says Flore. “Vintage wood pieces always add to any type of design.

The resulting studio is the quintessential artist’s space: a place that is a reflection of its creator and sparks passion in him, while providing room for calm contemplation.

“Sometimes, outrageous things sometimes can make sense: You can be very eclectic, and still have taste,” says Flore. “Stretch a little bit, be creative. You don’t always have to follow the rules.”

Related Reading: Pop Art, Street Art, and Space-Age Furniture Collide at a Painter’s Midcentury Ranch Home in Florida

Project Credits:

Interior Design by Christopher Florentino / @byFlore