In the Home

Omer Arbel, the creative director at industrial design firm Bocci, was given three parameters when he began designing a home for his colleague Randy Bishop: Create a “profound” connection between the internal and external spaces; build only one level; and, most crucially, utilize a wealth of 100-year-old beams salvaged from a series of warehouses owned by Bishop’s ancestors.

"Across the room is the first 25 bench I ever made; it was salvaged from a now-closed restaurant I codesigned, called Ping’s Cafe, where Aileen and I met. Hanging over the bench is our first Bocci 14 light fixture. I feel like it would be bad luck not to have it in the house. Other pieces in the kitchen—like the wooden island Aileen found in an alleyway and the yellow ceramics by Knabstrup, a Danish company active in the 1960s—we’ve collected along the way.”

Three 28.1 Single Mini pendant lights by Bocci hang above a dining table that was custom-built by the owner and her father. Bikappa dining chairs by Kristalia mirror the clean lines of the vintage chair in the living room.

After removing two small kitchens from the original building, the home’s new kitchen dominates the second floor, opening onto the living area. Fixtures in the kitchen include 14 Series pendants by Omer Arbel for Bocci, and Charles Ghost stools by Philippe Starck for Kartell.

“Many of my pieces are first-runs from Bocci, so I am the first to figure out if something is wrong [with the design]. In the bedroom, we have an early 28 chandelier; we used glass fading from white to clear for the first time, which gives it an eerie luminescence."

Above the sink in the kitchen, you can see one of Bocci’s first 57 chandeliers.