A Touch Celestial, Strikingly Bold—This Designer’s 550-Square-Foot Studio Is a Genuine Jewel Box
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Interior designer Ernesto Gloria has mastered the art of high-low. A devoted antique hunter, Gloria can intuitively sense whether a prized vintage lamp, heirloom chair, or thrifted artwork will harmonize with anIKEA sofaor CB2 table. He sources shelving from warehouse supply stores and fabric from textile studios likeSchumacherandZak + Fox. Those unexpected pairings are precisely what lend his projects an immediate sense of being lived-in, as though each piece were gathered over time.
That intuition is on full display in his own home as well. Gloria, who had worked withinTom Scheerer’s practice before launching his own studio during the pandemic, had just establishedStudio Trewhen he discovered a 550-square-foot studio for rent in London Terrace Gardens, a storied, circa-1930s courtyard building he’d long yearned to inhabit. He leapt at the opportunity for several reasons, chief among them his built-in community there. But there was also the convenience of it all: “I go to the barber downstairs. I’ve had acupuncture downstairs, a facial,” Gloria recounts. “It’s the New York dream of having everything in the building.”
He cites early-2000s shows likeWill & GraceandFriendsas design inspiration—his earliest impressions of what a New York City apartment could be. “There are little Easter eggs in my apartment that remind me of those two shows,” he says, nodding to a frame over the peephole like in Monica’s apartment and a comparable eclecticism to Will’s place. “[They] gave me the permission to be more playful and unconventional with my decorating, not to mention the urge to create little mise-en-scènes throughout the apartment since every shot or angle needs to be considered.”
Plus, the unit isn’t a typical open-plan layout. This one offers a separate foyer, kitchen, and dressing room nook where he could tuck his bed away. “I love the separation of spaces, because you have more walls to put art up and play around with,” Gloria notes. Ahead, he guides us through his petite, personality-packed Chelsea apartment.
Samantha Weiss-Hills is the managing editor for Domino. She edits and writes home tours and features, and she’s the friend who everyone texts for glassware, sofa, and sheet recommendations. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Alex, and their beagle-corgi, Elsa.
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