Athena CalderonePhoto: Kate Owen
There’s a regular housewarming—and then there’s the kind that comes in conjunction with an Architectural Digest cover story and a debut furniture collection to extend the home’s aesthetic signatures to shoppers around the world. Such was this case this week when Athena Calderone pulled the curtains back—literally and metaphorically speaking—to show the design world what she’s been cooking up for the last two years.
When your original address—not just a Brooklyn townhouse, but the Brooklyn townhouse—becomes Pinterest’s definitive mood board-inspiring space, the pressure is on for the next act to follow suit. In sync with the birth of her namesake design firm, Studio Athena Calderone, the longtime New Yorker came across a slice of city history in need of a refresh.
Her Tribeca digs was most recently owned by French architect Thierry Despont (whose own design credits include the Statue of Liberty and the Ritz Paris.) After a lengthy gut renovation process, the all-rounder and her family recently moved back in, sharing the first look within the April issue of AD. On Tuesday evening, the publication’s global editorial director, Amy Astley, was among the first in the door to say congratulations at a housewarming party hosted in partnership with The Future Perfect.
Calderone, the author of Live Beautiful, took her role as the consummate host as seriously as one would expect. In a liquid-look bronze silk maxi dress by Heirlome, she greeted supermodel Ashley Graham in the high-ceilinged bathroom, where the tub had been filled with chilled bottles of Veuve Clicquot, presided over by a blazer-clad bartender.
In the kitchen, Martha Stewart and design editor Kate Berry—her former employee—reunited near a glossy croquembouche tower (the almost too-good-to-touch smorgasbord of food was the work of fashion’s favorite caterer, Acquolina.) Jacquelyn Jablonski and Selby Drummond hung out in the living room, getting a sneak preview of Calderone’s forthcoming furniture line which is dotted throughout the home. Many designers, both fashion—Maria McManus, Rachelle Hruska, Francisco Costa—and interiors—Nate Berkus, Madelynn Hudson Furlong, Alyssa Kapito—also popped by.
As well-wishers floated between a recording studio, the walk-in closet, a media room, and guest bedrooms, Tuco, the dog, looked completely unfazed by the dozens of curious guests peeking behind every corner.
