In our latest video tour, interior designer Peter Dolkas of Studio Dorion takes us inside his Brooklyn apartment—or, as he puts it, his laboratory. Because the apartment was turn-key, requiring no major renovations, and the kitchen a sleek wall of slate blue cabinets, he knew the open floor plan would be a thrill to decorate.
In the living room, he chose the same fabric for all of his upholstered pieces—a decorating trick borrowed from the classic English country-house playbook, but one that Dolkas put his own spin on by using a solid instead of a pattern. The effect is that of a quiet, meditative cocoon—something that Dolkas often yearns for after spending the day working with a wide range of colors and pattern.
Dolkas’s favorite piece? His sofa. “It’s a great place to crash at the end of the day,” he says.
William WaldronDrawing inspiration from artist Donald Judd’s live-work space in New York, Dolkas’s bedroom is spartanly furnished with a platform bed, a single mahogany Chippendale reproduction chair covered in a solid brushed wool, and simple, Shaker-like panel shutters. Dolkas added a bold dose of interest with a graphic checkerboard quilt inspired by one of Anni Albers’s iconic rug designs from 1928.
The custom bedspread was inspired by a 1928 rug design by modernist textile artist Anni Albers whose craft developed at the Bauhaus School in Germany before she fled to the United States during World War II.
William Waldron
