Clinton Hill

Designers Create a Cabinet of Curiosities in Clinton Hill

The Clinton Hill apartment of designers Kasia Wisniewski and Nick Foley is filled with the creative oddities and DIY projects one would expect from a pair of aesthetically minded makers. The collection includes everything from antique glitter and a paper kaleidoscope from Foley’s mother (a vintage wholesaler), to a chunk of crystalized honey from a manufacturing trip…

by Barbara Eldredge

11/04/2015 1

The Clinton Hill apartment of designers Kasia Wisniewski and Nick Foley is filled with the creative oddities and DIY projects one would expect from a pair of aesthetically minded makers.

The collection includes everything from antique glitter and a paper kaleidoscope from Foley’s mother (a vintage wholesaler), to a chunk of crystalized honey from a manufacturing trip to China, handmade paper flowers from their June wedding, and a slab of white marble pulled from a dumpster in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

“Since we are both designers, we have the tendency to just accumulate little things,” Wisniewski explained, gesturing toward a shelf in their kitchen where small gold-painted figures perched on dishes and vintage knick knacks. “We both make a lot of stuff too, so we also display our experiments.”

Remarkably, this eclectic assemblage coheres into a kind of living cabinet of curiosities. One secret? The paint.

The apartment’s restrained palette of white, cream, and gray provides a blank canvas for experimentation and collection.

“At least for me, my tastes change so rapidly that it’s nice to have a really neutral backdrop,” Wisniewski told Brownstoner. “Choosing any one strong color would just create too much visual noise. The light walls let all of the accessories do the talking.”

A floral 3D-printed nylon headdress made by Wisiniewski

Wisniewski and Foley met in a jewelry-making class at Pratt almost seven years ago. She still designs jewelry today, using software to create incredibly life-like renderings and 3D printing them in nylon or metal. Her Etsy store is called Collected Edition.

Foley works as a designer and engineer for Social Bicycles, a bike share company that’s more like Car2Go than it’s like Citi Bike.

The duo found their 800-square-foot Clinton Hill apartment on Craigslist in 2011. It has 13-foot ceilings and a decent layout — kitchen and bathroom in the back of the house, living room in the middle, workshop and bedroom up three steps in an extension at the front of the building.

Wisniewski’s lace wedding dress — which she made herself — hangs on display above the sofa

Foley created a hanging garden in one corner of the living room

The bedroom is just big enough for their bed, drawers, and a set of yellow storage lockers from the now-closed Meeker Avenue Flea Market

The workroom is also used for storage of creative materials, supplies, and experiments in progress

The couple bought a set of photography lights to use in product shoots, but liked the light so much they use them as permanent light sources in the living room and kitchen “I like an operating room-style of light,” Foley joked.