For a young family just beginning their collectible furniture journey, hiring designer and former Galerie Philia creative director Jorge Brown Cotto to renovate their Greenpoint, Brooklyn townhouse was an especially good move. “My wife said, 'If we're going to invest in furniture, I want special pieces,' so I became their guide to emerging Brooklyn artists,” recalls Brown Cotto. The epitome of design's rising stars, including Luke Mullaney, Kouros Magsoudi, and Jeremy Anderson, now grace the family's 2,800-square-foot home.
This expertly curated home is anything but a gallery. Comfort, functionality and safety are key in this space to build a life with a new baby. Brown Cott's design allows this family life and visual experimentation to coexist.
Known for his colorful, art-filled interiors, Brown Cotto began his design practice in his native Dominican Republic over a decade ago. He built a career designing homes that centered and contributed to the development of Latin American artists' work. After moving to New York in 2021, he worked for two years at Galerie Philia, an international contemporary sculptural design and art gallery, immersing himself in the emerging American design scene. “Collection design is perceived as very cold and difficult to live in,” says the designer. While the Brooklyn home is his first project in the United States, “my goal was to create something that was cozy, homey and timeless — a fresh perspective on functional artworks,” says the designer.
The collaboration began with a visit by client and designer to a top furniture showroom in Manhattan. The homeowner's husband, an avid guitar player, fell in love with the vibrant green sofa designed for Edla by Francesco Binfare, which now dominates the living room. Its deep seat and adjustable back allow for multiple uses: lounging, practicing music, and playing with the baby. And the hue became the primary accent color Brown Cotto used for the rest of the home's interiors. The deep green paints the wood-paneled walls of the baby's room, covers the luxurious bed in the master bedroom, and drapes the dining room (with gradient linen curtains by Zac + Fox). Blue and red furniture add secondary pops of color. More subtle pastels in the artwork, lime-washed living room, and patterned bedroom wallpaper create an overall cozy, soft atmosphere.
To counter the narrow architecture common to New York townhouses, the designer turned to his “magic tool”: mirrors. He covered the walls of the living room and master bedroom with reflective, antique-look glass panels to create the illusion of more space. The living room incorporates custom wooden cabinetry by Mullaney; its hand-carved, organic shapes hide the TV when not in use. Brown Cotto says layering materials and shapes helps create a “dialogue” between the pieces. This also feeds into his goal of using work by Latin American artists in every project, usually pairing it with international furniture from different eras.
In the dining room, for example, a contemporary marble dining table is complemented by artistic metal armchairs by Spanish designer Ángel Mombiedro and a bent-steel wall sculpture by Peruvian artist Aldo Chaparro. Together, they create a gorgeous, hard-edged vignette balanced by a vintage wooden sideboard that supports bulbous table lamps by Brooklyn-based designer Danny Kaplan. “Playing with circles, squares and unexpected shapes creates visual interest,” Brown Cott explains. He also carried the philosophy under the living room, where a custom rug created in collaboration with Marcusa features a yellow-and-black abstract pattern against a neutral background. It's one of the few design collaborations created specifically for the home.
Despite their ambitions as design collectors, Brown Cott says, “the homeowners didn't want a pretentious home,” so no matter how extravagant their décor, the resulting space is warm, inviting and truly liveable.
