New NYC-centric design books that inspire

Real Estate

From flowers as public art on New York City streets to a celebrated photographer’s love letter to New York interiors, a slew of new design books celebrate the many facets of New York.

New York insider

Simon Upton side by side his book.
Yellow jacket: “New York Interiors” is Simon Upton’s (left) first and canary-colored tome.
Simon Upton

With a bright yellow cover that conjures the energy of a New York City taxi, acclaimed interiors photographer Simon Upton’s first book “New York Interiors” (Vendome, October 2021; $75) is an homage to the city (and city dwellers) that he loves.

Divided between City and Getaway, readers are invited inside the private spaces of some of New York’s most creative characters, from Hamish Bowle’s colorful, shabby-chic West Village apartment to Diana Picasso’s serene coastal retreat in Amagansett, NY.

“Simon Upton has an unrivaled ability to bring elegance to the rooms he photographs without losing any of their intensity or dynamism,” writes Rupert Thomas, editor of World Of Interiors magazine, in the book’s forward. “It’s as if he’s caught the city that never sleeps as it emerges from a restorative moment of shut-eye: calm, poised, and ready for its close-up.”

Flower power

Side by side of Lewis Miller and his book.
Budding career: Designer Lewis Miller’s (left) chronicles chronicles “flower flashes” in NYC.
Lewis Miller

A riotous arrangement of sunflowers, cattails and lavender sprout from a sunken gravel pit on West 14th Street cordoned off by orange barricades and construction cones.

A cacophony of sweet peas, carnations, chrysanthemums and English garden roses cascade from a city trashcan. These exuberant, improvisational expressions — dubbed “flower flashes” — are the creation of New York City event and floral designer Lewis Miller.

Recycling flowers by the truckload from his lavish events, the idea was born of a desire to reengage with his creativity and share the beauty of bouquets previously sequestered inside ballrooms with the masses as public art.

“Turning my craft on its head has allowed me to share my infatuation with flowers with my fellow New Yorkers,” writes Miller in “Flower Flash (Monacelli, October 2021; $55), his new book chronicling these random acts of beauty.

Serenity now!

Side by side of the Workstead book and a comtemporary space it designed.
Design studio Workstead flaunts its contemporary work in “Workstead: Interiors of Beauty and Necessity.”
Rizzoli

Brooklyn design studio Workstead, known for its thoughtful conversions of historic buildings into sublime contemporary spaces — from Williamsburg’s Wythe Hotel to Park Slope’s One Prospect Park West condominiums — has published their first monograph, “Workstead: Interiors of Beauty and Necessity” (Rizzoli New York, October 2021; $65).

From a Tribeca loft to a Shelter Island home and a Charleston, SC, carriage house, the book is filled with their trademark sumptuous wood millwork, globe lighting and wrought iron and brass finishes for unique spaces that feel both minimalist and warm.

“We approach our interior design projects with two opposing forces at play,” said Workstead co-founder Robert Highsmith of his firm’s philosophy, “the idea of beauty, or material depth, and the idea of utility, or necessity.”

Old school cool

Side by side of The Carlyle book and a bartender.
A bartender shakes things up at the storied Carlyle as documented by author James Reginato.
Assouline

From the story of Bemelmans Bar’s mural wallpaper, which was hand-painted in the 1940s in exchange for a room by Ludwig Bemelmans, author and illustrator of the beloved children’s book “Madeline,” to Bill Murray’s irreverent, star-studded Netflix Christmas special “A Very Murray Christmas” set there more recently, the Carlyle is one of New York City’s great hallowed haunts.

Written by James Reginato with a forward by Lenny Kravitz, “The Carlyle” (Assouline, September 2021; $120) celebrates the classic Madison Avenue hotel’s 90th anniversary, highlighting the recent renovation by designer Tony Chi, and weaving its history through archival photography and illustrations.

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