Katonah in the City

My new years resolution is a no-brainer. More yoga.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Last year I had the privilege to design a studio for my yoga teacher Nevine Michaan, and her daughter Danielle. Katonah Yoga NYC is located at 17th Street and 8th Avenue.

Nevine synthesized a wide variety of thought, including a healthy portion of Taoism, to develop Katonah Yoga. She and Abbie Galvin, her second in command, break many of the rules of traditional yoga. When I first discovered them up in Westchester I was confused. No shavasana? No coddling? Dialogue all through class? Starting in Pigeon pose? It was not yoga as I knew it. Now I am addicted. They go deep and the effects are profound. 

Katonah Yoga is a hands-on practice. In the image below Nevine has strapped and blocked a student into reverse namaste. She breaks us down and rebuilds with precision. Please also note the morning light streaming through the shear blinds and reflecting off the pickled oak floors! 

I welcomed the challenge to design a yoga studio. For a long time the correlation between yoga and design eluded me. These two great interests of mine seemed far apart. Then, a couple of years ago during a yoga intensive (not at Katonah Yoga) the instructor asked the class where beauty comes from. I am not a huge fan of the soul-searching side of yoga, but I managed to blurt out "order." Which was correct! Suddenly, yoga, which is all about ordering the mind and body, and design which is all about ordering one's life did not seem so far apart.

Katonah Yoga is an exercise in restraint. It is a clean, well-lighted space, ordered down to the last details. There are, however, a few "design moments" in the space like the honeycomb cubbies in the hallway (below) and the tent-like dressing rooms.

I encourage everyone to visit in the New Year. 

Namaste:)

Brief to Build

We are very pleased to be included in From Brief to Build, a new book from our friend Jennifer Hudson. The book showcases a wide variety of interiors in a case-study format. For each project it includes sketches, renderings, fabrication shots and images of the completed project. It is a very interesting document, especially the 8 pages detailing the design process behind the Corian Design Studio in Philadelphia.

Interior Design Magazine

Harry Allen Design's Pipeline in the September issue of Interior Design Magazine.

WALLPAPER October 2010

Michael Reynold's amazing story in the October Wallpaper
Featuring creased paper "sets by artist, Simon Schubert, www.simonschubert.de
And two Harry Allen Design products
Pipeline, for Dune, and Pickup, for Areaware
View the PDF on our web site

Moss

Designed in 1994 & 1999. Murray Moss decided to open a New York store offering the design objects that Europe coveted and most American retailers ignored. Working closely with the owner, Harry Allen designed a space to fit the merchant's specific marketing objectives. Products are displayed in a novel manner - by association, not category. In an effort of focus attention on the merchandise, the designer embraced the language of art galleries and museums. The natural white environment is an exercise in clarity. Every product can be seen, desired, and ultimately purchased. The store was expanded in 1999 by 4000 square feet. Working with the vocabulary developed for the original space, the expanded store also broke new ground. The product is once again behind glass, but now it is majestically displayed in pivoting cases, dioramas and walls of beautiful shelving.

Video footage taken of the original Moss interior for a competition entry.



www.mossonline.com

Dupont Corian Philadelphia Showroom

Designed in 2009. Dupont asked Harry Allen to design a showroom to showcase Corian, the solid-surfacing material. The designer responded with a series of installations each expressing a unique quality of the material. The showroom "events" include the thermo-formed lighting fixtures that hang in a standard aluminum ceiling grid, an organic conference table, translucent window screens with a photograph etched into them, pressure molded cabinetry, a backlit color photo that was printed onto Corian using a dye-sublimation technique, and two displays demonstrating the wide color palette. With the goal of inspiring other designers to work with Corian, Mr. Allen used the space to push the limits of this versatile product.

www.corian.com