Stephen Wallis, Freelance Journalist Profile

Articles

Britt and Damian Zunino's Upstate Home Is Both a Retreat and a Design Lab

2 weeks ago | 1stdibs.com | Stephen Wallis

For Damian and Britt Zunino, the husband-and-wife team behind the New York City architecture and interiors firm Studio DB, creating their cherished weekend home upstate has been a journey — one that’s lasted well over a decade and counting.
Mirrors that are designed to dazzle

1 month ago | startribune.com | Stephen Wallis

Part of human nature, it seems, is a Narcissus-like desire to gaze at shimmering surfaces that return our reflection and perhaps, as some cultures have believed, offer a glimpse of our true inner selves or even of spiritual realms beyond. Satisfying that impulse began thousands of years ago, from China to Anatolia to Mesoamerica, with hand-held mirrors made of polished bronze, copper or shiny stones such as obsidian and hematite.
Gorgeous variations of mirrors

1 month ago | seattletimes.com | Stephen Wallis

Part of human nature, it seems, is a Narcissus-like desire to gaze at shimmering surfaces that return our reflection and perhaps, as some cultures have believed, offer a glimpse of our true inner selves or even of spiritual realms beyond. Satisfying that impulse began thousands of years ago, from China to Anatolia to Mesoamerica, with hand-held mirrors made of polished bronze, copper or shiny stones such as obsidian and hematite.
This Rhode Island Beach House by Blair Moore Is a Serene Retreat

2 months ago | 1stdibs.com | Stephen Wallis

A couple of years after Blair Moore launched her interiors firm, Moore House Design, in New York City, the tumult surrounding COVID prompted her to reassess. Seeking a lifestyle change, she picked up and relocated to Warren, Rhode Island, a historic port town outside Providence that is near some of her family. “I was like, I’m moving. If my team follows me, great,” says Moore, who grew up on a cattle farm in Australia. “Some of my team did follow me, and we built our firm up here.
David Kleinberg Masterminds the Glorious Restoration of a Significant London Address

2 months ago | galeriemagazine.com | Stephen Wallis

In the living room of a London residence that David Kleinberg Design Associates renovated in collaboration with architecture firm Donald Insall Associates, artworks by Sterling Ruby (left) and Tadaaki Kuwayama frame the view into the library where a mirror by Sam Orlando Miller is mounted above an antique mantelpiece.
Glenn Gissler Crafts a Serene New York Home for an Art-Loving Couple

Jan 24, 2025 | 1stdibs.com | Stephen Wallis

Sometimes, a change of address is about wiping the slate clean and starting over with new furnishings and art. Other times, it’s more about bringing into a different setting things that you’ve long lived with and find meaningful, allowing them to be seen and experienced afresh. The latter scenario is a pretty apt description of a recent interiors project that designer Glenn Gissler oversaw for repeat clients on New York City’s Upper West Side.
In a Manhattan Home, Maximalist Darren Henault Turns Down the Volume

Jan 17, 2025 | 1stdibs.com | Stephen Wallis

Words like spare and restrained aren’t what first come to mind when describing Darren Henault’s richly layered, rooted-in-tradition interiors. The New York City–based designer, who calls himself a “king of pattern on pattern on pattern on pattern”—yes, that was four patterns!—is known for his artful combinations of not only pattern but also color, form and texture.
Janine Carendi MacMurray's Peripatetic Past Informs Her Style

Dec 20, 2024 | 1stdibs.com | Stephen Wallis

As Janine Carendi MacMurray sees it, there are two supreme compliments that the projects masterminded by her studio, Area Interior Design, can elicit. The first is when a client rehires her, which has happened routinely throughout her two-decade career.
Lee Ledbetter Conjures a Storied Apartment Inside New York’s Famed Landmark The Carlyle

Dec 5, 2024 | galeriemagazine.com | Stephen Wallis

In the living room of an apartment that architect Lee Ledbetter designed for an art-collecting couple at The Carlyle hotel in New York, a Guy C. Wiggins painting overlooks a custom sofa flanked by 1940s French lounge chairs and a ’60s Philip and Kelvin LaVerne cocktail table. They are joined by brass lamps by Sylvan S.F., Louis XVI armchairs by Claude II Sene, and a Peter Lane ceramic drum table. A Paul Cornoyer painting hangs between the French doors, which are curtained in a Cowtan & Tout fabric.
Next Big Thing: Marcus Leslie Singleton

Dec 5, 2024 | galeriemagazine.com | Stephen Wallis

Marcus Leslie Singleton. Photo: ALFONSO DURAN The self-taught creative's scenes of everyday life elevate stories of his community while chronicling and interpreting his own experience as a queer Black man December 6, 2024 A voracious observer, painter Marcus Leslie Singleton is part documentarian, part humanist romantic.