Eclectic and colourful, Charlie Ferrer’s home reflects the interior designer’s personal and professional evolution

Interior designer Charlie Ferrer had just three criteria when searching for a new home in New York City: a West Village address, a pre-war building and a working fireplace. Turns out that this combination is not easy to find within a reasonable budget. But, as luck would have it, a former client’s son moved out of a one-bedroom, double-exposure apartment on Christopher Street, in a 1931 Bing & Bing condominium building that sits practically on top of the landmarked Stonewall Inn. It ticked all the boxes, and Ferrer wasted no time moving in.

The location is ‘a dynamic little intersection of energies’, he says, and far livelier than Chelsea, where his two previous NYC apartments were situated. Each address encapsulated a moment in his gradual stylistic shift – the transition from the ‘spare masculine’ aesthetic of midcentury modernism to a far more eclectic, colourful, ‘granny feminine vibe’ reflects a personal evolution as much as a professional one.

Charlie Ferrer: a design based on discoveries

Ferrer was born and raised amid the ‘heteronormative white preppy’ aesthetic of Greenwich, Connecticut, which he admits he aligned with for a time. But after moving to LA, coming out, and entering the furniture business, his tastes naturally shifted. A largely self-taught interior designer, Ferrer has grown his own studio to encompass model apartments for luxury condominiums, as well as a vintage furniture collaboration with CB2. ‘Over time, as different projects have demanded different things of me and my interests have evolved, I’ve taught myself how to integrate pattern and colour,’ he says.

The existing character of the pre-war West Village building also helped guide this transition from neutral and slightly austere to a more layered, collected look. ‘There’s something inherently solid and good and reliable about the proportions of the spaces and the detailing,’ notes Ferrer. ‘Those little railings from the entry vestibule down into the main lounge area are just so charming.’ Furnishing the interiors from scratch was made easier by the fact that Ferrer also runs his own vintage design gallery, giving him a plethora of inventory from which to cherry-pick. Over time, he set aside pieces he loved and customised them so that they would complement one another. ‘Every time I found a piece that I thought I wanted to live with, I popped it into the design,’ he says. ‘It’s not about a full vision. It’s iterative or incremental, based on discoveries.’

Take the sofa, to which he added pleats on the rolled arms, cast-bronze-animal claw feet and magenta piping. Then there’s a swivelling ‘Elda’ chair by Joe Colombo, which has ‘the weirdness quotient that I look for in objects’, and was reupholstered in a dark green alpaca-hair fabric. A pair of striking moulded acrylic dining chairs also received a makeover, with their cushions wrapped in chartreuse-hued textiles to contrast with the translucent rosy-amber bases. ‘What client would approve that fabric on those chairs? Probably none. But that’s the point,’ Ferrer laughs. They accompany an antique wooden table upon which a figurative bronze sculpture by French artist César takes pride of place.

In the bedroom, Ferrer chose a 1930s archival print from French textile house Le Manach to cover the bed. ‘I call it grandma, but I think it’s super sexy,’ he says. Above it hangs a collection of small crosses he purchased at a Parisian estate sale. Raised Catholic, though no longer practising, he installed the trinkets as a way of ‘removing the meaning away from the objects and making it more about an aesthetic gesture’. Other surprises include the Hermès-orange interiors of the kitchen cabinets, which face a wall lined in textured grasscloth. ‘I don’t really use the kitchen to cook, so I was okay with putting that really heavy, very absorbent material on the walls,’ he says.

The designer has never stopped tweaking and improving details in the apartment, both large and small. The all-important fireplace, for example, received a new mantel ‘only two days before this shoot’, admits Ferrer. Taking this true collector’s approach to interior design has created a personal refuge from the chaotic vitality of the neighbourhood below, and makes a strong case for choosing smaller, more characterful spaces over larger, blander units. Place, personality and playfulness win the day.
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