All articles by Ana Lisa Alperovich

Ana Lisa is an independent writer and curator born in Buenos Aires and trained as an eco-designer at Goldsmiths University of London. In addition to writing for 6sqft she is a frequent collaborator at NYC’s Inhabitat, where she reports on global design week events and sustainable architecture. She also contributes to Australian BlackleMag, Argentina’s Casa Foa magazine and Inhabitots. She loves Japanese architecture and Dutch design, and is constantly in search of good ideas to share with the world. Currently she splits her time between Buenos Aires, NYC and The Netherlands.

Wood and Copper Wardrobe Provides a Streamlined Alternative to Bulky Dressers

April 12, 2016

Wood and Copper Wardrobe Provides a Streamlined Alternative to Bulky Dressers

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Minimalists who've gotten a little carried away accumulating a few too many clothes, shoes and other goods will appreciate this streamlined wardrobe design by Rianne Koens. Called Otura Dirsek, this beautiful storage solution is inspired by, and named after, the copper gas pipes seen in Turkish homes. Rather than placing the pipes behind walls, Turkish people instead run them along the exterior, conveniently creating extra space to hang household items.
Learn more about this minimal wooden wardrobe

Airframe 01 Is a Lightweight Cabinet Inspired By Early 20th-Century Airplane Wings

March 31, 2016

Airframe 01 Is a Lightweight Cabinet Inspired By Early 20th-Century Airplane Wings

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Dutch designer Mieke Meijer has created a cabinet that, while ideal for housing clothing or linens, is much more than just a storage piece. Called Airframe 01, it draws inspiration from the wings of early 20th-century airplanes, which were light, wooden structures covered with translucent white textiles.
Learn more about this lightweight cabinet

LM Guest House Takes Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Designs to a Greener Level

March 25, 2016

LM Guest House Takes Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Designs to a Greener Level

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Manhattan-based architects Arjun Desai and Katherine Chia, the husband and wife behind Desai/Chia, were commissioned to design a Hudson Valley retreat that would combine the look and feel of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's ultra-minimalist Farnsworth House with high sustainable standards. Situated on a rock outcropping overlooking a typical stretch of Dutchess County farmland, LM Guest House is a pre-fab contemplative retreat for weekend visits. Its glazed skin affords expansive views, and among its planet-friendly features are geothermal heating and cooling, natural ventilation, solar panels, and a system for rainwater collection.
Learn more about this ultra-minimal green home

Flyte Is a High-Tech LED Lamp That Floats, Defying Gravity

March 23, 2016

Flyte Is a High-Tech LED Lamp That Floats, Defying Gravity

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Simon Morris -- a New York City-born, Stockholm-based scientist -- has created a revolutionary wireless light bulb that floats and gently rotates while it shines. Called Flyte, a combination of Flying and Light, the magical high-tech lamp takes inspiration from Tesla's magnetic levitation technologies to defy gravity, hovering above a wooden base. Flyte can be switched on and off by touching its base, it need no batteries, and has an amazing lifespan of 22 years. Plus, the base doubles as a wireless charging station for smart phones and other devices.
Learn more about this anti-gravity light

Three Nordic Designers Collaborate on These Curious Candleholders

March 22, 2016

Three Nordic Designers Collaborate on These Curious Candleholders

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

These strange but beautiful candleholders come via a collaborative effort by designers from three different Nordic countries. Hugdetta from Iceland, Petra Lilja from Sweden, and Aalto+Aalto from Finland joined forces for an experiment entitled 1+1+1, which "examines and reimagines objects by having each studio design an object consisting of three distinct parts and then mixing the parts up into unpredictable combinations." The result is a series of cabinets, mirrors, lamps, and these candleholders.
Learn more about these strange candleholders

Stéphanie Marin’s Mathematically-Inspired Floor Cushions Insulate and Absorb Sound

March 11, 2016

Stéphanie Marin’s Mathematically-Inspired Floor Cushions Insulate and Absorb Sound

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Stéphanie Marin's Les Angles is a set of oversized floor cushions that can be arranged to form a faceted landscape within the home. The furniture collection was designed as part of Marin's brand Smaring and consists of oversized shapes that work as both a seating area and decorative living space. It's composed of eight elements interconnected by a lacing technique to form a flexible pavement able to cover the floor, ceiling, or walls. And it's perfect for drafty or noisy NYC apartments, as the pieces have insulating and acoustic properties.
Learn more about this outer-space for the home

Bring Tomorrow’s Weather Indoors With Tempescope

March 2, 2016

Bring Tomorrow’s Weather Indoors With Tempescope

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Weather in New York is anything but predictable these days, with 60-degree days followed up by below-freezing winds. But while fluctuating temps have been irksome, we've found a fun little gadget that makes unpredictable weather a serene and beautiful thing. Meet Tempescope, an ambient physical display devised by Ken Kawamoto that physically visualizes impeding weather conditions like rain, clouds and lightning. The minimal device is designed to receive weather forecasts from the Internet and reproduce the next day's sky inside your home.
Learn more about this cool gadget

Chilean Design Firm Makes Beautiful Room Dividers From Sustainable Pine Fibers

February 29, 2016

Chilean Design Firm Makes Beautiful Room Dividers From Sustainable Pine Fibers

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Whether you live on an open-plan loft or tiny studio, you've probably, at least once, considered a reconfiguration of the space. Meet Ensamble, modular flexible room dividers, and the latest project by Chilean studio The Andes House. Lightweight, flexible and low-cost, the panels are easy to assemble into a small office or separate micro-space and were crafted from a sustainable composite material made from pine fibers.
Learn more about Ensamble

CWB Architects Build a Musically Inspired Pavilion in the Hamptons for a Pianist Client

February 28, 2016

CWB Architects Build a Musically Inspired Pavilion in the Hamptons for a Pianist Client

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

A former musical director/pianist from Brooklyn Heights and her historian husband contacted Dumbo-based CWB Architects to build an adjacent pavilion at their home in Quogue on Southampton. The result is the wood-clad Piano Pavilion, which echoes the owners' love for organic architecture, but makes a deliberate nod to its namesake instrument with the contour of its roof. The pavilion was made to function as a piano room and small office, but it also works as a guest room, which is important as the couple's children and six granddaughters visit almost every weekend.
Learn more about the Piano Pavilion

Architecture And Design

AW Architects’ Blue Rock House in the Catskills Resembles a Minimalist Dairy Barn

February 9, 2016

AW Architects’ Blue Rock House in the Catskills Resembles a Minimalist Dairy Barn

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

AW Architects' Blue Rock House is an ensemble of buildings suggesting a minimalist dairy barn. Sitting atop a rural hill in the small town of Austerlitz, a three hours drive north from New York City, the project groups a main house, guesthouse and garage, interconnected by a string of beautiful bluestone walls that give the project its name. Its privileged location affords wide-open views out into the Berkshire and Catskill Mountains, and the choice of minimal materials evokes rusticity, elegance and attention to detail.
Learn more about this farm-like home

Popular Articles

Moody Nest Is a Cuddly Wrap-Up Sofa Perfect for Hibernation

February 8, 2016

Moody Nest Is a Cuddly Wrap-Up Sofa Perfect for Hibernation

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Not looking forward to this week's predicted wintery weather? Make the icy temps and slush-covered streets a little more bearable by coming home and cozying up with your sofa (this is also a great option if you'll be spending Valentine's Day solo). Moody Nest is Frankfurt-based designer Hanna Ernsting's pouf with a blanket that turns into the perfect place to hibernate.
Learn more about this cuddly sofa

Sebastian Errazuriz’s Meticulously Crafted Chest Is an Interactive ‘Mahogani Explosion’

January 26, 2016

Sebastian Errazuriz’s Meticulously Crafted Chest Is an Interactive ‘Mahogani Explosion’

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

If you read 6sqft regularly, you probably know by now that we can't get enough of New York designer Sebastian Errazuriz's industrial designs. We've previously featured his quirky, spiky-skinned chest, a giant golden cow piñata on show in Sunset Park, and more recently, his yawning video installation looping in Times Square. If you haven't tired of him yet, get ready for another of his fantastical creations: Mahogani Explosion, a seemingly boring wooden chest that "explodes" to the sides as it’s opened.
Learn more about this explosive cabinet

VilLA NM Is a Futuristic Living Experiment With Ramps Inside and Reflective Windows Outside

January 21, 2016

VilLA NM Is a Futuristic Living Experiment With Ramps Inside and Reflective Windows Outside

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

VilLA NM is not meant for everyday living, but for weekends and stolen moments away from the hectic New York City life. None of the clutter of regular life can be found within its futuristic shell, created by Dutch architecture firm UNStudio. All white and smooth on the inside, dark like the soil on the outside, this Upstate home is the rural retreat dream of any idealistic, glamorous urbanite.
Learn more about the home

Architecture And Design

Sebastian Errazuriz’s Latest Creation Is a Cabinet That Functions As a Kaleidoscope

January 19, 2016

Sebastian Errazuriz’s Latest Creation Is a Cabinet That Functions As a Kaleidoscope

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

"The Space Between the Void (Kaleidoscope Cabinet)" is yet another attempt by New Yorker Sebastian Errazuriz to deconstruct the paradigm that a cabinet should simply be a box with two doors. 6sqft previously featured his Wave Cabinet and his Magistral Chest, but the psychedelic design of his latest creation deserves a special mention of its own. The Kaleidoscope Cabinet consists of a reflective storage unit that visually multiplies whatever is placed inside it, and it even has a peephole that functions just like its namesake children's toy.
Learn more about this mind-bending cabinet

Matchpoint Is a Tennis-Style Storage Solution

January 15, 2016

Matchpoint Is a Tennis-Style Storage Solution

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Planning to get organized in 2016? Well, we have a quirky storage solution that might help you get started. Taking inspiration from retro tennis aesthetics, Matchpoint acts like a wall's second skin. It's a place to hang anything from fruits to pens and even holds little hooks and shelves. Designed by Studio Balagan, the airy net structure will help you organize the flood of knick knacks you've been meaning to go through.
Learn more

Ceramic ‘Wall Pockets’ Turn Plain White Walls Into Green Vertical Gardens

January 5, 2016

Ceramic ‘Wall Pockets’ Turn Plain White Walls Into Green Vertical Gardens

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Is your home so cramped that you can't even find space for a new plant? Well, what about your walls? Studio Harm en Elke came out with a simple and sweet solution that creates pockets for your wall. Dubbed "Wall Flowers," these little ceramic vessels can hold single flowers, a small cactus, shoots or any other modestly-sized plant.
Learn more about these green wall plant pots

Neighborhood Tours

Meike Harde’s Stockwerk Shelf Pops Up From Flat to Six Levels High

January 3, 2016

Meike Harde’s Stockwerk Shelf Pops Up From Flat to Six Levels High

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

With limited space, New Yorkers need to be smart about how they furnish their homes. One clever solution is the use of adaptable furniture, like the brilliant Stockwerk shelf, a clever pop-up piece that can expand from almost flat to a fully functional six-level height. Created by young German designer Meike Harde, this shelf can also be delivered as a flat-pack item, yet there's no need for complicated assembly with those dreaded Allen wrenches.
Learn more about this pop-up shelf

Form Follows Function at CCS Architecture’s Wood-Clad Bridgehampton Residence

December 30, 2015

Form Follows Function at CCS Architecture’s Wood-Clad Bridgehampton Residence

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

This stylish Bridgehampton Residence was designed to accommodate three generations of a family with growing children. Featuring big sliding doors and windows under a collection of sloped roofs, the wood-clad retreat plays between the indoor and luscious outdoor living spaces right in the heart of the Hamptons. In order to accommodate a multigenerational family, CCS Architecture gut-renovated and extended an existing dwelling, which went from four bedrooms to eight and gained a garage.
Learn more about this large family retreat

Architecture And Design

Stylish Felt Ottoman Takes Inspiration From Elizabethan Era Neck Ruffles

December 1, 2015

Stylish Felt Ottoman Takes Inspiration From Elizabethan Era Neck Ruffles

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

As the weather gets colder and the days get darker, you're probably seeking out soft, fuzzy materials to snuggle up with in your New York apartment. One new item we would definitely like to get cozy with is Romero Vallejo's Ruff Pouf. This contemporary ottoman is crowned with an ingenious folded felt structure inspired by neck ruffles worn by men and women during the Elizabethan era.
Learn more about this autumnal seat

Noya Brings ’80s Nostalgia Back With a Pin Art-Inspired Cabinet

November 29, 2015

Noya Brings ’80s Nostalgia Back With a Pin Art-Inspired Cabinet

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Dutch designer Jaimy Noya brings the fun of a 1980s pin impression toy to a contemporary cabinet called Memento. The glassy, elegant bureau is designed to store precious belongings, regardless of shape and size; just pin any object and watch the piece's back metamorphosize into a porcupine.
Learn more about this clever design

Inside a Manhattan Couple’s Modern Woodland Escape Designed by Resolution: 4 Architecture

November 24, 2015

Inside a Manhattan Couple’s Modern Woodland Escape Designed by Resolution: 4 Architecture

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

A city couple commissioned Resolution: 4 Architecture to come up with a site-specific home for escaping their busy Manhattan lives on the weekend. Located on a sloped wooded terrain in Kent, not too far from the city, the beautiful Lakeside House combines wooden interiors, classic furniture items and privileged views onto the mirrored waters of the Sagamore Lake. Although bright and airy inside, the modern dwelling is grounded and strong and relates to its site through the use of natural materials.
Learn more about this traditionally modern home

Wieland Vogel’s Chandelier Expands From 20 to 80 Inches in the Blink of an Eye

November 13, 2015

Wieland Vogel’s Chandelier Expands From 20 to 80 Inches in the Blink of an Eye

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

In a city where hundreds of interesting happenings occur each week, some days, you just want to make magic happen from the comfort of your own home. If you live alone, or just happen to hold an impromptu party once in a while, have a look at this incredible expanding design. Created by Dutch designer Wieland Vogel, "Aureool a.k.a Halo" is a brilliant chandelier that contracts and expands with a simple flick of the hand.
Learn more about this clever design

Ludovic Falédam’s Celestial Luminaries Take Inspiration From Greek Mythology

November 12, 2015

Ludovic Falédam’s Celestial Luminaries Take Inspiration From Greek Mythology

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Inspired by ancient Greek mythology, Ludovic Falédam from Barbadine Design created a series of sculptural pendants that will make any living space shine. When creating the lamp, the French designer was particularly interested in the story of queen Cassiopeia and her daughter Andromeda, both of whom in their tale abandon their human bodies to become a constellation of stars. Beautiful and intricate like the story itself, these luminaries will bring the celestial patterns into your home—something we don’t see much of in New York City.
find out more here

Turn Your Old iPhone Into an Elegant Desktop Lamp

October 26, 2015

Turn Your Old iPhone Into an Elegant Desktop Lamp

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Industrial designer Ivan Zhurba came out with a brilliant idea to tackle the planned obsolescence of iPhones. His "iPhone Lamp" is an elegant luminaire for the desk or bedside table that gives new use to Apple's retired smart phones. The lamp follows the tech giant's sleek, clean lines, so you don't have to worry whether it'll fit in with your interior; just throw it into a modern upstate home or a teensy Upper West Side studio and enjoy the light.
Learn more about this brilliant hacked lamp

Claire-Anne O’Brien Designs Chunky Woolen Stools to Cozy Up With This Autumn

October 25, 2015

Claire-Anne O’Brien Designs Chunky Woolen Stools to Cozy Up With This Autumn

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Using traditional textile techniques such as weaving, knotting and basketry, London-based textile designer Claire-Anne O’Brien creates beautiful "Knit Stools" that are perfect for cuddling up at home. The creative designer specializes in the construction of 3D textiles, which she applies to both interior furniture and decoration. Made using an ash base and topped with super soft lambswool upholstery, these stools are just the item we'd like to get our hands on this autumn.
Learn more about this tactile stools

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