What public figure has a great office in the New York area?

October 13, 2015 1:43 PM

What public creative person (defined pretty broadly, but hopefully at least somewhat famous) has a really cool office in the NYC area? We're looking for someone with a rich, interesting-looking space, interesting tools and great stories. Examples might be say, magazine writer Gay Talese, who works in his townhouse in Manhattan surrounded by memorabilia from all his past stories, or the honchos at Pixar who have special secret hideaways and whatnot. (Definitely looking for personal workspaces, not big companies with fancy buildings and foosball tables.)
posted by YoungAmerican to Media & Arts (14 answers total)

The photographer Bill Cunningham used to have a charming, overflowingly packed studio in his Carnegie Hall apartment before he had to move out. There are bits and pieces of it in this article, but for the full experience, you should watch the therein-referenced documentary, which also shows off a neat, although decidedly more spacious, studio or two if I recall correctly.

It shows Cunningham traveling through Manhattan by bicycle and living in a tiny apartment in the Carnegie Hall building. The apartment has no closet, kitchen, or private bathroom, and is filled with filing cabinets and boxes of his photographs.

posted by un petit cadeau at 1:59 PM on October 13, 2015

Maybe peruse The Selby is in Your Place for ideas - he works this side of the street.
posted by Miko at 2:07 PM on October 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Bill Cunningham is PERFECT, but I know from past experience that he doesn't do press :(.
posted by YoungAmerican at 2:09 PM on October 13, 2015

Tom Sachs?
posted by neroli at 2:11 PM on October 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'd suggest Peter Stampfel - giant sci-fi library, encyclopedic music knowledge, parrot- and bottlecap-filled apartment - but he broke his leg on tour in N Ireland last month, and won't be sailing (! they won't let him fly) back until November sometime.
posted by scruss at 2:29 PM on October 13, 2015

Maybe Wade Schuman might fit the bill. New York City based artist, musician, and professor; Somewhat of a big deal in all of those categories and is a tremendously creative person. Maybe reach out to him and ask him where he is living/working...
posted by incolorinred at 2:29 PM on October 13, 2015

I seem to remember seeing Milton Glaser's studio/office and thinking it was awesome.
posted by WesterbergHigh at 2:37 PM on October 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

The graphic designer (and, lately, comic book creator) Seymour Chwast has a studio like this.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:38 PM on October 13, 2015

Ann Wood is pretty famous in the people-who-make-a-living-making-crafts world, if broad is okay. Here's an interview and pictures of her space, which is also her home.
posted by umwhat at 3:19 PM on October 13, 2015

Filmmaker Casey Neistat's studio in NYC is what I'd like to think my office might look like if I were more organized and more motivated. He holds onto all his old equipment, like the first camera he ever bought when he was a teenager and wanted to become a filmmaker, and every camera since then. His first iMac he bought to make movies is displayed there too. He has a photo wall where he took a photo of every visitor to his office for a while until he ran out of room. He does press often and seems to love doing press, at least according to his vlog, but that also means that I know his office has been photographed a lot and he has done plenty of interviews.
posted by AppleTurnover at 3:40 PM on October 13, 2015

John McPhee's office in Princeton was described like this in the Paris Review:

Six decades after killing fruit flies in the basement of Guyot Hall, he’s reached the top—a turret on the fifth floor, beyond the reach of the elevator, in a room formerly used as a paint closet. The windows are Gothic-style arrow slits. Maps cover the walls, and more than twenty dictionaries line the shelves: French, German, Welsh, Icelandic, Italian. There are texts about geology, physics, medicine, chemistry, animal tracks, and edible wild plants. There are no other writers in this part of Guyot, which is home to the biology and geology departments. Years ago, McPhee was moved here temporarily, while the humanities building was being renovated, and he liked it so much that he stayed.

That was in 2010, but he still teaches there as far as I can tell.
posted by rollick at 3:50 PM on October 13, 2015 [3 favorites]

Tom Wolfe's home office seems pretty nice - though he may have moved.
posted by BWA at 4:06 PM on October 13, 2015

Architect Carl D'Aquino (or just D'Aquino Monaco.) Conisistently one of the Top X Designers and loads of awards. They have a staff and see clients at the office so I assume they'd be at least theoretically amenable to whatever it is you've in mind.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:34 PM on October 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

Hamish Bowles
posted by cestmoi15 at 6:30 PM on October 13, 2015 [1 favorite]