I’m genuinely thrilled to share photos of a one-of-a-kind hearth installation at Westminster Shabby, a delightfully named, beautifully restored 1906 home in Brooklyn, NY. The home is shared by artist Syrie Moskowitz, whose expertise spans historical costuming, aesthetics, and fairy-tale scripts and sets, and her partner, Grammy Award–winning musician Stuart Matthewman.
This project was a true collaboration: Syrie designed the layout, and I made the tiles. Few things are as satisfying to me as following a client’s “map” while creating the tiles, and Syrie's mock-up made that process a joy. It never would have occurred to me to mix these patterns and colors in quite this way, and I absolutely love how bold and visually rich the result is. The picture below shows the layout she sent me before ordering (top) and the tiles, prior to being glazed (bottom):
Here is what the fireplace looked like before, with some glaze samples for reference:
Witness how helpful the resident cats were during installation! 😻
Here is is before the moon tiles were added:
The fireplace surround is original, while the hearth tiles on the floor and the moon phase tiles are new, and they all look perfectly at home together. And of course, the cats look perfectly at home, as well!
Thank you so much, Syrie, for being lovely to work with, for sharing these photos, and for trusting me with your vision. I’m truly honored to have been part of this project.
