My Houzz: Organic, Airy Home in Brooklyn's Fort Greene
Cherry wood furnishings, fresh houseplants and bold artwork make this New York furniture designer's apartment a standout
John Sorensen-Jolink focused all of his creative energy on contemporary dance and choreography before starting his Brooklyn, New York, furniture design studio, Coil+Drift. His line of contemporary handcrafted furniture explores space and movement. As the creative director, Sorensen-Jolink uses his Fort Greene home to showcase his studio’s popular pieces and as a way to see how they interact with the other components in his 700-square-foot apartment. He considers his home a testing ground to find the elements that create a harmonious and peaceful space away from the busy streets of New York.
From the outset, Sorensen-Jolink and his partner wanted to maintain the apartment’s unique character, which includes crown moldings and a brick fireplace.
“For this apartment, I wanted to focus on rich materials and colors — velvet, cherry wood — and plants,” Sorensen-Jolink says. Potted plants can be found in almost every corner of the home.
“For this apartment, I wanted to focus on rich materials and colors — velvet, cherry wood — and plants,” Sorensen-Jolink says. Potted plants can be found in almost every corner of the home.
This custom original Hover shelving unit is made of handpicked reclaimed wood, iron piping and black steel cylindrical clamps. It serves as a functional statement piece in the bedroom.
“When my partner and I are at home, we both treat the space as a place to relax and recharge,” Sorensen-Jolink says. “It is important for the space not to create its own stress but to function as a place to exhale at the end of each day.”
“When my partner and I are at home, we both treat the space as a place to relax and recharge,” Sorensen-Jolink says. “It is important for the space not to create its own stress but to function as a place to exhale at the end of each day.”
The apartment opens into the light-filled living room, which overlooks a garden shared with neighbors.
“My partner and I had one month to find a new apartment after our landlord decided to sell her building. We happened upon this garden-level apartment, owned by friends of ours, and signed the lease as fast as we could,” Sorensen-Jolink says.
Vase pillow: Amelie Mancini
“My partner and I had one month to find a new apartment after our landlord decided to sell her building. We happened upon this garden-level apartment, owned by friends of ours, and signed the lease as fast as we could,” Sorensen-Jolink says.
Vase pillow: Amelie Mancini
The nonworking fireplace serves as a nook for storing books and its mantel displays various small figurines and masks from the couple’s travels in Ethiopia, Myanmar, Rwanda, Thailand and Indonesia.
Soren chair in natural: Coil+Drift
Soren chair in natural: Coil+Drift
“I am of the mind, especially when renting an apartment, that you should lay out your space exactly as you want it, and if you have extra furniture, let it go instead of squeezing it in,” Sorensen-Jolink says.
With this in mind, the designer started with the living room when organizing the furniture, keeping things minimal with just one statement piece, the coffee table, grounding the space.
Dusk coffee table in black marble/steel: Coil+Drift
With this in mind, the designer started with the living room when organizing the furniture, keeping things minimal with just one statement piece, the coffee table, grounding the space.
Dusk coffee table in black marble/steel: Coil+Drift
This living room window frames a view of the shared garden space — a rarity in New York that made the apartment a real find.
Ceramic pots: btw ceramics
Ceramic pots: btw ceramics
The minimalist feel continues in the bathroom, with its all-white aesthetic and the pussy willow arrangement its largest decorative component.
“My partner and I travel quite often for work, so our home is filled with things we’ve collected from our travels,” Sorensen-Jolink says. This cube art on a bathroom wall ledge is an original from Argentinian artist Gastón Liberto.
Jolink-Sorensen, pictured, says he has many dream spaces. “I’d like to live all over the cities of the world and in the countryside. My dream spaces include urban lofts that house my studio and home, old countryside estates, modern single-story homes and traditional Southeast Asian houses,” he says. “In terms of Brooklyn, this is pretty much my ideal space.”
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
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My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
Browse more homes by style:
Small Homes | Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Homes Around the World | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes
Who lives here: John Sorensen-Jolink and his partner
Location: Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York
Size: 700 square feet (65 square meters); one bedroom, one bathroom
John Sorensen-Jolink and his partner have lived in this ground-floor apartment for two years. “Of course I’d love higher ceilings and another bedroom, but there are always trade-offs and there is so much to love in this space,” he says. What they love includes the natural light that floods every room, including the bedroom. Shutters on the windows help maintain privacy.
Chair on left: Soren chair, Coil+Drift; throw blanket: Jill Lindsey; dream catchers: Alyssa Eckert