raquel's dream house: a multi-floor, memphis-influenced storybook in soho

it took 26 year old raquel cayre a moment to re-envision a soho townhouse (79 greene street, new york) into a dream house of memphis art and design. she saw the space by chance, conceived an idea last minute, then worked to bring that idea to life in the form of a multi-floor storybook. 

all images by nicole cohen / courtesy of raquel cayre
stairs by raquel cayre x sonny gindi for vibes studios, 2018
ettore sottsass, ultrafragola, 1970, mirror

until may 31, 2018 — coinciding with NYCxDESIGN — this house of boxing-ring beds, nosy frescos, illusions, colors, parodies, and intrigues invites you not to view art and design pieces, but to examine its quirky innards. this writer strays from the words ‘experience’ and ‘story’ because they are terms used to describe anything and everything. this house of dreams doesn’t make sense lumped in with that vanilla vocabulary. raquel’s dream house operates within its own set of reimagined rules. colors and contradictions command the attention of those who enter; something like a story sustains it. there is much to see at 79 greene street.

stairs by raquel cayre x sonny gindi for vibes studios, 2018
ettore sottsass, ultrafragola, 1970, mirror

raquel cayre is the curator of the wildly popular instagram account @ettoresottsass. through her dream house, cayre brings the digital feed to life, with works by ettore sottsass, daniel buren, gufram, the campana brothers, gaetano pesce, max lamb, michele de lucchi (and many many more) infilling the soho townhouse. wander up a rainbow set of stairs towards sottsass’s ‘ultrafragola’ mirror and find yourself immersed in cayre’s imagination. 

michel majerus, untitled, enamel and silkscreen on aluminum, five parts, 1996
masanori umeda, tawaraya (ring), 1981 courtesy of urban architecture inc.

michel majerus, untitled, enamel and silkscreen on aluminum, five parts, 1996
masanori umeda, tawaraya (ring), 1981 courtesy of urban architecture inc.

martine bedin terminus, floor lamp, 1981

a lamp and cabinet by gaetano pesce lead the way to daniel buren’s ‘photo-souvenir: to align’: 5 pillars, work in situ, may 2017, MDF, paint and self-adhesive black vinyl 8,7 cm wide, indoor, 174.5″ x 17.25″ x 17.25″, each

gaetano pesce, mobile ritratto dell’uomo contento, 2016 plywood, MDF, polyurethane resin, papier maché 92.91 x 44.88 x 30.31 inches

gaetano pesce, 54 arm lamp, 1998 resin, copper, plastic

daniel buren, to align: 5 pillars, work in situ, may 2017 mdf, paint and self-adhesive black vinyl 8.7 cm wide, indoor

bower studios, archway mirror, and arcade mirrors, 2015
michele de lucchi, first chair, 1983

de sede, large 22 detachable piece ‘DS600’ non-stop sectional sofa
background: accessories curated by coming soon new york and urban architecture inc. co memphis milano

raquel cayre’s personal skate deck collection

photograph by cynthia talmadge mclean, 2017,
ettore sottsass seating produced by poltronova, courtesy friedman benda and the estate of ettore sottsass
© 2018 artists rights society (ARS), new york / adagp, parisfaye toogood, pew bench/ moon (prototype), 2016
fernando and humberto campana, pirarucu flower vase (prototype), 2017

bower studios x studio proba pivot, fountain I, 2016

archizoom associati, ‘san remo’ floor lamps, 1967-68, produced by poltronova, italy
archizoom associati, modular ‘safari’ sofa, 1967, produced by poltronova, italy, courtesy of R & company

pietro derossi, giorgio ceretti and riccardo rosso, ‘puffo’ stools, 1968, produced by gufram, italy
studio 65, ‘bocca’ sofa, 1970-86, produced by gufram, italy
piero gilardi, ‘massolo’ sofa/bench, 1974, produced by gufram, italy, courtesy of R & company