A Young Collector’s Cool, Colorful Chinatown Loft

Emilee Geist

“I’ve always collected objects,” says the New York–based photographer Madde Pontin, on a Zoom call from her Chinatown loft, where she has been quarantining with said objects for the past three months. She introduces a few: a Cico egg cup from Alessi: “I remember being at that store with my […]

“I’ve always collected objects,” says the New York–based photographer Madde Pontin, on a Zoom call from her Chinatown loft, where she has been quarantining with said objects for the past three months. She introduces a few: a Cico egg cup from Alessi: “I remember being at that store with my parents when the collection came out. I still have it; still use it.” Some plates she bought as a kid. A penguin lamp that she brings with her whenever she travels and places by the bed. “I love being at home, wherever I am,” she explains.

<div class="caption"> <a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/celebrating-italian-architect-ettore-sottsass?mbid=synd_yahoo_rss" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Ettore Sottsass" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Ettore Sottsass</a>'s Treetops floor lamp creates a bold color palette in Madde's living area, which stars <a href="https://smstwrt.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Dimes chairs" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Dimes chairs</a> by <a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/how-sam-stewart-is-coping-at-home?mbid=synd_yahoo_rss" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Sam Stewart" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Sam Stewart</a>, tables by <a href="https://mattermade.us/collections/ana-kras" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Ana Kras from Matter" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Ana Kras from Matter</a>, and an orange Lunar Convertible sofa by James Irvine for <a href="https://www.bebitalia.com/en" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:B&B Italia" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">B&B Italia</a>. </div>

She’s used to moving around a lot—mostly between Massachusetts and her mother’s native Sweden. And on the day we talked, most of her home was in boxes, headed north to Rockport, Massachusetts, for the summer. In the seaside town, she and her mother, Laura Novak, would launch Pon The Store, a mostly digital general store—hawking everything from Hay jars filled with gummies to Gaetano Pesce vessels, to fancy stationery—that will go live on July 15.

<div class="caption"> One corner of the loft is decorated with a <a href="https://mattermatters.com/collections/muller-van-severen-1/products/first-rocking-chair" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Muller van Severen rocking chair" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Muller van Severen rocking chair</a> from Matter, a mushroom-shaped lamp from <a href="https://comingsoonnewyork.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Coming Soon" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Coming Soon</a>, and a Zink bookshelf by <a href="https://www.suiteny.com/product/detail/workspace-storage-organization/zink-2166" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Jonas Bohlin for Källemo" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Jonas Bohlin for Källemo</a>. </div>
<div class="caption"> “I love collecting glasses and often find new ones on my travels,” says Madde of the collection that fills the cabinets and <a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/the-29-best-bar-carts-under-dollar500?mbid=synd_yahoo_rss" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:bar cart" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">bar cart</a> in her kitchen. Her beloved Donald Judd chair does double duty as shelving. </div>
“I love collecting glasses and often find new ones on my travels,” says Madde of the collection that fills the cabinets and bar cart in her kitchen. Her beloved Donald Judd chair does double duty as shelving.

But she’ll be back. After moving to New York to study photography at the School of Visual Arts, Madde is finally setting down roots. Four years ago she snagged her dream loft in Chinatown (which she photographed for Clever during quarantine), right across the street from her favorite restaurant, Dimes, which she has been steadily filling with collectible design. Much of it was sourced from the cult favorite Lower East Side design shop Coming Soon, where she works.

<div class="caption"> When Madde hosted a Halloween dinner party last year she needed more seating, so she combined two tables (one is <a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/peter-shire-la-home-and-studio?mbid=synd_yahoo_rss" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Peter Shire" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Peter Shire</a>'s Peninsula Desk; another, a framed photo of that desk, perched on legs) into one, gathering around an eclectic mix of chairs that includes a Harry Bertoia side chair, a <a href="https://mattermade.us/products/champ" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Champ stool by Visibility" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Champ stool by Visibility</a>, Nendo's Heel chairs for Moroso, and more of Sam Stewart's Dimes chairs. </div>
When Madde hosted a Halloween dinner party last year she needed more seating, so she combined two tables (one is Peter Shire’s Peninsula Desk; another, a framed photo of that desk, perched on legs) into one, gathering around an eclectic mix of chairs that includes a Harry Bertoia side chair, a Champ stool by Visibility, Nendo’s Heel chairs for Moroso, and more of Sam Stewart’s Dimes chairs.

In 2018, after Madde’s parents cleaned out and sold their house in Massachusetts, she began thinking more about her own stuff, She started photographing and cataloguing her possessions, creating 2D copies of everything from her Sam Stewart Dimes chairs to her Miele vacuum (she draws the line at disposables, like pantry items or toothpaste). “I wanted to preserve all of these objects so that even if the object isn’t with me anymore, it still exists in a photographic form,” she explains. The index of objects later became her thesis project, and she playfully installed the photos in her apartment alongside the real thing for a show called “What are we going to do with all this FURNITURE?”

<div class="caption"> A Dimes chair by Sam Stewart is pulled up to a vintage desk from Coming Soon, topped with an Ettore Sottsas Tahiti table lamp. </div>

A Dimes chair by Sam Stewart is pulled up to a vintage desk from Coming Soon, topped with an Ettore Sottsas Tahiti table lamp.

<div class="caption"> An inflatable dinosaur seems to feast on the loft's resident cactus. A <a href="https://biritestudio.com/products/tubo-bookends" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Tubo bookend by Bi-Rite Studio" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Tubo bookend by Bi-Rite Studio</a> sits on the windowsill beside a retro game of Twister </div>
An inflatable dinosaur seems to feast on the loft’s resident cactus. A Tubo bookend by Bi-Rite Studio sits on the windowsill beside a retro game of Twister

The still-evolving project lives online, and it reads a bit like a biography: the Nendo heel chairs she bought when she first moved in, to use around her makeshift desk turned dining table. The mushroom-shaped lamp that glows pink, purchased at Coming Soon. The Donald Judd chair that she casually calls “the divorce chair—I mean, why else would I have gotten such a nice gift?”

<div class="caption"> “I love making arrangements of objects,” says Madde. Shown here: a stack of puzzles by <a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/inside-ellen-van-dusens-pattern-happy-brooklyn-brownstone?mbid=synd_yahoo_rss" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Dusen Dusen" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Dusen Dusen</a>, a Maison Margiela snow globe, a transparent speaker by <a href="https://transparentspeaker.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Transparent Sound" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Transparent Sound</a>, and a <a href="https://biritestudio.com/products/plywood-bud-vase-by-pezzi" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:plywood vase by Pezzi" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">plywood vase by Pezzi</a> found at Bi-Rite. </div>
<div class="caption"> When the British artist <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sewyoursoul/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Lucy Sparrow" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Lucy Sparrow</a> installed her felt bodega in New York, Madde was out of town. But her friend snagged five boxes of cereal (all made in felt) which she now displays in a wall-mounted plexiglass box above the dining table. “I’m very into representations of actual objects,” she says. </div>
When the British artist Lucy Sparrow installed her felt bodega in New York, Madde was out of town. But her friend snagged five boxes of cereal (all made in felt) which she now displays in a wall-mounted plexiglass box above the dining table. “I’m very into representations of actual objects,” she says.

Meanwhile, her actual apartment is eternally evolving, those catalogued items mixing in with acquisitions that come and go. “My friends joke that every time they come over everything has been moved,” she says. Part of that is because she loves to throw parties: Pre-quarantine, she threw an “awful party,” and before that, a Halloween dinner party, in which she pulled two tables together for more seating—she liked it, so she left it that way.

<div class="caption"> Madde at home in Chinatown. </div>

Madde at home in Chinatown.

What gives a piece staying power in Madde’s world? “I’m drawn to objects that function as ideas,” she says “Objects that have a sense of humor. Like, I have a white sofa in here right now. It’s comfortable and it functions well in the space, but it doesn’t make me feel anything.”

⚒ Do It Yourself

Mix and match A dinner party prompted Madde to pull two tables together to accommodate all of her guests, using an eclectic group of chairs to seat everyone. She loved the results.

Move stuff around To keep things interesting, Madde is always rearranging her pieces. Inside her open loftlike space, there’s free range to experiment with all kinds of furniture configurations.

Don’t be color shy “I used to be really into just black and white. Maybe gray. No color. I think I was afraid of getting sick of it,” Madde explains. “But now my sofa is bright orange and it makes me so happy.”

<div class="caption"> Even the bathroom is a canvas for fun design finds. Madde's includes a <a href="https://www.dusendusen.com/pages/shop#towels" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Dusen Dusen towel" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Dusen Dusen towel</a>, a bathmat by <a href="https://www.coldpicnic.com/bathmats" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Cold Picnic" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Cold Picnic</a>, a cheeky <a href="https://fave.co/3gLTnNu" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:cherry-shaped toilet bowl cleaner" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">cherry-shaped toilet bowl cleaner</a>, and a blown-up Polaroid of her parents by photographer Elsa Dorfman. </div>
<div class="caption"> The Chen Chen and Kai Williams <a href="https://comingsoonnewyork.com/products/face-mirror" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:mirror" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">mirror</a> and cloth face masks are both from Coming Soon. </div>
The Chen Chen and Kai Williams mirror and cloth face masks are both from Coming Soon.

🛍 Shop It Out

Cico egg cup by Stefano Giovannoni, $23, us.alessi.com

First Rocking Chair by Muller van Severen, $4,045, mattermatters.com

Salt and Pepper Shakers by David Shrigley, $55, comingsoonnewyork.com

Puzzles by Dusen Dusen, $25, dusendusen.com

Mirror Mask by Chen Chen and Kai Williams, $80, areaware.com

1952 Side chair by Harry Bertoia for Knoll, $866, knoll.com

Spaghetti Candle by Toiletpaper, $70, seletti.us

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

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