Los Angeles-based design practice Mouthwash Studio has unveiled its maiden New York office inside the WSA building in the Financial District. The Mouthwash office arrives at the intersection of antiquity and industrial design, occupying a modest 237-square-foot space designed by Charlap Hyman & Herrero with wall-to-wall Persian-style carpeting wrapping itself all the way up a central column. A draped-rug sofa and floor pillows fastened from the textile’s remains mirror the floor patterns to further enrobe the interior in surrealist splendor.
A custom stainless steel desk system lines windows as well as the back wall, while stainless steel shelves showcase objets d’art including antique frames and handmade ceramics. Other artful elements include a Victorian mirror, a 17th century landscape painting by Bartolomeo Pedon, and a Fledernaus chair. Rounding out the office is a mixed-media sculpture originally designed by Charlap Hyman & Herrero and Shun Kinoshita for the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. “The space itself is naturally different from our LA office, but reflects a similar warmth and depth of feeling,” says Mouthwash cofounder Abraham Campillo. “We envisioned it as a marriage of 1980s corporate aesthetic and antique sensibilities. Elements such as the white curtain blinds, black formica surfaces, exposed steel, and leather chairs blended with the unexpected inclusion of Persian rugs and 17th-century artworks create a dialogue between the old and the new which we love.”
