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Ive always been very enchanted by spaces that come about naturally, says Noah Ruttenberg. These spaces include fashion designer Emily Bodes vintage-strewn atelier, where the 28-year-old interned after college, and the studio of his grandmother, the artist Janet Ruttenberg. She will use a napkin as a curtain. She will take a magic marker to a carpet. She will put a gorgeous painting in an unused bathtub, he says. Something she taught me is that the unfinished can be finished.These influences informed Ruttenbergs first major interiors project, a 950-square-foot Upper East Side one-bedroom he completed for a 30-something industrialist. He works in manufacturing; literally nuts and bolts, says Ruttenberg. What started as an austere space became an equilibrium of soft tones and strong pieces; scalloped edges and whimsical accents met with harder lines. Soft industry, if you will.Graduating from Brown in 2019, Ruttenberg worked the front desk at San Vicente Bungalows in LA before returning to his native New York. He nurtured both his interests in art and design, working under the artist Mark Hundley, and the designers Christine and John Gachot, and then attending Paris College of Art while he and Alec Smythe set up a gallery called Mariposa. Returning Stateside in July 2024, he started NJCR Studio, working on a modern Korea-town loft, a textile designers home (Its this eclectic space that incorporates her own textiles, antique textiles, wallpapers from all around the world, he says), and this Upper East Side apartment.We were lucky with the apartment. It was beautiful already, Ruttenberg says, careful to credit Rexrode Chirigos Architects, who had designed the space before the client purchased it. We could have just put a chair in the middle of the room and called it a day. The bones of the apartment were beautiful and formal; the client just wanted a more casual environment.New Yorkbased interior designer Noah Ruttenberg leans against a door frame in the apartments ample living room, imbued with steel and soft surfaces. (Art: Paul Kneale, Cultural Slum Lords)The challenge for Ruttenberg was to inject warmth and humanity to the rooms, without losing its masculine core, or interfering with its classic shape, parquet floors, or moldings. A midcentury black leather sofa by Design Research Inc. acted as an anchor item in the living room. To this scene he added a cotton ruggently scalloped in a green pastelas a base layer, and then a fabric club chair on a polished steel and brass swivel, a rolling vanity chair in lucite, and a Brick Screen by Eileen Gray. The entryway and the kitchen are both a sumptuous bluish green that has warmth, but it also has this kind of coolness, the designer says. The breakfast nook is deliberately cozy, cast in natural light.In the living rooms northeast corner sits its low-key star: a daybed, custom-designed by Ruttenberg and upholstered by Red Threads, which also serves as a trunk. I wanted the client to read or work [somewhere] that wasnt his bed, that he could recline on. A second use of it was just storage, he says. Its this amazing corner that sits looking out onto three different windows, and it seemed like it needed a custom piece to fit perfectly in that space and to fulfill a variety of uses. That it is steps from the dining table is very intentional. I wanted a piece that would allow someone to still engage with those who are sitting around the table, but also to digest, he says.The space is punctuated by many of Ruttenbergs custom pieces. Abutting the sofa is a console table that he had designed at Master Kitchen, a kitchen supply company in the Lower East Side. The guy took out a napkin and a pen, and we started designing this console table that I had in the back of my head for a while, he says. Two weeks later, it was delivered at my doorstep. The client is a music enthusiast, so while the audio systems live inside the console, their wires invisibly extend to a record player on top. Nearby, a repurposed deep fryer holds his records: Roxy Musics Flesh and Blood, Townes Van Zandts self-titled album, and Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues. Visually, these notes bounce back to the console, to the chrome swivel, and then are enveloped in a comely, cushioned daybed, another NJCR piece.And then there are the accents: sculptures of the clients dogs head, and rear, make drawer pulls for the banquette; antique lugnuts form bookends; a cocktail table, which Ruttenberg constructed himself from piping, gamely bisects the sofa with its built-in backgammon board. The pull and pull of the hard and soft, fun and fabricated, the textured taffy-ness, continues with the dining table, a pedestal table in reflective glass, edged by a custom banquette, its cushion in a subtly striped blue fabric, and Vico Magistretti Carimate Chairs, their natural wicker and wood balancing out the sheen.Looking to make the Upper East Side home more approachable, while emphasizing the clients connection to his work in manufacturing, designer Noah Ruttenberg struck a balance between custom, new, and antique furniture. This included a custom console he built in collaboration with Master Kitchen, where he also located a deep fryer, converted into a holder for the clients records. The living space is softened by a handmade cotton scalloped rug by Mohini Creations atop the original parquet floors, while its dining area exerts a similar material tension with the 1980s midcentury-modern black glass pedestal table, surrounded by the gentle woods and wicker of the Vico Magistretti Carimate chairs from Modernab Gallery.Both the clients and Ruttenbergs personal connections make their way throughout the space. Those dining room chairs? They were originally designed for a golf course clubhouse in Italy (the client is an avid golfer). A fireplace, black-framed mirror, and industrial bench frame the bed, which in the long tradition of New York bachelor apartments, cannot help but eat up much of the room. But the curtain, crafted from Anne Drape fabric and designed by Ruttenbergs friend Ana Kras, hangs from the ceiling, not from the window, like a piece of paper. Its this romantic moment in the apartment, especially considering all the black and white that we use throughout, he says.The result is both a living space that feels personal and designed, while complementing what was there before. Importantly, its not just a balance, but a pastiche. Whats actually beautiful about the space is the space itself, Ruttenberg says. In this consideration, his pride in the old parquet, his salute to the dignified moldings, we see not only the molding of a smart young designer, but the wisdom of what could be. What I added are just vehicles to actually appreciate the heavy work, the big work. And I was very proud of that.A compact, considered entryway is kept minimal with an industrial Knock Down Gowning Bench from Blickman. Its a bench that people use to put on and take off hazmat suits when entering toxic areas, says Ruttenberg. I was incorporating as many industrial materials as possible. Its a style I love, and a style the client loves, and he works in industry. (Art: Peter Schlesinger, Andy Warhol and Rex Reed in a Taxi, Monaco, from Mariposa Gallery)Polished steel-and-chrome accents extend through the home: from an industrial Knock Down Gowning Bench from Blickmana seating system commonly used for donning and removing protective equipmentto the coffee table, which combines a chrome base with a green marble surface. The client immediately approved [these pieces] because they just agreed with him, says Ruttenberg. Between them sits a midcentury swivel club chair on polished steel and brass base, which Ruttenberg won at auction and had reupholstered. I thought it was kind of cool to have these reflective metals lower to the ground, because it reflects the carpet in this really interesting way, he says.The classically molded ceiling is reelected in the surface of the 1980s midcentury-modern black glass pedestal table, with banquette seating of Ruttenbergs own design. Contrasting, striped pillows from Studio Sofield add comfort and play and are echoed on the nearby daybed, another custom NJCR design with upholstery from Red Threads.Industrial items like a custom built console table from Master Kitchena kitchen supply shop in New Yorks Lower East Sidesupports others, like antique lugnut bookends, a nod to the clients work in manufacturing.With the apartment situated on a low floor with northern exposure, natural light was a factor. Its atmospheric sunlight, so that was really a consideration when we were picking the color of the kitchen. We wanted it to be this warm and cozy space, says Ruttenberg. He left the rich wood cabinetry as it was, and focused instead on adding a handsome, enlivening green tone by way of Benjamin Moore Hunter Green paint. It created this glow, especially with this dark greenish blue that we selected, he adds.Creating a breakfast nook, Ruttenberg worked with Red Threads to expand the window box and create a two-sided banquette, with cushions upholstered in antique fabric in green plaid to contrast the walls. Another Vico Magistretti Carimate chair places into view Peter Schlesingers Ossie Clark and an angry waiter in Paris from Ruttenbergs own gallery, Mariposaa wink and a nod from the Swinging 60s to go with the morning eggs and coffee.The first item Ruttenberg installed was a 1962 sofa from Design Research Inc. Here is this big, gorgeous leather sofa in the middle of this almost Parisian apartment, says Ruttenberg. He removed some of its severity with large items, like the scalloped, trimmed rug, as well as jaunty accents, like this cocktail table, inlaid with a backgammon board, which Ruttenberg constructed himself with piping from Home Depot.The king-size bed with Yves Delorme bedding is quintessentially inviting. For the curtain on the wall, crafted with material from AndDrape, Ruttenberg consulted his friend, artist, photographer, and designer Ana Kra, who hung it from the ceiling. Ruttenberg loved the papery effect of the curtain, and its creation of a romantic moment as it filters light through the room.The bathroom has a sleek marble-clad design that echoes the hard and soft lines throughout the apartment.
