Editor’s Miscellany: Downtown Feel, Waaaay Uptown Location

I was lucky enough recently to get an advance peek into a very cool new space being opened by Connecticut designer Claire Maestroni (best known now as the power behind Mis en Scene), whose own spare but textured house was featured in our Winter 2011 issue of New England Home’s Connecticut.

Claire Maestroni’s dining room on the cover of New England Home’s Connecticut. Photo by Björn Wallander; click to see the whole story.

Her new venture, created in partnership with French-born sculptor and metalsmith Franck Areno, is called Artelier. It is part gallery, part art studio, part metalworking shop, part design showroom, part retail location–and it may also, according to Areno, eventually include a bronze foundry.

The 5,000-square-foot space has the distinctly downtown feel of a working loft in Brooklyn or Tribeca style, but is located, shall we say, way, way, waaay uptown in a curious little industrial corner of tony Greenwich. Hidden behind an almost anonymous door, visitors will encounter a pleasantly random jigsaw of spaces filled with paintings, sculpture, tools, found objects, raw materials, and furniture and lighting pieces in various states of completion. My suspicion is that Artelier will make a hell of a party venue at some point, too, given that one room at the back is fitted out with lounging furniture, vintage bar and piano. (Maestroni and Areno already plan a series of events organized around topics in the creative and design industries.)

The space’s official opening is tonight, June 9, from 6:00–9:00 p.m.; thereafter it will be open to the public and to the trade Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., and evenings and weekends by appointment.

Artelier, 28 Henry Street, Greenwich, CT. For more information, visit www.artelier-creations.com or call (203) 532-2929.