To our shame neither of us had ever been to Greenpoint where designer Charles Krewson lives in his idiosyncratic apartment full of strong color and artwork—there is nothing that is not visually interesting. His mother is German and his father was in the Air Force, so he grew up living in different parts of the world including Europe, and he says Greenpoint with its vigorous Polish population reminds him of some of the places he knew in his childhood. And we did end up talking quite a bit about our youth … about long lost things such as cassette tapes, Fiorucci clothes, learning to touch type and the days when young people in lowly jobs could afford to live in Manhattan apartments—and pay the rent themselves.
This is a wonderful apartment—it’s very confident. Did you study design or train to be a designer?
No, no. I dropped out of school and moved to New York.
From where?
My parents live in Washington D.C. but I grew up all over. My mom is German and my dad is American. They met in Europe. I was born in Kittery, Maine. My dad’s family originally came over with Peter Stuyvesant and I still have lots of family in Pennsylvania. My dad was in the Air Force so we were in France and in North Dakota and all over …
Home & Design Top 100 Designer 2018 and 2019
