A Colourful New York City Loft

Photography by Aundre Larrow

Living in a New York loft is something most of us can only dream of. Sharing the building with a couple who’ve been there since the 70’s only fuels the fantasy. This is where we're fortunate enough to find Julia Eshaghpour and Kevin Hollidge, on the lively border of Chinatown and the Lower East Side in Manhattan. The pair share their home, multidisciplinary art & design practice Sunfish, and two cats, Quique and Lalo. It is a dynamic that works well for the talented duo, whose space recently provided the backdrop to their new furniture collection for NYCxDESIGN week. In a world where the line between home and work life is blurred, we discuss how (and where) inspiration presents itself, the importance of seeing eye-to-eye on interiors, and where they are headed for some much needed rest & relaxation. 

“We live in a loft situated in a busy commercial street in Manhattan’s Chinatown. We share the floor with our neighbors Mark and Luba, who have been living in the building since the 70’s. This is our fourth year in the space. The first time we saw it, we fell in love with the unusual curved walls with their tiny windows. It seems to reflect the view out the main windows of the apartment – a long curved street hugging the Manhattan Bridge. 

We have enjoyed a lot of freedom in our apartment, painting the walls and floors, adding wood paneling and mural elements, and adding stone and mortar clad cabinetry.

“We have enjoyed a lot of freedom in our apartment, painting the walls and floors, adding wood paneling and mural elements, and adding stone and mortar clad cabinetry. And of course, each year, we fill the apartment with new furniture pieces we have created, making it feel more and more our own.”

“Our bedroom is a small room painted blue with brushy strokes and green. Our red bed frame is from one of our favorite Italian designers, Afra and Tobia Scarpa. It was a special surprise gift from Kevin for Julia’s birthday. There is a huge old map of NYC that actually came with our apartment. We love finding our two cats Lalo and Quique cuddled around us on the bed when we wake up.”

“We have a couple of artworks made by Kevin’s grandfather that are very special to us. A bronze-casted bird, fish, portrait, and a carved wooden lion. His mastery over his materials is so impressive and it is nice to be reminded of this creative familial legacy.”

Julia & Kevin's bed is made with our 100% Linen White Sheet Set, Mist Duvet Cover & Cocoa Pillowslips.

“Our style is colorful, elemental, and lived-in. We enjoy idiosyncrasies that reveal process, a human gesture, the passage of time, or the individual character of a material. Nothing in our home is too perfect. We mostly agree about our home interiors. If we didn’t it would be a very difficult business to be in!”

Our style is colorful, elemental, and lived-in.

“Our practice [at Sunfish] stems from Latin American and European modernist design. We privilege a simple economy of materials, clear construction methods, as well as humanist thinking and craftsmanship to produce a unique aesthetic that is fit for the contemporary age. Each year we produce a few collections of furniture, in addition to custom commissions, spatial design projects, and collaborations.”

We privilege a simple economy of materials, clear construction methods, as well as humanist thinking and craftsmanship to produce a unique aesthetic that is fit for the contemporary age.

Quique and Lalo stretch out on our 100% Linen Duvet Cover in Mist.

“This past spring, we presented a new furniture collection in our home during NYCxDesign week. This was an exciting collection for us because we worked with a lot of new materials and processes, producing our own ceramic tiles for our tables, using leather upholstery, and creating new paintings on lacquered room dividers. We completely cleared out our usual living arrangements and transformed the space into a gallery setting, where we enjoyed inviting people in. 

“Another memorable project was our collaboration with Older Brother and Lyle McGraw in Fall 2023 at Colbo. We worked with the clothing brand/designers to create a unique store display with furniture upholstered with their denim, custom clothing racks, and an installation of pine wood martial arts dummies.”

“We are very interested in the modernist period, globally, and have taken inspiration from designers living and working in France, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, India, Japan, among other places. We find it particularly interesting when modernist sensibilities are paired with a humanist approach to include craft techniques and a local economy of materials. As a point of contrast, the Art Deco style, with its infinite details and lavish techniques has been a more recent fascination of ours. We visit a lot of vintage furniture showrooms and historic homes, which brings us a lot of inspiration.”

“Our neighborhood is very lively. We live on the border of Chinatown and the Lower East Side. The borders of each neighborhood are always shifting, and it has always been a very multicultural neighborhood. There is a certain density which makes you engage with those around you and also propels you to always run into the people you do know, which is... mostly good! Kind of like a small town in NYC.”

We live on the border of Chinatown and the Lower East Side. The borders of each neighborhood are always shifting, and it has always been a very multicultural neighborhood.

“We’re often bouncing around downtown, getting coffees at Abraco, Bahn Mi’s at V-nam, visiting our friend Kai Matsumiya’s art gallery, or Chad Senzel’s clothing street rack.”

“Sunfish is working on a few exciting commissions and collaborations we will announce later in the year. We are going to Greece with two friends in August. Looking forward to some much needed time off!”