Gregory Okshteyn founded Studios Go, an architecture, interior, and product design firm, two years ago, right after graduating from architecture school. The firm's six employees—all under 30—designed B.E.D. New York, the Chelsea restaurant, bar, and club where everyone hangs out on beds, and are currently working on a nail salon chain called Dashing Diva and a top-secret Chelsea nightclub.
Do any designers or artists particularly inspire you?
Picasso and Rem Koolhaas.
What's the first thing you start with when designing an event space?
I start with the plan. I think about the spatial flow and energy, and the constraints. With B.E.D. New York it was interesting because we had a tight column grid, as well as the constraint of the bed concept itself. They all had to be the same size for easy maintenance from a functional standpoint. It's really about giving every space and every programmatic function the area it deserves.
Do you look to another industry for inspiration?
Definitely fashion. For the color palette of B.E.D. we looked through fashion magazines. Also dance. We have conversations about spatial choreography, thinking about how people are moving through the space. With restaurants, and in B.E.D. particularly, you have different types of movement—some people are lying down, some are standing up, or dancing. The transition from one to the other is quite interesting to us; we had fun diagrams of people lying down to help us figure out the ergonomics of how people are going to be comfortable eating in bed.
What are some of your favorite spaces?
The lobby at the Ian Schrager's Delano Hotel in Miami Beach, the Pantheon, and my living room.
With whom would you like to collaborate, either for the first time or again?
Christo and Jeanne-Claude would be amazing. [Artists] James Turrell, Matthew Barney. [Video director] Chris Cunningham, and [Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director] Michel Gondry.
Where do you come up with your ideas?
In the office. We have a very creative environment and it's a very open space, and everyone has an equal voice. We have these amazing jam sessions where we invite friends over. It's the most fun part of the process, when we get a new project. We put a blank canvas on the wall and we start throwing words and images around, and concepts present themselves. It's an open system.
How do you start looking when you begin a project?
We do a lot of traveling for an existing client, so that's a source of inspiration. We love flipping through journals. We get stimulated by images, and not necessarily architectural images, just in general: fashion, food, dance, art. Often we'll produce collages for each project, to give us a direction and to help the client understand where we're going.
—Eva Hagberg
Posted 08.29.05.05
Photo: Noah Kalin (B.E.D.)
Do any designers or artists particularly inspire you?
Picasso and Rem Koolhaas.
What's the first thing you start with when designing an event space?
I start with the plan. I think about the spatial flow and energy, and the constraints. With B.E.D. New York it was interesting because we had a tight column grid, as well as the constraint of the bed concept itself. They all had to be the same size for easy maintenance from a functional standpoint. It's really about giving every space and every programmatic function the area it deserves.
Do you look to another industry for inspiration?
Definitely fashion. For the color palette of B.E.D. we looked through fashion magazines. Also dance. We have conversations about spatial choreography, thinking about how people are moving through the space. With restaurants, and in B.E.D. particularly, you have different types of movement—some people are lying down, some are standing up, or dancing. The transition from one to the other is quite interesting to us; we had fun diagrams of people lying down to help us figure out the ergonomics of how people are going to be comfortable eating in bed.
What are some of your favorite spaces?
The lobby at the Ian Schrager's Delano Hotel in Miami Beach, the Pantheon, and my living room.
With whom would you like to collaborate, either for the first time or again?
Christo and Jeanne-Claude would be amazing. [Artists] James Turrell, Matthew Barney. [Video director] Chris Cunningham, and [Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director] Michel Gondry.
Where do you come up with your ideas?
In the office. We have a very creative environment and it's a very open space, and everyone has an equal voice. We have these amazing jam sessions where we invite friends over. It's the most fun part of the process, when we get a new project. We put a blank canvas on the wall and we start throwing words and images around, and concepts present themselves. It's an open system.
How do you start looking when you begin a project?
We do a lot of traveling for an existing client, so that's a source of inspiration. We love flipping through journals. We get stimulated by images, and not necessarily architectural images, just in general: fashion, food, dance, art. Often we'll produce collages for each project, to give us a direction and to help the client understand where we're going.
—Eva Hagberg
Posted 08.29.05.05
Photo: Noah Kalin (B.E.D.)
B.E.D. New York
