Name: Liz (plus Go Go Cat and Koo Koo Kitty)
Location: Herald Square
Size: 1600 sqft
Favorite: the light
Years Lived In: 10
Liz is a commercial and art photographer and grew up in a carriage house on the upper east side with two fashion photographers as her parents.
These few facts determine much of her design influences, her understanding of space, and the vast collections she tries not to amass.
Do you have an idea for a house tour? Let me know! jill@apartmenttherapy.com
"Do I want walls or do I not want walls?" is a question Liz continuously asks herself. Having grown up in a studio, she doesn't feel compelled to make a clear delineation between work space and live space. When Liz moved into this space, it was a graphic design company full of cubicles and low ceilings. She put in a few architectural elements, but mostly she stripped stuff away.
Liz's last apartment was a 270 sqft studio with high ceilings. She had vastly more stuff than she does now including a collection of 24 chairs that she acquired in far flung parts of the world as well as at her neighborhood 26th Street flea market. Eventually, when she moved in here, she wanted to enjoy space for space's sake. So, she went on a "thing diet," gifting huge numbers of artifacts to friends. Her other approach for minimizing stuff has been to photograph it instead of buy it.
Documentation is not only Liz's profession, but her mode of operation on almost every level. Part of the impetus of documentation is preservation. "I think he gives up more [fur] because he knows what I am doing," says Liz of Koo Koo Kitty, source for Liz's 8" in diameter fur ball. These fur balls, plus the felted fur, a book of images, some enlarged close-ups of cat hair, and some object collages are all part of what Liz calls the Fur Project. It is a way for Liz to celebrate her cats as well as to memorialize them when they are gone.
At some point, Liz would like to do a gallery show of the Fur Project but she already knows that when it comes to the fur balls, "I'm never going to sell them."
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Comments (36)
hahah steve, i noticed the "cat's ass" on the table. cats' behinds are NOT sanitary. cute--sometimes. sanitary--hell to the no!
but that aside, this space is great! the concrete floors are gorgeous.
ahhhhhhhhhhh the furballs are back!
I really don't know why I am so grossed out by them. But I really really am :(
i think it's great, although the tony little gazelle doesn't add much. :)
i love the floors. i'd personally want more color, but that's just me. and i don't mind cats or furballs.
I'm with Steve.
Cat on table = GROSS
Why are we seeing this again...?
So we can see the cat's ass on the table again.
liz, i think it's a lovely inspiring place, filled with creative touches.
love your furniture choices. love your textile choices. the storage is great. and the floor stenciling inspired.
am so sick of matchy matchy, every thing in its place, sterile environments. this looks like a space where work and life is happening.
frankly, and unfortunately, i'm over this blog - which i think comes from such a great spirit. but so many of you are just mean. someone invites you into their home, and this is how you respond. shame.
THE CAT BALL 2: THE RECKONING
lol :)
but i'm sure some of these same people will let a dog lick them on the face ...
hell to the no!
I'm sorry, and I really hate to say this because I don't mean to be downright rude, but this apartment is just not attractive to me at all. The "bare" look is not very well executed. It just looks.... well, bad.
The only thing I find gross is when cat owners keep their kitty litter in the kitchen. The box definitely belongs in the bathroom!
My bathroom isnt large enough to house a cat box for two cats therfore the kitchen it is.
I thought we had put this trauma behind us!
this is a very nice APARTMENT I think you applied many steps in the THERAPY manual. IS that a concrete floor? I SECRETLY want 1600 s.f. of space to RUN around in. BY the the way, there are a lot of CATS on this site.
I've looked at these slides about #16 times. Is THE cheese store MURRAY'S near Herald Square?
Doesn't a cat MAKE A furball by vomiting hair that they've licked off their body? They remind me of something in Stimpy's NEST.
That's definately the most original art medium I've seen! When life gives you lemons....
This place is very inspiring to me.
Emos, I so agree with you.
There will never be any agreement between those who have a low tolerance for clutter and those who see clutter as just stuff they need or like. The same goes for those who are grossed out by what they perceive as germy and those who tolerate it or take care of it.
To me, the fur balls are light, airy, and loving. I'd rather see fur released by a living pet than a tanned hide from a slaughtered animal.
And to me, Liz's place is casually beautiful, the home of someone with an eye and love for objects and space, someone for whom things are "allowed" to be. She probably allows her friends to be tired, grumpy, or dishevelled, too.
I am grateful you chose to share your space. Why the repost?
Anyone who can manage to keep a cat's ass off a table, my hat's off to you. (This is why god invented that method stuff you clean with before dinner parties.)
I think the stencils are my favorite part of this apartment. Such beautiful patterns.
Ingrid, I think I agree with you about the fur balls. It helps that her cat's fur looks like lovely variegated yarn.
Trammell, I believe that Monday house tours are always "classic" editions.
One might think this space is cool, quirky or "arty"
It looks like a garbage dump- plain and simple.
Keep the cats off where you eat people - who wants bottom germs next to their dinner plate - if you teach cats from the time you get them not to jump up on tables or worksurfaces they won't do it - its a question of training your pet
Water guns make that lesson quick, Violetrose. Table and food counters are cat free zones in my multi pet home. They have everywhere else to be. Love the fur balls, something slowly accumulating over time is gratifying to me, rubberband balls, fruit stickers etc. I have some beautiful birdnests I found on the ground made of mane hair of horses that have since died and I treasure them for my Christmas tree. We have a pet goat and this is the season to comb out his soft, soft wool undercoat and bag it up. Years from now my son will have a cap from his childhood pet, Suzanne made me laugh, family member hair in soap is so irritating, but I was awed by that gorgeous drawing Rebecca Szeto made with drain hair. See her website if you missed it in a post last week. That has to rank as the most creative use ever of material to produce art. Though the cat hair balls are another inspiring example of seeing the creative potential of lowly materials!
This apartment is beautiful to me. Liz woks here and expends her energy on making art, which requires space, freedom and often making messes. Her photography is her aesthetic statement and her home supports that work. I don't think she is following any kind of decorating trends, just living an accomplished and interesting life. Loved the peek in. Thanks.
If everyone can get passed the cat on the table, the disgusting concept of saving hair balls and whatever other evocative comments have been posted- this hovel is a disgrace. It looks like a homeless person's warehouse. Why on earth would this be placed up on this site? it could not possibly be for the MEDIOCRE photography this person dares to have a link to.
When I saw this, I thought- what a sad, confused and lonely person this must be to gather cat hair in her spare time.
wow spacy, what are you, an ex? it blows my mind that so many people feel the license to be downright mean when someone has given us a glimpse into their life.
i thought the point of these posts was to share and generate ideas. which is what i got out of this lovely post. it reminded me of nyc before developers took over - when artists still lived in soho. (and liz, just between you and me, it reminded me of the great photographer earnst haas' loft, even though it's completely different, and i was there when i was a child.) it reminded me of living with my first boyfriend, a painter. it made me think of paris garrets with their beautiful windows, and then opera of course, and chelsea galleries. and the personal touches made me think of religion, personal connection, travel.
it brought to my mind a much more creative thread than most of the photos we see - when you know people stuffed all their stuff into the closet, and styled the room as if it were an ikea catalogue. personally, i have a more modern aesthetic. but its irrelevant if it's your taste or not. there's still plenty to be gained by seeing how other people live.
there seems to be a certain tyranny that comes with people trying to make their places perfect perfect perfect. (and apparently a certain meanness) i hope that's not what AT is about.
Oooh bitchy!
and I don't want to be passed the cat on the table - I can probably get past it though
I like this apartment - it may not be decorated in exactly my style or be as tidy as some of the others we've seen but its got the most wonderful, relaxed atmosphere to it
and her photography is lovely too - the photo of the child having her hair washed is like a religious icon - she seems to hover in that big black chair - beautiful work
Your space is exquisite, beautiful and inspiring. Thank you for the share.
MY, MY what a space you have! And the last pic should be made into a beautiful b&w poster for sure...love the stenciled floors the bones of the space ect...neat
You do have one of the best collections of chairs/stools I've ever seen! Lovely. I also really like the orange bedspread against the gray, industrial concrete.
The fur balls for sure were NOT the most disgusting element in this house. Revisit all photos, especially the ones with assortments and hand-made stuff and imagine you were not told they belong to an art photographer; what would you think?
Liz, I really hope you have reconsidered since the original posting!
And: I'm a pretty untidy person myself but this thing is something entirely different. I saw one of the readers above mention "trauma".
great space; i love how lived-in-everyday-real-life it is. not down with the hairballs, but to each her own. great asthetic overall.
oh, and the stencilled floors: fabulous.
With that view of the Empire State the rest is just collateral gravy. Wow I love that picture. It is now my screen saver. Thanks. Great space and for NYC the light is magnificent and from what is shown lots of privacy. No brick walls, no peering neighbors. Herald Square a walk from Macy's. I'm getting home sick.
Expatriate in Texas.
I can't understand why people assume that cat owners don't know how protect themselves from cat hairs and germs. Really how presumptuous. I have three cats and they walk all over the place and know when not to jump and a table or counter. Cats are smarter than a lot of people out there believe me. They have to be to live with us and survive! :-)
IF YOU ARE NOT A CAT LOVER DON'T MAKE COMMENTS ON A CAT LOVER'S PLACE. IF I COULD PICK ANY PLACE TO JUST LAND IN, IT WOULD BE THIS PLACE. IF YOU HAVE CATS, BY THE WAY, YOU HAVE CATS IN THE KITCHEN AND YOU'LL LIVE. THIS PLACE IS HEAVEN.
People pleeeez get over it. Just clean the counters, tables, etc. before cooking, eating etc. My cats are cleaner than some humans but I still spray and wipe surfaces.