Anthony Baratta’s bold vision for an Upper East Side apartment kitchen abounds with cultural references—to modern art, industrial design, and Italian fashion.
When the owners asked Anthony Baratta to redesign the kitchen of their mid-century apartment, his imagination was first ignited by one very specific locale: Paloma Picasso’s colorful 1980s Parisian flat.
“I’ve always thought that apartment was the height of French chic,” says Baratta. “I love the mix of furnishings and the beautiful coloration. It wasn’t a request from the clients, but it was the quintessence of what their wishes were.”
Working with a palette of pinks, blues, and purples, Baratta transformed a closed kitchen into a spacious, light-filled area. Inspired by the works of Emilio Pucci, Giò Ponti, and Henri Matisse, Baratta enlisted a contemporary artist, Adam Lowenbein, to create the mosaics on the kitchen’s glass surfaces.
The success of the finished space owes much, in Baratta’s opinion, to the fact that the clients happen to also be very close friends of his. “I knew exactly what they wanted,” he says. “They let me have free rein with this project. That allowed me to do my very best.”
Baratta selected a palette of paints from Benjamin Moore and then tasked Adam Lowenbein with transforming the refrigerator and cabinet façades. Lowenbein reverse-painted the glass, creating a geometric grid of pastel pinks, purples, and blues. Baratta custom-made the freestanding kitchen island. The surface is glazed lava stone from Pyrolave. Photo: Annie Schlechter
Baratta painted the polka-dotted floor to recall Damien Hirst’s spot canvases. Photo: Annie Schlechter
