Metal and stone: What could be more appropriate motifs for the home of a jewelry designer? In Tenafly, New Jersey, those natural elements form the basis for interiors that are luxurious yet inviting, dominated by a warm, neutral palette. “We wanted a strong sense
of earthiness in the home,” says designer Jessica Gersten, noting the contrast to the
newly built structure’s white, minimalist shell. “We wanted there to be a connection
to nature. There is a little bit in every single room.”
It was one mandate of her clients: Danielle Gregory, a designer and curator
of jewelry collections for private clients, and her husband, Troy Gregory, who runs
recruiting firm System One. “Gold and silver—they’re natural things,” says Danielle,
whose predilection for mixing metals is on full display throughout the house. “It’s
a reflection of me.” Further inspiration came from the Amangiri resort in the Utah
desert—a commanding arrangement of geometric concrete planes that artfully
play off the region’s rugged beauty, decorated with items in natural materials, hues
and textures. This may seem an unlikely influence for a home in suburban New Jersey,
but for the Gregorys, the resort’s organic principles and monumental scale created
a sense of serenity they aimed to replicate. “The Zen feeling—it seemed so calm,”
Danielle says. “It was just amazing to me.”
In their home, that sensibility can be seen in the bright family room, where
caterpillar-like Togo sofas by Michel Ducaroy for Ligne Roset are covered in a charcoal
and white fabric from Donghia that gives the appearance of stone—an allusion
that’s mirrored in the mineral pattern of the custom Tibetano rug. The connection to
nature is enhanced via a link to the outdoors through a limestone-clad loggia, which
can be enclosed with mesh screens and heated for indoor-outdoor living in the fall.
In the living room, striped Armani Casa wallpaper gives the feeling, Gersten
notes, of being “in a clamshell.” The split Minotti Hamilton sectionals and Mushroom
City drum tables of varying heights and diameters, in a combination of brass and
blackened-pewter finishes, are strewn about in a way that activates the space for a
dynamic, lounge-like effect. “It’s luxury with a very elegant feeling, but grounded in
earth,” Gersten says.
For the New York–based designer, the Tenafly home was a chance to dig in on
a large, ground-up residence—built by architect Anthony Minichetti—after a series
of Manhattan apartments and one previous project in Tenafly with the Gregorys,
decorating their “starter home.” Gersten came to interiors following a fashion career
with Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani that allowed her to hone her sense of color
balance, texture, proportion and overall vision. “In fashion, it’s about how textures,
colors and proportions come together in one outfit. The same goes for interiors:
playing with the scale of a room and how all the different proportions of the furniture
speak to each other, and the texture of the rug and the upholstery and having the
right balance of hard items and soft items,” she says. “So a little bit of each and not
too much of any one thing.” That philosophy is evident in a natty gentleman’s den
with a moody charcoal palette, where tree trunk–shaped brass-covered tables by
Boca Do Lobo and a gray onyx bar offer an earthy contrast to a sartorial tufted
A. Rudin sofa covered in lustrous, metallic fabric.
