FALLING INTO PLACE

How a collector and his designers made an art-forward New York loft

- SEAN SANTIAGO

You could call it kismet, the way collecting led Ilan Cohen to this apartment in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. "When I started, back in 2009, I would buy any contemporary work that I saw," Cohen says.

"But over time I created my own eye and my own taste." Upon his discovery of the practice of queer artist TM Davy, his collection evolved, ultimately becoming fodder for a 2012 group show, co-curated with 1969 Gallery's Quang Bao, thematically focused on The Picture of Dorian Gray. The exhibition opened on Oscar Wilde's birthday and brought a number of new relationships with emerging talent into Cohen's life.

Creating a space that reflected this personal history and provided ample room to nurture and expand on it-fell to Noam Dvir and Daniel Rauchwerger, founders of the architecture and interiors studio BOND. Here's how they made Cohen's loft come together.

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