URBAN RENEWAL

After more than a decade in the English countryside, Amanda Brooks reestablishes a stylish foothold in New York City, with help from her friend, designer Hadley Wiggins

- TEXT BY AMANDA BROOKS PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAUREEN M. EVANS

IN 2012 I left New York City life to move to a farm with my family in Oxfordshire, England.

In the subsequent years I lived and breathed all things Cotswolds, and eventually opened Cutter Brooks, a shop that celebrated this aesthetic. But after six years of sourcing the world for treasures, the effects of Brexit and post-COVID inflation led me to make the tough decision to close down what had grown into a thriving lifestyle brand and begin a new chapter. Luckily I had one project already well underway to keep me busy and explore what my creativity might now look like.

A few years ago, a two-bedroom apartment that my husband, Christopher, and I owned on Chrystie Street came to the end of its lease. Longing to stay connected to our life in New York City, we decided to fix up the place for ourselves. As I was living abroad and still busy running my company at the time, the first thing I did was ring up Hadley Wiggins—a friend whose design firm had recently been named to the AD100—and ask for her help. She met me at the loft which was, shall we say, in “authentic” condition, and we started a conversation about the layout, the light, and what to keep and replace. She proposed a plan with new hardwood floors, soundproof tilt-and-turn windows, and a stunning Pierre Frey wallpaper depicting an Egyptian fresco that hangs in the Louvre.