Design Diary: Meet the Maker’s Movers and Shakers In Hudson
The summertime scorch is in full swing, and visitors and natives alike are seeking all forms of relief from July’s sizzling temps. Clever folks in the know may choose an artisanal ice cream overdose, chill with a mescal margarita, or enjoy a decadent afternoon nap. Park yourself in the pool or locate a cool waterfall, for the Dog Days are here and hot as… hello from Upstate New York.
Design Diary returns to Hudson this month, where we continue our insider tour of unique RI-region homes and the creative designers who inhabit them. Taking a stroll south off Warren, we find ourselves on a tree-lined street studded with imposing Victorian architecture. Approaching a gable-roofed residence featuring twin front doors, we pause, unsure which door to enter. An engraved brass plaque on the step names Steamboat Captain John T. Haviland as the original owner, and is a gentle reminder that this renaissance town on the Hudson River was once a thriving port.
Fast forward to the future, where the current residents are Lev Glazman, an international fragrance entrepreneur, and Damien Janowicz, a master in the fine art of hospitality. The enterprising pair are the power couple behind Hudson’s recently opened prestige destination, The Maker Lounge and Cafe. Alina Roytberg is the third dynamic element in this talented trio, and helms The Bartlett House in Ghent, their first Hudson Valley culinary venture. Last winter Rural Intelligence featured the celebrated opening of The Maker Lounge and Cafe, so this narrative is both an update on their progress and a snapshot of the couple creating this ambitious project.
The spacious 2,880-square-foot, two-story house the men share in Hudson has three bedrooms and three baths, with a shaded garden out back. The fully renovated house, rumored to be the first on this block, was built in 1825 as a two-family home (hence the reason for the mysterious double front doors), but was transformed into a single family unit in 1990, and then added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 2004.
By retaining significant historic details, including original wide-plank wood floors, a brick fireplace in the parlor and classic eyebrow windows, the house has become a bridge between old and new worlds. Not surprisingly, the dark palette, striking vintage furniture and rich fabrics the couple have chosen for the interior design of their private home evoke a dramatic elegance not unlike The Maker Lounge and Cafe, only a few blocks away.
They sheepishly admit that their historic Hudson residence (a second, more contemporary glass home in Copake has a very different atmosphere), in addition to being their home, is indeed a laboratory to test drive pieces for the next chapter in The Maker complex, the much anticipated opening of The Maker Restaurant and Hotel. Damien suggests that the ultimate inspiration for both the private and public environments that they share is “a new way of looking at old-world aesthetics,” built around their mutual love for combining mid-century furniture with industrial, neo-classical and bohemian influences. Most important, though, is physical comfort.
Glazman is still very involved with Fresh, a successful international fragrance and skin care line that he and Roytberg created together in 1991. He’s on the move locally and globally, literally and figuratively, with his travels divided equally between Boston, Hudson and “elsewhere.” Janowicz is fully absorbed in juggling the mosaic of hospitality, marketing and design the growing Maker domain requires. They’re equally gracious and welcoming, extremely busy but obviously at home in the world they’re creating for themselves and others in Hudson.
With both home and businesses an obvious testament to their mutual passion for well-crafted and bespoke design, history and fine cuisine, it seems they’ve discovered a key to surviving and flourishing within the rigors of the 21st century: Keep moving, enjoy comfort, and love what you do.
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