Rafael de Cárdenas and Anna Karlin Design Ravishing Residences at the Belnord

While de Cárdenas—who was named one of Galerie’s Creative Minds—has already unveiled a model unit filled with custom furnishings, the residents lounge and private dining room are only now making their debut. “The material and color palette is on the cool side, which gives the spaces a smarter and crisper vibe,” he says of both interiors, which are divided by a structural column. “The silvery greens and grays are simply elegant.”

For the furnishings, his team crafted a custom undulating sofa to connect both ends of the long lounge, as a way to unite them visually and practically. In addition to Apparatus sconces and pieces from the Future Perfect and Avenue Road, other favorites include a pair of graceful Pierre Paulin chairs in a muted sea-foam color. “They have an exuberant form to complement the sumptuous curvature of all the lounge furniture,” de Cárdenas tells Galerie. “We also tend to use textiles from Dedar and Maharam, and the fabric choices here feel special while also being practical and tough on wear.” Adding a worldly touch are a pair of luminous 19th-century Japanese screens, as well as an array of small handmade works by artist Hon Eui Chen, who de Cárdenas commissioned to create the dining room’s painterly abstract work.

Meanwhile, New York designer Anna Karlin—who works across interiors, furnishings, decor, and jewelry—wanted to craft a model unit with her signature mix of custom, contemporary, and vintage pieces. “We always start with a character,” she explains of her approach. “Who do we think lives here?” The answer was a well-traveled family who had amassed a curated collection of one-of-a-kind treasures. “I wanted to bring the lived-in feel to what is essentially a fictional space—if we can make it warm and lovely, then we’ve done a good job.”

One of the standout works that Karlin created is the living area’s arresting bent-steel floor lamp, sculpted in the contours of a face and featuring a glass bulb for the eye. “I’m obsessed with that piece, and it was so fun to put in here,” she tells Galerie. Vintage finds abound, including a lamp in the home office and a suite of Carlos Scarpa dining chairs. Karlin also amped up the sleeping quarters, one of which she designed with a teenage girl in mind. “To keep it sophisticated, we did tone on tone and texture on texture,” she notes. “It’s not baby pink but slightly off, and there are really cool vintage sconces and a chandelier. It’s still fun and feels a little chic.”

While the pandemic halted work before installation could get underway earlier this year, the overall interior design plan was not effected. “This was such a fun project because we were really aligned with client,” says Karlin. “Everyone wants to do their best creatively, and I know the client needs to be neutral and not too hard in one direction. Together we danced that line.”

Residences at the Belnord are available from $4 million to $12 million.