The Paravent Bed, a collaboration with Lesser Miracle, anchoring the bedroom of Danny Kaplan’s Manhattan showroom.
Photo: William Jess Laird

At His NoHo Showroom, Danny Kaplan Finds New Creative Pathways

The fast-rising ceramist carefully carves out a live-in flagship that puts his studio’s ceramic experiments and spirit of collaboration on exquisite display

Danny Kaplan.

Danny Kaplan. Photo: William Jess Laird

Trekking through the mountains of red tape that accompany Manhattan real estate is rarely for the faint of heart and easily obliterates any excitement of making a home. But the roadblock didn’t faze Danny Kaplan, the fast-rising ceramist whose hand-thrown lamps, vessels, and objects feel plucked from antiquity yet invested with modern finesse. He was casually searching downtown for an apartment that would afford him enough space to live and establish his nine-year-old design company’s first-ever showroom when he stumbled upon a cavernous pre-war warehouse loft in the heart of NoHo. “I immediately knew it was the one,” he tells Galerie, swooning over its industrial history, cast iron architecture, and raw openness that he describes a “natural complement” to his work. “The soaring ceilings and abundant natural light sealed the deal—it was as if the space had been waiting for this purpose.” 

That was two Decembers ago. Kaplan spent the greater part of 2024 in renovation mode, tempering his freewheeling creativity and desire for a contemporary home with adjusting to the constraints of designing within a historic structure, which, he says, “taught me the value of embracing imperfections.” But walk through the impeccably appointed space he created and there are precious few to be seen. Living and working in the same quarters has been transformative on his already prolific output. Not only did the setup give him a “deeper connection” to his pieces, but it unlocked new pathways for creativity and experimentation while also proving his chops as an interior designer.

The foyer’s walnut credenza clad in custom terrasig tiles.

The foyer’s walnut credenza clad in custom terrasig tiles. Photo: William Jess Laird

Consisting of three distinct areas stretching across 4,000 square feet, the gut-renovated loft is a veritable showcase of a stellar ceramist spreading his wings and venturing deeper into the search of forms, materials, and typologies that strike his signature balance of utility and beauty. The subtle ceramic lamps and vessels that put Kaplan’s then-fledgling studio on the map have their own rightful place, but are joined by prototypes and one-offs by designers in his orbit. “We’ve always prioritized collaboration,” he says. “Sharing this space with clients and collaborators has made it feel like a living, breathing extension of the studio’s philosophy.”

He joined forces with designer Joseph Algieri to make a circular mirror adorned with candy-colored resin spheres; it blends seamlessly into the powder room, which is clad top-to-bottom in shimmering Clé zellige tiles. Former studio-mate Kassandra Thatcher assembled a seven-foot-long string of foxglove-shaped plaster pendants above the open kitchen. There are several pieces by Thomas Barger, the artist known for fashioning rough-hewn chairs using recycled paper pulp and resin. They offer a splendid contrast to prototypes of Kaplan’s soon-to-debut stainless steel furniture, an extension of his geometric brass sconces. Ditto for the foyer’s walnut credenza—protruding glazed ceramic tiles clad each cupboard door in puzzle-like formations, elevating an otherwise discreet furnishing into an expressive attention grabber.

A pair of Jack Mernin canvases backdropping the Delf Collection dining table and chair with a Zak + Fox upholstered seat.

A pair of Jack Mernin canvases backdropping the Delf Collection dining table and chair with a Zak + Fox upholstered seat. Photo: William Jess Laird

A mirror designed in collaboration with Joseph Algieri in the powder room.

A mirror designed in collaboration with Joseph Algieri in the powder room. Photo: William Jess Laird

Unexpected pairings of wood and ceramic also set the tone for Kaplan’s collaboration with woodworker Vince Patti, the founder of up-and-coming Brooklyn studio Lesser Miracle. Taken by Patti’s proclivity toward angular construction and monolithic forms, Kaplan asked him to build a custom bed for the apartment. The two soon discovered mutual affinities—the sci-fi fantasy worlds of illustrator Frank Frazetta, the elegance of Jean Royère and Jean-Michel Frank, the Brutalist leanings of the Scarpa family—and decided to make the bed commercially available. What resulted is Paravent, a stark yet graceful oak bed comprising a floating screen-like headboard with dug-out elements inlaid with Kaplan’s jewel-toned ceramic tiles.

The ease of working together encouraged Kaplan and Patti to create a six-piece collection—fittingly named Delf, the Dutch word for “mine,” as in digging or delving—that takes pride of place in the showroom. Ceramic details and rigorous woodworking reverberate throughout the sextet, but its references span the globe. Traditional Chinese wood buildings inform the Clover Side Table’s triangular shape, a geometry echoed in the base of the Brion Chair. That piece features a circular cutout nodding to its namesake, the postmodern burial ground in San Vito d’Altivole that endures as one of Carlo Scarpa’s masterpieces. A particular high point is the massive wooden dining table; it was too big for Kaplan’s freight elevator and required a hollow cut down its center, but the intervention feels natural. It looks perfectly at home under an Isamu Noguchi paper lantern and two sprightly canvases by American artist Jack Mernin.

Plaster pendants by Kassandra Thatcher in the kitchen.

Plaster pendants by Kassandra Thatcher in the kitchen. Photo: William Jess Laird

Café table, chairs, vessels, and pendant of Kaplan’s own design in his private space.

Café table, chairs, vessels, and pendant of Kaplan’s own design in his private space. Photo: William Jess Laird

Kaplan will rotate the pieces on view to tease his latest works and fascinations, extending that spirit of collaboration to the wider community when the showroom opens in the spring. (It soft-launched in the fall and is available to visit by appointment.) Until then, he’s riding the high of seeing his vision come to life and has been creating troves of new work in response. Expect rugs drawn from natural motifs that echo the tones of his ceramic glazes, also debuting in the spring. “It’s one thing to imagine how a piece might feel in a room, but to see my work in this environment—designed to amplify its presence—has been incredibly rewarding,” he says. “It’s a humbling reminder that design is as much about listening as it is creating.”

Cover: The Paravent Bed, a collaboration with Lesser Miracle, anchoring the bedroom of Danny Kaplan’s Manhattan showroom.
Photo: William Jess Laird

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