ByLindsey Mather,Photography byJenna Saraco
PublishedMay 13, 2026 5:00 AM EDT
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Athena Calderone takes her own advice. Back in 2020, the EyeSwoon founder offered a sage tip on Domino’s Design Time podcast: “If you’re about to start a renovation, you really need to understand the light.” True to form, four years later, while scouting Brooklyn’s Industry City warehouse complex for a future office, Calderone’s top priority circled right back to that principle. “I know a lot of people say northern light is key for photography,” she notes, “but I love harsh shadows and dramatic light, so I knew I wanted a southern-facing space.”
At 1,200 square feet, the chosen spot was a bit bigger than Calderone had first pictured, but it had a wall of windows facing the right direction and would let the multihyphenate carve out zones for the many arms of her business, from product development to interior design. Sold! Or rather, leased. It’s a rental, so Calderone had to get inventive to make the concrete ceiling, exposed pipes, and bright white walls feel intentional without any permanent alterations. “The home is at the crux of everything I do; I wanted the space to feel homey,” she explains. Here’s how she pulled it off.
Drapery Standing in for Walls
The office was a genuine blank canvas—one big, empty room. At first, Calderone considered building walls to create a spot for stashing product samples, but she couldn’t justify the steep cost knowing her team wouldn’t be there forever. Thinking beyond the drywalled box—“I wholeheartedly believe that financial constraints can sometimes push you to be more creative,” she says—Calderone turned to drapery. A lot of it.
Creamy ripple-fold curtains from the Shade Store stretch wall to wall and floor to 15-foot ceiling along a simple track. “They add a softness to the space, but that undulation also brings a touch of elegance,” Calderone notes. Not to mention, she can take them along when the team eventually moves out.
Desks That Pull Double Duty
Who says a desk has to be a desk? Instead, Calderone brought in her since-sold-out travertine console tables, part of her Crate & Barrel furniture and decor line. She deliberately designed them to stand just under 29 inches tall so they can double as shallow workstations in tighter quarters. The same-but-different logic applies to Calderone’s own desk; it’s actually a vintage Angelo Mangiarotti dining table that previously lived in her townhouse.
Vintage Pieces to Add Warmth
“Everything felt so bright and so new and so slick that I really wanted a few vintage pieces to offset that and add some visual intrigue,” Calderone explains. In just one corner, a bronze candlestick, a floor lamp, a barrel chair, stools, and a wood screen at her desk are all antiques sourced from auctions and flea markets. “Found pieces carry somebody else’s energy into the space,” she says. “I love to think about where a piece’s story came from and how I’m carrying on its legacy. That’s the emotive side of bringing in vintage.”
Balancing Big-Box With Artisanal
“One thing I’m always trying to balance in my designs is making things that are aesthetically appealing at an accessible price point, alongside pieces that have the touch of the hand and an artisan, bespoke feel,” says Calderone. Blackened steel task lamps with porcelain shades, a find from the Salone del Mobile design fair in Milan last year, fall into the latter camp, as do a wiggly clay sconce—a collaboration between Calderone and Simone Bodmer-Turner—and a plaster pedestal.
Playing With Proportion
All that soaring drapery needed a counterweight on the opposite side of the room. Calderone donned her DIY hat and picked up three 8-foot-tall Homasote pinboards from the hardware store to serve as vertical mood boards. A few yards of neutral linen fabric and a staple gun later, they were ready for gathering inspiration, building color stories, and spotting recurring themes.
Still, Calderone was wary of everything being big, big, big. Inspired by historic homes, she chose a small vintage artwork to hang above the oval table with simple twine. “It’s so much more interesting to offset art or play with a really diminutive scale,” she notes.
A Touch of Earthy Color
“For the longest time I was anti-color,” admits Calderone. When she swapped a cream sofa for her sage green Crate & Barrel design in the office’s living area, she instantly thought, Oh gosh, it’s too much. “There was this inner struggle. My neutral self versus my colorful self,” she says with a laugh. Looking back, though, she sees clearly that it was the right call. “When you do anything new that steps outside your comfort zone, it takes a moment to adapt,” she says. “Allow yourself the freedom to not be okay when you first make a change.”
Borrow Calderone’s Workday Style
Lindsey Mather
Editor in Chief
Lindsey Mather is a proud words person who oversees Domino’s content strategy and creation. Whenever she can, she squeezes in time to write and edit stories about the ways people shape their spaces—and how their spaces shape them. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, Sam, and daughter, Stella.
Jenna Saraco
Photographer
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