Designer Michael Yarinsky’s Two-Story Rental in North Fork

The Dining Area: Michael Yarinsky, co-founder of Office of Tangible Space, installed a dining table to connect the kitchen with the living room. The dining chairs are vintage Josef Hoffmann. The irregular wood chair, part of a pair, is by Brendan Timmins. The pendant light is by Ludovica and Roberto Palomba for Foscarini.
Photo: Claire Esparros

The architect and designer Michael Yarinsky’s rental in Southold comprises the top floor of a 1940s two-story shingled building that once served as a social club. The ground floor had been an event hall with a stage; the upstairs needed a refresh. “It was set up kind of like a bachelor pad,” Yarinsky says. “It was all carpeted, and there were smoke stains and that kind of thing.”

With the permission of the landlord, who is a friend, Yarinsky began a renovation six years ago. For his first order of business, he reached for a signature move to open up the small boxed-in kitchen.

“I cut holes through walls a lot,” he says. For this project, he created an interior window between the kitchen and the living room. Then he connected them with a dining table of his own conception from Office of Tangible Space, the interdisciplinary architecture-and-design firm he co-founded in 2017 with Kelley Perumbeti. (The firm designed the café at the Brooklyn Museum and the gift shop at the Whitney.)

“I did a similar, but different, execution in the city,” Yarinsky says, referring to his Bushwick apartment; he splits his time between the two rental properties. “Here, there was no designated dining space. I thought, This is the solution. The median space is the dining room.”

The modest-size plywood table, which doubles as a desk, became a bridge between the two rooms and “a great framing mechanism for the entire space.” That’s something Yarinsky learned from his friend and creative hero, Allan Wexler, whose practice blends art and architecture. “I’m such a fan of his work it’s irrevocably changed my thinking about space,” says Yarinsky. Over time, he has filled his second home with objects and furnishings that have a personal meaning, pieces that friends have made, and knickknacks found on the beach or at yard sales. There are brooms Yarinsky has collected from all over the world hanging around the house. In the dining area is a perfectly egg-shaped rock; in the living room, a burial urn he commissioned from Yuko Nishikawa for an exhibit he curated.

“I really enjoy surrounding myself with things that give my life a little bit of friction,” he says. “I don’t like to be around anything if it’s just pretty.”

The Table: The tea light is by Alvar Aalto for Iittala. The vase is by Simone Bodmer-Turner. The brass dinner bell is by Pat Kim for Sukrachand. The Finnish glass and metal objects are vintage.
Photo: Claire Esparros

The Living Room: The vintage Muji convertible sofa is covered in custom Office of Tangible Space fabric for Weft. The floor lamp is by Ladies & Gentleman Studio. The lounge chair is Jens Risom. The seven-foot-high triptych oil painting, gocyagaya-ngu-nunu-kuru, is by Shoko Masunaga.
Photo: Claire Esparros

The Office: The solid-oak desk with legs from Ikea was made by Yarinsky. The table lamp is by Isamu Noguchi. The leather swivel chair is vintage, and the painting against the wall is by the artist Anthony Cudahy. The cat, Roxanne, is one of Yarinsky’s rescues.
Photo: Claire Esparros

The Bedroom: The quilt is vintage. Yarinsky’s other cat, Fox, is seen taking in the sun.
Photo: Claire Esparros