Crown Heights Chic: Inside the Home of AphroChic
Since meeting in an airport twenty years ago, Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason have lived in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and DC, but these days they feel pretty settled in Brooklyn. They found their Crown Heights apartment through a friend and have made it their own. As the couple behind AphroChic, a design company focused on the intersection of modern design and cultural style, and the authors of Remix: Decorating with Culture, Objects, and Soul, they put their skills to good use. They took on the project like a job, making floor plans, paying attention to the scale of the furniture, and making sure the décor reflects the neighborhood. They designed the pillows on the couch and the striking wallpaper—inspired by their collaboration with a women’s collective in Rwanda, which made the baskets displayed on the bedroom wall. A pop of bright pink in the living room comes courtesy of a ceremonial Cameroonian juju hat they found in Harlem. They work from home and take lots of meetings here. “We find that for weeks we don’t go to Manhattan,” Hays said. “It’s a really vibrant area because you have the West Indian culture and lots of new things popping up.”
All photos by Seth Caplan.