Swain Street & Company (SS & Co.) is a Westport Connecticut-based interior design practice providing interdisciplinary design services and architectural consultancy for residential projects in the United States and abroad.
SS & Co. creates beautiful, well-edited interiors with an understanding of historic design. The firm serves a very private client base ranging from young families to a multi-generational repeat clientele. Projects are in the US, particularly the Northeast, United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and Africa. They range from the renovation of a 19th-century farmhouse in Maine repurposed into party space, a family compound in Africa (on a private game preserve), reimagining a New York City brownstone for contemporary family living, a historic East Hampton house for a professional couple, a house for a Canadian family in Barbados and a historic Greenwich Connecticut carriage house.
The firm’s principal David Nastasi has an MS in Historic Preservation, as well as a Master of Architecture from Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, & Preservation. He is licensed as an Interior Designer ASID. SS & Co.’s interiors are known for their disciplined editing and a clear aesthetic purpose with the right amount of warmth, intimacy, and an element of whimsy. For David regular design research trips reveal and foster an understanding of how others live across the globe, and this curiosity sparks ideas and unexpected design solutions which inform his work.
SS & Co. incorporates in-house designed architectural detailing, custom cabinetry, millwork, and a mix of domestically and internationally sourced antiques and bespoke furniture to create functional comfortable interiors. Whether a new structure or one that is centuries old, the goal is to foster a sense of gradual patination and timelessness. The approach is a layered one, incorporating materials and furnishings that will age with grace, to create a relaxed elegance which reflects the interests, lifestyle and tastes of the client.
"Whether working with an extent building or commissioned to create a sense of timelessness in new construction Swain Street & Co. is known for classic interiors that are charming, relaxed, and knowledgeably conceived. The studio deploys a fresh, but respectful, approach to traditional design."
"At SS&Co. design is a response to and in harmony with a building’s history. The result is comfortable, intimate, and refined. After carefully considering of how to enhance or modify the interior architecture and plan of a space, SS&CO. delivers a finely detailed envelope for decoration.
The studio gravitates towards materials that grow old gracefully such as un-lacquered brass, textured fabrics, and raw leather. SS&Co’s interiors often include cotton velvets that are tactile, rich, and hard-wearing, textured Belgian linens which look especially attractive when wrinkled. Naturally stained and waxed woods, old mahogany, walnut, white oak, and fruitwood add a sense of gracious permanence. Marble is deployed where appropriate, watercolour glazed tiles add depth, and there is often a reuse of reclaimed materials adding historic layers to the visual narrative.
Although each project is highly personal, great thought goes into the influence of color on both the function and atmosphere of a room. SS&Co. gravitates towards a palette of rich jewel tones, including deep blues and deep greens, colours with complexity that won’t lose interest over time. The selection of color is a response not only to personal taste, but to climactic and spatial considerations. For example, in New York & New England, with their cold climates and long periods of grey weather, the studio uses a lot of pink-tinted tones for their flattering qualities and a warmth that increases natural sunshine and softens artificial light.
The practice sources furniture and art internationally through relationships with British and other European dealers as well as from New York and New England auction houses. Bespoke cabinetry and upholstery is the firm’s signature, and SS&Co. employs local cabinetmakers and artisans to create bespoke furniture, as well as restoring or in inventing a client’s own favourite pieces.
While taking inspiration from the past, Swain Street &Co. adapts traditional design to suit contemporary lives and lifestyles. The studio’s goal is to ensure that the client’s home is the best possible reflection of themselves and their taste."
Image 1 - 6: Genevieve Garruppo; Image 7-8: Emma Jackson
