66 Washington by Ciarán McGuigan and Jean Morana

66 Washington – Orior creative director Ciarán McGuigan’s loft in Brooklyn, New York – is filled with an eclectic collection of furniture and lighting.

Ciarán McGuigan, the New York-based creative director of Northern Irish furniture company Orior, always romanticised the idea of living in a loft. Several years ago, this aspiration manifested when he and his wife, Logann, purchased the top-floor apartment of a 1930s-era building in Brooklyn. The couple immediately saw the apartment’s potential thanks to its high ceilings, masonry walls, large windows, original timber floors and skylight towards the rear. However, the original floor plan was fussy and warren-like, with a handful of small rooms.

 “To really push the loft narrative, I had to knock down some of the walls to create the open-plan layout that I wanted.”

“To really push the loft narrative, I had to knock down some of the walls to create the open-plan layout I wanted,” says McGuigan, who created the interiors with Orior’s head of design, Jean Morana. The apartment now features a generous living, dining and kitchen area flooded with natural light, and two bedrooms – one with a skylight and the other with a mezzanine accessed by a stepladder which “acts as a flex space and library”.

Fuelled by their decade-long friendship, McGuigan and Morana’s creative shorthand and shared aesthetic proved invaluable, and an effortless partnership ensued. “I wouldn’t say I gave Jean a brief,” says McGuigan. “We had a lot of conversations on what I was looking for and … it was fair to say he knew me pretty well. We both have an appreciation for soft curves and movement in a space as well as tactility and an amalgamation of materials, so once I was set on the space and knew what I wanted to do with it, it was quite a seamless collaboration.”

Painted brick, grey Venetian plaster and natural stone drive the palette and exposed timber rafters bring a welcome richness. However, it’s in the curation of furniture, lighting and artwork that this home finds its stride. “It’s mainly furnished with Orior,” says McGuigan. “I have a couple of my dad’s archive designs [Brian McGuigan founded Orior in 1979], some of the newer pieces we’ve launched and then some pieces which are only in the prototype phase.” The Wavy credenza – the prototype of which was designed by Morana for this apartment – is a favourite, as is the Atlanta sofa designed by Brian McGuigan in the 1980s, upholstered in a carmine Pierre Frey velvet.

This tapestry of Orior furniture – which is interspersed with pieces from the couple’s growing collection, including a cloud-like Bocci light fitting, an Arnout Visser Big Mushroom floor lamp, a set of Seungjin Yang pendants and art by Lou Ros and Andrew Humke – paves the way for a distinctive and dynamic interior. It’s indisputably Orior and unsurprisingly so, albeit with an edge and specificity that makes this place a home.

Interior design by Ciarán McGuigan and Jean Morana. Artwork by Andrew Humke and Lou Ros.