Ashe Leandro

When conceiving a capacious cottage on the Jersey Shore, who but interior designer Ariel Ashe and architect Reinaldo Leandro, principals of their eponymous New York firm, would look for inspiration to Gio Ponti and his 1930s musings on “ideal,” small, seaside homes? Here, they have brilliantly succeeded in achieving the maestro’s prescription for a house that is at one with sea, sand and sky while also possessing a playful interior landscape all its own. Critical to their decorative scheme for the double-height living room was the choice of simple but gorgeously detailed cerused-oak woodwork on the walls and ceiling and a vintage DS-600 sofa. (Also known as the Snake, it may be de Sede’s most singular design.) For Ashe, what gives the dune-hued space its lively character is the “juxtaposition of the clear, rectilinear architectural shapes with the serpentine and organic forms of the furniture,” which also includes a vintage Noguchi-designed Akari pendant and a pair of mid-century rattan lounge chairs by Janine Abram and Dirk Jan Rol — all of them statement pieces sourced on 1stDibs.