November 18, 2018In selecting the interiors to highlight in this year’s Rooms of Distinction, 1stDibs editors combed through the projects of designers and architects at the top of their fields. Top: Interiors by, from left, Thad Hayes, Summer Thornton and Jeremiah Brent.

What makes a room truly distinctive? That’s a subject the 1stDibs editors happily explore on a daily basis as we compose the stories featured in Introspective and The Study. A large part of our jobs is devoted to showcasing the work of designers and architects who have a particular gift for finding fresh and inspiring ways to populate spaces with beautiful furniture, art and decorative objects. In the hands of these talented men and women, pieces that instinctively seem unlikely to work together — because of their differing eras, countries of origin, materials, attitudes or styles — somehow happily cohabitate. I like to say that this very special type of curation gives life to a room — and shows the art behind the interior designer’s craft.

So, we tapped into a rich vein of imagery in selecting the members of this year’s 1stDibs 50, whom we celebrate in Rooms of Distinction 2018. The spaces of these 50 designers cut a large swathe across styles and functions, but they all exemplify comfort, timelessness, luxury and the magic of the mix. Those qualities are supremely evident, for instance, in the serene Hamptons living room of Russell Groves, with its all-star roster of pieces by the likes of Hans Wegner, George Nakashima, Berndt Friberg and Marcel Breuer for Thonet, all of them bathed in that magical East End light.

Studio Shamshiri designed this downtown New York apartment, which has a Shaker-like simplicity.

Then there’s the small, sexy entry foyer of a West Village home designed by Jeremiah Brent. In this, we write, “night and day, light bounces between a domed brass light fixture, a vintage Hans-Agne Jakobsson table lamp and a highly articulated mirror set off like jewelry against soot-black walls.”

You’ll also find a William Sofield–designed bedroom perched high above New York’s Upper East Side and vivified by luxe vintage pieces like Jean-Michel Frank bedside tables and a sculptural Eileen Gray Transat chair clad in white leather, as well as such custom creations as a bed and gold-tooled parchment screens — all of Sofield’s own recent design. “Objects have voices,” he says simply of the ensemble.

We couldn’t agree with that sentiment more heartily or be happier to celebrate the 1stDibs 50 and the striking harmonies they’ve conjured from these singular voices.

The 1stDibs 50

View Rooms of Distinction 2018