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Anna Karp is CEO and co-founder of Bolster, a New York City-based firm offering in-house design, architecture, and build services. As a licensed General Contractor, she oversees the design and construction of all projects, and has completed 100+ renovations throughout New York City and in Mexico, where she’s originally from.
Anna is a trailblazer carving her own path in the traditionally male-dominated general contracting and home renovation sector. Under her leadership, Bolster has been called a “significant innovation for the renovation industry,” and uses proprietary technology and a data-driven approach to deliver beautiful, risk-free gut renovations. The team has renovated more than 50,000 square feet in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, while navigating compliance, landmarks, and the DOB to ensure projects are delivered to in-house quality standards. Bolster’s umbrella of services includes Design-Build, Build-Only, and the efficiency-conscious Agile x Bolster offering.
To ensure control quality, Anna has created a vertically integrated team of project managers, builders, carpenters, painters, and executives. As both a minority and female CEO, she has always prioritized creating a diverse and inclusive culture at Bolster, providing opportunities for females and minorities who are often overlooked in the construction industry.
Anna is also an active member in female-forward organizations, including Chief. She has served as a guest speaker and panelist at industry events and webinars where she advocates for women and gender balance in the construction industry. Additionally, Anna co-founded Chefs on a Plane, an invite-only network of New York’s Top Chefs & Mixologists who travel to Puebla for a seasonal, behind-the-scenes experience of Mexico’s culinary culture. She is also one of the hosts of “Hidden Gems”, a show for Architectural Digest.
Today, Anna Karp is joining us for Friday Five and sharing five things people should know before beginning a renovation.
Interior design awareness and the ‘renovation bug’ have had a boost during recent years and post-pandemic. Certain generations are spending more and more time ogling beautiful interiors and dreaming of ways to make their homes nicer, better, bigger, and more attractive for resale.
Renovators can be divided into two categories: those who buy to renovate, and those who already live in a property to be renovated. The latter have an advantage because they can comfortably plan their renovation and take months doing so, while the former are always against the clock. Renovating is a big commitment. If you are a homeowner who is buying with the intention to renovate, and you have the option to choose a property in mint condition and the inclination to do so, listen to your gut!
It’s an enormous undertaking, no matter how good your team is. It takes time, financial investment, and can be an emotional rollercoaster. On the other hand, if you absolutely want your vision to come true, then a renovation is in place. Brace yourself: it will be fun, however, remember that it’s a marathon – not a sprint, and start training your design and decision-making muscles!
If you’re anything like me, you probably like having your personal affairs organized and in tip-top shape – and a renovation is no different. Use the same diligence in choosing your design and build a team as you would select your personal accountant. You’ll want to check references and look for specificity in both project management and the quality of results. Having great design and a great architectural team should be a baseline – not the goal. Your mission is to fully understand that your team will be capable and available to solve any curveballs along the way.
During the pandemic, I chose to uphold Bolster’s Fixed Price guarantee for our pandemic-era projects. This was a very tough financial decision, however, we stood by our values in a time of major uncertainty. When vetting a design-build firm, you are not only vetting for technical knowledge, aesthetics, or what your neighbors’ or other reference’s achieved – you are testing to understand if the team leading your project is also logical and whether they understand the full meaning of accountability.
If you chose a design team and things are not going the way you planned, don’t despair. The good news is that you’re still dating. While swiping left may result in some sunk cost for your family, it’s essential to understand that you’re still in the pen to paper phase. No matter how much has been invested in the design and architectural phase, homeowners are not really in hook, line, and sinker until a permit is pulled and the general contractor ‘breaks ground.’
Once this has happened, you are married to your team, and the best way forward is always, undoubtedly ‘forward.’ So, if your gut says ‘no,’ it’s okay to pivot and find a new design team. Bottom line: it’s your home. Even if you feel out of depth in technical construction and design matters, you are still the client and the arrangement needs to feel right every step of the way. Granted, mistakes happen and challenging situations will arise, but always stay alert to see how matters are resolved. If you’re a priority, then chances are you’re in good hands.
My team is often asked if things like adding a bathroom, having an open floor plan, having an island, or removing a tub – just to name a few – are good for resale value. While these are all fair questions when undertaking a renovation, I always urge homeowners to design for themselves and plan for their own lifestyle. Once the property is sold, chances are the new homeowners will want their own style and will plan for their own needs – they may be empty nesters or they may have eight children. It’s impossible to plan for the unknown. However, if an aspect of your renovation is consuming you, the best point-of-contact for this question would be a local broker.
Great design can be achieved with very little or with a lot of aplomb. I urge homeowners to ask their design team to give them their wildest ideas. This can range from understanding what the most expensive free-standing claw foot tub is on the market to providing an outlandish design for the layout of the home. While you may not end up choosing the wildest options, the creative juices of the team will start flowing, and chances are you may learn something new.
That being said, great design can also be affordable and should be practical. So while you may be dying to have your marble’s veins meet each other at a junction in your waterfall island, you may not want to buy an entire lot – just a couple of slabs that contrast or match each other. While the tub of your dreams may be amazing, you don’t want to have to reinforce your floors because it’s terribly heavy. Finally, my favorite. While the tile industry has changed and evolved a lot in recent years, be sure that the tiles you choose are proven to be fit for purpose, and make sure you understand the alternatives. Great looks can be achieved with large format slabs, while some trendy cement tiles with geometric designs stain easily and are hard to maintain.
Astoria All-Electric House \ The primary goal of Bolster’s Astoria homeowners was to transform this 36th Street home from a multi-family dwelling to a single family home and fully replace gas with electrical. In doing so, they needed to remove the kitchen from the second floor of the original home which involved extensive layout changes. The homeowners wanted to create a more spacious and comfortable home that included an updated mudroom and terrace. Bolster also added new flooring, doors, windows, and millwork throughout, as well as new appliances.
Park Slope Brownstone Restoration \ The homeowners wanted to retain many of the home’s original details from 1903, including pier mirrors and stained glass windows, while making modern updates during the gut renovation of their 3,600 sq. ft., six bed, three-and-a-half bath landmarked brownstone. The young family prioritized layout changes to better suit their lifestyle; significant and necessary infrastructure updates (including electrical and plumbing); and other upgrades such as new floors and windows, a modern kitchen and dining room, and fresh paint throughout the home.
Tribeca Townhouse \ The homeowners of this Harrison Street townhouse wanted to update their space to better suit the needs of their young family. The primary objectives were to update the layout of the home – specifically, the bathrooms, kitchen, and bedroom – while respecting the historical language of this unique townhouse.
Harlem Passive House \ The homeowners wanted to update the layout of their brownstone, which was originally organized as an owner’s duplex on the bottom and two separate units on top, as well as incorporate Passive House elements. This unique Harlem brownstone, which is only 14-ft-wide, required a new steel staircase and a gut renovation of the entire home, including a ground-level rental unit with backyard access. The renovated home features an owner’s triplex from the parlor level up, with a garden apartment rental.
Photography by Duplex Imaging, courtesy of Bolster.
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Color is a very subjective quality in the eye of the beholder but leading materials manufacturer 3form continues to prove that it has its finger on the pulse when it comes to creating and curating colors that the design community is looking for. For its 2023 Color Collection, the brand is adding 10 new pastel hues to its permanent color system, offering new ways to brighten up commercial environments. “Color is at the core of what we do, and this collection allowed us to be more introspective about the meaning of color in our lives,” shares Ryan Smith, 3form’s Chief Creative Officer.
The new collection is inspired by the four seasons and the emotions they evoke, like the blues of a winter day and the purple tones found in spring. To begin the process of expanding its color system, the design team at 3form first laid out swatches of current colors in order to identify missing colors. They noticed an opportunity to introduce soft, subtle versions of their saturated tones and, in the end, settled on 10 new hues: Lavish, Graceland, Alta, Smolder, Honeycomb, Rhubarb, Talc, Cedarwood, Adobe, and Comet.
The colors can be applied to 3form’s Varia, Chroma, and Glass platforms that can be constructed into partitions, wall accents, reception desk wraps, ceiling features, and more for public spaces like offices, hotels, schools, hospitals, and wellness centers. The translucency of 3form’s materials brings the colors to life, especially when natural light, which gradually changes throughout the day, diffuses through.
Lavish
Lavish
Graceland
Graceland
Alta
Alta
Smolder
Smolder
Honeycomb
Honeycomb
Rhubarb
Rhubarb
Talc
Cedarwood
Adobe
Comet
Comet
For more information on 3form’s 2023 Color Collection, head to 3-form.com.
Height-adjustable tables are hardly anything new. These days, they’re found beyond contract spaces in many home offices and lauded for their flexibility in providing variety and comfort to those needing to maximize their productivity. However, they are sometimes a bit of an eyesore, require access to power or feel to cumbersome to adjust manually, and they often take up a lot of space. Herman Miller’s latest offering, the Passport Work Table, takes away these pain points and adds in much needed flexibility and adjustability for those looking to level up their productivity, whether at home or in the office.
If Goldilocks were to test today’s office desk solutions, she would say that the Passport Work Table was “just right” in terms of footprint and space. The surface is large enough for your essentials (laptop, notebook, a drink of choice). Any larger and you start to impede on the flexibility of the table to fit in small spaces or the mobility of it to maneuver around the home, the latter aided by the single-column base and lightweight construction. Accessories like bag hooks and privacy screens can be added if those types of needs are necessary in a specific office (or section of the office) but they don’t increase the table’s footprint.
While there are times a larger work surface is needed, there are perhaps even more occasions when a user just needs to carve out a small space that can be easily put away afterwards (like in a home) or pulled up for an impromptu meeting (like at the workplace). The Passport Work Tables’s small size is, indeed, its biggest flex for today’s hybrid work environments.
Passport is available in two sizes: one with a height adjustment range of 12” with a 22×16″ work surface, the other with a height adjustment range of 18” and a 27×20” work surface. At a starting price of $600, Passport also offers a wide range of finishes, colors, and additional customization through accessories which help to create the perfect work desk for any office style.
For more information on the Passport Work Table, visit hermanmiller.com.
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Concerns about fraud have prompted the New York City education department, led by chancellor David C. Banks, to stop doing business with 20 private education companies.
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The trend of furniture designed with soft volumes that we’ve been seeing throughout the past year doesn’t show any sign of moving on just yet. The aesthetic even translates beautifully to the contract world, case in point is the Oru collection. Designed by Patricia Urquiola for Andreu World, the influence of elements from the 1970s and Japanese design create a feeling and mood that’s bold and iconic. Throughout the collection of chairs and tables you’ll notice the ongoing use of three feet supporting each piece of furniture, showcasing topnotch craftsmanship.
The Oru collection was created for both casual and formal work settings, while remaining flexible, adaptable, and comfortable. In all, the series includes two types of chairs as well as coffee, dining, meeting, and auxiliary tables. The furniture all shares the same characteristic wooden structure that features rounded, soft geometries.
The Oru collection has received the Best of Year award from Interior Design Magazine in the category of best contract seat. The Oru table was also a finalist for the awards in the category of best table for contract.
To learn more about the Oru Collection, visit andreuworld.com.
Brooklyn- and San Francisco-based interdisciplinary design studio Office of Tangible Space recently completed the global headquarter office of ScienceIO, a healthcare AI platform that transforms medical text into data that can help improve patient care. The new interiors are bright, airy, and inviting, thanks to its material palette of oak, stone, and lime wash. Several distinctive features, including custom white wire grid room dividers and custom furnishings, set the office parts from similar project types.
While there’s no shortage of natural light in this office, OTS created custom standing desks that feature a curved armature that holds a pendant lamp. This allows the desk to be raised or lowered without affecting the height or rewiring of the lamp in case the desk needs to be moved. This hybrid desk typology frees the user from the restraints of typical desk solutions and offers flexibility and mobility while working.
The wire room dividers help to designate zones within the open layout of the office without completely blocking off the rooms, while also adding spatial and visual interest in a minimalistic way.
A variety of minimalist pendant fixtures can be found throughout the office. Some add a bold impact with their size or color, others fade from the ceiling as to avoid drawing the eyes up towards the convoluted maze of piping and duct vents.
Lush greenery and wood furnishings add natural textures and tones to the mostly white office. In the conference room, a calming accent wall painted in a grassy lime wash repeats the zen-like theme.
Project Team of Michael Yarinsky, Kelley Perumbeti, Zoë Mowat.
Photos by Charlie Schuck.
Over at The Nib, Sam Wallman has created an illustrated history of the Pinkerton Agency — the original "private eyes," a nearly 200-year-old American corporation that essentially pioneered the privatization of domestic military intelligent services, most often weaponized against the working class. — Read the rest
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