For our new series “Objects of Affection,” we are asking designers and others from an array of fields to tell us about an item in their personal space that is bringing them comfort and solace as they stay home in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

As the founder of the wildly popular design, food, and entertaining site EyeSwoon, Athena Calderone is constantly surrounded by objects she finds inspiring. Based out of a Brooklyn townhouse—she has a predilection for renovating homes—Calderone founded EyeSwoon in 2011 as a place where she could encourage people to find and channel beauty in everything in their surroundings. Earlier this year, Calderone published her book Live Beautiful (Abrams), in which she explores the gorgeously appointed spaces of stylish creatives such as Jenna Lyons, Apparatus founders Gabriel Hendifar and Jeremy Anderson, and designer Pamela Shamshiri. Calderone also hosts a podcast, More Than One Thing, in which she interviews fellow multi-hyphenates about their careers. As she hunkers down in her Amagansett, New York, house with her husband and son, she has found herself drawn to a bench she created from two seemingly disparate components.

LIVING ROOM BENCH

“The bench behind my living room sofa in my home in Amagansett is what I would consider to be design magic: what happens when two random elements find their way to one another unintentionally, and yet so perfectly. It is also the kind of alchemy that is rooted in sustainability. Both of its key components are vintage to the core—the bench top was the reclaimed-wood shelving from my former kitchen, and the travertine bases came from a glass-topped cocktail table hailing from the ’70s. What’s funny is that the travertine bases are six or seven separate pieces, and when they were shipped to me, four of the pieces arrived broken. I almost disregarded them and tossed them into the trash, but on an impulse I asked my marble fabricator if he could repair them. I’ve never been happier to give something a new life!

I chose this object because I remember the excitement I felt when I was struck with the idea to unify these two vastly different materials that were once relegated to my basement. It’s a reminder that beautiful design only requires creativity, and perhaps a little scrappy ingenuity. Design is not always about acquiring, but rather repurposing. With our homes being our one constant these days, perhaps we can all find ways to also make them our canvases, rummaging through our things and taking on a project!” —Athena Calderone, author and founder of EyeSwoon