What Happens When Rafael de Cardenas Falls for a Medieval Floral Pattern?

"Every project is an opportunity to do something we haven't done before,"

"Given our track record with the client, we had carte blanche,"

"I don't think this is what they were expecting."

"I became obsessed with this pattern, and with having the space feel historical without being too much. I struggled with it, because it's not in my design wheelhouse. But I wanted to make it work."

Rafael de Cárdenas completed a comprehensive interior makeover of a six-story Upper East Side brownstone for a large, blended family returning from Texas. The project required minimal structural intervention but pursued a conceptual redesign rather than a simple refresh. De Cárdenas drew from his Calvin Klein–influenced palette of 1980s glamour and 1990s minimalism while introducing a 15th-century medieval block-printed floral motif reimagined as a vertical, custom wallcovering produced with Callidus Guild. The historical motif became the design anchor for the dining room and informed choices in materials, sculptural furniture, and finishes aimed to feel historical without being overwhelming.

Read at Architectural Digest