Sasha Bikoff featuring the Atlanta sofa

I have a house in the Springs that I built from scratch. It’s my dream house, a little slice of heaven, right on Gardiners Bay. In the city I have a townhouse, I bought it two years ago and I was renting it out until I got married. We moved in in September and are about to start work on it.

I live with my husband, Adam, and our two dogs, Puff Daddy, a Pomeranian, and Dipsy, a Goldendoodle. An artist once made a joke that Puff Daddy was the cartoon version of Dipsy…As you will understand from the pictures

My favorite family heirlooms are my silk Persian Tabrizi rugs, I have three. They were my grandmothers, and were originally in her home in Sands Point, Long Island, then they moved to Manhattan to the Upper East Side, then they moved to my Mom’s house on the Upper West Side, and now they live with me in the West Village. These rugs have the most beautiful, intricate, floral paisley patterns with so many different colors. Some of them feel so modern and contemporary. I think that they get a little bit of a bad rap but I love them. It’s a great way to integrate a bunch of colors in your room together in one pattern.

If we’re thinking of a cosmopolitan urban environment, no one does it like the French. Paris is just such a beautiful combination of old and new and fashion and art and architecture. You can really get a taste of how people lived in the past but you still have this hustle and bustle of a new city. Everything looks so beautiful: the bakeries, the butcheries, the store fronts, the windows, even the supermarket section of the Bon Marche.

I would also say Miami Beach inspires me a lot. I love the Art Deco revival architecture, the nautical art deco architecture and the pastel color palette. And the whole mixing of different cultures –Latin, Haitian, Americans, Russians, Canadians – it is such a melting pot.

But also when I think of the periods that have inspired me, it’s Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack era, the heyday of the Fontainebleu and Eden Rock hotels, but also Gianni Versace era Miami beach. I also think about Paris 18^th century Rococo, 1960s French Space Age and also late 70s Yves Saint Laurent disco era in Paris. All the design and fashion movements that inspire me are connected to the city they originated in.

I am really inspired by designers and architects that started movements: Ettore Sottsass, Pierre Cardin, Dorothy Draper and Zaha Hadid, whose architecture was so futuristic, different and interesting. I am always inspired by those architects or designers that made a splash and did something different, not necessarily the reserved chic look but something that is super out there. I am inspired by that cross between fashion and interiors and how fashion designers lived; some of my favorite interiors are from Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berger that tell the story about their life and inspiration. Same with Gianni Versace. Pierre Cardin’s Bubble House is probably my #1.

I am dying to go to Ireland. I’ve always wanted to go to the Highlands and go on hikes and watch animals. My alter ego is nature girl. I’d love to visit all those castles and stay in a castle, go to the pub, eat meat and potatoes. And actually my tile collection for New Ravenna was inspired by antique Irish lace -- I did a lot of research on lace patterns from different eras and bought so many books on Irish lace and that’s what inspired the collection.

I’d call it something a little bit more Irish, like “the Duke” – because it feels very regal to me.

I chose it because I live in a landmark historic house and my inspiration and overall vibe is going to be very Notting Hill English, French Provencal. I want to go for a charming old-world look here. I am working with a lot of historic wallpapers and paint colors so I felt like this sofa had that old world luxury richness to it. I love the fringe, I love the Pierre Frey blue fabric, it is something very classic. So I went with it.

I think that my couch is an old Irish gentleman. If I had a butler, the couch would be the butler.

The dogs are always sitting on it, which is annoying. They love it. A lot of times it is me cooking, and my husband sitting on the couch, and us talking. Or we’re both sitting on it watching TV, or I work from it for the day. We have it in an open floorplan living-kitchen area so apart from the dining chairs the couch is the main focus of the room. You sit on the couch and look into the kitchen and the patio, it is the main hub of the room and anchors the whole space.

When you are buying a piece to last a while, the craftsmanship and artistry is super important, as opposed to buying a piece of furniture made in a factory overseas that is not going to last the test of time. A sofa is such an important investment in a home, between the fill of it, the fabric, the details like the fringe or the arm shape or height, it is such an important investment in a room. I say it’s one of those pieces you should splurge on, it’s the best of the beet. You spend a lot of time sitting in it.

In college I was a painter and a ceramicist. I love drawing and painting whenever I get a chance. My drawings have become drawing products for now, which is still fun, for me but different. Today, cooking is a big part of my life. I cook all of the ancient Persian recipes but I do a lot of marinating and rotisserie and meat and things like that because I am a grill mater. I also fish in Montauk, or right outside my house on Gardiners Bay, we catch black sea bass, striped bass and fluke and I’ll cook that.