130 East 57th Street
Designer: Jordan Mozer and Associates
A trail of hand-carved, bronze apple blossoms begins in the pavement outside the newly renovated Renaissance 57 hotel, leading into the lobby, up a glass-encased stairway, and into the second-floor Opia Restaurant. Jordan Mozer and Associates commissioned the apple accents, along with similarly curvaceous lamps, tables, and door handles. Curves shape the floor plan as well: Mozer created a gradual circle of increasingly intimate spaces, as a bar gives way to a room in which a handful of dining tables intermingle with lounge furniture that in turn gives way to a formal dining room. Wide arcs framed by curtains partition spaces without closing them off, and a semi-private table is tucked into the corner of a second bar area, raised several steps above the floor. A fire blazing among blown-glass sculptures and a series of leather-upholstered columns add to the lounge’s warmth. For all of Opia’s modern forms, Mozer keeps one foot in the Romanesque aesthetic of the original hotel: A wrought-iron canopy marks the entrance, and matching ironwork balconies protrude from the second-floor bar, each just big enough to hold a handful of guests.