The Top Banana Studio
Michele is one of those chicks who exudes style as easily as she exhales oxygen. At a Christmas party she threw a few years ago, she greeted guests at the door with a white off-the-shoulder dress and black heels that made me pause and wonder under which rock I’d been hiding. (“Zimmerman,” she informed me).
A few years ago, she and her husband, Ari Greenman, built a companion structure on their property in Westport’s historic Old Hill neighborhood, where homes are sized on a smaller scale. According to Michele, “I knew we needed more space but I didn’t know how we’d use it exactly. We created a kitchenette, so we could entertain outside. I also thought I might use the sink for gardening.” Michele designed the space herself, and worked with Architect Mark Homburg and contractor Rose Adams to build it.
Then Covid hit and the extra building became work space for Ari until Michele hatched a plan for a boutique line of tennis dresses: Top Banana. So the space morphed into a fashion design/trunk show space for her new sportswear label. “This summer I renamed it the Top Banana studio. Maybe I knew all along what I’d been working towards.”
Thanks for sharing Michele! We love everything about this space, it’s the top banana.
Here are the Deets:
Paint color on exterior, doors, interior trim, and wood panels: Farrow & Ball, Mole’s Breath
Fridge: Smeg
Electric hardware on cabinets: School House
Saarinen Table and Hoffman Side Chairs: Design Within Reach
Rug: Elizabeth Eakins
Ceramics: LA knot work
Boomerang sofa: Vintage, recovered in hand-dyed cotton velvet from Casa Almadèn in Buenos Aries.
Pool ladder and railing in loft: Custom
Contractor: Rose Adams
Architect: Mark Homburg
Architectural Photography by Poul Ober