January 7, 2011
A Winning Combination
By CONSTANCE ROSENBLUM
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/realestate/09habi.html?ref=realestate&src=me&pagewanted=print
AFZAL HOSSAIN, a 34-year-old artist and architect who grew up in Bangladesh, has vivid childhood memories of women making kanthas, handmade quilts constructed of layers of fabrics from worn garments and lavishly encrusted with colorful embroidery.
"Women sometimes spend up to a year making a single quilt," said Mr. Hossain, who immigrated to New York in 1996 and now lives with his wife and family in Jackson Heights, Queens. "It's a wonderfully social part of their culture because the women sit together and talk as they sew."
Mr. Hossain considers himself fortunate to have a kantha of his own. The fluffy white coverlet that dominates the master bedroom features doll-like figures wearing traditional costumes and posed beneath canopies of flowering trees.
And it is not the only such reminder of his homeland in the apartment that he shares with Julie Nymann, 37; the couple's 3-year-old daughter, Audra Shehnai; and Ms. Nymann's mother, Janet Nymann.
In certain respects, Jackson Heights couldn't be more different from Bangladesh. The historic district, the heart of the community, is defined by clusters of red-brick garden apartments that date back to the early 20th century. But the neighborhood is also a magnet for families from South Asia. When Mr. Hossain came to New York with his mother and a brother, Jackson Heights was a logical destination.
By the time Mr. Hossain graduated from Pratt Institute with a degree in architecture in 2004, he had fallen in love with Ms. Nymann, an architect from Tennessee he had met at a downtown bar frequented by young architects and designers. Once the two were engaged, they started looking for an apartment in his neighborhood. From that point on, things happened fast.
In July 2005, the couple bought a one-bedroom on the second floor of the Arlington, a garden apartment complex on 35th Avenue, for $165,000. Two months later they were married. The following year Mr. Hossain started a design firm called Bang/Architecture and Design (the echo of the word Bangladesh was intentional).
And as if the couple didn't already have enough going on, they also decided to open a cafe that would do double duty as an art gallery. By early 2007, as plans for the cafe moved forward, they learned they were expecting a child.
"So we were working on two big projects at the same time," said Ms. Nymann, who has vivid and not entirely pleasant memories of helping transform a onetime Indian clothing store into a center for coffee and art while eight months pregnant.
Their daughter was born in September 2007. Three months later the couple opened Espresso 77, a few blocks from their apartment.
Ms. Nymann's mother came the week after the baby was born. "And basically," her daughter said, "she never left."
All the pieces seemed to fall into place. Ms. Nymann's father had died a decade earlier. Her mother had been living alone in the family house. Ms. Nymann, who at the time was employed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects, went back to work four months after Audra was born. Mr. Hossain was busy getting the cafe up and running.
For some families, so many people under the same small roof would have been a recipe for disaster. For this one, it proved ideal.
"We couldn't have opened the cafe without her," said Ms. Nymann, who is now a deputy director of architecture for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. "We couldn't have done anything without her."
Her husband concurs: "I was the one who urged her to stay," Mr. Hossain said. "Truly, we get along wonderfully."
Along with the benefit of an extra pair of hands, Ms. Nymann saw a less tangible but equally powerful benefit to her mother's presence.
"When I was growing up, my grandparents lived so far away, I really didn't get to know them," she said. "I feel lucky that my daughter will know what it means to have a grandparent nearby."
But a one-bedroom for four people was feasible only for so long. So in July 2009, when a pair of adjacent one-bedrooms became available on the building's fifth floor, the couple bought the apartments for $485,000. Last February, after the spaces were combined and reconfigured — an undertaking that cost $100,000 — the family moved in.
Many of the furnishings came from the usual places — the living room chandelier from West Elm, the entire kitchen from the Lowe's in Brooklyn, the shelves from Ikea, the wooden bench from Two Jakes in Williamsburg, the rugs from Target.
"The building has a rule that 80 percent of the floor has to be carpeted," Ms. Nymann said, "and with a toddler, we figured that would be a good idea. So one night we just went to Target and bought a whole bunch of rugs."
One item that has a more distinguished provenance is the teak and wool armchair made by Finn Juhl, the Danish furniture designer.
"My parents had bought it at Neiman Marcus in Dallas in the 1960s for $500," Ms. Nymann recalled. "Now it's probably worth $5,000."
Audra's room is pale green — "she chose the color herself," he father reported proudly — and from her window she can see leafy treetops and the moon. But everyone agrees that the best view is from the elder Ms. Nymann's bedroom.
"You can see practically to LaGuardia," her daughter said. "At night Audra and my mother sit there and watch the planes, and talk about where they're going and where they've come from. It's so calming, it helps her fall asleep."
Just as the colorful kantha recalls Mr. Hossain's homeland, so does his painting titled "Stealing Mangoes," which hangs in the dining area. The image, a swirl of blues and oranges, depicts a woman dressed in white who seems to be taking possession of an entire tree with her outstretched arms.
The painting was inspired by his own days of mango rustling.
"Back when I was growing up," Mr. Hossain recalled, "we used to do that at night, so no one would see us. We were always convinced that other people's mangoes were much better than ours."
E-mail: habitats@nytimes.com
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