This Long Island City Duplex Is Its Own Hidden Gem of Beautiful Objects
Photo by Seth Caplan
Alan Eckstein has mastered the art of the search. As the founder of Somerset House, a Brooklyn furniture store that’s cultivated from his collection, Alan has the type of knowledge for chairs and consoles and tables that any professor would have for a subject.
“I don’t collect for the money, I truly collect for how it makes me feel,” he says. “It sounds funny to say it this way, but I really believe that the items we find and cherish can take on a certain significance in our lives. They can make a home feel like home.”
Alan and his wife, fashion stylist Haley Loewenthal, lived in a one-bedroom apartment when the pandemic hit. And though it felt like home, it was missing one detail that suddenly took on a profound amount of importance. “We didn’t have any outdoor space,” he says. “We also wanted to start a family, and there wasn’t room for an extra person to join us there. We knew that in order to grow, or to even have somewhere to exhale, we needed to move.” So, Alan began to do what he does best: search.
