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“For a dozen years now, I’ve carved out time to work on something very different from magazine journalism,” says David Haskell, who is the editor in chief of New York magazine, a position he has held since 2019, following a long run on staff. “It’s not collaborative. It’s not intellectual. It’s not trying to ‘say something.'”
Twice a week Haskell takes a break from his day job to make abstract sculptural works in his ceramics studio in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Ranging in size and scope, his geometrically defiant pieces (some of which he creates in bronze and glass) are inspired by elements of nature: erosion, tidal patterns, and the rocky landscapes of Maine, where he keeps a home with his husband Esteban Arboleda, a partner at the ELLE Decor A-List design firm Haynes-Roberts.
Haskell at work in his Brooklyn studio.Florence Sullivan
Although Haskell’s practice remains primarily a personal pursuit, his art has begun to garner the kind of attention attracted by his zingy magazine covers and features. In April the New York gallery Donzella presented “Boom Beach,” a survey of more than 50 of his sculptures attended by media luminaries such as Barry Diller and Graydon Carter. Haskell’s favorite piece in that show was a six-foot bronze sculpture he made in Paris, and he is now at work on another large bronze—this time a commission.
“I’m trying to summon feelings of melancholy or yearning or pride without words or characters,” he says. “It lights up different parts of me and shuts down others.”
Describe your studio in three words: Damp, crumbling, romantic.
Greatest influences: The sculptors Isamu Noguchi, Barbara Hepworth,
and Louise Bourgeois, each of whom embedded a little bit of terror into their best work. But also: the anonymous volunteer trail builders across New England, who pile rock cairns with such care.
Maman (1999) by Louise Bourgeois outside the Guggenheim Museum BilbaoLuis Dafos – Getty Images
Favorite sofa: My grandmother’s two-piece curved sectional from Dunbar, with an armrest sawed off so she could lie down and watch television.
Architect you admire: Louis Kahn for monastic, emotional intensity. Paul Rudolph for sexiness.
Destination museum: The Noguchi Museum on a Sunday, reading the New York Times in the garden.
A sculpture by Isamu Noguchi in the garden of the Noguchi Museum in Queens, New YorkNicholas Knight. © The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum / ARS
Favorite getaway: Our midcentury cabin on the rough eastern coast of Isle au Haut, a small Maine island floating at the edge of Penobscot Bay.
Best shop for gifts: Coming Soon, on the Lower East Side. For 13 years, the best place to find contemporary design in New York City.
Required reading: Saul Steinberg’s The Art of Living.
Cartoonist Saul Steinberg’s second book, The Art of Living, is divided into five sections: The art of living, important people, domestic animals, the arts, and the women.Courtesy Harper Collins
Cocktail of choice: My studio is in the basement of Kings County Distillery, the whiskey brand I co-founded in 2010. I like to finish a night of ceramics upstairs in the garden, with our Empire rye on the rocks.
Favorite restaurant: Thai Diner, for a consistently excellent nonfancy meal. Cervo’s, for clams and a lamb burger at the bar during sunset. I Sodi, to catch up with family over pesto pasta and peas. Raoul’s, to celebrate.
Must-have accessory: Reading glasses, alas.
Haskell’s Glass Assemblage Sculpture #1, $12,500 at DonzellaJosh Gaddy
This story originally appeared in the September 2026 issue of Elle Decor. SUBSCRIBE
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