Inside Park Avenue: A Love Letter to New York Through Design and Storytelling

In this episode of The Film and Furniture Podcast, host Paula Benson sits down with writer-director Gaby Dellal to explore the layered interiors, emotional undercurrents, and design-led storytelling of Park Avenue — a film where furniture, colour, and architecture become central to the drama.

Starring Fiona Shaw and Katherine Waterston, Park Avenue unfolds almost entirely within a sumptuous Upper East Side apartment — a space that mirrors the characters’ secrets and histories. Dellal reveals how her dual passions for filmmaking and interior design shaped every detail, from the inky walls and copper pans to the sound of heels on marble.

🎯 Episode Highlights
🏙️ A Love Letter to New York “It’s really a love letter to New York,” Dellal tells us. From marble lobbies to the rituals of Park Avenue doormen, she captures the rhythm and romance of the city’s grandest old buildings.
🎨 A Director with a Designer’s Eye Dellal, also an interior designer with her own studio Create, discusses how designing kitchens and film sets feed one another creatively. Many of the film’s pieces — rugs, ceramics, even the pink silk headboard — came from her own home.
🏠 The Apartment as Character Working with production designer Katie Fleming, Dellal transformed a run-down rental into a believable Upper East Side home layered with history. Dark blue-green walls, worn timber floors, apricot sheers, and antique furniture tell the story of Kit’s world — cultured, chaotic, and deeply human.
🪞 Objects That Speak From masks symbolising identity to inherited rings and cardigans, Park Avenue treats décor as biography. “Families repeat habits through generations,” says Dellal. “It’s how love and memory survive.”
🛋️ Rooms with Purpose
• Living Room: A grand piano and an Eames Lounge Chair anchor a space of both status and solace.
• Dining Room: A wall of dark Hague Blue frames Chinese masks and a long mahogany table used for painting, writing, and reconciliation.
• Kitchen: Blue walls, freestanding cabinetry, copper pans, and everyday tools on show — a lived-in heart of the home.
• Bedroom: Near-black walls, apricot drapes and a distressed pink headboard embody intimacy, wear and memory.
🎧 The Building’s Voice “Every old New York building has its own soundtrack,” Dellal says. She recorded real sounds — heating pipes, running water, lift doors — to create an aural heartbeat for the film.
💡 Constraint as Creativity A small budget forced innovation: repurposed furnishings, natural light, and interconnecting rooms lent realism and intimacy. “We couldn’t afford perfection,” Dellal said. “So we chased truth instead.”

🎭 Guest & Host Info Guest:
Gaby Dellal — Writer and Director (Park Avenue, 3 Generations, On a Clear Day, Leaving)
Host: Paula Benson — Founder and Editor of Film and Furniture

🎞️ Designers, Furniture & Influences Mentioned
• Charles & Ray Eames – Lounge Chair and Ottoman
• Farrow & Ball – Hague Blue paint
• BDDW – Ceramics and crockery
• Larry Clark – Black and white photography
• Jenny Scobel, Eli Tamarkin – Artwork in Kit’s hallway
• Stilnovo – Wall sconces 
Create Studio – Gaby Dellal’s interior design practice

🔗 Links & Resources

🛋️ Explore furniture and décor inspired by Park Avenue

📖 Read our feature article: Inside Park Avenue: A Love Letter to New York Through Design and Storytelling 
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🎨 Credits

Host & Editor: Paula Benson 
Guest: Gaby Dellal
Graphics: Paul West at Form
With thanks to: Gaby Dellal, Katie Fleming, and the Park Avenue production team

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