Rafael de Cárdenas, Ltd.

Home
United States
New York, NY
Rafael de Cárdenas, Ltd.

Rafael de Cárdenas, Ltd. is an interdisciplinary practice in design and creative direction based in New York since 2006.

Specializing in residential and commercial interiors, architecture, furniture design, art advisory and brand development.

07/24/2026

: Palladium 🪩

Rafael De Cardenas: “A monument to 1980s New York and everything I dreamed of being part of, Palladium was conceived by Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell and designed by Arata Isozaki as a soaring, cathedral-like nightclub inside a former theater, where art, architecture, and nightlife collided. Monumental columns, theatrical lighting, and commissions by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, and Keith Haring turned the club into a stage, with New Yorkers as its cast.

I watched Club MTV after school in 1986 and 1987, imagining a world that felt impossibly glamorous and impossibly far away. Just a few years later, after Peter Gatien reopened Palladium, I found myself there with jen gatien, who basically had the keys to the city.

One night—around 1991—became one of the most unforgettable of my life.

There were no phones, no photos, and no impulse to document any of it. The moment was moving faster than a camera ever could. What mattered was simply being there and documenting it would have distracted from the moment.

Palladium feels like a love letter to a version of New York that could only have existed then. Not better or worse than today—just a cultural moment that time made impossible to repeat.”

07/20/2026

: Dan Graham

Blurring lines between art, architecture, and social space, Dan Graham’s glass pavilions turn viewers into participants, making public space both intimate and uncanny. He once explained: “My work became more involved with large public spaces, it shifted from one spectator to many spectators and not one public, but often two aspects of the same public.”

07/17/2026

: Abgineh Museum of Tehran

In 1977, on the eve of the Iranian Revolution, Empress Farah Pahlavi commissioned Austrian architect Hans Hollein to transform a historic Qajar-era mansion into Tehran’s Museum of Glass and Ceramics. Preserving the building’s rich mix of Persian and Rococo styles, Hollein introduced nearly 120 freestanding vitrines and built-in displays, creating a vivid dialogue between past and present.

More than display cases, the vitrines became architecture in their own right—rooms within rooms that shaped how each object was seen and how the visitor moved through the museum. Hollein understood that display is never neutral: it directs attention, creates intimacy, and reveals architecture’s power to shape perception.

07/15/2026

The bedroom of your dreams 🛌

Lenox Hill Townhouse

The bedroom of your dreams 🛌

111 W 57th Street

The bedroom of your dreams 🛌

Montauk Residence

06/24/2026

The living room of your dreams 🛋️

111 W 57th St

The living room of your dreams 🛋️

Montauk Residence

The living room of your dreams 🛋️

Lenox Hill Townhouse

06/16/2026

The dining room of your dreams 🍽️

1️⃣ Mercer Island
2️⃣ Lenox Hill
3️⃣ Glebe Place

06/15/2026

The kitchen of your dreams 🍳

1️⃣ SoHo
2️⃣ Montauk
3️⃣ Lenox Hill
4️⃣ Mercer Island

06/10/2026

Thank you for this honor of being selected for the 2026 A-List 🌟

Recognition is a curious thing. So few people receive it, despite the fact that nearly everything that makes our lives possible is created by people whose names we will never know. I have immense gratitude for those who work quietly, without applause or acknowledgment. Without them, none of us would be here.

This award belongs to the extraordinary team at RdC. Every project is the result of many minds, many hands, and a shared belief in making something meaningful. I am especially grateful to Robert Passov, whose dedication, and partnership have shaped so much of our work.

I often think about how unlikely it is that any of us are here at all. Against unimaginable odds, we happen to be alive at the same moment, working together, creating together. That feels nothing short of miraculous.

Today, I am grateful for the work, for the people I share it with, and for the privilege of being recognized for doing something we love.

Thank you, ELLE DECOR. We are deeply honored.

—

05/29/2026

Choose the bathroom of your dreams 🛁

A. Montauk
B. 111 W 57th
C. Mercer Island

05/20/2026

Now open: Chicago

Following New York and Los Angeles, our third SKIMS flagship has arrived in Chicago’s historic Gold Coast, inhabiting a former 1960s bank. A rigorous grid of display forms meets the building’s sweeping curvature—sharpening the tension between softness and structure. Visitors are greeted by a monumental, reclining Vanessa Beecroft odalisque, while a mannequin-lined spiral staircase choreographs descent to the lower level. Past the former bank’s vault doors, a mirrored chamber unveils an immersive collection that recasts the building’s history as a quietly surreal finale.

Photos: William Abranowicz

Address

New York, NY

Telephone

+12129658755

Website

http://www.rafaeldecardenas.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Rafael de Cárdenas, Ltd. posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Rafael de Cárdenas, Ltd.:

Want your business to be the top-listed Interior Service in New York?