Hello, my name is Sebastian Alappat and I’m an Artist/Designer and Art Director.
I have worked for companies such as Tommy Hilfiger, Armitron as well as agencies like JVM and Ogilvy. I am a New York city based artist and big comic book fan, I have designed posters such as thealphabat.com and themarvelalphabet.com. Nowadays I work for myself and have gone on to create my own brands such as Superfoodfudge.com and Brooklyncoldbrew.com. Since art is my first love, I have returned to that career and recently founded SPARK, an Upper West Side based art education program for children. My home is my office and studio and as such I have gone to great lengths to curate and make this space sacred. It allows me to create art within my home with ease, peace and harmony.
Can you tell me something about your desk setup?
Working from home, I knew I wanted a desk that would give me space to breath. After months of searching, I found the Hendrix desk from Crate & Barrel and fell in love. It had a massive depth and a unique alcove in the front for storage. I have taken a few Feng Shui classes and been learning how to balance the yin/yan of my home. This knowledge also included my desk which now serves as my home office. I love working from this space as it provides with a great environment to focus, create, design and manifest my next project.
Can you tell us something about the items on/around your desk?
I have a huge Alice in Wonderland painting behind my desk. It is based on a pencil sketch I created based on all the John Tenniel illustrations from the book. Can been seen here.
Is there anything you would like to improve on this setup?
I’ve been thinking about adding a Bonsai tree to the desk to add a bit of green. I love how uncluttered it is currently but have been feeling like adding a bit of green would be a nice of touch to the wooden look.
Is there something on your desk which helps you stay focused? What is it?
I would have to say my fish tank. I find fish are often very peaceful to look at. Sometimes its nice to have a bit of a break to gain focus. At nights when I’m working I’ll watch them swimming around and watch their little routines. No matter what else is going (be it a deadline or a new project) I can always look into the tank for some zen then refocus.
Second would be the painting I just recently created as part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Copyist program.
