When Fay Andrada, who makes intriguingly simple metal jewelry, and her husband Ben moved into their little corner of heaven in Williamsburg, there was no electricity. A former bakery converted into three tenant spaces, their pad was formerly occupied by an eccentric artist-slash-carpenter. “He had salvaged everything in the place,” says Fay. “He built window walls and all these shelves made of salvaged wood and branches. It was insanity when we first saw it.” Since taking the reigns two years ago, Fay and Ben (and their rescue dog Chip, pictured up top) have added, you know, power and have made the quirks work to their advantage. Take a look at what they’ve done with the place. —jackie varriano The apartment is one large space, but Fay and Ben have carved out little rooms. The stars of the dining room (if you will) are a table handed down from Fay’s parents and a bar cart. “Ben really liked the idea of a proper bar to make a proper cocktail, even though he hardly ever drinks them,” Fay explains. Her favorite thing in the room: what’s on the walls. The grid is made from back issues of Architectural Forum, a magazine her dad collected. “Back in the sixties, they did these really basic screen-printed covers. I have piles and piles of them, so I change out the grid every year.” This is just a portion of Fay’s Finnish glassware collection—awesome, right? Minus the antique orange egg cups in the top-right corner, it’s all from the designer Iittala. “Everyone knows I like my Finnish glass,” Fay says. The kitchen is Fay’s favorite room in the house—she makes breakfast for herself and Ben every morning before heading to the studio. The tall bakers table, topped with a butcher’s block, is a score from a trip to Maine. It happens to be an old table from Tim Horton’s, from way back when the restaurant used to bake in-house. “I’ve tried to find another one for my studio, and it’s almost impossible,” Fay notes. Much of Fay’s design aesthetic was influenced by her parents, especially her architect father. The painting behind the television? It’s one of two her dad painted in his lifetime. As she explains, “It’s definitely older than me. The colors always bothered me growing up, probably because they didn’t match, but now I really like them.” Fay’s work is a compelling and minimalist as her space. See for yourself tomorrow! Click here for an email reminder.

When Fay Andrada relocated to Maine in 2008 with her husband Ben, the then-graphic designer never thought the move would signal a dramatic career change. “My family is from Finland, and we just basically decided we would make living in Portland, Maine, our own version of Scandinavia,” Fay explains. Burnt out on the worlds of design and advertising, she started teaching classes at Portland’s Maine College of Art—and using her hard-earned money to enroll in the school’s metalsmithing courses. “My first few pieces were ones I made in class, and all my friends wanted copies. So I just started buying equipment and working out of my apartment in Portland, and it just kind of took off,” Fay recalls. Now back in Brooklyn with a line that bears her name—not bad as baggage goes—Fay has her own studio where she hammers humble brass and silver into submission, creating beautiful and sleek teardrop-shaped bangles, stacking rings, and creased earrings. “I like size. I like bold,” she notes. “My favorite things in the world are big, brass earrings.” —jackie varriano Swing by tomorrow to scoop up Fay’s awesome edition, and sign up for our email list for first dibs.

See those gadgets and contraptions above? Fay Andrada uses all of them to create her namesake line of impossibly slick jewelry. And now that you’ve met the whole big happy family, check out how Fay puts them all to use, filing, forming, soldering, and polishing before hand-washing each piece. —jackie varriano Check out what these tools can do: The trio of bracelets Fay made exclusively for Of a Kind is up for grabs now! Filing“Cutting and filing is the first step. You make your shape, and then you have to refine it with the files. The paint stick with the paper on it is actually called emery paper, which is what jewelers use for a really smooth edge. I like using a metal file as much as possible because it’s not a product that I’m buying and then throwing away, and when I use the steel files, I’m also not grinding off the emery or whatever into my lungs.” Forming“The top hammer is called a planishing hammer. The top head is round, for a bumpy texture, and the flat head is an all-purpose hammer. I’ve used that for everything I’ve made. That’s the first hammer I bought. I bought a lot since then, and they were instantly fired. It was beginner’s luck.” Soldering “My hand is holding a torch attached to oxy-acetylene tanks—one oxygen and one acetylene. You open the red gauge and use the sparker to light it, and then you add pressurized oxygen, which intensifies the flame to a blue cone that can be small or large, but really concentrated.” Polishing“This is the polishing phase. On the left is a steel brush that is slightly more aggressive than the brass brush on the right. You use brushes to just tone down a glossy finish by very, very gently scratching it up. The bottom-center item is my total go-to for everything ever—it’s a Scotch-Brite pad— and the thing on the right is my drill. It’s basically the same tool dentists use.”