Gil Melott Studio

Today kicks off the public opening of The Showhouse at the Mart. I conceived the Studiolo as a private space for reflection, creativity, reading and the occasional adult beverage. It’s the office for a modern Luddite.

None of this would have come to fruition without my team and the generous partnerships. Thanks to

A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous. — Mies van der Rohe

The room that remembered itself.

Most spaces get renovated into amnesia. New finishes. Clean lines. No evidence that anyone ever actually lived there or argued there, or stayed up too late there, or loved something wrong for twenty years and couldn’t explain why.

We call that good design. I call it a crime of omission.
The rooms worth living in aren’t the ones that photograph cleanly. They’re the ones that have been in a negotiation between old and new, between what the designer knows and what the client feels, between the space’s history and the life being built inside it right now.

That negotiation requires three things most designers won’t tell you up front: radical honesty about how you actually live, the mutual courage to disagree, and the patience to let a room arrive at itself rather than forcing a finish.

No algorithm teaches that. No mood board contains it. It happens in the room, between two people willing to stay in the discomfort long enough to find out what the space is trying to become.

Slide through. And if something in here sounds like the conversation you’ve been waiting to have about your space — my contact is in the bio.

→ Link in bio to read the full essay.

Before design, Gil Melott lived many other lives. He’s been a ranch hand, an advertising executive, and a restaurateur—a cultural observer as he puts it—and each of those worlds taught him the same underlying lesson: space changes behavior. It’s been a lifelong journey toward interiors, and that foundation is evident in his work.

His approach is what he calls “behavior architecture.” Long before colors, fabrics, or art enter the conversation, Melott asks a single governing question: what kind of life should this room encourage? Once answered, he says, the interior design becomes inevitable.— Anna Callaghan,

The Showhouse at the Mart open
May 26 - September 2026.

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Beige State of the Union.

We know the algorithmic design is hollow. We feed it. And we keep doing it anyway.

This is the Beige State of the Union. How we agreed, quietly, collectively, to make everything meh. Not because we were forced to. Because the feed rewarded it and we said yes.

Swipe for the provocation. Then read the essay at the link in the bio for the big words.

xG

He says “Gym” (Physical Fitness Focus)
Focus: Aesthetics, strength, and endurance.
Amenities: Weights, cardio machines, and maybe some group fitness classes.
Vibe: Often a “get in, get out” workout environment, suited for self-directed exercise.

She says “Wellness Center” (Holistic Health Focus)
Focus: Overall well-being, including mental, physical, and emotional health.
Amenities: Everything in a gym, plus services like massage therapy, nutrition counseling, yoga, meditation, and sometimes physiotherapy.
Vibe: A “one-stop health shop” aimed at disease prevention, focus and long-term health, not just exercise.

The luxury is having it down the hall. The flex is using it the way you want or need to. My job is to make sweating sexy. No light weights.

[email protected]

a sneak peek at the Studiolo - our space at the Mart Showhouse — a respite for the modern luddite.

Grand Opening May 20th
Ongoing open to the public May 26-September 25 @
The Merchandise Mart Suite 137