“I don’t take a ‘one size fits most’ approach. It takes away the excitement of starting an assignment from scratch. If you’re comfortable in your environment, you’re happy in your life!” — Irwin Feld, co-owner and creative director of Irwin Feld Design “As small as this space is, and as small a business community as Hillsdale is, it’s truly warm and embracing,” Irwin Feld, co-owner of Irwin Feld Design and CF Modern , begins.
His wife and business partner Marcy Feld agrees, recalling how the first time they stopped in the Tiny Hearts Farm flower shop across the street, she said, “We’re so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people and fellow business owners.” Irwin adds, “There’s a sense of pride here. People are always putting themselves out there in the best possible light, supporting and helping each other.
” The design duo officially moved their business from the New York Design Center in the city to the historic 1845 Althouse-Higgins House in August 2023. What caused them to move their incredibly successful operation to a tiny hamlet in the Berkshires? A mixture of pandemic reality and a desire to spend more time in their historic farmhouse retreat (also in Hillsdale). “Our building was locked on March 17, 2020, and everything in the industry went silent.
We packed up our belongings and moved up to our Hillsdale home, where we lived with our adult children and my mother, all under one roof.” He recalls being told about the business space in April 2023, when he was figuring out his next steps in the aftermath of the pandemic. “The entire business model changed after COVID,” Irwin explains.
“Clients were tentative, and it was impossible to get anything made, mainly due to labor shortages and supply chain issues.” Now, four years later, he beams, “I love being part of this community.” Located on the main road between Hudson and Great Barrington, they are perfectly poised to give clients a curated design experience.
Irwin Feld “fell into” the design industry in the late 1990s, but he traces his interest in design back to the 1960s when his parents bought their first home. Their green brocade sofa, complete with bullion trim, moved with them and remained the focal point of their living room for years to come. When most of his friends were out playing ball, Irwin was helping his parents furnish their new bi-level home.
His first commercial space was a 100-square-foot booth in an antique mall in Stamford, Conn., with room for seven or eight pieces. The mall owner told him he should “expect to fail miserably”—there being little market for modern furnishings at the time.
But Irwin didn’t listen. Five booths and three antique centers later (in 2007), he stumbled onto an available rental space (a former straw hat factory) at 583 Pacific Street in Stamford, which gave him a home base and a place to have a fax machine and write checks. He began to fill it with vintage furniture, and when the 2,500-square-foot adjacent space became available, he expanded again—establishing a 5,000-square-foot freestanding gallery unlike anything in Fairfield County or beyond.
“It was magical,” he says. “It hit every sensory note imaginable. The vibe when you walked in the store was so upbeat.
” Nothing is more important to Feld than that, based on his belief that if you surround yourself with beautiful things, they inspire you. “A client I worked with once told me, ‘When I walk in the front door of my home, I hold my head a little higher, thanks to your efforts,’” he notes. Over time, he phased out his vintage collections and concentrated on the custom elements of enduring classic modern design.
“The realization that size and specifications are everything in interior design led me to create a bespoke brand, CF Modern, in 2011—providing customizable luxury furniture fabricated in New York City,” Irwin continues. CF Modern quickly became an established innovative firm, adding a showroom in the New York Design Center in 2013, which began the firm’s transition to New York City. Irwin and Marcy Feld got their start in New York City.
Though neither had art or design degrees, they “had a good eye for detail” and were always creative. Marcy wanted to be a writer, but her mother told her, “You have to choose something practical for your career.” She graduated with a degree in accounting and entered the workforce as a management trainee in finance.
Irwin began his career at 22, working for a private label shirt company in the garment center. When his boss asked how things were going, he answered, “Okay, but I really don’t like what you make.” When he described the kind of shirts he would make, his boss suggested, “Why don’t we try?” Irwin found a pre-wrinkled waxed cotton fabric called “Rumplin” that was perfect for his less-structured design and connected with its factories in South Carolina and Georgia to get them made.
“I just knew what I liked and went with it,” he says. That led to the creation of a successful women’s line as well, but by 1983, after a short stint working with a French designer, he decided to opt out and try something new. That’s when he and Marcy came up with the idea to develop a costume jewelry and accessories business for women.
“We found a solderer, a plater, and an enameler, set up an office and shipping room in our second bedroom, and peddled our wares throughout the tri-state area,” Marcy recalls. That business (Marcy Feld Accessories) was so successful that they eventually opened a showroom and sold their products to major department and specialty stores, including Henri Bendel, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman. “We opened a bigger showroom, went to trade shows, and had reps nationwide,” she says.
But after 14 years, everything changed. “By the late 90s, the accessory market had evolved, ushering in an age of minimalism. Magazines stopped showing jewelry and accessories, and business dropped off,” Irwin notes.
And so, like many owners, they decided their business had run its course. When Irwin confided to his close friend Mona that he didn’t know what he would do next, she responded, “You’re really good at helping people design their homes. Why don’t you do that?” An opportunity to explore that idea presented itself when the private nursery school Irwin and Marcy’s sons attended (the Rodeph Sholom School on the Upper West Side) needed a kitchen renovation.
“Would you want to help?” the head of school asked. Irwin surveyed the entire nursery space and concluded that more than just the kitchen needed work. “Can we paint the hallways in more child-friendly colors?” he asked.
This conversation led to an entire floor renovation—including a parents’ room and a library—all designed by Irwin. “I did it for the children because I knew I was capable,” he says. “We had just closed our business and had no commitments, and it seemed like a way to break into design.
” Noting that someone had suggested putting a big window on the outer wall of the kitchen, which was immediately visible when the children came off the elevator, he credits Marcy with suggesting an aquarium instead. “When the elevator doors opened, you saw a 400-gallon tank filled with the most beautiful colored fish—the whole place was new!” Irwin describes. The pair stood in the background on the first day of school, watching the kids light up as they took it all in.
“I’d never felt so rewarded by any work I’d done previously,” he says. The following year, Irwin was asked to do another project for the elementary part of the school. Their son was in first grade by then, so Irwin went to his class and asked, “What would you like to see in the new lobby?” They all drew pictures of their ideas, and Irwin followed their lead with the shapes and patterns, projecting images onto the floor.
On the first day of school, one of the boys told the head of school, “They listened to me. They really, really listened to me. And that’s what I want to do when I grow up,” Irwin recounts, adding, “You can give parts of yourself, and they become parts of someone else.
” “Marcy has always taken pictures, but we have to thank the school for her becoming a photographer,” Irwin acknowledges. Marcy elaborates, “When Irwin was designing the nursery space, he suggested we add images of the children to the walls of the parenting room and asked if I could help by taking some candid photos. We printed about six images and installed them, much to the delight of both parents and students.
” Shortly after that, the nursery director told her, “You know, people are asking about you. Do you have business cards?’” From that point on, parents started booking family sessions, and her business had legs. Not long after, the PTA approached Marcy and floated the idea of her taking candid images of the students to grace the walls of the event space as part of the school’s annual gala and auction.
The photos were made available for purchase, and at the end of the evening the gallery walls were empty. Back then Marcy used film and there was no editing. “Sometimes I would take one photo of a child, no touch-ups.
To this day, parents still tell me, ‘That is the best photo of my child ever taken,’” Marcy says. “She became known as ‘the camera lady’—and many of the students thought she was part of the staff,” Irwin says. “It was crazy,” Marcy admits, adding, “The best thing you can do is give back.
I love capturing subjects candidly and revealing their essence.” Her passion for photography eventually grew into a business, Marcy Feld Photography , and an established career as a photographer. She now volunteers with several nonprofits and local events doing candid portraiture, which has earned her recognition for her iconic photographs.
What sets Irwin Feld Design apart? Beyond his deep knowledge and 25-plus years of experience as a design and retail specialist, it is his personal care. “I don’t take a one-size-fits-most approach. It takes away the excitement of starting an assignment from scratch,” Irwin says.
“I don’t present a 3D rendering of your room. Design is a process, a verb—alive, moving. It changes like the light in a room changes.
” Every client is deeply involved in the entire process. Irwin prides himself on his “collaborations” with his clients—what he views as an interactive partnership that includes interior design, design coaching, project management, space planning, and selecting colors and finishes. He is the creative director for the business, while Marcy handles marketing and finances.
Together, they have built a strong presence in the Berkshires in a very short time, including participating in Construct’s “Nature in the Berkshires” Designer Showcase in June to raise funds for the Cassilis Farm affordable housing project. Walking into the room they designed and furnished—built around the theme “Picnic under the stars”—was a sensory experience few will forget. “By far, that’s the best work I’ve ever done,” Irwin says.
“Nothing else will ever come close. It was an opportunity to be authentic, true to who I am.” “I want to use some of your photographs of nature in the room,” he told Marcy, who has a library of thousands of photographs, at the beginning of the project.
“Show me 12,” he qualified. The first one she showed him was of a butterfly, which became the launching point but not the only focal point for the design. Things came together organically, and jointly they collaborated and created an astounding room that encapsulated Irwin’s firm belief that “what people are looking for in 2024 are experiences.
” In fact, over the course of the month-long open house, approximately 1,100 people came to view and experience it. “I wish I’d had my camera in hand,” Marcy admits. “Seeing people’s expressions as they entered the room was incredible.
” Lifelong friends and people from the surrounding community came out to support them. “The interactions in that space were amazing for us to see and enriched us,” she adds. “We were there every minute it was open.
” One particular moment was especially meaningful for her. A mother came in with her nine-year-old daughter and asked her what she would do if she had this space in her home. The daughter began naming some of the things she would do.
“I would make you breakfast on your birthday, and I would come in here with my friends while my brothers watch the Super Bowl,” she told her mom. Then she looked at Marcy and said, “I’m taking a writing class and I would come into this room whenever I have writer’s block and look around and find inspiration.” Creating a place for respite and creative expression was inspiring for the design duo as well.
“We would love to be able to take what we do and create an environment that could become a permanent place of comfort and solace,” they share. It’s an idea that’s still in the cocoon stage, but one they hope will some day (like Marcy’s butterfly) have wings. Looking back over the decades and the careers and reputations that have grown serendipitously from their first design collaborations at Rodeph Sholom School, Irwin notes, “Everything that’s happened has been by chance—unstructured, free-spirited.
The good you do always comes back.”.
