Private Air New York

www.privateairny.com Private Air | Winter 2025/2026 75 Her aesthetic—a deft mix of high-gloss finishes, natural textures, cultural influence, and fearless materiality—echoes her upbringing. Calder Design Group was founded by her father, interior designer Nicholas Calder, in 1971. By age six, Melanie was accompanying him to job sites and client meetings. "Growing up in New York and watching him work with clients on truly remarkable homes, I learned early how emotional the design process is," she recalls. at early foundation gave her the kind of confidence you can't teach. "I'm not afraid to take risks." After earning her degree from NYU, Russo officially joined the firm in 2001. What followed was a powerful father-daughter design partnership that shaped homes and hospitality spaces up and down the East Coast. Over the years, the firm became known not just for its design talent, but its philanthropy, contributing to initiatives like Holiday House, Kips Bay Show House, and Design on a Dime, benefitting Housing Works. A t a private residence framed by clerestory windows and precision steelwork—an AIA New Jersey Design Award winner—the drama isn't in what's declared, but what's revealed. A curve of Moroccan tile. A lacquered ceiling in midnight blue. Textures that pull you in before you even notice the proportions. It's a signature move by Melanie Calder Russo, the principal of Calder Design Group, whose work resists the expected and embraces the expressive. Russo isn't interested in neutral. She's interested in nuance. "I've never designed for the sake of trend," she says. "What excites me is making bold design decisions that still feel timeless five or ten years from now." From glass-clad towers in New York to coastal estates in Palm Beach and contemporary residences in the Hamptons, her spaces are layered, theatrical, and personal— grounded in architecture, but always with a certain sparkle.

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