On a recent Thursday evening at 546 Hudson Street, in Manhattan, AIR MAIL hosted its latest “Night at the Newsstand,” in celebration of a new Rizzoli book spotlighting the interiors of New York–based design-and-architecture firm Ashe Leandro.
The firm’s principals, Ariel Ashe and Reinaldo Leandro, were present to sign copies of the book and arrived early, surveying the Newsstand’s interior, perhaps sensing the work of a vaguely familiar hand. The shop was designed by AIR MAIL’s own Basil Walter, whose office is a few floors down from Ashe Leandro in New York’s Cable Building.
That the crowd was peppered with well-known guests—including comedian Amy Schumer, actor Tony Shalhoub, and CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins—is a testament to the fact that, since starting their firm, in 2008, Ashe and Leandro have established themselves as design whisperers to a tasteful, admirably understated subset of the creative class.
However, one of Ashe and Leandro’s fans is more vocal—not to mention more closely connected—than the rest: Seth Meyers. The Late Night host wrote the introduction to the book, in which he explains that he and Ashe go back to when she was working as an assistant set designer at Saturday Night Live and he was a writer for the show. Meyers was also on hand on Thursday night, making a grand entrance toting a Citarella shopping bag.
From the beginning, the evening had the air of an intimate family gathering. But when Meyers expertly brandished the microphone to say a few words in praise of Ashe and Leandro, the intimacy of it all was made abundantly clear: he revealed that Ashe is his sister-in-law.
While toasting the design duo, Meyers shared an anecdote about when Ariel recommended that he try various paint samples for his fourth-floor walk-up apartment. “I painted eight squares and couldn’t decide, and left those eight squares on the wall for four years—which made me a suspect in multiple serial-killer cases, because that’s how crazy that looks.” Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough to deter Ashe from setting up Meyers with her sister, Alexi.
After his remarks, Meyers signed copies of the book with characteristic charm. When one guest asked him to dedicate the book to her mother, he wrote, “Love, Seth,” paused, and then said, “I’m assuming we love your mother?”
Off in the back of the shop, Schumer asked AIR MAIL Editor Graydon Carter if he remembered her filming a scene for her superb 2015 rom-com, Trainwreck, co-starring Bill Hader, in his Vanity Fair office. He did not. Other guests—Daphne Merkin, William D. Cohan, George Hahn, John Derian, Maiken Baird, Sadie Stein, Ayesha Shand, Mark Rozzo, and Amy Fine Collins among them—swirled around the glass vitrines, drinking Mascot wine and counteracting its effects with bar snacks.
In what seemed like a flash, the signing ended, and it was time for guests to leave. They paraded back out onto Hudson Street, and in the draft of the open door, a Citarella bag skittered along the floor. Clearly, Ashe and Leandro—not to mention Alexi—still have their work cut out for them.
Carolina de Armas is an Associate Editor at Air Mail
