Modern Art Sets the Tone in Sunny Isles Beach Condo

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Interior designers are oftentimes called upon to play other roles during renovation projects. Just ask mother-and-daughter team Carola Hinojosa and Sabrina MacLean who recently took on the redesign of a four-bedroom condo residence in Sunny Isles Beach that involved helping the owners find significant modern art pieces to purchase.

“We essentially became their art advisors,” says MacLean, “so we traveled with them to various cities searching for the right art.”

MacLean is the principal at Hino Studio in Miami, which was founded by her mother, Carola Hinojosa, who is still active in the business but enjoying semi-retirement.

Now installed at the homeowners’ 4,154-square-foot condo in the luxurious Porsche Design Tower, the dynamic art collection sets the modern tone of the apartment. Said experience begins in the home’s foyer, where a curved chainmail installation by Daniel Steegmann Mangrane separates the entrance from the living area and creates a textured backdrop for a cubist sculpture by Antony Gormley.

Before the art could work its magic, however, there were aesthetic construction issues to address. One major change was replacing the tile flooring throughout because MacLean felt the grout created too many straight lines that fought with the curved walls of the residence. In came poured gray terrazzo, a much cleaner and modern material that’s more in tune with MacLean’s sophisticated design agenda. All bathrooms, doors, and the kitchen were also upgraded. And in the main living area, a fireplace that sat along an outside wall was removed to make way for a brushed steel bookcase and a wooden panel that conceals a dry bar.

With those linear elements established, the design team then leaned into the curves of the building as inspiration for the furnishings, which include a custom silk rug by Fort Street Studio, a curved sofa and swivel chairs by Vladimir Kagan, and an oval dining table by India Mahdavi. The palette is tightly restrained to black, gray, and white, but the shapes, patinas, and textures keep it lively and inviting.

One of the most dramatic pieces in the home is the lighting fixture over the dining area, but drama never comes without complications. The Mathieu Lehanneur Les Cordes chandelier arrived on-site perfectly intact from Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris, but it lacked the certification documents necessary for installation in the U.S. “It was a big process, but we made it happen,” says MacLean. “The installation was rather complex because we had to conceal all the mounting in the ceiling. But now that it’s installed, all that hard work is forgotten, and the ethereal quality of the ropes of light can simply be enjoyed.”

  MacLean likes to mix showier pieces with quieter moments, and in this apartment both come with pedigrees. In the family room where the husband, wife, and daughter gather to watch television, the sofa is by Todd Merrill. Nearby, the coffee tables are among the last pieces that the sculptor and furniture maker Wendell Castle created before his death in 2018. The mix-match curation of furniture continues into other rooms as do the art discoveries, a trait that’s par for the course in most Hino Studio commissions.

“This project certainly stretched our talents, but that hands-on involvement is what made the difference,” says MacLean. “This is a custom home through and through and a labor of love from beginning to end.”

Story Credits:

Interior Design by Sabrina Maclean & Carola Hinojosa, Hino Studio, Miami, FL

Text by Laura Hine

Photography by Kris Tamburello, Miami, FL

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