Biography

Roman and Williams Building and Interiors is an American-owned, New York-based design studio known for its work on hotels, restaurants, retail spaces, homes and product design. Founded in 2002 by Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch, the firm encompasses Roman and Williams Guild New York (RW Guild) - a brick-and-mortar store of premium, artful home furnishings, accessories and housewares which include Roman and Williams' own product design collection as well as specially crafted pieces produced by artisans from around the world. The RW Guild stand-alone is also home to Roman and Williams' French restaurant, La Mercerie, helmed by Chef Marie-Aude Rose and Emily Thompson Flowers.

Known for what the Wall Street Journal has named "slow design," with its emphasis on craft and substance, the firm undertakes building design, interior design, branding, as well as the design of custom furniture, lighting, and plumbing fittings and fixtures.

In 2011 the firm's principals, Standefer and Alesch, were recognized in Fast Company's list of "America's 50 Most Influential Designers." They went on to win The Wall Street Journal's 2017 Innovators Award in the Design category, and in 2018 the pair received the "Visionaries Award" by the Sir John Soane's Museum Foundation as well as an award for "Architecture" by Fashion Group International.The firm won the 2010 Palladio Award for Multi-Unit Residential Project, it has topped Architectural Digest's biennial "AD 100" list three consecutive times since 2012, and in 2014 it received the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Interior Design.

In 2016, Roman and Williams was commissioned to redesign the British Galleries at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, set to open in fall of 2019. This commission was the firm's first project in a museum.