Where Are They Now? Will Sapienza

Purchase, NY (Oct. 2, 2017) – A standout member of the Purchase men’s soccer team, Will Sapienza ’09, has traded in his days on the pitch for a career in custom furniture design.

Taking inspiration and repurposed materials from his hometown of Bergen, N Y and relocating them to his current shop in Brooklyn, Sapienza designs and builds furniture.  

After graduating from Purchase in 2009 with a degree in Studio Composition, Sapienza pursued wood-working as a side job. His talents, combined with the support of family and friends, has allowed Sapienza to turn that side job into a career.

Sapienza started his business, Sapienza Design, in 2011. Sapienza Design is an up-and-coming name in the five boroughs of New York City. Gothamites seeking just the right table and chairs (or armoire, or media center) find a talented partner in Sapienza—one who can custom-build a piece to their specifications.

Fans of Sapienza’s pieces not only love the “perfect fit for an NYC apartment” finished size but for the materials from which they’re created: 100-year-old wood, literally pulled from the decaying barns of Genesee County, and given a remarkable second life.

“Growing up in a small farm town, you’re surrounded by old barns,” Sapienza explains.

As a boy, he would play in the old hay lofts and, later, he watched those barns slowly deteriorate from neglect. The interior of his childhood home, where his parents still live, was made from siding from an even older barn in the backyard, along with the hand-hewn beams.

 “Unknowingly, I’ve been exposed to the look and textures of repurposed material all my life.”