Brian Shimansky: Male SuperModel

NAME Brian Shimansky

AGE 28

HOMETOWN West Caldwell, N.J.

CURRENT LOCATION Still in West Caldwell, in the four-bedroom colonial house that he has lived in with his mother and younger brother since he was 10.

CLAIM TO FAME:  Shimansky is a blue-chip beefcake model whose mop top and polygonal jaw draw comparisons to a Greek god. This is not said with hubris. Since 2012, he has been the glistening face of Eros, a fragrance from Versace. Mr. Shimansky has also dominated the men’s editorial circuit with routine appearances in the pages of Hercules, Interview and GQ. It’s also worth noting that he ranks on Models.com’s “Sexiest Men” list because of “a body that won’t quit.”

BIG BREAKWhile waiting in line at a John Mayer concert in 2008, he was spotted by a model scout who asked Mr. Shimansky to pose without a shirt on the spot. “I never imagined being pulled over at a concert and taking topless photos,” he said. Three months later, he was booked for a D&G campaign photographed by Mario Testino, and the rest is pinup history.

LATEST PROJECT: When he is not modeling, Mr. Shimansky works with his hands on a “hobby-scale, commission-only” line of industrial furniture called Shimansky Design. A coffee table made of black walnut from a storm-damaged tree in New Jersey recently went up for auction at the Jeffrey Fashion Cares Benefit with a starting bid of $500. “I try to recycle and use refurbished materials as much as I can, and embrace the concept of unbridled creativity,” he said.

NEXT THING: A furniture exhibition may be in the works. “I’ve been able to do enough work that I have a number of pieces that are accumulating in storage,” Mr. Shimansky said. (He creates most of his work in the family garage.) “It would be cool to show in a gallery space or do an event during fashion week.”

MODEL STUDENT: One of the perks of being an international model who happens to be a woodworker is posing for photographs in some of the world’s grandest interiors. “Maybe you see the way a house is built and you think: ‘Oh, cool. I could make a table out of that on a smaller scale,’ ” he said.

Brian Shimansky in his garage, where he makes furniture. Credit Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times