architectural_digest

DISCOVERIES CASEY ZABLOCKI WITH HIS DOG, INGRID, IN HIS MISSOULA, MONTANA, STUDIO. ARTISAN Turning Up the Heat he could achieve using the age-old method. Montana-based ceramic artist Casey Zablocki fires up his most ambitious work yet After apprenticing for masters like Hun Chung Lee in South Korea, C asey Zablocki is sleep-deprived. It’s mid-April; the Michigan-born his ceramics studio has been running 24 hours talent found himself at the Clay Studio of Missoula, where he a day for the past week; and he’s working the still rents a cave-like anagama kiln. “I don’t use any glaze,” night shift, firing the wood-burning kiln from he explains. “It’s all wood ash from the fire being pulled through midnight to six in the morning. “It’s a physical the kiln, landing on my work, and melting at a high, high heat.” Temperatures regularly reach up to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit. and mental marathon, like running up a moun- His latest creations—his most ambitious yet—are big. Fired tain,” Zablocki says by Zoom. After the call he’ll doze a little, in two parts, one piece stands nearly nine feet tall and weighs chop more wood, and do it all over again. roughly 1,200 pounds. (Zablocki wants to go bigger, but he’d This is how the artist works. Due to the risk of forest fires need a new kiln for that.) Over the course of a year, he’ll go in his home base of Missoula, Montana, he limits himself to just through some five tons of clay, sculpting chairs, benches, tables, two main batches a year, once in April and again in December. and nonfunctional artworks in an intuitive, almost spiritual At the time of our conversation there was even more heat as process. “There has to be some kind of energy transfer between KAYLA MCCORMICK he prepared for his September solo show at New York’s Guild the kiln and me,” Zablocki reflects. “I have to read what’s Gallery, the fine-art extension of Roman and Williams Guild. going on—the color of the flame, the smell of the atmosphere, Zablocki fell in love with wood-fired pottery as an undergrad, the sound of the wood burning. These all tell me different attracted to the richly textured, at times crystallized surfaces things.” rwguildgalleryny.com —HANNAH MARTIN 50 ARCHDIGEST.COM

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DISCOVERIES 2 1 3 DEBUT 4 Ciao, Bella 1–4. ETNA SETTEE, MARELLA CEILING LIGHT, and armrests. Occasional tables are similarly clever, combining fragments of richly veined marble BUILDING BLOCKS SOFA, with timber columns or spheres, the latter peeking through stone tops via circular cutouts. Lighting AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE nods more directly to Northern Italy: Inspired by chimneys in Venice, a series of conical table lamps COCKTAIL TABLE, ALL FROM incorporate wood salvaged from the port city’s boat docks, while ceiling fixtures mix handblown Murano glass with rattan from the Treviso village of Barbisano. Each surface begs to be touched, and that’s MONEA, A NEW LINE OF exactly the goal. Says McKinley: “Monea is a collection that represents my spirit and is designed from FURNITURE AND LIGHTING the heart. It is meant to be timeless—made with materials I love.” moneanewyork.com —SAM COCHRAN BY ROBERT McKINLEY. 1. NICOLE FRANZEN. 2 & 4. READ MCKENDREE. ALL OTHERS COURTESY OF THE COMPANIES. 52 ARCHDIGEST.COM

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DISCOVERIES Coast to coast, today’s rising stars of interior design are reinventing tradition, challenging staid rules of good taste, and leaving their mark, one room at a time... Duett WILL MATSUDA Interiors PRODUCED BY ALISON LEVASSEUR “Portland was never on my radar,” says Tiffany Thompson, founder of Duett Interiors, reflecting on her adopted Pacific Northwest home. Six years ago, however, an open mind led her to Oregon, where she has discovered a community of talented makers. The New York–born designer has long been inspired by American cities, having previously lived in Chicago and Miami. Today, jobs continue to take her nationwide, from Minneapolis (where she recently completed the home of NBA player D’Angelo Russell) to Houston, the site of projects under way for former NFL player Darryl Sharpton. But when it comes to current decorating gigs, Thompson can’t help but be partial to her own house, a 1960s split-level ranch. Upstairs, primary living spaces err on the side of serene (“almost like an art gallery”), while downstairs, guest rooms nod to hospitality hot spots like Ian Schrager’s Public Hotel in Manhattan. A forthcoming furniture line and other hush-hush endeavors promise to keep her busy; still, col- laboration with clients remains the top priority. “It feels like this beautiful symphony,” notes Thompson (photo- graphed at a Portland project) of her creative process. “As a designer, I’m going to push you and ask, ‘Who is your future self versus who are you now?’ ” duettinteriors.com —MADELEINE LUCKEL 54



DISCOVERIES FROM TOP: CHRIS MOTTALINI, SEAN PRESSLEY Prospect Refuge Studio In Minneapolis, where turn-of-the-20th-century Craftsman-style houses dominate the vernacular, Victoria Sass of Prospect Refuge Studio has carved out a niche transforming “old homes for young families.” True to that calling card, her work is decidedly varied, mixing contemporary furnishings with family heirlooms and layers of bucolic patterns, in rooms that cordially defy categorization. “People are complex,” says Sass (photographed at home with daughter Irene). “We’re not just organic, natural, neutral. We’re that and we like neon. Finding ways to get all of that together and let it speak to the complexity of a family is exciting.” That’s a dialogue she’s finessed over time, growing up between California and Minnesota, and studying in Copenhagen. After several years working for a Twin Cities commercial practice, Sass founded Prospect Refuge Studio in 2015 to focus on residential work and “grow a more intentional portfolio.” That now includes a lakeside cottage for a sustainability-conscious couple in Iowa and historical renovations in her hometown. As ever, Sass delights in variety. Case in point: her “pandemic purchase,” a 1983 Viking liveaboard whose interiors she’s giving a new, albeit totally retro, look. The 44-foot-long boat will be traversing the Saint Croix River this summer. prospectrefugestudio.com —MEL STUDACH Little Wing Lee “I’m always thinking about the narrative of a place,” explains Little Wing Lee, asking, “What story is being told here?” It’s an approach this Brooklynite honed working in documentary film for a decade before shifting to design. (She credits an exploratory class at Harvard for the career change.) She cut her teeth at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Rockwell Group, and Ralph Appelbaum Associates, where she worked on the exhibition design for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. That project, she recalls, brought together “my two interests and loves.” (Her undergraduate degree is in African American studies.) Today Lee does triple duty as the design director for Atelier Ace, the founder of the interdisciplinary global network Black Folks in Design, and the principal of her own firm, Studio & Projects, where she has taken on local hospitality jobs like Bar Bête (pictured). In her role at Ace, for which she’s putting finishing touches on the brand’s new Toronto hotel, Lee extracts narratives from a given city, conjuring “spaces where people are at ease.” In her independent practice, meanwhile, she’s working on a new Harlem building for the National Black Theatre, finalizing her first major residential commission, and beginning to conceptualize product lines, among them rugs with Odabashian. Pressed to describe her style succinctly, she says, “I’m a modernist—but I really love texture and color and pattern.” studioandprojects.co —HANNAH MARTIN 56 ARCHDIGEST.COM

A CENTURY OF STYLE FROM LEFT: ANTHONY COTSIFAS; JASON SCHMIDT; OBERTO GILI From editor-in-chief Amy Astley and Architectural Digest, AD at 100 celebrates the most incredible homes of the past century, showcasing the work of top designers and offering rare looks inside the private worlds of artists, celebrities, and other fascinating personalities. Marc Jacobs, Jennifer Aniston, Diana Vreeland, India Mahdavi, Peter Marino, Kelly Wearstler, Oscar Niemeyer, Axel Vervoordt, Frank Lloyd Wright, Elsie de Wolfe, abramsbooks.com/AD100

DISCOVERIES David Lucido Until two years ago, David Lucido confesses, “I had zero connection to Florida.” Raised outside Manhattan, he studied graphic design at Washington University in St. Louis, settling in the Big Apple after college. The Sunshine State, however, has proven to be an easy fit for this young talent, who launched his own firm in 2019 after six years as a private interior designer for a major art collector. (“I did everything from yacht to office to dorm room,” he recalls of the creative catchall gig. “It’s where I learned everything.”) Approached by the hit restaurant group Le Bilboquet to design its Palm Beach location, Lucido flew south during the pandemic, intending to stay only temporarily. But when his Deco- inflected rooms—think streamlined curves, seaside glamour, terrazzo, nickel, oak— became the talk of the town, Lucido stuck around, handing out business cards at the bar and reveling in South Florida’s new energy. (He still keeps “one foot” in New York.) Today, Le Bilboquet’s refined pivot from local decorative tropes has given way to major jobs like a production studio in L.A. and a mansion in his adopted hometown (pictured). “Is it weird how much I like Florida?” jokes Lucido, citing the welcoming community, abundance of local artisans, and—of course—the weather. “I needed that change.” davidlucido.com —SAM COCHRAN ORI HARPAZ



DISCOVERIES FROM TOP: EKATERINA IZMESTIEVA, STEPHEN PAGANO Studio Ahead Homan Rajai and Elena Dendiberia, founders of San Francisco–based Studio Ahead, want to fill a perceived void in the marketplace. “San Francisco tends to go for either seriously traditional design or the kind of spare, modern look that appeals to the tech crowd, with not much in between,” explains Rajai, who grew up in the Bay Area as the son of Iranian parents. “For all of the city’s forward-thinking liberal culture, design in San Francisco remains fairly conservative and Eurocentric. We wanted to celebrate interiors with a more layered, multicultural texture, tapping into the incredible community of fabricators who work in this part of the country,” adds Dendiberia, a native of Samara, Russia, who alighted on the West Coast eight years ago. Studio Ahead’s roster of projects speaks to the elasticity of the partners’ vision. They’re currently working on a home heavily influenced by the solarpunk movement, a penthouse that represents a contemporary interpretation of classic Art Deco, and a high-concept, quasi-industrial meditation/hangout room for a San Francisco marketing firm. In addition to interiors, Rajai and Dendiberia (photographed at a Bay Area job site) have developed a signature collection of biomorphic furnishings, as well as an online journal spotlighting intriguing Northern California artists and artisans. Says Rajai, “The more voices and viewpoints you can add to a conversation, the more exciting it becomes.” studioahead.com —MAYER RUS LK Studio “I want spaces to feel personal, well balanced, not too decorated,” reflects Lily Dierkes—spaces, in other words, that look “like they’ve always been that way.” And as this designer is showing, she’s got a knack for it. Two years ago, in a pandemic lifestyle move, Dierkes relocated from L.A. to Hudson, New York, where she launched her own firm, LK Studio. At the time, she had been working for the AD100 titan David Netto, under whom she honed her eye for color and pattern, contributing to projects like the beachy Bahamian abode that recently graced the pages of AD. (He praised her in the May 2022 article, noting, “All projects have their heroes.”) Today she’s putting her own spin on classic Americana, in projects that range from a pre-war apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (pictured) to a Georgian-style manse in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Wall stenciling, painted floors, and punchy patterns harken to folk art, while palettes take inspiration from Shaker villages. Dierkes, who studied film and previously worked as a production designer on music videos and commercials, gets a special thrill from designing second homes. “You can use things in a country house you might not use in a city apartment,” she notes. “It’s fun to do something a little theme-y.” lilydierkesdesign.com —H.M. 60

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DISCOVERIES Studio Roene As résumés go, Julia Sobrepeña King’s is tough to beat. Over the course of nearly two decades, she cultivated her craft in the offices of five of the most influential design firms working today—those of Kelly Wearstler, Michael S. Smith, Waldo Fernandez, Commune, and Charles de Lisle— all of them AD100. Eight months ago, King struck out on her own, hanging a shingle for Studio Roene in San Francisco. (She is photographed at her new office.) “After years looking through someone else’s eyes, I finally had the opportunity to articulate my own vision,” says King, who was born in the Philippines and moved to San Francisco in 1996. The designer’s inheritance from her formidable mentors becomes apparent in her penchant for blending disparate styles and sensibilities. “I like mixing seemingly contradictory colors, textures, and forms— things that spark conversation—and then finding harmony in the differences,” King explains. “The question for me is how, in the age of Instagram and Pinterest, do you create something genuinely new, perhaps a little weird but always livable?” King is currently addressing that challenge in residential projects throughout California. “First and foremost, a house must be inviting and casual,” she opines. “If a client doesn’t feel completely at ease, I haven’t done my job.” studioroene.com —M.R. NICOLE MORRISON

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CALM AND COLLE IN ULLA JOHNSON AND ZACH MINER’S MONTAUK LIVING ROOM, A VINTAGE MARIO BELLINI SOFA SITS WITH A 1950s ROGER CAPRON COCKTAIL TABLE, A MOROCCAN TUAREG MAT, A 1950s BRAZILIAN CHAIR BY MARTIN EISLER AND CARLO HAUNER, AND A HANDMADE SHELL BAG FROM PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

At fashion designer Ulla Johnson’s eclectic Montauk retreat, nature sets the tone CTED TEXT BY HANNAH MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHY BY PERNILLE LOOF STYLED BY MARTIN BOURNE

LEFT JOHNSON IN THE GARDEN, WEARING ONE OF HER OWN DESIGNS, THE SHIBORI- DYED INDIGO SYLVAN DRESS. RIGHT WITH ITS LARGE WINDOWS OPEN, THE HOUSE TURNS INTO A PSEUDO PAVILION COME SUMMER. U llaJohnsonandZach and find their home. Things you plant come back in a slightly HAIR BY KABUTO FOR THE WALL GROUP; Miner can’t stop talking different place. It’s such a beautiful evolution.” MAKEUP BY MARY WILES USING KAT BURKI SKINCARE FOR TRACEY MATTINGLY. about their garden. “It’s a spring bounty every The same could be said of their home out east, constructed weekend with new things circa 2010 by MB Architecture, where they retreat on week- in bloom,” says the fashion ends with their three kids. Like the garden, it’s a little different designer. Her verdant on every visit: The modular vintage Mario Bellini sofa might surroundings, after four remain in a leftover configuration from last night’s dinner party; years of work with land- a stray piece of driftwood—one of the family’s many collec- scape guru Miranda Brooks, tions—might end up in someone’s bedroom, thanks to their are finally coming into vizsla, Daphne; a new ceramic piece might arrive in a box, their own. Bulbs planted shipped home from a recent trip to Spain. last fall are pushing up through the soil. Magnolia trees are blossoming. A flash of “It’s all about this idea of layering,” says Johnson, whose pink—the petals of a flowering cherry tree—is visible just elevated bohemian fashion brand follows a similarly eclectic outside the living room window. feeling. “Over a lifetime the house will continue to evolve.” The couple have relished the process. “A garden takes time to grow into itself,” explains Johnson. “Things move around Johnson and her husband, a consultant with an art back- ground, had been spending weekends in Montauk, the windy, low-key hamlet at the easternmost tip of Long Island, for about a decade before they began to look for their own place.

This house, as Miner puts it, “checked a lot of very interest- and streamlined a few spaces, particularly the kitchen, to ing boxes—it was unusual, modern, and had character.” create a more casual, entertaining-friendly floor plan. Some As Johnson says, “Its spirit spoke to us.” When they glimpsed elements—like the fossil-stone counters in the bathroom— the existing green roof up top, they were sold. they left just as they were. And then there was the landscape, in which Brooks introduced trees, a peony path, and a cutting For about five years, they have steadily renovated and garden. “We planted it very informally, so that things feel furnished the place in phases, with the help of architecture quite wild and free,” says Johnson, a flower lover who finds firm Studio Zung and interior designer Alexis Brown, endless inspiration for her collections in the garden. always careful to keep it livable as they work—especially in the summers when they carve out time to surf, swim, hike, Brown, who worked with the family on their Brooklyn and entertain. home and designed several of Johnson’s retail spaces, layered the couple’s personal collections—textiles, baskets, ceramics, To further access the vistas beyond (the house, which shells—with custom pieces and vintage finds (think worn-in sits on top of a hill, offers views of both the ocean and the Charlotte Perriand chairs; lots of Willy Guhl and Walter Lamb bay), they added more windows. In the summer, they’re outside) to conjure a laid-back but elevated beach-house vibe. mostly left open so that, as Miner says, “you can basically live “They really wanted it to feel warm—a place where the kids outside.” To warm things up, they ripped up manufactured could be, a place where their friends could be. A really relaxing bamboo floors and replaced them with solid Dinesen ash oasis for when they want to get out of the city and chill but and refinished many walls with hand-applied plaster. They still feel inspired.” reworked the staircase in ash and powder-coated metal, ARC H D I GE S T.CO M 67

A LINDSEY ADELMAN CHANDELIER CROWNS THE SAWKILLE CO. DINING TABLE AND CHARLOTTE PERRIAND CHAIRS. A SHEILA HICKS WORK HANGS ABOVE A 1970s STONE CONSOLE. BELOW A ROGER CAPRON COCKTAIL TABLE ON THE ROOF DECK, WITH VINTAGE WILLY GUHL PLANTERS AND CUSTOM CUSHIONS.

“We’re often feeding at least 13,” Johnson says with a laugh. VENEERED WHITE-OAK CABINETS AND POLISHED MARBLE SET THE TONE IN THE KITCHEN, WHICH STARS CERAMICS BY SIMONE BODMER-TURNER, NATALIA ENGELHARDT, RAQUEL VIDAL, AND PEDRO PAZ. THE STOOLS ARE BY SAWKILLE CO., AND THE MULBERRY PAPER ARTWORK (AT RIGHT) IS BY ALIDA KUZEMCZAK-SAYER.

LEFT A TAPESTRY BY ANALIA SABAN SHIMMERS IN THE PRIMARY BEDROOM, WHERE PILLOWS AND BLANKETS ARE MADE FROM VINTAGE TEXTILES. BELOW CERAMICS BY SHIZUE IMAI AND SHINO TAKEDA SIT TUBSIDE WITH A VINTAGE SHELL MIRROR. WITH EVERYTHING THEY’VE BROUGHT back from their travels, there’s inspiration aplenty. Nearly every object has a story. There’s the mingei Japanese raincoat made of seaweed that hangs in the stairwell. On the dining table, there’s a 200-year- old bowl Johnson uses for flower arranging that she found in the remote Brazilian town of Paraty. In the living room, there’s looking at craft, we’re also looking at fine art,” Miner explains. a vintage French fishing basket hung from the ceiling like an “We’re really interested in that intersection.” ethereal sculpture. In spite of the many beloved objects, Johnson insists, “I’m “I was brought up with this love of objects—especially ones not precious about things in the home.” Wet swimsuits sit on that have a personal story or have been created by hand,” says the vintage leather sofa. Several cushions need post-pillow-fight Johnson, whose archaeologist parents gathered treasures across mending. A basketball has, more than once, come startlingly the globe (her mother, also a painter, collected folk costume). close to a fragile Kazunori Hamana pot. But this is their life. And Not surprisingly, Johnson has a particular affinity for they love nothing more than a house filled to the brim. “We’re textiles—batiks and shibori dyes, and anything hand-loomed— often feeding at least 13,” Johnson says with a laugh. which she has been amassing over the decades. With Brown’s Dinner parties frequently start with drinks on the boatlike help, she has turned many of them into pillows and blankets, roof deck and finish there, stargazing with a pair of telescopes. like the custom quilt in the primary bedroom. Outside, some In between, Miner, an avid cook, plays chef. The first weekend patterns from her runway collections—florals from spring in May marked the season’s opening of their go-to fish market, 2022—have become all-weather upholstery fabrics. so they served the kids’ favorite: linguine con vongole. The couple’s art collection—spearheaded by Miner—is a Considering their favorite piece in the house, Johnson and perfect complement to the house’s decor. Textile-based works Miner come to an unexpected conclusion: the bunk beds in like a thread-wrapped canvas by Sheila Hicks and a copper- the basement, the kids’ sphere where they retreat for ping-pong, wire-and-linen tapestry by Analia Saban mix in with pieces games, and puzzles. “When those are full, the house is full,” that nod to the beachy locale—paintings of shells by emerging Miner explains. “It means we’re having fun. Friends are here. artists Paula Siebra and Veronika Pausova. “While we’re Family is here. And that’s what the house is for.” 70 ARCHDIGEST.COM

“It’s a relaxing oasis for when they want to get out of the city and chill but still feel inspired,” says designer Alexis Brown. VINTAGE OUTDOOR LOUNGES, A TUUCI UMBRELLA, A WALTER LAMB ROCKER, AND A WILLY GUHL SIDE TABLE SIT BY THE POOL, WHICH IS FLANKED BY A WILLOW HEDGE ON THREE SIDES.

design notes THE DETAILS THAT MAKE THE LOOK A VIGGO BOESEN CHAIR FROM MODERNLINK BIRDHOUSE BY STANDS NEXT TO A SIDE LISA VISCARDI; TABLE FROM WORN. $550. COMMUNE DESIGN.COM TIERRA END GRAIN WOOD TABLE LAMP; $279. CRATEANDBARREL.COM BANDERA AREA RUG, HANDWOVEN BY WOMEN IN OAXACA, MEXICO; $1,395. THE-CITIZENRY.COM IN A SON’S ROOM, THE BED IS DRESSED WITH INDIAN PILLOWS, A VINTAGE QUILT, AND A 19TH-CENTURY NAVAJO TEXTILE. BIRDS IN THE AIR QUILT; $3,760. THEAPARTMENT.DK EEVA CHOKER; ANGELICA DRESS; $495. ULLA $795. ULLA JOHNSON.COM JOHNSON.COM Everything has a EVA ROPE SANDAL; $495. story. The house is ULLAJOHNSON.COM really a gathering of VERSO TABLE emotional touchstones.” MEADOW VASE; $139. —Ulla Johnson BOTTLE BAG; FERMLIVING.COM $295. ULLA JOHNSON.COM PRODUCED BY MADELINE O’MALLEY

HISHI FABRIC; BRANCHING BUBBLE LIGHT BY LINDSEY In the $245 PER YARD. ADELMAN; $28,000. LINDSEYADELMAN.COM ROBERTKIME.COM JARDINIERE summer we CUSHION leave the COVER; $57. windows open, MALAIKA and you’re LINENS.COM just here amid BIBAMBOLA SOFA the breeze.” BY MARIO BELLINI A VERONIKA PAUSOVA FOR B&B ITALIA; ARTWORK HANGS IN A BATH. $8,391 AS SHOWN. BEBITALIA.COM —Zach Miner WOODEN AND PENCIL- REED RATTAN ROUND COFFEE TABLE SET; $5,338. 1STDIBS.COM WAVE MIRROR; $1,798. SERENAANDLILY.COM INTERIORS: PERNILLE LOOF. ALL OTHERS COURTESY OF THE COMPANIES. LES ARC CHAIR BY CHARLOTTE PERRIAND; $3,056 FOR A SET OF THREE. 1STDIBS.COM SQUARE RATTAN BASKET; $120 FOR A SET OF TWO. RAJTENTCLUB.COM ARCHDIGEST.COM 73

wild Interior designer Jamie Bush and architect William Hefner reimagine a 1960s Los Angeles home for a client with a dazzlingly eccentric point of view TEXT BY MAYER RUS PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEPHEN KENT JOHNSON STYLED BY MICHAEL REYNOLDS

card A WATERFORD CRYSTAL CHANDELIER CROWNS THE LIVING ROOM. SOFAS BY COUP STUDIO; COCKTAIL TABLE BY ARMAND JONCKERS; CHARLES DE LISLE LAMPS ATOP FACTURE STUDIO PINK RESIN TABLES; FRENCH 1950s ARMCHAIRS AND GIO PONTI STOOLS IN DIMORESTUDIO FABRICS. ARTWORKS BY CINDY SHERMAN (LEFT) AND JOHN BALDESSARI.

ABOVE THE ARCHITECT REPLACED THE ORIGINAL PITCHED ROOF WITH A FLAT ONE AND RECLAD THE STRUCTURE IN RECLAIMED BRICK. oxy Chandigarh chairs and color-blocked rooms, and pink-tinged indoor-outdoor terrazzo raw linen. Dinesen oak floors floors, the house represents a fearless pasticcio of Hollywood and rustic farm tables. Fifty Regency, Art Deco, Palm Springs camp, tropical modern, shades of beige. “I didn’t want granny chic, and a dash of Morris Lapidus–style Miami Beach any of that,” Mary Kitchen cha-cha. It’s a heady brew, made all the more intriguing by avows, rejecting the current Kitchen’s unapologetic refusal to abide by the shibboleths of vogue among Tinseltown’s modern taste—like the idea that selecting a painting because elite for soft, hushed minimal- it matches the color of a sofa is somehow inherently vulgar. ism and all things Perriand. “I wasn’t looking for a cool “The house is a glamorous throwback fantasy, but it’s also midcentury house in the weirdly unfashionable. Mary pushed it in the most courageous Hollywood Hills, with exqui- way. Most people simply wouldn’t have the chutzpah,” Bush sitely tasteful interiors,” she says, adding emphatically, “I says of his audacious client, a television presenter, model, and didn’t want a house that looks like everyone else’s.” philanthropist dedicated to cancer research, children’s arts Mission accomplished. Ably abetted by her team of, well, education, and a host of other causes. let’s call them her enablers—interior designer Jamie Bush, architect William Hefner, and landscape maestro Raymond Kitchen’s fictional backstory for the project involved a Jungles—Kitchen has conjured a blockbuster vision of widowed L.A. socialite—a grande dame of the old school— Los Angeles swank, at once nostalgic and contemporary, sexy who built the house in the late 1940s or early ’50s and main- and funny, high-brow and low. With its circular skylights, tained it, in all its recherché glory, until Kitchen and her husband acquired the property upon her passing. In reality, the Hollywood Regency–style abode, nestled in tony 76 A RC HD I GE S T. CO M

THE LANAI IS OUTFITTED WITH GIO PONTI AND FRANCO ALBINI RATTAN CHAIRS FOR BONACINA 1889 COVERED IN DEDAR FABRIC, AN INDIA MAHDAVI COCKTAIL TABLE FOR RALPH PUCCI, CUSTOM SOFAS IN PERENNIALS FABRIC, AND MARC PHILLIPS ABACA RUGS.

VINTAGE CARLO SCARPA FOR VENINI CHANDELIERS HANG ABOVE A LEIGHTON HALL FURNITURE REGENCY-STYLE MAHOGANY DINING TABLE WITH 19TH-CENTURY GUSTAVIAN CHAIRS IN ROGERS & GOFFIGON MOHAIR VELVET. SIDEBOARD BY PAOLO BUFFA, PAINTING BY ALEX KATZ, AND SCULPTURE BY ANAT SHIFTAN FROM HOSTLER BURROWS.

HAIR BY RENATO CAMPORA; MAKEUP BY FIONA STILES; MANICURE BY MASAKO LEONE AT MCNAIL ATELIER. ABOVE MARY KITCHEN, IN AN OSCAR DE LA © 2022 ALEX KATZ / VAGA AT ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK. RENTA GOWN AND LORRAINE SCHWARTZ © 2022 FRANK STELLA / ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK. CINDY SHERMAN. JEWELRY, SITS IN FRONT OF A WALTER DORWIN TEAGUE PIANO FOR STEINWAY & SONS AND A FRANK STELLA PAINTING. FASHION STYLING BY DENA GIANNINI. RIGHT A TERRACE FEATURES A MORRIS LAPIDUS–INSPIRED STEEL TRELLIS. Holmby Hills, was designed by architect Caspar Ehmcke and built in 1966. The residence is located just blocks from the landmark Brody House, a collaboration between architect A. Quincy Jones and decorator William Haines, which served as one of several stylish midcentury touchstones for the current renovation. Kitchen and her husband purchased the home from rock star Adam Levine and his wife, model Behati Prinsloo Levine, who had taken the interior down to the studs before abandoning the project in search of greener pastures elsewhere in the city. “HONESTLY, THE HOUSE wasn’t that great, but it had generous rooms with 14-foot ceilings and a few details that were worth preserving. Mary didn’t want to lose the original character entirely, so we tried to imagine what the house might have been if it had really exceptional period architecture,” Hefner recalls. Working within the original footprint, the architect completely recast the character of the structure by flattening its pitched roof, adding spruce modern eaves and corner windows, and cladding the formerly stucco exterior in white- painted reclaimed brick, the same material he used for

LEFT A 1970s ITALIAN GLASS PENDANT HANGS ABOVE A CUSTOM BANQUETTE IN KELEEN LEATHER WITH A STUDIO VAN DEN AKKER TABLE AND CHAIRS IN THE BREAKFAST NOOK. BELOW THE CELADON-HUED PANTRY. “I didn’t want a outdoor screens, planters, and brise-soleils, as well as a few house that looks like strategic walls of the interior. “It’s not a slavish re-creation of one particular style, but it has the right spirit and it feels everyone else’s,” familiar,” the architect says. homeowner Mary Inside the house, the purity of the crisp white exterior Kitchen asserts. gives way to a delirious medley of color. The monumental living room, which measures 30 by 36 feet, is bathed in shades of pink and peach, the kitchen in celadon and forest green, the dining room in lavender, the primary bedroom in ice blue, and the extensively renovated poolhouse in bright yellow. The bedrooms of Kitchen’s three young daughters, as well as the bunk room they share for in-house sleepovers, are enveloped in different colorways of the same sprightly tulip-patterned fabric and wallpaper. “Zoning the house by color allowed us to control the incredible variety of pieces and themes that Mary was drawn to, all these great things from far-flung periods and places. Once we established the rules, we were free to play within those boundaries,” Bush explains. As an example, he cites the merry mélange of furnishings and artworks collected in the 80 ARCHDIGEST.COM

LOZENGE-SHAPED SKYLIGHTS MIRROR TWIN KITCHEN ISLANDS TOPPED IN EMERALD QUARTZITE. STOOLS BY STUDIO VAN DEN AKKER, CUSTOM BRASS HARDWARE BY PASHUPATINA, AND SINK FITTINGS BY WATERWORKS. FLOORS HERE AND THROUGHOUT BY HERMOSA TERRAZZO.

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE AND ANNE TRUITT. A CHARLES HOLLIS JONES LUCITE CHAIR THE PRIMARY BEDROOM HAS SITS BENEATH A MURANO A CUSTOM BED IN PIERRE FREY CHANDELIER IN A DRESSING FABRIC, VINTAGE WILLIAMS ROOM. A VICTORIA + ALBERT HAINES LAMPS, AN ALPACA TUB AND A CHRISTOPHE SHEARLING RUG BY MARC DELCOURT SIDE TABLE ANCHOR PHILLIPS, AND ARTWORKS BY THE PRIMARY BATH. JOHN BALDESSARI (ABOVE BED)

KITCHEN’S DAUGHTERS (FROM LEFT), BAYE, EDEN, AND MAINE, GATHER IN THE BUNK ROOM. QUADRILLE FABRIC, RH CARPET, SILVIO PIATTELLI PENDANT LIGHT, AND VINTAGE SKIRTED CHAIR IN DEDAR VELVET.

ABOVE KITCHEN’S HOME ABOVE RIGHT AN UGO extravagant living room: pedigreed Italian designs by Gio Ponti OFFICE HAS A CAMPANA RONDINONE SCULPTURE IS and Osvaldo Borsani; a restored seven-foot-wide Waterford BROTHERS CHAIR FOR EDRA, REFLECTED IN A JULIAN crystal chandelier original to the house; William Haines A LUIGI CACCIA DOMINIONI CHICHESTER MIRROR IN A barstools upholstered in Pepto-Bismol pink leather; a Walter TABLE LAMP, DAVID BONK POWDER ROOM. SINK AND Dorwin Teague piano for Steinway & Sons; fuddy-duddy WALLPAPER FROM THOMAS FITTINGS BY SHERLE WAGNER, vintage Louis XV–style bergères from Phyllis Morris; a 1970s LAVIN, AND AN ANNE CALICO WALLPAPER, AND brass banana-leaf sculpture; signature artworks by John COLLIER PHOTOGRAPH. CHARLES HOLLIS JONES Baldessari, Cindy Sherman, and Yayoi Kusama; and a massive SIDE TABLE. Frank Stella Protractor painting articulated in, you guessed it, shades of pink and peach. “The house is a glamorous Bush peppered his various ensembles with bits of old- fashioned finery—Sherle Wagner marble toilets and gilt- throwback fantasy. finished fixtures, accent walls of smoky beveled mirror, Mary pushed it in Dorothy Draper cut velvets, bullion-fringed pool umbrellas— the most courageous as well as humble midcentury materials such as Formica, linoleum, cork, and vinyl. “Call it anti-establishment taste. way,” designer These are things that most people wouldn’t want or would Jamie Bush says of his tear out of an old house,” Kitchen says of the more outré decorative effects sure to set the teeth of persnickety aesthetes audacious client. on edge. “I just love that it feels fun to me,” she concludes. “At the end of the day, if you don’t have a sense of humor, 84 ARCHDIGEST.COM what’s the point?”

ONE OF THE GIRLS’ BEDROOMS IS WRAPPED IN QUADRILLE TULIP-PATTERN FABRIC AND WALLPAPER. VINTAGE STILNOVO PENDANT FROM REWIRE.

PICTURE PERFECT VAUGHN SPANN AND HIS FAMILY OUTSIDE THEIR NEW JERSEY HOME. OPPOSITE DOZENS OF COLLECTED ARTWORKS ARE DISPLAYED GALLERY- STYLE IN THE DEN. ANTHROPOLOGIE CHAIRS AND TABLE.

ANA BENAROYA. STANLEY WHITNEY. GABRIEL MILLS. REBECCA NESS. HALEY JOSEPHS. ROBERT NAVA. For artist Vaughn Spann and his young family, home is an art-filled midcentury house in New Jersey TEXT BY GAY GASSMANN PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAX BURKHALTER

Just © 2022 KENNY SCHARF / ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK four years after earning an MFA from Yale, American artist The family wanted to settle in New Jersey, where both Spann Vaughn Spann is juggling sold-out solo shows, endless requests and his wife are from. They were looking for something in the for his work, and a family life that includes three young chil- Maplewood area, near relatives and Spann’s studio. “We were dren. (His eldest child was an infant while Spann was in grad in our previous place for about three months, and we purchased school, so he had a crash course in balancing work and home.) this place during the summer of 2020,” he explains. “We were With a practice dedicated to both abstraction and figuration, looking for a modern house, so when we saw the For Sale sign, employing a distinctive technique that involves building up I was curious. We loved it immediately. Nothing was negotiable, thick layers of paint and mixed media to create highly textured like the crumbling stairs. It was take as is, so we did.” surfaces, Spann is one of the breakout art stars of the past few years. Recently, he also wrapped up a major house renovation. The modernist house is unique among the grand and spacious historically inspired properties in the neighborhood.

ABOVE IN THE LIVING ROOM, SEATING INCLUDES A VITRA SOFA, A CB2 LEATHER DAYBED, AND CHAIRS FROM DESIGN WITHIN REACH. RH RUG; PAINTING BY KENNY SCHARF. OPPOSITE JEAN PROUVÉ CHAIRS FOR VITRA SURROUND A CB2 DINING TABLE ON THE SCREENED-IN PORCH. NANIMARQUINA RUG. Most sit right on the street, whereas this early 1950s house is building’s integrity and original style. “There was carpeting set back some distance from the curb and so can almost be everywhere, which we pulled up, but we kept all the walls, overlooked. “Actually, we thought it was a much smaller house beams, and rooms,” the artist notes. “We just amplified at first, as one of the trees was blocking the building!” Spann the aesthetic.” recalls. “Several of our neighbors have said they didn’t even know there was a house here.” When it comes to the renovation, Spann describes himself as being “OCD,” adding, “We cleared a lot of trees, repaved As noted, the five-bedroom, three-bath residence was in the driveway, and redid the steps. We bought everything you need of care. The new homeowners turned to architect see in the house. We modified the landscaping a bit, especially Gary Rosard to expand the footprint—enlarging the kitchen, in the backyard, which was basically a hill. It’s now a two- for example—while also taking great care to respect the tiered garden, so we have lots of outdoor space for the kids.” ARCHDIGEST.COM 89

CREATURE CHAIRS BY BRETT “I love looking DOUGLAS HUNTER PULL UP through books about TO A CRATE AND BARREL design and architecture,” TABLE. PAINTING BY SPANN. Vaughn Spann says. ABOVE AN ARTWORK BY SPANN OVERLOOKS THE What had been a cool brown exterior is now painted a deep LIVING ROOM SITTING AREA. charcoal. And the front door went from orange to pink! Spann wanted to make sure the family made the new place KENTURAH DAVIS their own and added personal touches to make it comfortable and functional for all of them. Plus, there’s plenty of wall space for his growing art collection, which shows up in every room. “I love looking through books about design and archi- tecture,” Spann says. “My go-to is curves, circular, round, and guess what, that’s me being a parent. No hard edges. Very organic and comfortable.” “I love that our home is as cozy as it is beautiful,” his wife says. “Our kids come home, throw off their shoes, and run to the den, and five minutes later you’ll find them jumping off the knot pillow into their ball pit. It’s literally a beautiful mess.”

A STANLEY WHITNEY PAINTING IN THE PRIMARY BEDROOM. RIGHT A PAINTING BY MARCUS BRUTUS HANGS NEXT TO A SAARINEN TABLE FOR KNOLL SURROUNDED BY CHAIRS BY GEORGE PLIONIS AND WEIRAN CHEN FOR ROCHE BOBOIS. THE KITCHEN FEATURES PENDANTS FROM DESIGN WITHIN REACH, A WOLF COOKTOP AND OVEN, AND A SUB-ZERO REFRIGERATOR.

NANCY MEYERS HEADS HAIR BY CHRIS MCMILLAN FOR SOLO ARTISTS; MAKEUP BY KATE LEE FOR THE WALL GROUP OUT TO THE GARDEN. LANDSCAPE DESIGN BY MIA LEHRER OF STUDIO-MLA. OPPOSITE LUSH, MATURE PLANTINGS CREATE A WELCOMING ENTRANCE.

HAPPY ENDING Having undergone a refresh at the hands of designer Mark D. Sikes, the longtime L.A. home of beloved filmmaker Nancy Meyers is ready for its close-up TEXT BY CATHERINE HONG PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMY NEUNSINGER

if the story of writer-director-producer LEFT MEYERS IN HER HOME Nancy Meyers and her house were OFFICE. FLOWERS HERE AND a Hollywood movie, it would most THROUGHOUT BY JOSEPH FREE. certainly be what the late philoso- RIGHT THE LIVING ROOM SOFAS pher Stanley Cavell famously termed WEAR A DE LE CUONA LINEN. a “comedy of remarriage.” Just like THE PAIR OF MORRIS CHAIRS IS His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia BY LUCCA STUDIO, THE COCKTAIL Story, and The Awful Truth—three of TABLE IS FROM DÉMIURGE NEW YORK, AND THE MIRROR the best-known examples of the IS FROM BLACKMAN CRUZ. genre from the 1930s and ’40s—this between herself and her five-bedroom dream home. For several years, the house had been a beloved feature would begin at the couple’s breakup, trace refuge. But when daughter Annie went off to college, the house—which Meyers had started building when the rekindling of their sparky romance, and end with she was married to the girls’ father, director Charles Shyer—seemed much too big for just her and younger their delightful reunion. In this case, however, our daughter Hallie. “After many years of enjoying this house, I decided I should move to a smaller one,” she heroine’s romantic partner is not Cary Grant. It is her says, her eyes twinkling behind horn-rimmed glasses. Provençal–style house in Los Angeles. Dressed in a crisp white blouse, she’s seated in the home office, where she’s conducted most of Sixteen years ago Meyers, the creative power- her pandemic-era Zoom interviews, a long wall of white-painted bookcases crammed with books and house behind Something’s Gotta Give, The Holiday, framed family photos behind her. “So I bought the house next door and hired architect Howard Backen and It’s Complicated, decided that things were over to build me a new one,” she continues. That one was going to be much more modestly sized and modern, conceived around indoor-outdoor living. But since

it was going to take a couple of years, “I thought to Meyers has masterminded one mouthwatering myself, I’ll just change things up here in the mean- interior after another. Who has watched Something’s time,” she recalls. “Basically, if something was dark— Gotta Give and not swooned over the Diane Keaton like my dining room table—I made it light, and if it character’s Hamptons living room, with its acreage of was light, I made it dark.” Pause. Cut to our heroine’s inviting white sofas? Or the elegantly rustic kitchen light-bulb moment, when she realizes that she might in It’s Complicated? People’s obsession with her film be making a big mistake. “I fell back in love with my interiors, Meyers has said, is so passionate that she house!” she says with a laugh. She abandoned the fears it sometimes “overshadows” the films them- plan, sold the place next door, and has stayed happily selves. Still, her attention to every chair, lamp, and ensconced here—with some recent “freshening up,” book on set remains unwavering: “Characters’ homes which we’ll get to in a moment—ever since. convey so much about the people who live there,” she says. (Having just inked a deal with Netflix to Meyers’s talent for conjuring movie homes that write, direct, and produce a new ensemble comedy, audiences covet for themselves has been evident the director is surely about to envision new spaces since 1991’s Father of the Bride, which she cowrote. that will set fans’ hearts ablaze.) That film (starring Steve Martin) featured a posh white Colonial that seems an early cinematic testa- At any rate, she can’t resist her penchant for beauty, ment to the low-key good taste that Meyers’s own a trait she traces back to her late mother, Patricia, movies would come to embody. With each film since, who regularly dragged young Nancy and her sister to ARCHDIGEST.COM 95

“Nothing was a complete departure from what was there before,” Sikes notes. “What you see here is really Nancy’s personal style.” PAUL FERRANTE LANTERNS HANG ABOVE AN ARRAY OF SUTHERLAND FURNITURE PIECES IN THE POOLHOUSE, WHICH WAS DESIGNED BY ARCHITECT LOREN KROEGER. THE LANDSCAPING IN THIS AREA WAS DONE BY DEBORAH NEVINS & ASSOC. POOLSIDE, RH UMBRELLAS SHADE SUTHERLAND FURNITURE CHAISE LONGUES.

antiques fairs. “We would drive out to the country outside of where we lived in Philadelphia and she’d load up the trunk,” she says fondly. “She was always rearranging furniture or refinishing something in the garage. She had lovely taste.” Meyers seems to have passed the decorating genes to Annie and Hallie. (It’s hardly a coincidence that Hallie, also a director, made the film Home Again, starring Reese Witherspoon as an interior designer, which Meyers herself produced.) “I mean, it’s fun,” she says. “My girls and I are on a group chat every day, and often it’s ‘Look at this thing I found on eBay.’ ” “INTENSE!” IS HOW Los Angeles–based interior designer Mark D. Sikes describes Meyers’s focus on details. Having collaborated with the director on her home over the past eight years (in fact, she wrote the introduction to his first book, Beautiful), he’s come to know her well. “You hear the stories about how as a director she’ll do, like, 50 takes to get just the right one?” he says, chuckling. “Just apply that to her design process.” Meyers first met Sikes by chance, when she was visiting home-design showrooms on La Cienega Boulevard with Annie. Meyers had agreed to help her daughter decorate her new house and was feeling, as she puts it, a bit “panicked.” They saw a young man setting up a display in a store window who was using “a lot of the same fabrics we had just picked out,” recalls Meyers. (It was during L.A.’s annual Legends of La Cienega event, when interior designers create artful window displays in local showrooms.) “We started chatting and showed him the samples we had in our bags. He was like, ‘That’s good with this’ and ‘No, not that one,’ and pulled something together in, like, a minute. It was clear we were in sync,” she says. Meyers first brought Sikes in to work on the outdoor areas of her property, which finally culmi- nated in what they refer to as a “refresh” of pretty much the whole house. “From my perspective, what I did was more about giving the house an ‘updated new essence’ than anything else,” he says, pointing out that many layouts remain virtually unchanged from what Meyers and James Radin, her house’s first interior designer, conceived of when she first moved in. “Nothing was a complete departure from what was there before; what you see here is really Nancy’s personal style.” Full of natural light, warm woods, and pillowy white linen sofas, it’s as gorgeous, inviting, and casual-easy-living California as a home a Meyers heroine might inhabit. These are not rooms built around single showstopping elements, like million- dollar paintings or car-size light fixtures; they feel ARCHDIGEST.COM 97

THE KITCHEN BOASTS A PAIR OF ISLANDS. BUELL STOOLS FROM 1STDIBS; ANN-MORRIS PENDANT LIGHTS; WATERWORKS SINK FITTINGS. THE PLATES AND BOWL ON THE LEFT COUNTER ARE BY CAROLINA IRVING & DAUGHTERS. “I always wanted a big farmhouse-style kitchen,” Meyers explains. “In my old house, I would have to ask someone to scooch in so I could open the refrigerator door.”