Posts Tagged ‘Interviews’
Interview With ModOp Design’s Alexandra Becket
Readers of Take Sunset know Alexandra Becket as one half of ModOp Design (the other half being husband Greg Steinberg) the house flipping duo responsible for taking Eastside homes in need of a makeover, including my current listing in Highland Park, and transforming them into stunning, high-end remodels. ModOp’s homes have mid-century influence and unexpected design touches, but what really sets them apart is their use of Alexandra’s own hand-painted artwork, printed textiles, upholstered furniture, and accessories.
Fabrics are at the core of Alexandra’s work. She uses water-based paints on silk to create her designs, and her work can be found not only in ModOp Design’s flips, but in homes and galleries around Los Angeles. Alexandra’s fabrics and textiles have also been acquired by high-end home decor companies and designers, like Anthropologie, BCBG, Vince Clothing, Trina Turk, Pottery Barn, Target, Guess, Tadashi, St. John–the list goes on.
Take Sunset had a chat with Alexandra about her creative process, the impact her grandfather (the great LA architect Welton Becket) had on her career, what inspired her to start flipping homes, and where she likes to grab a quick lunch in Silver Lake…
Take Sunset: Your artwork and textile patterns seem to reflect those found in nature. Is that what inspires you?
Becket: Yes, the natural environment is a big inspiration. Patterns created by rock formations, shadows cast by plant life onto the surfaces around them, vegetation and the endless array of shapes that exist in nature. My other big inspiration is architecture and the built environment of Los Angeles, specifically mid-century architecture. I am drawn to the aesthetics of mid-century design and appreciate the clean lines and geometry that came out of that era.
Take Sunset: Can you talk a bit about your creative process?
Becket: I pick up inspiration when visiting places, usually when something calls out to me personally. I capture these inspirations on camera, which helps me to compose an image that I can refer to when designing. Then, I do my best to put these inspirations into work as soon as possible. If I’m working on creating a textile design or a fabric painting, I use a technique similar to batik, using a water-based resist to draw a design. I then paint over the design with water-based paint that I mix to create colors. The artwork is then heat-set to make it colorfast and washed, which removes the resist and reveals the linear design under the paint.
Tom Buckley
There is a great interview on Balustrade & Bitters with Los Angeles-based interior decorator Tom Buckley. Buckley relocated from New York to LA in 1969, after 20 year at the legendary design firm McMillen. He’s been crafting beautiful rooms in Los Angeles ever since. I particularly loved this bit about following your instincts as a designer:
I believe instinct is that little inner voice that says to you, “Do this, do that, or that is it, that’s the right chair.” Every time I’ve violated that rule, I’ve gotten into trouble. My little inner voice says,”I don’t think you should do this.” And I think, “Oh, shut up, I’m gonna do this, it’s gonna be fine.” Sometimes it works out and sometimes it’s been a disaster. I should have listened to that little inner voice. I believe we all have those little inner voices, all we need do is listen.
There are many other gems in this charming and informative piece. Read the rest of the interview with Tom Buckley here.
Photographs by Coleen Ride.
Interview With Celebrity Stylist Denis De Souza
I recently interviewed celebrity hairstylist Denis De Souza over on Hair On The Brain. Denis is the hair color whiz behind Rachel Bilson’s gorgeous brunette locks. He can be found expertly painting on high and lowlights at Andy LeCompte Salon in West Hollywood. Denis was kind enough to answer some Take Sunset questions about his transition from native Brazil to Los Angeles, his favorite LA hot spots, and more. Check it out!
Take Sunset: How do you like living in LA?
De Souza: I’ve lived in big cities like Sao Paulo in Brazil, London, and now LA. I’ve been in LA for 10 years now, and I think it is fantastic! Not only do we have the best weather, but in a two hours, we have the desert, the beach, the mountains, the snow… We are really blessed.
Take Sunset: Since moving to LA, where have you lived?
De Souza: When I first moved here, I lived in Hancock Park. Now I live in Beverly Hills, but right on the border of West Hollywood.
Take Sunset: How do you like that area?
De Souza: I’m in a very quiet and safe area, but it’s just blocks away from all the shops, cafes, and restaurants on Robertson. And even better, I’m only a few blocks away from Andy LeCompte Salon where I work. It’s convenient and quiet. I love it! At the moment I rent there, but I’m hoping I can buy something next year.
Take Sunset: Do you gravitate toward a particular interior design style?
De Souza: Because I rent at the moment, I haven’t really gone all the way with a design that I like. I pick things I like and enjoy having at my apartment, but when I get my own place, I will trick it out just the way I want it to be! I love Kelly Wearstler, and I’d like to have a Hollywood Regency style mixed with a more contemporary look and simple lines.
Take Sunset: I love Kelly Wearstler! I miss Top Design. What’s your favorite LA restaurant?
De Souza: There are a few restaurants I love in LA, and that I go to often with friends, clients, or even on a date, like Cecconi’s, Sur, The Little Door, Mozza, and The Soho House, which I love!
Take Sunset: What are your favorite places in LA to shop for clothes?
De Souza: For clothes I like Opening Ceremony, Church, Maxfield…
Take Sunset: Where do you go for housewares?
De Souza: I like to browse at Cassina and all the design shops between Robertson and Beverly to get inspiration for when I’m ready to decorate my new home.
Thanks for answering all my questions, Denis! For more information on Denis De Souza, visit his website at denisdesouza.com. Or go see him in person at:
Andy LeCompte Salon
616 N Almont Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(310) 273-4100
Interview With Kelly Lamb
A while back I wrote about artist/designer Kelly Lamb’s beautiful geo-birdhouses, planters, and terrariums. Kelly has also designed interiors for Malo restaurant in Silver Lake, the Echo nightclub in Echo Park, and she’s designed and produced artist’s campaigns with corporations like Salvatore Ferragamo and Coke. And she also renovates old homes. After reading up on Kelly, I just had to bug her for an interview. And, awesomely, she complied.
Take Sunset: I heard that you renovated a 100 year old home in upstate New York before relocating to California. What was that experience like?
Kelly Lamb: Yes, I renovated a big house built in 1906 in upstate New York. It was a crazy undertaking. As with something that old, you never really know what you are going to get when you dig in. The thing I really enjoyed about it was seeing the different layers of transition the house had taken over time. Each previous owner had marked the property with their tastes and personality. It was a trip to peel away the different layers and try to imagine what was going on in the home at a particular time. All the layers gave the house a crazy personality. There was a disco in the basement from the 70s, and there was beautiful stonework from the turn of the century. It was really fun and interesting for me to take into consideration all the things the house had been and add to the legacy of the home’s architecture and design.
Take Sunset: Have you renovated any homes here in Los Angeles?
Kelly Lamb: I just finished doing a house in LA that was built in the same year as the one in upstate NY. The process was very similar to what happened in NY, but the history was obviously more California based, and the weather had not taken as big of a toll on the structure itself as it did to the upstate NY property.
Take Sunset: How did you get involved in doing commercial interiors for restaurants and clubs like Malo and Echo? It seems like the creative process would be very different than working on individual art pieces.
Kelly Lamb: When I moved to LA, I got involved doing interiors for commercial venues. One thing led to another and I was asked to do the interiors for part of the Echo nightclub, which led me to doing Malo and so on. Yes, the process is very different than doing an individual art piece because ultimately it is a collaboration with the owners of the venue, where as art is a solo venture. I also look at doing interior design as collaboration with the audience or the “customer,” as I take into consideration how the final product is going to be used and perceived by the public. When I was making art, these ideas were not really as much a part of my practice. Read more…
Interview With Kristin Kilmer Design
Kristin Kilmer of Kristin Kilmer Design, Inc. has been the interior designer of some of the most architecturally significant homes in Los Angeles, including John Lautner’s Wolff House and Stevens House, R.M. Schindler’s How House, and Ray Kappe’s Canna Road House. Kilmer combines the theories and practices of the mid-century masters with the current materials of today to create her “Eco Modern Luxury” approach to design. Her company uses the fundamental green values, demonstrating that design can be both sustainable and luxurious. Kilmer took a few moments out of her busy schedule to talk to Take Sunset about how she started working with mid-century masterpieces, how she gets into the mind of Schindler and Lautner, and what she’s doing in Grey’s Anatomy’s Sara Ramirez’s bathroom in Echo Park…
Take Sunset: How did you start working with architecturally significant homes in Los Angeles?
Kristin Kilmer: It was a bit of a fluke actually. I’d just returned from studying interior architecture at the Instituto Europea di Design in Madrid and was working at Design Within Reach, where I generated private clients while still being one of the top sales people. Michael LaFetra walked in on a Sunday afternoon and we immediately hit it off. He asked me to help him with his Ray Kappe house for the upcoming architectural tour. We had such a synergy that within a week, he asked me to design the Schindler How House as well. My last day of work, in walked Richard Baker, who owned a mid-century in Los Feliz, and he hired me as well. Talk about beginner’s luck!
Take Sunset: What are the biggest challenges when working on these homes?
Kilmer: Each one is really like a “Master Thesis” in the sense that it is important to really get inside the heads of the architects–to study and know their methodologies, history, ideology, and what made them innovative during their time period. Each one broke boundaries in architecture during their time and executed what their peers deemed impossible. Schindler built on concrete and invented a new way of framing, Launter defied gravity in ways never before thought possible… Moreover, it’s fundamental to respect the architectural integrity of the home and not just stick a Barcelona chair in the space and call it a day.
For the Schindler house, I kept everything on his 16” module while keeping his table low–just like he insisted upon during those days. I recreated a lot of his lines and architectural features as well. For example, he used a specific drip strip molding in between the windowpanes, which inspired the edge of the dining room tabletop. For the lighting downstairs, I maintained his lines as well, but asked myself, “what would he do if he were alive today?” From there, I created a more contemporary look with the lighting pieces.
For the Lautner Wolff House, I incorporated vintage, natural pieces that juxtaposed with the exterior, but also with all of the interior stone. I followed the curves and angles by adding mid-century curvilinear furniture, but I also updated the home with some contemporary sustainable pieces that integrated perfectly, such as swivel chairs incorporated with cork fabric. The sofa followed the exact same lines and the spiral staircase and a cantilevered bookshelf emphasized the steps that jetted out from the stone in the same fashion–a genius way of engineering. I really put a lot of thought into my designs. The planning and conceptual phase is fundamental. I always say, Good design takes time!
Take Sunset: What is the most memorable project that you’ve worked on? Read more…
Interview With Real Savvy Real Estate
While blogging for Take Sunset, I’ve come across all different kinds of real estate-centric blogs, but none has captured my interest quite as much as Rebecca Rosenfelt’s Real Savvy Real Estate. Rebecca is passionately obsessed with real estate, just as we are here on Take Sunset. She’s lived and traveled all over the country and abroad, and along the way she’s continuously researched different real estate markets and toured open houses. Rebecca closed on her first property in her early 20s–when most of us were still crashing with roommates and trying to scrap up enough cash each month to make rent. Today, Rebecca is hunting for a place to buy in San Francisco and happily researching and writing about all-things real estate. As Rebecca says, deciding whether to buy a house–and then actually taking the plunge–can be scary and confusing. And the goal of her site is to demystify the home buying process for first-time buyers and beyond. She provides top-notch, unbiased information on everything you need to know. Rebecca took some time away from helping the beleaguered home buying masses to answer a few questions from Take Sunset.
Take Sunset: What do you hope readers get from Real Savvy Real Estate?
Rebecca Rosenfelt: I remember feeling so alone when I went through my real estate purchase. My peers weren’t yet thinking about real estate, and aside from the sporadic advice of family members, I didn’t have someone to be my partner throughout the process. I didn’t even know enough to get my own realtor, so I just worked directly with the seller’s realtor. There are a lot of great people in the real estate industry, but I think home buyers really need a place they can go to get unbiased information from someone who’s not making money off them. Whether it’s advice about how to pick a mortgage lender, stories from the front lines of home buying, or just someone to get all excited about houses with you–I want to offer home buyers that sort of partnership. I essentially want to create the site I wish I’d had when I bought my first place.
Take Sunset: In your opinion, what is the biggest mistake a first time home buyer can make?
Rebecca: Poor planning. A home can be a source of great comfort, pride, and happy memories. But it can also be an absolute prison if you don’t plan well. By now, most of us know someone who has had their lives torn apart because of their real estate holdings. You’ve got to have a handle on your five and 10-year plan in life. And within that, you also have to plan for uncertainty. What will you do if you lose your job? What if you want to have kids? What if the market tanks? Having an exit option in multiple scenarios is really important. Also, know what your limits are and stick to them, which is why I advise people to figure out exactly what they can afford before they step foot in an open house. It’s so painful to fall in love with a home you can’t afford. You start making justifications, and that’s not a road you want to go down. Real estate is as much an emotional investment as it is a financial one, but it’s crucial to not let your emotions overtake your decision-making.
Take Sunset: I love the Real Estate Porn section on your site. You know we love some Real Estate Porn on Take Sunset! What is your dream home?
Interview With a BetterShelter Buyer
With all the chatter about BetterShelter’s ubiquitous flips going on these days I thought it would be a good idea to talk to one their buyers. Imari McDermott bought a BetterShelter home on Stowe Terrace in Highland Park last fall and she took some time to answer a few of my questions about her home-buying experience.
Take Sunset: What attracted you to the BetterShelter house?
Imari McDermott: I had seen the house they did in Silver Lake and fell in love with the way they designed the house. Steve is great because he knows exactly how to maximize the space of each house as well as paying attention to the small details like doorknobs, lighting fixtures, etc., to make each of his homes unique in their own way. I was looking for about one month before I found my current home. It was love at first site.
TS: Did you make any changes to the house once you bought it?
IM: I made a few minor changes – ripped the carpet in one room and replaced it with hardwood, but overall, the house didn’t need any work done apart from my own personal touches.
Mid-Century Remodel: 1859 Deermont In Glendale
A client of mine recently tipped me off to this great mid-century remodel done by a friend of his in Glendale. 1859 Deermont was built in 1963 and designed by architect in William Abbott. Two years ago Joe Aguilar and David Johnson bought the house and took on the task of bringing it up to today’s standards while also staying true to the home’s original design and purpose. David took some time to answer some of my questions about the challenging restoration process:
Take Sunset: Can you describe the process of remodeling the home?
David Johnson: We spent the first 6 months in a construction zone. We acted as our own project managers and used resources that we have utilized on previous houses. It was very chaotic for a while but we have a very strong point of view so it is best for us to have input on a daily basis. We are visual in our approach so we get many samples and bring them to the space in order to get a feel for how they will work. We do a lot of testing when it comes to painting and staining so our people are used to changing course as we go along.
TS: What was the home like when you first saw it?
DJ: The house was in near original condition with heavy window treatments, wall-to-wall carpeting including the bathrooms and the kitchen. The curtains were almost always drawn, the rooms were filled with a lot of furniture and most walls were covered with heavily patterned wall paper. But the flow and lay-out were fantastic and we could see the potential of the space.
Rock Paper Salon
As you guys might know, I help Rob out on Take Sunset writing about shops, restaurants, and events around LA, but my main gig is my site Hair On The Brain—a site dedicated to all things hair related. When I saw that Michelle Mann, formerly of Refuge Salon in Silver Lake, had opened her own salon, Rock Paper Salon in Echo Park, I knew I had to interview her. I’d briefly met Michelle when she was cutting Rob’s hair last year and we’d chatted about men’s haircuts. She was super cool and did an amazing job on his hair. I had a feeling Michelle would wind up opening her own salon someday and, well, that day is here! Rock Paper Salon opened earlier this month. Michelle took some time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions about her new salon, Echo Park, and my favorite topic–hair.
Take Sunset: How did you decide to open your own salon?
Michelle Mann: I am a very particular person. This aspect of my personality comes out the most when I’m at work. Hair color has to glow in a certain way, cuts have to fall just right, and the product bottles have to be spaced just so… As soon as I got out of hair school at Vidal Sassoon, I realized that someday I would have to open my own salon. I love picking out the details of everything. It makes me so happy to know that I can make the space anything I want it to be–within reason.
Take Sunset: What has the transition from working in someone else’s salon to owning your own place been like?
Michelle: The transition from my last salon to my new shop felt like a high-speed chase. I was working 13-18 hour days. I kept my normal schedule at work until the very end. My last day at my old job was on a Friday. It was bittersweet; everyone was so amazing and supportive. They got me flowers and champagne. I had a glass as I packed up my things. I moved my stuff to the new salon and opened the following Tuesday. I didn’t have much time to contemplate the process as it was happening. You just have to put your nose to the grindstone and hope for the best.
Take Sunset: What kind of vibe do you want Rock Paper Salon to have? Read more…
Silver Lake Jubilee Interview
The newest addition to the Eastside L.A. spring/summer festival circuit is the Silver Lake Jubilee. Being held May 22nd and 23rd, the Jubilee aims to bring together the music, arts, culture and food from the area into a fun-filled weekend-long celebration of Silver Lake and the surrounding neighborhoods. Festival organizer Linh Ho was kind enough to answer a few questions I had about goals and challenges of organizing this brand new festival.
Take Sunset: What is your goal with the festival?
TS: How would you like to see the festival evolve in the upcoming years?
LH: We would like to see the festival become a model for what a “green” festival should be. With the help of Sustain LA, the event is a Zero Waste event and we are aiming for 90% landfill diversion. We are trying to get the message out that people who attend the event should bring their own cups (since this is water bottle free event) and also to bring their own reusable bags. We want people to get in the habit of thinking eco-friendly when they come to our event or any event for that matter. Also to be 100% off the grid would be a wonderful evolution for the festival — being completely solar powered is in our near future.
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