Curbed LA: All Posts by Sarah FirsheinLove where you live2014-01-22T11:48:58-08:00https://la.curbed.com/authors/sfirshein/rss2014-01-22T11:48:58-08:002014-01-22T11:48:58-08:00Inside Modernism Week's Showpiece: The 1959 Siva House
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<p>The way owner Liz Ostoich tells it, the decision to buy Southern California's <strong>Siva House</strong>, a 1959 perch designed by modernist <strong>Hugh Kaptur</strong>, happened three feet past the threshold. Stepping into the living room, feeling the outdoor-focus of the interiors, and peering out onto the rolls of crinkled hills, spatter of resort homes, and patches of golf course that define the reclaimed deserts of Palm Springs, Ostoich and her husband Mark knew: "This is it." Fast-forward a couple of years and the self-proclaimed "collectors at heart" have finally cobbled together a home popping with mid-century furnishings, high-grade pieces gathered from Mexico City and Denmark and crafted by the likes of Sam Maloof and George Nakashima. The result? Well, more than enough to get the house <a href="http://www.modernismweek.com/event/details/247902/">spotlighted</a> at Palm Springs's upcoming, <a href="http://la.curbed.com/tags/modernism-week">much-ballyhooed</a> <strong>Modernism Week</strong>, which <a href="http://www.modernismweek.com/">celebrates</a> (by way of house tours and cocktails served near kidney-shaped pools) the region's rich history of mid-century design and architecture.</p>
<p> It was that history, in fact, that made preserving the feel of a late '50s house so essential, Ostoich says. The owners, longtime perfectionists when it comes to outfitting their homes in pitch-perfect and period-sensical furnishings—as their 1926 Mediterranean revival and '30s beach house, each fixed up in an undiluted collection of era-appropriate pieces, can attest—tapped into Palm Springs's mid-century antiquities scene, hand-picking one piece at a time. "We couldn't do anything other than '50s furniture and decor," Ostoich explains by phone. "[The house] was actually empty for a long time—we wanted it to be just right."</p>
<p> This meant picking out Nakashima barstools for an area near the kitchen, a Hans Wegner daybed and coffee table for one of the living rooms, and end tables by Maloof (Ostoich's husband was one of Maloof's lawyers, so they knew "Sam," as they casually call the master furniture maker, personally). In another living area, there's a martini sign from a "1950s bar in Silver Lake" and a gondola sofa by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Oh and that huge cabinet on the back wall? That's a custom Florence Knoll design, complete with a built-in refrigerator. "It might have been a hotel piece, but we're not sure." Of course, the duo are also fans of Mexican modernist Pepe Mendoza, who's credited with many of the home's lamps and hanging fixtures. The only piece that isn't authentic mid-century is the floating bar, made from Lucite and a slab of wood by a local woodworker.</p>
<p> Of course, much of the mid-century richness of the Siva Residence—also known as the Russell House, as Pete Siva did not live there long compared to the man he sold the place to—is fossilized in the bones themselves. Kaptur, a Detroit native who went to Palm Springs on vacation in 1956 and never left, has built more than 200 residences in the area (including a house each for actors Steve McQueen and William Holden), plus a heavy handful of Palm Springs landmarks, from resorts to fire stations.</p>
<p> This particular work was embedded into the hills above Palisades Road, offering up a 180-degree view from the glass-windowed walls, and creating a tableau that "just makes you feel like singing," as Ostoich puts it. Kaptur's slightly more famous contemporary Albert Frey added the property's infinity pool (the first in Palm Springs) and designed the awnings. Otherwise, the backyard includes some 3,000 square feet of outdoor terrace, with a 30-foot waterfall and a koi pond. "A lot of people say the art is the outside," Ostoich said. "But I feel like if you're going to have a mid-century house, it's got to have some color and some splash." </p>
<p> <em><strong>Siva House, below, is featured on the cover of the Modernism Week brochure and inside the February issue of Palm Springs Life magazine. It's also the ultra-chic location of "Cliffside Cocktails," a Curbed-sponsored Modernism Week party on February 22. Interested in sipping that Old Fashioned with a side of stunning views? Stay tuned on Curbed tomorrow for a chance to win tickets, and find more event info </strong></em><a href="http://www.modernismweek.com/event/details/247902/"><em><strong>right this way</strong></em></a><em>.</em></p>
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<span class="credit">Photos by <a href="http://www.tarawujcik.com/">Tara Wujcik Photography</a></span><p><br>· <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/mid-century-modern">All Midcentury Modern posts</a> [Curbed National]<br>· <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/palm-springs-calif">All Palm Springs coverage</a> [Curbed National]<br>· <a href="http://la.curbed.com/tags/modernism-week">All Modernism Week coverage</a> [Curbed LA]<br>· <a href="http://www.modernismweek.com/">Modernism Week</a> [Official Site]<br>· <a href="http://www.modernismweek.com/event/details/247902/">Cliffside Cocktails at a Captivating Kaptur</a> [Modernism Week]</p>
https://la.curbed.com/2014/1/22/10152320/inside-modernism-weeks-showpiece-the-1959-seva-house-1Sarah Firshein2013-08-26T12:39:00-07:002013-08-26T12:39:00-07:00Meet the 2013 Curbed Young Guns: Carina Bien-Willner
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<p id="Z8A0P4"><em><strong>Curbed Young Guns,</strong></em><em> now in its first year, </em><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/05/07/help-us-find-the-brightest-young-stars-of-architecture-and-design.php"><em>aims to identify</em></a><em> promising up-and-coming talent (35 and under) in the fields of architecture, interior design, and urban development. For the next few weeks, Curbed National will run </em><a href="http://curbed.com/tags/young-guns-finalists"><em>individual stories</em></a><em> on </em><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/08/14/the-curbed-young-guns-class-of-2013-revealed.php#more"><em>each Young Gun;</em></a><em> here's a look at a member of the Class of 2013 based in LA:</em></p>
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<p id="mReosw">It's quite clear that <strong>Carina Bien-Willner,</strong> 33, isn't one to stay put. When she was six, she emigrated from Buenos Aires to Arizona with her parents, licensed architects in Argentina who opened a design/build furniture and cabinetry shop once settled in the States. One summer, while studying for her bachelor of architecture at the University of Arizona, she ventured to L.A. to work for Marmol-Radziner, a firm famed for its pre-fab (read: built off-site in a factory and transported) modern homes. After graduating, she landed a job working for the L.A.-based architect Jennifer Siegal, another prefab pioneer whose official firm name, quite literally, is "Office of Mobile Design." Even her undergraduate thesis was a variant of the topic. "My thesis was on nomadic architecture," Bien-Willner says. "My grandparents were Holocaust survivors, so I traced their movements as nomads during the Holocaust and after the Holocaust for a number of years. I did a lot of diagramming of their journey, and through that journey I asked a lot of questions to determine what their homes—even if home was an 8'-by-8'-by-8'-deep hole in the middle of the forest that was camouflaged so that people couldn't find them—were like during those years." </p>
<p id="9BLqzL"> After her stint with Siegal, Bien-Willner was hired by the Santa Monica firm Belzberg Architects, where she spent the better part of six years as project manager for the first ground-up, permanent location for the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. "I was 25, and the newest employee at Belzberg," she recalls. "I couldn't believe it. Obviously I had a very personal relationship with the Holocaust, but I think that all architects, young and old, dream of working on a museum because you get to be a part of a much larger conversation." One of a small team, Bien-Willner had her hands in all aspects of the project, from working on the design and being on-site once construction started to meeting with the museum foundation and city officials to get things approved. </p>
<p id="crpKN4"> <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/08/26/meet-the-2013-curbed-young-guns-carina-bienwillner.php">Bien-Willner on "the role of the architect" in a community. >></a></p>
https://la.curbed.com/2013/8/26/10204844/meet-the-2013-curbed-young-guns-carina-bienwillnerSarah Firshein2013-08-22T13:35:54-07:002013-08-22T13:35:54-07:00Meet the 2013 Curbed Young Guns: Max Humphrey
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<p id="JuWf1s"><em><strong>Curbed Young Guns,</strong></em><em> now in its first year, </em><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/05/07/help-us-find-the-brightest-young-stars-of-architecture-and-design.php"><em>aims to identify</em></a><em> promising up-and-coming talent (35 and under) in the fields of architecture, interior design, and urban development. For the next few weeks, Curbed National will run </em><a href="http://curbed.com/tags/young-guns-finalists"><em>individual stories</em></a><em> on </em><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/08/14/the-curbed-young-guns-class-of-2013-revealed.php#more"><em>each Young Gun;</em></a><em> here's a look at a member of the Class of 2013 based in LA:</em></p>
<p id="2QnIrf"><strong>Max Humphrey</strong>, 34, is the only member of this year's <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/08/14/the-curbed-young-guns-class-of-2013-revealed.php">class of Young Guns</a> that ever toured for a couple of years as the bassist in a Los Angeles-based punk band whose sound was <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2004/dec/30/news/wk-bandsd30">once characterized</a> by the <em>LA Times</em> as "Pulp and the Jam playing a dance party celebrating the British Invasion." Though that article went on to ask, "What's not to adore about the L.A. quartet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adored">the Adored?"</a>, when the band broke up in 2007, Humphrey decided he didn't want to go back into TV production, which was the very first gig he landed after graduating from Emerson College. "I had just spent a couple of years playing music professionally and I couldn't go back and do anything that I wasn't 100 percent in love with or anything that wasn't creative," he says. "So while I was looking for a new career I was just kind of decorating my apartment because I had nothing to do during the day. I was one of those LA people—you see them at coffee shops during the day and you think, <em>Why isn't that person at work?"</em> </p>
<p id="CAJCjN"> Months went by, and Humphrey realized he was spending all his time and energy decorating his place. "It just hit me that that could be a career," he recalls. "So I dove into it. I didn't go to school for design, but I started really learning everything I could and reading everything I could about the history of interior design, familiarizing myself with as many designers as I could, especially ones from the '50s and '60s who had connections to Hollywood. You know, like Tony Duquette and those people who crossed over from movie-set design into residential design."</p>
<p id="NgSLFx"> <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/08/22/meet-the-2013-curbed-young-guns-max-humphrey.php">Over to Curbed National for a peek at Humphrey's portfolio. >></a></p>
https://la.curbed.com/2013/8/22/10205936/meet-the-2013-curbed-young-guns-max-humphrey-1Sarah Firshein2013-07-18T18:21:09-07:002013-07-18T18:21:09-07:00Meet the Curbed Young Guns Semifinalists: Sally Breer
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<p id="X2lu4e"><em><strong>Curbed Young Guns,</strong></em><em> now in its first year, </em><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/05/07/help-us-find-the-brightest-young-stars-of-architecture-and-design.php"><em>aims to identify</em></a><em> promising up-and-coming talent (35 and under) in the fields of architecture, interior design, and urban development. For the next few weeks, Curbed National will run individual stories on </em><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/07/15/meet-the-curbed-young-guns-semifinalists-for-2013.php"><em>each semifinalist;</em></a><em> the inaugural class of Young Guns will be announced in mid August. In the mean time, though, here's a look at a semifinalist based in L.A.:</em></p>
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<p id="gLjEGx">Unlike many of the 2013 <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/07/15/meet-the-curbed-young-guns-semifinalists-for-2013.php">Young Guns semifinalists,</a> Los Angeles-based decorator <strong>Sally Breer</strong> doesn't have years of formal training or any official degrees to hang on her wall. In fact, until pretty recently, she was skeptical that interior design was truly her calling. "I didn't know that there could be meaning or depth or thought behind it," she says. "It wasn't something I ever planned to do." </p>
<p id="44gzWh"> Yet Breer has managed to turn her passion for "junking"—a catchall term referring to her love of flea markets, vintage furnishings, and the buzzy high of a good find—into a full-fledged career that's split between <strong>Comminglehome,</strong> her fledgling interiors firm (it doesn't hurt that her first client was actor Justin Long, a close friend, and that her perch in L.A. has allowed her to connect with other showbiz clients) and <strong>Shop Class,</strong> a vintage furnishings store and workshop space that opened this February. "I think the biggest thing, if I'm lucky—if I really get to do what I like to do—is incorporating vintage character," she says. "I like a little quirk to a space, I like a little character that connects with the individual. That's the throughline: to incorporate some whimsy and some character." </p>
<p id="CEWnRw"> The journey from Point A to 25-year-old business owner wasn't so straightforward, though, and Breer admits that she's "had this very weird, patchy experience." </p>
<p id="MEitmg"> <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/07/18/meet-the-curbed-young-guns-semifinalists-sally-breer.php">A closer look at how she's gotten to where she is today, right this way. >> </a></p>
https://la.curbed.com/2013/7/18/10218678/meet-the-curbed-young-guns-semifinalists-sally-breer-1Sarah Firshein