It’s happening… There is a transformational shift taking place in the design house space. It’s a mash-up of the traditional idea of a design house and a reinvented version of the model home with its roots in Southern California architecture dating back to the 1950’s and 60’s. As LA’s architectural engine was powering up, ‘tract homes’ became a thing. The concept was simple, take use swaths of land and fill it with homes built from a handful of layouts. Provide different color and material options so the customers can feel like they are getting something custom. Then, take one model and dress it out. Create a one of a kind aspirational space that really showcases what this home can become. Add in all the bells, whistles and custom features everyone would want. That really led to the modern show house and design houses to which we have become accustomed.
Recently, some brave developers and ground breaking designers have teamed up to produce one-off model homes in the design house style. These homes are being used as event spaces, ideas houses while currently on the market which obviously affects design, architecture and traditional real estate. This new spin has created some really interesting partnerships like the one you are about to here. Brooke Gardner is an incredibly talented LA based interior designer and Rick Perkins is the brave developer and CEO of the Perkins Development Group. In this episode, we walk through the house and give you an inside look at a truly unique and amazing space. First up is Rick and later in the episode, you’ll hear from Brooke. You are going to get two very interesting perspectives on the same project. This is really a ‘he said, she said’ study but instead of it being that of male/ female, it is developer/ designer. They both took different creative ideas to get here and as you’ll see, they work incredibly well together. The Starview House is located in the hills above Brentwood. The home and the views are amazing! You can see more by going to our YouTube channel, instagram and twitter.
If you like this episode of the podcast, and I hope that you do. Why not subscribe to the show? It’s easy, fast and free. Here’s the link to the show on a few different outlets:
This was originally published in two parts, episodes 67 and 68. It was March 23, 2016 at the Pacific Design Center for WestWeek. This conversation called To Live and Design in DTLA was moderated by Carlo Caccavale, Associate Director, AIA Los Angeles.
Downtown LA was changing, rapidly and the world was beginning to notice. This panel included some of the very participants in this revolution, they include Erin and Ian Besler of Besler & Sons, Lawrence Azerrad of LAD Design, Loryn Napala and Monica Opaskar of Untitled Mondays and Spencer Nikosey of KILLSPENCER, along with A+D>Architecture and Design Museum’s COME IN! DTLA Curator Danielle Rago who engage with Carlo as they explore the DTLA influence on traditional forms of architecture, art and design, and the allure it offers creatives in converting derelict downtown structures and the very essence of DTLA into an exciting, immersive live/work art space.
If you like this episode of the podcast, and I hope that you do. Why not subscribe to the show? It’s easy, fast and free. Here’s the link to the show on a few different outlets:
I thought about making this one long episode and thought better of it. You are busy and don’t have time for a three hour production. This is part two of our 200th episode retrospective. You heard from some remarkable designers, architects, set decorators and chefs. I wanted to share another side of the podcast in part two. A series of creatives that don’t necessarily fit into a specific category when talking about design and architecture.
The Triforium is a public art project that had seen better days in 2016. I met the people trying to save it, members of the Triforium project including members of the Portland based band Yacht… Claire Evans and Jona Becholt. They are bringing this amazing musical sculpture back to life…
Speaking of finding new passions. Jihan Zencirli of Geronimo Balloons explains how taking an idea and building a business out of it completely changed her life!
Then there are the fine artists who found their calling and built life around it. Artist like Hunt Slonem.
What is art without likeminded souls to share it with? Haily Zaki is the co-founder of the LA Design Festival. A showcase for LA’s creatives from virtually every discipline. Haily is smart, crazy talented and driven.
Speaking of remarkable events. Troy Hanson and Megan Reilly of the WestEdge Design Fair have put together a world class design and architecture focused event. They do so much to help connect the industry. This is a recap from 2015. Troy and Megan talk about the origins of the show.
This leads me to the ideas we need to talk about that aren’t always easy. Emile Nicolaou is an intellectual property attorney. Why should we be hearing from him? Because he is crazy smart and if you listen to what he tells you, you can protect your ideas. That doesn’t mean you can keep them from getting stolen… it means you know what your options are. Choosing not to defend your intellectual property is a choice, not knowing your rights is a crime…
Now, some random quotes that I really enjoyed and I think you will as well. Here is architect, Anthony Poon…
Designer and showroom owner, Patrick Dragonette…
Just for fun, this is a clip from episode number one from 2014 with artist Douglas C. Bloom…
This seems like a good time to share some of the things that have made an impact on me after doing this for five years. And keep in mind, I am neither a designer, nor and architect, not a chef or set decorator. However, I have produced design houses, hosted design industry events, published thousands of hours of content, both my own for Convo By Design as well as that for some of the biggest names in design. Because of this, here are some of the most impactful lessons I’ve learned.
1. Say “yes”.
2. Be open to new ideas, even if they are completely opposite to your own.
3. Collaborate whenever possible.
4. Experiment. Try something different.
5. Mix metals.
6. Use that color, you know the one. You can always re-paint, re-cover and re-design.
7. Take your intellectual property rights as well as those of others seriously. Choosing not to act is still a choice, know your options.
8. Ask more questions.
9. Listen to the inner voice.
10. Know your value.
11. Demonstrate the same level of responsibility you ask of others.
12. Change the conversation.
13. Tell your story everywhere you can.
14. Be your brand. Live it.
15. Be authentic.
16. Stress is pointless, it’s all going to work out.
I have also benefitted from learning about the superpowers of others… My favorite…
Architects see the minute details and plan for all potential outcomes
Designers have creativity oozing from every pore
Set decorators don’t say ‘no’. They are Macgyver like in their abilities to create options and fabricate ideas
Chefs are truly creative warriors who literally battle using knives
Trade Show Producers see the direction the business is going and try to hit it at a future point, not the present
Publishers see the big picture
Editors see through the obvious
PR Pros tell amazing stories
Thank you to everyone who has been a part of the first 200 episodes not the least of which are all of my guests for sharing your stories, projects, ideas and time. Thank you to everyone behind the scenes who have assisted in booking, coordination, load in, load out, parking image clearance, and so much more.Thank you to everyone at Snyder Diamond for your partnership. Russ Diamond, Dana Joy, Flavia, Becky… it is a joy working with you and I hope we are still working together for the next 200 episodes plus. Thank you to Miele for being a sponsor of the show. Thank you, VONDOM for your partnership and use of product and location for recording.
And, as we opened, thank you. You made a choice when you started listening to the show and watching our videos. I appreciate your time, your input and the support over the past five seasons of Convo By Design.
Thank you for getting us to 200 episodes! Thank you for listening to the podcast, watching our videos on YouTube, coming out to the events, design houses and remote recording sessions. Thank you for reaching out on social media and better yet, in person to tell me you like the show, disagreed with me about something I said or make a suggestion for a future guest or topic. The show is now in its sixth year and this is episode 200.
I wanted to do something special this week and for the past few months, I have been listening back to past episodes starting with the very first episode of Convo By Design, recorded in early 2014 with artist. Since then, I have recorded over 300 individuals in one-on-one interviews, panel discussions, group conversations and project tours. The show has been all over Southern California. We have recorded from Palm Springs, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, the Grand Canyon, Marfa, Texas and Big Sky, Montana. Convo By Design has taken you to the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, Wattles Mansion, WestEdge Design Fair, WestWeek, Modernism Week, LA Design Festival, Fall Market and tours of homes with some of the worlds greatest and most talented creatives. I am not going to name them all here and of course, I can’t mention everyone but if you keep listening to the podcast, you will, at some point, hear from them again.
I have scoured through past episodes so you can hear again from some amazing, interesting, thought provoking and wonderful people. We revisit moments with architects, designers, set decorators, musicians, chefs, makers of policy and others who are leading the way as it relates to the way we live.
Before we get into this episode, I wanted to tell you why I do this podcast. I have been asked about the story in the past and I do love telling the story because this show was created using the ashes of one of my greatest failures. I am a brand manager by trade. After many years in brand development with companies like CBS and iHeartRadio, I was consulting for California Home and Design Magazine. After a lifetime loving design and architecture, I was thrilled to be working in the industry. At that time, I got the chance to produce my first design house called Small Space, Big Style. We had designers: Molly Luetkemeyer, Azadeh Shladovsky, Brian Patrick Flynn, Erinn Valencic, Christian May, Anette and Mary from Potted, a really amazing group. After the penthouse opened, we had events, parties, meetings, all kinds of really intriguing content. And I recorded not one moment of it. Sure, I have the leave behind books and a box of the issues showing the 12 pages of edit… and if you look for this design house, you will find two videos produced by the magazine. I remember feeling like all of this work went into a project and it just disappeared int the ether.
That was in 2012. The design house closed in 2013 and I spent all of 2013 planning and working on Convo By Design. I had another podcast project prior to this one, but it wasn’t what I wanted. Further proof that our first concept or idea is rarely the final product. And along that same line of thinking, Convo By Design hasn’t stopped changing since the very first episode. There are a couple of things that have remained constant, one of those is the partnership of our presenting sponsor, Snyder Diamond.
Over 200 episodes, we have heard from many designers. I love being around designers because the ideas rarely stop flowing and when talking about design, there are so many different styles and personalities, here are a few of the designers you have heard from over the past five years:
Estee Stanley
Jaime Rummerfeild
Kyle Schuneman
Ryan Saghian
Timothy Corrigan
Cesar Giraldo
Ryan White
Cliff Fong
Lori Dennis
Is LA Losing It’s Cool… This clip is one of my absolute favorites. First, it features moderators Mallory Roberts Morgan and Frances Anderton. I am a huge fan of both ladies. Second, their guests this panel are hilarious and make me laugh, I think even when they aren’t trying. Third, DIEM, Design Intersects Everything Made was an annual series presented by the West Hollywood Design District. I’m not sure the reason they don’t host it any longer, but I wish they did. Anyhow, we recorded almost all of the panel conversations between 2014 and the last year, 2017 from WestEdge. This features comments from Anderton, Darren Gold and then Christopher Farr as they discuss the status of LA and it’s relative “hotness” or “coolness” seemingly as always, according to media outlets that reside well east of the LA area.
In 2016, WestWeek from the Pacific Design Center included a conversation entitled Rebels of Design moderated by Erika Heet of Interiors Magazine and featured Eric Chang, Patrick Tighe (tie) and Cliff Fong. First, you’ll hear Eric Chang on bravery and making mistakes, then Cliff on experience and finally Patrick and Eric offer their views on diversity in design. These concepts all come together to form a real interesting idea abut taking risks, making mistakes and breaking through, and isn’t that what rebels do?
To Live and Design in DTLA, again from 2016 from West Week was a fun panel with a lot of participants but a very good topic was To Live and Design in LA featuring Spencer Nikosey, Erin and Ian Besler, Loryn Napala Danielle Rago, Monica Opaskar, Lawrence Azerrad and moderated by Carlo Caccavale. This clip features a brief chat about adaptations one must make when choosing to live and or work in any downtown but LA in particular.
When you cover design in LA, you have to talk about Set Decorators. They Not only cover the landscape, but they also design for a page, a script, real or imaginary characters, set decorators don’t have, in most cases, a real person to question about their style so they create the characters style from within. Here is set decorator KC Fox whose work you ave seen in Speed, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and 40 Year Old Virgin talking about what goes into creating the character.
If you were not sure what the set decorators do, Rosemary Brandenburg talks about the business itself and what set decorators do within the production. Not just the production but the creation of the concepts like an interior designer would. If you are an interior designer, this might change the way you view your own process.
William DeBiasio is a set decorator who has worked on shows like Pretty Little Liars that went on to have a huge stylistic appeal. What’s really interesting is how set decorators can take the story and make the style popular. What if we thought about our homes and offices not as simply places to live but sets that tell our story. How might the narrative change? Here, William is talking about his approach to sets, props and the story.
We have spoken with some of the best and brightest minds in architecture today. Of those, there are some standouts, like Stephen Francis Jones discuss design challenges in restaurant development and new options in manufactured buildings like shipping containers.
Cliff Fong on opportunity, available resources and the endless opportunity creativity provides.
Sarah Lorenzen gave us a tour of the Neutra VDL House in Silver Lake. Cal Poly own the property and she is not only a member of the Architecture dept at Cal Poly, she is the homes custodian and resident. Here is Sarah’s take on Neutra’s legacy.
It’s very easy to be completely happy and satisfied with the design and architecture community in Southern California, but where is the fun in that?
This conversation took place at the WestEdge Design Fair and featured designers Kelli Ellis and Barclay Butera, also present was architect Greggory Phillips. This diverse panel discussed Maison y Objet in Paris. They compare and contrast this event with other design focused events around the US.
This is a conversation about experience. While it is difficult for people to share the finer nuances of individual experience, it is really fun to hear how each experience the same show so differently. It allows one to fully recognize that experience is truly unique to the attendee and that is why everyone should experience Maison, it is on my short list, for sure.
Enjoy this conversation on international design with some giants in the business. Before we get into this conversation, I want to thank you for listening to the podcast and invite you to join in the conversation, you can find us @ConvoByDesign on twitter and @ConvoXDesign with an ‘X” on Facebook and Instagram. You can also find videos from these conversations on our YouTube channel, again search Convo By Design and you will find over 140 videos from some of your favorite guests, including the following. If you like the show, please send it to a friend so they can join our design community. Thanks for listening, enjoy the show.
This is Convo By Design with designer, Trip Haenisch. Haenisch is known for his comfortable, collected and easy-going style. He has earned a reputation for his incredible talent and the celebrity clientele that followed. Trip has a new book out called Personal Space and it features his elegant Hollywood style juxtaposed against comfortable California living. These two would appear to be in direct conflict. Actually, it is all in the presentation, a skill Haenisch has mastered.
You are going to hear Trip talk about his career path and the trajectory from just starting out to the fame that follows success in a creative endeavor like interior design. He’s comfortable now with the fame but prefers the work because it is the source of creative satisfaction and happiness. You are also going to hear a very candid conversation about client relations, interaction and meaningful engagement. You are also going to hear some very personal insights about creativity, wanting to please others and ultimately, being happy with yourself and your work.
I enjoyed this chat immensely with Trip and I hope you do as well. Before we get into it, I want to thank you for listening and invite you to join in the conversation. You can find us @ConvoByDesign on twitter and @ConvoXDesign with an ‘X” on Facebook and Instagram. You can also find videos from these conversations on our YouTube channel, again search Convo By Design and you will find over 140 videos from some of your favorite guests. You can also subscribe to the show and never miss an episode AND leave a rating and review for the show on iTunes, it is greatly appreciated. Thanks for listening.
This is Convo By Design with a chat about design and traffic. What do these two things have to do with each other? Everything. I think it is safe to say that we are in the midst of an industrial revolution of sorts. I think one might not always notice the changes going on around them until those changes significantly affect their own lives. If you live in Southern California or any major metropolitan city you have probably noticed that your life is being directly affected by changes in the weather, traffic patterns and sheer volume of people. All of these changes are real and they are happening for a number of reasons. Our cities are getting more crowded, particularly in both traditionally desirable areas and in downtown areas. When downtowns grow and suburbs grow, infilling is not far behind. The gig economy and shared vehicle, shared residential, shared commercial space means that more people are out of office and out of home. Now factor in the fact that there is an app for just about everything. That means your secret shortcut from the South Bay to the PDC or downtown is now public knowledge and every Uber and left driver is using it as well.
So what does that have to do with design and architecture? Everything. It means that our homes and offices are in need of material changes in form and function. Things like adding charging stations to exteriors, transitioning from living rooms, dens and dining rooms to more universal use spaces. It means finding ways to increase indoor/ outdoor livability and trying to account for what’s next. I have been saying for some time now that architects and designers alike are our next “futurists”. You are prognosticators of what comes next and need to design accordingly.
It is with that in mind that I recorded this conversation for the LA Design Festival with LA Metro Senior Manager/ Lead Designer for Signage and Environmental Graphic Design, Sharleen McLaughlin and Dave Sotero Spokesman for LA County Metro. This conversation covers a lot of ground from art to policy.
Before we get into this conversation, I want to thank you for listening to the podcast and invite you to join in the conversation, you can find us @ConvoByDesign on twitter and @ConvoXDesign with an ‘X” on Facebook and Instagram. You can also find videos from these conversations on our YouTube channel, again search Convo By Design and you will find over 130 videos from some of your favorite guests, including the following. If you like the show, please send it to a friend so they can join our design community. Thanks for listening, enjoy the show.
I was recording live from the WestEdge Design Fair and onstage with me are designer Kelli Ellis and Interiors Magazine Editor-In-Chief Erika Heet. If you listen to the podcast regularly you know that I like to go deep and focus on the less explored side of design and architecture. The business side is fascinating to me and these two women are hyper-engaged and have so much to offer. They are also polar opposites in their demeanor and style.
Conversations like these are fun, informative and also a little like doing the tightrope without the benefit of a net. Something really interesting about Kelli is her diverse background. She has a degree in marketing, studied law and has made a name for herself with her psychological approach to design. Erika is the Editor-In-Chief of Interiors Magazine and crafts a story like very few can. She studied english at Berkley and her work embodies a truly special approach to architecture and design. She too, knows the business well and that is where this episode gets interesting.
If you are a creative type and want to grow your brand. You are about to get step-by-step instructions.
Before we get into this conversation, I want to thank you for listening to the podcast and invite you to join in the conversation, you can find us @ConvoByDesign on twitter and @ConvoXDesign with an ‘X” on Facebook and Instagram. You can also find videos from these conversations on our YouTube channel, again search Convo By Design and you will find over 130 videos from some of your favorite guests, including the following. If you like the show, please send it to a friend so they can join our design community. Thanks for listening, enjoy the show.
This is Convo By Design with a special conversation with Dan Burnn, a fascinating architect. This interview was recorded live from the WestEdge Design Fair in the Programming Lounge presented by Convo By Design. This conversation was really fun for me. Dan is a very interesting guy with a unique perspective on architecture and how he bends and blends ideas to fit the lives of his clients.
Dan and I spoke about modern ideas in architecture and studied two of his California projects, the Flip-Flop House in Venice and the Bridge House in Hancock Park. Dan was raised in Tel Aviv and his love of and passion for the Bauhaus architecture in which he grew up is evident in his work. His designs are expressive and unique but the first goal is to be of use to those living within. The Flip-Flop project, as you’ll hear is about privacy in a public setting and display of Art, while using the light and views without the ability to close the space off from public view. The Bridge House is a master work of ingenuity and spatial craftwork. Both show ho Brunn approaches his craft.
Before we get into this conversation with Dan, I want to thank you for listening and invite you to join in the conversation, you can find us @ConvoByDesign on twitter and @ConvoXDesign with an ‘X” on Facebook and Instagram. You can also find videos from these conversations on our YouTube channel, again search Convo By Design and you will find over 120 videos from some of your favorite guests. This is architect Dan Brunn LIVE from the WestEdge Design Fair.
The National Kitchen and Bath Association conducts one of the most comprehensive kitchen competitions I know of. Many designers I have spoken to are not even aware of the competition so I wanted to shed some light on the subject.
Elle H Millard is a certified kitchen designer and Industry Relations Manager for the NKBA. She joined me for a conversation about the NKBA and the kitchen competition. I enjoyed my chat with Elle and I was reminded that designers and architects need only search for opportunities that allow them to showcase their work using the marketing power of other organizations. The NKBA provides a great opportunity to do that.
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Before we get into this conversation with Elle, I want to thank you for listening and invite you to join in the conversation, you can find us @ConvoByDesign on twitter and @ConvoXDesign on Facebook and Instagram. You can also find videos from these conversations on our YouTube channel, again search Convo By Design and you will find over 120 videos from some of your favorite guests. This is the NKBA’s Elle Millard.
