Design aficionado Holly Hunt has collaborated with architects Johnston Marklee on its new Los Angeles showroom. The new space on Highland Avenue draws on graphic codes in its contemporary rethink of an industrial-style 1940s building, creating a warm ‘house within a house’ concept that situates two free-standing villas inside the building’s original concrete form.
‘Our concept was to nod to our roots in residential design,’ explains Joannah Kornak, executive creative director of Holly Hunt. ‘We were very intentional about incorporating architectural elements that balanced the timeless elegance of Holly Hunt with the more urban grit of LA to create a dynamic environment that would inspire and engage our audience of architectural and interiors professionals. We wanted to create a destination for the LA design community, built with Holly Hunt’s signature timeless modernity.’
The unique juxtaposition of industrial and elegant design codes takes its cue from the surrounding Sycamore District, with the character of the building itself making a raw foil for the bronze, leather and grey marble finishes.
For Sharon Johnston of Johnston Marklee, the space was a natural backdrop for the warmth and tactility of Holly Hunt’s portfolio. ‘We immediately recognised the potential in the scale of this interior to showcase the many dimensions of Holly Hunt’s products: from the intimacy of domestic interiors to the furniture settings of a commercial lobby or an outdoor patio,’ Johnston says. ‘By nesting two “villas” within the warehouse shell, we created comfortable, domestically scaled inside spaces and outside zones with tall ceilings and views to the city that are further delineated by materials – raw oak flooring within the rooms of the house, and light grey terrazzo outside – and through lighting, daylighting and various furniture vignettes.’
The villas are surrounded by a gallery space inspired by an exterior street, building on Holly Hunt’s past reinventions of traditional showrooms. ‘Since we opened the doors of our first Holly Hunt showroom almost 40 years ago, our approach was to combine elevated architecture and furnishings in composed rooms and spaces, displaying them in the context for which they were designed,’ adds Kornak.
‘The design feels authentic and relevant to Los Angeles yet captures the essence of Holly Hunt’s aesthetic, which is timeless elegance with a focus on materiality.’
It is this celebration of materials that directly inspired the design for Johnston. ‘The design draws strength and a sense of timeless relevance from the balance of the industrial rawness of the base building – and elemental materials such as raw plaster, matte terrazzo, honed marble, and raw oak – with the more luxe materials that are part of the brand’s signature, including bronze metals, marbles and granite, glass and leather,’ she says. ‘The harmony of contrasting tones and textures highlights the specialty finishes, colours and details of the Holly Hunt products in relation to the rawness of the industrial shell.
‘The dynamic equilibrium of high and low finishes, rough and refined surfaces, within a space that is at once domestic and industrial in scale, offers a unique setting to discover the craftsmanship of the pieces in an interior that is both casual in atmosphere and bespoke in detail.’
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
941 North Highland Avenue
Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90038
-
The Grand Egyptian Museum – a monumental tribute to one of humanity’s most captivating civilisations – is now completeDesigned by Heneghan Peng Architects, the museum stands as an architectural link between past and present on the timeless sands of Giza
-
Meet Forefront, a cultural platform redefining the relationship between art and architectureForefront co-founder Dicle Guntas, managing director of developer HGG, tells us about the exciting new initiative and its debut exhibition, a show of lumino-kinetic sculptures in London
-
Inside the work of photographer Seydou Keïta, who captured portraits across West Africa‘Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens’, an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, celebrates the 20th-century photographer
-
Johnston Marklee’s sofa for Knoll offers chubby chic1970s design icons, Bibendum, and macaroni were on architects Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee's minds while designing the ‘Biboni’ sofa for Knoll
-
With a secret members’ club, this Washington, DC barbershop is a ‘theatre of self-care’At Manifest 002, come for a haircut; stay for the boldly hued social spaces designed by INC Architecture & Design
-
This Spanish Revival home in LA is full of sunlight, stillness and soulA serene renovation by Ome Dezin in collaboration with interior designer and content creator Marco Zamora paints an old soul in a new light
-
Step inside a ‘dream desert sanctuary’ tucked into Moab's rust-red landscapeSusannah Holmberg designed this home to harmonise with the extreme climate and dramatic surroundings of Utah’s Moab desert. 'The landscape is everything'
-
Nicole Hollis launches a collection of home objects ‘rooted in mindfulness’The American interior designer worked with artists, makers and artisans to create objects for the home, emphasising materiality and visual simplicity
-
USM furniture turns shelter in a New York exhibition‘The Room You Carry’ by interior design studio Loveisenough examines the space between order and wilderness, indoors and outdoors
-
This designer’s Montecito home – once a modest wood cabin – has been transformed into a charming sanctuaryOriginally built by architect Lutah Maria Riggs, this compact family home has been reimagined by another influential female designer – Tamara Honey of House of Honey – who has imbued the space with her signature touch
-
Step inside a Hollywood Hills home where European design meets Californian easeLA studio Broad Project takes us inside its cinematic renovation of a 1960s Spanish Revival home in the Hollywood Hills
