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D E S I G N NATASHA BARADARAN's NB Essential Due Colori cabinet, featuring vegan parchment doors in rose gold and amethyst.
CLOSE TO HOME
FINE PRINT Kathleen and Tommy Clements, the mother-son duo behind Los Angeles’ Clements Design, could have penned their first book years ago. Since teaming up over a decade ago, the pair have set the high-water mark for California aesthetes with worldly, sophisticated spaces for high-profile clients including Bruno Mars and Jennifer Lawrence. But their style has never been to kiss and tell, which makes their debut tome, Eight Homes (Rizzoli New York, $75), all the more exciting. From a Spanish-style house in Beverly Hills to a tropical Hawaiian hideaway, homes for friends and collaborators including architect Howard Backen, Ellen DeGeneres and artist Ingrid Donat attest to the pair’s preternatural eye for composition and their unique creative language. K.M.
Design News
Since debuting her eponymous line in 2014, Natasha Baradaran has found inspiration for her fashion-forward furniture designs and textiles from her multicultural (Persian and Italian) background and international travels. But during California’s stay-at-home order last year, with wanderlust on the backburner, the interior designer discovered an unexpected muse: Los Angeles. Taking cues from her own Beverly Hills abode and the idea that your home is your haven, Baradaran’s new NB Essential collection of versatile, contemporary and customizable pieces is anchored by plush upholstery — spotlighting her proprietary luxe fabrics, of course — unlacquered brass and warm woods, with standouts like the whimsical Globeau pouf and the Due Colori cabinet. 723½ N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood, 323-456-4314; natashabaradaran.com. A.J.B.
The clamshell-andchrome fountain by CHARLAP HYMAN & HERRERO.
SHOW OF HANDS What do you get if you cross a Case Study House by Richard Neutra with three of Los Angeles’ rising-star creatives? “Built In,” the first show at the Neutra VDL House since the pandemic began, sees over 25 local artists, architects, designers and creators selected by gallerists and designers Benjamin Critton and Heidi Korsavong (of Marta) and artist Erik Benjamins to create site-specific works that blend in seamlessly with the midcentury-modern masterpiece, complementing its right angles and lush landscaping. Highlights include a sound installation by Jeremiah Chiu, featuring archival interview footage with Dione Neutra (Richard’s wife), and a clamshelland-chrome fountain in the reflecting pool by Charlap Hyman & Herrero. neutra-vdl.org. A.B.
QUILTY PLEASURES “Sanford Biggers: Codeswitch” at the California African American Museum marks the celebrated New York City-based multidisciplinary artist’s Los Angeles homecoming. On view through January 23, 2022, the exhibition is a comprehensive survey of the Codex series of altered quilts that he began in 2009. Biggers, who grew up in L.A., says his transformation of these antiques using various materials can be characterized as desecration, embellishment or beautification. In addition to powerfully examining themes of race, identity and art history, the remixed visual vernacular of these pieces upends entrenched hierarchies assigned to textile arts and other crafts. “I always want to disrupt that narrative,” Biggers says. 600 State Dr., L.A., 213-744-2084; caamuseum.org. J.R. A detail of Bonsai, 2016, by SANFORD BIGGERS.
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NEUTRA VDL HOUSE: ERIK BENJAMINS. SEVENTH HOUSE: AUSTIN LEIS.
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