Cool & Collected The dream team behind boutique design firm Studio Collective is creating handsome interiors with a west coast blueprint

Edited by AndreA STAnfordTHE BUNGALOW’s new STUDIO COLLECTIVE-designed Huntington Beach address is anchored by a mix of custom leather sofas and club chairs.

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Santa Monica-based design firm Studio Collective—founded by Leslie Kale, Chris-tian Schulz and Adam Goldstein—has left its hospitality mark on locales up and down the coast, from Goleta getaway The Goodland to Sunset Strip’s macrame- outfitted eatery Estrella and Santa Monica’s bohemian hangout The Bungalow. (They recently debuted a second vintage surf- inspired outpost in Huntington Beach.) Not bad for a firm that got its start only seven years ago (as a byproduct of the economic downturn, no less). But then again, the trio’s collective résumé reads like a who’s who of L.A. design; between them they’ve worked for Frank Gehry, Kelly Wearstler, Commune and Philippe Starck before join-ing forces in 2009. “We’ve been like the three musketeers ever since,” says Schulz.

The team’s next reveal, set to debut later this year, is Downtown’s newly renovated Hotel Figueroa. The studio will pull from the property’s past (originally opened in 1926 by the Young Women’s Christian Association, it has since become a quirky Moroccan-themed inn), reimagining its Spanish Mediterranean roots and com-missioning art by L.A.-based female artists including large-scale portraiture by Alison Van Pelt. “We let the soul of a project be the guide,” notes Kale.

With each new endeavor, the studio continues to build upon the creative resur-gence of the city and expound on their definition of California cool around the state and beyond. Says Goldstein, “We feel like we’re just getting started.” studio-

collective .com. • LINDSAY KINDELON

“I always say a scented room is the definition of luxury,” says L.A.-based Monique Lhuillier, who has expanded her blossoming fashion empire to include a scent of her own, thanks to San Francisco home-fragrance brand Agraria. The Citrus Lily collection, inspired by the gardens surrounding her childhood home in the Philippines and a memorable sojourn to Positano, Italy, includes an AirEssence flower-shaped diffuser and perfume candle. agrariahome.com/moniquelhuillier.

In the Air

Counting Peru and Japan among her old stomping grounds, interior designer Maja Lithander Smith, owner of Found by Maja, a new home accessories boutique in S.F., has cultivated the sourcing skills of an expert treasure hunter. Impeccable handcraftsmanship and a strong sense of place guide Lithander Smith’s pursuit for far-flung finds, from custom Jaipurian rugs to Moroccan tasseled napkin rings. “There’s no substitute for storied design,” she says. 3484 Sacramento St., S.F., 415-780-1082; foundbymaja.com.

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Lost in foUnd

Challenging herself to tie a different knot every day for a year, San Francisco artist and product designer Windy Chien knows well the ins and outs of such fascinating entanglements. “They can be a metaphor for life and its transitions,” says Chien, who has closely referenced her library of knot-tying books, which includes manuals on Chinese and Korean decorative knotting, for her 2016 project, The Year of Knots, and a recent large-scale rope installation at the IBM building in Cambridge, Mass. windychien.com.

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Knotty Behavior

From left: FOUND BY MAJA indian hand-blocked napkins, $42/set of four, with Moroccan napkin rings, $15 each. Maja Lithander smith.

WINDY CHIEN beside her 2016 project, the Year of Knots, in her s.F. studio.

AGRARIA X MONIQUE LHUILLIER AirEssence flower diffuser, $150, and perfume candle, $60.

on the grounds of the original La Grande station, the design firm crafted new Arts District cocktail bar and eatery WESTBOUND to recall a luxury train from a bygone era.

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