The Chemosphere

The Chemosphere (built by John Lautner in 1960 for $140,000) became home to book publisher Benedikt Taschen in 2000. At the time of Taschen's purchase, the property was in a state of serious disrepair. The Taschen family restored the home completely (even helicoptering in frameless window panes for installation).



Although Lautner wanted to name the building the Chapiteau, it was christened "The Chemosphere" for promotional purposes since Chem-seal Corp. of America donated the materials (experimental epoxies, coatings, and resins) for construction. After inheriting the unbuildable land from his father-in-law, engineer Leonard Malin commissioned Lautner (a student of Frank Lloyd Wright) to tackle the landscape. The Chemosphere has been called the most modern home in the world. Some shots I snaked while working:


Tram we take to the house.


Living Room painting.


The Taschen 80s party, we made neon splatter painted anthuriums.


The Taschen 80s party again! Can you get any more 80s than birds of paradise in a purple swan?


The Taschen sponsored Animal dinner for Food and Wine Magazine.


The Taschen sponsored Animal dinner for Food and Wine Magazine.

Miles Fisher

Love it or hate it.

Horse

I was working at this artist's home in Coldwater Canyon when I saw this drippy horse. I love him so. He was thrown up on the stucco with some butcher tape.

Cake

I was spying.

LA Weekly

Gendy from LA Weekly stopped by our studio and wrote an article for the September 8th, 2009 publication. Some of our stuff she mentions:



MARIGOLD ELECTRIC CHANDELIER. Rebecca Uchtman and CW Mihlberger constructed the armature out of wood panels. 60ft. of marigolds were then strung and draped around the structure.



SUCCULENT ARROW. Josh Beckman carved the sculpture out of foam. Rebecca Uchtman & Holly Vesecky glued succulent leaves for texture and coloring.



Photos by Sarah Martin and Holly Vesecky.

Standard Diner

My car broke down. I had a bloody mary and stalked people with my iPhone camera.

Eliav's Bike

My royal-tenenbaum-type genius 18 year-old brother-in-law builds random structures out of LEDs and flesh eating lasers whenever possible. This is from his very first Burning Man bicycle.

Woolly Pocket Landscaping

Our Woolly Pocket landscaping job at Kobata.



Miguel Nelson of Smog Shoppe and Marvimon developed hanging wool pockets for vertical landscape design. We have been installing, designing, and planting them in homes and places like Royal T while schools have been building edible gardens and living structures for their kids. There are many vertical landscaping methods out there, but we cannot all be Patrick Blanc. The greatest thing about these pockets is their neophyte accessability - anyone can buy, install, plant, and maintain them.