Larry Dale Gordon
The Simple Life
March 1, 2005
Architect Barry Berkus
designed the loft atop a new three-story Mediterranean-style
building
with a
flowing, open floor plan, 14-foot ceilings and
walls of windows.
“It was built
as an artist’s living/working
loft,” Corinna says, “and I
liked that because
we’re both
creative.” But, she adds, the “all-white,
stark and sterile” space
needed “warmth and style.” The interior
designer—whose
eclectic client list
ranges from actor Kirk Douglas to
hip-hop
impresario Dr. Dre—painted half of the
loft’s walls in a
Chinese red lacquer and applied a soft, creamy yellow hue to
the
remaining walls and the ceilings. “The colors worked with
all the Oriental
art,” she says. “I’d never been hired to do a
contemporary project. I
thought it
would be fun to design
something that was functional but
also warm and peaceful,
that
fit in with an Asian contemporary look,
because I’ve always been drawn
to
places like Bali, and we’ve collected
antiquities from
Indonesia and Thailand.”
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Corinna Gordon designed the black lacquer bookshelves in the library.
(Click Image to enlarge)
Next, Corinna divided the space, creating “rooms” without erecting partitions. In some cases, boundaries for the living room, dining room, kitchen and library are merely pieces of furniture. A large Indian chest, for instance, eases the transition from the living room to the kitchen, doubling as storage space for pots and pans and as a staging surface for a buffet or bar. “So many people have living rooms that are not used for daily living but only for entertaining,” she says. “We love inhabiting an entire space rather than only using certain rooms. We use every space, every day, and it’s a great feeling.”
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The
Cambodian torso dates from the 8th century, and the wool rug came from
Rugsunderfoot.com. The entrance to the dining room features an antique wooden
Buddha from Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Click Image to enlarge)On a typical day, Larry rises at six and makes the short bicycle ride to his studio to catch the early morning light for photographs. (The native Southern Californian published his latest book of photography, American Nomad, late in 2004.) Corinna follows later, walking to Larry’s studio’s gym for a session with their personal trainer before heading to her own nearby jewelry studio (www.spenderella.com). When they return in the evening, the loft’s multipurpose design comes into play. For more formal meals, when they invite another couple or two, they repair to the dining room, where they have front-row seats to the twinkling lights of the city. When they don’t have company, they occasionally end up dining in the bedroom, where large pull-out trays, housed in the black lacquer nightstands that Corinna designed, swing around to become mini-tables. For dinner and a movie, a push of a button brings up the flat-screen television set that is encased in the bed’s black lacquer footboard.
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