Although he’s of the belief that homes are “living and breathing, they’re never really finished,” L.A.–based interior designer Oliver Furth is mostly satisfied—for now—with the current state of actor, writer, and director Clark Duke’s Craftsman bungalow in the Hollywood Hills after years of combing the globe and California for landmark postmodern pieces. Three years ago his client discovered and became smitten with the color and form of Ettore Sottsass’s work (and found Furth in a Wall Street Journal article), leading the pair on a research bender and treasure hunt.
“I think Clark had seen one Sottsass piece and from there we developed this language,” says Furth. “I didn’t want it to be this sort of slavish historic copy of a room that already existed, so we spread the boundaries and went further back to earlier modernist pieces and brought it forward with contemporary pieces,” he says, adding, “Clark has turned the corner from decorating into truly collecting.” Furth’s all-consuming dedication to design turned out to be a perfect match for Duke’s new passion, which has grown to encompass works of fine art by the likes of icons Ed Ruscha and John Baldessari.
Auctions (Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams, Phillips)—where Furth bid against respected dealers—were a big source for major scores, alongside dealers in L.A. and one in Milan for ceramics. But going down the rabbit hole of Sottsass signatures is only part of the story. They also commissioned quite a few pieces, including perhaps the most enticing statement in the house: a dining room console made by Memphis Group co-founder Peter Shire over a year and a half of collaboration. “It was very fun for the three of us to do this together,” says Furth of the process. We gave Peter, a creative genius, the program we needed and let him run wild. I wanted him to really push those colors.” The result is a “kind of wacky” primary-colored, hinging, bi-level console that led to an entirely new body of work by Shire, showcased this spring at MOCA at PDC.
Furth also commissioned a pair of mismatched marble end tables from L.A.–based Australian neo-Memphis designer Jonathan Zawada, and incorporated works by Angeleno ceramicists and artists including Ben Medansky, Clare Graham. and Elyse Graham, the latter whose innovations with resin led to a large custom sculpture. Says Furth, “I love to cheerlead all design, especially the talents here in L.A.”
There was no master plan, the designer admits. Instead, “we started buying things, collecting these wonderful pieces of furniture, accessories, ceramic objects, and sculpture that went into the envelope.” Furth says he’s not one to scheme and use coordinates, instead likening their process to going to the market for ingredients before deciding what’s for dinner. He also had entire rooms painted in saturated hues—azure, evergreen, eggplant—and commissioned St. Louis’s Porter Teleo to create half a dozen unique wallpapers, hand-painted on Japanese rice paper. Duke, it turns out, was actually the one pushing Furth for more color. “Usually it’s a moment, but we really went for it and came up with a really interesting family of patterns,” says the object-driven designer who saw the wall coverings as yet another object to play with. He adds, “We sort of created these rooms within a beautiful painting. There are no placeholders in this house—it’s packed with details. Every thing is a thing.”
