James Hernandez is sitting in his freshly finished sunroom at the 2022 Pasadena Showcase Dwelling of Style, held this yr in the 1905 English Tudor recognized as Oaklawn Manor in South Pasadena. Remaining a South Pasadenan for the previous 18 yrs, this return to the Showcase Home immediately after sixteen decades, is primarily meaningful. “It’s always an honor to be chosen – it suggests you’ve been invited by the Pasadena Showcase Household style and design committee, that you’re identified by the docents, by fellow designers ” explains Hernandez. “It’s a privilege to be acknowledged by the Pasadena Showcase House for your dedication to interior style and the contribution you are giving to the arts and community.”
Hernandez exudes enthusiasm and his enthusiasm for structure emanates from him as he demonstrates us the sunroom he has designed for this year’s Showcase Home. “I’m here each working day. I get so psyched – I’m modifying and great tuning my room,” he claims. “Today I went out and bought residing gray willows to compliment the grey stem which is in the lotus wall masking.” The place is also peppered all over with gorgeous succulent arrangements and he describe that, “You will never see fake bouquets in the Showcase Household. It is aspect of the formal rules.”
He goes on to say, “I acquire so significantly satisfaction in my work. I really don’t slumber at evening mainly because I’m wondering of what I can do to improve my area. And often I comprehend that less is additional. I enjoy the simplicity of the silouhette of the sofa” he says gesturing to a piece in the sunroom. “I adore the neutrality of this swivel chair.” His very own private touches are scattered during the place like a portray of his puppy, Barnaby, performed by a client’s 11 12 months-aged daughter and commissioned abstract artwork completed by Dr. Frank Bouquets.
“My aim below is to entice each the traditional and the non-common. For case in point, some matters in this home read as mid-century fashionable – the couch traces are Italian mid-century modern day – I’ve made use of Cubism in the materials, and then a typical stripe – that to me is where by you get fashionable and standard and make it get the job done jointly,” he claims. He also factors to the mobile-like light fixture utilized in spot of a chandelier to reveal extra modernity.
This is Hernandez’s fourth Showcase House and his 1st time back in sixteen yrs. “It’s a large amount of commitment and really hard operate – men and women imagine designers just occur in and beautify – no” he suggests. In addition to designing the strategy, designers use their have suppliers, offer all furnishings and décor, every little thing from A-Z in generating the room. “Because of Covid delays, I obtained furniture from showrooms months in advance and experienced every thing reupholstered,” he points out. “That white furniture? You may consider, “oh I don’t at any time want white furniture”. That is Crypton. I could spill something on it and it would bead up. And these chairs are faux leather-based. So alternatively of your classic brown, man’s leather-based – I’m exhibiting you an interpretation of a man’s club chair. You could call it a delicate, women’s channel back again chair or a handsome channel again men’s chair. It’s flexible. I don’t want you to not sit on my home furniture – I want people today to dwell in my do the job – I want it to purpose. I want it to be high general performance but even now have magnificence.”
Hernandez has an enviable strength and says that even though he’s created his layout type above the yrs via his considerable journey, design has always been a section of his existence. “I’ve normally been higher power and I think that you have to have some innate perception of design. I believe you can study the formalities of style and design but you have to have a perception of fashion. I have constantly experienced that.”
Hernandez began his foray into inside design quite a few several years ago operating with a notable inside designer in Santa Monica. It was although doing work for her, they found out Pasadena Showcase House. “It’s an honor to be picked to do the Showcase and we ended up preferred for the very first time in 2000 for the home in Arcadia. We did a small girl’s place and that lit a fire in us and the future 12 months we did the Walgreens Estate near Annandale Golf Club.”
Right after a 12 months of residing abroad in Barcelona, Spain, he settled in South Pasadena in 2004 and branched out on his very own. Shortly afterwards he started doing work with a effectively recognized Supermodel/Tv set identity, developing her mother’s residence between other projects which led to much more high profile purchasers all through the Los Angeles metro place like Kimora Lee Simmons. His perform was showcased on her actuality exhibit “Life in the Fab Lane” and he built the interiors of Caitlyn Jenner’s household in Malibu which is highlighted in Self-importance Fair. He has worked all in excess of Los Angeles but is delighted to be functioning a lot more locally. “I never ever assumed I’d be doing the job in Pasadena but I get the job done a great deal listed here now and I adore it. I live in South Pasadena and I’m now producing get the job done wherever I’m with the same spouse and children a number of instances via numerous generations. They acquire me alongside with them,” he laughs. “I’ve grow to be element of their lives! I maintain developing with these families and now my purchasers young ones are in college and I’m however doing work with their dad and mom.”
Possessing the Showcase Dwelling in South Pasadena has afforded him a really short commute and an prospect to do the job in the town he’s appear to like. “Living in South Pasadena delivers appeal and tranquility to a incredibly busy and occupied layout everyday living,” muses Hernandez. “Having lived on the west side, I discover a certain calm and peace following a lengthy days’ function, which carries me all about LA, Manhattan Seashore, Calabasas, and a short while ago a undertaking in South Carolina. I glimpse ahead to the nearby Farmers Sector and evenings at Garfield Park with my doggy, Barnaby, community dining and dinners with friends and neighbors.”
It is certainly an fascinating and tough existence, one particular he has huge gratitude for, incorporating reflectively, “I’m grateful that I get appreciated for the operate that I have accomplished – to make people’s life brighter, happier – to elevate people’s feeling of type.”
The 2022 Pasadena Showcase Dwelling of Design and style will be open up by Could 22 (residence tours are closed on Mondays). Tickets ($40-$50) are on sale now. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit pasadenashowcase.org. Use code Hernandez to preserve $10 off on tickets following 1:30pm.
Pasadena Showcase Dwelling for the Arts, an all-volunteer, nonprofit firm, has been supporting regional audio and arts systems considering the fact that 1948. With the challenging work and devotion of its 200+ customers, the organization raises money from its big reward, the Pasadena Showcase Residence of Layout—one of the oldest, largest, and most thriving property and backyard tours in the region.