The kitchen features a La Cornue stove. Pierre Jeanneret stools in Loro Piana cashmere sit beneath an antique Poul Henningsen pendant.
Natural light plays across lime plaster walls and oxidised metal details.
A designer’s mid-century Los Angeles home strikes a delicate balance between custom details and the beauty of restraint.
A joining of old and new defines interior designer, collector and Studio Balestra founder Adriano Balestra’s light-filled refurbishment in the hills of Los Angeles. Studio Balestra—a design studio and vintage furniture store—shaped the home through custom pieces, art, and influences spanning wabi-sabi philosophy, Belgian design sensibility, and Balestra’s past as a gallery owner. Each room, Balestra says, is “a sequence of emotions,” where “art, furniture, and objects are not displayed but integrated into the rhythm of daily life.”
For Balestra, it was less about what to add than what to leave out. This disciplined approach draws on Japanese design principles, seen in antique vases, contemporary vessels, and a custom paper ceiling light by Studio Balestra. These influences, Balestra explains, were “reinterpreted” through light and the Californian context, where light becomes “diffused, reflected, and constantly in dialogue with the textures around it,” shifting the home’s atmosphere throughout the day.
Materials such as lime plaster, pale oak, oxidised metal, and local stone were chosen to create a sensory landscape of matte and sheen, smooth and rough, cool and warm. These juxtapositions fuse with the subdued palette, allowing material to take precedence over colour.
A custom mohair Stratus sofa and Japanese ripple table by Studio Balestra, Charlotte Perriand lounge chairs upholstered in Loro Piana cashmere, Poul Henningsen floor lamp, Jacques Biny sconces, Kirin ceramic side table from MS Ceramics, and custom antique wall mirror by Studio Balestra.
Shearling Pierre Jeanneret daybed, Willy Guhl planter, Japanese side table, and a 50/50 table lamp by MS Ceramics.
The kitchen features Pierre Jeanneret stools upholstered in cashmere beneath an antique Poul Henningsen pendant, paired with a custom banquette and walnut joinery. In the lounge, a mohair Stratus sofa and Japanese ripple table by Studio Balestra are in the company of Charlotte Perriand chairs in Loro Piana cashmere and Japanese ceramics. Outside, a custom stone coffee table and timber dining setting both designed by Balestra, extend the home’s tactile furniture curation.
Designing for himself allowed Balestra to experiment freely and without bounds. He describes the process as “less about perfection and more about authenticity,” a quality seen and felt in every lived-in corner.
A custom entry console by Studio Balestra welcomes guests upon entrance, alongside an antique French wall mirror and vintage table lamp.
The bathroom displays a Japanese vessel, an antique pendant by Rewire and artwork by Thew Smoak.
A custom cashmere Alta bed by Studio Balestra, surrounded by pale oak and softly layered textiles.
