FROM THE BLOG

By Genie Davis

Lawson-Fenning is no ordinary furniture store or decor accessory shop. It’s owned by a renowned design team and displays a mix of beautiful new and mid-century style furnishings and accessories. Grant Fenning and Glenn Lawson have worked together designing furniture and selling vintage items since 1997, but their store on Melrose is a relatively new flagship for the duo, one that opened just last fall.

Lawson-Fenning moved from a previous outpost on Beverly in search of more space for its custom furnishings as well as for the selection of vintage pieces they’ve restored. Their two-story shop on Melrose also showcases other artisans whose work they support. Naturally, as designers, they altered their building, exposing girders, installing a concrete berm, and generally stylizing their 8,000-square-foot property. With room to spare, they’re continuing to expand their offerings, including pillows and rugs, designer lighting, and to accompany their own furnishings, offerings from furniture makers.

Accessories such as ceramics, pottery, leather goods, sensual-looking wooden bowls, sleek kitchen tools, and even incense are on offer. In short: a complete and carefully curated home is available under the Lawson-Fenning banner.

Some highlights: wheel-thrown lamps and vessels by Ceramicah, a Los Angeles ceramics studio by Micah Blyckert and Alexandra Cadiz that’s influenced by their love of organic forms and textures, as well as the landscape of California; the Idyllwild Mirror which features a solid American walnut or white oak frame that has a lacquered brushed brass overlay with cutouts; small Poseidon bowl made of Verde Mediterraneo Marble, and so much more.

Lawson-Fenning’s own furniture is an amalgam of the vintage pieces both partners cherish and restore. New materials and forms modernize these vintage concepts. Offering a strong blend of Scandinavian design with mid-century California craftsmanship, the furnishings utilize sustainable woods and a versatile, high-quality aesthetic. The shop gives clients the ability to choose their own material on upholstered pieces such as sofas and day beds. Beautiful American walnut and steel plating, available in a variety of finishes, are signature touches on these pieces which are as durable and long-lasting as they are beautiful furniture-as-sculpture.

The store’s eclectic mix of decor accents, wall hangings, textiles, and furniture give the shop the feeling of a cool yet colorful, ultra-high quality bazaar. Resilient functionality meets furnishings that are almost an art form like gallery-worthy lamps worthy of a futuristic James Bond and tables that form sinuous shapes.

Put together in one room, the combination of original furnishings by the designers and accessory or decor items from craftsmen and artists they favor, becomes a living diorama of home fashion. What is ultimately the most unique about the furnishings here is their California feel. From colors to materials to form, owning even a single piece is like holding a stylish slice of SoCal beach, desert, or mountain in your own home.

A must-stop for LA architects and designers, Lawson-Fenning is also a comfortable spot to browse and take in the elements of a quintessentially stylish and cutting-edge LA ambiance that could belong to any discerning shopper, one piece at a time.

Lawson Fenning
68245 Melrose Ave.
323-934-0048
www.LawsonFenning.com