HIGH DESERT SALON

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

Long before I designed this home, its owner helped me see how much art would matter in my life.

These clients are my childhood best friend’s parents, and they have always felt like second parents to me. When I was young, she noticed my interest in art and encouraged it. I still remember sitting in her kitchen over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, talking about pieces in her collection and things I was making myself. Returning years later to help shape a home around that collection was deeply personal.

The home’s sculptural spaces and curved plaster walls offered a beautiful setting for the clients’ existing collection, including works by Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, and Josef Albers. Our work began with considering how each piece would live within the architecture.

We worked with the Sol LeWitt Foundation on the placement of a Wall Drawing along a curved wall, bringing the art into a direct relationship with the home. Existing red-toned wood details were refinished in black, giving the collection a more composed setting. Rugs with the softness and movement of hand-painted watercolors carried color into the rooms underfoot.

For me, High Desert Salon continues a conversation that began at a kitchen table. Art has been part of this family’s everyday life for as long as I have known them. Helping them live with it in a new setting brought that early connection full circle.