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HOME&DESIGN

As a former couture designer with morethan two decades of experience working forthe world-renowned fashion houses of JohnGalliano, Alexander McQueen and DonnaKaran, Dutch native Hissink has turned hertalent, formidable passion andperfectionismto opening the interior design firm Mid-centuryModern LA and creating a home de-signed toherexacting standards.

Walking in, youmaynotrecognize that theheight of the family’s customized FlorenceKnoll dining tablewas raised1inch toaccom-modate increased comfort for the tall couple,or that it took “a tremendous amount ofsearching” to finda tabletopslabwithperfectmarbling, or that the midcentury stitch-length on a newScimitar reading chair couldonly have been achieved by a vintage sewingmachinelocatedinItaly.Butitwas.Andwhenit’s all put together, you feel it.

“To me, it’s like art,” Hissink said of thechair she commissioned. “I had it made inDenmark, thentheysent it toItalywheretheystill have a midcentury sewing machine tostitch the whole thing together. Then it wentback to Denmark and they put it together. …While itwastherethe factory inDenmarkwasvandalized, somebody broke in and drew allover the chair with a marker, so we had tostart over.”

“What we have needs to be functional,sturdy and well thought out,” Hissink said,“that’s why I likemodern design. It looks su-per simple, but there is somuch thought thatgoes intoeverything.”

Life + styleThe couple applies the same deliberate

thoughtfulness to how they conduct theirlives.

After leaving professional positions in de-sign and finance (he is a principal at a finan-cial services firm in Los Angeles), the coupletook a year to travel to places like Palau, Yap,Borneo and Palawan in pursuit of a sharedpassion for scuba diving (with infant sonAiden in tow).

Then in 2010, intriguedby the idea of livinginLosAngeles,theymovedtoarentalhomeinSantaMonica, where they searched for prop-erty to build a home andmake themove per-manent. “We chose this location because wewanted tobeable towalk to thebeach,butweneeded to be near restaurants,” Hissink saidof their leafyneighborhood.

From the ground upIn looking for partners to help build the

homeHissink envisioned, the couple clickedwith Brett Woods and Joseph Dangaran,architects who had just started their ownfirm,Woods+Dangaran, inCulverCity.

It took a year to finalize the design andprocure necessary permits. The buildingprocess tookanother yearandahalf.

Whole designInstead of building a house then furnish-

ing it as an afterthought, Hissink conceivedthe interior design simultaneously. A wall ofvertical redcedarsiding in the living roomisafocal point. “Without it, thewhole living roomwouldhavebeendifferent,”Hissink said.

Instead of cutting oval, three-dimensionalHeath tiles in the powder room to fit thewall,thewall sizewasdeterminedby themeasure-mentsrequiredforuninterrupted,wholetiles.Hissink drew the width of the grout lines onthewall asaguide.

In the study, the quintessential Mid-century Modern Fabricius & Kastholmbo-555 writing desk had not been manufac-tured for more than two decades whenHissink tracked down the original technicaldrawings of the desk and commissioned aDanishcraftsmantocreatethepiece. Inkeep-ing with Hissink’s laser-focused attention todetail, the cut of the floating walnut drawerson the desk mirrors the cut walnut used inbuilt-in cabinetry elsewhere in the room.

Thesteelstaircase intheentrywaywasde-livered in three separate pieces by crane andfinal assembly was done on-site. “The goalwas not to have any [visual] support or pil-lars,” Yasharian said. “You have to look hardto seewhere it is connected to the frame.”

The home’s deceptively simple, minimal-ist style is in thedetails.

A lap pool, painted dark blue, is the onlythingon theproperty thatdoesn’t conformtomidcenturyprotocol.Midcenturyblue “stoodout toomuch,” Hissink said, “and we kind oflike it lookingmorenatural.”

Simple pleasuresClutter is anathematoahome like this.Pivoting walls of glass are framed by

breezy, flowingsheathsof fabrichangingfromthe tall, airy ceilings to the perfectly paintedconcrete floors. Floating walnut shelves holdan edited selection of books; vintage lightingwascarefullychosen fromDanishModernde-signers such as Arne Jacobsen, Verner Pan-ton and Poul Henningsen; and knickknacksareano-no.

“We like a clean space,” Hissink said, “be-causewe traveled so long, it came fromevery-body having only one suitcase and not needi-ngmuchmore.” Aiden, 8, is onboardwith theanti-clutter campaign in the surprisinglychild-friendlyhome.

“I think you get bombardedwith somuchstimulusallday long,”Yasharianadded,“thattome it’s a luxury to just turn it all off.”

home@latimes.com

Focused on the detailsHave you ever slipped into a well-made piece of clothing and instantly understood the difference between de-

signer and off-the-rack? ¶ It’s the same feeling you get stepping into the Midcentury Modern-inspired home of Eline Hissink and ScottYasharian — and for good reason.

HOME OF THE TIMES

Photographs by Allen J. Schaben Los Angeles Times

ELINE HISSINK and Scott Yasharian relax in their minimalist Bulthaup kitchen. The dining set is by Florence Knoll.

NATURAL light and clean lines, as shown in the master bath at left, suffuse theModern-inspired SantaMonica home. Awall of vertical red cedar siding in the living room, above right, sets off a 1968 Grasshopper chair by Fabricius & Kastholm.

A 1957 INDUSTRIAL pendant light by Poul Henningsen hangs above a steel staircase and indoor succulent garden.

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