Year of publication
Media / Media spotlights
Media spotlights
04/02/2015
GRAFF in Exquisite L.A. Home of Alexandra von Furstenberg and Dax Miller | Architectural Digest
Alexandra von Furstenberg made only one request of her fiancé, architectural designer Dax Miller, regarding the new Los Angeles house he was devising for them and her two teenage children: She wanted it to have a classic H-shaped layout. “There’s something very balanced and efficient about it—everyone gets their own space but remains connected,” she says. “It feels like arms that wrap around you.”
Von Furstenberg and Miller are big on balance. Introduced by mutual friends in 2008 and engaged three years later, the dashing couple speak about their relationship in the same terms they use to discuss the principles that guided the design of their home: harmony, stability, serenity. The ambience they’ve managed to conjure in the house—a meditative calm with touches of upbeat whimsy—rests on a carefully calibrated equilibrium.
Their shared passion for architecture, art, and film comes as no surprise given that their professional lives converge in the arena of design. After a decade in the New York fashion world, notably as the creative director of DVF (the company founded by her former mother-in-law, Diane), Von Furstenberg moved to L.A. and launched her own namesake brand, specializing in acrylic furniture and home accessories with a decidedly chic edge. Miller, a native Angeleno, is the founder of Dax Design and the mastermind behind a diverse portfolio of residential and commercial projects, ranging from the Hollywood nightclub Les Deux to his fiancée’s own L.A. showroom.
“I envisioned the house as a fusion of our sensibilities,” Miller says. “But it’s more than just aesthetics. This is a home for our family, a place we want to pass on to the children.” Miller describes the residence as a “deconstructed classic American house,” with slate-tiled pitched roofs crowning modernist volumes painted white inside and out. “It feels familiar and intimate, but the spirit is unmistakably current.”
The drama of the home’s expansive, sunlit interiors unfolds just past the front doors, in the conjoined living/dining room that occupies the heart of the 18,000-square-foot, five-bedroom structure. Matching fireplaces face off across the double-height space—the one in the dining area surmounted by a hypnotic Gary Lang painting, 12 feet in diameter, and the other, in the living area, framed by a shallow niche that gives the hearth more presence within the purposely unadorned wall. Monumental glass doors pivot open to the lush rear courtyard and striking swimming pool beyond, inviting the vaunted indoor-outdoor lifestyle that remains Southern California’s greatest allure.
Not to ignore the pleasures of the home’s decor—a mix of modern classics, contemporary designs, and vintage finds, with a particular emphasis on the work of Milo Baughman. “I absolutely didn’t want it to feel as if you were walking into my shop,” Von Furstenberg says. Still, her finesse with acrylic is well represented by, among other vibrant pieces, the living area’s sapphire-blue cocktail table, the bright yellow bookcases that sparkle in her office, and the neon-red console standing in the second-story vestibule of the children’s wing. The couple amped up the glamour factor even more in the library, which is lined with black-lacquer shelving backed in gold leaf. Meanwhile, Von Furstenberg’s closet—a fantasy of white leather, gleaming glass, and polished chrome—rivals the most elegant boutiques in cosseted luxury. “Dax’s attention to detail is extraordinary,” she says. “He knew all our needs, and he interpreted them in ways that honestly went beyond any of my expectations.”
Other jaunty flourishes include the David Hicks–inspired carpet that runs along the twin staircases, the Takashi Murakami pillows in the children’s quarters, and the powder-room vanities that look as if they were carved from massive blocks of amethyst but are in fact crafted of Caesarstone. In the kitchen, two 1970s “Duty Free” signs from a Hong Kong airport nod to Von Furstenberg’s childhood in Asia, where her father, Robert Miller (no relation to Dax), cofounded the duty-free business empire DFS.
To temper the interiors’ Pop Art sheen and the coolness of the white walls, Von Furstenberg and Miller installed oak floors in a pale driftwoodlike finish throughout the home. Offsetting the angularity of the architecture are occasional sensuous curves. The forecourt, for instance, is centered on a spherical, mirror-finished-chrome fountain, and the front doors are inscribed with a circle rendered in polished stainless steel. And then there are the lyrical arabesques of the custom-made Balinese wood screens that grace the meditation room adjacent to the master suite.
“It all goes back to the idea of balance,” Miller says. “The house has some fanciful moments, but they never overwhelm the pervasive sense of tranquillity. This is ultimately a very peaceful place.”
The construction of the home lasted three and a half years, roughly the same amount of time Miller and Von Furstenberg have been engaged. Now that their dream dwelling is complete, one naturally wonders when wedding bells will chime. To that question the contented couple will only answer, “Soon.”