3 minute read
GREENING THE INDOORS BY ROGER GRODY
Celebrity horticulturist Stephen Block reminds us that sophisticated planting is not reserved for the outdoors.
EVEN IN SUNNY Southern California, the arrival of winter brings a greater focus on indoor living, notably the potential for sustaining distinctive, beautiful flora inside the home.
At the Culver City showroom of Inner Gardens, intriguing vignettes of distinctive plant species, sculptures, lighting and objets d’art spill from a 10,000-square-foot structure onto patio spaces where rusticity meets elegance.
“Clients who visit the showroom for the first time are overwhelmed, with its constantly changing selection of soaring trees, antiques, and cool and weird things,” says Inner Gardens founder and president Stephen Block, whose passion is infectious.
The venue, which provides inspiration for designers, landscape architects and homeowners, is supported both by Inner Gardens’ nursery in Malibu and Block’s insatiable treasure hunting.
With clients including Elton John and Cher, and a portfolio of commercial projects such as Spago and the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, Block is likely L.A.’s premier celebrity horticulturist.
Block began collecting antiques to distinguish himself from other landscape professionals; he initially experimented with using rusty cans as vases, then elevating the approach for a luxury clientele.
“I buy what I love,” he says of his eclectic tastes. “Generally, if I touch it, I’ll end up buying it, as I’m always attracted to interesting finishes and patinas.”
Vintage items can be effectively juxtaposed with modern residential architecture, Block explains: “They tend to ground the house with the feel and texture of age.”
The designer subscribes to the principle of wabi-sabi, the ancient Japanese concept of aesthetics based on the imperfect, transient or incomplete. He favors meticulously crafted objects whose wear is readily apparent over more pristine contemporary pieces.
“If it’s too perfect, it doesn’t interest me,” he says, suggesting that imperfections are what engage people.
Block constantly treks through Europe, and the Culver City showroom is filled with the bounty of his journeys. “Getting lost is the surest way to find things, and my best discoveries have occurred when I’ve been lost in the South of France,” Block reports.
Referencing regular collaborations with celebrity interior designers Kelly Wearstler, Martyn Lawrence Bullard and Waldo Fernandez, Block says, “We provide the raw materials for the design community, but anybody can come to the showroom for inspiration.”
In addition to the antiques that are shipped to the showroom, Inner Gardens offers its own collection of reproductions with classical, midcentury and contemporary influences.
Midcentury-modern planters by designers Willy Guhl, David Cressey, Howard Whalen and Stan Bitters work particularly well in the transitional indooroutdoor spaces that define the L.A. lifestyle.
Block approaches an interior commission by first assessing the lighting; that dictates which species can flourish at the location. “Secondly, it’s important to get the scale right,” he says. “We always strive to complement the interior architecture and design.”
He’s drawn to exotic plants that have innately architectural qualities. Citing the works of Andy Warhol as an example, he suggests that repetition of a species can create a powerful effect.
“Some of our work is theater,” says Block, who has leveraged his green thumb into an art form. “The unexpected is generally much more interesting than the expected.”
Details
Inner Gardens, 4444 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City; 310.838.8378; 6432 Busch Drive, Malibu, 310.457.9091
innergardens.com
