Love and Design

In love with each other and design, Brendon Breen and Justine Alcantara arranged to have their engagement photos taken at our LA Showroom. Surprised and flattered, we wondered what led two young design enthusiasts to pick such an unconventional venue.

Why have your engagements photos taken at Herman Miller’s LA showroom?
Justine: For me, engagement photos tell a lot about a couple, and I wanted ours to be a reflection of us. I wanted to capture our personalities.

Brendon: All the credit goes to Justine on this one. I actually wasn’t bright enough to conjure up such a brilliant idea. She knows my passion for modern classics, and we wanted a location that would really tell our friends and family who we were. That is when she came up with the idea for the Herman Miller showroom. Not only could we have great photos sitting in our favorite pieces, but the architecture of the building itself was stunning as well.

Both of you are self-professed design enthusiasts, can you share was that means?
B: I guess it’s as simple as saying design runs my life. More than a hobby, or even a career, it is who I am.

J: For me, it’s simply just a love, respect and appreciation for good, clean design. I love it all, interior, graphic, typography, and event design. I love how inspired I feel every time I encounter something out of the ordinary.
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A LEED Design Transformation

Long before transforming into Los Angeles’ first LEED CI Platinum building, our showroom had a past. Located in Culver City, the building began its life as a cloth diaper manufacturer in the mid 1950’s. As the area changed and manufacturing left, the building lay unused until a becoming a warehouse for mens’ suits in the 1980s.

When Herman Miller purchased the building in 2007, the there were few people who questioned the decision. In order to meet our environmental standards, both the structure and the interior required extensive renovation. Design by TVS Design, 20 percent of all materials used were made with 500 miles of the site, and 85 percent of all construction was recycle and diverted from the landfill. These, among many other efforts, resulted in the building being honored with LEED Gold certification and the interiors with Platinum–the first, and still only, Platinum commercial interior in LA.