Ideal Live/Work Space: Jared and Jessica Fanning

Cerentha Harris — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:41:54 +0000

Designer Jared Fanning, whose work includes illustrations (see the chair above), maps and a wonderful collection of posters using quotes from Frank Lloyd Wright (below) shares his ideal home work space. He and his wife, a photographer, have joined the growing number of people embracing a more fluid worklife – one that would allow them to work from a tent or a beach house.

I’m a designer and my wife Jess is a children’s photographer. We have a one year old daughter and a super mutt named Wrigley. (A very un-creative name for living in the Chicago area, but it’s too late too change it now!) We live in the western suburbs of Chicago, and love the midwest. We are just a few miles away from Frank Lloyd Wright’s studio in Oak Park, IL. Our ideal work space would definitely be influenced by his prairie-modern style – local materials, plenty of natural light and a fireplace to get us through these cold Chicago winters.

Above: Marden House by Frank Lloyd Wright

We also like a lot of the mid-century designers (Harper, Girard, Lustig and Ray and Charles Eames) - their sense of modern design mixed with delight & whimsy, especially now with our one-year old daughter, is really fun to explore. Jess recently painted these Alexander Girard inspired nesting dolls for her nursery. The pottery is a custom (pink!) Teco Pottery from our friends at PrairieMod, the Girard blocks were a gift from House Industries and I made the pink sun artwork.

In 2012 we decided to start phasing out our office and desktop and being completely mobile. We love the idea of being able to work anywhere, especially outside with an amazing view.

I would prefer to give the Kobayashi’s weekend retreat (above) a try, but wouldn’t argue with Jess if we had a great deck like this facing Lake Michigan.

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Cerentha Harris — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:03:47 +0000

A friend of mine is renovating her house and I spent time looking over swatches of fabric and thinking about color, sofa shapes and rug pile earlier this week. It was so nice to get back into that head space again. Renting has kept me from doing too much major work on the house that we live in…that and a rather tight budget! So it was fun to step into someone else’s shoes and indulge in a morning of talking nothing but interiors. It also re-sparked my interest in interiors shoots. Always on the lookout for great home offices I came across this one in Elle Decor. It’s the house of cosmetics queen Jeanine Lobell, actor Anthony Edwards and their four children. The whole home is pretty amazing – great use of color. But I especially enjoyed this workspace. The crisp white of the walls and the gallery of paintings is a perfect back drop to the desk. I feel like you could write the great American novel sitting at that desk.

Photographed by William Waldron.

Herman Miller blog: Lifework » ideal home office

Ideal Live/Work Space: Jared and Jessica Fanning

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