DRAMA QUEEN
Architectural Digest US|September 2024
Studio Shamshiri conjures an unapologetically lavish, multifunctional Greenwich Village town house for a theatrical producer and patron of the arts
MAYER RUS
DRAMA QUEEN

If all the world's a stage, as Shakespeare wrote, then AD100 designer Pamela Shamshiri and her client Jana Bezdek have conjured the ultimate set piece, a sumptuous, seductive Greenwich Village brownstone reimagined to court the muse of theater-and of life. Brimming with dazzling decorative flourishes, the house feels like a corrective to the current vogue for hushed, monochromatic interiors that find luxury in abstention. It's a place where extraordinary furnishings, alluring colors, and rapturous artworks coalesce in a domestic temple of beauty dedicated to the goddesses of magic, mystery, and creative invention.

"I see the house as an extension of my life in the theater and my love for the performing arts," says Bezdek, a cofounder of Fourth Wall Theatrical, a boutique production company that specializes in original musical theater and female-driven stories. Part pied-à-terre-Bezdek and her family are based in Los Angeles-and part workshop, the dwelling serves multiple functions as a place for read-throughs, cast meetings, and gatherings of every sort. In fact, the house was christened with a performance and fundraiser for FourthWall's latest production, The Lonely Few, which The New York Times lauded as an “achingly romantic, softly sexy, genuinely rocking new musical."

This story is from the September 2024 edition of Architectural Digest US.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the September 2024 edition of Architectural Digest US.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST USView All
Vibe Shift- With confident vision, designer and activist Aurora James takes an ever-evolving approach to making a vintage LA house her very own
Architectural Digest US

Vibe Shift- With confident vision, designer and activist Aurora James takes an ever-evolving approach to making a vintage LA house her very own

Aurora James has a strong sense of intuition, and it often pays off. In July 2020, James-who counts footwear designer, activist, and investor among her myriad of titles-was gearing up to make an offer on the first house she ever toured in Los Angeles. After scouting the listing on Zillow, she scheduled a viewing and hopped on a plane from New York. It was hard to resist the sweet Laurel Canyon cottage with a towering redwood out front, tucked away off a winding wooded road. For James, it was immediately a yes, though the friend she had brought along begged her not to pull the trigger so quickly, even calling the place a "tragic disaster." But James, as usual, trusted her instinct and bought it. "I think I always see potential in things," she explains. "I just saw that there were some easy tweaks that could make it better, and I felt at home."

time-read
5 mins  |
September 2024
Pride of Place - Lucía Echavarría puts age-old Colombian craft to bold use
Architectural Digest US

Pride of Place - Lucía Echavarría puts age-old Colombian craft to bold use

Echavarría explains over Zoom from her Bogotá studio as she holds up a striped werregue bowl, its fibers entwined so tightly the vessel could carry water. Her varied work (now realized with the help of more than 80 artisans) puts a contemporary spin on that and other timeless techniques while preserving the traditional colors, motifs, and construction methods. At Milan's Alcova fair, this past April, Echavarría filled the living room at Villa Borsani with slipper chairs upholstered in hammock fabrics, tables topped with eye-popping beadwork, and svelte side chairs sheathed in woven estera. Her solo exhibition, on view at London's Lamb gallery through November, showcases 12 methods practiced across 10 regions.

time-read
1 min  |
September 2024
Root Source
Architectural Digest US

Root Source

Dating back hundreds or thousands of years, old-growth trees are more than just specimens of majesty and mystery.

time-read
1 min  |
September 2024
PASSION PROJECT
Architectural Digest US

PASSION PROJECT

At her home in Mumbai, Bollywood star Sonam Kapoor composes an ode to the decorative arts of India

time-read
4 mins  |
September 2024
DREAM TEAM
Architectural Digest US

DREAM TEAM

For one lucky family, design stars Jeremiah Brent and Athena Calderone paired up to craft a chic beach retreat in Rhode Island

time-read
4 mins  |
September 2024
NARRATIVE VOICE
Architectural Digest US

NARRATIVE VOICE

At England's historic Houghton Hall, a major commission marks an artistic departure for Dame Magdalene Odundo

time-read
3 mins  |
September 2024
happy place
Architectural Digest US

happy place

With help from her friend landscape designer Miranda Brooks, novelist Plum Sykes creates a flower-filled oasis in the Cotswolds

time-read
4 mins  |
September 2024
DRAMA QUEEN
Architectural Digest US

DRAMA QUEEN

Studio Shamshiri conjures an unapologetically lavish, multifunctional Greenwich Village town house for a theatrical producer and patron of the arts

time-read
3 mins  |
September 2024
Calm, Cool, Collected
Architectural Digest US

Calm, Cool, Collected

Designer Julie Hillman transforms her workspace in a Manhattan brownstone into a creative crucible

time-read
2 mins  |
September 2024
Driving Force
Architectural Digest US

Driving Force

Channeling the beauty of cars, Ralph Lauren unveils furnishings for the fast lane

time-read
2 mins  |
September 2024