Apparatus’ Majestic Showroom on the West Coast

Gabriel Hendifar & Jeremy Anderson Open New Design District Showroom Apparatus

In 2012, however, when Gabriel Hendifar and Jeremy Anderson decided to launch their lighting and furniture studio, they chose New York City, where each piece is produced, hand-finished and assembled. Since then, they also opened a location in Milan.

November 2018 marked a milestone for Apparatus, especially for Gabriel Hendifar, with the inauguration of an L.A. showroom—the brand’s third—opened in the heart of the Hollywood Design District. It took 14 months to renovate the 5,000-square-foot warehouse space, which was once home to a prominent television production studio and is currently located next to renowned brands such as JF Chen, Blackman Cruz, Ralph Pucci and Regen Projects.

The impressive steel and glass entrance invite visitors to discover a space adorned with arches and filled with natural light thanks to a row of clerestory windows 15 feet above the ground but no street-facing windows, protecting the visitors from the city’s hustle and bustle.

“Both the architecture and the palette of desaturated sunset tones are informed by the paintings of Giorgio de Chirico [a founder of metaphysical art], proposing a refined vision of Los Angeles living,” the team says.

Apparatus’ collection of furniture, lighting and objects—as well as a selection of pieces from JF Chen and works by Los Angeles-based artists Robert Moreland and Amir Nikravan—are showcased in an extremely elegant way that feels more like an art gallery than a showroom.

In-hand troweled plaster walls, fabrics, textures, stone and veneer architectural elements—and about 3 tons of discreetly placed gravel—are some of the ingredients that contribute to the sophisticated atmosphere.

Every piece by Apparatus, meanwhile, combines sensual materials like marble, suede, horsehair, lacquer and porcelain with patinated brass, focusing on craftsmanship and honoring the modernist principal of the total work of art. Launched last April, the Interlude collection was “conceived as a suite of furnishings designed for an imagined, modernist concert hall,” Hendifar says. Musical references pervade all the pieces (a hanging lamp, sconce, screen, table, and two cabinets) adorned with hand embroidery, alabaster, Carpathian burl and eel skin, among others.

According to Hendifar, the new West Coast outpost of Apparatus presented him with the opportunity “to take on the challenge of interpreting the brand’s signature polished aesthetic through a Southern California lens.”

While returning to his roots, he and his partner found how to shape the perfect aesthetic for the city of Los Angeles, which has become a true international design and art destination.