I’ve always loved to look behind the curtain at the studios and offices of creatives, and that curiosity has only grown since renovating and designing my own workspace at Light Lab! Not only do these peeks provide plenty of eye candy, but they can also teach us a lot about improving the functional design of our homes. After all, the offices of creatives have to work as hard as the people in them—while simultaneously making a memorable impression on clients! So I was thrilled to visit the airy Hollywood headquarters of David Pirrotta Brands recently. You’d expect the firm behind some of the beauty industry’s most coveted lines to be a showstopper, and indeed their industrial-meets-modern office design is the perfect mix of smart, sleek, and stylish!
Beauty guru David Pirrotta founded his eponymously named company when he moved to LA after a long New York tenure with luxury beauty mainstays like red flower, Barney’s, and Berfdorf Goodman. He and his team of designers and marketers provide soup-to-nuts business development for niche labels like Grown Alchemist, ILIA Beauty, and RODIN Olio Russo. The showroom is a calm and welcoming frontispiece that belies the flurry of non-stop activity that goes into concepting new formulations and packaging, launching to media and consumers, and distributing to specialty stores around the world.
With twelve brands and counting under his wing, David needed storage and display to be a primary focus of the space. The second floor walkup was used for years by a portrait photographer, and David made the most the room’s abundant natural light by painting the walls a cool white and the floors a blue-toned grey, and also mounting white floating units on the walls. The bottles and boxes that line the shelves whisper seductively from their tidy rows, begging to be picked up, sampled, and smelled.
At the other end of the showroom, David maintains the minimalist sophistication with a marble pedestal table and lucite chairs. Yet for all that it’s modern and restrained, the showroom never runs the risk of feeling stark. Reclaimed wood table, stools, and storage crates add warmth and depth to the crisp envelope, succulents lend an organic touch, and a gold stand mirror and antique barber’s chair inject vintage whimsy. The overall effect is a space that’s filled with nuanced and inviting personality. If David ever wanted to quit the beauty industry and move into interiors, I’d be first in line for a consultation!