Behind the Bamboo Curtain

David Mocarski is what you might call a loft addict. On moving to Los Angeles in 1976, the artist/designer and Art Center School of Design professor lived in a remodeled loft in a former medical center on Pico Boulevard. He later moved to a pepper storage warehouse-turned-loft at 1st and Vignes streets.

Since 1983, he has lived in The Brewery off North Main Street in Los Angeles, a complex of 21 buildings mostly from the late ‘30s and early ‘40s that once was the Eastside Brewery and Edison Electric. Mocarski has rented five different spaces there over the years--two for living, two others for manufacturing--and explains his penchant for loft living this way: “Being both a designer and artist, I need space to work on large projects. And I love the flexibility of a loft. You can build anything you want.�

Enticed by a former warehouse space next door to his previous loft, Mocarski in 1992 decided to take over a smaller back-corner building adjacent to the central L.A. train yards, exchanging his 6,000-square-foot space for one two-thirds the size. The smaller space featured an enclosed yard, which he coveted, and offered him the opportunity to create a combined live/work environment. Mocarski designed a steel-and-concrete mezzanine level to use as his upstairs living quarters. His landlord paid for that, but then he added walls and other improvements at his own expense. He reserved the downstairs for his workshop, where he makes furniture prototypes for Arkkit Forms, his residential and commercial furnishings company. The sophisticated second story beneath the exposed steel trusses of the industrial building’s original vaulted ceiling is filled with his modern wood-and-metal furnishings and art. Two existing 6-by-8-foot skylights bring diffused light into the interior that he painted a serene celadon green. “I wanted a rich warm palette as well as a mix of patterns and textures,� says the designer. “I spend so much time working here I really wanted to create a restful environment with a great sense of comfort.�

Outside, the green-timber bamboo he planted less than 10 years ago is now nearly 40 feet tall. The bamboo, along with three poplars and a mulberry tree, are the walls of his outdoor room. “It makes for a much quieter and cooler environment,� Mocarski says. He often invites friends to sit in the garden and sip Midori-melon martinis. “The quality of light coming through the bamboo is lovely. It’s also wonderfully romantic to hear the trains coming and going. It’s a nice atmosphere.�