Party starts here
How’s this for a sign of a successful remodel: Friends want to throw parties at your home. Sherry Walsh, a former fashion designer, and husband Miguel Nelson, an artist, took those requests and turned them into a business, renting out two spaces for parties, weddings and more -- venues whose unusual designs hold ideas for do-it-yourselfers at home.
It all began five years ago. While searching for a work-live studio, the couple found a “lost piece of history” near Chinatown -- one of Los Angeles’ first auto showrooms, Nelson says. They carved out a small living area and turned the rest into a free-flowing indoor-outdoor space they called Marvimon, after a sign they found in the building. Their second venue, SmogShoppe, is a former smog-check station in Culver City.
At Marvimon they brought in vintage furnishings and salvaged materials already there. But with its tall walls and scarce ground space, Marvimon had few places for plants. The couple, unable to find any solutions on the market, came up with their own: Woolly Pockets, planters designed to create a vertical garden. They are made from recycled plastic bottles that have been industrially felted and can be attached to walls or other upright structures.
On the facing page, you’ll find some of Marvimon’s other elements.
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