Our client Alex Woogmaster recently completed a high-profile interior design project published in Interiors magazine.  We recently spoke to Alex about this luxury residential project and his growing interior design practice.

What inspired Interiors magazine to publish this particular project?

I believe they found the architecture, the clean and modern aesthetic of the interior design, and the custom pieces we delivered for the project compelling, in combination.

Can you tell us about the general requirements of this interior design project? What are your favorite elements of the completed work?

The building envelope was highly contrasted and featured strong angular forms. We sought to design and source pieces that resonated in their own right and also with the architecture of the home. There are simple forms that behave like the architectural massing of the house, and that also add strong points of interest within their surroundings. Sometimes, a note of softness was contrast enough, like the custom Murano vases we commissioned to sit atop deep navy lacquered pedestals as sentinels outside the primary bedroom suite doors.

Another favorite is a stunning selenite specimen for the focal point above the living room’s bar – one of the main target views in the home. When we weren’t able to source an antique bas relief in Paris as I’d hoped, we worked with a brilliant metal craftsman contact from my hotel days – Infinity Metalcraft in Boulder City, Nevada – to form the mirror-backed selenite setting. The whole composition has a very ethereal quality to it and I love that we were able to fashion it as though from nothing. While it was always meant to be a centerpiece in the home, it turned out to have even more active presence than I’d dreamed.

How has it been creating your own interior design business after leaving Wynn Resorts in 2019? What inspires your work today, on this project and in general?

My work process was established at Wynn but also has evolved.  I’m used to traveling in Europe with a shopping list of open items: at my firm, we continue to design special architectural moments to feature those unique discoveries. I love using found antique and vintage pieces as an accent against other fine modern furnishings, which we certainly did at Wynn. But today, I often can’t find the right piece at the Paris Flea or at auction, and so that creates more opportunity to design a fully custom piece. For this project we executed a number of pieces with Eric Brand in San Francisco. I love that part of the process just as much as the shopping alternative because we get to see a new dream realized with each new design.

I’ve always been inspired (in equal parts) by the romance of history and the promise of modernity. Travel, literature, and craft are driving forces in my design thinking. Today, the desire to innovate and clarify my personal design voice is teaching me a lot about the decisions I need to take for the firm. It’s been an exhilarating experience, and also a period of personal growth since we opened our doors.

Please check out Alex’s studio website and enjoy a few photos of this recent project below.