Art, architecture and travel in California
Let Wallpaper* guide you through the worlds of art, design and architecture in California - and discover where to go and what to see when you travel to California.
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Palm Springs Modernism Week 2023: architects reveal desert’s best-kept secrets
As Palm Springs Modernism Week 2023 unfolds, we’ve spoken to architects and designers participating in the festivities to pick their brains about the desert city’s hidden gems
By Ellie Stathaki Published
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Wonder Valley's olive oil gets well-deserved press
By Daisy Alioto Last updated
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Hair master: Reverie’s minimalist offering achieves maximum results
By Pei-Ru Keh Last updated
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Last chance to see: Helen Pashgian, ‘Presences’ at Site Santa Fe
Art icon Helen Pashgian’s optically majestic sculptures are a lesson in perception, as featured in the April 2022 issue of Wallpaper*. Pashgian’s solo exhibition ‘Presences’ at Site Santa Fe runs until 27 March 2022
By Hunter Drohojowska-Philp Last updated
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Power packed: Odacité creates potent Vitamin C serum
By Pei-Ru Keh Last updated
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Palm Springs Modernism Week 2015: The Coachella valley’s mid-century Mecca comes of age
By Ali Morris Last updated
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Inner reflections: new works by Lita Albuquerque invoke introspection in LA
By Charlotte Jansen Last updated
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Art angel: Porch Gallery opens an inaugural group show in honour of Carolyn GlasoeB
By Michael Slenske Last updated
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Chris Shaw transforms the Californian desert into an otherworldly plane
By Jessica Klingelfuss Last updated
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Ripple effect: the Palm Springs hotels making waves
There must be something about all that sunshine and blue-on-blue sky, but Palm Springs has long lured a particular tribe of traveller – savvy, design-conscious, and fastidious about their choice of lodgings. Aiding the cause is the area’s haul of classic mid-century architecture, many of which, thanks to generous proportions and outdoor spaces, have been successfully co-opted or refurbished as bright and cheerful hotels.
By Daven Wu Last updated
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Maier's 'maison': Bottega Veneta's Beverly Hills hub gets a Mediterranean makeover
By Maxwell Williams Last updated
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The architects who built Palm Springs: E. Stewart Williams
Most influential in the realm of public and cultural life, Williams’ (1909-2005) legacy can be seen all over town. He’s the architect behind the Palm Springs Art Museum (1976) and the Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan building (1960) and the Aerial Tramway Station (1963) – a refuge for hikers and wildlife lovers, 2,600m above the town in the San Jacinto Mountains
By Harriet Thorpe Last updated
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Empty house: Carmen Argote delves into family history for her latest exhibition
By Michael Slenske Last updated
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Modernist houses for sale in sunny California
Few places capture the public imagination like California. The Golden State on the American West Coast is the stuff of myth, movie and modernism; and these modernist houses – which are currently up for sale – could be just the excuse to make the move
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
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Desert home strikes a balance between modernism and nature
High Desert Retreat by Aidlin Darling Design is a desert home that negotiates crisp modernism and clean geometries within an arid, natural setting
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
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Tim Street-Porter’s photo diary of modernist marvels in Palm Springs
By Luke Halls Last updated
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Stayner Architects revive Wave House – a lost Palm Springs gem
Los Angeles-based Stayner Architects is behind the thoughtful refresh of a Walter White house in the desert, a mid-century modern classic available to visit during the 2020 Palm Springs Modernism Week
By JC Gabel Last updated
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Jory Brigham's furniture pairs mid-century craft with 70s colour
By Daisy Alioto Last updated
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John Pawson reveals latest residential offering in Los Angeles
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
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Tour a secret Palm Springs modernist icon, the Racquet Club Cottages West
During this year's Palm Springs Modernism Week visitors can explore William F. Cody's Racquet Club Cottages West, a residential complex including 54 original cottages, set within a wider campus frequented in the past by the likes of Clarke Gable and Frank Sinatra. Now privately owned by individuals, the villas are lovingly kept and preserved by the community of modernism enthusiasts: ‘The Cottages evoke the romance of the ‘old Palm Springs' like no other property in the desert,’ says one of them
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
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How Donald Wexler and William Krisel turned Palm Springs into a Hollywood retreat
In 2012 (W* 152), we met architects Donald Wexler (1926-2015) and William Krisel (1924-2017), in their natural habitat, Palm Springs, a place that they, along with Albert Frey, E Stewart Williams and William Cody, turned from dust to diamonds. Wexler earned his reputation as an innovator with his steel-framed prefabs, going on to design the second home for actress Dinah Shore, while Krisel, architect of the Twin Palms Estates an elegant tract of holiday homes, was renowned for designing a slew of housing from LA to the San Fernando Valley. Both architects had Palm Springs in common, and lived to watch their legacies unfold.
By Emma O'Kelly Last updated
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Four architects on the influence of Palm Springs
Many contemporary architects working today have been inspired by the modernist architecture of Palm Springs. Modernism Week brings them back to the desert town for a series of events that focus on the work of contemporary architects from restorations and renovations, to obsessions and design expressions
By Harriet Thorpe Last updated
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Painting architecture: Tommy Fitzpatrick’s fractured modernist visions
Tommy Fitzpatrick’s new series of electric-hued architectural paintings capture the American artist's 30-year fascination with modernism
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Last updated
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Donum Estate’s wine-tasting pavilion by Studio Other Spaces celebrates its land
The latest addition to California wine and art destination Donum Estate – the Vertical Panorama Pavilion by Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann’s Studio Other Spaces – celebrates the soil, landscape and weather that make wine possible
By TF Chan Last updated
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Mixed media: Bret Easton Ellis and Alex Israel join forces at Gagosian Beverly Hills
By Janelle Zara Last updated
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California’s forgotten roadside architecture makes for a wild West Coast drive
By Elly Parsons Last updated
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Diamond Rock: a Sonoma Valley house celebrates its surroundings
A Sonoma Valley house celebrates its surroundings
By Philippine Wright Last updated