Tucked away in the foggy Bay Area is Lynn Kloythanomsup, creative principal at Berkeley’s Landed Interiors & Homes. Her explosive success began when her own chic, contemporary home was featured in a major publication. From there, Kloythanomsup’s career took off, and in the past few years, has launched her into top designer opportunities, features, and awards. Landed Interiors & Homes offers custom furniture design when what clients want doesn’t exist yet, and custom architecture design when clients want to make some changes. With a knack for calm, Cali interiors, Kloythanomsup specializes in spaces that feature pops of color, clean, open space, and thoughtful color palettes. Peek into some of Landed Interiors & Homes’ work below, and meet Lynn in this week’s Designer Friday!
Panels, tiles, and marble are all tied together in this tonal kitchen. Photo by Brad Knipstein.
Andrew Joseph: Dream country to work in? Or dream project to take on.
Lynn Kloythanomsup: I romanticize the countryside as any good city person does. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, but I spend as much time all the way in Upstate New York as I can possibly fit in. My answer to the question of dream project is always a New England or authentic English countryside manor. I’d love a say in not just the main house, but beyond that, I’d run wild at the service buildings, like the gatehouse, carriage house, and the steward’s house.
Andrew: How would you define your work in three words?
Lynn: Storied, custom, collaborative
Andrew: Favorite place to view art?
Lynn: I insist on studio visits where the artists are more at ease in their environment. The art is better in context, and we get to see the experiments and works in progress. We find the ideas flow freely when there are works that we can see that weave a progression of the artist’s career and a direction that we can encourage an artist to explore for our particular project.
Rustic with elements of ravishing maroon and marble. Photo via Landed Interiors & Homes.
Andrew: What are three things you can’t live without?
Lynn: I live in my high-waisted blue jeans as a kind of personal uniform, whether at the studio or on-site. I drive my Jeep Wrangler every day, which is a favorite among my construction team, and I absolutely cannot live without my best canine friend, my German Shepherd mix, Cake.
Andrew: Best advice you’d give your teenage self?
Lynn: I wish I had learned how to say ‘no’ more judiciously and often, and I would have liked to know it was okay to say ‘no’. I learned the cost by setting plans in motion and getting out akin to jumping out of a moving car. I didn’t have very strong boundaries, and I gave away bits of my energy in too many directions. I learned that my energy is finite when I started my business.
Andrew: What’s your favorite time of day?
Lynn: I’m neither a morning person nor do I consider myself part of the group of night people. I’m an afternoon person. My mornings include a morning tea ritual, taking calls at home, taking the dog for a walk around the neighborhood and stopping to chat with my neighbors, then making my way into the studio for lunch or afternoon meetings with my team. While many people lose steam around then, I get situated and do my best work in the afternoon.
Bathtime never looked so boho. Photo by Thomas Story.
Andrew: How do you maintain a work/life balance?
Lynn: This is so important. It’s something I regard as a mile marker of success. Four years in and I think I’ve got a pretty good setup, before it all changes again…
During the week I take a couple of evenings to get dinner and catch up with friends. I’m very good about not working on weekends. Great weather during the summer always gets me outside on weekends and out of my inbox. Some of the best advice I received was from a contractor who always asked for my dog at site visits. So now I bring my dog with me to work every day.
Andrew: A skill you’re working on mastering?
Lynn: I’ve just signed up to earn a Certificate in Classical Architecture from the Institute of Classical Art & Architecture. I’m so excited to get better at hand rendering, watercolor and wash rendering, and continue the tradition and apply the classical principles to my work for our clients. The ICAA community has been so welcoming and is comprised of so many professional members whose work I admire and dream of working alongside.
Andrew: Song you can listen to on repeat?
Lynn: ‘Don’t Dream, It’s Over’ by Crowded House. I’m an eighties baby.
About The Designer | Lynn Kloythanomsup, Creative Principal of Berkeley-based interior design firm Landed Interiors & Homes, is a lifelong California native and credits the frequent cross-country trips of her childhood—she’s been to almost every state in the country—for exposing her to a wide range of architectural styles and material cultures, fostering an appreciation for classic American design. She is inspired by a home’s architecture, using it as a foundation for updated interpretations that link its history to its present beginnings. Her studio practice is defined by a commitment to craft and storytelling, and she folds her experience into the projects she loves most: custom homes for curious clients.
Photo by Matt Edge.
Andrew Joseph is a regular contributing editor for ASPIRE DESIGN AND HOME magazine. See more of his work here.
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