Tag archives: designer

Estate Visit
By Richard Mineards   |   June 18, 2024

Montecito designer, developer, and author Xorin Balbes used his latest project in our rarefied enclave to raise monies for the local charity, United Way. 80 guests descended on Monte Arroyo, a most impressive Hot Springs Road estate, built in 1910. Xorin and his floral curator husband Truman Davies live a tiara’s toss or two down […]

Rosewood’s PlaceMaker Kendall Conrad Hosting Tablescaping Demo
By Montecito Journal   |   November 1, 2022

Rosewood Miramar Beach, one of California’s most luxurious seaside resorts, is thrilled to announce an entertaining masterclass in partnership with Kendall Conrad, the designer and Santa Barbara native and resident, who also serves as the property’s official PlaceMaker. Just in time to help participants prepare for the holiday season, this entertaining masterclass offers guests and […]

What a Concept: Car Designer Lends Talents to Help Classic
By Nick Masuda   |   October 12, 2021

Mark Stehrenberger is not David Hasselhoff. Nevertheless his body was iconic on the TV show “Baywatch.” The RIOT sportscar was his creation, one that car enthusiasts and car-noscenti drooled over as it sped along the Malibu coast in the 1990s television smash hit. “I didn’t get to meet Pamela Anderson though,” Stehrenberger quipped. He wears […]

Tina Frey Designs
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   December 3, 2020

A new home design store has opened in San Ysidro Village; TF Design Montecito softly opened earlier this month. Namesake owner and designer Tina Frey has personally curated the space with a comprehensive collection of her simple and modern resin designs. All pieces are conceived and hand-sculpted by Frey, and handmade by a talented and […]

Arts in Lockdown Series Part 11: Fashion Forward with Couturier Catherine Gee
By Joanne A Calitri   |   October 21, 2020

“Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak,” the fashion designer Rachel Zoe once said. Yes, indeed, fashion is walking art, and at times, a political statement. From 1940 through 1970, women’s hemlines were an economic indicator. In Los Angeles, the Fashion Mart for Spring/Summer 2021 is on now both […]

From Hollywood to Landscape Design
By Beverlye Fead   |   October 3, 2019

Alida Aldrich was born in 1947 in Hancock Park, California to famed Hollywood director Robert Aldrich (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, the Dirty Dozen and the Longest Yard); her mother was Grace Foster. Both were from Warwick Neck, Rhode Island, the tony enclave on the Narragansett Bay – across from Newport. Her parents were born […]

Montecito Moms: Olivia Joffrey
By Dalina Michaels   |   September 26, 2019

There is something about a caftan in the summertime that makes everything seem more relaxed and carefree.  Perhaps it’s the fact that it’s a dress, making the “what am I going to wear?” question really straightforward. And, if you’re Olivia Joffrey, you want to help other women easily figure out their summer uniform, while also […]

New Upper Village Shop
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   August 29, 2019

Interior designer Marc Normand Gelinas has opened up shop in the upper village, opening in the space formerly occupied Blake Ashley Design next to Montecito Executive Services. “It was a fitting way to mark my tenth year in business in Montecito,” he told us during a recent visit to the store.  The shop, which opened […]

It’s a Glamourous Life
By Richard Mineards   |   January 9, 2019

An old New York friend, international interior designer Geoffrey Bradfield, sends me his latest hefty 288-page tome Stage Set, which chronicles in lavish detail the past 50 years of his glamorous life. Geoffrey details his unlikely ascendance from a farm in a remote South African province to a glittering career that has earned him worldwide […]