True West Mary Ellisor Emmerling, critically acclaimed...

True West Mary Ellisor Emmerling, critically acclaimed author of “American Country: A Style and Source Book” and “Collecting American Country,” has discovered the West as an inspiration for design. In her new book, “American Country West” (Clarkson N. Potter Inc., 1985), Emmerling illustrates--with appealing color photographs such as that at right--the architecture, decorating styles, artifacts and crafts of the Western and Southwestern states, hailing it as the only “genuinely American” design. The book also lists sources for Western crafts and furnishings and has a directory of Western museums and restorations.

Concrete Statements An exhibition that’s running through Jan. 5 at the R. M. Shindler House, 835 N. Kings Road, Los Angeles, features the concrete furniture of artist-designer David Hertz, above. Hertz is the first young designer to have been asked to exhibit his work in the historic Los Angeles landmark. Built in 1921-22, the house is a particularly suitable location for such a show, as it is an early example of residential concrete construction.

Previous exhibitions that have been held at Shindler House have focused on the work of well-known architects and designers such as Michael Graves, Arata Isozaki, Charles Moore and John Lautner. After Hertz’s show, there will be an exhibition of Frank Lloyd Wright’s concrete houses. This is Hertz’s first one-man show, although his work has been seen locally--most recently at the Whitely Gallery in Los Angeles in the “L.A. Apocalypse” and “Son of L.A. Apocalypse” shows. Hertz, a graduate of the Southern California Institute of Architecture, worked with architects John Lautner and Frank Gehry before opening his Syndesis Studio in Venice two years ago.

Composed of the more than 12 pieces of furniture that Hertz has completed in the past two years, the exhibit also includes Hertz’s design drawings, which are executed on galvanized sheet metal. In addition, there is a series of drawings on concrete tablets that are suspended from the ceilings and counterbalanced with cylindrical concrete weights. “My installation with the pulley system is intended to echo the integrity of--and my appreciation for--the fashion in which Shindler raised the concrete sides of the house when it was built more than 60 years ago,” Hertz says. “He used a series of pulleys to complete this house.”

Concrete furniture is not a new idea, but it is a medium that Hertz has perfected since he built his first table with ready-to-mix concrete from a hardware store more than five years ago.

“My inspiration to work with concrete came from working on construction sites, pouring foundations and slabs,” Hertz says. “I took the technology I learned as an architecture student and made my own type of furniture, which incorporates fragments of buildings such as steel beams, weights and cantilevers.”

For two years he worked exclusively with heavy concrete, and then began to explore the possibilities of using a lightweight substitute. “The lighter-weight material is more manageable, and there are no limits to what can be done with it; it can be sanded, shaped, colored and moved much more easily. Other designers also use this type of material, but like a baker, I do my own thing with it.”

For more information about Hertz’s show and the Shindler House, telephone (213) 651-1510.