A Guide to the Best of Southern California : DESIGN : Free Form

In a neighborhood of discount shoe stores, an Ethiopian delicatessen, a cake decorator, a Korean tailor and half a dozen junk stores, Tony Mack still manages to surprise. In a 5-foot-wide studio/showroom, he creates furniture unlike any you’ve ever seen. Even he has a hard time describing it.

“I really love Biedermeyer, Shaker and Japanese things, and I guess you could describe my furniture as being all of those put together, with all of these wonderful old European paint finishes I’ve learned.” Pieces start at $175.

Mack also designs mirror assemblages, like the one made of a toy train, dominoes and other trinkets. “They’re very masculine. I like to think of them as being made from things you might find in the dresser drawers of a 15- or 16-year-old boy--one who is really into all of those Boy Scout projects,” he says.

And, because of customer demand, Mack has “jumped on the pique bandwagon,” though his free-form mosaics are made of smashed bits of antique Fiesta ware. “You can tell all those angry collectors that I’m just increasing the value of their pieces,” he says.

Tony Mack, 1034 S. Fairfax Ave.; (213) 935-5589.