Day trips from Los Angeles--The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens

Like many people who live in a large city, we often feel the need and desire to get away from it all and take a day trip to someplace peaceful and quiet.  One of our favorite destinations in the Los Angeles area is the Huntington Library in  San Marino.  With an amazing art collection and several breathtakingly beautiful gardens, there is always something to see or be inspired by on every visit.  We often make this quick 30 minute drive to seek inspiration and just enjoy the beautiful surroundings. As the seasons morph from winter into spring there is abundant new life in the gardens. Spring is the perfect time to visit and see the recent changes made to the lovely and tranquil Chinese Garden.  Two new pavilions will be host to visiting musicians for afternoon concerts and there is a new rock grotto with an amazing path that takes you underneath and behind a waterfall!

Whether you are seeking some design inspiration for an upcoming project or your own garden, or simply looking for an afternoon that does not involve crowded shopping malls and fast food restaurants, the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens is sure to delight. Enjoy some of our own photos taken on a recent visit.

Butterflies and birds are always a welcome sight in the gardens.

These tree roots remind us of the design of our Hedgerow Collection of architectural hardware.

To view the items in our Hedgerow collection or our entire selection of custom hardware, please visit our site at www.martinpierce.com.

A visual respite from the hustle and bustle of the holidays

Take a moment out of this very hectic holiday season and enjoy these beautiful photos taken during our recent visit to the Huntington Gardens located nearby in San Marino California. The "motion" of this succulent looks like it is moving underwater.

Rough beauty can be found in these succulents and cacti.

A songbird takes a moment away from singing to enjoy his surroundings.

A beautiful butterfly at rest.

Some things just get more beautiful with age, like this gnarled old tree bark.

To enjoy more photos from this beautiful place or to view our collection of custom hardware, please visit our site at www.martinpierce.com.

Seeking design inspiration

We are often asked what inspires Martin's designs and when we answer “nature” I can almost hear the disappointed sighs at receiving such a cliched and glib answer.  But it is the truth and one of his favorite spots to visit and to seek inspiration is the Huntington Gardens. We typically frequent this California gem at least 3 times a year and every time we visit we see nature in a different light, literally.  Those who visit Los Angeles, or any spot in southern California, don't see the ways that our trees, succulents and cacti bloom and change with the seasons, giving you a different view at different times of the year.

The beauty of the Huntington Gardens is matched only by the immense variety of plants that have been cultivated for over 100 years.  Specimens range from the arid cacti and succulents native to our deserts to the tropical trees and and amazing carnivorous plants housed in the conservatory.

As always, we took lots of photos to study later.  But it is interesting to see how many of our designs have been directly inspired by nature, whether found at the Gardens or in other travels.  Here are a few examples to show how the shape of a plant, root or leaf becomes a piece of custom architectural hardware to use in your home or business.

The roots in this photo have amazing movement and power and while they were not the direct basis for the Hedgerow Heroic design they no doubt are buried in Martins sub-conscious.

Similarly while this variegated agave has not been used as a precise model for any specific design,

the fluid movement  lurks somewhere in the recesses of Martin’s mind and I see the results in the swirling forms visible in our Willow series.

By comparison, when it came to creation of our Bamboo cabinet pulls we visited the gardens in November of 2004 and took this shot of a bamboo plant and later used it as an image in our first printed catalogue.  In this case I think the results of the inspiration are pretty obvious!

In some cases Martin has already designed a specific piece but needs further inspiration to satisfy his desire for realism.  In the case of the Lizard collection Martin wanted his large Heroic lizard to be “grounded” and not simply to be placed directly on to the door stile. This raised the question of what would make an artistically appropriate and natural landscape for the Lizard sculpture and Martin chose a stratified stone or boulder as the mounting platform or in hardware terms the back plate.  If you visit the Japanese Gardens at the Huntington Gardens you will often spot a lizard basking in the sun on these rocks but, alas, we did not see any on this visit.

Whatever your excuse for visiting the Huntington gardens, I highly recommend at least 3 visits a year to not only view the changing seasons in this area but also to re-charge your batteries and maybe burn off a few of those Thanksgiving and holiday calories.

To view our entire collection of bespoke hardware and furniture, please visit us at www.martinpierce.com.