Boutique Design - March 2016 - 140

LA AMBITION
CO-MINGLE founder/principal designer Sally Breer spins her bespoke
approach to residences and offices into the hospitality scene to create
her own narrative for Hotel Covell.
INTERVIEW BY CHRISTINA GREEN

NO ONE IS stopping Sally Breer. When she launched her Los Angeles-based design firm, she

didn't reveal her age because she felt clients might not trust a 21 year old with a $250,000 budget.
Now 27, Breer's client roster includes celebrities and artists with projects ranging from residences
and restaurants to office spaces and boutique hotels. She's also designer/partner at SHOPCLASS,
a 2,000-sq.-ft. vintage furniture shop in LA.
"My business previously was all word of mouth. So, quite frankly, I more or less bullied my way
into hospitality," the self-taught designer says. Breer nabbed her first hospitality project, The Anchor
restaurant in Venice, California, by reaching out to the restauranteur and offering to do the work pro
bono. From there, she went on to land her first hotel project, the buzzed-about Hotel Covell, which
opened last year in LA's Los Feliz neighborhood. "We're now working on a 130-room hotel here in
California, so I suppose there's some method to my madness." says Breer. (She will also talk shop
during the "New in the West" panel at the BDwest trade fair/conference, March 31-April 1 in LA.)
HOW DID YOU GET YOUR START IN INTERIOR DESIGN? WHAT LED TO THE LAUNCH OF CO-MINGLE?

If I'm being honest, completely organically. I've always had an interest in designing spaces but I
didn't really think of it as a career. I did my place, and then did another friend's place and that led
to the realization that I really enjoyed doing it. So I put more energy into learning about it as a
profession. Without sounding entirely crunchy, I'm a big believer in manifesting your own destiny.
Of course, I've also been very lucky to have had the clients that I do, especially early on. Those
folks took a chance on me, before I had a portfolio or a body of work to show for it. And they're
the ones I'll forever be grateful to because the experience from those projects was invaluable.
WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR HIGH-PROFILE CLIENTS?

I wish there was a way to answer this without sounding like a braggy name dropper. My firm has
been fortunate to have some really creative and talented clients. We've done (and are currently
working on two more) creative offices for director Justin Lin. Some of our other clients include
celebrities Shannon Woodward, Martha Plimpton, Zooey Deschanel, Hilary and Haylie Duff and
Justin Long, as well as screenwriters Alan Yang and Jamie Linden, to name a few.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST HOTEL PROJECT, AND WHAT DROVE YOU TO EXPAND INTO THE

Hotel Covell was my first hotel project. I had approached Dustin Lancaster [the hospitality entrepreneur/owner behind the property] about collaborating with me on opening a hotel on the Eastside of LA. As I pitched him my dream, he stopped me to say that he was in escrow on a building in
Los Feliz for that purpose. I was devastated that it was already in the works, but also enchanted
that it was going to happen. He started inviting me to the space to do walk-throughs during the
demo phase-but he had formerly designed all of his restaurants himself, so I had assumed he
planned to do the same with Hotel Covell. After the third walk-through, I finally said, "OK now
you're just teasing me. I get it. You're making the dream of a boutique hotel happen. But what am
I doing here?" He laughed and said, "Well, obviously I want you to design it." 
For more from BD's interview with Sally Breer, visit BoutiqueDesign.com.
140 boutiquedesign.com

MARCH 2016

R AY K AC H AT O R I A N

HOSPITALITY DESIGN SCENE?

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Boutique Design - March 2016

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