Jackson Hole, Wyoming — August 30, 2017 — Six Jackson Hole luxury homes are featured in the recently released book “Rustic Modern” (Gibbs Smith, August 2017). Both WRJ Design in Jackson and JLF Architects, with offices in Bozeman and Jackson, have projects spotlighted in the book, including one they worked on together as a design-build team with Jackson-based Big-D Signature. Area homes by Jackson architecture firm Carney Logan Burke also are featured. Written by Chase Reynolds Ewald, with photography by Audrey Hall, the stunning coffee table volume presents residences that resound with customized details but also emphasize an inherent connection to nature – elements that help define the rustic modern style according to the author.
To celebrate the book’s release WRJ Design will host a book signing for “Rustic Modern” on Thursday, September 7, 4 – 6 p.m. at the WRJ Design Showroom at 30 S. King St. in Jackson, with members of the local design teams as well as Reynolds Ewald and Hall in attendance.
Two private homes with interiors created by WRJ Design are detailed in the book. One, featured in the chapter “Rustic Modern Refined” – and pictured on the book’s back cover – is the house that earned WRJ Design, JLF Architects and Big-D the 2016 Mountain Living magazine Home of the Year award. The house combines the synergy of WRJ Design principal Rush Jenkins’ deftness with timeless architecture from JLF Architects. Serenity pervades this house that sits in the saddle of a mountain range above Jackson like an open-armed embrace. It welcomes with a light, earthen palette that seems perpetually aglow with warm light, an effect achieved by lush, layered textiles – faux fur, heavy linen fabric, buttery leather and soft wool.
The second featured WRJ Design project is a unique Wyoming guest house inspired by the barns that dot the Snake River Valley with architecture by Carney Logan Burke. Created as a guest quarters, exercise room and hobby mechanic’s workshop, the space combines the rustic nature and materials of the original barn structure with whimsy afforded by art from Paul Villinski combined with a crisp economy of furnishings from WRJ that ensures a comfortable sophistication at once elegant and livable.
“It’s an honor to be included in this gorgeous book that pushes the boundaries of design beyond just trends, instead chronicling what is becoming a tradition of blending natural elements into a streamlined contemporary palette,” says WRJ’s Jenkins.
The team of JLF Architects and Big-D Signature has long led the movement of designing and building houses that seamlessly blend nostalgic architectural form with contemporary necessities. With three Jackson, Wyoming, projects featured in the book, the firms continue to redefine homestead roots, reinvigorate regional vernacular and use reclaimed building materials with integrity.
In the chapter “Glass & Stone Homestead,” a JLF project and third Jackson-area house heralds a fearless application of architecture’s most modern feature – a floating glass staircase – in a house that is otherwise classically constructed of regional stone, hewn beams and gabled roofs. Yet the blend of traditionally rustic materials with precision-engineered elements cedes to a modern design that is rooted in the landscape but inspired by a broader world.
An additional chapter spotlights JLF Architects’ commitment to sustainability and authentically place-based design in a fourth Jackson Hole house. The custom home resonates with the rugged beauty of the Teton Mountains while expressing the personalities of its inhabitants through architectural features that brush on agricultural roots, as in a minimalist staircase that echoes the form of a grain silo.
“Another coup for Chase and Audrey,” says JLF principal Paul Bertelli of the book’s author and photographer. “‘Rustic Modern’ is their latest work of art shining a light on the region’s built environment. It is a joy to be included in the charm and grace these two bring to the printed page,” he adds. “JLF is flattered to be part of the conversation.”
Two more chapters in the book feature the fifth and sixth Jackson homes in the book, designed by Carney Logan Burke. "We are thrilled to have three of our projects featured in this beautifully written and masterfully photographed new book on Rustic Modern,” says CLB principal John Carney. “Kudos to Audrey Hall and Chase Ewald Reynolds for so brilliantly documenting a significant movement in modern Western architecture."
The additional nine showcased houses are located in Montana, New Mexico, California and Colorado.
“The architecture of the rustic modern movement collaborates with the landscape; they are partners,” writes Reynolds Ewald. “It boldly employs materials that combine the organic with the cutting edge; it celebrates interiors that are clean, unfussy, and uncluttered; and it revels in the transitions between indoors and out that seamlessly blend the two.”
Published by Gibbs Smith, “Rustic Modern” is a follow-up to the author and photographer’s previous title, “Mountain Modern” (Gibbs Smith, 2015), and a milestone that solidifies the evolving language of architecture and design in the American West. The new book expands the palette of rustic with a geographic range from coastal aeries to the ridgelines of the Teton Mountains to the distinctive Santa Fe desert.
About WRJ Design:
Headquartered in Jackson, Wyoming, WRJ Design imparts the special serenity of its local Teton landscape to interior designs in Jackson Hole and across the country. Begun out of a passion for great design by Rush Jenkins and Klaus Baer, WRJ creates experiences and environments through its designs that provide timeless reflections of homeowners and their collections. Honored as top U.S. mountain designer by Rhapsody magazine, WRJ Design also creates the blog Hunt X Gather, named one of the Top 100 Interior Design Blogs. For more information visit www.wrjdesign.com.
Media Contact: Amy Stark, [email protected]m, 307.734.5335