DISC INTERIORS

MIES VAN DER ROHE HAD it right in his observation that simplicity of design is the hardest kind, say Krista Schrock and David John Dick. “Restraint can be difficult,” says Schrock, “but many of our clients come to us because they don’t want something overly decorated.” Since establishing their Los Angeles–based firm, which includes forthcoming furniture for Lawsonfenning along with the release of their 2021 book Portraits of Home, the pair has found enduring inspiration in the dichotomy of two regional architectural triumphs: Arts and Crafts’ ingenious layering of materials (Pasadena’s Gamble House, for example) and California’s early missions. The latter’s “monastic simplicity—of space and form, of plaster texture and elemental ironwork—has such a beautiful mimimalism,” notes Dick. Still, the pair is not pursuing nostalgia. “We’re looking forward. We want our spaces to feel fresh,” says Dick. Schrock adds, “Not of-the-moment, but always current.”