amy azzarito by Amy Azzarito 52

sneak peek: ben & makoto of scout regalia


Benjamin Luddy and Makoto Mizutani run their multitasking design studio, Scout Regalia, out of their home in Los Angeles’ Echo Park. Their home is their design laboratory — they have an unclad teepee in their backyard, and their new line of garden products and outdoor furniture was inspired by what they wanted to see and do in their own backyard. Thanks, Ben & Makoto! — Amy A.

Image above: Our bookcase is a prototype of the SR Bookcase, the first of our indoor furniture pieces that we released last year.


Image above: Another workboard hangs in the kitchen, which is sort of an extension of our Homasote pin-up wall in the living room. Stumptown coffee and pigeon-shaped cookies are a must-have for working from home.


Image above: Our SR Patio Garden filled with homegrown herbs in our side yard.

CLICK HERE for more of Ben & Makoto’s LA home!


Image above: While we work from our home office, our living room is also comfortable enough to host get-togethers and accommodate friends. Our Hans Wegner sofa, which we found on Craigslist for a ridiculous deal, turns into a day bed, which is great for hosting weekend guests. The sofa is covered in a hand-woven wool saddle blanket.


Image above: The kitchen has original tiles and cabinets from when our place was built in 1949.


Image above: Working from our home office in Echo Park, we’ve adapted our living room to utilize it more as a workspace, complete with a Homasote-clad wall that we use as an inspiration board and pin-up space. Our worktable is made of solid core doors over plywood storage boxes that we built.


Image above: We found this old arrow sign in an antique store in upstate New York. The drawings above them are some drawings that Makoto did for her graduate thesis at SCI-Arc, where we both went to grad school.


Image above: Vintage Pantone swatches hang over the bed, which is covered in a quilt that Makoto’s mom made over 30 years ago. We recently designed and built a couple of side tables, both painted in slightly different hues of gray with a yellow tabletop.


Image above: The unclad teepee in our backyard, along with the prototype of our SR Outdoor Table Set.


Image above: Our Scout Regalia stamp, sitting on top of a piece of Alder that we were testing finishes on. You can see some of our knob options for the SR Bookcase.

Pin It

52 Comments

Carolina

As an industrial designer who dreams of launching my own product line, this article is SO inspiring. Makes me want to walk right out of my office and start today. Thanks for sharing!

Marisa

THANK YOU for keeping most of the original kitchen intact. it is so sad to know that lots of these beautiful old details (tile counters, cabinets) go unappreciated and get replaced. looks sweeeeet!!

Natalia

Where can I find the same sweet little toaster oven that’s on your kitchen counter? Thanks for sharing your home!

kate

i love the work area, it’s such a clever way of utilizing living room space. and your herb garden has inspired me to get ready for spring! thanks :)

Andrea B

It makes me so happy to see a couple living and working in one space that is just as cheery and aesthetically pleasing as it is functional.

My husband works out of our house, and I’m hoping to do so as well in the next couple of years. Posts like this are so inspirational!

kelly

Boy, is that an architect’s home/office if I’ve ever seen one;)
Congrats Guys! Love seeing all this press.

Jenn

LOVE that kitchen. Adorably retro; so many older kitchens look so cheesy and awful, especially when colored tile is involved. This is so happy and lively and simple.

The teepee skeleton is such a lovely feel–something you wouldn’t think would work on paper, but it’s such charming and unexpected framing for the table.

Scout Regalia

Thanks so much for the lovely comments! We are so excited to share our home+office with everyone! @Natalia, our toaster is the “Super Toasty Oven” by Sanyo. It’s available at various Japanese supermarkets here in LA, or online as well.

mixette

Love love the SR table set: so great and unlike anything else out there.

And I see I’m not the only one who displays the *box* the Charley Harper book comes in (coffee table/top photo)!

Christy B

I’m impressed with the pin-up board – it’s usually difficult to keep them looking inspirational and organized at the same time. Good Job!

talley {house-to-haus}

Eating homegrown veggies, seasoned with homegrown herbs, while sitting at that wonderful picnic table – all well under the unclad teepee – sounds absolutely too good to be true right now.

gia

you kept the original tiles and cabinets in the kitchen? from the 50′s? Good for you! My favorite era! I am always floored when people renovate 50′s style to modern. :)

Karen

Mona – the grey felt wall organizer is from Mio, mioculture[dot]com, but it doesn’t look like hey sell it anymore. I always wanted one, too, so I’m equally bummed.

Claudine

I’m so glad to see the homasote walls. I was thinking of installing these in my home studio. Now I know it can be done!

bigBANG studio

oh man, makes me miss southern california outdoor living and that breezy aesthetic those guys have made look so effortless! what a magical little place they’ve put together.

elisabeth

Vintage pantone swatches? I still have loads of those that I now use for Artist trading cards….humm, maybe I should be framing them! lol!

Ouidabix

What a great example of just living the sort of practice you want to be! This is clearly people putting a lot of elbow grease in the right places.

Cait @ Hernando House

I have to echo what Chic Done Cheap said: I wish I worked in a place like that! We’re redoing out art room/office, but I am not lucky enough to work from home… yet.

Rae

I love the office space/living space as well! The sofa…what a great find. I will be searching craigslist more frequently from now on. I also really enjoy the look of your coffee table, where did you find it?

Holly

What a great living/work space! I’m definitely going to be California dreaming for the rest of the afternoon.

Matt

Wow, what a great place. Where did you get the green planter box brackets? Thanks!

Eva

love your kitchen! I got a whole bunch of those Pantone swatches, really cheap, at a paper store. Mine are mostly purple and pink shades :)

Michelle

Am I the only one who wants to know what notebook the quotes are written in?

Rachel

I’m also dying to know where you found the green planter box brackets!

Scout Regalia

Thanks again for all the love! So nice to read all the lovely comments!

Rae, the coffee table was a find from an antique store in upstate New York, the same place where we got the arrow sign. The store is unfortunately out of business now.

Michelle, the notebook is from MUJI, available throughout NYC and at the MOCA store here in LA.

Matt & Rachel, the garden brackets are our own SR Patio Garden Kit, available on our website: http://www.scoutregalia.com/SR_store_PATIO-GARDEN-01.htm

You can get the patio garden fully assembled and ready to plant, or as a kit with just the brackets, hardware, and drainage textile, so you can make a patio friendly garden of any size.

D

Does your coffee table wiggle? If so, did you do anything to secure the legs to the underside of the table top so that it was more sturdy? We found a similar table and can’t figure out how to make it more sturdy. thanks. Lovely home.

Leave a Comment

Design*Sponge reserves the right to restrict comments that do not contribute constructively to the conversation at hand, contain profanity, personal attacks or seek to promote a personal or unrelated business.