Old world craft comes to life in Hancock Park and around town
MATTHEW JANOWICZ, ALEX DAVID and Rowdy in their shop hoping someone shows up, “with our favorite lunch—sandwiches from [Larchmont Village Wine Spirits & Cheese].”
In a town where many people are clamoring to get into the film industry or finance, local Angeleno Alex David’s heart was headed toward a trade—master carpenter. I met David while he was working at a Beverly Hills home designed by Wallace Neff.
Wallace Neff was a Southern Californian architect who made “California”style Spanish Colonial Revival houses during Hollywood’s “Golden Age” for celebrity clients such as Cary Grant, Charlie Chaplin, Louis B. Mayer, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. Not just any carpenter gets to work at a home like this.
The work must blend organically into this already iconic space and at the same time it needs to respect the unique style of his client— often artistic and creative as well.
David’s company is Matthew Alexander L.A. and their shop is located in South L.A. But here’s how it happened for David: he grew up in Los Angeles, attended Windward School, went to New York University and worked at Interscope Records until he realized a desk job wasn’t for him. He wanted tangible work.
“The barrier of entry to woodwork is not having skills with tools. Complicated tools. I didn’t have that,” said David. He spent much of his youth building decks with his father and uncle. It was hard, arduous work. While in New York, he used those skills to apprentice with a carpenter making furniture and cabinets. “My first real patron was my friend’s mother, who had a large compound in Montauk and sent me to work out there. ‘Build everything,’ she said. ‘Cabinets, furniture, everything.’ It showed me my skill set was valuable.”
SEATING MADE FROM a log washed ashore in Alaska.
One night in Los Angeles David was hanging out at his brother’s bar, Alma’s Cider and Beer, on Virgil Avenue, where he was introduced to Matthew Janowicz, a master craftsman from Wisconsin.
Janowicz worked for over 25 years at “the Pabst Mansion and the oldest, grandest houses in Milwaukee. [It was] carpentry with the extremely high standards of the Gilded Age,” he says. His young spirit took him to Ketchikan, Alaska, where his woodworking focused on refining materials found and inspired by nature—think a giant log found on the beach made into one solid table or seat.
David convinced Janowicz to start a new endeavor with him here in L.A. “Matthew taught me how to make woodworking into an art form,” David says. “Each house has its own language. Sometimes we walk into an amazing house where they need a new kitchen and the house already has its own voice. That’s when we see ‘this’ is what the house needs.”
The “this” is the magic David and Janowicz create. It’s a team effort involving the client, sometimes an interior designer and David and Janowicz. Janowicz says, “We might get a mood board and we help them create a design—[with] wood, metal, glass, even plastic.” David says, “It’s a big group project, and at the end of the day you get this heirloom piece of furniture”— or maybe a new kitchen.
Today I’m looking at matching mohair velvet couches; deep, but not too deep, elegant, with low backs, and with details and lines that somehow remind one of a tuxedo lapel from the 1930s. A true heirloom piece—something that took multiple artists to bring to life and sits nicely in this Neff house.
MAHOGANY CLAD living room with tambour door TV enclosure, open shelving, built-in dog crate and couch enclosure with storage.
Not surprisingly, David and Janowicz find most clients word-of-mouth and have worked on multiple homes in Hancock Park, Beverly Hills, Malibu, West Hollywood and other areas. Nothing makes their team (all in their 20s other than Janowicz) happier than “Wine and Cheese sandwiches!” (Larchmont Village Wine, Spirits & Cheese, to you and me). David says, “We do this because we love it. If it’s not going to be fun and creative then we know we should be doing something else.” See their work at @matthewalexanderdesign on Instagram. Contact them at info@matthewalexanderla.com.
Category: People
