Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Koharik.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Ever since I can remember, I have always been a creator and a collector. Art, painting and sculpture was a focus and and an interest growing up and through schooling, in a small town outside Cleveland Ohio, (Bedford Ohio). I was fortunate to have a terrific mentor and teacher in High school (Mr. Bush). And studied art, shortly, in college at Kent State University. I left in my second year. Packed my 1993 Ford Probe and moved to Los Angeles in 1997. I was quickly ushered into the commercial film world, behind the camera, on set. As a production assistant, Art department and a wardrobe Stylist, I collected.
This world was an inspiration in many ways. Conceptually, the whole world and its players became an “art project” for me. I collected miles of 35mm film and weaved it into canvas…painting vignettes from set life. Endless pieces of colored gaffers tape and made a full sizes Arri 2C Camera complete with matte box and lens. Sculpturers of department heads. And turned film equipment into furniture, sculptures, and lighting. C-stand stools and floor lamps. Brass plated sandbag carts rabbit fur sandbags as seating. Most importantly I was around directors and producers in Los Angeles who were interested in filling their homes with collectible/antique furnishing and art.
They took notice of my interest and obsession with the collection I was building and accumulating. And I began styling and designing their homes and offices.
It was Lawson Fenning, a gallery in Los Angeles, that first saw the lighting and painting series I was making, and began to sell it exclusively at their two locations. The whole transition out of film and into strictly working on my collection happened very quickly.
I have been doing it on my own for so long now, no PR, or promotion really in any way. I feel it really just grew organically. Today, after 12 years in my 10ft x 10ft garage studio in my home in Echo Park, I have a 7000 sqft studio and showroom in Glassell Park. Working and focusing on my own designs of furniture and lighting, sculpture, as well as my vintage and antique collection that I still put my anomalous take on with upholstery and finishing. I am still there by myself… With the help of a neighbor/friend who I am teaching wiring and metal work to partime. The show room is nearly complete and I am looking forward to opening the doors to visitors and designers this year.
I want the studio/showroom to catch people off guard. To walk in expecting one thing and be surprised. The tools and the work and the dust to feel as much a part of the stories in the vignettes of furniture and art and lighting and dressing. The scent and the sound. That it is a whole experience. That in themselves they are transported. Wishing maybe “they were wearing a different dress or perfume” or wish only to stay for a drink and a meal, and explore the small things hidden away in endless drawers. The daring, may draw a bath. Soak in steam… and drink dangerous tea… A place where a photograph happens…if that is all they take home with them… “It is not a retail stored. Nor a showroom? His studio? Does someone live here? Is that a real panther?” I want to evoke these questions.
Has it been a smooth road?
I don’t know that there is a smooth road…. anywhere? For anyone?… I think I excepted that long ago. And so, the bumps and the blind spots and the near-fatal crashes…I guess, I know, that they are always coming… People often ask me how I know how to do all the “stuff” I do? … And I always say …I didn’t know the first 6 times I screwed it up…. It was money wasted …lost time… bloody hands. Not enough space…. But that’s how you learn. And Grow.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Collected by Jason Koharik story. Tell us more about the business.
I love what do.
It is my passion.
It is all consuming for the most part… I am not a businessman… With No business skills. I am a Corporation, only for the fact that I was audited by the IRS.
I am an artist.
That used to be a hard thing for me to say out loud.
I am not an industrial or production designer… I do not make a product. I am constantly creating in my mind and in endless sketchbooks. I build prototypes that are often the finished piece…. and rarely make anything the same way twice. I approach everything I do this way… As a sculptor. Often there are concepts built into the pieces or series I make in the lighting and furniture… Love stories… underlying hidden uses for lamps and their parts should they ever be needed… For this, I am most proud…It is I think what sets me apart from others.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Right now it seems to be a ” makers world”… Artists, designers, makers, have in some way become a celebrity. They and their designs are often the highlight of interiors and the conversation about them. This seems really strong in furniture and specifically the lighting design world. There are incredible people making unimaginably beautiful things. The price points are on par with the fine art world, more than a product that illuminates your dining room. You see this at the highest end of the most well know makers right now, in their respective studios… as well as in more obtainable consumers stores…artisans being highlighted… their stories and how they relate.
“New Nouveau” is a word I have used…I think we are in a time similar to the “roaring twenties.” Opulence and Luxury. Growing out of a period of depression. There is, and I believe, always should be optimism for the future. The pendulum always swings one way then the next… It would be ideal to live in a time when it finds itself in the middle. A Balance. Perhaps that is where we are heading.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2113 N San Fernando Rd. Los Angels, Ca. 90065
- Website: collectedby.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @jasonjkoharik
Image Credit:
Jim Newberry
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
