Open shelving lined with Talavera plates and a raw concrete island give this tiered Passive House living room a trendy, millennial feel.
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
Actor and director Benny Safdie started watching HGTV when he and his wife had their first child. It was exactly what was being played in the doctor's office waiting room, and Safdie became obsessed with the couple on screen. What is their real relationship like and what are they hiding from the world?
for curse, Safdie teamed up with comedian Nathan Fielder to concoct a show that follows a couple filming the first season of the HGTV show. Whitney and Asher Siegel, played by Emma Stone and Fielder respectively, are millennial do-gooders who develop a passive house in the town of Espanola, New Mexico that uses less energy and reflects the desert sun. The mirrored, whimsical façade contrasts with the bland, comfortable interior design, which includes linen sheets, local pottery, and decorative cacti.
Production designer Katie Byron spoke to Curbed via email about nailing the trendy aesthetic, the dangers of mirrored homes, and why there's a box of Banza Mac & Cheese in the Siegel kitchen. I answered.
Siegel's home looks like no other in Española, and has been landscaped as if trying to blend in with the local flora.
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
How did you come up with the Passive House look?
We spent a lot of time researching passive home design. Our windows are regular triple glazed with sealing, the doors have three sealings, hidden hinges, three connecting points along the edges and are made with a highly insulated body.
Much of the minimalist design came from research into passive home construction, but a lot of it also came from knowing that Santa Fe was a major character on the show and that Adobe architecture was currently very trendy. Ta. Benny imagined the exterior to be a copy of Doug Aitken's, and came up with the idea of making the exterior a mirror surface. We laughed at the idea that Whitney would want to do that. literally Reflects the neighborhood. There was some discussion early on about how to play with the comedy of mirrors, and we thought it was a joke to build a house that would confuse people and even disappear. We skinned the house with a mirrored exoskeleton. We also had to sleeve the existing external walls and completely redo the front garden green.
Thick windows and doors were designed to authentic Passive House standards.
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
How did you decide on the look of the interior?
We were interested in subtly poking fun at how homogeneous Instagram design trends are: Floyd sofas, parachute linens, Talavera flatware, and heavy farmhouse tables. We were making this show in 2022, so we wanted to be ahead of the curve in terms of what was going to happen. Become We kept the palette sleek neutrals and concrete and added Talavera tiles, rustic milking stools, quirky sculptural art, jute rugs, and 80s and 90s postmodern lamps. Set decorator Rachel Ferrara and I predicted that in 2023, folk art and handcrafted pieces might join minimalism, so we added unique woodwork, textiles, artwork, and ceramics. .
Most of the furniture is one-of-a-kind. Some of my favorite pieces in my home were purchased in a set sale at the end of a project. We were inspired by Floyd's sofas and beds, but we didn't have time to order them and have them delivered when we needed them, so we took their designs and made them ourselves.
The cast recreates the Floyd sofa from the Siegel mansion and is decorated to symbolize the trendy interiors of the Millennial generation.
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
There were also lots of handmade pottery and cacti.
huh. Well, Rachel, our set decorator, and I hate little succulents. They exist everywhere in our world and are truly unpleasant. When it came to pottery, we did our best to use pieces that were authentic to the Pueblo because we were in a position to put our money toward real artisans rather than paying companies. We used box store items throughout to drive home the point, but we also tried to keep our budget as focused on real people as possible. And we wanted to use furniture and pieces with soul, so we scavenged a lot around Santa Fe. We went to estate sales and markets every weekend.
Inside the house, instead of real-life junk, there are no cell phone chargers, paperback books, or laundry baskets; instead, there are cacti and Pueblo pottery.
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
The house Whitney lives in looks a lot like the house she designed. How did she come up with her aesthetic?
We wanted the interiors to be very similar to show that Whitney's home tastes would translate directly into the staged home. We wanted each home to feel as if it was designed by the same architect, the same interior designer. Even though Whitney and Usher live in the same house, they both feel like model homes. Palmer, the house she is trying to sell, is a little more staged, but only subtly staged. We wanted to push the idea that Whitney would also be adapted for the stage. Whitney is unable to show her true self. It would hurt her brand. She has been involved in controversies through her parents, which may have controlled her self-image from an early age.
We also wanted to have all the furniture built-in as much as possible. Like architects John Lautner and Alexander Girard, Whitney wants to control the look of her home even after it's delivered. You don't need to organize your bedroom. The bed only fits against that one wall. You can't buy an Española Passive Living home and tinker with the design. And built-in shelves are intended to create limitations rather than provide a practical solution for storage. Not for storage. The purpose is to display works of art and small objects.
A built-in shelf covered with tchotchkes and a fireplace (right) that prohibits the arrangement of furniture in any other way.
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
Does the house show any hint of Asher's personality?
He's not even there. I think they put his hoodie on the back of his chair in one scene and added his socks next to the couch in another, but that's it. He's resigned to living in Whitney's space, and I think he's probably happy to have her take the lead. We completely removed Asher from the design of the house.
Asher Siegel (Nathan Fielder) lives in a house that he had no role in designing or furnishing.
Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
I feel like I can probably see him in the kitchen a little bit all the time, unwrapping frozen food. He almost laughed out loud when he saw the box of Banza Mac & Cheese.
I'm very happy that you noticed. Picking out Whitney and Asher's pantry was my favorite exercise. As you said, it tells you a lot. Whitney is all about sustainability, but she clearly shops at Sprouts in Santa Fe while the rest of Española borders on a food desert. This is also the reason why we use meal delivery services. And while Whitney is clearly not gluten-free, she imagines that she's thinking to herself as she shops. I feel like chickpeas are healthier than wheat flour., and throws them into her cart. I am guilty of this myself.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. The final episode of curse It will stream on Paramount+ on January 12th and air on Showtime on January 14th.