Moving to Ojai awakened my love of bold design

Moving to Ojai awakened my love of bold design

Six pieces that prove the theory—plus, Swiss-inspired hazelnut cookies.

Amanda Hesser

Oct 16, 2026

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In a sign of what was to come, I bought these

vintage cantaloupe bowls

while we were mid-renovation. They look right at home in our open kitchen shelves.

There was a period of my life when I tightly edited my wardrobe so I could buy fewer, nicer things that would mix and match. I didn’t want to have to ponder outfits, because I didn’t have time to decide what to wear. Tad and I were in that era of parenting where by Sunday afternoon, we’d just sprawl out on the floor of our kids’ room and stare exhaustedly at the ceiling.

My clothing range, such as it was, involved only solids in the following colors: black, charcoal, brown, and dark blue. You could call it safe. Or, go ahead, you could call it boring.

This effort to govern the chaos extended to our home. I worked in Manhattan so I was hustling around to meetings all day, then back to Brooklyn. Life outside of our apartment seemed to vibrate and flash. I needed our home to feel quiet, an oasis, so we narrowed the palette of our furnishings to dark blues, grays, and a little mossy green, paired with woods and dark metals. We never got into the tyranny of cream that took over American design a few years ago, but I get it. When the world feels frenetic or off-kilter, a visually quiet home can be a life preserver.

“Most potters, they go in for earth tones and subdued things, and I like color.”

— Beatrice Wood, artist and key figure of the Dada movement, who lived in Ojai

One of the reasons I wanted to work with Reath Design on our Ojai house was to recalibrate my relationship with color. Frances Merrill, Reath’s founder, is known for

her deft mixing of color and pattern

. I’ve written about this before, when we explored

our mood board

, and

when I interviewed Frances

.

We’re mostly done working with Reath (for now!), so I’ve been left to my own devices when it comes to the smaller goods around the house. And, friends, something has been stirred within me. First of all, I keep buying clothes with

flower prints

and

plaids

. And I also keep finding myself drawn to tableware with profusions of color.

I mentioned previously that I bought

Staub cookware in grenadine

and scooped up a few

beautiful pieces

from

local makers

. Here are some more chromatic upgrades in cool motifs:

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