Wall Street Journal’s Mansion Global tapped Klaus Beyer and Rush Jenkins of WRJ Design for design expertise on modern luxury mountain trends (Kitchen Computer: Eric Piasecki).
Jenkins and Bayer marry “luxury with natural materials to reflect the mountainous region” they call home.
Jackson, Y.; (PRWEB)
December 23, 2021
Following the recent surge in homebuyers in Rocky Mountain West, Mansion Global, the leading luxury real estate and lifestyle brand listed in the Wall Street Journal, interviewed Rush Jenkins and Klaus Baer, co-owners of Jackson Hole interior design WRJ Design, to explain how Migration shaping regional design trends. The magazine’s winter issue 2021 highlights stories of “hill-heading” city dwellers, seeking more space and landscape in the mountains, and interviews the design duo, citing “widespread praise from WRJ for creating luxurious, comfortable spaces that reflect the scenic region.” And its location. Back, albeit an active lifestyle.”
Growing up in neighboring Idaho, Jenkins has always turned to nature for inspiration, and Bayer has roots in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia. In 2010, the partners succumbed to the temptation of the Teton Mountains, and moved the growing design firm from Manhattan to Jackson, Wyoming. This history gives them a special understanding of the current desire to escape urban life that has led to an explosion of interest in real estate in Jackson Hole. “Connecting to nature does something for you spiritually,” Jenkins told Mansion Global. “You connect to the core of your identity, and it is difficult to find it today. That is why it is such a great attraction for so many people.”
Jenkins shares with Mansion Global how the mix of WRJ’s clients has changed since the pandemic, as more clients have made Jackson their primary home rather than just a vacation getaway. Thus, they invest in their mountain homes on a different level, spending more on furnishings, art and wine collections there, as well as garage more cars – perhaps creating a complex with cabins for guests to visit friends and family. The focus is really on creating spaces that inspire, energize and relax, filled with meaningful pieces. Another epidemic effect: More options for working from home. “In the past, we may have designed a desk, but clients demand a desk in every bedroom,” says Jenkins, while Bayer emphasizes the desire for high-tech. “With all of the Zoom meetings and live broadcasts, they have to have the bandwidth,” he says.
Most importantly, people are moving to the area to have fun and do the things they love outdoors – as well as indoors – while providing the comforts of home. “Awesome mudrooms are required…here,” Bayer told Mansion Global, noting the large amount of equipment that accompanies the outdoor lifestyle. Jenkins agrees: “We’re seeing bigger recreation rooms to house sleds and equipment because more friends are coming from cities to stay with them for longer periods. People stay two, three, six months, and their kids stay longer than two weeks.”
A gorgeous mudroom on one side of a Jackson Hole home, designed by WRJ Design with JLF Architects and featured in the Mansion Global article, includes a ski boot warmer and stylish and durable benches, with gear boxes under the room’s tall window seat, and luxurious touches like shearling rugs over the floor Radiant stone. Outdoor equipment rooms are balanced by spaces for indoor fun, maximizing the number of game rooms with pool tables, ping-pong and card tables, for example – including a game room and a dedicated wet bar on an exclusive online tour of Architectural Digest remodeling Jackson Hole designer by WRJ which AD calls a “perfectly updated cabin.” “We’ve seen a separate weight room or gym, a massage therapy room, a yoga studio, a separate poolside wet bar, and plunge pools,” Baer adds.
WRJ’s other notes are the desire for extravagant kitchens with quality appliances from Gaggenau to Miele, pizza ovens, luxurious materials for countertops, cabinets, and benches, plus cool light fixtures. Noteworthy in the kitchens – and in all of the home’s interiors – is the desire to reflect the natural environment, something WRJ Design has mastered and carefully added into each home, continually creating a harmonious connection to the magnificent landscape that surrounds them.
This connection to nature can be reflected in the interior color palette and carefully layered textures — or it can be literal, as when WRJ worked with a homeowner and builder to transform a 700-pound boulder, excavated from the home, into a uniquely organic stone sink into The powder room of the Jackson Hole house. Craftsmen made the sink and hung the stone with steel trusses on a salvaged wooden wall, as it appears to defy gravity.
In late 2019, Jenkins and Baer released The Book of Natural Elegance: Luxurious Mountain Living (Vendome Press), which features nature-inspired interiors that are sophisticated and comfortable. The book’s timing is now visual as newcomers have flocked to the area since its debut who have embraced WRJ Design’s approach to mountain homes, combining quilted European design and a subtle color palette drawn from the surrounding nature with one of A. – In kind antiques, works by regional artists and craftsmen, richly layered natural textiles including linen, leather, hair on leather and cashmere. Ultimately, in the words of Mansion Global, Jenkins and Bayer “marry luxury with natural materials to reflect the mountainous region” they call home.
About WRJ Design:
Headquartered in Jackson, WRJ, WRJ Design brings the special serenity of Teton’s local landscape to interiors in Jackson Hole and across the country. WRJ was started from a passion for great design by Rush Jenkins and Klaus Baer, who create experiences and environments through inspiring design. The team provides homeowners with timeless reflections of their collections by combining the work of regional artisans with finely crafted European furnishings and accessories, and unique, historically rich pieces curated from around the world. WRJ has won the Mountain Living Home Award three times and has been widely featured in media including Architectural Digest and House Beautiful, as well as their popular book Natural Elegance: Luxury Mountain Living (2019, Vendome). For more information, visit wrjdesign.com and follow wrjdesign. on Instagram.
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