May 8, 2019

Messana O’Rorke Goes Minimalist for Malin+Goetz’s Century City Shop

Flooring throughout is LV Wood Flooring’s European oak in a herringbone installation. Photography by Eric Laignel.

For more than 20 years Messana O’Rorke has lent its bold minimalism to residences from coast to coast. There’s a good chance that over the decades many of those home owners have stocked their bathrooms and showers with products from Malin+Goetz, the go-to brand for high-design hygiene aficionados. Messana O’Rorke has even designed a few Malin+Goetz shops, including locations on New York’s Madison Avenue and Elizabeth Street, and outposts in Santa Monica and downtown LA.

Raised, backlit stainless-steel letters with LED lighting announce the entrance. Photography by Eric Laignel.

For their latest collaboration, a shop in Century City’s Westfield Mall, they wanted to go back to the beginning. “Our inspiration was the original store in Chelsea,” says co-founder and principal Brian Messana. “We wanted to create two distinct spaces in one, and specific areas for the product lines, which the Chelsea store successfully achieves.”

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An Arabescato marble island houses a sink by Kohler Co. with a Vola faucet. Photography by Eric Laignel.

As does Century City, with a light and bright entrance area finished in diamond plaster and a rear area in wall-to-wall-to-ceiling fumed oak. Finishes of black granite and marble reference the brand’s black-and-white packaging, which surely will look just as fresh in another 20 years.

A dramatic expanse of absolute black granite forms a display in the back of the shop. Photography by Eric Laignel.
Acrylic shelves allow the products to float against the walls. Photography by Eric Laignel.
Near the back, walls and ceilings of fumed 12-inch wide European oak meet walls of polished and waxed diamond plaster. Photography by Eric Laignel.

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