Photographer Shaniqwa Jarvis is a winner. As her Instagram handle, @sheekswinsalways, attests, she sets out to do her best, always, whether she’s capturing the likeness of one of her many illustrious subjects—Quinta Brunson, Gabrielle Union, and Simone Biles have all sat for her—or settling into her first Los Angeles home.
Artist and photographer Shaniqwa Jarvis in the living room of the Los Angeles home she shares with artist and filmmaker Raj Debah, designed by Office of BC.
When she and her partner Raj Debah, an artist, writer, and film director, started looking for a house in Los Angeles, their primary concern was vibes, good energy being, after all, the surefire sister to success. When Jarvis walked into her 1,800-square-foot, three-bedroom Mount Washington home for the first time, the vibes were almost uncanny. “The moment I stepped over the threshold I knew this was my house,” Jarvis says. “When you’re Black and buying a home, there are moments when you can tell that the owner isn’t selling to anyone who is Black. But when we walked into this house, me, the former owner, and our agent, Kenya Reeves-Costa, all looked at each other like, wow. Not just because we were all Black women—but also because we were all Black women.” Jarvis FaceTimed Debah and told him she thought the house was meant to be theirs.
Gregory Rick’s The Weeping Time hangs above a Tom Sachs chair in the hallway.
In early 2021, as the papers were being signed, Jarvis and Debah reached out to Jerome Byron and Lindsey Chan of the local design firm Office of BC. Byron and Chan met while working for French-Canadian creative director Willo Perron, and between them they have experience working for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Pritzker Prize winner Francis Kéré, and Barkow Leibinger in Berlin. They took from these firms a precise attention to detail, an informed 20th-century historicism, and an unfettered approach to color and form, all of which show themselves in Jarvis and Debah’s home. Jarvis had heard great things about their work from mutual friend Jon Gray of Ghetto Gastro. The clients and designers clicked immediately.
Step Inside This Artful Haven
Even before you step inside, blue tiles lining the floor outside the home’s second-story entrance suggest a cerebral, calming iteration of domestic bliss. Inspired by Le Corbusier’s Maison La Roche, the custom Fireclay tiles continue through most of the home’s interior. Chan and Byron’s brief was to unify the home and bring in more color and light. The midcentury house needed a few adjustments to make it livable, each change demanding careful planning and a sensitive material palette.
Custom Fireclay tiles cover most of the home’s floors, including the hallway. Melissa Joseph’s Porch Sitting hangs above a chair by Pierre Guariche.
The fireplace in the open-plan living room was updated from an incongruous white marble to a warm African mahogany. The custom sofa was made from the same mahogany and topped with banana-hued linen cushions. Above, a gallery wall of works by friends like Nina Chanel Abney, Martine Syms, and Dana Robinson underlines Jarvis and Debah’s commitment to their community. The couple show support by collecting their loved ones’ work.
In the primary bathroom, green zellige tiles from Clé cover the walls and floor.
Hosts of frequent game nights, Jarvis and Debah needed two distinct dining areas: a more formal entertaining space across from the living area, outfitted with a Rainer Daumiller table and Ulferts Möbler chairs underneath a painting by Maia Ruth Lee (another artist friend, who Jarvis and Debah celebrated at home on the occasion of her last show at François Ghebaly); and a custom breakfast banquette in the eat-in kitchen.
The fireplace surround and shelving are clad in African mahogany veneer. Sculpture on middle shelf by PJ Harper.
Storage is discreetly built into every possible corner of the home, including the hallway that leads from the entrance to the private quarters at the back of the house. The primary bedroom is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Lead Gray, an inky hue meant to facilitate deep sleep. The rest of the room is sparsely adorned, with two paintings by Bahati Simoens hung above matching nightstands from Sugi House.
The custom Fireclay tiles also line the floor outside the entrance. Exterior walls painted in Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter.
The primary bath is just as minimal, albeit lighter, with canal-green Moroccan tiles from Clé lining every surface; glass blocks in the portrait window overlook the couple’s kidney-shaped swimming pool outside. “For me, living in this house has been a fantastic dream,” Debah says.
In the dining area, a painting by Maia Ruth Lee hangs above a vintage pine Rainer Daumiller table and Swedish Ulferts Möbler chairs.
“Our friend Martine Rose came over, looked around, and said, ‘You have good taste, but you also like to have fun,’ ” Jarvis adds. “She saw us in the space and felt it was the perfect balance.” All in all, the home is a success and a testament to the importance of good energy.
