Interior designers Nicholas Hertneck and Lawrence Lazzaro are inspired by the Coachella Valley to create their signature, ever evolving Modern Hacienda style. The valley offers a variety of architectural styles that serve as a canvas for the pair to “mix modern and contemporary fine furniture with textiles and rugs that have a tribal bent to them, layering it up to create pattern and texture.”
Their 6,000-square-foot showroom that houses Nicholas Lawrence Design and Modern Hacienda, serves as their “creative laboratory,” Hertneck explains. “It’s the place where we’re inspired to respond directly to what our clients have shown interest in.”
The showroom is a welcome resource for other designers too, Lazzaro says, because they and their clients can easily check out how it feels to sit in a Knoll chair, for example, and select finishes and graded fabrics without traveling to L.A. or trying to do it online. He and Hertneck praise their “talented and dedicated” staff for helping to create a convivial atmosphere.
Lazzaro, an Illinois native, studied voice performance before relocating to the Coachella Valley where he discovered a new creative outlet in design, while Hertneck, a Southern Californian, has been an interior designer for 40 years.
Desert life suits them well. When they’re not working, they bicycle, play tennis, garden, and explore local hiking trails.
Professionally, the desert proved to be a place for them to thrive. “There’s a tremendous opportunity for design professionals to come to the Coachella Valley and find a place for themselves,” Hertneck says. “The exchange of ideas is good.”