Cassi Gibson is a woman of many talents: artist, curator, and art director, she has experience that bridges the worlds of both fashion and fine art, of communities both local and global. Born in Maputo, Mozambique, to a Mozambican mother and an American father, Gibson lived all over the world before recently settling in Los Angeles, where she has been focusing her attention on art curation (most…

On how childhood hikes inform our present; how awareness changes your perspective and priorities; how life takes unexpected turns…   Reiki healer, acupuncturist, and holistic health coach Lara Elliott has been a wise light in our lives for years — in her home in East Los Angeles, we visited with her on a spring day to discuss what it means, truly, to be well.    Photos by Ingalls Photo / prop…

  For Pamela Shamshiri, the last year has been a rebirth. At the start of 2016, she left Commune, the celebrated design studio she co-founded, to launch a new firm — Studio Shamshiri, an interdisciplinary platform for approaching interiors and large-scale design projects with a holistic, 360-degree perspective and a mission of mixing old and new, combining the storied and the modern, paying…

Six years ago, Jessica Koslow opened Sqirl, a counter service, daytime cafe in East Los Angeles. The concept was both casual and nuanced: starting with ingredients that had a sense of place — pulling from the natural abundance of California produce — and pairing them with the palate and palette of an artist. Layers of unexpected flavor. Carefully arranged, technicolor components. Experimentation…

Topanga-based jewelry designer Malia Bianchi-Mau is in the midst of a reevaluation. It’s not so much that she has slowed down in the last year; it’s more that she has subtly shifted gears, steering herself to a direction that is more focused and true. Returning to the mountains of Topanga after living around Los Angeles (in between spending part of the year in Joshua Tree and Kauai, where she…