At the trendy Suki 7 restaurant-bar in Westlake Village, tipplers might feel as if they've been launched into deep space, passing spinning galaxies. Or that they've plunged into the ocean amid amoeba-like creatures.
It's not the martinis. It's the decor.
The back wall is a dramatic expanse of black glass embedded with hundreds of oval swirls -- translucent slices of natural agate, backlit and glowing.
The decorative panels are the handiwork of Rachel Hoffman and Mike Skura, who run Livinglass of San Clemente.
The designer and her husband, a former architect and engineer, have poured their resources into designing and developing high-end glass for cutting-edge projects.
The pair often work side by side with clients, such as Davis Krumins, the designer responsible for Suki 7. Together, they play with the placement of the organic materials -- semiprecious stones, orchids, grasses and the like -- Livinglass specializes in.
"We are designers first and businesspeople second," Hoffman said.
That hasn't stopped the 15-employee firm from projecting sales of $5 million this year, up from $1 million in 2006.
The design duo expect revenue to grow again next year as they add a more affordable line of decorative panels as well as furniture and lighting that incorporate their high-end art glass.
"What makes these guys different is they work together with the designer to come up with unique, totally new concepts," said Krumins, a principal in Davis Ink, a design firm in Newport Beach that specializes in hip clubs, restaurants and hotels.
Livinglass' work appears in other chic destinations such as Nobu Fifty Seven restaurant in Manhattan, the Wynn Macao resort in China and, closer to home, Krumins-designed decor at Chapter 8 in Los Angeles and San Diego's Stingaree.
Sixty panels of the company's burnt-orange kimono flame pattern, which highlights translucent fabric, span the walls at the new Japonais restaurant in the Mirage in Las Vegas.
Glass is a hot material in the design industry these days, particularly in the hospitality sector -- the nightclubs, restaurants and hotels that often set the style for the design, architecture and building industries.
One of the biggest trends is eco-friendly, or at least eco-stylish, interiors and exteriors. "The big movement now is to go to more of the 'green' environment, which is more organic-looking," said Brian Pitman, marketing director at the Glass Assn. of North America.
