Wellness Interior Designer Achieves California Naturalist Certification

Ladder-backed woodpecker (Dryobates scalaris) located in Sequoia National Park, California.

Sarah Barnard, Interior Designer, LEED AP, and WELL AP, has achieved a Naturalist certification through the UC California Naturalist program.

Variable checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona) located in Angeles National Forest, California.

In partnership with the Los Angeles Arboretum Foundation and UC Davis, the program offers an opportunity for California residents to study the state's diverse ecology while becoming engaged in its preservation. The course educates and encourages a range of environmental advocacy through a series of lectures, field experience, community engagement, and group projects. Working closely with local nature centers and resources, Naturalists learn more about their local environment and engagement opportunities.

Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) granary. Redbox Picnic Area, Angeles National Forest, California.

The course explores topics ranging from local insects, birds, mammals, grasses, and flowering plants to the impacts of fire, development, and invasive plant species, focusing on the importance of biodiversity as a foundation for our environmental health and wellbeing. As an extension of the course, Barnard was inspired to support the Sierra Club's "Stop Clearcutting" campaign to highlight ecological destruction and the necessity of protecting biodiverse environments.

Cyprus tree branch (Subfamily Cupressoidae) located in Sequoia National Park, California.

Clearcutting involves logging natural forests, replacing a diverse range of plant life with a monoculture of trees inferior to the supportive ecosystem of a healthy, biodiverse forest. Removing and replacing existing forests can increase wildfire danger, accelerate climate change, degrade water, and threaten wildlife.

Burned tree located in the Redbox Picnic Area, the site of the 2020 Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest.

Utilizing her skills as an artist in support of the mission of the Sierra Club, Barnard hopes to draw attention to the hazardous environmental impact of clearcutting by contributing photography to the campaign, including California flora, fauna, and funga from Sequoia National Park and the Angeles National Forest. She will be continuing to document forests, bodies of water, and wildlife for the organization throughout the coming year.

Introduced Spanish broom (Spartium junceum) behind a burned tree located in Angeles National Forest, California.

Barnard's practice and work focus on a holistic approach to wellness and sustainability. Her work as a naturalist supports her interior design intent, creating spaces that celebrate nature while considering its preservation.

Burned Manzanita (Arctostaphylos) located in Angeles National Forest, California.

"I've always understood the complexity of our ecosystem and how one living thing may affect another. However, I underestimated the staggering extent of loss that has already occurred and how essential land preservation is as a foundation for greater natural preservation. While we can and should advocate for protecting crucial wildlife like birds, butterflies, and bees, a thriving and protected ecosystem is a necessary underpinning for all natural preservation. I felt drawn to the Sierra Club's prioritization of land conservation in their Stop Clearcutting campaign and their efforts to educate and advocate."

Striped Racer (Masticophis lateralis) located in Angeles National Forest, California.

Barnard advocates for environmentally compassionate design as part of a conscious and inclusive process. She shares her passion for the environment and encourages sustainable design practices through her writing, speaking engagements, and Kale Tree, where she develops sustainable home goods and furnishings.

Wolf Lichen (Letharia vulpina) located in Sequoia National Park, California.

Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa) located in Los Angeles, California.

Sarah Barnard, WELL AP + LEED AP, is a leading designer of personalized, sustainable spaces that support mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing. An advocate for consciousness, inclusivity and compassion in the creative process, Sarah’s work has been recognized by Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Vogue, HGTV, and many other publications. In 2017 Sarah was recognized as a “Ones to Watch” Scholar by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID).

Secluded Staycations: Luxe, Little Known, Los Angeles Birding

One of the most rewarding aspects of birding is finding new and unexpected spots to point your binoculars. Bird enthusiasts in Los Angeles have an abundance of options when it comes to the sheer diversity of bird species and places to observe them in the local region, but the hunt for new places to explore is always part of the fun, and the more unlikely the better.

One surprising alternative to the same heavily trafficked parks and hiking trails is hidden in plain sight—some of the best hotels in the L.A. area feature spectacular birding from the comfort of their grounds and even the privacy of their rooms. In this time when we find ourselves keeping closer to home, these hotels offer opportunities for tranquil birding staycations without risking travel or crowds.

A Quiet Canyon Retreat

The Hotel Bel Air is a birder’s paradise with Old Hollywood pedigree tucked away in the canyons. The Bel Air has an elegant and distinctly Southern California style, updated in 2011 with a more contemporary feel that still nods to its rich history. The best birding at the Bel Air is on the canyon side rooms, which attract a host of avian visitors to their secluded private patios.

If you want to stretch your legs, the grounds of the Bel Air are extensive and designed almost like a botanic garden, with plant species labeled and ample room for observing the wildlife attracted to the lush foliage. One of my favorite garden flowers at the hotel is the pink abutilon that trails along the walking paths on the lake side of the property. The lake itself draws a variety of indigenous waterfowl and is also home to the Bel Air’s beloved swans, whose images appear as a recurring motif throughout the hotel. The Swan Lake Suite (a favorite of Cary Grant and Gene Kelly) boasts a breathtaking view of its namesake.

Greener Pastures on the East Side

The Langham in Pasadena is the East Side’s answer to the Hotel Bel Air, with a more traditional feel to its design. The Cottages at the Langham have patios that open onto the grounds, where the flowering plants attract hummingbirds and other pollinators just outside your door. If you choose instead to stay on the seventh floor of the main building, you’ll be treated to an eye level view of woodpeckers as they flit and peck about the treetops. Strolling the grounds in the early morning or dusk, expect to see (and hear!) geese flying in formation overhead.

If you’re looking to venture beyond the hotel grounds, the Huntington Library and Gardens and Descanso Gardens are both close by and offer more opportunities for safe and distanced outdoor exploring and are each home to more than one hundred species of birds. Both gardens currently require advance ticket reservations to maintain a reduced capacity for safe distancing.

A Breath of Fresh Air on the Beach

Lovers of sea and shorebirds will find their birding utopia at the modern and beachy Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica. The ocean-view rooms claim breathtaking Pacific Ocean vistas from their balconies where you can watch gulls soar through the air, sandpipers scamper across the beach, and pelicans make spectacular dives for fish.

If you keep your eyes on the waves, you may be treated with a view of a pod of dolphins or migrating humpback whales (look for the spouts!). Although the ocean is the main attraction at the Miramar, you can also roam to the readily accessible hiking trails in the nearby Santa Monica Mountains, where red-tailed hawks make their home.

In Los Angeles, we’re lucky to have the biodiversity of the natural world so deeply integrated into the city itself, where it’s easy to enjoy the wellness benefits and calming presence of nature alongside the comfort of a polished urban environment. For bird loving Angelenos, adding new species to your life list while recharging in a serene environment is just a reservation away.

Sarah Barnard is a WELL and LEED accredited designer and creator of environments that support mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. She creates highly personalized, restorative spaces that are deeply connected to art and the preservation of the environment. An advocate for consciousness, inclusivity, and compassion in the creative process, Sarah’s work has been recognized by Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Real Simple, HGTV and many other publications. In 2017 Sarah was recognized as a “Ones to Watch” Scholar by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID).   

Cosmopolitcal Design: A New Modality Harnesses the Connection between Home and Nature

With global society and climate in flux, mapping out new ways to live and create in the world has become an essential project. Amid the competing approaches to this transformation, the philosophical school of cosmopolitics, as its name suggests, addresses this challenge in a uniquely holistic way and presents an entirely new perspective on the human relationship with the world.

Albena Yaneva, in her introduction to What is Cosmopolitical Design?: Design, Nature, and the Built Environment, explains that “Cosmopolitical thinkers...see nature as no longer being unified enough to provide a stabilizing pattern for the experience of humans; it is not ‘out there,’ a simple backdrop for human activities.” Cosmopolitics distinguishes itself from cosmopolitanism by positing a relationship with nature and its non-human denizens defined by cohabitation rather than dominance. As Yaneva writes, “These thinkers abandon the modernist idea of nature as being external to the human experience—a nature that can be mastered by engineers and scientists from outside.” 

How does this cosmopolitical perspective manifest in the world of home design? To Yaneva, “It challenges design...to encourage the enactment of new relationships both within and potentially outside the designed space.” Cosmopolitical home design is deeply tied to its locality and integrated with its environment. Yaneva describes cosmopolitical design as “required more than ever to address the primordial question of what it means to live together. That is, the co-existence of humans and non-humans, of how they share space and find ways to live together in peace.”

Because the cosmopolitical way of thinking is so all-encompassing, the approaches to incorporating cosmopolitics into home design are fittingly varied and can be scaled to projects as vast as urban planning or as circumscribed as landscaping a backyard. Manifestations of cosmopolitical home design can range from home renovation with the local climate in mind (for example, placing windows for optimal warmth or cooling of interior spaces) to pollinator-friendly gardens teeming with plants indigenous to their region.

To interior designer Sarah Barnard, WELL AP + LEED AP, bringing cosmopolitics into her home design practice means cultivating spaces that are specific both to her clients and as well as to the local environment and that encourage an accord with the natural world. Sarah says, “Finding ways to harmonize the design of a space to a specific environment instead of working against it is both challenging and rewarding. When a designed space and its greater environment are fully integrated, the effect is almost easier to feel than observe.”

Sarah explains, “I always look for opportunities to create inviting connections between the indoors and the outdoors. This continuity with the natural world is beneficial for emotional and mental health—it’s not just a source of beauty but nourishment.” For an artist’s bungalow, Sarah created a visual continuity between lush indoor plant life and the garden outside, and then took it a step further. Sarah designed the outdoor garden to support pollinators, birds, and other wildlife. The garden is a Certified Monarch Waystation, providing resources to support migrating Monarch butterflies by providing food, water, cover. Sarah said, “Designing homes for wellbeing doesn’t have to stop at the comfort of the client. Incorporating elements of design that nurture the local ecology deepen our relationship with nature and result in spaces that are unified with their surroundings.”

This particular expression of cosmopolitical home design can be achieved even with limited outdoor space. For an oceanview penthouse, Sarah transformed a balcony into an inviting habitat for local and migrating wildlife by adding potted olive trees and an herb garden. “Considering plants not just for their decorative beauty but also what they can offer to the local environment is a concept that works on virtually any scale,” Sarah says. To decorate the interiors, Sarah selected natural and eco-friendly furnishings and textiles, adding that “Organic materials have a gentler environmental impact, and from a wellness perspective, are kinder to the people who live with them.”

When selecting materials and furnishings for home decorating, Sarah often looks to her clients’ priorities to guide her approach to creating spaces that embody a cosmopolitical perspective. For one high-rise suite, the owner’s love of animals was demonstrated not only through the choice of art and decorative objects, but also wanted this care toward animals extended outside home design and beyond aesthetics. Sarah addressed this by using exclusively vegan materials and furnishings for this project. Sarah explains, “No space exists in a vacuum—every object and material we use has a footprint that goes well beyond the front door, so considering the story of the materials we use and the impact that they have on the world is a way to invite cosmopolitical ideas into home design.”

Sustainable materials can also have unexpected origins. For the kitchen of a historic craftsman bungalow, Sarah installed a countertop made of recycled beer bottles, a non-extractive alternative to a more traditional quarried stone countertop. “Not only is the material beautiful and environmentally conscious, but there’s also a little whimsy in how it reinvents something ordinary and adds character to the space,” Sarah says. The implications behind cosmopolitical home design may be weighty, but there is always room for playfulness.

“When I look at my work from a cosmopolitical perspective,” says Sarah, “I see tremendous opportunity for creativity. We are seeing our way of life change in real-time, and as a home designer, I’m lucky to be able to be a part of facilitating that transformation for my clients.”

Sarah Barnard is a WELL and LEED accredited designer and creator of environments that support mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. She creates highly personalized, restorative spaces that are deeply connected to art and the preservation of the environment. An advocate for consciousness, inclusivity, and compassion in the creative process, Sarah’s work has been recognized by Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Real Simple, HGTV and many other publications. In 2017 Sarah was recognized as a “Ones to Watch” Scholar by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID).