Fireside Chat Podcast

Urban Bonfire

Urban Bonfire develops functional, beautiful and high performance outdoor solutions for designers, architects and partners throughout North America. The Fireside Chat Podcast is hosted by Ryan Bloom, co-founder of Urban Bonfire. Ryan speaks with designers, architects, artists, chefs and others who are creating magnificent spaces where outdoor memories are made. © Urban Bonfire 2013-2021

  1. 11/26/2021

    Matthew Dugally | From Foundation to Finishes: A Transparent and Collaborative Approach to Home Building

    On this episode of our Fireside Chat, Ryan Bloom had the pleasure of welcoming Matthew Dugally of Dugally Oberfeld, a high end luxury home builder in the Los Angeles area. As the son of renowned architect Aleck Dugally, Matthew spent his childhood working on job sites alongside his father. His natural talent paired with many years of hands-on experience paved the way for him to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning and Land Development from the University of Southern California. Since then, he has spent his entire career in custom luxury residential home-building. Matthew’s involvement at Dugally Oberfeld guarantees that even the most ambitious projects are built with the highest technical standards and integrity. In this conversation, Matthew discusses his firm’s focus on crafting living experiences that take us on a journey. He expands on the repurposing of spaces in a home, and how experiences such as going to the movie theater, eating at the restaurant, or going to the gym have been brought into the home as a result of the pandemic. He shares his perspective on the architect, designer and builder relationship, and the evolution of the developer’s role in this context. Matthew’s approach to work is collaborative, and he expands with Ryan on the importance of team synergy at Dugally Oberfeld. Finally, he discusses his thoughts on the impact of technology on the interconnectivity between indoor and outdoor spaces.  This Fireside Chat is hosted by Ryan Bloom, co-founder and president of Urban Bonfire. If you enjoyed this conversation and love hearing about great design as much as we do, please subscribe. Follow us on Instagram @UrbanBonfire or join the conversation on Linked In. To find out more, please visit www.urbanbonfire.com. Dugally Oberfeld – https://docorp.net/

    44 min
  2. 08/26/2021

    Jules Wilson | Modern Design Rooted in History

    With 26 years of experience in the design industry, Jules Wilson is nationally recognized as a designer who delivers tailored spaces that enhance and elevate the user experience. After earning her BFA in interior design from the Design Institute of San Diego, Jules studied at the prestigious Lorenzo Di Medici in Florence, Italy and continued to travel extensively throughout Europe, finding inspiration in fine art history and architecture, editorial photography, high fashion and classic films. She is influenced by the greats and conceptualizes designs in a way that will similarly stand the test of time.  After founding her eponymous design studio in 2005, Jules has quickly become an expert that developers, owners and brands trust to create timeless, meaningful and memorable guest experiences, nationwide. In this Fireside Chat, Jules shares her story of growing up in Rockford, Illinois, playing with Lego and already designing her dream home from a very young age. She shares about her time in Florence, Italy and how this deeply influenced her design philosophy. She discusses her design process, and how she likes to immerse herself in the local life and culture to create spaces that blend in with the community in which they’re built. When she’s not designing her next project, you can find Jules restoring her midcentury home, designed by Frederick Liebhardt, apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright. She discusses her design plans for the home, which include indoor and outdoor spaces that integrate seamlessly with one another.  This Fireside Chat is hosted by Ryan Bloom, co-founder and president of Urban Bonfire. If you enjoyed this conversation and love hearing about great design as much as we do, please subscribe. Follow us on Instagram @UrbanBonfire or join the conversation on Linked In. To find out more, please visit www.urbanbonfire.com. Jules Wilson Design – https://www.juleswilsondesign.com/

    41 min
  3. 08/05/2021

    Mark and Lyle Perry | A 100-Year-Old Family Business: From Lumber Shop to Outdoor Living Destination

    Celebrating their 100th year as a family business in Kerrisdale, British Columbia, this lumber and hardware shop has grown into a place of gathering for high-end designers, savvy homeowners and BBQ masters in the Lower Mainland and beyond. Kerrisdale Lumber Home offers extraordinary outdoor living products with the highest selection of quality grills in Vancouver. The outdoor kitchen side of the business has evolved over the years, and now has an outdoor kitchen project management team that focuses on custom outdoor kitchens for multi-family homes, single family homes and commercial spaces. Ryan Bloom had the pleasure of welcoming Mark Perry, third generation, and Lyle Perry, fourth generation President of Kerrisdale Lumber Home in this Fireside Chat episode. They discussed what it means to run a generational business, and the importance of creating a strong company culture and supporting the community that supports them. They discussed how the business has shifted from lumber store to home and outdoor living and the growth of their outdoor kitchen business. They touched on their move to a new location in Spring 2020, and the impact of the pandemic on their business. Finally, they consider the evolution of Vancouver’s customer typology and what they see for the future of outdoor space activation.  This Fireside Chat is hosted by Ryan Bloom, co-founder and president of Urban Bonfire. If you enjoyed this conversation and love hearing about great design as much as we do, please subscribe. Follow us on Instagram @UrbanBonfire or join the conversation on Linked In. To find out more, please visit www.urbanbonfire.com. Kerrisdale Lumber Home – https://kerrisdalelumber.ca/

    49 min
  4. 07/15/2021

    Mark Weaver | A Masterclass in Timeless Design

    Mark Weaver founded his eponymous, full-service design firm, Mark Weaver & Associates, in Los Angeles over 30 years ago. The firm’s extensive portfolio includes residential installations, private aircrafts, yachts, office and corporate installations for Fortune 500 companies, and private island retreats. The firm’s work has spanned projects from Los Angeles to New York, restorations of historic estates in Nantucket and Santa Barbara, a townhouse in London, renovations and interiors for a 16th century palazzo in Piacenza, Italy. Mark regularly lectures at UCLA’s interior design program and is a founding member of both the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. He is also a member of the Decorative Arts Council for LACMA and a patron of the Los Angeles Opera. In this Fireside Chat, Mark discusses growing up in Southern California and how he’s seen Los Angeles evolve through the years. He discusses how his Italian heritage has greatly influenced his love of history, architecture and antiquity. He shares his love for travel and culture, which takes him abroad searching for the rare and usual. Finally, he discusses his impressions on outdoor space activation and how it is a pivotal element of his work across North America.  This Fireside Chat is hosted by Ryan Bloom, co-founder and president of Urban Bonfire. If you enjoyed this conversation and love hearing about great design as much as we do, please subscribe. Follow us on Instagram @UrbanBonfire or join the conversation on Linked In. To find out more, please visit www.urbanbonfire.com. Mark Weaver & Associates – http://www.markweaver.com/

    45 min
  5. 06/24/2021

    Michael Richard | La destination montréalaise pour la conception d’espaces extérieurs

    Cette semaine, pour célébrer la fête nationale de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste au Québec, nous sommes fiers de présenter notre Fireside Chat en français, avec notre invité, Michael Richard de District BBQ. District BBQ est né en 2017 d’une expansion inévitable de Nergiflex, boutique de foyers, BBQ et produits extérieurs établie depuis plus de 40 ans à Montréal. La forte croissance de la demande en produits extérieurs et l’espace grandissant occupé par ceux-ci au sein de leur salle-de-montre de foyers les a poussés à doubler leur superficie et à créer une nouvelle marque, une nouvelle image et un nouveau concept du même coup. Personne dans la grande région de Montréal ne peut vous offrir autant de produits de qualité sous un même toit que District BBQ. Avec plusieurs cuisines extérieures complètes en présentation, incluant des grils à gaz, bbq au charbon, œufs en céramique de type Kamado, bbq aux granules, plaques chauffantes de type Plancha et four à pizza, vous aurez tout en un seul endroit pour faire votre sélection. Dans cet épisode du Fireside Chat, Michael discute avec Ryan de son parcours et de l’histoire de l’entreprise familiale District BBQ et Nergiflex. Il explique l’évolution de la clientèle montréalaise et de la catégorie de produits pour l’extérieur dans le marché québécois.  Il partage ses conseils pour la conception d’une cuisine extérieure fonctionnelle. Finalement il discute de son partenariat avec NewTechWood. Notre Fireside Chat est animé par Ryan Bloom, cofondateur et président d’Urban Bonfire. Si vous avez aimé cette conversation et êtes aussi passionnés que nous par le design, abonnez-vous sur votre plateforme de podcast préférée. Suivez-nous sur Instagram @UrbanBonfire ou rejoignez la conversation sur LinkedIn. Pour en savoir plus, rendez-vous sur www.urbanbonfire.com. District BBQ – https://districtbbq.ca/ NewTechWood – https://www.newtechwood.ca/

    55 min
  6. 06/11/2021

    Steve Sheinkopf | A Family Business Built on Exceptional Customer Service and Experiential Retail

    Yale Appliance has been a family owned and operated business since 1932 in the Greater Boston area. With three beautiful showrooms in Dorchester, Framingham and Hanover, and a vast array of industry-leading brands, they have one of the most unique displays in New England.  Following the footprints of his father and grandfather before him, Steve Sheinkopf has been working at Yale for over 40 years. Working his way up, from cleaning light fixtures, to the warehouse, sales, operations, service and marketing, Steve serves as the company’s CEO today. In this Fireside Chat, Steve shared the Yale story and how they’ve grown into the industry-leading retailer they are today. He described the company’s pivot from traditional advertising to creating original, honest and meaningful content bringing value to the customer. Steve strongly believes in the company’s people, from sales, to customer service, delivery, installation and maintenance… Each department plays a key role in building and maintaining strong customer relationships. He shares his thoughts on the evolution of the outdoor category, and what he’s noticed over the last 40 years in business. Finally, he discusses Yale’s approach to retail and how he and his team welcome their customers into the experience by showing colors, textures, and the products in use in their showroom. This Fireside Chat is hosted by Ryan Bloom, co-founder and president of Urban Bonfire. If you enjoyed this conversation and love hearing about great design as much as we do, please subscribe. Follow us on Instagram @UrbanBonfire or join the conversation on Linked In. To find out more, please visit www.urbanbonfire.com. Yale Appliance – https://www.yaleappliance.com/

    1h 4m
  7. 05/27/2021

    Anne Michaelsen Yahn | Designing the Perfect Backyard Oasis

    Melding traditional and contemporary, beach and city, Anne Michaelsen Yahn is the founder of Anne Michaelsen Design,  a Newport Beach, California-based interior design firm specializing in defining the dynamic edge between classic and modern.  For over 30 years, Anne has created some of Southern California’s most intriguing and innovative homes,  blending her classical training, art history expertise, and love for modernism to establish an artful alchemy that is redefining interior design. Her art-influenced aesthetic weaves together an impressive, and award winning body of work that  includes a wide variety of projects, locations and architecture. In this Fireside Chat episode, Anne shares about her education and classical training in both history and design, and her time in Florence, Italy studying Renaissance art. She discusses her decision to raise her family in her hometown of Newport Beach, California, and how she launched and grew her career there. Today, Anne lives in her original family home, which she designed and remodeled, completely redefining the spaces she grew up in. Finally, she shares the details of her latest Urban Bonfire project in her own backyard, and ponders the evolution of the definition of the kitchen and the outdoor space more generally.  This Fireside Chat is hosted by Ryan Bloom, co-founder and president of Urban Bonfire. If you enjoyed this conversation and love hearing about great design as much as we do, please subscribe. Follow us on Instagram @UrbanBonfire or join the conversation on Linked In. To find out more, please visit www.urbanbonfire.com. Anne Michaelsen Design – https://www.annemichaelsendesign.com/ At Home with Anne Michaelsen Yahn – https://urbanbonfire.com/pages/at-home-with-anne-michaelsen-yahn  #UrbanBonfire #YourKitchenOutdoors #AnneMichaelsenYahn #AnneMichaelsenDesign #NewportBeach

    56 min
  8. 05/13/2021

    Paul McClean | Highlighting the Outdoors through Luxurious Modern Architecture

    Paul McClean trained as an architect in Ireland, and founded McClean Design in 2000 after working for award-winning architectural practices in London, Dublin, Sydney and Southern California. McClean Design is one of the leading contemporary residential design firms in the Los Angeles area. The firm’s projects reflect an interest in modern living and a desire to connect their clients to the beauty of the surrounding natural environment. The incorporation of water, an emphasis on texture and natural materials, and the elimination of the barrier between indoors and outdoors are hallmarks of McClean’s designs.  Paul has become the go-to architect for celebrity clientele such as Beyoncé, Jay Z, and Calvin Klein. He is also the architect behind “The One” in Bel Air, one of the most expensive homes ever built. Although based in Southern California, the firm’s work can be seen throughout the Western United States, Canada, England and Thailand. In this episode of The Fireside Chat, Paul shares his journey with us, and how his passion for drawing homes began from a very young age. He elaborates on his firm’s design process, and how he keeps an open mind when aligning with his clients’ vision for their dream home. He discusses strategies he uses to maximize the feeling of expanse and openness in his designs, in spaces both large and small. Although merging the indoors and outdoors has been at the heart of McClean’s work from the beginning, he shares some of the shifts he’s noticed in how his clients are prioritizing outdoor space. This episode of The Fireside Chat podcast is hosted by Ryan Bloom, co-founder and president of Urban Bonfire. If you enjoyed it and love great design as much as we do, please subscribe. Follow us on Instagram @UrbanBonfire or join the conversation on Linked In. To find out more, please visit www.urbanbonfire.com. McClean Design – https://www.mccleandesign.com/  #UrbanBonfire #YourKitchenOutdoors #McCleanDesign

    54 min

About

Urban Bonfire develops functional, beautiful and high performance outdoor solutions for designers, architects and partners throughout North America. The Fireside Chat Podcast is hosted by Ryan Bloom, co-founder of Urban Bonfire. Ryan speaks with designers, architects, artists, chefs and others who are creating magnificent spaces where outdoor memories are made. © Urban Bonfire 2013-2021