CREATIVE MIND BEHIND
ALLADIYALLY.COM
Alla Kazovsky, USC/Columbia University trained, has been licensed in California since 1992. At that time, a new mother, she established Kids’ Studio, specializing in design for children. From then on, Kazovsky’s main focus has been on residential environments including furniture and product design. She launched allaDIYally.com in 2014 as an online arm of Alla Kazovsky Architect.
Alla Kazovsky’s work has received accolades in numerous periodicals, including Financial Times of London, The New York Times, InStyle and Elle Décor as well as in books, such as: Graphis Product Design 2 & 3, The New 100 Houses x 100 Architects, 1000 x Architecture of the Americas, Pool Design and others.
Kazovsky’s Easel + Art Cart was sold nationally and won Best Toy of the Year Award from Child Magazine in 2003. Her aluminum A-Desk was produced for and sold exclusively at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Store; it picked up the prestigious Good Design Award in 2009.
In 1994, Kazovsky sponsored an exhibition of children’s drawings, “Create an Imaginary World of Your Own.” Subsequently, she established Children’s Architecture Workshop at Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). Today, Kazovsky leads Architecture workshops at ArtCenter College of Design, where she teaches her own 11-step method.
SELECTED TEACHING venues
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Santa Monica Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Museum of Contemporary Art
Skirball Cultural Center
Children’s Museum of Los Angeles
Orange County Museum of Art
educator
& creativity coach
From Alla Kazovsky
Growing up (in the Soviet Union), no one showed interest in my potential. Thankfully, immigrating to the US at an opportune age of sixteen allowed me to unearth it myself. As a result, I set out to design a life where nurturing creativity — my own and others’ — was the main focus.
While pregnant, I reinvented a traditional nursery, which gave birth to an architectural practice concentrating on kids. In an effort to be a better parent, I started Children’s Architecture Workshop, which subsequently served hundreds. As my two daughters turned teenagers, I became a creativity coach, which led me to join the faculty of ArtCenter College of Design. Building a house for our family meant prototyping a transformational hub, which culminated in its selection as one of the “100 best in the world” by an international architectural publisher.
Having been able to experience the thrill, the satisfaction of forging my own way, I strongly believe in encouraging self-reliance and self-expression in others. As a mother, I strive to acknowledge. As an educator, I gently challenge. And, as architect on demand, I offer advice without strings.
DIY LIKE AN ARCHITECT
11-STEP METHOD
“Alla Kazovsky is an extraordinary architecture practitioner and an equally extraordinary mind. Her keen sense of design and beauty is complemented by a marvelous practicality and attention to realistic solutions for the challenges (or opportunities) at hand.
Everything that she does – from the design of a simple chair to the creation of a garden-as-outdoor-room — brings clarity, order, and freshness to the otherwise ordinary.
In her own homes, for example, she has utterly transformed formerly drab houses into beautiful, light-filled havens that offer contemporary lack of clutter without sacrificing warmth.
She is especially admired as a teacher at the prestigious Art Center College of Design, where she has worked with children and adults alike. Her new book, DIY Like An Architect: 11-Step Method., brings together the best of her clear approach to design – and the many rich influences that have shaped her practice. This is a wonderful guide, even for those of us who may not become architects!” — Erica Clark