Yahoo Movies Celebrity Jeweler Neil Lane Shares a Look Inside His 'Inspired' L.A. Home
Courtesy Neil Lane Couture
When it comes to putting together the perfect design for his famous customers, jeweler Neil Lane knows he has a good eye. But his aesthetic pursuits don't end with diamonds.
"No one designs just out of the air—It would be impossible," Lane tells PEOPLE exclusively from his Beverly Hills home. "I'm known as a jewelry designer, but I'm very inspired by the environment, nature or anything I see. I've been designing multiple things forever and my aesthetics is way beyond jewelry. It's decorative arts. It's everything."
When it comes to his house, Lane, who famously designs nearly all the engagement rings for contestants on ABC's The Bachelor franchise, credits his stylish surroundings with his habit of making a connection with everything around him.
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"I'm very in tune to intuition, to visual, what I read, what I see, what I pick up," says Lane. "[Whether] it registers negatively or positively, I investigate it."
One major influence he didn't like at first is the work of American sculptor Claire Falkenstein. Now, Lane has the "harsh, brutal" sculptures throughout his sleek and colorful home, where nearly everything comes with a personal story.
"Everything has a meaning for me," says the New York native, whose home is packed with works by Vladimir Kagan and Ruth Asawa, among others. "When I design things, it's not by chance. There's an intuition that goes into it. There's a desire. There's an element of surprise."
The home originally had five bedrooms, but now has "three proper" ones as Lane converted two in order to display all kinds of art.
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"I built the house. I have videos of me falling into the terrazzo," he recalls, of its unique flooring, a composite material consisting of pieces of marble, quartz, granite, or glass.
The home is equipped with an infinity pool and offers sprawling views of the Hollywood Hills. Lane credits those who lived in the neighborhood before him for making the area it what it is today.
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"All the movie stars wanted to live here because they wanted new houses and mostly in Beverly Hills, they were old houses," he says. "In the 1950s and 1960s, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, they all wanted modern houses and they came up here to build them.
A few decades later, he says, the neighborhood continued its starry streak: "In the early 1990s, it got really famous with Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox. They started buying property up here and restoring it to its original 1950s, mid-century aesthetic. I just liked it. I like the vibe."
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Another special touch around the home are the floral motifs, especially in his favorite office.
"Tulips are important to me," Lane says. "Because I grow flowers. Tulips on the door handle, the wallpaper."
The desk is left bare so he can sketch his Neil Lane collection exclusively at Kay Jewelers and Neil Lane Ketubah's, his line of Jewish wedding certificates that pay homage to his religious heritage.
"I didn't want computers on the desk," Lane says. "I'd say that's a design aesthetic."
As a new year starts in his "cozy" home, the jeweler to the stars is excited to continue doing what he loves most—designing beautiful pieces for customers of all walks of life.
Kay
"Kay was really miraculous for me," Lane says of the fashion and wedding jewelry brand. "I lived in a very elite environment when I opened up. I had movie star clients, famous writers, designers, people of Hollywood. They lived all over the world, but they were renowned creative people."
"I really didn't know Kay before," he continues. "I didn't know what was out there. I only knew my world in Hollywood, Paris and Brooklyn and such. But I didn't know what was outside my realm in terms of what was available. I wanted to bring that aesthetic to a broader audience, to America."
