What’s Happening at Fig + Nash on El Paseo

The design firm and décor/furnishings showroom continues to extend its chic and welcoming ethos to shoppers on El Paseo in Palm Desert.

Story by Jessica Ritz
Photography courtesy Fig + Nash

Fig + Nash’s portfolio demonstrates how constraints that might silo independent design practitioners in some regions often don’t apply in the Coachella Valley. The firm’s reach encompasses residential and hospitality projects, and it presents chic decorative items and furnishings at its flagship showroom on El Paseo that just celebrated its first anniversary.

“Having the history of midcentury design and L.A. creativity, there’s already license to be a little more outside the box,” observes creative director and principal Mick Fox. Indoor/outdoor living and the area’s appeal to residents and visitors from all over the country also adds to the desert’s “very diverse aesthetic.” A new population influx during the pandemic only increased the mix and the need for more design and fresh ideas to support changing work habits and lifestyles.

Ever since Fox established the firm in 2016 with Dino Raimondi, Fig + Nash has embraced exploring multiple design languages and sensibilities. Fox, Raimondi, and managing designer Gabriela Helesicova’s client-centric approach applies equally to their commercial, model home, and bespoke residential undertakings.

At the recently completed Cowboy Cantina on El Paseo, for instance, the interior complements the bar and restaurant’s eclectic Southwest cuisine, with elements that incorporate Indigenous, colonial Spanish, Mexican, and Western ranch references. This fall, the firm is among the participants in Design Collaborative’s Morningstar Modern Show House in a late Donald Wexler home at The Vintage Club in Indian Wells.Back at Fig + Nash’s creative headquarters, which relocated to El Paseo after five years in Palm Springs, Fox’s professional origins in high-end retail is evident, too. The wide-ranging inventory includes contemporary goods alongside heritage décor, and accessory and furniture brands such as Christofle, Lalique, Fornasetti, Fortuny, and Charleston Forge, along with exclusive to-the-trade icons including Pierre Frey.

Cowboy Cantina in Palm Desert

“What we show reflects the area,” Fox explains. “We have things that feel ‘desert’ and luxury and modern all at the same time.” Fig + Nash’s El Paseo outpost gives visitors plenty of reason to seek out an IRL shopping and browsing experience on what’s already “such a storied street for retailing,” Fox says. The hybrid design studio/showroom space also highlights the firm’s process and capabilities with an on-site upholstery and drapery workroom, while the well-appointed burled wood bar invites clients to linger.

The El Paseo showroom in Palm Desert

These features establish a stylishly convivial atmosphere that’s conducive to community engagement and celebration. So, it’s fitting that Fig + Nash is participating in El Paseo’s First Fridays this month and next, and will welcome the Palm Desert Food & Wine festival for a special event on Friday, March 24, from 4 to 6 p.m.

Chef and cookbook author Lisa Dahl of Dahl Restaurant Group in Sedona, Arizona, joins Fox for a lively Q&A moderated by Palm Springs Life’s Home + Design editor Lisa Marie Hart to share these experts’ styling and entertaining insights. Fox’s elegant yet approachable tablescapes are the perfect backdrop for a tasting of select dishes from the menus Dahl will curate for the evening. (Open to the public; RSVP to nancy@njoseph.com is required.)

“It’s all about the good life,” Fox says. “We set the stage with interior design, but you still need good food and drink.”