Renowned interior design firm WRJ Design, headquartered in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has taken home two major awards for its design work, earning a 2023 Jacques Benedict Award for classical design excellence from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art and the firm's fourth Home of the Year Award from Mountain Living magazine. WRJ was honored with the Rocky Mountain ICAA Jacques Benedict Award for Residential Interior Design for use of traditional design in a Wyoming log home renovation with historical roots, and with a Mountain Living November/December 2023 magazine cover, feature story and award for a Jackson Hole new-build compound sited on a pond.
JACKSON, Wyo., Nov. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Jackson Hole interior design firm WRJ Design has received two important design honors, the 2023 Jacques Benedict Award for Residential Interior Design from the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Institute of Classical Art & Architecture (ICAA) and a Home of the Year Award for 2023's best example of mountain home design – the firm's fourth such honor in less than a decade – from Mountain Living magazine. WRJ founders Rush Jenkins and Klaus Baer were in Denver to receive the Jacques Benedict Award in a ceremony at the Denver Botanic Gardens, and both were in attendance for the Home of the Year honor, presented at the Snake River Sporting Club in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Named for the renowned Colorado architect who designed dozens of landmark structures during the first half of the 20th century, the Jacques Benedict Awards recognize today's contemporary architects, interior designers, builders, craftsmen, artisans, students and patrons whose work displays the same expression of legacy, creativity and excellence in the classical tradition. WRJ Design earned the coveted Residential Interior Design award for their "Log Cabin Luxury" project, the complete renovation of a Wyoming log home on the banks of a trout-filled creek on a 40-acre site that had once been part of a larger ranch owned by the state's 1960s "cowboy" governor, Clifford Hansen.
"We're so honored to receive this prestigious award. An enormous thank you to our incredible clients and talented team," says Jenkins. WRJ Design's ICAA award-winning project serves as a testament to preserving the past while embracing contemporary styling and technical advancements for modern living. The property has become a timeless retreat in keeping with its natural surroundings and embracing classical ideals, elements that also drove designs by the late Jacques Benedict.
Meanwhile, representing "the epitome of home design" for 2023, the annual Home of the Year Award from Mountain Living was announced with interiors by WRJ Design. Featured on the cover of the magazine's November/December issue, the winning project, known as "Harmonious Connection," is a Jackson Hole compound of three buildings set in a 14-acre riparian forest with a centrally located pond for "front-row viewing of nature," writes Mountain Living. WRJ shares the award with Design Associates Architects, JH Builders and Rooted in Landscape. For WRJ, the award represents "an unprecedented fourth Home of the Year win," the magazine writes, following the firm's collaboration in previously honored projects in 2016, 2018 and 2020.
"We are humbled and excited to have won our fourth Mountain Living Home of the Year award – made more meaningful by its announcement this year, our 20th in business," says WRJ Design co-founder and CEO Rush Jenkins. "
As the homeowner tells Mountain Living in a 16-page feature story, he fell in love with the land on first sight, but the result "is so much more than I had hoped for." In designing the 4,443-square-foot main house, Design Associate Architects principal Chris Lee took inspiration from the "honesty" of Teton Valley agricultural buildings while connecting to the pond via walls of floor-to-ceiling windows. For interiors, the homeowner tasked WRJ Design with emphasizing great craftsmanship and simplicity, spotlighting a few well-designed pieces. "He wanted it to be minimalist and beautiful but not 'precious,'" Jenkins tells the magazine.
The WRJ team incorporated a subtle tone-on-tone palette of soothing grays, creamy whites and warm earth tones, with a focus on natural materials such as antique limestone, white marble, natural linen, leather and soft cashmere. The sensibility embraces refined European contemporary design, but with a certain ruggedness and Western detailing that resonates with its Jackson Hole setting, with many pieces "imported from around the globe or designed by WRJ and made by local craftspeople," as Mountain Living writes.
Ultimately, the award results from a remarkable collaboration, says WRJ co-founder and COO Klaus Baer, offering thanks and congratulations to Design Associates Architects, JH Builders and Rooted in Landscape, with whom his team shares the honor. "It wouldn't have been possible without the extraordinary contractors, designers and craftspeople," he adds, also noting "the graciousness and generosity of spirit" of the homeowner, who provided "the opportunity to create some of our best work."
About WRJ Design:
Headquartered in Jackson, Wyoming, WRJ Design imparts the special serenity of its local Teton landscape to interior designs in Jackson Hole and across the country. WRJ began out of a passion for great design by Rush Jenkins and Klaus Baer, who create experiences and environments through inspired design. The team provides homeowners timeless reflections of their collections by combining the work of regional artisans with finely crafted European furnishings and accessories, and historically rich one-of-a-kind pieces curated from around the world. Four-time Home of the Year winners, WRJ has been featured widely in media including Architectural Digest and House Beautiful, as well as their popular book, "Natural Elegance: Luxurious Mountain Living" (2019, Vendome). For more information visit wrjdesign.com and follow @wrjdesign on Instagram.
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SOURCE WRJ Design
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