Studio Fogline wants to meld art and design to create an artistic gathering place in Carmel.

Designer Kevin Hart “obsessed” over what to name his Carmel studio, he says. It wasn’t until he heard someone mention the fogline (as in “oh, you live above the fogline”) that he found it: a name that is of the Central Coast, that is elemental but not kitsch.

It’s this attention to nuance and place that defines the work that Hart does. As an interior designer in New York who had started creating custom furniture for his clients, he says there are three things he considers in design: the geography (where are you?), the architecture (what will this piece of furniture be sitting in?) and the client (how it is going to be lived with?). In the West, the Michigan native saw an opportunity – “Why not do a new take on Carmel vernacular?”

This led to the creation of pieces like his Bixby Ottoman, the barred lines of which mimic the iconic Highway 1 bridge, and the Cypress Swivel, an armchair inspired by how the coast’s cypress trees “bend and turn… they seem kind of illogical but there they are.”

Studio Fogline has been Hart’s Carmel pied-a-terre for the past four years. “It was a furniture store, primarily,” he says. “And I did my design work there.” He’d bounce back and forth between New York, LA and Carmel and spend time working in the quiet, cozy space at Fifth and Junipero.

When Covid hit, Hart decided to ride it out here. (These days, he remains local part time.) And then, as pandemic restrictions began to lift, he began thinking about what else the space could be.

“I kept saying the space was going to tell me what it was, which is so woo-woo,” he admits. But an idea started to take shape: the studio as a lively artistic gathering space. Hart teamed up with Maxine Russell, an experienced gallery operator and now art director at Fogline, and together they launched the first piece of this new project: an ongoing exhibit combining Hart’s furniture with the work of four local painters: Elizabeth Murray, Julia Ingersoll, Branham Rendlen and Jan Wagstaff.

Titled “Design by Nature,” all five artists involved share an appreciation for the natural beauty of the area, drawing inspiration from waterways, redwood trees and the rugged coast – each in their own perspective and medium. The exhibit opened with a party on Friday, Aug. 6. Moving forward it will include workshops, including a two-day painting workshop with Rendlen on Friday and Saturday Aug. 20-21.

Hart and Russell have all kinds of ideas for what Fogline could host next: Young artist exhibits, lectures and discussions on topics in art and philosophy, poetry readings.

“It’s the beginning of something,” Russell says. And while she’s not quite sure yet what that means, she is sure that she wants to create a “hub” and a place for community.

“I just feel like the possibility is endless,” Hart says.

STUDIO FOGLINE is located at Fifth and Junipero, Carmel. 250-7760, studiofogline.com