Erin (left) and Ian (right) Besler, Besler & Sons, LLC. Photo by Andy J Scott.

Erin Besler is a trained architect with an undergraduate degree from Yale and an M.Arch I from SCI-Arc. Ian Besler is a graphic designer and arts writer with a B.S in journalism from the University of Illinois and an MFA from ArtCenter College of Design. Together, the two form the LA-based practice Besler & Sons. 

They're known for taking common references, like a gutter, and repositioning it in a new framework, transforming the reference into something more conceptual. In 2015, they won the Architectural League Prize and were finalists in MoMA's PS1 Young Architects Program. They have participated in both the Chicago Architecture Biennial and the Schenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-City Biennial of Architecture/Urbanism. They recently released a line of terrazzo bookends and other "Props," as the line of home accessories is called. 

How many people are in your practice?

We try to avoid a 'too many cooks in the kitchen' scenario, so we share principal duties between the two of us (Erin and Ian). Since we both teach, the office tends to contract and expand with the school year. We generally take on one or two team members over the summer, and occasionally we’ll bring on some extra hands when project deadlines are approaching. Otherwise, it’s just the two of us—maybe the culinary metaphor isn’t quite right; sometimes it feels more like tag team wrestling.

Why were your originally motivated to start your own practice?

Throughout graduate school (Erin at SCI-Arc and Ian at ArtCenter), we always found ourselves conscripted into working on each other’s projects. So after graduating, it seemed natural to formalize that arrangement in our design practice and we incorporated as a limited liability company. We both had projects, writings, and installations that developed as kind of 'spin-offs' from our school work, so we started developing those projects together as a multidisciplinary studio.

What hurdles have you come across?

Um, all of them! Well, maybe not all of them.... Actually, the biggest hurdle of all is the hurdle of recognizing and internalizing hurdles collectively as an office—making sure that we both agree on what the problem is and how best to avoid repeating it in the future. Apparently the U.S. Army has a center devoted to “Lessons Learned,” which is not only a beautifully prosaic title, but also underlines the importance of developing ways of absorbing problems and bringing them into the process, rather than just frantically reacting as they come up. Eventually we’ll get all these issues formalized into an office manual, but at the moment, we just have a blank Google Doc awaiting some content. It’s titled “BESLER-AND-SONS-RULES”.

Is scaling up a goal or would you like to maintain the size of your practice?

We tell anyone who will listen that we’re eager to scale up. It’s a kind of version of radical transparency. We have a lot of discomfort about the whole 'paper architect' thing, so we’re anxiously eager to make some big things, and the size of the office would probably need to scale along with our output. For instance, the two of us recently poured and polished a concrete terrazzo parking chock – that’s about six feet long and weighs like 300 pounds, so that’s a good start towards the goal of scaling up ;-) Next, we’re really keen on building a tool shed. Or maybe a deck.

What are the benefits of having your own practice? And staying small?

Tax deductions are definitely a huge benefit, since running a design studio can often be a fiscally punishing proposition. There are probably some platitudes about autonomy and creative freedom that are typically associated with running a small office, but since we teach, and that supports the studio (and ourselves) it’s not as if the office can realistically sustain itself in its current state. It certainly is amazing to have the freedom to be flexible about the direction of our work. At times, it allows us to put more emphasis on writing, or building, or whatever, as we see deficiencies in one category or another of our output. But then again, we do our best to uphold our policy to never say no to any invitation (at least, as much as time and budgets will let us), so those two impulses certainly push against one another.