Chocoholics and design junkies can now get their fix at the same place. Compartés, the Los Angeles–based purveyor of exquisite bonbons, has opened a ravishing new shop at the Westfield Century City mall. Master chocolatier Jonathan Grahm, who took over his family business at the age of 21 and built it into an international sensation, tapped Kelly Wearstler to conjure an otherworldly experience to showcase his cocoalicious treats. The color-loving AD100 designer did not disappoint. Wearstler’s scheme draws diverse threads from Old World European confectioneries and weaves them into a decidedly contemporary setting that feels right at home in L.A. Those threads include Venetian plaster walls, Wiener Werkstätte–influenced lighting and graphics, a façade of meticulously patinated copper panels, and glorious accents of onyx, marble, and brass. Setting off this kaleidoscopic assemblage is a focal wall of black-painted wood, in geometric configurations, that has the sculptural brio of a Louise Nevelson sculpture.
Grahm and Wearstler do nothing by half-measures, so every surface and detail in the shop is considered and resolved. From the mouth-blown glass domes that cover special products to the brass-dipped canisters of whipped cream, everything is bespoke—and seriously fabulous. And for those able to make the pilgrimage to this temple of tantalizing delights, do not miss Compartés’s signature frozen hot chocolate. It is, in a word, sublime.
