30 Aug Friends of #HFFH: Interview With The Joshua Tree House Creative Duo
Our #TravelFromHome series continues on our social channels, and this week we’re dreaming about Southern California – it’s a destination we hope to visit soon. You guys might remember our galavants in San Francisco and Yosemite National Park during our 3-week road-trip across the Western States, back in 2016? Well we didn’t quite make it to the southern parts, (only spending a day in LA), so while we plan future SoCal adventures and curate some inspiration (for us, and you, of course) we thought we’d chat to the creative duo behind an epic DIY passion project that has since turned into an aspirational design and lifestyle brand: The JTH (aka The Joshua Tree House).
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Since Sara and Rich Combs (the creative couple behind The Joshua Tree House) are based in Southern California we thought it’d be the perfect time to chat to them. We originally filmed the interview, which you can watch here – but since you’re already on our blog (and probably in the mood for some reading 🙂 just keep scrolling. Enjoy!
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INTERVIEW WITH THE JOSHUA TREE HOUSE CREATIVE DUO
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HFFH: Hey guys! Thanks for joining us today.
JTH: Thanks so much.
HFFH: Maybe you can let everyone know what you do for a living and a little bit about your brand?
JTH: We’re designers and creators of The JTH, which is a design and lifestyle brand. We host different guests in Joshua Tree, California and Tucson, Arizona, and we split our time between the two places as well.
HFFH: We’ve been huge fans of @thejoshuatreehouse on Instagram (yet to visit…hopefully one day soon!) If you had to describe your place in just one sentence (to someone who has never seen your sanctuary) how would you describe it?
JTH: Ah, thank you so much! We always think of our spaces as places to reflect, reset, and create, with a focus on design, and immersed in nature.
HFFH: I love that – makes me want to visit even more! Maybe you can tell us a bit about how you started The Joshua Tree House project?
JTH: Yes, so The Joshua Tree House actually started from a road trip across country, and when we were done with a road trip, we actually just gravitated towards Joshua Tree. It was just one of the most amazing places we’d ever been, and then since then, we’ve just been recreating stops on that road trip, so our second location was Tucson, Arizona.
HFFH: That’s so awesome. You guys have obviously created both The Joshua Tree House in California and Arizona with your own hands…has DIY always been a huge passion of yours?
JTH: Yeah, definitely. Since we started dating, when we were just babies at 15 years old, we’ve been drawing and painting and always creating together, and working with our hands, so doing the DIY projects has been really, really fun for us. To try and figure out (especially in the beginning, when we didn’t have much budget to work with), how can we create a vision with what we have.
HFFH: Would you say that anyone could create a dream home from scratch, or do you need to be a certain type of person?
JTH: Yes, I think anyone can create their dream home, it’s just you need to have the passion and desire to put into it. It’s a lot of work.
HFFH: What inspires you creatively (when you first created The Joshua Tree House, and on an everyday basis when you create content)? Would you say it’s the natural environment surrounding you?
JTH: Yeah, definitely. The natural landscape is our number one most inspiring element. We love using natural materials, bringing them in, blurring indoor and outdoor spaces, and using lots of plants. We obviously love the desert so much, so it seeps into our designs a lot.
HFFH: This is a question I love to ask other creative couples…What’s it like working creatively with your spouse / partner?
JTH: It’s great. We’ve always done projects together – it’s always come very naturally to us, even when we weren’t working together directly at different jobs, we were always sending each other projects for feedback, and just always wanted to create together, so it’s just kind of been natural for us. It’s always good to get a second set of eyes on something, when you can get so stuck into what you’re working on.
HFFH: And who do you think comes up with the best ideas for your interior design and photography?
JTH: So there’s various rooms or designs that Sara might have more of a vision for, or ones that I have more of a vision for. Or one of us might take a lead on a particular design, but generally it’s always the two of us working together, bouncing ideas off of each other. It might be because we’ve been together for so long, but we’re generally on a very similar page.
HFFH: Is there anything you would’ve done differently when creating The Joshua Tree House?
JTH: Well, not necessarily differently, but looking back on our designs from a few years ago, we can definitely see that we’ve grown as designers through the process, and learned so much, so we’re always going back to old designs and continually improving based off what we’ve learned. It’s forever changing and evolving.
HFFH: When do most of your idea brainstorms happen – early in the morning, late at night, on weekends, maybe over a glass of wine when you’re relaxed, or do you like the pressure?
JTH: We’re definitely more morning people, so I think a lot of our brainstorms will usually happen around then, but also road trips are a big source of our brainstorms. It’s a great time for us to just clear our minds, and just, kind of, get creative.
HFFH: Ah, yeah, we also tend to do a lot of our brainstorming on road trips, or when we’re on the move, so that’s interesting that you said that. Can you name two other creatives that inspire you (they don’t have to be from SoCal, but they can be).
JTH: Well, we’ve always been really inspired by Charles and Ray Eames as a design couple. What they’ve created together, it’s just so cool – from architecture, to furniture, to textiles – it’s really inspiring. And then also Kelly Wearstler has always been a huge inspiration to us. Her vision for space and when she designs, there’s always a sense of purpose, and that’s very inspiring.
HFFH: Do you have a favourite place you like to shoot (in Joshua Tree National Park or somewhere else in the world)?
JTH: We really love shooting out in open desert landscapes, whether it be at home at Joshua Tree or at our Inn in Tucson.
HFFH: If there was one location in Southern California you’d say everyone would HAVE to see when visiting, what location would you say that was?
JTH: So we definitely have to say Joshua Tree National Park, as the one location that everyone has to go and see, for sure. But specifically Indian Cove is one of my favourite spots – just the rock formations there, and it’s one of our favourite places to go for sunset, and to just hang out for a bit.
HFFH: And last question – we like to ask this one…if Southern California was a famous person, who would you say it was?
JTH: Hmmm, maybe Graham Parsons, since he has some interesting stories from Joshua Tree, and there’s even a little memorial for him.
HFFH: Ah, we’ll have to go check that out as well when we visit! Thank you so much for your time and letting us pick your brains – it’s always so inspiring to hear from other creative couples.
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Make sure you go check out their accounts @thejoshuatreehouse and @jthtucson and book yourself a stay when you’re next in SoCal or Arizona. Their book “At Home in Joshua Tree” is also available on their website, so have a look here for more info on that.
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