Manola Studio Restores Ojai’s Californian Mid-Century Modern Capri Hotel

When Kenny Osehan, the owner of Capril Hotel added this 1963 vintage Ojai hotel to her Shelter Social Club portfolio, she met with designer Jessica Pell of Manola Studio in Eagle Rock. Her multidisciplinary design practice works on diverse projects spanning architectural, commercial and residential design, historical preservation, landscape, and furniture design to showcase properties.

Jessica started creating floor plans and an appealing palette of earth colors including sun-faded pinks and cream with a pop of burnt orange, sage and black to bring visual focus to uncomplicated rooms. She also led the design of bespoke furniture to bring excitement to each room.

Now when one walks into the lobby of this boutique hotel, one is stunned by its beauty and authenticity of an bygone era. Walls of glass windows invite the outside in, and natural materials such as wood, cork, rocks, stones, metal and leather create beauty and texture in the lobby and guest rooms.

As with every Shelter Social Club property, preservation and integrity in design is the goal when acquiring a property. Osehan worked closely with her team of talented artisans, designers, creators and makers to bring his vision to reality. These trusted collaborators bring new life into each property and give it an alluring and unique personality.

Kenny and Jessica worked with Ted and Winston of Dusk design and fabrication studio in Los Angeles. They created the custom wood rounded wooden headboard and frame, and many of the furniture pieces in guest rooms. They also made the lobby desk and retail display wall for Eskina products that are available to guests for purchase in the lobby. Furniture designer Eric Trine of Amigo Modern made all of the desk chairs.

Other eye-catching design elements include the custom wood-paneled flat and rounded walls finished in walnut, and the burnt orange custom tiles bringing warm tones to blend the California desert and the coolness of Ojai.

Jessica took her vital formative years as a student at Art Center College of Design as inspiration for her design vision. During these years, she lived in celebrated modernist architect, Rudolph Schindler’s Sachs Apartments, also known as Manola Court (hence the name of her studio). This masterpiece nestled on a hill in LA’s Silver Lake neighborhood provided Jessica to study the interplay of site, materiality, form, and light. Over the course of eight years, this living space intimately shaped Jessica’s own design philosophy and perspectives. Rudolph Schindler’s ideology remains an enduring muse for this talented female designer. Living in this environment also provided inspiration in the design elements of Capri Hotel.

While studying at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, she focused on architectural environmental design and furniture. She also studied sustainability at Tama Art University in Tokyo. After graduating with honors from Art Center, Jessica worked at Eight Inc. in San Francisco, Rottet Studio in Los Angeles, and designed for Nike, Herman Miller, and Bernhardt Design, among others.

She currently lives in a historic 1924-built colonial home which Manola Studio restored and renovated in 2022.

For the Capri Hotel, artist Luckey Remington creates a balance in structure with organic geometrical shapes nestled in the entryway and landscape around the property. The first art piece guests see is located below the iconic Capri Hotel sign at the entrance of the property.

Beyond the lobby is a new pool, jacuzzi and conversation fire pit. The grounds are decorated with beautiful strings of pendant lights illuminating the large grassy lawn under towering Californian palm trees in the evening. This outdoor area is an idyllic spot to sit in a lounge chair with a good book and sip a cocktail to enjoy the perfect Californian meets Amalfitano “aperitivo.”

In the morning by 8 am, guests can walk into the lobby to get a complimentary cup of coffee or hot tea. They can also take the hotel bicycles out for a spin around town or along the Ojai Valley Bike Trail down to the beach in Ventura.

For an idyllic getaway set in the valley of the Topatopa Mountains, the newly refreshed Capri Hotel will transport you to a different era, offering serenity, relaxation and ‘pink moments’ at sunset.