The Founder of OR.CA on Curating Artful Exteriors

Rip & Tan: Can you tell us a bit about your own journey as an outdoor designer? When did you discover you had a talent for exteriors?

Molly Sedlacek: Growing up on the Oregon coast, I spent my childhood playing in a Bay Laurel hedge my parents planted and a bamboo forest my dad grew. These innate acts of living in the outdoors started my journey as an outdoor designer. It was a blueprint to living that my family handed down.

I discovered my talent in outdoor design when I was planting, curating, and exploring use of outdoor space in my own garden in San Francisco. What I wanted, I couldn’t point to in a picture, it only existed in my imagination. It took material sourcing and experimenting to understand what flora, stone, and timber felt right. Quickly after completing this garden, my community of friends and family began supporting this conceptual approach to landscape design, and OR.CA was born.

Rip & Tan: We’re so curious for a peek into your process. How do you typically approach a space?

Molly Sedlacek: It begins with the human. What are they missing in their connection to their landscape? Is it physical interaction? Rest? Community? Understanding what in the natural surroundings needs to be highlighted, incorporated, or restored is the first step in designing a landscape. From there, we dive into materials and layouts that support the garden and are climate appropriate.

Rip & Tan: What are some simple ways we can bring more personality into our outdoor living areas?

Molly Sedlacek: Texture and plants offer instant personality. A sculptural Feltleaf Kalanchoe is a human of its own. I love to use these in a tree form either centered in a garden or in a shallow pot to highlight the trunk and arms they develop.

Texture can be achieved through mixing tonal materials such as different native grasses, or different wood finishes. We love to use stone cobble with rough-sawn beams for shades of neutral that have tons of personality.

Rip & Tan: Do you have any plants or materials you most enjoy working with? Are there any you’re less inclined to use?

Molly Sedlacek: I love working with anything that is natural and needs very little human touch. The more organic a material can be, the better it is to me. I’m less inclined and not interested in plastics or very uniform materials. Perfect lines don’t necessarily exist in nature, there’s always a wobble or a story, and I find value in the imperfections surrounding us.

Rip & Tan: Walk us through this particular space—it feels so balanced and truly livable. What drove the design?

Molly Sedlacek: This garden belongs to my first clients, Nick and Surya Grover, who trusted me full-heartedly to build a garden for their family of five.

Surya is a creator and the studio in the back corner is for her to create ceramics and textiles (Tocu Kids). The angled boardwalk that connects the main home and the garden is for the three boys to run up and down, barefoot. The twelve-foot dining table allows them to entertain spaciously, and the fire pit is used for smores and evening wine. Opposite the studio is a kids’ play structure that is built on top of a tree that was dying when we first started the project.

Rip & Tan: OR.CA places such emphasis on sustainability and works in collaboration with nature. Can you offer any advice for ways we can embody these philosophies in our own lives?

Molly Sedlacek: We emphasize minimally processed materials and native plants in our gardens. This means low-water plants that both save water and can build habitats. Drought resilient landscapes don’t mean zero plants, rather being aware of the zone your garden is located in and planting species that are climate appropriate.

I like to think of the term underdone beauty in all elements of life. The more natural we allow materials, gardens (and ourselves) to be, the more authentic a connection can be.

Rip & Tan: Where do you turn for inspiration?

Molly Sedlacek: Oregon in the summer for its deep, rich, billowing green, and West Marin year-round for the rolling textures of Artemisia and Buckwheat that I draw the most palette inspiration from.

I also read and study rock landscapes. I just read a quote by Tomoki Kato and Nami Ogura that I felt connected to: “Stones are the fundamental framework: they are what garden owners concern themselves with. They are the very spirit of the gardener.”

I couldn’t agree more and I have a deep connection with stone.

Rip & Tan: In the context of honoring nature, what does living well mean to you?

Molly Sedlacek: Living well means creating space (both time and physical space) for the moments that matter most to us. For me, that’s creating space where loved ones gather and feel peace. And to me, the outdoors is the most primal place to feel peace.