“The single most important thing for me is symmetry,” says Anton Zaslavski, known to tens of millions around the world as Zedd—in life, in architecture, in stage design, in everything. In fact, lack of symmetry, or at least the impression of symmetry, makes him feel not just uncomfortable but unwell. “Maybe this is a personal tick of mine, but symmetrical designs make me more calm and make me feel better,” he says.
Appropriately, harmonious is one of the best ways to describe the internationally acclaimed musician and DJ’s Encino, California, home. The western red cedar front door is flanked by floor-to-ceiling glass and framed in travertine. Inside, a zen Japandi aesthetic permeates the well-balanced linear layout, which is simultaneously open yet intimate. While living in an all-walnut Jae Omar–designed home nearby, Zaslavski had followed his natural curiosity about architecture to inquire about the contemporary California designer and developer’s next project.
“He was working on this house, and it was way too big for me, and was not what I was looking for at all, but I wanted him to show it to me,” says Zaslavski. After multiple visits and exhaustive conversations over the finest minutiae, “I fell in love with how in love with details he was—that’s how I approach my music,” he adds. “Every single thing matters.” Omar is a kindred spirit: Details, he says, “are the foundation of why we’ve been successful together. Anton is a very thoughtful guy, and he has a high aptitude for design and aesthetics, and a very practical approach to things. If it doesn’t make sense, if it’s uncomfortable, if it’s unnecessary, he sees that.” The home’s spa-like wellness wing, which includes a gym, sauna, contrast therapy, and massage room, was a major selling point for a guy whose day starts only after a cold plunge, weightlifting, and cardio.
Once the musician decided the 17,500-square-foot home on more than an acre of greenery was in fact for him, he and Omar set out to customize it completely to Zaslavski’s idiosyncratic needs while maintaining a super-streamlined material palette. Consistency, to the DJ, is critical. His admittedly non-scientific theory is that minimalism is good for our health. “If your eyes have less to look at and focus on, your average heart rate is probably a little lower, because you aren’t constantly being attracted by things,” he says. It’s a takeaway from time spent in Japan where, at “the places we stay, there’s one stone, one wood, and everything is that.” This predominantly white oak home follows suit, with strikingly—and soothingly—little deviation.
For that reason, too, the Grammy winner was compelled to furnish it primarily in one brand, RH, so that every bit of white oak would be the same. “I didn’t want it clashing,” he says. Zaslavski’s love affair with the retailer began years ago with a Cloud sofa. (“I know it’s cliche, but The Cloud couch has magic, and I’ve loved it, and I probably will forever love it.”) Since then, he's worked with the RH design team to carefully try out and place rugs, sofas, side tables, chairs, and more, one by one, over a year. The process left Zaslavski the proud owner of even more dreamy Clouds, including a daybed in his home theater with charred shou sugi ban wainscoting, dark padded linen walls for acoustics, a bar, and 10-by-5-foot live-edge wood slab door. “It’s really sumptuous, you feel really enveloped there,” says Omar.
Only two items made the move from the DJ’s prior home: his “irreplaceable” Hästens Vividus bed and beloved semigloss Bösendorfer piano, with which he had an “instant connection.” Both are focal points of his sprawling western red cedar–clad primary suite, which posed a spatial challenge due to its expansiveness. The “most beautiful piece of furniture in the world” filled a significant part of it, also allowing him to write music before bed if inspiration suddenly strikes. “Nothing, at least for me, is more classic and timeless and grand than a grand piano in a bedroom,” says Zaslavski. “So that was the perfect way to fill a lot of space with something that’s very meaningful to me.”
Shop the musician’s aesthetic with our editor-curated selection of furniture and decor inspired by his home.
Far more exacting and trying was Zaslavski’s state-of-the-art recording studio, which supplanted the entire 5,000-plus-square-foot finished basement. If two-thirds of his time at home is spent above ground, the other third occurs below. “We killed the bowling alley,” laughs Omar, adding, “right away I knew the basement was going to be perfect for [his studio]. It’s the proportions, the acoustics, the way it’s situated in the house, it’s very private.” The renovation represents Zaslavski’s first attempt at a ground-up design. “And the process was really fun, it was very collaborative, but it was definitely not smooth,” says Zaslavski, who worked primarily with his brother Arkadi Zaslavski, as well as Kyle Mann, Ryan Shanahan, and Hadrien da Souza (HSDSGN) to bring the comprehensive setup—which includes a live room, vocal booth, and two separate production rooms—to life.
“I wanted to be able to record from anywhere,” Zedd says, Now he can even control the main room remotely from his House of Léon high-pile mohair sofa. “So a lot of planning, a lot of cabling, and a lot of wires went into making this happen.” It wasn’t only technical. To achieve the perfect (custom) evergreen Portola Paints limewash, for example, the musician tried out 27 paint samples on the walls along with multiple plaster washes. “Ultimately the music I make is mostly inspired by how I feel, and the environment you’re in decides how you feel,” he reasons. “It’s a critical point for me to get right.”
And he got it right. These days, Zaslavski’s favorite studio is a few steps from his kitchen. “The goal was to never have to leave,” he says. “I can work out at home, I can work from home, and I sleep at home.” To him, that’s the ultimate luxury: no planes, no hotel rooms, just the feeling of being exactly where he wants to be: “I don’t see a reason to ever need to go anywhere. I actually don’t want to go on vacation, I just want to be home.”
