CULTURE CLUB

Neda Kakhsaz and Zabie Mustafa of Studio MUKA pay homage to their Persian and Uzbek roots in the couple's distinctly modern Los Angeles home

- MAYER RUS

The phrase "ancestral home" typically evokes images of romantic dwellings in faraway lands-a sprawling English country manor, an antiquated Italian palazzo, a fabulous Russian dacha. But as Neda Kakhsaz and Zabie Mustafa can ably attest, a true ancestral home need not stretch back multiple generations and centuries. In fact, any home that stores collective memories and honors the lives, spirit, and cultures of one's forebears qualifies as ancestral. Even a humble midcentury house located in the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley can-and does-fit the bill.

A few years ago, Kakhsaz and Mustafa, husband-and-wife partners in the emerging design firm Studio MUKA, found themselves at a personal crossroads, facing the challenge of what to do with the childhood home formerly occupied by Kakhsaz's late father and mother. "We thought about moving to the east side of LA, closer to our friends and colleagues, but we ultimately decided that my parents' house was a good place to put down roots," Kakhsaz recalls. "That decision raised lots of questions and set us on our journey. What happens to a physical space that was filled with so much emotion? How do you give life back to something that is seemingly void? What is the real meaning of home? We had to figure it out," she adds.