Words by Justin Min
Photography by Justin Chung

Brad & Jenna Holdgrafer, Formerly Yes

Los Angeles, CA

Brad is on the couch, Jenna is on a chair, and Leo, their 6-month old, is on the floor. He’s crawling, his parents’ eyes fixated on his every movement. As afternoon light spills onto the pale wood floors of the family’s Los Feliz home, Leo looks up — his massive blue eyes filled with wonder and delight. He smiles; his parents laugh.
On the far wall are Vitsoe shelves; above, a Jasper Morrison light fixture; below, a framed illustration by Jay Cover. Brad and Jenna Holdgrafer have a knack for finding beautiful things. It’s one of the many reasons why, in 2015, the pair opened Formerly Yes, a boutique home goods store in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles. “‘Yes’ was already taken, so we went with ‘Formerly Yes’ because we always said yes to things, and the store was just another yes in our lives,” Brad says.
The yes’s started in 2012 when the husband-and-wife duo said yes to one another, yes to ridding themselves of most of their belongings, and yes to living on a sailboat. “I didn’t know how to sail when we got the boat, so I took classes,” says Brad. “We had a tiny twin bed, and we literally slept on top of each other.”

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Full story available in Faculty Department Vol. 2

Photographed in 2019 – Los Angeles, CA

Ido Yoshimoto

Inverness, CA

Molly Sedlacek

Fairfax, CA