Los Angeles, California
June 20-23, 2019
Design with Purpose.
The LA Design Festival is an annual celebration of our city's rich design culture. We take a purposely broad approach to defining design in order to ensure that the Festival is reflective of this city's creative talent and diversity. This year's theme was "Design with Purpose."
2019 Highlights
Video credit: Paul Vu
LA Design Festival-Curated Events
88+ events were featured at LA Design Festival's 2019 hub, ROW DTLA
(17% increase from Previous Year)
LA Design Festival took up residency at ROW DTLA curating 88+ talks, exhibitions, pop-ups, workshops, installations, and more. Events were free and open to the public, with a campus-wide Design Block Party on June 21, 2019 which drew over 3,000 visitors.
ON THE EDGE 2019
This group exhibition featured work from the 2019 EDGE recipients: Cindy Hsu Zell, Eric Trine (Amigo Modern), Kenesha Sneed (Tactile Matter), Meyghan Hill ((wh)ORE HAÜS STUDIOS), and Uri Davillier (Neptune Glassworks).
EPICENE
2019 EDGE Award Recipients Meyghan Hil and Uri Davillier of Neptune Glassworks co-curated a special gallery experience showcasing new original pieces as well as a few surprises pulling from their design community.
Design Confabs
Today's most inspiring and innovative creatives, thinkers, community leaders, and more shared their perspective on design throughout the LA Design Festival weekend.
Future of Women LA Breakfast
Future of Women, Domino, LA Design Festival, and ROW DTLA hosted a morning of food and conversation with women in the design industry, including Angie Myung (Poketo), Shelley Armistead (Gjusta/Gjelina), Chelsea Neman Nassib (TAPPAN), and BOSCO (artist).
LA Design Festival Lounge + Marketplace
Guests enjoyed a unique shopping and exhibition experience in this year's Lounge + Marketplace. Highlights included Dieline's annual packaging design exhibition, the Un/Raw lighting sculpture series by Alper Nakri, and LA Original's pop-up shop benefiting the Downtown Women's Center.
LA Design Festival Workshops
Guests were encouraged to exercise their own creativity by participating in public workshops, and learn how to design icons, create paper flowers and plant real ones, build desert terrariums, master the art of watercolor, make concrete planters, and more.
In-Store Events
The LA Design Festival collaborated with the ROW DTLA Collective to host special events throughout the weekend. Participants included A+R, AHLEM, Dandelion Chocolate, GALERIE.LA, Hawkins New York, Heather Rosenman, Kinto, LCD, Poketo, Scent Bar, Shades of Grey, tokyobike, Myrtle, and more.
Pop-Up Shops
LA Original, Lenita by Grita, My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream, Seedlip, and more showcased their wares at ROW DTLA.
Oasys by STEREOBOT
Oasys is a housing solution designed by STEREOBOT, rethinking community development and urban lifestyle. STEREOBOT partnered with Resource Furniture, Marvin, Vadara Quartz, Haier, Amberleaf, and Veneer Designs to build a full-scale Oasys home at ROW DTLA.
Vertical Garden by Ghatit Studio
Ghatit Studio designed a pavilion for this year's festival that brings together plants and shade under a timber framed space to create a small urban park in the middle of ROW DTLA.
Kori by OWIU
Kori is a 10'x40' acrylic installation designed and fabricated by OWIU Design. It experimented with the concept of transparency in order to create a playful yet ethereal space.
LENITA BY GRITA X SKO HABIBI
LENITA BY GRITA + SKO HABIBI joined the Pulo Project (a series of installations and experiences dedicated to the art and culture of the Philippines) to merge art, design and flores for the LA Design Festival.
Un/Raw by Alper Nakri
Un/Raw was a series of lighting sculptures that harmoniously combine organic and mechanical forms. Designer Alper Nakri used nature-made material to create intriguing narratives which illuminate our perception of time.
Some People x Skygazing Tower
The “Sky Gazing Tower” gave space and time to each individual to just stare at the sky alone, while being surrounded by a hanging translucent membrane that diffused the light and created a soothing environment.
X3 by XTEN Architecture
Utilizing the simplest of silhouettes, X3 manipulated the faces of a cube to amplify the exterior environment, either by distorting and intensifying the surrounding context or creating a portal, framing a view of the unencumbered sky.
Big Will & Friends by Architecture Office
This installation redrew the popular Morris and Co. Wallpaper ‘Thistle,’ designed by John Henry Dearle in the late 19th century, into an inhabitable visual environment, establishing the wallpaper as intersection for various forms of knowledge.
Jodi Siegal Ceramics x The Wooden Palate
Jodi Siegal and Eileen O'Dea of The Wooden Palate collaborated on a unique installation combining organic forms, natural materials, and clay to create a mesmerizing window display at ROW DTLA.
Sticks & Stones by Pat & Co.
Based on the simple, abstract logic of Sticks and Stones, this installation created a rich set of objects by interweaving material flows and fabrication processes. The main components of the installation are a series of “stone piles” backed by a structural steel framework.
Susan Maddux x All We Ever Wanted
Susan Maddux displayed work from her "All We Ever Wanted" collection, featuring painted canvas as a medium for collage. Strongly influenced by arts from Asia and the Pacific, her work seeks to make an emotional connection and explore the intersection between art and design.
Krystal Chang Projects x Flower Machine
This participatory installation changed shape over the course of the festival. Guests were invited to draw a flower and offer it to the “flower machine,” which formed a moment of exchange between strangers. The hidden interior of real flowers was transformed into an exterior display of imagined flowers.
LA Design Festival Partner Events
28+ official events were also featured throughout the city.
Members of the design community curate and host their own events, creating a vibrant ecosystem of design happenings over four days across the city. In addition to major activations organized by LA Design Festival at ROW DTLA, there were 28+ studio tours, talks, parties, screenings, demonstrations and hosted by LA Design Festival Partners.
Demographics
19,000+
58% increase since 2018
Attendees included:
Architects
Designers
Artists
Business owners
Professional organizations
Students
Design fans
and more
Digital Reach
3.4K Followers
19K Followers
1.2K Followers
Website
Traffic Overview
People from 100 different countries visited ladesignfestival.org. 87.3% of all page views were from the United States. Other top countries included Canada, United Kingdom, Mexico, India, Germany, Italy, China, Australia, South Korea, France, and Spain.
Newsletter
11K+
TOTAL Subscribers
209K
total reach between january - June 2019
Media
80+
unique stories
1.2 Billion
media impressions
2019 Supporters
Social Reach from 2019 SUPPORTERS
*combined across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter platforms