Explore L.A.’s Creative Side at Los Angeles Design Festival 2015
http://www.decor-ideas.org 05/22/2015 06:43 Decor Ideas
Los Angeles has long been a hub of creativity — whether in architecture, design, TV, film, music, food, fashion or art. That creativity as expressed in design will be on display during the fifth Los Angeles Design Festival, running May 28 through June 14. This year’s festival will focus on design issues affecting the city, whose downtown area is rapidly transforming from gritty to trendy.
“Our intent is to galvanize the individuals and organizations who make Los Angeles such a creative and productive city to celebrate design during the same collective moment on the calendar,” says festival cofounder Haily Zaki, “shining a spotlight on Los Angeles as the global design capital that it is.” Festival events are spread out across the city and include neighborhood, home, design studio and garden tours; pop-up design markets; parties; and discussions of the Los Angeles River’s restoration. Some events are selling out, but there is still plenty to do and see. Here’s a look at the festival’s happenings.
May 28: Opening-Night Party at Hollyhock House
The festival kicks off May 28 with a party at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House in Hollywood, built in 1923. Though tickets are sold out (wait-list only) for that event, the recently restored home is now open to the public for self-guided tours.
Take a Peek Inside the Newly Renovated Hollyhock House
Continuing Exhibit: “Women Can Build”
A photo exhibit featuring women building 21st-century transportation — from Rosie the Riveter to present-day workers — is on display May 22 through June 19 in the historic Waiting Room at Los Angeles Union Station. One of the women featured is Ami Rasmussen, shown here, an interior assembly technician at the Kinkisharyo rail car factory in Palmdale, California.
Photo by Deanne Fitzmaurice
May 29: Dwell on Design
Dwell magazine’s annual event, held this year May 29 through 31 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, features 90 onstage programs, more than 250 speakers and 2,000-plus modern furnishings and products. Shown above is the outdoor living area of the 2014 Dwell show.
Photo by Mimi Teller
May 30: City Design Tour: Downtown L.A.
A self-guided tour explores neighborhoods and studios in downtown L.A.’s arts district, Pershing Square and fashion district — all areas being gentrified, where the creative community is thriving. Featured stops include leather and clothing design atelier Cerre, luxury retail and exhibition space Please Do Not Enter, and the Studios of Kohler Street, a space shared by several artists, including furniture designer Westin Mitchell Design Group. Seen above are Westin Mitchell metal and leather workers inside the studio space on Kohler Street.
Photo by Christine Kim for L.A. Design Festival
June 3: Cliff Garten Studio Open House
Cliff Garten Studio hosts Designing Our Public Spaces Through Art & Infrastructure, an open studio event at the sculptor’s studio in Venice. Current and past projects will be displayed, and the design team will answer questions about the process of creating public art on an urban-infrastructure scale.
Photo by Jeremy Green Photography
June 4: Marmol Radziner Studio Tour
Architect Leo Marmol hosts a studio tour and reception at the Marmol Radziner studio, above, in West Los Angeles. Marmol and Ron Radziner are known for innovative home, interior and landscape design, including traditional and modular prefab construction. The firm also has overseen the restoration of notable modernist homes by Richard Neutra, Cliff May and John Lautner.
Photo by Marmol Radziner
June 6: City Design Tour: Inglewood
Several studios and a Rudolf Schindler–designed residence — the home of Kali Nikitas and Rich Shelton, shown above — highlight a tour of Inglewood. This city southwest of L.A. has in the past been known mostly as the home of the Hollywood Park Race Track, soon to become a mixed-use development, and the Forum — the former home of the NBA’s Lakers and the Kings pro hockey team. Studio stops include urban-space designer (fer) Studio, and the studio of handbag designer Onna Ehrlich, daughter of architect Stephen Ehrlich.
Photo by Christine Kim for L.A. Design Festival
June 6: de LaB Design-n-Dim Sum Bike Tour
Hosted by design east of La Brea (aka de LaB), the seventh annual design and dine bike tour will depart from the Flying Pigeon bike shop in northeast L.A.’s Highland Park and cruise along the Los Angeles River, ending in Chinatown for a dim sum lunch. Stops along the way include the Women’s Center for Creative Work, a new women-led co-workspace, and arts organization Clockshop. Cyclists on the 2014 Design-n-Dim Sum Bike Tour are pictured above.
Photo by design east of La Brea
May 30, June 6 and June 13: LADF River Series
The Los Angeles River is undergoing a major revitalization, and the festival is examining the transformation in a series of three events. River-focused festival events include the River Makers Bash on May 30. The outdoor celebration at 251 South Mission Rd. near the river starts at 8 p.m. and features music by dublab.
Photo by Astrid Sykes
Those curious about how the Los Angeles River can morph from concrete-lined flood-control channel to urban agricultural zone will want to attend the June 6 event Food Desert to Food Zone, a discussion with “guerrilla gardener” and community activist Ron Finley, whose urban garden is pictured above.
On June 13 urban designer Brendan Ravenhill will host Riverly Reflections, a conversation about urban ecology.
Photo by Christine Kim for L.A. Design Festival
June 5 to 7: Parachute Market
A preview party on June 5 wil be followed by a two-day design fair in downtown L.A.’s arts district — a marketplace for furniture, decorative objects and fashion by emerging and established artists, designers and collectors.
Photo by Parachute Market
June 7: AIA | LA Iconic LA Tours: Lautner’s Sheats-Goldstein Residence
Modern architecture and film fans will want to reserve tickets for this tour of the famed Sheats-Goldstein residence (interior shown above), designed by renowned architect John Lautner. The home, built into a sandstone ledge on a hillside in the Beverly Hills–adjacent area of Beverly Crest, includes a sky-space art installation by James Turrell. The house also appears in the film The Big Lebowski and has been in photo shoots with actress Jennifer Lawrence and indy band Daft Punk.
Photo by Carlo Caccavale
June 7: Sustainable Landscape Tour
Four years of drought and a city-ordered mandate to reduce water use by 20 percent by 2017 have led a growing number of Angelenos to ditch their lawns and opt for less thirsty landscaping. About 50 percent of residential water in L.A. goes to outdoor use. This tour, co-curated with the city’s “Save the Drop LA” campaign, explores innovative, water-wise landscape designs. Pictured above is the restored 1960s-era Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain in downtown L.A.’s four-block-long Grand Park, redesigned by Rios Clementi Hale Studios with drought-tolerant plantings.
Photo by Rios Clementi Hale Studios
June 10: Natural Curiosities Art Bar
Nature-inspired objects used in the creation of its prints and other pieces highlight the space of design house Natural Curiosities, which will open its Echo Park studio to the public.
Photo by Natural Curiosities
June 13: Brendan Ravenhill Studio and Sample Sale
Visitors will meet designer Brendan Ravenhill and tour his studio, where he and his firm create furniture, lighting and other objects. Product samples will be for sale. Ravenhill’s Double Pivot chandelier is pictured above.
Photo by Brendan Ravenhill Studio
June 13: Chinatown Design Night
Chung King Road, shown above, in downtown L.A.’s Chinatown will be the scene of an art and design street party. Galleries and shops will stay open late, and a pop-up design market showcasing local artisans will be featured.
Photo by Osceola Refetoff
June 14: Westside Home Tour
Four homes on L.A.’s Westside will be featured on this tour, including the Venice House by Sebastian Mariscal, shown above.
Photo by Yoshi Koitani
June 14: Blackbirds Public Opening
Visitors are invited to tour units at the new Blackbirds urban infill development in L.A.’s Echo Park. The project features a micro-neighborhood of 18 small-lot homes utilizing the Dutch concept of woonerf, a “living street” where pedestrians and cyclists take precedence over motorists. The plan includes resource-friendly features and incorporates native landscaping designed by Mia Lehrer + Associates.
Photo by Local Construct
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