LA Design Festival 2018: the Wallpaper* guide to the unmissable events

People on street outside building
LA Design Festival takes over Market Row.
(Image credit: ROW DTLA)

LA Design Festival kicks off this week for it's eighth edition shouting: ‘Design is for Everyone’ in celebration of the city’s rich culture of creative freedom and collaboration. Hubbed and headquartered at Row DTLA, where creative offices, collectives and pop-up concepts come to play, the festival also sprawls to design hotspots in Culver City, Los Feliz, Pasadena, Westwood and beyond. This year’s edition of the festival brings together a super-schedule of tours, exhibitions, workshops and installations.

The Design Block Party held on the opening on 8 June will be the first chance to see what Lee Broom, Muji, Poketo and Hem, INTRO/LA, World Design Gallery, LA Design Festival's special exhibition ‘Design is for Everyone’ and many more are bringing to the festival.

MINI LIVING Urban Cabin

Top view of roof

(Image credit: ROW DTLA)

Pitching up on the roof of ROW DTLA in a collaboration with LA-based architecture studio FreelandBuck, the LA edition of the ‘Urban Cabin’ explores how contemporary living can be compact and still cool. The 15 sq m cabin is a flexible and comfortable space for living with folding and revolving walls that adapt to your way of life.

8 –10 June; ROW DTLA, 777 Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90021

INTRO/LA

Dark blue cushions of different shapes

(Image credit: ROW DTLA)

Curated by Small Office, this exhibition of modern design returns to LA Design Festival for its fourth iteration. Open throughout the weekend, it features an eclectic mix of independent designers including Bari Ziperstein, Resident, Estudio Persona, and Block Shop and more. Pictured here, Another Human, Stacks. Courtesy of INTRO/LA

8 –10 June; ROW DTLA, 777 Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90021

West Adams Studio tours

Store with wooden roof

(Image credit: RCHS)

Studio tours are the chance to get behind the scenes with LA’s leading and emerging practices. Included in West Adams Studio tours are the multidisciplinary Rios Clementi Hale Studio office (pictured) and MASHstudios. Courtesy of RCHS

5 - 7pm, 8 June; Rios Clementi Hale Studios, 3101 West Exposition Place Los Angeles, CA, 90018 and MASHstudios, 2611 W Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90018

Concrete Geometric Workshop

Flower pots

(Image credit: ROW DTLA)

Krizia Flores of Concrete Geometric will host a workshop on how to create a cement mold for a geometric planter. The ticketed event will allow visitors to then pick a succulent to plant inside the geometric cement vessel creation, and take it home to place it proudly on the kitchen table. Courtesy Krizia Flores/Concrete Geometric.

2 – 4pm,10 June; ROW DTLA, 777 Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90021

‘Life-Size/Still-Life’ by Krystal Chang Projects

Floral installation

(Image credit: ROW DTLA)

Krystal Chang Projects’ work explores flowers, landscapes, architecture and design and for LA Design Festival, she will be creating a floral installation titled ‘Life-Size/Still-Life’ at ROW DTLA. Courtesy Krystal Chang

8 – 10 June; ROW DTLA, 777 Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90021

World Design Office

Boy inside tent

(Image credit: ROW DTLA)

The World Design Gallery showcases international work from artists including AN Concept, City EastWest, Achilleas Souras (work pictured), and Faye Tsakalides. Highlights include installation ‘COMMON SPACE. diseño from México,’ a collaboration from curator Illya Haro and creative director Katalina Silva displaying the works of six designers from Mexico including M.A. Project, Punto Verde Ceramics, Natural Urbano, Leria del Mar, Cuevas, and Spica. Courtesy of Achilleas Souras.

8 – 10 June; ROW DTLA, 777 Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90021

INFORMATION

LA Design Festival is on view 7-10 June. For more information, visit the website

Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.