Eight Creative Talents Writing the Next Chapter in California Design
From Echo Park to Frogtown to Lincoln Heights, a fresh crop of creative talents—many of them friends and collaborators—are writing the next chapter in California design. Meet eight trailblazers at the epicenter of L.A.'s new cultural hot zone.
Ben Medansky
Three years ago, the ceramic artist was riding high—with coveted collections of tableware and a team of five. Then a fire in Downtown L.A. reduced his studio to ash. But rather than rebuild his practice, Medansky reimagined it, pivoting away from production batches to one-of-a-kind works and installations. “The studio downsized, but the size of the work scaled up,” reflects Medansky, now based in Frogtown with just two part-time apprentices. Encouraged by AD100 talent Kelly Wearstler, he has been busy creating wall murals, fireplace surrounds, and totems, including a 50-foot commission (shown) for her Proper Hotel in Downtown L.A. Says Medansky, “The local design community has been incredibly supportive.” benmedansky.com
Block Shop
“We’re a family business on both sides of production,” says Lily Stockman, who cofounded her hit textiles line with sister Hopie and works with five family-run studios in India to realize their hand block–printed patterns. After starting with graphic scarves in 2013, Block Shop has expanded into a home collection that includes pillows, bedding, rugs, and, debuting this spring, fabric by the yard. Marked by eye-popping geometric motifs and sunny SoCal palettes, it’s all on display at their new Atwater Village showroom (shown), which is filled with pieces by, among other friends, Waka Waka. blockshoptextiles.com
Frances Merrill
Considering her great-great-uncle was Thai silk czar Jim Thompson, it’s no surprise that the interior designer has a gift for marshaling color, pattern, and texture to spectacular effect. Merrill launched her firm, Reath Design, a decade ago after honing her skills at the L.A. design mecca Lost & Found and the AD100 firm Commune. Her current residential projects include a midcentury home in Altadena (shown), a Tudor residence in the Bay Area, and a 1912 beach house in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Asked about her burgeoning reputation as a master of ornament, Merrill, now based in Atwater Village, remains sanguine. “I do love color and pattern,” she admits, “as long as it’s the right color and pattern.” reathdesign.com
Ryan Belli
Six years ago, this furniture designer, at the time still in school, began interning for the Haas Brothers. Within 72 hours, the dynamic duo had hired him full-time. It’s little wonder why, judging from Belli’s own recent designs: whimsical hand-carved wood tables and seating, inspired by natural phenomena like the rock formations of Bryce Canyon. “I do the dirty work at the Haas studio,” the protégé explains, noting that while he still clocks in with the brothers, he is able to pursue his own work in his free time. “All the finishing and dreaming happens in my new place in Silver Lake.” bellibellibelli.com
Matt Gagnon
Working in the offices of Gaetano Pesce and Frank Gehry taught Matt Gagnon, as he reflects, “the value of thinking about design across all scales, materials, and fabrication methods.” A self-described tinkerer, the Lincoln Heights–based designer has created furnishings for Nike; a series of stacked light totems that have made their way into Peter Marino boutiques for Chanel and Vuitton; and, most recently, a 65-foot-long, illuminated, interactive map of the solar system for NASA’s Deep Space Network facility at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. “I think about objects in terms of architecture,” he says of his approach, “specifically how objects occupy, shape, and transform a physical space.” mattstudio.com
Emily Farnham
The architect planted her flag in the burgeoning Silver Lake neighborhood in 2014 after stints at such prestigious firms as SOM, Architecture Research Office, and Mark Cavagnero. She directs, in her words, a “mercifully small, manageable office” specializing in thoughtful reinventions of the lean midcentury houses that proliferate in L.A. “I thrive on context,” says Farnham (pictured at home), pointing to notable projects such as her renovation of actress Mandy Moore’s Pasadena home (AD, July/August 2018). Farnham’s first ground-up house, for her own family, is next. “A blank slate is exciting,” she notes, “and a little intimidating.” emilyfarnham.com
Terremoto
David Godshall and Alain Peauroi (pictured, center) founded this landscape-design firm with a simple premise. “We wanted to create projects that are about ideas and philosophy—gardens as an expression of culture,” explains Godshall, who oversees the company’s L.A. operation in Echo Park while Peauroi directs the San Francisco office. In the span of five short years, Terremoto has become one of the most sought-after landscape practices in California, with recent projects spanning the Platform Park in Culver City (shown above, it features a Block Shop mural) and private residences, among them a Whitley Heights backyard garden (right) and projects by Emily Farnham and Frances Merrill. A master plan for a spa complex in Desert Hot Springs is just one of many jobs on the boards. terremoto.la
Waka Waka
Like Albert Frey, the Eameses, and other leading West Coast lights before him, Shin Okuda, aka Waka Waka, has found a material muse in simple plywood, crafting sculptural seating, shelving, and site-specific installations. “Birch plywood is very generic, like white paper, so the design speaks more than the material,” says Okuda (pictured in his Frogtown studio), whose bespoke creations are cropping up coast to coast— from L.A.’s Owl Bureau bookstore to New York’s Forty Five Ten boutique. Now he’s branching out into metalwork, with more departures, among them an Adidas collaboration, on the horizon. wakawaka.world
Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
