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Los Angeles is an oasis for inventiveness and interesting design, so it makes sense that in 2024, multi-hyphenate creative Holland Denvir dreamed up an event that would put all that imagination on display more officially. LA Design Week/end stretches across multiple neighborhoods, inviting design lovers to explore the city itself along with the studios, showrooms, galleries, and makers shaping its creative scene.
After getting a glimpse of the exhibitions, installations, open houses, and conversations slated for this year’s event, we wanted in on the fun—and to find out which ideas might stick around long after the experience wraps. So we asked a mix of L.A.-based designers, artists, stylists, and shop owners what they’re most excited about right now, what they think we’ll be seeing more of next, and how the rest of us can bring a little of that energy to our own homes.
The forecast: less perfection, more personality. Here, a cross-section of the city’s creatives share the colors, materials, objects, and decorating moves that should be on your radar.
Hopie Hill, Co-Founder of Block Shop
What she’s into now:
I love all the warm wood I’m seeing in interiors—wood-clad walls and ceilings, in particular, that harken to Blunk House. And skirts everywhere: around beds, under sinks. I love that combination of something elemental and something a bit frilly.
What’s coming next:
People having more fun with unlikely combinations from different time periods: clean ’80s lines and wild palettes alongside warm wood of the ’70s, weathered plaster, turn-of-the-century chintz, and objects with actual stories behind them. Rooms that feel collected from different eras, with happy tension between the pieces. [The Block Shop team debuted the brand’s new block-printed upholstery fabrics and wallpaper, fittingly designed for rooms where patterns and time periods happily coexist.]
Try it at home:
A simple pleated skirt around a powder room sink. It’s a relatively inexpensive upgrade and makes a utilitarian corner feel charming and considered.
Ben Warwas, Founder of Byben
What he’s into now:
Laminate. I love the simplicity of the product and the way it creates this almost surreal single-color moment. I love designing kitchens and bathroom cabinets using laminate in interesting ways.
What’s coming next:
More tile countertops and more color and whimsy in projects. We are going to move away from the starkness of modernism. [During LADW, Warwas, an architectural designer, opened the doors to a recently completed JADU—a particularly petite ADU of 500 square feet or less—filled with furniture from DEN and ceramics by local artists and makers. He also showcased his curtains at The Feel.]
Try it at home:
Interesting curtains. Curtains are a great way to make a home feel cozier, especially ones that frame a view and have details and fringe.
Jonathon Burford, Designer and Creative Director
What they’re into now:
Red is finally having a moment. We’ve seen a lot of oxblood and maroon, but now I’m thrilled to see red in its own right.
What’s coming next:
Whimsy. Everything has been so perfect and serious. I’m excited for things to get messy again. I want to see the mark of the hand in objects.
Try it at home:
Buy things you love. It’s fine to take part in a trend, but you should still love it when the trend is over. If something is chipped, lean into the patina. If it’s broken, get it repaired.
Olivia Lopez, Decorator and Interior Stylist
What she’s into now:
I just got back from Korea, where there is an extraordinary amount of attention placed on food presentation: silk fabric covers over a cup of tea, a wood-carved serving tray, artful ramekins, and distinctive cutlery. I love the emphasis on these rituals—what is seemingly decor is actually daily ceremony.
What’s coming next:
I’m starting to see a surge of Eastern traditions across design—Japanese silk screens, sheer Korean fabrics, and the pearl inlays found throughout the Philippines and South Pacific craft traditions. I love that Asian visual arts culture is finding ground in international design cities like Paris, New York, and Los Angeles.
Try it at home:
Decorative vases and ceramics. Every culture or artisan has such a distinctive take on the medium. So much comes down to the local clay, the colors an artisan uses, or a material culture that ties a piece to a very specific place and region.
Denise Portmans and Sara Marlowe Hall, Co-Founders of Merchant Modern
What they’re into now:
We’re very excited about ceramics. Clay is incredibly adaptable—it can be sculptural or functional, vibrant or muted, textured or minimal. We’re seeing artists push ceramics beyond the traditional vessel into furniture, lighting, sculpture, and everyday objects. [The founders curated two shows during LADW: Objects in the Garden scattered sculpture, ceramics, art, and objects throughout ORCA’s Highland Park showroom and garden, while Katie Thompson’s In the Window spans ceramic vessels, furniture, and bronze sculpture.]
What’s coming next:
More artists creating everyday objects and furniture for the home. The lines between art, craft, and design are becoming much more fluid—ceramic stools and tables, bronze objects, sculptural lighting, and handmade pieces that are both functional and works of art.
Try it at home:
A unique vintage sculpture paired with a beautifully designed chair. It doesn’t have to match everything else—in fact, we prefer when it doesn’t. Those unexpected pieces give a home personality and make it feel collected over time rather than decorated all at once.
Andre Herrero, Co-Founder of Charlap Hyman & Herrero
What he’s into now:
I find myself gravitating toward gloss red paint again and again—it’s both energizing and calming in the right context.
What’s coming next:
I think we are going to see an explosion of Art Nouveau accessories dotting homes that are otherwise not Art Nouveau.
Try it at home:
Unconventional bedroom still lifes: screens as headboards, buckets as bed frames, etc.
Bryan Young, Founder of Young Projects
What he’s into now:
Our studio is excited about using color or material to pair disparate objects in a space. We’re experimenting with “finish” as a device by which objects in a vignette begin to merge, despite being from different periods.
What’s coming next:
Our work is exploring ways of generating new forms and materials by hybridizing historic references and sensibilities with contemporary approaches and techniques. What we’re calling “hybrid aesthetics” is neither historic nor contemporary, but something in between that makes people wonder what they’re looking at.
Try it at home:
Get yourself some shoebox dioramas. Each box can stand on its own, but when placed next to another, tell a whole new narrative. The layering—or pairing—of fictional on historical is compelling.
Madelynn Scheinberg, Founder of HAKO Vintage
What she’s into now:
Painted floors, especially a brick or oxblood color. When I opened my own studio this past year, the first thing I did was paint the floor a rich brick red. It feels like an instant spark of joy as well as a grounding, warm element.
What’s coming next:
Human touch. People seem to have more of an appreciation for real humanity in design, and I only see that moving further across the landscape with the progression of AI. I’m excited to see more emphasis on traditional craft and production.
Try it at home:
Handcrafted furniture along with well-designed vintage pieces. What excites me most right now is the level of craftsmanship and honesty of materials in L.A.
Candace Shure, Founder of Shure Design Studio
What she’s into now:
Cerused wood, especially when the finish gets pushed beyond the traditional white-on-oak treatment. I love seeing the grain picked out in unexpected, saturated colors like deep burgundy, cobalt, chartreuse, lavender, or rich chocolate. It makes a traditional technique feel graphic, playful, and unexpected.
What’s coming next:
A lot more whimsy and a little more weirdness in interiors: unexpected shapes, playful ceramics, sculptural lighting, strange little objects, and pieces that don’t necessarily “match” but make a room feel more personal. People want their homes to feel collected rather than perfectly designed.
Try it at home:
Bring something handmade into your home—something that you know was made by a person, not designed by AI or made to be endlessly replicated. It could be a ceramic vessel, a piece of furniture, or a textile; anything where you can actually see and feel the hand of the maker.
Laura Niles, Designer and Curator of Showroom LA
What she’s into now:
I’m interested in using things that already exist and changing their context. I collect vintage furniture and old ephemera, and lately I’ve been thinking more about reused materials and objects that can take some wear. I like when something gets better—or at least more interesting—from having a life.
What’s coming next:
Adaptability is going to become increasingly important: folding furniture, modular pieces, things that can be stowed away or serve more than one purpose. I don’t necessarily think having fewer things means minimalism. I like objects that aren’t too fixed in what they’re supposed to be. [For LADW, Niles was part of an exhibition called Our Joy is Resistance and showcased Farmette, a three-sided steel table with an integrated planter for growing microgreens that combines adaptable furniture and unconventional ways of living.]
Try it at home:
Bring in one thing that can completely change the identity of a room without permanently changing the room itself. A rug is probably the easiest example. I recently walked into a shop with this almost aggressively chartreuse carpet, and suddenly the floor wasn’t just a background anymore; it made the whole space feel like an installation.
