Potato Head’s New Era of Retail

This year’s edition expanded its programming to include more music, nightlife and sound-driven events through a partnership with LA-based nonprofit radio station dublab. Yet as the festival grows, Denvir remains focused on preserving its spontaneity, accessibility and sense of community. We caught up with Holland after this year’s festival to discuss LA’s design scene, the evolution of LAD/W and what comes next.

What do you think makes Los Angeles’ design community distinct from other cities?

I think that LA has a very collaborative and community focused spirit, but because we’re so spread out, it can sometimes be hard to feel. The goal with LA Design Week/end is to highlight the spirit that’s already here and tap into it. The reason we’ve grown so quickly is because so many people are so willing to offer their spaces, their talent, and their time, that I truly believe differentiates us from other major cities.

What’s one thing about LA’s creative community that you think outsiders consistently misunderstand?

I've not heard anyone say this, but I think because the lack of a big design fair here in LA, it would potentially imply, the caliber isn't here and that people don’t come to LA to experience design, the same way they would somewhere in New York, Milan, Copenhagen, and other places that have those big design weeks that are really. I think that what we're doing with LA Design Week/end really highlights that we do have that amazing caliber of designers and artists here but also that we have just such an abundance of independent designers and I think those people get overlooked a lot because they're just not based in New York. With LA Design Week/end we're able to highlight both those independent designers and bigger local architecture and interiors firms and the work that they're doing here.

Who are some designers or creatives you think more people should know about?

There are so many! Embodies Sound at EDGE Sound Research, they merge sound and design objects, Amber Miller, Angelica Lorenzo, Natou Fall, Iris Delphine, Badglass, Eunbi Cho.

Has there been a moment during LAD/W where you’ve thought, “This is exactly why we built this”?

For sure, I've had so many of those moments, a recent example is when I saw one of our participants, a small architecture practice, who had an event. I asked them how the day went and they said it was amazing and that they had way more people came than expected, and everyone who came were very eager and excited to learn. The owner also mentioned that it was a really nice opportunity for him to share what he does without the pressure of pitching to close a sale. I think that's so important. And a lot of people have mentioned how the interactions throughout the weekend have been so pure and genuine because it's not sales-focused. Of course, I hope that  visitors will spread the message about these amazing talents through word of mouth for potential sales or client acquisition, but that is not the point of this weekend. It's really just about community.  

I’ve also heard many people going “Oh, I didn’t know that this was here”, and that spirit of discovery is what we’re all about. If we can keep doing that and highlighting these amazing talents and places to locals and visitors alike, I think we’ll be successful.

Walk us through your idea of a perfect day in LA.

I would start my day with meditation. I usually meditate every morning and write a gratitude list in a five-year journal. Then I’d clean my home and hang out with my cats. Then, I’d go to SoulCycle, followed by some R&R at Wi Spa in Koreatown where I’d go steam, cold plunge, and then go to the pool. I also love to explore the coffee shops and restaurants here, so many are so well designed, so I love just discovering them. And depending on the day, I’d also probably go on a hike. That would be a non-design day, but with LA Design Weekend, my role as Head of Industry at Gantri and co-founder at Nomadory, it usually is always filled with something design related.

What’s the most unexpected thing you’ve discovered through putting this festival together?

I’ve kind of touched on this, but my hope was that there'd be the energy and excitement for a community-based design fair in LA. It’s not necessarily unexpected, more so a hope that I had. It turned out that so many people are community oriented and want to help each other and that many architects, designers, artists, and brands are hungry to participate in something that's not sales oriented because so much of the design industry operates that way, where if you're going to go to a design week, the expectation is that you're selling or finding clients to sell to. With that not being the focus at LADW, people could have been like well, what are we getting out of this? But instead, they're like this is exactly what we need.  It's a pleasant affirmation of what I had hoped or rather than a surprise.

What’s something you want people to pay attention to that they might otherwise walk right past?

I’d say almost everywhere you go LA Design Weekend would be somewhere that you could walk right past and not know of. An example would be in the Arts District on 1317 Palmetto; I think they said there’s around hundred artist studios in there. But then just down the street is the Vitra showroom. I think that's super special where those can coexist together because in LA we still do have land and some of it is still affordable in industrial areas. And I think that is probably pretty past its heyday in other cities. But to have Vitra next to 100 artists that are paying really affordable rent for their artist studios, I think is pretty cool.

Another example is Silver Lake where there are so many open house tours today. There’s about five homes that you can go into and either go on either a museum tour in a home like the Paul McCobb Museum or you can go to a house show that has 20 artists on display and there's and then another house that is an artist who's living and working out of there. We’re giving people access to what many haven’t known about before.

How do you approach deciding who and what becomes part of the festival?

It's really just about the map for me, about who can participate. And the only reason I'm pretty rigid about the map is so that it remains accessible, fun and spontaneous. LA is so big that if we allowed more neighborhoods to participate, we would have to add more days, and I think we would lose the impact. I'm really about both quality and quantity and not one or the other. So, we really want to have each participant host for three to five hours and get a really good turnout of passionate, excited visitors rather than being open for five days and having people slowly trickle in. And I think if we expanded the map, we would lose the essence of what the weekend is about. If you fit into the map already, then anyone is welcome to participate.

What are you seeing in the design right now that feels particularly exciting?

I’m excited to see smaller artists and independent designers get more recognition in mainstream media and by the general public

How do you think the role of design festivals is changing? What can an event like LAD/W offer that a traditional design fair can’t?

While I do think that traditional design shows are worthwhile and needed, it’s definitely geared towards trade, and it usually features high priced design items that are not as accessible to the general public.

It’s transactional and you're there strictly to get new clients and not necessarily there to build a community. You might inadvertently build more community, but it's not the focus. I think as an attendee,  you get kind of getting bored of that environment,  which is why at all the major design weeks that traditionally started in a convention center, the more popular things to do are the off sites. What we’ve basically done is focus on the off-site, community-based activations. We don’t have a centralized space, therefore visitors can just focus on what they actually want to go to rather than splitting time between the more traditional fair and the artists and the independent studios, but then we're also able to layer in those more traditional or legacy brands because in LA their showrooms are nearby the artists and I think that's really special. They're not just tucked away in some specific neighborhood. In New York, a lot of the showrooms are in the Flatiron District; ours are spreadout throughout the city. And like I already mentioned, Vitra is next door to this hundred artists' studio loft and so we can offer both of those experiences at the exact same time. I think more and more that there will just be a lot more off sites and I don't know how that will impact the convention center aspect but you can already see them starting to pivot looking for ways to stay relevant.

Another thing that we can offer that a traditional fair can't is that because we're city focused and our goal is for people to discover the city in addition to designers and artists, the audience that we have is very broad. A big focus of ours is of course architects and interior designers because we want those individuals to be able to find new artists and designers to put in their projects, but we also attract many design curious individuals and other artists and designers like graphic designers, fashion designers, and just any creative.  Our goal is really to be accessible and approachable, so I think for the general public, they feel very welcomed.

Looking back, what have you learned that you didn’t know when you started LAD/W?

There are countless of lessons, I don't know what the biggest thing to share would be. I guess it would be how to produce a festival. I'm not an event producer, but since I've become an event producer. I’ve learned how to tap into other people's skill sets that work together to make this weekend happen. So I've just learned a lot about how to bring a festival to life. The things I've learned are mostly not that exciting, it's like all the logistics and admin that go into producing a festival and to make it feel organized and like seamless is so much work on the back end, which is probably obvious. I certainly didn't know what I was signing up for when I started all this, and I couldn't have predicted how big it would get.

What are you currently obsessed with?

WiSpa at Koreatown and my cats.

What’s the difference between something being visually interesting and something actually being good design?

I think that's in the eye of the beholder. One of the main things I say about LA Design Weekend is that I'm not here to tell you what good design is or good art is, and that's totally up to you as the attendee. So something that I might think is visually interesting and is good design, someone that is like stamped a good designer might disagree with which I think that's totally fine.

What’s next for LAD/W?

I hope that we maintain this community-oriented energy. I’d really love to see LADW’s audience continue to grow on the global stage as my goal is to keep introducing people from around the country and around the world to what we have to offer here. I've been in the design industry for 14 years and every year everyone's always asking who's going to Salone, 3daysofdeign, Art Basel; I want LA Design Weekend to be in that same conversation where it's like you're picking two fairs to go to a year and like we're one of those fairs. So that's my main goal but the priority really is to keep the energy going, the intention the same, and not let that get diluted because I think that's really what makes us special.