LA’s design scene is having a moment. While the city’s design roots run deep—from the Eameses to California modernism and beyond—in recent years, a wave of blue chip art and design galleries have taken up residence in the sun-drenched locale. In the past five years or so, several design galleries, both established and new, have popped up—including Friedman Benda, Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Hostler Burrows, The Future Perfect,Southern Guild, Marta, and more—further cementing the city’s identity as a vibrant design destination.

Just last month, overlapping with Frieze LA, London’s acclaimed Gallery FUMI kicked off its first-ever, major US exhibition in the city—a pop-up featuring over 100 works by the likes of Max Lamb, Saelia Aparicio, Glithero, Lukas Wegwerth, and more from its world-class roster—and revered Cape Town gallery Southern Guild opened the doors to its second permanent location, set in an expansive 5,000-square-foot former laundromat, with a pair of inaugural shows that mark a new chapter in its mission to celebrate Africa's contribution to global art movements: a solo exhibition by South African sculptor Zizipho Poswa, and Mother Tongues, a group presentation featuring 25 artists from the continent.

Describing the current LA landscape, FUMI founders Sam Pratt and Valerio Capo tell us: “From our conversations and observations, it appears that the design scene in LA is experiencing a resurgence. More galleries are establishing permanent spaces, and there's a noticeable increase in pop-up events like ours. The upcoming arrival of Design Miami/ in LA further underscores this trend. It seems that Angelinos are eagerly embracing this influx of design, indicating a hunger for something new in the city.”

So why Los Angeles now? Trevyn McGowan of Southern Guild says, “The design scene here feels audacious, progressive, eclectic, and playful. It’s always been quite strong because there’s so much new building in the city, the properties are large, and people are expressing themselves through the spaces that they live in. People spend a lot of time at home, and their homes are very important to them, so I think that informed the design ethos here.” Further, she notes, “Some of the most interesting and innovative interior designers are based here, which makes sense given the pull of creative industries, the coastal landscape and scenic natural settings, and the storied legacy of film-making here.”

Explaining the motivation behind her gallery’s own LA expansion, McGowan says: “The US market has been our strongest collector base for many years, and we were beginning to feel the need to expand our footprint beyond our participation in [US] fairs a couple times a year. We’ve also started to work with a few artists of African descent based outside of the continent and are finding the broader conversation about common issues to be a richer and more fertile area to explore. So this felt like a natural next step. As a gallery, we are quite disruptive and progressive, and we felt like Los Angeles would be accepting of an innovative art space. The city is similar to Cape Town in that there is a sense of youth and vibrancy. We were concerned New York might be more prescriptive, and it’s certainly more saturated than Los Angeles.”

Benjamin Critton and Heidi Korsavong opened their gallery, Marta, in the city’s Echo Park neighborhood in 2019, and have since turned heads both in LA and around the globe thanks to a fresh and prolific exhibition program that’s spotlit talents such as Minjae Kim, George Sherman, Jonah Takagi, Michael Bennett, and Nifemi Marcus-Bello. Asked what sets the LA scene apart, they say, “The art and design landscape in Los Angeles has, for us, felt very open and welcoming. What feels different from New York City, where we previously resided, is that here, there's physical and psychogeographical space to be experimental, and a generosity in resource-sharing amongst artists, designers, and galleries. The city rewards agency and ideas.”

Describing the city’s draw, they tell us: “There is room in LA available to galleries working on a number of scales, from the intimate to its opposite. The exhibitions and programs that exist in LA have substance and conceptual rigor. There's a feeling of relative newness and reinvention that comes with speaking about the city, despite the generations who've described it that way before us. LA embraces contradiction; a multitude of cultures (and subcultures) and realities can exist at once. The idea of precedent or established systems-of-doing-things is rarely part of the dialogue. The city's climate allows for more ease of communion via spaces that are not exclusively indoors, as well as the viewing of works in outdoor or semi-outdoor space. (Collectors seem to always want to know if a given work can go outdoors.)”

Nordic design and decorative arts gallery Hostler Burrows has two locations in New York, and cofounders Kim Hostler and Juliet Burrows opened their LA location in the fall of 2019. (During Frieze, the LA gallery’s façade underwent a dramatic intervention by Danish artist Astrid Krogh, formally inspired by the common dandelion.) Offering their take on the recent influx of design galleries, Burrows observes: “Many designers and artists migrated from the East Coast during Covid, creating a rich community for art and design… [Plus] There is more square footage in LA, and I think many galleries wanted to be included in the energy and enthusiasm around a reinvigorated scene here. Many dealers opened second spaces, like us, in order to expand their reach to collectors based on the West Coast.  The pace in LA is a bit slower and visiting galleries is more intentional as clients need to plan their visit, which can allow for more fruitful relationships and focused purchases.”

So who is collecting? Hostler says, “There is a wonderful camp of West Coast [interiors] designers in LA and SF, as well as many collectors from the entertainment and tech worlds. Designers from New York and Europe also frequent LA for their West coast projects, so it is important to have a destination from which they can source.”

Also, she notes, “New York and LA markets differ; our clientele in LA has distinct tastes and needs to accommodate their lifestyle here. Generally, there is more interest in pieces suitable for the outdoors and in larger-scale items. LA is drawn to more neutral palettes and natural materials.”

FUMI's Pratt and Capo concur. “There is certainly a strong appetite for collectible design in LA, evident from our sales and feedback. However, the collector scene here differs from that of cities like London and Miami. The cultural, environmental, and atmospheric distinctions contribute to varying tastes. In LA, there seems to be a preference for a more understated aesthetic, focusing on textures, materials, and craftsmanship.” Fortunately, “these are qualities that align well with what FUMI represents.”

Multiple gallerists point to the city’s openness to exchange and fresh thinking as well. Burrows says: “The LA outpost provides us with additional space to present the gallery’s existing program to a broader audience, and allows us to more closely engage with the dynamic cultural community on the West Coast—particularly the artists and designers choosing to live and work there. We saw this as an opportunity to experiment with new ideas and allow artists and collaborators an additional forum in which to express themselves.”

McGowan also appreciates the opportunity to introduce and stretch their program. “Our intention is to be very permeable and to ensure that we not only bring our world to LA, but that we grow, learn, and exchange through our interactions with the local creative and collecting community. The way we connect with our artists and the way they communicate with our audience is integral and very symbiotic. This is beyond just showing beautiful work—it’s really about becoming more than we would have if we weren’t here.”

For that and so much more, Los Angeles design lovers have plenty to cheer about.