2018 has been an incredible year in life and business for us at Lori Dennis Inc. An inspiring year of design, travel, and spending time with friends and family. We thought we’d usher in the New Year by reviewing some highlights from 2018:
Travel Adventures in 2018
For us, travel is an intrinsic part of our work culture. When you’re a designer, artist, builder, you travel the world and view it through an entirely different lens. You think about the elements of architecture and culture you can bring back and infuse in your work and this year we had the incredible opportunity to do that in Morocco:
The patterns, prints, textures, and smells were everywhere you turned — all creating a fully-immersive experience unlike anywhere else. It’s a reminder that the spaces we design are not just supposed to exist as 2-dimensional glossy images in Architectural Digest, but they are for people to live in, sleep in, cook in, etc.
In the Basque region of the Spanish and French coasts, we toured modern museums, and walked old bridges, experiencing the beautiful juxtaposition and coexistence of all the elements together. Giant stone structures in sun-washed pastels challenged our perceptions of scale and maximalism. It was a mixture of bold and soft, big and small.
Design Influencers
‘Influencer’ was the buzzword of the year. Just last week, Fixr.com published their definitive list of the top 200 influencers in the design industry internationally and we were thrilled to make the cut! I was invited to join Reward Style which makes it so much easier for readers of the blog to shop design projects! We often hear ‘where is this from’ and now you can find it with a click. It’s been awesome!
I was also chosen to be one of Lamps Plus’ five design influencer brand ambassadors and it’s been an incredible journey. I’ve been a fan and customer of Lamps Plus for over 20 years and it’s a dream come true to join them. Together, we’ve curated collections (which you can check out here), been on a press tour in New York, and brainstormed business and branding ideas.
In partnership with Esteem Media and Monogram Appliances, I had the pleasure of hosting the closing night party for the Design Bloggers Conference (soon to be Design Influencers Conference) at my home here in Los Angeles. And the Design Bloggers Tour took me to High Point Fall Market where I toured the showrooms of the design industry’s top manufacturers for a preview of what’s to come in 2019.
In the Spring, I spoke on a panel at the Los Angeles West Edge Design Fair about business and branding and there is truly nothing more rewarding than being able to help lift others up in your industry!
Home Made Simple: Design Television
Home Made Simple is a great morning program on OWN TV hosted by the always-inspiring Laila Ali. Along with builder Jonathan Brewer, I had the pleasure of making over the bedroom of two well-deserving dads. The show is great for viewers too because it provides a couple of fun DIY projects that are a little elevated by a designer’s touch. On this episode I made bedside hanging lanterns by hand as well as dip-dyed throw pillows. These are not your mama’s tye-dye! Give this clip a watch for a tutorial:
Giving Back with Pen + Napkin
This year I joined the board of Pen + Napkin, a Los Angeles-based non-profit seeking to end homelessness through its various partnerships with the design community. Working with interior designers and retailers like Lamps Plus and Ikea, they furnish the first homes of families transitioning from homelessness into their first real places. Unfortunately the rate of people who end up back on the street is staggeringly high, but the rate falls to just 1% when their first homes are furnished. We’re looking forward to spending the new year helping as many of these families as we can.
So What’s To Come in 2019…
This past year I also had the privilege of working on a couple of exciting new design shows for Bravo TV and with Lamps Plus (but can’t reveal much more at this point so stay tuned!) And our teams have been working tirelessly on some gorgeous new design projects locally and abroad, residential and commercial — we can’t wait to photograph and share with you! Cheers to the New Year, Everyone! May 2019 be your best year yet.
