Los Angeles Design Festival 2025: A Visionary Celebration of Design Futurism
From June 26 to 29, 2025, the city of Los Angeles transforms into a dynamic hub of creativity, innovation, and collective imagination—exploring how design shapes the future of communities, culture, and urban life.
The Los Angeles Design Festival (LADF) makes its much-anticipated return with a bold and immersive citywide celebration of design as a tool for progress and possibility. This year’s edition invites the public to engage with the theme “Design Futurism”—an expansive, multidisciplinary exploration of how design can respond to complex challenges, reimagine systems, and inspire meaningful change.
With programming that spans from Pasadena to Long Beach, the 2025 LADF features installations, workshops, block parties, keynotes, studio tours, and symposia, creating moments of encounter between emerging talents, established creators, and engaged communities. Far from science fiction, Design Futurism reflects a deeply human-centered vision: one that honors the past, engages the present, and dares to imagine a more just, inclusive, and resilient tomorrow.
“Design has always been a language of possibility and problem solving. This year’s theme invites us to reflect on how we design not only for efficiency or aesthetics, but for empathy, equity, and long-term impact.”
Erika Abrams, Executive Director of LADF
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
Wednesday, June 25
LADF kicks off with a tandem awards gala spotlighting the creative forces shaping California’s design future.
The inaugural NeueHouse Design Awards celebrate innovation at the intersection of aesthetics and functionality, and are presented in partnership with Shinola, community design partner LA Design Festival, and media partner Cool Hunting. LADF Board Member and 2023 LADF EDGE Award Honoree Anne Dereaux of Dereaux Studio will be a part of a distinguished jury of 12 leading figures in art, architecture, and design. Open to both emerging and established designers, the awards reflect NeueHouse’s ethos of soulful, sustainable innovation grounded in California’s legacy of design excellence. Submissions close June 13, 2025. Link to apply: https://www.neuehouse.com/design-awards-25/
LADF will also present the 2025 LADF Design Awards, honoring individuals, studios, and collectives whose work exemplifies design as a tool for cultural vibrancy, resilience, and shared imagination. These awards spotlight creatives working across disciplines whose practices are rooted in equity, experimentation, and community impact.
Thursday, June 26
Programming focuses on emerging talent—students, recent grads, career changers, and self-taught designers. At ArtCenter in Pasadena, the L.A. Forever Hackathon convenes multidisciplinary teams for a four-day sprint to create a community toolkit offering equity-centered strategies for disaster response and resilience.
Friday, June 27
Citywide studio tours will take place throughout the afternoon, leading into three simultaneous LADF Block Parties hosted at Helms Design District, ROW DTLA, and Long Beach Design District.
Saturday-Sunday, June 28-29
Dive deep into Design Futurism on the final weekend of the festival. ROW DTLA presents a showcase of speculative design projects that ask how we might live, move, eat, and connect in worlds not yet realized. Simultaneously, in Culver City’s Helms Design District, the Southern California chapter of NOMA (National Organization of Minority Architects) hosts a powerful symposium on rebuilding Los Angeles as a part of the L.A. Forever track.
Additional event highlights include:
- A look inside CSULB’s Immersive Design Research Lab, showcasing student and faculty explorations in spatial storytelling.
- A speculative installation by Kevin Sherrod inside the historic Acres of Books building, rethinking food systems and community health.
- A launch of Kevin Bethune’s new book, Nonlinear, at ROW DTLA. The author will also participate in the “We Have Seen the Future” track.
Throughout the weekend, studio tours invite the public into the creative heart of L.A.—from the Arts District to MacArthur Park and Long Beach. This year’s Design Dinner takes place at Chez Bacchas in Long Beach’s East Village, curated by designer and food influencer James Tir. The evening explores the intersection of food, form, and function—right down to the utensils.
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