The dust from the LA Design Festival may be just settling, but at its hub at the Row DTLA, Poketo’s ever-changing Project Space is still abuzz. All this month, the Los Angeleno design destination is hosting a pop-up for the Swedish label Hem, which has brought a selection of its design-centric, yet accessible line of furniture and homeware to the West Coast for the first time.
‘As an established destination in the Los Angeles design scene, we are thrilled to debut our Los Angeles pop-up in partnership with Poketo,’ says Hem Founder and CEO, Petrus Palmér. ‘We’ve had our sights set on opening a physical retail space here for some time, as we knew from our online sales that it was a key market for us, so it was just a matter of finding the right venue.’
Installed within Poketo Project Space’s austere concrete space, Hem’s rich and colourful pieces create a warm and inviting atmosphere. These include newly launched pieces fresh from Milan, such as Anderssen & Voll’s Kumo sofa, an easily configured multi-seat sofa that can fit both row and corner formations, wool rugs by the Milan-based fashion designer Arthur Arbesserand the ergonomic Kendo armchair by Italian designers LucidiPevere. This comprehensive showcase is capped off by a statuesque wooden shelving unit, filled with the vibrant home accessories and soft goods that Hem is best known for.
‘Hem’s vision of quality and forward design for the home is in line with [our] own ethos of bringing art and design into the everyday,’ states Poketo co-founder, Ted Vadakan, who runs the business and its three other LA locations with his wife Angie Myung. Best known for its curated and in-house designed housewares, clothing, stationery, books and gifts, Poketo’s light-hearted ethos makes this joint effort a seamless match.
