This is the annual design show for those of you looking to redo your kitchen, bathroom, flooring or if you're an interior design professional. I came not being or seeking to be any of the above. I just came to check it out. I found a ton of $5 discounts online, but Goldstar had a deal that knocked the $30 one day pass down to $15+$4 fees = $19. Before you buy your ticket online, check Groupon, Livingsocial, Goldstar, etc. to see if there are any deals. If you're a student you can also get a 3 day pass for only $15! You really only need 3-5 hours to cover all the booths in the South Hall. If you want to see a lot of speakers or presentations, then of course add more time. They do allow ins and outs so you can go to your car and drop off the loads of catalogs you pickup. There are a lot of kitchen and bath manufacturers here. If you're looking for inspiration on a redesign, then this is a great place to get ideas on high end fixtures. There's retro, sleek, modern, futuristic, cubist, straight bling gaudy... it's all here. Just know that some cool designs are not practical at all. There was a bathtub that was so tall and deep and not sloped that it would force you to sit at 90 degrees in the tub and have to rest your arms above your shoulders... not comfortable at all. There are some furniture and lighting designers here, but not too many, mainly smaller independent designers that just have 3-5 models to showcase. No Herman Miller, Phillipe Starck or anything like that. It felt like there were more patio furniture booths than there were regular furniture booths. This year (2014) there were a lot of pre-fab home exhibits, which were cool to look at but mainly felt like an upscale mobile home. A pre-fab home made in a metal shipping container? Yes, there's a company that does that. If you were thinking about going to design school, there's plenty of information on that as most of the major schools in the area were represented in one corner. With all the kitchens on display, surprisingly none of them had any cooking demos going on. The only free samples in the show were drinks... a couple of coffee makers, a sparkling water tap. If you get hungry you'll have to eat the deplorable convention center offerings or step out to LA Live/Nokia Plaza to get some better eats. There was a Coolhaus Ice Cream Sandwich Truck in the middle of the floor. Most of the vendors we talked to were friendly and eager to share about their products and hand me their thick catalogs. There are mini booths for artists and small businesses. Interesting or useless depending on your tastes. Cardboard iPhone speaker amplifier? Concrete table plant pots? Etched aluminum drawings? Heated chairs made out of slabs of rock? Most of the speaking topics leaned towards the future of design or trends in design... more appealing to the design pro than to the common citizen. If you get the VIP packs, you can go on the home tours (visits to area homes, not at the convention site). Favorite giveaway received? Double layer drinking glass from Topbrewer Scanomat. Parking - Pay $15 to park in the Convention Center parking structure or drive around nearby and find an all day lot for $5-$10. I found $5 parking easily. Worth going to? Yes. Would I go again? Yes. Would I go every year? No. I think you only need to go once every 3 or 4 years to stay in tune with some of the new smart home innovations or design trends. $100,000 budget to redo your kitchen and bathrooms and have it look cool? It's doable. :) read more

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I don't understand how they can legally claim this is the largest home show on the west coast, because it's not. my first visit to Dwell was back in 2011 and boy have things gone down hill. There is nothing to this show. They tried this year by bringing in "big names" like Karim Rashid and Johnathon Adler, but if anything I kind of felt bed for them- bad press. This show was so dead, in both attendees and exhibitors that it should be free. It has gotten progressively worse over the years. To top it off, the people who work the registration on the phone and over email were rude. Wanting to charge $350 for a trade pass if you're not an architect. I want my money and time back. Not worth the $60 for trade they want to charge. Throw it away! read more

Pretty dismal exhibition for 2017. There were a few interesting products and vendors but generally uninspiring. Parking was $25 plus entry fee. Totally not worth the price of parking and admission. Will not be bothering to come back since the last few I have been were not great either. I think the general consensus of this exhibition was not good. I might return if the entry and parking was free. read more

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I thought this convention was interesting since it showcased many different products on the market that I was unaware of until I came to this convention. One very intriguing company that I discovered was called CasaBubble. It essentially is a module of bubbles made to mimic that of a tent, except much more luxurious. For a CasaBubble setup that they had at the convention, it would cost 20K. However, I still thought it was a novel idea. There were many vendors spanning the entire convention space, but many of the vendors consisted of furniture designers, appliance vendors, fixture vendors, home furnishings, green building elements, etc. The venue catered to those mainly associated with interior design. It was a great place to learn about all the different new products out there, especially the designed furniture. I vividly recall this one chair that was intricately assembled with movable wood blocks that contour to your body as you sit down. As it may not be very kid friendly, however the design of this chair was definitely something to admire. Also, I enjoyed the fact that Dwell showcased some of the design work of students from various Universities around the Southern California area. read more

Dwell on Design - Interior Design Near Me - Los Angeles, California

What a waste of time and money! I have been going to this show about four or five times over the years, and it has progressively gotten worse. This year was the worst of all, tickets were $40 (we got discounted through Goldstar) and even spending time at each booth it took us only about an hour to see everything. As others have already said, the show was a fraction of previous years in terms of quality, quantity and diversity. You would be better off going to HomeDepot or Lowes - maybe followed by a short trip to IKEA to top it off. They would need to make major changes to make me come back What a waste... read more

Don't waste your money. I went the first time in 2015, and it was awesome! Huge, great exhibits, great exhibitors - everything I ever wanted from an interior design / home show. Yes, it was a bit expensive, especially once you add in $25 parking, but I felt it was worth it. We were there for hours - we arrived when it opened and walked around for a few hours, then we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch, then returned to the show for another several hours. I'd say we spent around 6 - 7 hours total at the show. I went again in 2016, and it wasn't quite as good - a little smaller, the exhibits not quite as amazing - but I still enjoyed it. We probably spent about 4 hours at the show that year. But then I went in 2017. What a total waste of time and money! The size of the show was significantly reduced (I'd estimate that it was half the size of the 2015 show), there were much fewer interesting exhibits and booths, and more stupid uninteresting sales booths. I think we walked the show in about an hour and a half and then left. I won't be going back for 2018. It makes me sad & mad that this show, that was so wonderful just a few years ago, has gone so far downhill. Now it isn't much different from those silly "home shows" full of junk cookware, solar and spa sales booths. read more

Another failure from the king of vanilla modernism. This uninspired show is an awful, un-creative, half empty, overpriced waste of time. You truly will get more inspiration from an IKEA for free and I don't find IKEA very inspirational. I made the mistake to giving the show another chance after last year's miserable show and I've learned my lesson now. I will not waste my time or money again. Also they try too hard to get information from you for their advertising and then bombard you all year with emails about their 'fabulous' show and then even call you to try to get you to go. read more

Michelle Swayze did get back with me last Tuesday. We had already made plans not to go as you can see below... BUT she called me as she was boarding her flight. She said she'd honor the rate I had originally paid. That sparked some motivation. In the end, she comped BOTH of our tickets! I am very pleased. I also realize that the issue isn't Dwell it's that outsourced reg company and Goldstar ONLY! We are grateful and will donate the funds to a related Charity... I'm updating (but still Don't buy VIP or All Access tix from Goldstar nor Groupon for Dwell On Design) Buy directly from the venue! There is no way to register for allllll the consultations. You cannot just show up with a voucher. You'll need a badge for the home tours and ALL! I'm a longtime subscribe to this magazine and I attend the show every year with my husband. We are working on our first smart home/livinggreen home and we have been planning to see the Display of some of the living homes actually standing at Dwell this year. Sadly we won't be attending. I Bought ALL access passes over a week ago...from Goldstar for this event this year. They were deeply discounted. I did second guess. when I went to register the tickets, I selected all of the consultations that we wanted which were not sold out at the time and I also registered for both days at home tours and opening night party. We were really looking forward to the meet the architects evening as well as The Jonathan Adler lecture. I take This all as a sign from God...I need to stick with my main man Zolton! Long to short, I was finally issued a refund today after over a week and a half of back-and-forth. Dwell has outsourced the registration process out to a company called compusystems. Worthless. We plan this for so long and very disappointed I Dwell. Grateful for the refund from Goldstar that we had to fight for over a week and a half to get. They had no choice, they were selling something that could not be registered and confirmed. I was told to contact Michel Swayze because I was going to purchase the tickets at full price. We'd rather do that than show up and not know what the heck is going on...Sadly (again) she never responded. We will save our coins for the architectural digest show! I'm only giving them 3 stars because I love the magazine and the show used to be really, really great, customer service used to be awesome! I guess the last is the past:( read more

I purchased my two-day pass to the Dwell on Design show through Groupon or Livingsocial, from one of the many deal offerers. I have been patiently waiting for this show to happen, and I was not disappointed. I went on the last day, Sunday, and read that it opened at 8:30, however it really opened at 10am. Heard other people griping about this too, but I grabbed a coffee and checked out the vendor booklet and floor plan. It was nice that it wasn't very crowded at 10am, but when I left, there was a long a$$ line to register and get your badge. This is definitely a show for the modern homeowner/decorator, if you read the Dwell magazine you know this, although I did see some tranditional touches. I loved looking at all the different vendors and installers, and I found not only some great ideas for my house, but people and business' that do the installation/remodel/work as well, and that is gold to me. I grabbed fliers and cards, and intend to check everyone out more thoroughly online. This was worth getting up on a Sunday morning to me, and I already plan to check it out again next year. Tip: I did not realize that downtown was also setting up for the X Games, so most of Fig was closed between Staples/LA Live and Olympic. Make sure to check to see if there are another major events happening at the same time to plan your route. Gripe: The convention center is large. It would have been nice to have a few more signs directing attendees to the West hall, which is tucked into the far corner right behind Staples. I saw a lot of confused people wandering around as I was leaving. read more

I really feel like money should be refunded to all of us who purchased a 3 day pass. There is no way you would need more than an afternoon there. I kept thinking there must be another room or hall where the rest of the exhibitors were, but no that was it just one lame little show. I feel bad for some of those more mom and pop vendors who may have shelled out a lot of money to be there, must've been a waste of time for them too. read more

I mean you gotta hand it to the marketing team. I've been wanting to go to this show for years now. I've followed the mag, IG account and was so looking forward to this. We were given comped tickets from Houzz (great platform FYI) so my wife and I headed out. I told my wife it was going to be amazing. Considering she isn't in the Design industry it took a bit of arm twisting but I got her to come with me. We found two baby sitters to cover the whole day; I mean we are going to the DWELL ON DESIGN Show... we are going got be walking around for HOURS! I don't normally talk things up but I just come on! It's DWELL ON DESIGN! It started with the poor sign directions after entering the venue at the LA Convention center. I'm not sure if this is the Convention Center's responsibility but either way DWELL should have followed up. I had to ask some random guy what side of the structure I should park on to be closest to the entrance. Once we made our way to the venue the signage wasn't much better. We ended up checking in and then just following people who had badges... granted I'm not known for having a stellar sense of direction so I'll take the blame for this one. My wife and I were so excited to head to the venue. Based on all the photo documentation I had seen over the years I more than stoked to see what amazing displays, vendors, furniture makers, product designers, architect models and the like we're going to be sprawled over this massive space. Literally, none of that happened. I can not even begin to tell you how my heart sunk as we walked through that place just WAITING to turn a corner and be WOWED. I've never been to anything so disappointing in my carrier. All that I was expecting was a letdown. I am so grateful to HOUZZ for comping these tickets and recommend that everyone check them out but I really hope they didn't have to pay a dime for them cause it was a complete waste. I really don't know what else to say. Disappointed isn't a strong enough word to describe the disgust my wife and I felt as we walked around knowing that people paid over $300 some even up to $600... for WHAT?!? DWELL GET YOU STUFF TOGETHER! read more

This show isn't what it used to be and certainly not worth the price of admission, even at a discount. Previous shows had amazing and unique furniture and design solutions that were on the cutting edge of the industry. Now it's basically a high-end Home Depot show. The best furniture on display came from a over-priced thrift shop from the Valley that had the forethought to get a tiny booth. Also, the presentations/speakers this year were weak. Finally, the few vendors I looked forward to seeing, like Resource Furniture and the guys that build container homes didn't even have a booth! Sucked. Another thing, I get the whole trade show app thing -- negates the need to print brochures/maps; pushes content, etc. But this is an event for a very tactile industry. I want that damn show book! I want to be able to flip pages to see the vendors without having to comb through 1/2 a dozen poorly designed app pages to NOT find the vendor I'm looking for. Ugh.... The beer garden was cool though. read more

Dwell on Design is an annual convention held at the West Hall of the LA Convention Center focusing on modern designs and ideas for homes. It is a 3 day event filled with a lot of vendors that include appliances, furniture, designers, and ideas for your home ranging from sustainability to being eco friendly. During the 3 days, Dwell has speakers from the design industry speaking about up coming trends and ideas. Along with the convention there are a 2 home tours available the weekend before and during showcasing homes of the Southern California that are unique in design. I really wanted to take the tour but didn't get a chance. While this convention was nice, it wasn't very eye opening if you subscribe to the magazine. Most of the information/advertiser were already featured so it felt more like paying to touch and feel some of the products. If you love modern furniture and design and do not read the magazine I would highly recommend this convention. If you do go please be prepared for some of the most snotty, stuck up effing sales people ever. This is my biggest problem with this convention. I really do not understand how they can be like this. Chill the eff out people. You sell modern furniture. I think I was better off going to Culver City, Robertson or Ventura Blvd for furniture shopping. At least that way I didn't have to pay the convention fee to deal with these people. read more

Horrible signage, could barely find it and asked 4 different employees where the exhibit room was. On site is incredibly costly--$40.00 with a lengthy and intrusive registration process that borderlines on the bizarre. Underwhelming exhibits and speakers. I'm fanatical about their magazine, but not so much this event. Definitely interested next year in the home tour, but unless you are planning a remodel in next few months, probably won't do anything for you. Food choices at concessions were bizarrely complex. Would have been better to keep it simile. Couldn't believe that's all it was. Expected more, delivered less. read more

I got a three day pass this year to the show as I am a big fan of the magazine and thought it would be a great place to see some great innovative designs, ideas, and talks. 1. The LA Convention Center is huge. Parking is VERY difficult. 2. Food at the Convention Center ... sucks. 3. The show was far smaller than I thought it would be - covered a lot of sq ft, but not a lot of meaningful content. I think I found 3 or 4 companies worthy of note. 4. Speakers or the Design Stage was very cool. 5. Way too many big corporate names... showing the same old... stuff. (Boring) 6. I enjoyed the prefab home displays and talks - innovative. 7. I did meet a handful of cool interesting people. All in all, worth the investment of attending for me. I did walk away with a few contacts, a few good ideas, and enjoyed some of the displays/talks. If I had to do it again, I'd 1) show my furniture designs off cuz I'd very easily be one of the very cool kids there, 2) focus most of my time going to the talks/tours, and 3) go to the networking/opening night. Now... to just raise or save enough money to actually be able to show at a convention like this next year!! read more

I've been to a bunch of art-themed conventions over the years and am usually met with pretentious gallery owners, art dealers and bourgie art-types. The shows are usually so huge that it is impossible to see all the art in one day and you are left with sore eyes and throbbing feet. By the end of it all, you find the artwork has become one big blur and nothing specifically stays in your memory. This wasn't the case at all with the Dwell on Design show! While I found it to be quite large in scale, it was super manageable. It's not too huge that you need a 3-day pass or anything. You can see the whole show in one day (we spent about 3-4 hours). There is tons to see and you can stop and hear a few lectures as you go. Ed Begely Jr. (the actor!) was giving a lecture on sustainable living practices, which was pretty interesting. Also, I found most, if not all of the exhibitors to be actually very friendly and engaging (NOT AT ALL like your typical art convention snobs). They all seemed pretty eager to share information on their products to those interested. That being said, make sure you go early in the AM and early in the show, because these guys get pretty tired of answering the same questions all day. Dwell on Design is a home furnishings and art show fused as one: Think of it as the Home Depot meets MOCA. It mainly consisted of interior design products, new kitchen and household appliances and demos from Miele, Kohler (of the toilet fame), gadgets from the design store A + R and various eco friendly product makers. I loved being able to walk inside some Pre-fab homes (they had 3 actual furnished homes on display!). I also dug the giant solar powered garage set up. If you have your own house (and lots of cash) and are looking to furnish it with some dope design, this is a great place to come and get ideas. As an artist myself, I enjoyed the sheer design-y aspect of it all and got some interesting ideas for using recycled and earth friendly materials in my work. As a venue, I thought it was fairly easy to get around and there were accessible bathrooms on each corner. Also, my feet weren't hurting when we left (note: wear comfy shoes)! When you get there, you get a badge that enables for easy in/out access in case you want to leave to get some food or drink (just outside) and come back in later. There was a strange talking robot, plenty of kid friendly interactive activities and even some cooking demos in which you could sample some meals. My only complaint was that I would have liked to see more art-inspired design as opposed to so much commercial grade product. For instance, take the (few) furniture pieces (eg. tables, chairs); while there were some good design elements in there, there was no real WOW factor to anything. Everything was very practical and safe and not very cutting edge art-wise. It felt like there was a lot of high end (really expensive stuff) and low-end (gadget type things.) but nothing really in between for the rest of us who are sick of cookie cutter IKEA or CB2 but can't yet quite afford Helms Bakery (or fancier) type design. All in all, if you are an interior designer, artist or have any interest in fruitlessly daydreaming about your perfect dream home, this is a cool show to check out. read more

Awful show this year. First of all the information from Dwell was to park in the West Hall. We arrived and the show had been moved to the South Hall the registration process for picking up passes was poorly done as well. Most employers did not know where we could pick up the passes from. The previous years there were more vendors we liked but this years show we did not enjoy it as much. A lot of the artists that appeared in year one are no longer there. The food here is awful. We went to the cafe and they list sandwiches for sale but there are none. The fruit other than a few banana all gone. Hot dogs awful. The food truck selling ice cream nice touch but with only one person serving ice cream it's a twenty to thirty minute wait. I get you do not come attend to eat but I go to several trade shows a year and this one is poorly done . Vendors for products excellent but we will pass next year. fo read more

I really expected way more from a trade show put on by Dwell magazine, but this is quite possibly the most underwhelming trade show I have ever been to. The slogan was something like, "America's largest design show." In reality, it seriously might be the smallest trade show of any kind I have ever been to, and I've been to plenty, especially in the home building and remodeling industry. I was able to cover the entire show in less than 3 hours. The home tours were enjoyable, but not worth the money, considering no transportation, nor refreshments are provided, nor are photos allowed in the homes. Also, if you do go, there is plenty of parking available around the homes (the show info suggest to take ubers/lyfts, not necessary in my opinion). Additionally, I found the general organization of the show to be pretty awful, particularly the location and timing of the maplet pickups for the home tours. Whomever organized this show needs to rethink some things, take feedback, or get someone with more experience involved. The assortment of vendors at the show itself and the organization of the booths I also found to be pretty dismal. It didn't seem like they really represented the image and brand of Dwell. Perhaps the most interesting parts of the show were the tiny homes, prefab homes, and campers. However, tiny homes are becoming a bit trite, and a few too many booths rely on poorly executed versions of tiny homes to show off their products, which just creates a cluster*f of foot traffic in a trade show environment. I wish I had more positive things to say about the show, but for the cost, and if you have traveled to get there, I would absolutely NOT recommend it. read more

A very lame exhibition compared to previous years. Not worth it. Very disappointed. Gave 1 star rating for the effort coz I like Dwell magazine. read more

Bought tickets online and you think that after years and years of conventions they would've figured out how to let people pick up badges that have already paid for them but alas not here--RIDICULOUS read more

Dwell on Design - The stupid line that we're standing in after having pre-paid for tickets - Interior Design Near Me - Los Angeles, California

I walked through the expansive aisles of modern design on Saturday afternoon. They offer discounted/free tickets for students and certain others. I really enjoyed seeing all the manufacturer's displays. I think I would be hesitant to come back again next year for fear of repetition, but I would be interested in checking out the Dwell on Design home tours next time around. The exhibit at the convention center was fun because it was like walking through a living, interactive Dwell magazine. Seeing it all in person made for a fun, "oh I've seen this in the magazine before" experience. read more

Dwell on Design - Solar panels as a patio cover - Interior Design Near Me - Los Angeles, California

I drove all the way from Palm Springs and spent the money to stay in a hotel overnight so that I could spend hours at the show. It used to fill up two different halls. This year, 2018, it only filled about 50% of one hall. I did not see one sink, refrigerator, lighting fixtures, or anything I need to use in my work. Absolutely not even one high-end distributor was there. We asked at several booths and found out this: many of the reps are not coming back next year, and that the beginning of the end was when Dwell Magazine sold the rights to the show to someone else. It's a total waste of time, effort, energy and money. Shame on them. read more

Better said, "how the mighty have fallen." My first Dwell on Design LA show was maybe 09. I've been hooked ever since especially on the house tours. I've missed the last two-three shows going only on the house tours. This year, I was eager to get to the show. What happened?? Seemed to have about 1/5 of the usual exhibitors. And most of them sucked. Gone were the large appliance displays I remember from Miele and LG. No Caesarstone. No Grohe. Oh but Toyota was there with the new Prius. Huh?? And even the small indie designers were equally bad. I remember seeing the coolest things at past shows that I never saw anywhere else. I'm done with this show for now. read more

I visited in 2014 and I thought that it may be a little better, as I left disappointed that year. Well it's worse. For the money that you pay, I really wouldn't attend. It seems that they have failed to secure any main stream suppliers, or really any suppliers at all. The place is half empty! For a magazine of this size not being able to secure any noteworthy brands to exhibit is quite shocking. Save your money people. DWELL sort it out. The show has no structure, there's such a lush mash of things. read more

Wow, what an incredible waste of time! I have been to this show twice before and loved it. The last few years I have been frustrated that work had kept me from going back. However this year I was available and was thrilled to find "complimentary" tickets on Goldstar ($7 dollar service fee per ticket however) My friend and I were shocked when we arrived as the show was barely a shell of it's former self and a quarter of the size. It was terrible, literally took us less than an hour to see the entire thing and see nothing of interest during that hour (unless you find someone trying to sign you up for a Capital One credit card worthwhile!) Total joke of a show and so sad considering how cool it was a few years ago. With $20 dollar parking and basically free tickets it was still a total ripoff. Imagine if Home Depot charged you $20 to park and then a fee to enter. Except you'd see more things of actual interest at Home Depot. Put this show out of it's misery and pull the plug already. Ridiculous! read more

There were some impressive presentations from vendors and neat products here but also a few empty booths. Overall impression was "meh" given that this convention was advertised as biggest in the country. read more

Like many others who have attended before, the 2018 Dwell show was a bust! In past years, you were wowed upon entering the exhibit hall by the interesting "designed" vendor areas. There was no visual interest to be seen. What surprised me, was how quickly I got out of there! read more

You've got to go for the seminars and not to just walk among the vendors. You can learn so much about the design and framework of homes. Next year, I'll plan my visit with the seminars in mind. read more

I've been going to the LA Dwell Convention since the first year and have been inspired each year - until 2016. The size was miniscule compared to past years. Gone were most of the international vendors (maybe it's too expensive?) who brought value and fresh innovation. While there were some really great booths (design, kitchen appliances and green technology), we were disappointed with most of the vendor offerings. The biggest mistake in my opinion were the vendors hawking their wares such as the TENS units, moisturizing cream people and competing massage chairs. At one point, the TENS unit lady went from $400 for 1 unit to $98 for 2 units (no, thank you AGAIN - we already have two at home). The Dwell Convention should be a safe, classy, inspirational event and, with the exception of a few vendors, fell very far short this past year. The only way I would have been impressed in 2016 was if I had never seen the glory of the past conventions. Dwell, please step it up - we will give you one more year to recover. If you have new staff, have them revisit the policies, pricing and procedures from past years. Do whatever it takes to recover - PLEASE. This was the highlight of our summer in past years... read more