L.A.'s commercial interior design firms post big gains.

With local business slow, firms look for profit out of town

Design 1 is now No. 1 on The List (see opposite page) of the largest local commercial interior design firms, ranked according to 1993 billings from L.A. County offices. Century City-based Design 1 Interiors leaped from the No. 2 slot a year ago as the interiors specialist rode a wave of Asian hotel and resort development, with billings up from $6.9 million in 1992 to $8.6 million last year.

Design 1 replaced the Santa Monica-based local office of San Francisco-headquartered industry giant Gensler & Associates/Architects. The Gensler office's overall design work continues to grow, but billings in the interiors sector have fallen from $13.5 million in 1991 to last year's $8.2 million, noted Ed Friedrichs, vice president/managing principal of Gensler's local operations.

"But we'll be back in the No. 1 spot next year," Friedrichs predicted, adding that Gensler's proposal pipeline is "picking up substantially" following a sluggish late 1993 and general business disruption in the Northridge earthquake's aftermath.

Some contrasts between the current List and its predecessor a year ago do seem to indicate that interior design markets and/or business plans are indeed improving among Gensler's top local competitors. While only six local interior design operations on last year's List saw their 1992 billings increase over the previous year's totals, 13 reported progress in 1993.

And like a year ago, certain firms near the top of The List experienced the most impressive gains. Five of the top seven on the current List reported billings gains over 1992's figures, with four of them showing exceptional growth.

Besides Design 1, No. 3-ranked Hirsch/Bender Associates of Santa Monica, another hospitality specialist, saw its local-office billings jump to $7.2 million in 1993 from $4.9 million a year earlier. The Westwood-area office of the No. 4 player, Chicago-based Interior Space International, saw its billings rise from $4.5 million in 1992 to $6.75 million last year.

Another big gainer was No. 7 James Northcutt Associates, based near West Hollywood. Helping clients including some key hospitality accounts, Northcutt moved up seven slots after billings jumped 50 percent last year to $3.3 million.

A second top-five firm losing a bit of ground last year is Cole Martinez Curtis & Associates of Marina del Rey. It fell two slots to No. 5 as billings dropped from $6.3 million in 1992 to $5.4 million last year.

Newcomers to The List this year include the downtown L.A. office of San Francisco-based No. 19 Interior Architects Inc.; the Culver City-adjacent local offices of New York-based No. 23 Environetics; and No. 25 Carmen Farnum Igonda Design of West Hollywood.

Design 1 President Sue Firestone said the 18-year-old firm she heads has focused on the hospitality specialty during the last five years, designing interior spaces of country clubs, resorts and major hotel "service apartments" as well as hotels.

Much of the work has been for clients building or renovating properties in major Southeast Asia metropolitan areas, and Design 1 has even established a non-design satellite office in Hong Kong now that business opportunities are opening in China, Firestone added. Domestically, Design 1 continues to work on Walt Disney Co.'s Orlando-area themed resort projects.

Friedrichs noted that the local Gensler office continues to attract assignments in the thriving local entertainment sector. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Bros. Inc. -- both of which have embarked on major local studio expansion programs -- are among that office's key clients.