Rebuilding After the L.A. Fires

In January, Caren Rideau experienced the unimaginable. Her interior design firm of 30-plus years, Kitchen Design Group, burned to the ground in the devastating wildfire that swept through Los Angeles.

 

“Within the first week after the fire, I had about 10 clients tell me that I better not get out of this business,” Rideau recalls. “They were depending on me to rebuild. I knew I mattered.”

 

About two weeks later, she decided she was—in fact—coming back, although she wasn’t quite sure what that was going to look like.

 

In September, Rideau and her team reopened their showroom in Santa Monica, about 5 miles from her previous location in Pacific Palisades.

 

“It’s smaller, but that was intentional,” she says. “I wanted to be more practical [with the new location], so it’s a smaller space. There is one showroom in this location, and it’s an operational kitchen. I want this new showroom and ‘Chapter 2.0’ to reflect more of the things I love, and it kind of encompasses my last book, entertaining, kitchen design and wine.”

 

We had the pleasure of interviewing Rideau recently, learning about why she chose interior design and why she chose kitchen design, as well as her book and her collaboration with Gorky Pottery. 

 

Full article and video here: https://designviewpoint.dsasociety.org/accidentally-on-purpose-caren-rideau/