Despite only starting her company five years ago, Anna Rosemann, lead designer and founder of the Santa Monica-based design firm AR Interiors, has already seen tremendous growth in its business. Since starting her practice with residential properties, AR Interiors has begun to dabble in commercial design projects with hopes to continue expanding in the future.
“I started more residential, but now it’s more 50/50 commercial and residential projects,” Rosemann said. “…Now we’re at a point where we have some really healthy budgets so we’re not really doing smaller projects anymore.”
AR Interiors was founded in 2016. Since its conception, the interior design firm has managed residential and commercial interior design, home remodeling and smaller room decor projects. With 21 years of interior design experience under her belt, Rosemann has expanded the company outside of Santa Monica to include projects in Palm Springs, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Encino, La Jolla, San Diego and Downtown Los Angeles, among many other locations throughout Southern California.
During this time, the company has led approximately 12 large-scale commercial design projects, with its most recent being the interior remodeling of the Grayson, a retail store located at 843 S. Los Angeles Street in Downtown Los Angeles’ historic Lady Liberty Building.
Grayson is an all women’s clothing line founded by Audrey Mcloughlin. Charged with designing the showroom as well as back offices, Rosemann said she took inspiration from the all-female team as well as her previous residential experience to provide a unique at-home feel within the office and retail space. Decorated in farmhouse style, Rosemann explained the showroom is set up to look like a kitchen while offering plenty of seating as well as a place for young kids to play while their parents shop the store.
“Grayson is a women’s shirting line; her office is run by women…She wanted the show room to feel like a home, so that when buyers walk through the showroom they feel like they’re sitting at their friends’ house,” Rosemann explained. “It’s all about women’’s empowerment. We built this 20-foot doll house in the back..the founder is a single mom so it was really important to her to create a space that was friendly to working moms.”
In addition to Grayson, AR Interiors has completed commercial remodeling projects for various clients throughout Southern California, with some including Villa Vicente, a luxury apartment complex in Los Angeles; Ortho Regan, a medical office in Santa Monica; Muse, a condominium complex in La Jolla; as well as various others.
While working on these projects, Rosemann said she draws inspiration from her longtime experience in residential design to bring a welcoming feel to the space, while also trying to understand what a particular client is looking for.
“My design inspiration is a combination of function, of inspiring images that the owner has given me and the bones that I’m working with,” Rosemann said.
Having spent most of her career working on residential properties, Rosemann has also been in charge of more than 100 interior design and home renovation projects throughout Southern California during the past five years of being in business.
“During COVID-19 I’ve been busier than I’ve ever been in my whole career. A lot of people were at home quarantining and they were seeing what was wrong with their houses, so there are a lot of projects that I’m currently working on,” she said.
Looking ahead, Rosemann said she does not anticipate the company’s growth to stop anytime soon. With several residential and commercial office spaces currently underway, AR Interiors looks to continue on the upward trend with plans to expand the scope of their work in the coming years.
“I have a ton of projects that I’m really looking forward to finishing this year. With COVID, everything has been delayed so a lot of people that I started with aren’t going to see theirs completed until late November, so I’m pretty excited to just finish those,” Rosemann said. “I think overall I’d really love to expand my business and do more national and international work.”
