EPTDESIGN is relocating their Orange County studio to Irvine, opening a new studio space in Pasadena, and expanding to three new locations—Claremont, San Diego, and Santa Barbara. 

A Walk Through The Studio

Over this past year, we’ve grown in new and unexpected ways. Taking time to reflect on what is important to us, we realized it was time to rethink our two-studio model of the past. Like many of you, we’ve missed the simple interactions that made our studios an inspiring place to be—trying our best to replace them with virtual design reviews, weekly online water cooler chats, and zoom holiday parties…with many of those attempts falling short of the real thing.

This past year made it clear how important face-to-face human connection is for all of us. How it drives us as humans from an emotional and social standpoint, and also how connectivity fuels our creative process as designers. We’ve missed the simple things like the lunchtime catch-ups, project detail discussions, design pin-ups, sketching ideas with our team, kick-offs and closeouts, happy hours, and even the impromptu ping pong tournaments! All of which (yes- even the ping pong) inspire and forge strong bonds amongst our teams, collaborators, and clients. A simple walk through the studio could evoke inspiration, laughter, and thoughtful reflection all in just a few steps.

Although the virtual workplace has its challenges, we also have come to recognize some of the benefits of working from home. Less time commuting meant more time with family, loved ones, exercise, or hobbies. A simple idea that took the pandemic’s harsh restrictions for us to recognize.

This was our design challenge: find a way to fuel our culture in safe and creative office environments while still allowing the flexibility we found valuable while working from home.  

We decided it would be best to spread our roots—expanding our geographic reach from two studios to five across Southern California. Each studio would be placed strategically close to our staff, clients, and projects- allowing greater access for collaboration and client interaction, less time on the road, and a healthier work/life balance.  

Nothing about the past year has been straightforward, but finding a way to safely come back to our studios and see each other in person was always in our sights. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and take a walk through our studios again.

We can’t wait to see you soon.

—The EPTDESIGN Family