Boohoo's New Happy Place on Melrose

“Before Crypton, we would never have been able to do this office the way we did,” says interior and furniture designer Kim Salmela of her recent design of fashion and beauty brand Boohoo’s Los Angeles office and showroom. Workplace design has to fit the ethos of the company it keeps. In this case, a very busy, happy and productive work style combines with a fast-moving and ever-changing assortment of clothing and cosmetics to show and sell.

Boohoo is a decade-old global lifestyle brand that started in the UK, with an impossible-sounding minimum of 100 new products dropping each day. This space is their new United States headquarters, so they’re always up to something big. They run things on the motto “work hard, have fun, no drama.” Amen to that! Kim did them justice in this versatile, light-filled, upbeat space, where the only drama is coming from fantastic color, texture and pattern.

Tasked with creating a fun, shareable, residential-feeling interior for the many influencers that visit, Kim nonetheless had to be sure the decor was able to handle high traffic, events and happenings while still looking adorable and staying ahead of the curve. Crypton fabrics, including some luscious velvets and stunning wovens, came to play, but also to work!

First, tossing out the old boardroom and replacing it with a workplace lounge helps lower stress and up the comfort factor for employees and guests alike. It also makes the office instantly event-ready. Using plenty of upholstered furniture gives everyone a soft place to land, and also helps to make the space more sound-absorbent, so multiple smaller gatherings can happen in a large, communal space. Totally versatile, custom sectionals of Kim’s design may be arranged variously along with sleek ottomans to create custom configurations for meetings and presentations.

The sectionals are upholstered in Crypton fabric that looks and feels like linen, in a delicious pale caramel color that would ordinarily be too risky for an office design, but is totally worry-free thanks to Crypton performance technology.? Small ottomans are “dressed” in bold black and white graphics that feel as fresh and fashionable as a new Boohoo look, while large ottomans are neatly decked out in a Crypton fabric that looks like it came off the same bolt as a favorite black denim jacket.? Because the performance technology is not a finish, but rather is actually part of the fabric itself, Boohoo is a feet-up workspace, ready for everything from morning cold-brew to evening cocktails at Boohoo events.

A curvaceous sofa with piles of fashion-forward throw pillows offers sweet seating nearby racks of fashions ready to be previewed by LA’s top fashionistas and stylish opinion leaders. The sofa is covered in Crypton velvet in a rich sapphire hue. You might not think of using velvet in a high-traffic workplace interior, but with Crypton, all the coffee-fueled meetings and wine enriched editorial collection reviews will be no match for this enduring beauty. Spills just bead up and can be wiped away easily. And wear is nowhere in sight, as Crypton fabrics last and last looking new and living up beautifully to the careful dressmaker detail the Kim puts into all of her furnishings.

All the industry is abuzz about resimerical design – bringing residential looks into commercial interiors. A better example of this hot trend would be hard to find. More of a living room than a showroom, the Boohoo space is filled with homey touches like gallery-framed photography, table lamps, deeply pleated drapery and cushy area rugs. There are no cubicles or stick-down carpet tiles here. Judicious use of neon art and industrial details add just the right edge to distinguish this as a place with purpose.

A photo studio that converts to an event space features another sofa with a vintage feel, covered in a blush toned Crypton linen weave fabric.

No modern workspace/showroom/party space is complete without a statement-making selfie wall. Instead of step and repeat this one is swing and repeat with adorable hanging basket chairs and a garden’s worth of blooms and greens.

Nobody would boohoo if this were their office! Designers, do you have a commercial space you’d like to share with us? Perhaps we can share it with our readers!

All photos and video in this post: Echo + Earl