Shimoda Design Group

What Shimoda Design Group does

Shimoda Design Group is a privately held architecture and interior design studio headquartered in the Arts District of downtown Los Angeles. Founded on February 14, 2000, by Joey Shimoda, FAIA, FIIDA, and Susan Chang, AIA, the firm operates as a small, founder-led practice of approximately 15 architects and designers. Its service offering is organized around two core pillars—'Inside' (interior design spanning workplace interiors, branded environments, and creative workspaces) and 'Outside' (architecture and exterior design covering history-conscious building renovations, adaptive reuse, and forward-looking creative campuses)—supplemented by 'Technique' (process documentation and thought leadership on sustainable design) and 'Inspiration' (a content platform tied to the firm's Instagram presence). The 'Inside to Out' design philosophy, which integrates interior and exterior considerations into a single holistic design approach, is the firm's stated point of view.

The firm generates revenue through project-based professional services fees from direct client engagements, with no public pricing or recurring-revenue model. Customers are predominantly enterprise clients across diverse verticals: Steelcase (office furniture; four documented engagements from 2008 to 2015 in Los Angeles and Chicago), Warner Music Group's Artist Publishing Group (2016), TOMS Shoes (headquarters), Mikimoto (retail jewelry, 2004), Tishman Speyer (Foundry Cafe, 2014), and the Museum of Neon Art / City of Glendale (government/cultural). Distribution is entirely direct, with no intermediaries or channel partners. Geographic reach spans the United States, with completed work in Los Angeles and Chicago, though the studio itself is single-location.

Shimoda Design Group's marketing relies on organic social media (Instagram @sdgarc), event participation (LA Design Festival 2018), and earned media (Los Angeles Magazine feature, October 2020). The firm carries multiple industry recognitions including the Good Design Award, Interior Design BOY Award, Contract Magazine Designer of the Year, Charles J. Pankow Award, SCDF Design Awards, and LABC Architectural Award. The company is independent and founder-owned, with no disclosed institutional investors, funding rounds, or parent-company relationships.

Name

Shimoda Design Group

Legal name

Shimoda Design Group

Website

https://shimodadesign.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Shimoda Design Group is a privately held, founder-led architecture and interior design studio in downtown Los Angeles, serving enterprise clients across the U.S. with workplace interiors, historic building renovations, and creative campus projects through project-based engagements.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Architectural Design Services

NAICS

Architectural Services (54131), Interior Design Services (541410)

akta.pro primary industry

Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Interior Design Services (BPAHAKAB), Community Engagement & Participatory Planning (BPAHAKAO)

Keywords

• Architecture design services
• Interior design studio
• Workplace interior design
• Building renovation services
• Creative campus design

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Revenue model

1. Architecture and Design Services: Project-based fees for architectural design, interior design, and space planning services. Revenue generated through direct client engagements for workplace interiors, building renovations, and creative campus projects.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Shimoda Design Group is an Architecture and Interiors studio that delivers interior design (workplace interiors, branded environments, creative workspaces) and exterior architecture (building renovations, new construction, creative campuses) on a project basis. The firm applies a holistic "Inside to Out" design philosophy and has built a portfolio across corporate headquarters, adaptive reuse, residential/commercial developments, and hospitality/retail spaces.

Product overview

Shimoda Design Group is an award-winning Architecture and Interiors studio offering a comprehensive suite of design services. The firm operates across two core service pillars: Inside (interior design including workplace interiors, branded environments, and creative workspaces) and Outside (architecture and exterior design including history-conscious building renovations and forward-looking creative campuses). The firm's service offering is supported by Technique (a maker space documenting their design process and sustainable design philosophy) and Inspiration (a content platform connecting with the design community). The portfolio includes 15+ completed projects spanning corporate headquarters (TOMS Shoes HQ, Steelcase Innovation Center), adaptive reuse (National Typewriter Company, Museum of Neon Art), residential/commercial developments (AMP Lofts, The Wheeler, The Collective), and hospitality/retail spaces (Foundry Cafe, Mikimoto).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Inside

Named customers9 records

Segments3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Los Angeles MagazineminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSelected by Los Angeles Magazine to imagine bold solutions to the city's homelessness crisis. The firm participated in a feature exploring 'What if' questions about affordable housing, transforming urban spaces, and sustainable living solutions. Created comic strips illustrating creative solutions to homelessness.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• HOK: HOK is a global design, architecture, engineering, and planning firm with deep workplace and corporate interiors practices. It is a broad incumbent with substantially greater headcount and geographic reach than SDG, competing for the same enterprise clients.
• Gensler: Gensler is the world's largest architecture and design firm with global coverage across workplace, hospitality, retail, and mixed-use. It is a broad incumbent competing with SDG for large enterprise accounts but offers a much wider service portfolio and geographic reach.
• Perkins&Will: Perkins&Will is a major global architecture and design firm with deep workplace interiors and adaptive reuse practices. It is a broad incumbent competing with SDG for enterprise and civic clients with substantially greater scale.

Regional players

• Marmol Radziner: Marmol Radziner is a Los Angeles-based architecture and design firm known for high-end residential, commercial, and adaptive reuse projects. It is a regional peer sharing SDG's LA base, award-winning brand, and integrated architecture/interiors practice model.

Emerging players

• Snøhetta: Snøhetta is a transdisciplinary design practice with offices in New York and internationally, working across architecture, interiors, and landscape. It is comparable in brand prestige and integrated design philosophy but operates at significantly larger scale and broader geographic footprint than SDG.

Direct peers

• Rockwell Group: Rockwell Group is a New York-based architecture and design firm specializing in hospitality, entertainment, and branded environments. It is comparable to SDG in offering an integrated architecture/interiors practice with award-winning design credentials and high-profile enterprise clients.
• Rapt Studio: Rapt Studio is a creative workplace and branded environment design firm based in Los Angeles. It is highly comparable to Shimoda Design Group in scale, niche focus on innovative workplace interiors and creative campuses, and LA-based boutique positioning serving enterprise clients.
• Clive Wilkinson Architects: Clive Wilkinson Architects is a Los Angeles-based architecture and interior design practice known for workplace interiors and large-scale creative office environments (e.g., the Googleplex, Chrysler headquarters). It directly competes with SDG for innovative corporate workplace projects in the LA market.
• IA Interior Architects: IA Interior Architects is one of the largest global workplace interior design firms with offices across the US. It competes with SDG on corporate workplace interior projects but operates at significantly greater scale and headcount.
• Studio O+A: Studio O+A is a San Francisco-based interior architecture firm specializing in workplace, tech office, and creative campus design. It competes with SDG for tech and corporate enterprise workplace interior projects and shares the boutique studio model focused on innovative work environments.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/sdgarc
• Xx.com/sdgarc
• Facebookfacebook.com/sdgarc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Shimoda Design Group