After spending time in the worlds of fashion and art, Brian Thoreen developed the design firm Thoreen & Ritter before starting his own eponymous design practice. Based in downtown Los Angeles, Thoreen’s designs stem from an intimate encounter between the materials and the maker. Working with components as varied as metal, marble, wood, and rubber, Thoreen manipulates these raw forms into sharply geometrical pieces of furniture or lamps, allowing the specificity of each material’s surface to govern the final appearance of the object. “Nearly everything in this life begins with an act of imagination. It is an intoxicating process to reimagine the world as it pleases you, and then will it into physical existence with extreme specificity, without compromise,” Thoreen has said of his process.