Raking Light
Fig. 1. Painted surface under raking light. Light at 9° from the plane, from the left

Raking Light

Art + interiors · Los Angeles

A design studio that plans rooms around the art that lives in them. We furnish homes, find the work to hang in them, and run both as one project, from the first walkthrough to the last picture hook.

Work

The studio's own loft, Los Angeles

  • Scope Furnishings + art, collected over years
  • Status Lived in

An open loft under timber trusses: design classics, vintage finds and a collection of paintings, prints and works on paper, with books treated as part of the room.

Long view of a loft great room under exposed timber trusses, toward a wall of windows lined with plants.
The great room. Timber trusses, paper light, plants along the windows and a long run of art down one wall.
Living area seen from a marble kitchen island, with a glowing paper lamp and a low wood-and-glass coffee table.
Living area. Noguchi table, Akari lamps, a vintage steamer trunk.
White ladder shelves of stacked books flanking a wall-mounted screen, with two portraits hung to the left.
Shelf wall. Books stacked as objects, portraits hung alongside.
A black leather Eames lounge chair on a deep wool rug beside tall windows and potted plants.
Reading corner. Eames lounge, a deep wool rug, plants against the window.
A white bed with red pillows under a paper bubble pendant, with a vintage film poster above.
Bedroom. A vintage French poster for La Dolce Vita under a Nelson bubble lamp.
Paintings, prints and drawings hung salon-style above a long black bookcase.
Gallery wall. Paintings, prints and works on paper hung salon-style above a working library.

A single-story new build, Los Angeles

  • Scope Whole house, furnishings + art
  • Size 1,525 sq ft
  • Status In progress, completing 2027

A great room under vaulted wood ceilings runs in one line from the fireplace through the kitchen island to the dining room and the patio doors. The brief: comfortable, durable furniture meant to be the owners' last, planned around a collection of prints and paintings. Every piece was checked against the permit drawings and site measurements, since retailer renders tend to mislead on scale.

Three large framed prints, about 14 feet across together, hang behind the kitchen island and set the color for the whole great room, so the furniture stays calmer and lets the art lead. The owners compared three directions built on the same rooms and the same pieces they already own:

Warm California Modern

White oak, linen and leather, with sky blue and clay.

Desert Modern, grown up

Travertine, cane, and terracotta and ochre used sparingly so they don't compete with the art.

Collected Gallery Modern

Plaster, smoked oak, cognac leather and ink blue. The art brings the rest of the color.

In every direction: performance fabric or leather, low-pile wool rugs on pads, and layered reading light.

Three rooms in a Berkeley home

  • Scope Living, dining + a second living space, furnishings + art
  • Timeline Six months
  • Status In progress

A living room, dining room and second sitting room furnished together, with art selected for each room as part of the plan.

Art

The other half of the practice: finding work that belongs in a particular home, for clients and for the studio's own collection.

Painting of a woman with long dark hair seated cross-legged on pale bedding in a white slip.
From the studio's collectionMeghann StephensonGirl's Best Friend, 2026. Oil on canvas, 48 × 36 in.
Black-and-white photograph of a dark plume of dust trailing across a pale salt flat.
Advised on · a Bay Area homeJim ManganTrailblazer and One Wheeler, 2017–2026. Archival pigment prints, 30 × 20 in and 30 × 45 in, editions of 5. A pair; Trailblazer shown as installed.
Painting of a nighttime picnic in a dense, colorful garden with bears, a wolf, deer and figures around a red-draped table.
Advised on · the Los Angeles new buildAndie DinkinMidnight Spirits. Acrylic, gouache, ink, pastel and charcoal on canvas, 20 × 24 in.

Services

Interiors

Furniture, lighting, rugs and finishes for a single room or a whole house. Plans drawn to real dimensions, pieces sourced from trade showrooms and independent makers, and every order tracked through delivery.

Art advisory

Help finding the right piece for a specific wall, or building a collection over time. Gallery and studio introductions, pricing guidance, framing and installation.

Both, together

When the art is planned alongside the room, the wall space, sightlines and lighting are set aside for it from the start. Most of our projects work this way.

The name

raking light (n.) · conservation

Light cast across a painting from a very low angle, so every brushstroke, repair and thread of canvas throws a shadow.

Conservators use it to see what straight-on light hides. We take the same approach to a home: look closely at how the rooms are actually lived in before deciding what goes in them.

Process

  1. Walkthrough

    We visit the space, measure it, and talk through how you use it, what you already own, and what you want to keep.

  2. Design

    A plan with real dimensions, material and furniture boards, art recommendations and a working budget.

  3. Sourcing

    We order everything, through trade accounts where we can, and handle lead times, freight and returns.

  4. Install

    Furniture placed, art hung and lit, and the room finished in one visit where possible.

Contact

hello@rakinglight.studio

Based in the Arts District, Los Angeles. Working in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.