Designer shows innovation via strong client relationships
Steven Cooper is a renaissance man. Yes, he grew up in the business – from the days when his father Neil Cooper was a design-build home builder in Minnesota through the family’s move to Los Angeles in 1984, and the subsequent launch of Cooper Pacific Kitchens. But Cooper’s early years with Cooper Pacific were on the business side of things. He studied finance in college and since 1989, he’s helped build Cooper Pacific into a leading design-firm brand in West L.A.
Over the years, he gradually became a leading designer in his own right. Today, in addition to being owner and business chief, Cooper is the company’s principal designer. In recent years he’s led the firm to create a number of award-winning kitchens that have burnished the company’s reputation for its leading-edge design – modern with a relaxed California coastal feel. He’s often quoted on kitchen design trends by national publications such as the Wall Street Journal and Forbes. And, last year he earned Gold in Kitchen & Bath Design Award’s Best Kitchen over $200,000 category.
He describes his designs as detailed and layered but firmly rooted in the client’s tastes. He sees the depth of connection to clients as key to design success. “We are in an exciting market here in Los Angeles,” notes Cooper. “So I have the luxury and the ability to be very forward with our designs but also to push that envelope a little bit. We find that people are pretty receptive to new and different ideas.”
