Meet Leo Cesareo | Interior Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Leo Cesareo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Leo, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I was in my mid 30’s and by that time I had worked for many other designers throughout my career. I had helped establish a few design firms as well as worked for more established designers and had seen both sides of the industry. I truly thought I was going to be a company man the rest of my life.

That all changed when, one day at the last firm I was working at, I got a pretty severe dressing down from a snotty 24 year old junior designer for some petty office related drama. That was it. I hit my breaking point. I looked at my life and my talents and decided to quit on the spot and start my own design practice.

I was tired of the bureaucracy and office politics that were ultimately impeding me from actually designing. I felt that if I was ever going to get yelled at like that again, I’d rather it be from a paying client.

That was 7 years ago and I have yet to have a client yell at me at all, so I think I made the right decision.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I truly think in my case, my artistic drive is genetic. My grandfather was an illustrator and Ad Man in Buenos Aires back in the 50’s and 60’s, creating beautiful hand drawn advertisements for various magazines including Time and Life Magazine. My father was an architect and contractor and I basically learned to draw sitting on his lap at his drafting table, (truly a lost art form, damn you AutoCAD!) I very famously, (to my elementary teacher’s surprise), had learned 3 point perspective by kindergarten.

I always drew, then I started painting, I was lucky enough to get into the Visual Arts program at LACHSA and with that portfolio I was able to get into RISD where I actually studied Film and Art History.

During my Film Studies at RISD I began designing and building sets, I was more interested in the preproduction and psychology behind the character and their surroundings, the world building, than the dramatic aspects of theatre.

After college that is how I transitioned into Interior Design. I took all my knowledge of light and composition and now I make a living applying it to real life homes.

At Leo Cesareo Design, our approach to space and composition draws from his formal education in the visual arts. We strives to create unique interiors that are tailor-made for the contemporary individual and household.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
LA is my hometown, so I love showing people around. It gets a bad reputation because it’s so spread out, but if you approach it as individual neighborhoods and sell it as such, I’ve found that visitors are more receptive to that framing and they’re more willing to sit in traffic for 30 minutes to get the best Korean BBQ or Bagel.

The Cara Hotel is a fave place of mine to stay because I’m constantly impressed with how they managed to upscale what was once a pretty lowly run-of-the-mill 1950’s motel into something that feels very European, very South of France. The rooms are elegantly appointed yet efficient, and their courtyard is so chic for brunch, you almost forget you’re on a busy street next to a Ralph’s mega strip mall. Also, their location is key: smack in the middle of the ever feuding East Side/ West Side debate, allowing either side to be an option within reach for a night out.

Departamento is my fave place to shop for menswear and overall I’m impressed with how this area of Downtown LA has blossomed into a really cool and walkable neighborhood filled with so many interesting shops and restaurants and cafes. Great people watching too.

Dan Sung Sa is a fave Korean BBQ spot just for the vibes alone. The food is amazing, but the interior design with its little cubby booths and graffitied walls is just the perfect amount of frenzied cool to really put it over the top for me. Worth the line down the block to get in.

Taco Trucks and Diners: If you actually want to experience authentic LA however, we all know it’s at all the late night taco trucks and diners that dot the city. My favorite Taco Trucks were always the ones on Sunset in Echo Park and as for Diners, I grew up going to Norms and when I was kid, my Grandparents and I always went to Johnie’s Broiler, (Iconic Movie Shooting Location: Jaw Breakers, Can’t Hardly Wait, X- Files, now a Bob’s Big Boy). Googie Architecture and Fast Food is what built LA.

Bars: El Cid for Hot Dog, Akbar, anything gay or underground really. If it’s taking place at 4am and there’s a secret password at the door, or it’s at an abandoned strip mall and you walk in and there’s a Vietnamese family gambling on a foldout table but also Kirsten Dunst and Jon Brion are there sipping Jungle Juice on a sofa nearby, (allegedly a true story), that’s what LA’s truly all about.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My Shoutout goes to the two schools that shaped who I am as an artist and designer. My alma maters: the LA County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) and the Rhode Island School of Design, (RISD).

Without these two foundational experiences in my life, I would never have developed the work ethic and community that has kept me nourished since I was 15 years old.

Website: https://leocesareo.com

Instagram: @leocesareodesign

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonardo-cesareo-42b79aa

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leocesareodesign

Image Credits
Molly Haas, Alanna Hale, Nikko Mendoza