STYLE : FALL HOME DESIGN : SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD

If creativity is measurable, Los Angeles furniture designers are setting new standards--their chairs and sofas land on magazine covers, dominate window displays and travel the world in popular films and music videos. A strong personal vision marks each designer’s work, but these artistic minds are also inspired by what’s happening around them, a nostalgia for the past perhaps or a concern for the future of the planet. Familiar materials are treated in innovative ways: Industrial steel is manipulated, not with machines, but by hand, in the age-old manner using forge and anvil. Increasingly popular exotic and unendangered woods wrap sleek, sculptural forms. A sense of fantasy and wit is obvious, too, as many designers invent histories for their creations, sometimes naming them after favorite writers, artists, friends and relatives: “Ernesto,” “Picasso” and “Madame X.” Perhaps most important, though, is what all of these designers achieve with their high-end furnishings: comfort and craftsmanship.