Last Thursday evening, as the California sun cast long shadows through the expansive windows of the Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theater in Los Angeles, Elsa Ritter commanded the stage with the same thoughtful precision that defines her award-winning designs. The founder and creative director of Boston-based CopperBirch Concepts delivered a presentation titled “The Regenerative Studio: Design as a Closed Loop” to a sold-out audience of designers, architects, and sustainability advocates.
Breaking New Ground on the West Coast
Though based in Boston’s Innovation District, Ritter’s influence has increasingly spread westward, making her LA debut particularly significant. “The California design community has been pushing boundaries in sustainable architecture for decades,” Ritter acknowledged in her opening remarks. “I’m here not just to share our approach, but to learn from what’s happening in this incredible ecosystem of innovation.”
The event, co-hosted by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and the Sustainable Design Forum, marked Ritter’s first major West Coast speaking engagement, signaling CopperBirch’s expansion beyond its East Coast roots.
From Concept to Circular
Throughout her 90-minute presentation, Ritter walked the audience through CopperBirch’s distinctive methodology, which she terms “regenerative design thinking.” Using case studies from the firm’s portfolio—including their recent transformation of a historic Seattle office building and their limited-edition furniture collection made from ocean plastic—she illustrated how sustainability can be integrated at every stage of the design process.
“We’re moving beyond the idea of ‘less bad’ and toward truly regenerative solutions,” Ritter explained, showcasing a modular office system CopperBirch designed that can be completely disassembled and reused in different configurations. “Every material, every joining method, every finish is selected with its entire lifecycle in consideration.”
The presentation featured striking before-and-after visuals of CopperBirch projects, highlighting how sustainable choices need not compromise aesthetic impact. Particularly captivating was their transformation of a healthcare facility where biophilic design elements—including furniture made from locally sourced sustainable wood—had measurably improved patient recovery times.
Challenging Industry Standards
The most provocative moment came during Ritter’s critique of planned obsolescence in contemporary design. “As an industry, we’ve become complicit in a system that values novelty over longevity,” she stated, displaying images of furniture landfills alongside CopperBirch’s “Century Test” protocols—their internal standard requiring that designs must be conceived to remain functional and relevant for at least 100 years.
“We need to design for multiple lifetimes,” she insisted. “That means creating objects and spaces with emotional durability—things people form attachments to and want to repair rather than replace.”
A Female Perspective
During the Q&A session, when asked about being a female leader in a field still dominated by men, Ritter acknowledged the importance of diverse perspectives in design. “I don’t design as a woman—I design as a human deeply concerned with how our work affects other humans and our planet,” she said. “That said, I do think my lived experience informs a sensitivity to how spaces feel and function for all users, not just those who traditionally held power.”
Ritter also spoke candidly about building a company culture that supports work-life integration. “At CopperBirch, we’ve rejected the myth that creative brilliance requires endless hours and burnout. We’re proving daily that sustainable design practices require sustainable working practices.”
Looking Forward
The evening concluded with a reception in the museum’s courtyard, where Ritter engaged with local designers and students. Particularly notable was her extended conversation with several faculty members from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), hinting at potential future collaborations.
“What struck me about Elsa’s approach is her refusal to accept false dichotomies,” commented Maria Chen, Chair of Sustainable Design at SCI-Arc. “In her work, there’s no tension between beauty and responsibility, between function and feeling. That integrated thinking is exactly what our industry needs.”
As Ritter prepares to return to Boston, she leaves behind a Los Angeles design community energized by her vision and approach. With rumors of a potential CopperBirch satellite office in California gaining traction, this presentation may mark just the beginning of Elsa Ritter’s influence on West Coast design culture.
“Los Angeles has always been a place where the future happens first,” Ritter remarked as the evening concluded. “The enthusiasm I’ve encountered here confirms what I’ve always believed—that there’s a deep hunger for design that respects both human experience and environmental boundaries.”