Fender transforms music worldwide, and has become a revered industry name and a cultural icon. Beginning their story in Southern California, Fender expanded their corporate base to Scottsdale, Arizona. With the meaningful decision to move to the epicenter of the thriving music industry, Fender’s return to their California roots celebrates their heritage and takes their legacy into the future. Fender partnered with Rapt Studio to create a new office along Los Angeles' famed Sunset Boulevard at Columbia Square. As a bold presence in Hollywood, the new space fuses with the city’s creative energy to engage future generations of musicians. 

Built to engage professionals and music enthusiasts alike, Fender’s newest home reflects the company’s commitment to accompanying artist on their musical journey. Surrounded by celebrated music icons like the Palladium, Fonda Theatre and Amoeba Records, the company’s new office at Columbia Square embraces the vibrant music scene of Los Angeles and places instruments close at hand for employees and visitors alike.

Home to executive, creative, marketing, product, and digital teams, the office is made of two unique spaces: two floors of a mid-rise office building and an adjacent 8,600-square-foot structure referred to asthe “Bungalow.” Though separate, both spaces emphasize Fender’s desire to be part of their new Hollywood home and create an overall collaborative environment between departments. The reception area is on the ground-level, and the public is welcome to walk in and explore a large installation and feature wall. Throughout both spaces, large windows allow views in to the design zones and music lounges. 

The design of the space was influenced by the sleek contours, niche colors, and finely tuned hardware of Fender guitars—while still taking into account the workflow and product development process unique to the teams at Fender. It was critical that the space support all of Fender’s business objectives, from their design process to technology-driven efforts like e-commerce, and app development.

Key Messages

1. Fender made the meaningful decision to open up a new office in the epicenter of the thriving music industry, signifying the company’s return to their California roots and heritage. They worked closely with Rapt Studio to create a new office in Hollywood, CA that celebrates and engages both professionals and music enthusiasts.

2. Fender has their own rigorous product development process. Understanding the ins and outs of this process was a critical part of Rapt Studio’s work. Learning about Fender’s development process and agile teams resulted in a workspace that supports the product teams and their unique methodology. 

3. Fender does much more than design and sell guitars. The new Hollywood office supports all of their business operations, including senior leadership and C-level executives, a fully robust marketing department including PR, operations, social media, anin house creative teams, as well as their digital presence, e-commerce, and app development. 

The corporate offices for a storied guitar manufacturer were relocated to the famed Sunset Strip of Los Angeles inside 33,000 sft of re-purposed buildings. The architectural concept was simple: keep the spaces un-‘office-like’, and use the guitar as a metaphor to inspire sleek contours, rich colors and finely tuned hardware. The lighting design needed to help in transforming the feel of a corporate work space into that of a creative workshop. The lighting was successful in creating an artistic studio atmosphere, with luminaires that are visually appropriate and functionally efficient.