Deep House Design — a small business furniture store located in the vibrant heart of DTLA — is part of a furniture dynasty. Riq Munoz, the owner of Deep House Design, thanks his parents for opening a furniture factory in 1968 that manufactured items for hotels nationwide. This prepared him for the future.
The 48-year-old designer and salesperson grew up in a generation where many kids learned the basics of work at a young age.
“People like me are pretty old school,” Munoz said with a laugh.
“I started working around my parents and learning what they did when I was as young as 5 years old.” From answering phone calls to handling sales operations, Munoz was taught about the business quickly.
Riq Munoz, owner of Deep House Design.
“Furniture manufacturing isn’t the easiest kind of industry to get into,” Munoz said. “The industry is founded on labor, and being a creative artist, which are both hard things to explore in the workforce — but I was fortunate enough to be born into it.”
When Munoz graduated from school, he was enthusiastic about a career in upholstery furniture design. He attended Parsons School of Design in New York, taking classes in painting furniture, stating it was the closest he could get to working with it.
Located at 725 Spring Street, Deep House Design measures at 10,000 square feet. When he rented the space, he considered opening an upholstery school because the building is expansive.
“But because I filled up the space over time with such great pieces, the whole store filled up. So I may have to expand and follow the passion of an upholstery school when the time is right.”
Munoz, who owned a retail business since the age of TK in Silver Lake, decided to rebrand in 2020 and move his retail business to DTLA.
“I worked in furniture only in Silver Lake at this point, but I figured I would give LA a shot,” Munoz said. “DTLA seemed to need a traditional furniture store. People can walk in and there are so many capabilities that we offer since we’re a custom store.”
When a large furniture store closed in DTLA, Munoz swooped in and began working hard to provide furniture to DLTA in 2022. Deep House Design — whose tagline is “Don’t live in a box, create a scene” — now stands as a large store where customers can customize furniture and purchase artwork.
“I would say Deep House Design is very unique and a good fit for DTLA,” Munoz added. “We have amazing furniture, our manufacturing timeline is 10 to 14 days, and everything has a lifetime warranty and is made in the USA. We also use the best materials, which stands out to our customers when they come to see
our store.”
Customers discovered the store during the pandemic. With labor dwindling in 2020, anyone ordering furniture while stuck at home was waiting long periods to receive their purchases.
“People were stuck at home ordering new things for their house because it was the only place they could be. With so many people ordering tons of furniture, a lot of it was manufactured too quickly with poor quality. When Deep House Design opened, it was an amazing year for us. I saw it as a new opportunity. It reminded people of nostalgic Americana when we were able to place their orders and fulfill them ourselves, as we’ll always continue to do. That’s why it’s so important to support locally made products.”
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