Best Of: The LA Phil Store Window Displays
To kick off the LA Philharmonic’s season beginning each fall, MNK Studio Art creates a window display in the storefront of Frank Gehry’s remarkable building, The Walt Disney Concert Hall. Working downtown in the Walt Disney Concert Hall makes us love and appreciate the city of LA! Here are just a few of our favorites.
”Gracias Gustavo” Window Displays featured in the New York Times in June 2026.
The 2025-2026 season celebrated Gustavo Dudamel’s famed final season as the music director after 17 amazing years of bringing a multi faceted culture to the institution. To read more about all things celebrating our beloved Dudamel, and glimpse our display, there’s a New York Times article where you can read about it here. Yes, our work has made it into THE TIMES!!!
Our potential clients often ask how we begin a project, and we reply that it starts with a seed idea and grows through collaboration, clear communication and parameters. This project is a perfect example of how MNK used the amazing art developed by the LA Phil Store Director, Janice Bartczak, and designer Juan Manuel Nares from Mexico City, to create an enormous postcard for the patrons and tourists passing through downtown LA’s cultural hub. Janice likes to keep light flowing into the store through the Grand Street windows and also asks that we create a separation between the outside and inside spaces. This display serves the function of a screen without blocking too much of the view of energetic space inside and outside. We loved how sculptural we could make these letters that appear to stack like blocks! What more can be said than “Gracias!”
”Gracias Gustavo” Window Displays featured in the New York Times in June 2026. Painted Foam.
Windows are a fantastic way to show the interior use of a space to the local community, so we often play with instruments and musical themes to ideate these creative installations at the home of the LA Phil. My personal favorite and most long lived (through the pandemic) was this explosion of brass and gold painted instruments. I think it embraced the movement of sound, the classical genre of the music and symphony, and the elegance of the materials that make that music.
“Sound Burst in Brass” Window Displays at the LA Phil Store 2019-2020. Painted instruments and brass found objects with cables.
Another iteration of musical materials was the theme of sheet music for the Centennial celebration. For the 100th year anniversary of the LA Philharmonic, the organization released a tomb of historical photos and stories. Of course, many were in black and white, so what better way to frame them than with sheet music–dancing in and out of the pages.
”100 years of the LA Philharmonic” Sheet music and archived photos on music stands.
Sometimes, we must remember that stores are actually for selling products: like the ultra specialized and desirable vinyl section of the store that is so well curated by the music buyers. Matt designed this window display of all things vinyl. I feel like it gives off the best jazz vibes, like the way it feels to pick up a Blue Note record.
”Big Jazz” Window Displays at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Printed acrylic.
Stay tuned to find out what’s in store for the new season at the LA Phil and pop by the store for a souvenir and of course some new vinyl for your collection.