About

It’s 2023, and I’ve moved back to California. Specifically, to the High Desert to fulfill a dream of living in Joshua Tree.

In January 2011, I formed the Hugo Arce Design Firm. Besides my Los Angeles office, I established a new office in Western North Carolina allowing me to better serve my client’s needs in such cites as, New York, NY, Morristown, NJ, Asheville, NC, Nashville, TN, and Miami, FL.

Prior to that, I was an associate designer and controller with BJ Peterson Interior Design in Los Angeles from May 1993 to May 2000. In May 2000, BJ and I formed Peterson Arce Design Group and moved to Melrose Place with an auxiliary office in Laguna Beach. During the spring of 2006, we moved our offices to the Wilshire Vista District of Mid-City Los Angeles. Besides my design projects, I contributed to educating the public about interior design.

A native of Cuba, I immigrated to southern Florida, where I received my design education. After a few showroom jobs in the Miami design district, I served as Design Assistant to Vincent C. Motzel & Associates, specializing in vacation residences in southern Florida.

From 1986 to 1989, I worked as a creative consultant for a video production company in New York City, where I designed sets and scouted locations.

Following a move to San Francisco, I joined Ron Mann Design as his design assistant and operations manager. For the next three years, I worked on a wide range of projects–from restaurants to multi-million-dollar estates involving extensive product design, including furniture, fabrics, and accessories. Many of which have been published in Architectural Digest.

Although most of my clients live in southern California and include many celebrities like Reba McEntire & Narvel Blackstock, Shaquille O’Neal, Wynonna Judd & Cactus Mosier, Kelly Clarkson & Brandon Blackstock, I’ve designed ski condos at Lake Tahoe, a ranch in central California, restored an apartment in a historic co-op on Beekman Place NYC, condominiums in Manhattan’s Olympic Towers, homes in Asheville, Tennessee, Missouri, Florida, New Jersey, along with many homes throughout greater southern California.