CLARE LYSTER

WHY WE LOVE HER:
If Clare Lyster, an assistant professor of architecture at University of Illinios at Chicago, has her way, a speculative FedEx facility she designed under a grant from the Graham Foundation could be your new home-away-from-home. “You could drop-off or pick-up everything you need to take care of in your life, “ says Lyster, whose work is all about building life-enhancing networks and infrastructures locally and globally. Despite her grounding in architecture, she is a fervent inter-disciplinarian who sees her field as “the framework” to organize and anchor collaborations between designers and social scientists of every ilk. Cases in point are her speculative research projects on alternative recycling networks that can benefit the City (from the Salvation Army to eBay); how global distribution networks impact Chicago; and alternatives for the $18 billion expansion of O’Hare Airport. “We’re putting all this money into it, so I keep thinking about how to maximize the investment. We should be amplifying the civic infrastructure there. Why not go to O’Hare to shop or see theatre? If architects were more involved in the design of public places, we would have better cities,” she points out.

WHAT SHE HAS DONE:
A native of Ireland, Lyster came to the United States to earn a Master’s Degree at Yale School of Architecture, and then moved to Chicago for a fellowship and teaching position at the UIC. She garnered the attention of Joseph Rosa, who included her in his landmark 2007 Art Institute of Chicago exhibition Young Chicago: Contemporary Ideologies; he was impressed with her long-term speculative project on Lawndale (Lawndale: Expanding the Latent Landscape) that envisions using land swaps and newly created infrastructures to reconfigure and reactivate the neighborhood. Lyster finds these kind of collaborative, interdisciplinary projects “a contemporary and realistic way to think about urbanism. It’s not a part of a larger master plan, it’s a more democratic appropriation of available space.” Are you listening, Mayor Daley?

CLUAA (Clare Lyster Urbanism
and Architecture)
230 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL
t.312.731.4082
www.cluaa.com

SHARON AND PETER EXLEY

WHY WE LOVE THEM:
Play is fun, but research shows it is also good for us. Peter and Sharon Exley, an architect and artist-cum-educator respectively, were way ahead of the proverbial pack when they co-founded the multidisciplinary design firm ArchitectureIsFun in 1994 to do projects that engender play and fun. “As adults, we have a tendency to forget to play and have fun. But doing things with spirit and joy makes life interesting,” says Peter, who also brought the very high-spirited, internationally heralded PechaKucha gatherings to Chicago in 2006---when only San Francisco ran the program Stateside. The Exleys have worked on such a compelling and visually dazzling host of museum, church, library and school projects that another fortuitous pairing, the legendary design team of architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, call their oeuvre “work of significance and relevance, joy and seriousness, range and depth.”

WHAT THEY HAVE DONE:
Peter earned his M.A. at University of Pennsylvania and is an alumnus of SOM and Venturi Scott Brown and Associates, and Sharon has a BA in Fine Arts and M.A. in Arts Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Yet they say their greatest achievement is “our daughter Emma.” “It’s deserving since she led us to our first project,” reasons Sharon. In truth, as a tyke Emma loved hanging out at the Chicago Children’s Museum, and the Exleys worked on a series of volunteer gigs that led to paid work. But they built on this foundation to create their imaginative firm, which is ostensibly dedicated to children. Yet there is a bit of child left in all of us, and these are spaces that let everyone’s imaginations run wild.

ArchitectureIsFun
111 W. North Avenue
Chicago, IL
t.312.335.1317
www.architectureisfun.com

UGO ALFANO CASATI

WHY WE LOVE HIM:
Chicago has always been a mid-century design Mecca thanks to an architectural history that has given savvy locals dealers a mother lode of vintage trappings to sell. Then Richard Wright opened his now internationally respected and market-making namesake West Loop auction house devoted to the period in 2000. It was hard to imagine room for anyone else...until Ugo Alfano Casati hit town. The Italian expatriate moved here from Paris to join his life-partner, and opened a namesake West Loop gallery to sell mid-century furnishings in 2003. But unlike his peers, Casati focuses on European merchandise, and has introduced us to a whole new class of drool-worthy pickings he unearths in Europe from Gio Ponti, Carlo Molino, Gae Aulenti, Achille Castiglioni, Carlo de Carli, Gianfranco Frattini, Angelo Mangiarotti (who is his own personal favorite) and more. And in the past year, he has added simpatico work by contemporary Italian designers to his oeuvre. “Naysayers told me it couldn’t ‘t be done, but I’m still here and have survived the downturn quite nicely,” laughs Casati. “I have a good loyal following locally, and sell all over the U.S and internationally too.” And soon he may be shipping U.S. pieces back to Europe, since he just added Chicago furniture designer Jonathan Nesci to his roster.

WHAT HE HAS DONE:
Casati’s love of home furnishings is understandable given his family background. “I grew up in Ethiopia, where we owned companies that produced art glass and wood for furniture manufacturers.” Post-university, he held marketing jobs in Paris with Bodum and Alessi respectively. When he decided to move to Chicago, “I thought I would start an e-commerce business, but everyone wanted to see the pieces in person, and touch them, so I opened a bricks and mortar gallery,” he says. And like Wright, Casati is also a market-maker. He mounted the first formal exhibition on the work of Angelo Mangiarotti in 2008, and published a monograph on the designer’s at that time (Angelo Mangiarotti Matter and Sense, $45).

Casati Gallery
949 W. Fulton Market
Chicago, IL
t.312.421.9905
www.casatigallery.com

DINA GRIFFIN

WHY WE LOVE HER:
Mention the celebrated Modern Wing of The Art Institute of Chicago, and Italian starchitect Renzo Piano comes to mind. But any architect will tell you that the brawn behind most such beautiful designs comes from the architect of record (AOR)—namely the local office big name designers collaborate with to get the job built. In this case, that is interactive Design, the 10-person firm co-owned and headed by Dina Griffin. As president, she was the one who routinely did the Paris-Chicago run to consult with Piano while handling a very full work load of stateside clients. Today her firm’s name is etched for all eternity---or at least a very long time---in the building’s cornerstone along with Piano’s. Yet Griffin, one of only 254 black female licensed architects in the United States remains under-the-radar, despite an enviable client list that includes other museums as well as healthy range of institutions (such as Lincoln Park Zoo, Northwestern University, Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Park District). “I know a lot of other firms were going for the job, but we didn’t. They came to us. We’ve done a lot of work for AIC, including the East Garden that was demolished to make way for this,” she says. Much to her surprise, but not ours, she was asked to give this year’s convocation speech at her alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Architecture.

WHAT SHE HAS DONE:
Griffin was working at architecture behemoth OWP/P in the interiors department when she got ‘the call’ in 1998 to meet with the founding principals of Interactive Design, which was then four years old. “I wasn’t interested in working for a small firm, but I knew I wanted to do more than interiors and you tend to get pigeonholed at big firms,” she explains. Plus, leaving the security of a well-established practice to help build something new was risky. But they made her an offer she couldn’t resist. “They said I could do buildings, and run entire projects,” she says. So she made the jump, got to run her very first project at the firm, and hasn’t looked back since. Today, the practice she heads has 10 architects who are insanely busy despite the economic downturn. “I think our firm is an aberration because we’ve never had to do any marketing,” laughs Griffin.

Interactive Design, Inc. Architects
308 W. Erie Street, Suite 506
Chicago, IL
t.312.482.8866
www.idea8.com

RICK VALICENTI

WHY WE LOVE HIM:
When design world stars need design work for their own needs, such as seamlessly integrated branding, sharp multimedia projects or impressive websites, they hire the unpretentious yet enormously accomplished Chicago designer Rick Valicenti. His roll call of client relationships reads like a ‘who’s who’ of the design world, and includes architecture firms such as Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, Studio Gang, John Ronan and Lucien Lagrange; corporations such as Herman Miller and Motorola; and design world impresarios Richard Wright, Holly Hunt and more. Even the Harvard Graduate School of Design is on the list. Though he would have been labeled a ‘graphic designer’ a decade ago, now there is no way to put one or a few words on the depth and breadth of Valicenti’s capabilities, output and potential. And no one does; he is constantly accepting new challenges from clients, such as a current project with Archeworks to help students bring the most compelling issues they identified in their recent Infrastructures for Change conference to ‘multimedia’ life.

WHAT HE HAS DONE:
“I started out as a hacker,” quips the intellectually curious Valicenti, who has BFA and a MA and MFA in photography but is clearly an early adapter given his tech-breaking admission. He is now starting what he calls “my 30th year of unemployment,” reference to the fact that he went out on his own in 1981 and founded Thirst, his current firm, in 1989. With only four members, it is small but intense, and intensely attentive to its clients. “We care most about marrying conceptual rightness with the highest level of production values,” notes Valicenti. The stringent M.O. works; Valicenti’s work is s included in the permanent collection of The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum; has been featured in myriad design publications; and has garnered a slew of prestigious awards--- including the American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA) Medal in 2006, which is considered the highest honor in the graphic design profession.

Thirst/3st
t.312.334.2550
www.3st.com

JESSICA TURF

WHY WE LOVE HER:
When Jessica Turf says, “I love a good challenge,” she is referring to those meaty, soup-to-nuts projects she has on her plate as an interior designer at Jessica Lagrange Interiors. “I do everything, from helping my clients determine their most significant wants and needs, deduce their style and set a budget to figuring out how make sure their projects are comfortable, innovative and different than everyone else’s.” These challenging times have also added another layer to her job. “People are so budget-conscious right now that sourcing is more important than ever,” notes Turf, who is ways on the lookout for stylish yet economical options that meet her firm’s stringent quality requirements. These are tall orders for anyone, yet this young interior designer is competent at delivering the whole package, and is also charming, earnest and hardworking. These attributes---namely talent, a solid design background and an engaging, even-keeled demeanor--are very similar to those of her mentor and employer, Jessica Lagrange, who is known for her integrated and balanced approach to design, impeccable professional experience and charming demeanor.

WHAT SHE HAS DONE:
After earning her bachelors degree, Turf tried stints in advertising at Leo Burnett and fashion merchandising at now defunct Active Endeavors before going back to the Harrington School of Interior Design. She was inspired to embrace the profession by her mother, who is also an interior designer. After earning her degree, Turf worked for Missie Bender Interior Design in Glencoe, but landed at JLI in 2007 a move to be closer to her home in the city. Ironically, her husband, Ryan Turf, is also in the design business as a merchandiser for CB2. That makes everything they do in their own place another challenge. “We banter back and for a lot,” quips Turf.

Jessica Lagrange Interiors
605 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
t.312.751.8727
www.jessicalagrange.com

PETE LANDON

WHY WE LOVE HIM:
Back in 1987, when funds flowed free and people sunk veritable fortunes into their villas, Chicago architect Peter Landon opened his own office. But unlike many of his peers, who were also starting practices at the time to focus on high-end housing, his intention was to do community based housing. And he did, in areas such as Roseland, Lawndale, West Humboldt Park, Chinatown, Uptown, Pilsen and more. Today, he has built a practice that he estimates “is roughly 1/3 affordable, 1/3 public and 1/3 market rate.” And he has done so with such sensitivity, commitment, passion and distinction that he and his firm are considered a city treasure his chosen milieu. Doing this type of housing requires a steadfast mindset and the ability to build close connections with community residents, activists and organizations; Landon is particularly drawn to this aspect of his job. ‘I never went for the glitz, probably because I thrive on diversity,” he muses. For that reason, he is also pleased that “we’ve gotten to work in neighborhoods all over the city.” His progressive approach and sheer design talent has earned him (and his firm, since Landon approaches everything as “we,” not “I”) many awards and honors, including the commission to do the impending National Public Housing Museum on Taylor Street, won in a hotly contested competition.

WHAT HE HAS DONE:
Landon attributes his passion for his chosen arena to an urban planning class he took in architecture school. “I connected with it, and always wanted to continue in to do that kind of work. It just took me a while to figure out how,” he says. After graduating, he worked for Weese Langley Weese, an award-winning firm known for its emphasis on non-profit and education projects, until he left to start his own practice. His work, and his firm’s, has won awards and been published widely, and through it all Landon has also put time and effort back into his own community of peers by teaching, lecturing, participating in City of Chicago task forces and local non-profits. Currently, he is a founding board member of archi-treasures, a collective of artists, architects, educators and community organizers who are in service to Chicago neighborhoods.

Landon Bone Baker
734 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL
t.312.988.9100
www.landonbonebaker.com

GREGG GARMISA

WHY WE LOVE HIM:
There’s power in numbers. And Gregg Garmisa, who founded Chicago Design Matters (CDM), a high profile non-profit 18 months ago to promote Chicago-style architecture and city planning worldwide, knows that all too well. “There’s a creative renaissance going on here thanks to the City’s design standards, our talent pool and the Mayor’s green initiatives. We have enviable built environment and all this technical and creative know-how. So our goal is to unite the public and private sectors in an effort to spread the gospel in other parts of the world,” he explains. That’s the official line; in shorthand, CDM’s agenda is the Chicago design community’s version of technology transfer: we show cities in India, China and other quickly growing locales how we did it and can do it for them. And Garmisa, whose non-volunteer job is vice president and principal at WMA Consulting Engineers, knows how to deliver. After a year in existence, CDM can boast a star-studded organizing committee; two successful conferences (one in Mumbai and another here on green technology for a visiting Chinese delegation); and three more conferences in Asia on the drawing boards, including what Garmisa says “we’ve loosely termed Chicago Week at the Expo 2010 Shanghai China this fall.”

WHAT HE HAS DONE:
Garmisa, who matriculated at Stanford University, Georgetown University Law School and is married to political activist and all-round fireball Lauren Beth Gash, has a soft spot for community service and ‘da mare’—who got the ball rolling. “Lauren took me to a meeting that the mayor was at, we were kicking around ideas about how to make Chicago better and I suggested that we should export our unique know-how. Everybody loved the idea, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time,” says Garmisa. A few days later, he got a call from Rita Athas, president of World Business Chicago, who told him “the Mayor told me to call you,” he recalls. Which is exactly how a political operative-cum-foreign policy advisor-cum-lawyer-cum-marketing maven came to found this public and private sector collaboration, and be on our list of design forces.

Chicago Design Matters
t.312.870.5119
www.chicagodesignmatters.com

MICHELLE WILLIAMS

WHY WE LOVE HER:
In an age when we can and do go to school for everything, there’s still much to be said for innate talent. And when it comes to design, you either have it or you don’t. Michelle Williams has it, and unlike many gifted yet unschooled designers, she is admirably unabashed at being self-taught. Her personal style, which she says “is all about the mix” and manages to be exuberant, relaxed and glamorous all at the same time, goes a long way towards forming her design philosophy. “I think our homes should have an acquired look, and be filled with things that have personal meaning and make us happy. We should live with what we love.” Williams does so for herself in an impressive, always evolving North Shore home that was a clunker no one wanted to buy. She had the vision to do so, renovate it and outfit with dazzling furnishings she snagged at every end of the price spectrum. And she uses her experience, design acumen and purchasing powers as the foundation for a decorative M.O. that she stretches to fit innumerable wants, needs and budgets. “I’m an inveterate shopper and I know where to find whatever it takes,” she admits. Best of all, she knows how to make it look good—and highly personal ---in her client’s homes.

WHAT SHE HAS DONE:
Before starting her own shop, she was a public relations account executive in Los Angeles with high-profile entertainment agency Rowers & Cowan. Friends would always ask her for dressing and decorating advice, and word got around. Soon her clients, such as Shannen Doherty, were doing the same. Friends and clients continued to ask her for advice long after she moved back to Chicago, her home town, to start her own publicity business, and continued to do so even after she married, moved to the North Shore and took a hiatus to have children in 1998. A year later, her close friend Michelle Herman, ironically a schooled interior designer with a thriving practice of her own, convinced Williams to start her own gig. “She told me ‘some of the best interior designers in the world haven’t been to school. What are you waiting for?’ So I listened,” says Williams. The minute she hung out her proverbial shingle, calls started coming in and haven’t stopped since.

Michelle Williams Interiors
t.847.604.2744
www.mwilliamsinteriors.com

THEASTER GATES

WHY WE LOVE HIM:
Maybe it’s being the youngest child and only boy in a family of nine that gave Gates, an arts mover-and-shaker by day and artist-of-many-media by calling, his ‘fighting’ skills—unabashed warmth, fervent curiosity, captivating showmanship and mannerly charm. These qualities put a deceptively simple face on a wildly inventive intellect that propels him to center stage wherever he is, and inspires him to generate seminal, thought-provoking artworks of every ilk. He mounts thoughtfully curated performances and interactive experiences in circumspectly chosen locales that bring people together to re-imagine social experience and cultural ritual. Most saliently, these are works that can and do change our perceptions of the world around us, for Gates is committed to producing pieces that address injustices and inequities and make an important social and political impact. “Artistic action can focus attention on ethical issues and be transformative,” he says with fervor.

WHAT HE HAS DONE:
The term Renaissance man is often bandied about, but Gates is the real deal. A product of Chicago Public Schools (he went to Lane Tech High School), Gates earned a B.S. in urban planning and sculpture and a M.S. in urban planning, public sculpture and religious studies, at Iowa State University. Between the two degrees, he also picked up an M.A. in fine arts and religious studies at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. In the last few years alone, he has produced performance, choral and installation works that explore the relationships between art, politics and race and have been shown in major exhibitions at nationally prestigious museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, where he has an installation their prestigious Biennial that runs through the end of May. It all explains his rise to prominence on the national arts scene, and why we consider him a model collaborator and shining star.

Artist and Arts Programmer
at the University of Chicago
t.773.702.8974

LESLIE THOMAS

WHY WE LOVE HER:
Chicago architect Leslie Thomas has a lot on her mind besides the projects she is working on at Larc Inc., the design firm she founded in 2000---namely human trafficking, forced labor, genocide, extreme sexual violence, high maternal mortality rates, child soldiering, water quality and more. “It’s easy for us to forget the struggles and horrors others endure,” she points out. But while others talk, Thomas takes action. She is so passionately committed to making sure we don’t overlook these issues that she founded Art Works Projects (AWP) in 2007. The non-profit is dedicated to raising awareness of human rights and environmental abuses though a variety of innovative tactics, such as startlingly gripping multi-media exhibitions that highlight the gut-wrenching crises that the mainstream media avoid or a retail business that will pay artisans who have traditionally faced horrific labor challenges fair trade wages for their work.

WHAT SHE HAS DONE:
With degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture and the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Thomas is uniquely prepared for her trail-blazing course to blend architecture, social action and the arts. Besides heading Larc Inc. and Art Works Projects, she is an award-winning art director and has received grants for her various projects from Humanity United, the MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Polk Brothers Foundation, the Graham Foundation and others. To date, AWP has mounted two multi-media traveling exhibitions that are currently circulating internationally and has another show online and two more traveling projects in production. And of course, she is about to become a retailer, with hopes of launching Work Shop in time for the 2010 holiday season. Stay tuned at www.artworksprojects.org.

Larc Inc.
t.312.738.9348
www.larcinc.net
www.artworksprojects.org

JORGE OROZCO-CORDERO

WHY WE LOVE HIM:
Many dream about turning their off-hours calling into an all-consuming career, but few manage to do it in a meaningful and effective manner. Jorge Orozco-Codero is an inspirational exception to this rule. After moving here in 2004 from Washington, D.C. to join interior architect Carly Cannell in weetu, an innovative design collaborative dedicated to giving substance to new ideas, this human factors engineer-turned landscape designer took the concept totally outside the box in 2007 with weetree, a spin-off that would allow him to use his passion for gardening and collaborate with Cannell. Imaginative residential and commercial projects are blossoming, including commercial projects to repurpose distressed properties duo is working on through both arms of their firm (such as their efforts to repurpose a dead mall and make it a community asset in Chico, California); prototypes for green walls specifically designed for Chicago’s climate and housing stock; and extraordinary gardens of every ilk. Cases in point are a series of green walls Orozco-Cordero is developing to suit Chicago’s challenging climate and housing stock, and an eye-popping, four-acre, classically inspired garden on the North Shore featuring 30-foot-long plantings based on a paisley motif.

WHAT HE HAS DONE:
Orozco-Codero, who has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in human factors engineering, worked for major industry giants such as NASA and GE on high-profile projects such as the virtual reality glove for the first Mars Explorer. In the 90s, he turned to gardening for stress-relief, and he fell in love with the pursuit and earned a Master Gardening License. When he joined weetu in 2004, he hoped to find avenues to integrate his gardening skills into the mix of services the collaboration offers, and finally figured out a viable way to do so with weetree. Clearly, Orozco-Codero is a man who knows how to follow his passion, for he is not only working on a range of intriguing projects, he is in the vanguard of his adoptive field.

Weetree Landscape Design
346 N. Justine Street, Suite 100
Chicago, IL
t.312.624.9592
www.gotree.com

LISA SIMEONE AND GINA DEARY

WHY WE LOVE THEM:
Just as writers vividly evoke a certain narrative and mood with well-chosen words, Lisa Simeone and Gina Deary brilliantly create magical visual confections with carefully constructed language. In this case, the vocabulary they wield seems basic—namely color, texture, light, luminosity, shape, scale and size—but the milieux they fashion are dazzlingly fresh and flesh out a compelling and inventive storyline. At The Merchandise Mart’s current DreamHome, a smoldering dining room with sumptuous ruffled black taffeta drapes, fishnet patterned dining chairs, feather encrusted walls and shimmering sconces and chandeliers speaks to the sultry sartorial styles of 20th century songbirds such as Billy Holiday, Lena Horne the Sarah Vaughan, while handsome, Deco-meets-Modern interiors tailored with bespoke details (think kick-pleats a la Dior in the drapes) and ornamented with jewel-box inspired lighting (such as Austrian cut-glass crystal chandeliers designed to emulate Chanel broaches) references pre-war Parisian high glamour. For world-weary design addicts who long for new yet sure-to-last decorative paradigms, Simeone and Deary know how to deliver.

WHAT THEY HAVE DONE:
Both Simeone and Deary have heavy-duty backgrounds that merge business and design (Simeone with B.A. from University of Rhode Island and an interior design degree from Hall Institute, and Deary with a business degree from Western Michigan University and a bachelor’s degree from Harrington school of Design). No wonder they struck out on their own in 2002 after working together at Marve Cooper Designs and Lieber Cooper Associates to specialize in hotels, clubs, spas and restaurants. It did not take this ‘dream team’ long to rack up silk stocking clients, including Starwood Hotels & Resorts, White Lodging, Hilton Hotels, Marriott International and the Elysian Development Group--or earn industry wide recognition in publications such as Hospitality Design Magazine and Interior Design magazine. It also did not take the principals of these tony firms long to realize Simeone and Deary could work the same kind of wondrous design transformations on their residences, and in the past few years the firm has also added high-end residential design to their oeuvre.

Simeone Deary Design Group
605 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL
t.312.274.0606
www.simeonedeary.com

MARTY LESCHT

WHY WE LOVE HIM:
The Energizer Bunny has nothing on Chicago designer Marty Lescht, who is every bit as vigorous and well known as the hard-working icon here in his home town. But Lescht has something on the 21-year-old Bunny—namely a stunning and varied string of accomplishments that spans almost twice as many years. He has done interiors of every scale and style for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, from the prole R.J. Grunts to the posh Everest and Tru to the red hot Hub 51; office suites, private jets and boats for the Wrigley family; Sofitel Hotels all over the country; real estate developments such as The Domain in River North; office buildings in Sweden, Russia and India; and homes for many of his prestigious clients---including the notoriously perfectionistic, wildly creative Richard Melman. “I have a world of knowledge, a huge pool of resources and the ability to manufacture custom designs reasonably in places like China and Egypt,” notes Lescht. However, his greatest skill of all might just be getting the job done on time, on budget and on point. “Richard (Melman) always calls me ‘the closer’ because he thinks I’m consistent, not trendy and I finish what I start. Trendy goes away while consistent stays,” reflects Lescht.

WHAT HE HAS DONE:
Lescht is the perfect example of the adage ‘you either have it or your don’t.’ Though he attended Harrington Institute and Northwestern School of Real Estate, his competence and design sense won him the steady stream of high-power and satisfied clients who have kept him busy for the past four decades. That same innate design sense has enabled him to work on a myriad of projects, and consistently deliver outstanding results. Proof of his success is evident in the many design awards he has garnered during his career, including most recently the Pacific Coast Builders Conference 2009 Gold Nugget Award for a beach house in Santa Barbara. Given the depth and breadth of his oeuvre, we like the name he gives himself—“Mr. Monopoly, because I’m involved in everything except utilities,” he quips.

Lescht & Associates
t.312.944.1930
www.leschtassociates.com

JACKIE KOO

WHY WE LOVE HER:
Chicago architect Jackie Koo has earned accolades galore for her show-stopping design of the Wit, a $100 million, 27 story, 298 guest room Doubletree Hotel that opened in downtown Chicago last May. It not only sports a gleaming glassy façade punctuated by a chartreuse lightening bolt that ensures it is on its way to becoming a local architectural icon---it was artfully designed to maximize every square inch of a insanely trim lot (which measures 140 feet wide and 68 feet deep to be exact). Yet she is also refreshing for so many other reasons, not the least of which is that she is now part of an elite group of women who have designed major high rises. But she is also admirably and astutely outspoken, especially about the nature of education and architecture. “I left undergraduate school with a philosophy degree. I got a great education that prepared me for nothing specific. But my career as an architect is ultimately a rejection of that,” admits Koo, who clearly has as much pragmatism as talent. And while others find her show-stopping design for the Wit brilliantly out-of-the-box, she humbly downplays the notion, noting, “the (design) was all a result of the parameters of the project. The (elements) were solutions.” Yet the hotel’s dazzling design proves she knows how to blend style with substance.

WHAT SHE HAS DONE:
After graduating from the University of Chicago with a philosophy degree, Koo worked as a photographer’s assistant for a year before going back to school to earn a Master of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. True to her pragmatic nature, “I choose it over Columbia because it was so much cheaper. And in architecture, your success lies in your performance, not the school you attended,” she points out. Stints at Richard Meier & Partners in New York and WilliaM D. Warner Architects and Planners in Exeter, R.I., followed, but Koo returned to Chicago to join DeStefano + Partners in 1997—again taking a realistic approach. “I wanted to build things, and ultimately Chicago is a city where you get to build,” she says. When she left there in 2005 to start her own practice, clients followed, including Scott Greenberg, developer of the Wit. Now post-Wit, Koo is working on a host of private and public sector projects that will allow her to continue finding stylish yet substantive solutions to difficult design issues.

Koo & Associates
53 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL
t.312.235.0920
www.kooandassociates.com

MAYA ROMANOFF

WHY WE LOVE HIM:
This past March, Maya Romanoff celebrated 40 years in business creating stunning, and usually ingeniously imaginative, wall coverings that have given new meaning to the notion of what can be put on those blank slates that define a room. He has pioneered all sorts of special and proprietary techniques to put precious metals, earthy silvers of wood and shells, crushed clay and stone, grainy seeds, shimmering beads and more on strips to affix to walls, and made a major name for himself in the process. But anyone who knows Romanoff, and has followed his progress from fashion designer to home furnishings magnate, cannot help but remember his far-more-revolutionary, and artsy, roots—especially since the still handsome but aging Romanoff is now confined to a wheelchair by Parkinson’s disease. Back in the 1970s, Romanoff’s tie-die creations were coveted by uber-chic hippies, socialites and rockers (The Who’s Roger Daltry had a vest, supermodel Cheryl Tiegs a caftan and New York’s Metropolitan Musuem of Art owns his acclaimed opera coat), but rumor has it that fellow textile magnate, designer Jack Lenor Larson, advised Romanoff to try something more lasting than fashion. Given the results, and the way he has changed the world of interior design, we are so glad he did.

WHAT HE HAS DONE:
Condensing Romanoff’s trail-blazing, wildly colorful career to a few sentences is like writing a brief synopsis for Leo Tolstoy’s behemoth “War and Peace.” Romanoff came to his craft organically, starting out as a curious, globe-trotting ‘child of his times.’ He took off on coming of age adventures after graduating from University of California at Berkeley in the 1960s, discovered the ancient art of tie-dye, made fashions for body and home and used his sheer creativity to build his company into the home furnishings industry powerhouse it is today. A highlight for his reporter was the time in 1988 he wrapped the now-gone Sun-Times building in 48,000 square feet of hand-dyed canvas strips. It was a mind-boggling, beauteous sight. There is only one Maya Romanoff, and we are proud to say he is a Chicagoan.

Maya Romanoff Corp.
3435 Madison Street
Skokie, IL
t.312.465.6909
www.mayaromanoff.com