SPECIAL FEATURE
Suite 16
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The TALENT SCOUT Obi Nwazota Founder/Owner, Orange Skin WHY WE LOVE HIM: If any one store owner could put to rest the snot-nosed concept that the Midwest is but a fly-over zone, Obi Nwazota, who founded the showroom Orange Skin in 2001, is the man to do it. With partner Graunk Enzenberger, Nwazota fills his store with museum-quality furniture and design objects. Much of it—like lines from Minotti, Molteni & C, and Viccarbe—can be hard for people on any coast, let alone this third coast, to find. That’s attracted some serious shoppers. Like Zoë Ryan, the Neville Bryan Curator of Design at the Art Institute of Chicago. For the museum’s new collection, she purchased Konstantin Grcic’s chair_ONE through Orange Skin. WHAT HE’S DONE: More than a store, Orange Skin is an incubator for new talent, with internships for design students and showroom space reserved for young designers’ work. It’s also a thriving consultancy, helping designers realize their vision for such high-profile projects as Helmut Jahn’s MGM project in Las Vegas. For his part, Nwazota is man on a mission, working through the consultancy to spread the good word. “Too many architects and interior designers miss an opportunity because they specify the same furniture that’s been specified for decades,” says Nigerian-born Nwazota, an architect himself. “The Barcelona chair is good design and it was extremely important for its time. But, baby, this is 2008. My primary focus is to put good, modern design in the hands of the people who have the ability to apply these products to projects of extreme importance.” Orange Skin, |
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Q. What’s your motto? A. I believe in living life in the present. Most people live their lives in the past, but you’d be shocked to see what’s possible if you jumped into the here and now. Q. What’s the one building you wished you’d designed yourself? A. I’d have to say Philip Johnson’s Glass House. Here was this glass box that totally shifted paradigms. I think that’s amazing. |
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The
CREATOR Scott Wilson WHY WE LOVE HIM: Pedestrian products become dazzling and sleek when Wilson, who recently opened a Chicago multi-disciplinary design studio named Minimal to reflect his aesthetic preference, has his way with them. Cases in point are his sinuous make-over of Acco’s Swingline stapler in 1998 and the cunning C-shape Presto sports watch he dreamed up for Nike in 2003, which surpassed projected sales expectations of 30,000 in its first year “about 50 times over,” Wilson confides. He’s also speedy and sure about his design philosophy ( “I always strive tobalance the emotional with the rational, and function with aesthetics); sweetly star-struck about the design greats he’s worked with (which includes Rem Koolhaas, Ross Lovegrove and Philippe Starck); and forthright about the perils of entrepreneurship (“we’ve been working such insane hours lately and I’ve even sleep here some nights”). What he doesn’t recall quite so easily are all those design honors he’s won to date, though his newly minted marketing manager estimates there have been over 40 in the last seven years alone). WHAT HE HAS DONE:Even though he made the baseball team at Rochester Institute of Technology, his passion for design won out. After earning a Bachelor of Arts in industrial, interior and packaging design, he played ball in industry’s big leagues–working for three respectable firms (including IDEO) and three prestigious design-driven companies (including Nike and Motorola). Last year, he left the latter to start his own gig–a design-build operation that will let him consult and create for clients, and bring some of those concepts to market himself. One of the most intriguing new projects on his plate: revamping the West Loops’ historic MB Bank building into a chic, ostensibly sleek, boutique hotel. MINIMAL, |
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Q. Is there a recurring them in your work? A. Balance. When they have it, things sell. Q. Where do you see the future of design going? A. Hopefully, to entrepreneurs. Q. Who would you like to design something for? A. I love doing things that are lasting and timeless, not temporary. And I love the attitude and capabilities of Artemide and Moroso. Q. Any designers you appreciate and admire? A. People who are fresh and consistent, like the Bouroullec Brothers and Patrica Urquiola. |
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The GLOBALIST Jordan Mozer WHY WE LOVE HIM: When Mozer burst on the design scene more than 23 years ago and shook up the look of restaurants with enormous curves, exuberant colors and furniture that didn’t resemble typical tables, chairs and light fixtures, many Chicagoans wondered: Just who is the zany guy doing all this? The answer quite simply is someone with a very vivid imagination who doesn’t believe restaurants, hotels, stores, entertainment venues and other public spaces should have the same-old look. With degrees both in architecture and product design, Mozer took a soup-to-nuts approach of designing everything from the furniture to the columns, carpeting, curtains, artwork and dinnerware. But what makes the results even more amazing is that no two projects look alike. “Each has its own idiosyncratic personality based on the site, client, type of business and style. Each tells a visual story or narrative,” explains Mozer, now aged 49. WHAT HE'S DOING NOW: Since Mozer debuted his first projects in Chicago—restaurants Scoozi and then the Cheesecake Factory, he and his firm of 16, including new partners Jeff Carloss and Tom Rossiter, have worked on larger-scale challenges in other U.S. cities as well as in several foreign countries for highly recognizable clients—Disney, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, George Lucas, Mick Jagger, Universal Studios, Steve Wynn, H2O+, Barney’s New York, Volkswagen A.G. The British store Asprey and Garrard, which sells high-end classy jewelry fit for a queen, asked for an updated but still traditional look for its London store and then for a new branch on L.A.’s tony Rodeo Drive. The East Hotel in Hamburg, Germany wanted even tables and beds designed to tell its story of being located on a former foundry site. The 500,000-square-foot Karstadt Department Store in Muehlheim, Germany, near Dusseldorf, wanted to make shopping more entertaining, so each department evokes a different image. “We modeled on lessons learned during our favorite shopping experiences in the flea market in Paris, the Souks of Marrakesch, the old city of Kathmandu, Chicago’s Oak Street and New York’s Madison Avenue,” Mozer says. Mozer’s design for a prototypical Renaissance hotel in Times Square will bring more theatrical magic to the area when it opens March 10. Recently, a shopping center developer asked Mozer to develop the design for a theoretical city that would represent the future of shopping. And, in his spare time, Mozer finds time to paint and sculpt. Jordan Mozer & Associates, |
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Q. What would you still like to design? A. I have an appointment in Bali next month to work on a resort hotel. Bali has the most creative storytelling cultures of the world, and it’s an opportunity to create an immersive bridge experience between the West and the East using landscape, buildings, music, lighting and artwork and collaborating with some of the most gifted artists in the world. Q. Where’s your inspiration come from? A. An urge to create an emotional link between environments and their users by hand making place-specific four-dimensional stories; for instance, we are working on a hotel in Chicago at the site of an old knitting factory. The new building will be populated by old beams and machine parts from the old factory and will be draped in knitted textiles throughout. |
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The GREENAISSANCE MAN Nathan Kipnis WHY WE LOVE HIM: Like a renaissance man, Kipnis has mastered disciplines ranging from arts to sciences. Yet in new age style, his oeuvre tends to all things green. His penchant to build fantastical Lego edifices and fully-wired wooden forts led him to choose architecture as a profession before 10. But when the oil embargo hit in 1973, “I realized our resources are limited and we’re all going to have to buy into energy conscious design.” That’s when he knew he wanted to specialize in green design, though there was no name for it yet. But semantics didn’t stand in his way; today Kipnis can wax poetic on environmentally sound technology, science, design, politics, values and sports—not to mention his still stellar skateboarding. “On a good day, I can crank nine old-skool 360’s,” he says gleefully. WHAT HE HAS DONE: Kipnis was in the vanguard when he enrolled in the University of Colorado at Boulder for its environmental design program, then went to Arizona State for a Master of Architecture in energy conscious design. And true to his calling, he’s made green design his priority ever since he began practicing in 1985. “At first I’d be lucky to do one green project a year,” he admits. But Mayor Daley’s 1999 Green Homes for Chicago initiative gave sustainable building a kick-start; Kipnis designed one of the five homes selected to be built and has been going full-tilt with green work ever since. His projects have earned high Energy Star ratings and spreads in national shelter magazines, including Renovation Style, Better Homes & Gardens, Coastal Living and Natural Home. Martial, 1640 N. Wells St., 312-642-4533, www.martialdesign.us |
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Q. How would you describe your style? A. I hate that question. I don’t have one. Each project is an opportunity to use the rules that make sense for a specific site and the clients. None of my projects look the same. Q. So is there a recurring theme in your work? A. Yes...it all takes sustainability and environmentalism into account. You could say ‘high design, low carbon.’ |