Another 365-day adventure begins. A new year. New energy. New people who will pour their hearts and souls into their work–and wind up on top of the heap when 1998 winds to a close.
The Home section celebrates the upcoming success stories, now being written in the world of Chicago design, with a three-part series that kicks off today. Starting with furniture design, then interior design and, finally, landscape design, the Home section will name names in our Design Watch ’98. They are designers from around the metropolitan area who have great talent, growing reputations, but not the renown . . . yet, that is.
Meet the five furniture designers we think you should watch in 1998. Mini-profiles of them appear on Page 3.
FURNITURE DESIGNERS BRING NEW EXCITEMENT TO THE HOME FRONT
Pradeep Shimpi
Known as: Shiani, 735 W. Division St., 312-654-8721.
Vitals: 37 years old. Raised in Singapore, of Indian descent. In business since 1994. Basically self-taught.
Designs and makes: His own line of mainly wood (cherry, maple, walnut and some exotics) furniture; uses steel and cast-aluminum for accents.
Specializes in: “Cabinets and case goods, although I do love making dining tables.”
Look for: Clean, contemporary design–a subtle blend of East and West. Impeccable craftsmanship. Drawers that slide effortlessly. Shiani uses state-of-the-art drawer slides on his bigger cabinets and chests. The slides are hidden and allow full-extension of the drawer. They also close the drawer automatically. Drawers left open drive Shimpi crazy.
Came to the U.S.: To get his degree in marketing and advertising from Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.
But: “I have always been handy and creative in some way. I have painted, written songs. I play guitar.” Studied interior design in Singapore.
Started making furniture: “When my wife and I first moved in together, we went out looking for furniture and couldn’t afford a lot.” He made a coffee table, then a dining table. Friends loved his work. They placed orders. The rest is history.
Prized possession(s): A signed lithograph by John Lennon. Twin, black-and-white photos of Lennon and Paul McCartney, at age 19 or 20. He’s a Beatles fanatic.
Prices: $1,000 for a night stand to $3,500 for the large lingerie chest (shown on the cover) in the Ovale collection; about $3,500 for a dining table.
Caryn Chinnici
Pronounce it: Ka-REEN-na–she prefers the European pronunciation. Her business name: D.C. Chicago in Glen Ellyn, 630-858-1548.
Vitals: Would not give age. Raised in Wheaton. Degree in interior design. Career in interior design. Had a baby. Now returning to work, with focus on furniture design, “so I can be home with Troy. . . . my little wonder boy.”
Specializes in: Upholstery and tables, large armoires–mainly in wood. She designs pieces; others fabricate them.
Look for: Sleek, sensual design. Lots of great curves and pointy legs.
Not for: People who like small, dainty pieces. “I don’t make anything little. I think because little must seem unimportant to me.”
Always the rebel: In the late ’80s, Chinnici and three partners rocked the Chicago design community with Topeka Kansas, a gallery for avant-garde furniture, and an affiliated design firm. Both closed within a few years following the death of two partners. Devastated, Chinnici “flew the coop” and traveled around Europe.
Prices: Approximately $1,200 for side chairs to $13,000 for the Paris armoire.
Find them: Through architects and designers at the Richard Himmel Antique & Decorative Furniture showroom, 1800 Merchandise Mart, 312-527-5700; or through Chinnici directly.
Jim Massa
Double duty: An architect by day, furniture designer and maker by night and weekends. Right Line Design in Elmhurst, 630-833-8650.
Vitals: 36 years old. Born and raised in Springfield. Degrees in design and architecture. Officially started making furniture about 15 years ago. “I got an unfinished apartment. I had to come up with furniture fast.”
Specializes in: Bentwood–all kinds of tables, chairs, rocking chairs. He actually bends wood around molds, which he builds out of steel, plywood, “whatever I can find.” Molds must be made for each component of each piece of furniture.
Uses: Cherry, walnut, maple, ash, oak.
Look for: Quirky, contemporary design. Some pieces seem almost cartoonish with exaggerated proportions or surprising elements.
Like: The Kerchief table (shown on cover) with a top that drapes over the sides.
The best part: “Working the wood and bending the wood is very exciting for me. It’s a huge process. You can never be smarter than the wood.”
Likes to: Look at photographs of Charles Eames, Alvar Aalto, Michael Thonet–all masters of bentwood–at work. “Pictures of them bending wood always gives you another idea, a new tip.”
Prices: $750 for the Kerchief table, about $4,500 for a dining table.
Anton Kobrinetz
Known as: Anton Kobrinetz Design.
Known for: A growing reputation among Chicago’s fashionable crowd as a rising star in restaurant, hair salon and store design. Designing furniture is part of it.
Vitals: 32 years old. Born and raised on the Southwest Side. Degree in industrial design from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Followed a professor to Milan to do post-graduate study. Married an Italian woman. Now spends half the year in Milan, half in Chicago.
Among his credits: Collaborated with restaurateur/designer Jerry Kleiner on Marche and Red Light, two trendy Chicago restaurants. Also designed Smoke, A Cigar Emporium in Highland Park.
As for furniture: Everything he designs for other clients–including the restaurants–goes into his collection, available to the public. Find wood and metal chairs and bar stools, plus tables, desks, chests, metal shelving units, metal beds.
Notable: Those metal beds, most made of forged steel, some gilded in copper. Designs are elaborate, organic. Made in his own metal shop on the West Side.
Working on: Two Chicago restaurants; investment firm offices in Milan; his own retail store, Barocco, in Bucktown. It’s set to open in February and will sell his furniture designs, plus antiques and fine reproductions from Italy.
Prices: $2,500 for a steel canopy bed (queen size), $325 for the skirted Marche chair (shown on cover).
Call: 773-862-4094.
Chuck Spreitzer
Past life: Worked on fishing boats and in a cannery in Alaska, as a machinist. Spent winters doing sculpture in Seattle.
Vitals: 32 years old. Born in Hinsdale, lived in Wilmette but spent most of his youth in Missouri, on a dairy farm his family bought. Undergraduate and graduate degrees in fine arts/sculpture.
Now: Happily settled in Pilsen–lives in a former tavern, which he converted. In business for himself since 1993, designing and making tables, cabinets, buffets, wine racks, CD racks, candlesticks.
Look for: Amazing craftsmanship. Beautiful tongue-and-groove joinery. Beautiful finish work–furniture feels satin smooth.
His style: Clean, simple lines. A synthesis of Arts and Crafts style and Japanese design. “The Japanese are more involved in their joinery, and they use more curved lines than Crafts style ever would have. But they share an overall feel.”
Why Alaska?: “You get a fine arts degree, any liberal arts degree for that matter, and it’s tough to get a job.”
Began making furniture: During grad school at Illinois State University in Bloomington, Ill., where he studied with a couple of woodworking teachers.
Prices: $950 for the low cabinet of cherry, fishtail oak and quilted maple (shown on cover); $920 for the wine rack.
Find furniture: At Sawbridge Studios, 406 N. Clark St., 312-828-0055; and 1015 Tower Rd., Winnetka, 847-441-2441.
Designers and architects: For custom work, call him at 312-666-9663.
