Best of Chicago Design: Sure-to-please gifts

P.O.S.H. P.O.S.H. is known for its vintage diner-style dishes (love the cute logos) and silver-plate serving pieces from hotels and restaurants, but it’s also our favorite place for gifts, from tea towels to a hot chocolate pot with two mugs to perfectly charming old paintings from the Netherlands. The free gift-wrapping is a super-nice perk. … Read more

Best of Chicago Design: High-Concept Kitchen Sinks

De Giulio Kitchen Design Kitchen design virtuoso Mick De Giulio has a real understanding of details, even about such seemingly mundane things as the kitchen sink. His multitiered, multi-functional sinks can be made in any size (in stone, stainless steel, polished nickel, or other materials), and customized with teak cutting boards and other accessories, including … Read more

Best of Chicago Design: Window Into a Beautiful Mind

Michael Del Piero Good Design Wave Lengths salvaged-metal chandelier by Lucy Slivinski, 18th-century burled wood dresser, steel-and-reclaimed-wood nesting table, and pots collected from around the world This Bucktown storefront/design studio opened last year by decorator and tastemaker Michael Del Piero is the best design-portfolio-come-to-life in town—and it’s open to the public. She fills her store … Read more

Best of Chicago Design: Unexpected flower and plant mecca

Crate & Barrel   This chain’s North Avenue location has a small floral department that’s out of this world. Michelle C. Salazar, an experienced floral designer, took charge of the department five years ago; she stocks it with architectural plants and unusual flowers that complement C&B’s modern vases and accessories. You’ll see everything from lilies, … Read more

Best of Chicago Design: Manly-Man Style

Brimfield US Keeping her many male customers in mind, Julie Fernstrom, owner of Andersonville’s Brimfield, devoted the lower level of the shop to a new concept: Brimfield US, where she focuses on Swiss Army signage, mid-century furniture reupholstered with U.S. Navy blankets, and pillows made from old Marine uniforms. She also reconcepted Brimfield’s sister shop, … Read more

Best of Chicago Design: Landscaper to call for a vegetable garden the neighbors will covet

Mariani Landscape Frank Mariani, Jr.’s own vegetable and cutting garden We don’t hide vegetables in the backyard, we design them into the garden,” says Mariani client representative Shari Precht. The key? Structure. Well-defined beds might be bordered with boxwood and separated by pea gravel or crushed granite walkways. Alliums, thyme, and other “steppable” plants add … Read more

Best of Chicago Design: 007-worthy Italian style

Maxalto A sumptuous chaise longue from the Febo collection The furniture in James Bond’s hotel room at the (fictional) Grand Hotel Bolivar in Panama in his last movie was by Maxalto. It’s a B&B Italia line by Milanese architect Antonio Citterio, inspired by French designs of the 1920s through the 1940s. The pieces are glamorous, … Read more

Heads Up, Jetsetters!

 

The German design house Vitra, which is represented locally by Manifesto just opened the doors to the amazing VitraHaus, a showcase for the company’s home furnishings collection, on the Vitra campus in Will am Rhein, Germany. Even though it’s very far away, we can still marvel at this amazing design by Herzog & de Meuron. See more photos on the Vitra website.

Out-of-Sight Offices

Q: I need a home office but I don’t have dedicated space for one. How can I create a workspace that’s easily hidden or transformed when not in use?