In February, after months of working at Luminaire by day while furiously designing functional art by night (both of which he is still doing), 27-year-old Steven Haulenbeek, a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, launched a Web site to showcase the fruits of his labor. A friend with a design blog linked to his site, and some 40,000 hits later, his work is to be featured in international design mags and a book published by Taschen. More important for this budding Karim Rashid, the orders are pouring in, particularly for the Cumulus Light Canopy (shown above)-essentially a bunch of upside-down open umbrellas (starting at $275 for a six-piece canopy). This fixture and other pieces by Haulenbeek, loosely based on superstitions (cracked mirrors and tall ladder shelving), will be on display Friday the 13th of July at Forme (1932 S. Halsted St., 773-369-0031).
To buy or see more examples of his work, check out stevenhaulenbeek.com.