09/29/2026
Design Chicago Recap!
I had the opportunity to speak on two panels this year, both touching on ideas that are central to how we approach design at LWID.
Our first conversation explored color and our approach to using color to create spaces with longevity. For us, color is never considered in isolation—it’s about color alongside pattern, scale, texture, and contrast. A room can be bold and full of color while still feeling incredibly livable.
We love creating spaces that reveal themselves differently as you experience them—a colorful pattern might read almost as a solid as you pass by, while up close, you begin to see the individual colors and details within it. That balance allows a home to feel interesting and distinctive without becoming visually exhausting or tied to a particular moment in time.
Our second panel asked, “Is Good Taste Killing Creativity?” Good taste matters, but great design also requires technical skill, curiosity, listening, and the instinct to know when to push beyond what you already know works. Throw in something that doesn’t quite belong. Break a rule. Push beyond the expected.
The bonus was getting to have this conversation alongside some of my favorite people. It felt a lot like the conversations we have all the time—just with a lot more people watching!
Grateful to have been part of both conversations, to spend a few days surrounded by such a talented Chicago design community, and last but not least, to see rooms by two of my design besties at the Mart Show House!
