I design at the intersection of business development and community building.
Retail Director
Chicago Design Museum Store
Dec 2013–Jan 2015
Chicago Design Museum Store
Dec 2013–Jan 2015
The Chicago Design Museum engages and builds community through exhibitions and programs, it originated as a month long pop-up Museum. As they transitioned into a permeant Museum, I was asked to join the board as the Retail director to design the vision, lead the build, and manage ChiDM’s first permanent store—which provides supplemental revenue to both ChiDM and designers who sell items.
I wanted it to be so beautiful and curated with a wide range of Chicago-based designers that it felt like an extension of the exhibition space. The Store was to be attended by volunteers, so had to be easy for them, as well as for visitors/customers, so prototyped experiences to determine best processes, then adjusted as needed. I worked with an architect to design modular furniture that defined the Store as a space and was flexible incase the Store moved within the space. I oversaw the business side of the store and managed 40+ vendors inventory and sales.
Select businesses shown in photo and included in the Store:
Legacy Frameworks (bicycle)
Po Campo (bags on bicycle)
Collaborators
Furniture design: Tafhim Rahman
Store process and guest experience design: Gigg V. Hemwattakit
Illustration in store: Kiyomi Negi-Tran
Desk design and fabrication: Levi Borreson
Photos by: Jennifer Yu Photography and Carrie Allen
