Paved States Makes Space for Chicago’s Design Future

Chicago’s architectural legacy isn’t just about towering steel and glass, but the design DNA that runs through everything we create. This June we decided it was time to showcase how that DNA is evolving through a new generation of furniture makers and product designers. PAVED STATES emerged as our answer to a glaring gap: why shouldn’t Chicago have its own platform for experimental design?

With over 50,000 design professionals descending on THE MART for NeoCon each year we saw an opportunity sitting right in front of us. When we got the chance to partner with NeoCon for PAVED STATES during Chicago Design Week, we knew we had to do it. 

The exhibition, staged on the ground floor of the historic Merchandise Mart, was designed to offer a platform for independent designers—many from Chicago—to shine alongside the industry’s big names. More than just filling space, this was about filling a real gap in the city’s design scene where independent creators have been overshadowed by the major manufacturers that usually dominate trade fairs. The show’s name itself taps into Chicago’s deep relationship with brutalism, concrete, steel, and glass.

The idea was to give emerging talent a real platform while celebrating the architecture that makes Chicago special. Our brand marketing director Abigail Grohmann and editor-in-chief Chris Force curated with purpose taking inspiration from Milan’s Alcova, an exhibition that has mastered turning unusual spaces into must-see design destinations.

Points of Sail‘s Larry Tchogninou and James Langford created an environment that was both smart and striking. They covered the walls in metallic fabric and made custom plinths that directly referenced the Willis Tower’s geometry. 

The show’s opening cocktail party proved just how hungry Chicago was for this kind of platform. Hundreds of people attended to celebrate, transforming the space into the kind of buzzing design destination we’d envisioned. The evening also celebrated the launch of Sixtysix‘s Issue 14 creating a perfect convergence of print and experiential design that felt uniquely ours.

The design and retail lineup proved Chicago talent can hold its own on any stage. Noam Atelier brought his Ruby Sofa, which he described as “an experiment on brutalism and making angles as soft and inviting as possible through upholstery techniques.” The piece perfectly embodied our vision with its sharp brutalist forms softened through craft and comfort.

Cody Norman‘s recycled plastic work challenged preconceptions in the best way. “I really try to challenge viewers on what they’re looking at and how it’s made,” he says. “A lot of times brutalism is associated with big concrete forms that go against nature, but my work is very organic and materiality focused.”

Ian Cochran‘s resin Plumb series played with light and connection. “My work is focused on the material of resin and how it relates to light, color, refraction, and the environment that it’s in,” he says. “All those parts connect together without a piece of metal or adhesive.”

From out of town, we had Christian Borger’s polycarbonate pieces from Boston and Hanneke Lourens’ Corrugated Collection from California, bringing in pieces inspired by her South African roots. “In South Africa in the urban landscapes you see a lot of corrugated metal sheets because it’s a very affordable building material,” she says. “This wavy metal sheet catches your eye everywhere you look!”

Work from international designers including Ia Kutateladze and Christian Borger also created a mix of both local and global design.

Anna Stechschulte‘s typically Bubble chair took on new life in our brutalist setting. “My work is usually seen in a different context, so PAVED STATES was a great opportunity to see something that is a fresher look,” she says. “I tend to work with really vibrant colors and very soft pastels, so it was really nice to do something in a more clean, brutalist type of setting.”

JUDEXAYA‘s mysterious Tetra Chair—based on geometry’s most elemental form—embodied the kind of functional art we were after. “It’s seamless in its form. There’s no traces of manufacturing, it’s all one piece,” they said, maintaining an air of mystery around their materials. “We don’t disclose this material. It’s just a metallic essence.”

Siete Studio‘s Fragua lamp brought ancient craft into conversation with contemporary brutalism. “‘Fragua’ in Spanish means ‘forge.’ It utilizes the old artisanship of metallurgical crafts,” says Alexa Fernández, one of Siete’s founders. “Siete is all about mixing the old and the new.”

Beyond furniture, PAVED STATES extended into a retail environment featuring small objects, home goods, scents, and wearables. Visitors can shop pieces by For Us, Dear, Sinead Cleary Ceramics, Rory Pipia, Clue Perfumery, Sofia Elias, Binaurale Fragrances, and Noel Mercado, offering take-home pieces that carry the show’s material focus. Throwing in some Lella and Massimo Vignelli classics through Heller Furniture also connected the design dots across generations, and Todo Pasa’s custom merch looked perfectly at home on metallic shelves.

Paved States proved that Chicago deserves the same kind of experimental design platform that Milan has, and that we can pull it off. More importantly it showed that emerging designers, especially the ones right here in Chicago, have been waiting for this opportunity. The exhibition was about more than showing beautiful objects—it also changed who gets to be part of design’s future.

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