How did you meet?
Lisa Simeone: In the spring of 1996 I moved from [Rhode Island] to Chicago and took a design manager’s job at a small boutique restaurant firm called Marve Cooper Design. The first day I started, Gina was installing one of her very first projects out of school called Café Spiaggia. She came into the office like a creative hurricane and I thought, ‘I need to know this person. She is fabulous.’ I became Gina’s boss, friend, and biggest advocate from day one. We were like-minded in design and life and stayed in each other’s orbit until 2002 when we started our
own firm.
Gina Deary: I liked [Lisa] immediately. She had great energy and became a mentor, as well as my boss.
Why did you want to work together?
LS: After all our years in the business and through the firms we had been at separately and together, we truly forgot what it felt like to be excited about design, to be creative, free to explore all the ways in which design can and should be experienced. We thought if we can do this and still make a living, we are onto something. We gave ourselves three months, and 15 years later, so far so good.
GD: We had a shared vision to create a design firm where individual creativity guides business decisions and is at the core of our company. Our philosophy rests solely on our belief that there is no substitute for great design.
The Art Deco-inspired Gwen in Chicago.
Early memories of working together?
LS: We started with just the two of us and an idea of what we wanted to do, what we wanted to be, and what we wanted to be doing. We had no startup money, no business plan. We shared one desk in a friend’s office under the ‘L’ tracks with Starbucks as our conference room. There were long days and late nights, and we took all kinds of jobs. We learned as we went and did everything ourselves from marketing to accounting to design.
GD: Actually, our first office was a Cherry Red Ford 150. One memory that stands out to me is of our first significant presentation. We had created spray mounting images on boards that were so big, they didn’t fit into a car, so we walked a half mile with large boards down the windy streets of Chicago. We both were almost blown away because we were more or less holding sails, but we got the job. It was the Elysian.
The lobby of the LondonHouse Chicago, dressed in jewel-toned furnishings.
What are each other’s strengths and weaknesses?
GD: I approach the project from the inside out looking at the structure of the space and Lisa approaches a project from the outside in taking her cues from the aesthetic aspects. I am inspired by history and architecture; Lisa is inspired by fashion and pop culture. We work extremely well together because of the level of respect and trust we each have for one another.
Tell us about your design process.
LS: Gina and I work on jobs that are independent of each other. We split the work based on schedule and availability, but there always seems to be one of us that has an affinity for a certain project, so we switch off that way as well. Despite that, we remain very involved in each other’s work and will typically ask one another to look at a design once we get it to a certain point. I like to hear Gina’s take on my work once I get a concept fleshed out, as she always gives me a fresh perspective and forces me to look at a design slightly differently.
Peach hues and mossy green accents in the Gwen guestrooms.
Project that showcases your firm?
GD: We transformed the Detroit Firehouse into the Foundation Hotel. I grew up near Detroit and am so passionate about its resurgence, and I am so proud that we immersed the community into the development, design, and implementation of the product. It is a great reflection of where the city is now.
Biggest challenge of owning your firm?
LS: Our expectations are high and our entrepreneurial attitudes keep us ever-changing. This can prove to be the biggest challenge when you have to motivate and inspire the people around you to do and feel the same way.
GD: Being an artist and living up to your potential without sacrificing your artistic integrity while remaining profitable remains the biggest challenge of all, but it is a challenge I enjoy finding solutions for. After all, our role as designers is to be problem solvers.
Artwork inspired by namesake sculptor Gwen Lux adorns guestroom walls.
Biggest challenge about your partnership?
LS: We are both strong designers and very opinionated, especially when it comes to our firm. Sometimes we align and sometimes we don’t. One of the best things we have ever done from the very beginning was to share an office (because we had to), and we continue to share an office (because we want to). We have to face each other every day and are forced to work things out. Our bottom line is that we have mutual respect for each other and a willingness to take responsibility for our part. I could never see myself doing this with anyone else but Gina. I tell her all the time that she has pushed me to be my personal best at all times.
GD: At times, we may see things differently but we both have learned that we are stronger together than we are apart, so we always find a way to compromise, to collaborate, and to communicate.
