Between Lisa Simeone and Gina Deary there exists a deep friendship—evident in the way they sometimes finish each other’s sentences—and a shared passion for design that led them to found their own firm 20 years ago.
They first met in Chicago in 1996, when Simeone moved to the city from Rhode Island to work at restaurant-focused firm Marve Cooper, where Deary, a recent graduate of Harrington College of Design, was employed as a designer. The bond was immediate. Simeone noticed Deary’s talent, referring to her as a “whirling dervish of creativity.” Deary confirms: “Lisa and I liked each other right away. She was a mentor to me in many ways when we first started.” During their first few years working together, the idea of having their own firm started to percolate, but it wasn’t until 2002 that the timing seemed right.
Ribbed concrete walls contrast buttery soft leather in the Thompson Austin lobby
And so it began at a shared desk on Michigan Avenue with Deary on one side and Simeone on the other. Their first big hotel client was the Elysian Hotel Chicago, where they watched the entire development come to life firsthand. “It was one of the most amazing experiences for our business,” says Simeone.
Soon, the duo began to carve out their own niche in the industry with a design-forward approach grounded in a strong sense of place. Consider adaptive reuse projects like the Hotel Kansas City, a former social club in a downtown Beaux-Arts building turned elegant 144-key hotel, or the Detroit Foundation Hotel, transformed from a five-story fire station. The latter was personal for Deary. “I felt so much responsibility because I’m from the area, and I wanted to be part of [the city’s] renaissance.”
In 2021, SDDG merged with full-service firm KTGY to become KTGY Simeone Deary Design Group. Together, they have a combined 50 years of experience across interiors, branding, planning, and architecture. It’s a culmination of years of following their passion. “We never looked around and said ‘Everybody else is doing this. We need to keep up with [them].’ We put our heads down and forged the path we felt was right for us. We never wavered from it ever,” says Simeone.
An oil painting by Herbert Brandl sits behind the reception desk at the Waldorf Astoria Chicago, a renovation of their first project, the Elysian
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