Zoë Ryan is a British curator and writer. She is the Chair and John H. Bryan Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago. Her exhibitions include Fashioning the Object: Bless, Boudicca, and Sandra Backlund, Bertrand Goldberg: Architecture of Invention, Hyperlinks: Architecture and Design and Konstantin Grcic: Decisive Design. Prior to working at the Art Institute, Zoë was Senior Curator at the Van Alen Institute in New York where she organized numerous exhibitions including The Good Life: New Public Spaces for Recreation. Zoë has authored numerous articles and publications, including Building with Water: Concepts, Typology, Design. Zoë is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the School of Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago and at the School of the Art Institute where she teaches an interdisciplinary design seminar.

Art Institute of Chicago

Chris Force is the Editor-In-Chief of ALARM magazine and Design Bureau magazine. In 1995, he founded ALARM Press to share young, contemporary bands with the world outside the independent music scene. Fifteen years later, Force acted on his passion for edgy, gritty design and launched Design Bureau magazine. Like ALARM, Design Bureau strives to support designers working across all fields and to inspire dialogue on innovative design. ALARM’s passion in discovering exceptional musicians and designers is shared by its tireless cast of contributors. With their help, ALARM Press books and magazine can now be found around the world.

Design Bureau Magazine

Professor Helen Maria Nugent is the Director and founder of the Master of Design, and MFA program in Designed Objects at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has lectured at institutions such as the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Northwestern University and Syracuse University. Her exhibition projects include Moholy: An Education of the Senses at the Loyola University Museum of Art, Deceptive Design and Beyond Function: The Art of Furniture for the Chicago Cultural Center and Thick Design for the Betty Rymer Gallery. She serves on the board of the Chicago Scots Association and is a co-founder of HAELO Design.

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Designed Objects Programs

Sam Vinz graduated with a BA in Art History from UW-Madison with an emphasis in 20th Century European architecture. He completed his MA in Art Business from Sotheby’s Institute in London, writing his dissertation on an analysis of the contemporary design market. Sam has spent time working at Phillips de Pury, Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery, Wright Auction and Chase Art Companies. Other than art and design, his interests pertain to anything loud and fast – rock ‘n’ roll and Nascar being at the top of the list.

Volume Gallery

Designed products for worldwide known, design oriented companies in different sectors; Furniture, Lighting, Tableware, Household, Sanitary fixtures, Fashion Accessories. Branding Consulting and Art Direction. Common to all her projects are her distinctive design language and the research on the sensorial qualities of materials.

Recent clients include: Panasonic, Nestlé, Unilever – Lipton, Alessi, Foscarini, Leucos, FontanaArte, Sharp, Mobileffe, Liv’it, Pirelli, Cappellini, Slide, Durst, Egizia, Rapsel, Merati, Guzzini, WMF, VitrA, Authentics, Nissan, Casio, Gaia&Gino, MPD, OmniDecor, 888, Tuna, Megaron, Alparda, Nurus, Hamam, Delta, Arcelik and Sisecam.

Her idea of design is influenced by her training in Ettore Sottsass’ studio, by the combination of her Turkish and Italian culture, and by her curiosity for very different product types. Her interests span from humanizing new technologies like digital audio systems to rediscovering the tradition of hand made ceramics.

Koz Susani Design Inc