Chicago Design Center Names 3 Ones To Watch

September 30, 2015  by in Designer Weekly   

The Design Center showrooms at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart have named three rising design stars as this year’s Ones To Watch winners.

Brynn Olson of Brynn Olson Group, Jillian Richey of Jillian Richey Interior Design, and Stephen Young of Stephen Young Design are each on the list.

“We are thrilled to honor and recognize these three rising stars who have demonstrated their commitment to creating innovative design and who the Design Center showrooms regard as some of the next big names in the industry,” said Julia Chappell, managing director of marketing for Vornado | Merchandise Mart.

Olson, Richey and Young will be honored during a cocktail reception held during Design Chicago set for Oct. 6-7.

Trained as an artist, Olson began her design career creating large-scale indoor and outdoor painted murals for commercial spaces and residences. After attending Vanderbilt University and pursuing an academic-oriented career, her love for art and design re-ignited years later and she joined Nate Berkus Associates in 2008. She furthered her education in Interior Design at Harrington College of Design while working full-time with the NBA family and managed and designed projects for commercial and private high-end residential clients and celebrities.

Richey started her career by learning one facet of design at a time. Specializing in faucets and fixtures, appliance packages, natural stone tiles and cabinetry, she develop an eye for sourcing architectural finishes. This knowledge laid the perfect foundation for residential design.

After establishing the building blocks, Richey began working for a design build firm, where she learned the painstakingly difficult task of construction management. With a focus in kitchen and bath design, she was inspired by the psychology of humans interacting with their home environment to explore interiors that were first functional but beautiful. She developed an acute sensitivity for reading clients’ needs and is able to ease the difficult home building/renovation process by really getting to know a client, diagnose their problems and make accurate suggestions to lessen the strain of decision making.

Young’s firm Stephen Young Design is focused on creating spaces that reflect a luxury lifestyle. Design Director, Stephen Young, uses his unique perspective on contemporary living to influence each individual residence with a distinctive timeless appeal. A collaborative client-designer relationship is at the core of SYD, developing each project into a distinguished one-of-a-kind residential experience.

With an extensive knowledge of architecture, furniture, and fine finishes, every detail is appointed to achieve a balance between furnishings and architecture. SYD manages and facilitates all elements of the design process from conception to installation; integrating form and function with financial and construction expectations.

Design Chicago is a residential design conference held at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart. It features a wide array of educational programming and CEU seminars, open houses at showrooms and new products.