Where will you find an innovative design firm with it’s own gallery program and exhibition space during this week’s West Loop Gallery Walk? Look no further.

I recently had a privileged dialogue with Cloudster Jennifer Choi of Design Cloud where she clued me in to bigger picture at the Cloud. Keep up with this unique group of creatives, I have a suspicion that they may be on to something.

We use our offices as a case study illustrating an orchestrated experience or environment; through artwork, a community of creatives, and focused programming. Our continually evolving portfolio sets us apart.

Design Cloud in the West Loop
Design Cloud LLC and its team – “Cloudsters,” as they are called – find themselves in one of the most inventive spaces in the West Loop area of Chicago. The Cloudsters are a group of independent and multidisciplinary designers, makers, artists and programmers – not to mention their token pup Bigsby. Design|Cloud expresses itself as a one family made up of three branches: The extended network, the studio, and the branding agency.

“By bringing together people who are independently creative and inspired we’ve created a naturally creative space.”

Space & Location.
When I first set foot on this Cloud, I was touring exhibitions at nearby Aspect|Ratio Projects and Rhona Hoffman Gallery. Walking up the wooden stairs, something about the space caught my eye,  and I was quite literally drawn in.  The space appeared to me with nearly every inch of the Cloudsters’ space marked by something familiarly absent from many facets of contemporary design, characterized by stroads and haute cocktail bars – intent. Located at 118 n. Peoria 2n, Design|Cloud is place where people come to connect, share workspace, and get inspired.

It is undeniable that we social beings have a relationship with the spaces we occupy, and that that relationship involves a degree of reciprocity – people make place, but place always makes them.

“Again, we are very interested in having a creative space and we’re very happy to feel that creative energy in the West Loop. We’re a stones throw from restaurant row, and [we’re] neighbors with the best galleries in the nation! We can’t really ask for more from a neighborhood.”

Studio & Gallery
Design|Cloud’s studio has it’s own sui generis curatorial program, MOUNT, and it’s own gallery director, Ariane Cherry, whom I  spoke with here during the current exhibition Murmurings, conceived by Noelle Allen and Christine Remy.

Needless to say, this is not your  traditional studio office space.

The Draw
I continue to be drawn to Design|Cloud because of its model, and, more fundamentally, because of what the people that make up this organization stand for: Part of their mission and concept is to foster a creative community in protracted dialogue. It’s an exciting presence here in Chicago’s West Loop.

Look for Design|Cloud to form an even more robust portfolio, expanding on from digital work and taking leaps into the built environment.

“I try to highlight the people in our space as much as possible; creatives are naturally attracted to the like minded.”

Jennifer Choi is Community Manager cum Social Media Kid at Design Cloud LLC.
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Interact directly with Design|Cloud on Twitter and Facebook.

Image Courtesy: Design Cloud LLC and Jennifer Choi.