Studio Walks Wicker Park
Event Review By Michael Stump

Event Overview
AIGA Chicago asked a variety of firms to open their doors and share their experience for our Studio Walks. Wicker Park takes you to the diverse companies listed below. Start where you like and follow a path of your choosing. All firms will keep their doors open from 6-8:30pm. Each studio tour will provide an intimate opportunity for attendees, hosts and sponsors to network and socialize. 

Participating Studios

Steracle Press
1239 N. Wood St.
In 2003, Stacey Stern founded Steracle Press; a press emphasizing the best of unique design, typography and craft. Steracle’s clientele range from high-profile celebrities to quirky customers looking for something off the grid. She has a BFA from The School of the Art Institute and has taught Letterpress since 2002 in various venues including Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum.

Steracle Press will work one-on-one with you to create a unique piece that reflects your event, personality and esthetic. We feel that cookie-cutter is boring. We combine our exploration in typography, expertise of the finest materials, mastery in the 18th century art of letterpress printing, and excellent customer service to give you, the client, something no one else has.|
http://www.steracle.com/

Grip
1128 N. Ashland Ave.
Established in 1999, Grip has over 12 years of strategic design experience. Servicing clients in a range of industries, our primary goal with every project is to achieve quantifiable results. Through the years this disciplined approach has honed our research skills and maximized the return potential for our clients. Our design team leaders have a breadth of knowledge that spans both online and printed environments. We carefully monitor industry trends and emerging communication vehicles, from social networking to identification of the most effective influencers. As a full service creative agency we constantly strive to add the highest value communication strategies to our evolving skill set. That noted, perhaps the most telling statistic about our storied history is that we still work with our very first client.
http://gripdesign.com/

Studio Gang Architects
1212 N. Ashland Ave. #212
Founded by Jeanne Gang, FAIA, in 1997, Studio Gang is a rising international practice whose work confronts pressing contemporary issues. Conceived as a collective of architects, designers, and thinkers, the studio acts as a lab for testing ideas on varying scales: from cities to environments to individual buildings’ unique material properties. The firm’s provocative and alluring architecture is exemplified by such recent projects as the Aqua Tower (the 2009 Emporis Skyscraper of the Year), Columbia College Chicago’s Media Production Center (a cutting-edge film production and teaching facility), and the Lincoln Park Zoo South Pond (an educational pavilion and landscape that is quickly becoming a new Chicago landmark).

The work of Studio Gang has received national and international recognition and has been published and exhibited widely, most notably at the International Venice Biennale, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Building Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago. A recent documentary about Aqua and Studio Gang was produced by the Checkerboard Film Foundation as part of their acclaimed Architecture Series. Reveal, Jeanne Gang’s first volume on the firm’s work and working process, was released from Princeton Architectural Press in April 2011.
http://www.studiogang.net/

(Due to client confidentiality agreements and sensitive material, there will be absolutely no photography allowed in the Studio Gang Architect's studio.)

This is a FREE event but registration is required.