We’ve been having fun celebrating the fifth anniversary of Western Interiors & Design, so we decided to have a party during the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) in Chicago last month. After considering a variety of glamorous Chicago hot spots (and there are more and more in that toddlin’ town), we selected Blackbird, which has been a standout Chicago restaurant for the past decade or so. After a long day working the booths at McCormick Place, publisher Jennifer Matthews, executive editor Laura Mauk, regional manager Kate Sollitt, account director Craig Abrams and I hopped a cab to West Randolph on Friday night. I admit, it was sheer bliss to relax in the private upstairs room at Blackbird, with our own private bar and wonderful hors d’oeuvres from Blackbird’s famous kitchen.

We’d invited many of our friends and partners both from the Chicago area and from the KBIS show, and though there were myriad events taking place that night, we had a nice turnout. It was great to see the visionary Steve Rosenblatt of Sonoma Cast Stone, and Erik Ambjor of Sonoma Forge, who stopped by on their way to dinner.

Jennifer Matthews, Steve Rosenblatt and Dave Sollitt

We quaffed a drink with Arcadio Lainez and Dabney Oliver from Zephyr, and I was delighted to see (surprise!) John Cottle of the great CCY Architects in Aspen, Colorado, who tied our party in with a visit to his son. CCY is doing some incredible work across the country now, and we’re always looking for opportunities to get their projects into our pages.

Michael Wollaeger and John Cottle

I was happy to meet Lydia Youkana and Phil Hannon, with ABT Electronics, a family-owned Chicago-area company that’s built a thriving national business. Our friends from Carlisle Flooring, Gary Ryer, Erin LaRose and Megan Sprague, came by (I’m looking forward to seeing their new showroom in Los Angeles), and I was pleased to spend some quality time with Jerry and Sheila Fein, of the fabulous Denver-based Vitraform. (Jerry and Sheila are finishing up a new weekend house in Colorado, and I made them promise to provide me a room when I’m scouting in the area.) Kohler’s Lisa Ackerman arrived with her posse, which was nice, given the plethora of Kohler events she had to cover during the show.

Lisa Ackerman and friends

And I had fun talking with Stephen Fisher, of HomeRemodeling.com, about growing up on the North Shore and our years of suffering as Cubs fans (maybe this year?). I also enjoyed meeting Phil Gould of Noble, who handles a variety of accounts, including Tamko, and his wife, Liz.

Jennifer Matthews and Stephen Fisher

Trays of delectable food items kept appearing from the kitchen, which gave me strength to drink more Champagne. Then celebrity chef Jonathan Waxman arrived with fellow chefs George Grieser and Carol McMullin, along with TurboChef public relations wizard John Weiss, and it was fun to hang out with them for a while before they adjourned to Avec, Blackbird’s sister restaurant next door.

George Grieser, Carol McMullin and Jonathan Waxman

Craig Abrams, John Weiss and Michael Wollaeger

The glamorous Tanya Rashid and Natalia Tampiza, from Muse Couture, could be seen sipping some Champagne, along with the lively Merlot Marketing group from San Francisco. It was a busy night, and Holly Hunt (among others) had to cancel, which was disappointing, but I’m hoping to catch up with all somewhere else down the line.

I’m sure there were other friends and partners at Blackbird, but frankly the Champagne may have erased some of the details of that night. As the party wound down, though, I do remember thinking about how vibrant and hard-working this industry is, and how inspiring it is to meet people who have built international businesses out of their own personal visions. It takes passion and dedication and nerve and perseverance. But the people who succeed are the people who love it, and there were a lot of them on hand in Chicago in April.

We all had to get up early Saturday morning to hit the show again, so I gratefully set a course back to the hotel. My intrepid colleagues, however, ventured on into the glittering Chicago night for further adventures.

posted by Amanda in General |

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