THE MART 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza Chicago, IL 60654 800.677.MART FOR MORE ORIGINAL CONTENT SHOWCASING THE BEST IN DESIGN, VISIT DESIGNCHICAGOMAG.COM DEBORAH L. MARTIN Editor in Chief Opposite: Turf’s Cushion acoustic wall panels explore the interplay between light, form, and sound, and come in vivid colors. Top: The Art Deco facade of Showhouse at THE MART, designed by En Masse Architecture & Design. Above: Celeste Robbins designed a special alcove for the piano in this modern home with spectacular views of Lake Michigan. E very now and then, when I put a magazine together, a pattern emerges. You could call it a trend I guess, but I don’t really think in trends because designers don’t think in trends. They come and go and with some notable exceptions, they are mostly forgotten when the next big thing appears. But patterns are different. Maybe it’s the universe telling us what we need, or maybe it’s all just a big coincidence. When I started pulling together submissions and projects for this issue, I suddenly realized that almost everything I was looking at had some kind of musical element: a piano, a guitar, a DJ booth, a listening room. So, I assumed that the universe was telling me something and who am I to argue? I come from a musical family, my sister played the violin, and I played the piano and I don’t remember a time when there wasn’t some form of music playing in our house. I formed a new musical family when I married my husband, a bass guitarist with a heavy metal band who was, like me, obsessed with music of all kinds. I wish I had continued to play the piano so I could sit in one of the rooms in this issue and tickle the ivories, but nowadays I am content to appreciate those who share their very souls through sound. This issue is filled with great design from cover to cover, including the Showhouse at THE MART, which you can visit through the fall. And yes, it also includes a piano, a chartreuse one no less, which appears on our cover in the parlor room designed by KSA Design Group. So many talented and creative people contributed to this project, which had to be created from the ground up, in a space that was not a house. The talented team at En Masse Architecture and Design, led by Lucas Goldbach, designed the layout, coordinated with the designers and THE MART team, and created a home within the confines of a commercial building, complete with an Art Deco facade. No small feat. And this is why we love our design world so much. We get to interact with skill, expertise, creativity, and passion every single day. And we are thrilled to share it all with you, in the pages of our Fall issue. n