Curioso
Who is Curioso?
Founded by Daniel Pierce and Nina Grondin, Curioso is an assemblage of architects, interior designers, artists and business-minded thinkers (and tinkerers) working in unison to design meaningful experiences for humans. Based in Chicago, we help companies around the world to create unique brand experiences and reinvent existing ones. We help our clients tackle ambitious design and innovation challenges; the kind of things you don’t know how to face but can’t afford not to. We understand that the secret to doing this is not simply having the great ideas or the creative vision it is about having the right people at the table and working in a highly flexible and collaborative manner to get things done.
Our work ranges from the physical, to the digital, to the emotional— yet the objective remains constant; to create memorable and meaningful experiences with the power to transform. Simply stated, we aim to work on projects that are as much felt as they are seen.
From this foundation we have built a portfolio that represents a group of self-starters, first adopters and general ball-busters whose business vary but have perpetuated our guiding sentiment of “service by design” in every facet of their business. By trusting us to help realize beyond their initial aspirations, we aim to redefined the perceived limits of what means to be hospitable. We design to create experiences that make people’s lives better. Good design puts people first.
Design tip:
Surround yourself with items that you love, things that have meaning, that tell a story and make you feel something. If it makes you happy, if it makes you smile or cry or breaks your heart in a good way, add it to your life. Don’t worry if it goes with a certain style. If something has found a place in your heart, you can find a place for it in your project.
“If something has found a place in your heart, you can find a place for it in your project.”
Design element we’re obsessed with:
Glass block and decorative CMU. Both are beautifully architectural, applicable indoors and out, with individual elements that are small in scale but large in impact when used aptly. Both materials are also semi-transparent and we just love the way that light, shadow and human movement are transformed when viewed through these materials.
What is your first source of inspiration?
Everything, especially the contextual surroundings of a project. The beauty of being a designer is that we are predisposed to making connections between two seemingly disassociated things. Connecting a tennis court to a guestroom experience, a desert landscape to a meeting space, or calligraphy to a surprising moment of service at bar. We don’t have to find inspiration. It finds us. As long as we keep our eyes and minds open.
Your favorite places?
We live and work in the built environment, so some favorite places are out in the natural environment. As people, we get so caught up in our daily lives where insignificant matters can seem immense. Thus, it’s so important to get out into nature, whether in the mountains, or the middle of the ocean, or the desert – to be surrounded by true immensity and power; to feel small; to gain perspective. That way we can look at our projects with fresh eyes in the studio.
Favorite place to Travel:
Rome, Istanbul, Marrakesh – anywhere where the history is rich, the culture is vibrant and the architecture is layered (where you nearly trip over ruins on your way to grab a morning coffee). And of course, where the food is good. The food must always be good.
Favorite Hotel:
There are hotels that are beautiful, and a few that we have recently visited are Hotel Barcelo de Torres in Madrid, Casa Bonay in Barcelona, or the new Nomad in Downtown LA, but good design is not the only thing at the heart of a good hotel. Hotels are about people, and connection, and the service you experience there. There are some brands like Aman, that really understand that element of anticipating needs and delivering execptional service. And then there are the small independents that understand that as well – like the Astra Hotel in Santorini.
Music you’re playing right now:
Lake Street Dive, Etta James & Blood Orange
For more information visit www.curioso.us/
