Shu Magazine
Inspired by the pioneering ideas of Florence Schust Knoll, known to friends as Shu, these stories are about bringing order and beauty to the experience of space.
Recent stories
In Dirk Lohan’s home on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive, it’s a family affair
Dive into the architect’s relationship with his grandfather, Mies van der Rohe.
The creative energy of the Brick Weave House
A family makes space for art and community in a house by Studio Gang.
Video from recent stories
Artist Noel Mercado uses found and salvaged objects to reinvent the familiar.
Images from recent stories
When it comes to sourcing salvaged materials, artist Noel Mercado sees stories in the imperfections and flaws. “All the dents and rust and cutmarks—my goal is to preserve that but with a new form or function,” he explains.
“Bertoia didn’t title his pieces. He wanted the viewer to see whatever they see without any sort of framing. They’re completely abstract and yet you make all these associations to the natural world,” explains curator Marin Sullivan.
In the penthouse of architect Dirk Lohan at 860-880 Lake Shore Drive, connections to Knoll turn up in a Bertoia wire sculpture and Mies’ infamous ashtray centered in the coffee table of the living room.
A Spoleto Chair with sound. Cesca as a multi-sensory statement of memory. Artist Noel Mercado pulls materials from an auto scrapyard to reimagine the lives of Knoll chairs.
A copy of the monograph, Knoll Design, is inscribed by Shu herself beneath a sequence of portraits: “For Dirk Lohan...for Florence Knoll Bassett.”
At home in the Brick Weave House, Tereasa Surratt and partner David Hernandez have cultivated a highly personal and ever-evolving experience. “There’s nothing in our house that doesn’t have a backstory.”
Dirk Lohan’s living room features a pair of Tugendhat Chairs proudly signed by the maker.
“My design decisions have mostly been around neutrals that can support the colorful variety of the work that they interact with, which is also in a very transient way because the paintings come and go,” says Chloe Wise.