Karen Klages

Someone was thinking straight at Burnes of Boston with its new Level-Line frames and ledges. The mounting bracket has a built-in level. So, all you do is hammer a nail...

When Digitas, an interactive and direct-marketing agency, opened in Chicago three years ago, it slipped into ready-made offices at Illinois Center. And, of course, the creatives were restless: The space...

Club-hoppers have seen bars that glow--but probably none done in backlit mosaic glass tiles. They're usually in plastic or onyx, says Chicago architect Nancy Warren, whose firm is known for...

Few spaces are more predictably traditional than a bank's. And few banks in Chicago are more disdainful of that brass-and-dark-wood look than the LaSalle Bank in the lobby of the...

Karen Klages reviews this month's shelter magazines and steers you toward issues worth your time and money. After testing the home waters last October, Oprah Winfrey (in conjunction with Hearst...

Aurora-based Cabot Microelectronics makes a product that looks like skim milk with some grit in it. It's called slurry, a polishing com--pound used by semi-conductor makers to plane their silicon...

As far as symbolism goes, the ovoid confers thoughts of life and birth. In design, it's all about a sensuous shape that is easy on the eyes -- and difficult...

A bold shower curtain is the quickest, cheapest, least-invasive way to make over a bathroom -- in a big way. Have a look at three that can change everything in...

Visitors to the Library are apt to feel the pull of its stairwell, a powerful bit of architecture that greets them when they enter. The space was designed not only...

With news of candy companies failing in Chicago, it's refreshing to hear of one (albeit not a local maker) that has sweetened the pot for its 69-person staff on the...