About TJ O’Keefe and Robert Zolna: TJ O’Keefe is a sculptural furniture and lighting designer and educator based in Chicago. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Industrial Design and the Director of Graduate Studies in ID at UIC, and runs his eponymous furniture and lighting design practice TJOKEEFE, which he started in 2010. O'Keefe received a B.F.A. in Industrial Design and Graphic Design from the University of Michigan in 2004, followed by a master of architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. His work has been featured in Details, Frame, Wallpaper, Elle Decor, and the New York Times, among others, and is represented in showrooms in both Chicago and New York. He has exhibited in Chicago, New York, London, Berlin, Paris, and Basel.
Robert Zolna is an accomplished design academic and practitioner with experience in both theory and applied contexts. Robert’s love for design and the human experience helps him transform complex problems into equitable, inclusive, and desirable solutions. He is an associate professor at the University of Illinois Chicago’s School of Design where he leads the Design Studies program, a humanities and liberal arts focused approach to problem-solving that centers on context, community and collaboration through deep research and participatory design methodologies. Prior to joining the UIC design faculty, Robert taught in the MDes program at IIT’s Institute of Design, the renowned human-centered graduate school and offspring of the New Bauhaus in Germany. Robert’s research and design practice focuses on social and civic issues, in particular health access within the urban context and how the built environment impacts health outcomes, using participatory and co-creation methods that actively involve people in the design process.
