Tom Stringer is no homebody. In fact, the designer (who vividly captured his transformative experience traveling through Namibia for AD PRO’s Designer Takeover series) holds travel so dear that his journeys – and their influence on his design – were the subject of his 2017 book, An Adventurous Life (Images Publishing, $60). His extensive travel bleeds into all he does, but still, Stringer maintains a soft spot for his hometown of Chicago. Here, AD PRO shadows Stringer for a day of work in the Windy City.
Designer Tom Stringer.
Photo: Jorge Gera
6:00 A.M.
Rise and shine! My crazy pups Tucker (a four-year-old American Eskimo) and Jonah (a three-year-old Bichon Poodle) are running circles around me, as they do every morning. I head down to the kitchen for a cup of coffee (my first of many for the day!), The New York Times, and some cuddle time with the dogs on the sofa.
6:30 A.M.
I head for the gym (conveniently located in the basement of my home or I’d never go!) and spend a half hour on the Peloton with my favorite coach, Cody Rigsby. After a trip to Japan this winter, I’ve also begun meditation each morning and I find this to be a perfect postworkout cool-down.
7:30 A.M.
I head back upstairs to my home office off the library, look at my schedule for the day, and catch up on a small mountain of emails from the day before. This is a neverending battle.
8:30 A.M.
I shower, dress, and head off to the office. It’s luckily a short ride on Lake Shore Drive to my new office in the Palmolive Building on Chicago’s Mag Mile. I take in the Lake Michigan scenery and the gorgeous Chicago skyline and am reminded every day of why I love this city.
9:30 A.M.
The morning kicks off with my first meeting of the day with my design team. We are working on a new construction, full-floor luxury high-rise condo in Chicago’s historic Gold Coast, our second project for this client. We are currently incorporating a massive pair of bronze and brass antique doors into the foyer that the clients picked up in their travels to India.
Swatches on display during a design meeting.
Photo: Jorge Gera
A living room designed by Stringer.
