Erin Shakoor is driven by her insatiable curiosity. After soaking up art and design fairs across the globe in the first half of the year, the interior designer, a member of the Black Artists + Designers Guild, returned to Chicago reinvigorated to create interiors with saturated color palettes, unexpected materials and fine art. Here, Shakoor takes us through her typical day in the city.
6:30 a.m. I’ll start the day by listening to an Abraham-Hicks recording and meditating. Then it’s either strength training at the gym or a power walk through my neighborhood in Little Italy and University Village.
9:30 a.m. Grab coffee at La Colombe. My cold or hot order is always a decaf almond milk latte, no foam. From there, I’m off to Soho House to find a comfy spot from which to work (preferably near the pool). I’ll stay at Soho House for lunch, researching and developing new and current projects until then.
2:30 p.m. Visit a job site and/or call on clients and project-specific vendors. I’ll also make time to visit showrooms like Brizo, Artistic Tile or deAurora, among others, to collect samples, assemble a quick mood board, discover new products, check dimensions, and, time permitting, head over to a workroom like A.S. Upholstery to check on the progress of custom orders.
5:30 p.m. I’m a fancy-nail girl and love J’s Blossom Nail & Spa on State Street for manis and pedis.
7 p.m. If I don’t have a networking or design event to attend, I meet a friend for dinner and drinks. One of my favorite restaurants is Bronzeville Winery—we always order the Brussels sprouts, sweet potato hummus and patatas bravas with a glass of House of Brown Rosé or a Watermelon Nojito.
Interior designer Erin Shakoor.
