Forward Space
Located in a warehouse space in the suburbs of Chicago, this showroom and office space is not what you'd expect upon walking through the front doors. The interior design for Forward Space, a woman-owned Steelcase dealer, has a feminine edge using the purple brand color in interesting ways.
An Unexpected Showroom Inside a Suburban Chicago Warehouse
Behind the doors of a suburban Chicago warehouse, Kuchar created a showroom and office for Forward Space that few would anticipate from the exterior. Forward Space is a woman-owned Steelcase dealer whose work brings furniture, architecture, technology, and flooring together for its clients, and the space needed to reflect that expertise while feeling anything but corporate. Kuchar gave the interior a feminine edge, working the company's purple brand color into the design in unexpected ways and elevating an ordinary warehouse into a polished setting for hosting clients and showing product. The result doubles as a working office and a live showroom — a place where Forward Space can demonstrate how thoughtful design turns a plain shell into somewhere people want to spend time.
A furniture dealer's showroom has a dual job: it must present the product on display and embody the design thinking behind it. Strong showroom interior design guides visitors through vignettes that feel aspirational yet livable, letting them handle materials and picture the pieces in their own workplace. Because Forward Space is also a working office, the project called for workplace interior design that supports the team day to day while staying camera-ready for client visits. In Chicago's competitive contract-furniture market, a showroom that surprises — here, an upscale interior hidden inside a warehouse — gives a dealer a genuine edge, turning the space itself into the most persuasive thing on the floor.
A Chicago Showroom and Workplace Design Partner
Designing showrooms and workplaces that do more than fill a floor is Kuchar's craft, backed by more than 90 years of combined industry experience. We turn overlooked spaces into environments that sell an idea and support the people inside them.