{"id":349913,"date":"2025-12-15T10:37:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T10:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/349913\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T10:37:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T10:37:27","slug":"this-venezuelan-born-interior-designer-also-crafts-heirloom-quality-furniture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/349913\/","title":{"rendered":"This Venezuelan-born interior designer also crafts heirloom-quality furniture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago-based furniture maker Neil Zuleta<\/a> believes that design is a universal language, and therefore a shared experience. \u201cI am especially drawn to pieces and spaces with an emotional connection to memory and place\u2014ones that reveal themselves over time, offering moments of discovery rather than immediate consumption,\u201d he tells Business of Home.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

\nNeil Zuleta Courtesy of Neil Zuleta Design\n<\/p>\n

Growing up in Caracas, his passion for design emerged early. After earning a degree in architecture at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in the late 1990s, he emigrated to the United States and began working his way into the interiors industry, working with brands like Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Crate & Barrel. \u201cMy Venezuelan roots continually fuel my curiosity and shape my aesthetic,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He took a job at Holly Hunt<\/a> in Chicago in 2007, where he launched the brand\u2019s interior architecture and design studio, House of Hunt, and served as its director, developing custom furniture for high-end residential and hospitality projects for nearly a decade. \u201cOne of the biggest lessons I learned from Holly was to create instead of sourcing,\u201d he says. \u201cShe pushed us to design our own pieces rather than rely on off-the-shelf solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2016, he joined Gensler<\/a> as a design director, overseeing product development in the Midwest and working with big-name clients, including Google and Hyatt. In his free time, he began sketching out his own furniture designs and percolating on the idea of launching a multidisciplinary studio. \u201cTwo decades of experience with industry leaders helped me realize how critical it is to be a well-rounded designer,\u201d he says. \u201cIt gives you confidence and allows you to speak with clarity and truth on multiple fronts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

\nZuleta at work in his Chicago studioCourtesy of Neil Zuleta Design\n<\/p>\n

Zuleta debuted his namesake practice in 2022, offering both interior design services and handmade furnishings. His inaugural furniture line, La Gran Sabana<\/a>, was crafted in collaboration with Quintus and features 14 Venezuelan landscape\u2013fueled pieces, such as the waterfall-shaped Jasper console and the Solana lounge chair, an angular beauty with grass-colored upholstery. \u201cIdeas often begin with a strong emotional or visual memory, which I translate into architectural forms,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Craftsmanship is central to Zuleta\u2019s work. Before any design gets fabricated, he builds intricate prototypes to test comfort and scale. Working closely with seasoned artisans, he then employs a medley of time-honored techniques to forge truly one-of-a-kind pieces. \u201cMethods vary by material, and range from metalsmithing to stone carving,\u201d he says. \u201cI gravitate toward natural materials, like travertine, walnut and oak, because they carry inherent texture, history and expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

\nThe Solana chair by Neil Zuleta Design for QuintusCourtesy of Neil Zuleta Design\n<\/p>\n

Zuleta\u2019s interior design services are just as exacting, and cater to a mix of residential, commercial and hospitality clients. \u201cInteriors allow me to design one-off custom pieces tailored to the client, while still expressing my design language,\u201d he explains. \u201cI love curating environments that feel cohesive yet unexpected, where every element\u2014from furniture to finishes\u2014contributes to a larger narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to running his studio, Zuleta currently serves as creative director at Marmi Natural Stone, where he has crafted three collections for the high-end surface brand and is hard at work on the fourth, Bars, which will launch at Paris D\u00e9co Off<\/a> in January. \u201cI\u2019m also developing new pieces for Quintus, including La Gran Sabana: Part 2,\u201d he says. \u201cNow that the design language is established, I\u2019m refining the product offering and expanding into new categories.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chicago-based furniture maker Neil Zuleta believes that design is a universal language, and therefore a shared experience. \u201cI…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,174419],"class_list":{"0":"post-349913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-this-venezuelan-born-interior-designer-also-crafts-heirloom-quality-furniture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}