When Evan and Sandra Lewis opened their furniture showroom on Chicago ’s North side in May of 2005, they did so in an effort to properly showcase the high-end furniture, lighting and objects d’art Evan Lewis, a School of the Art Institute of Chicago educated sculptor, has been creating in Chicago for the past twelve years.

From the beginning of Lewis’s career as a furniture creator his museum quality pieces garnered immediate attention of high-profile taste makers like the late interior designer Richard Himmel and Holly Hunt who represented Evan Lewis in their namesake showrooms in the Merchandise Mart. Through this exposure to some of the biggest names in interior design Lewis’s furniture pieces have been commissioned by the likes of Bruce Gregga and have gained a steady following among Chicago ’s designers to the well-heeled set. Evan and Sandra Lewis also exhibited their furniture at prestigious art and furniture like the SOFA CHICAGO, Chicago Design Show and Decorex in England .

All this experience and exposure has solidified their interest in having full control over not only how their work is made but also how it is presented to its audience. The 1,400 square foot showroom the Lewises opened provides them with just that – a stunning showcase of original, hand-made functional art with the option to visit the adjacent studio where all objects are painstakingly made by hand. Interested visitors can tour the studio and watch Lewis and his skilled team of artisans at work. It is a setup commonly seen in old European towns like Florence and Venice but quite rare in major American cities. Chicagoans hence have the rare opportunity to visit a professional artist’s studio and a gallery, and to commission a one-of-a-kind piece for their residence and watch it being built. It is the ultimate in modern luxury!

The furniture is the functional counterpoint to Lewis’s other love – large-scale wind-powered kinetic sculpture. Lewis has been commissioned to create monumental works of art for various public and private spaces, beginning with Expo 1988 in Brisbane , Australia . He has installed site-specific sculptures at college campuses, private developments and residential properties. Doug Morris, the Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group is one of the collectors who commissioned Lewis to create kinetic sculptures for his private residence.

In 1996 Warner Brothers purchased and rented several sculptures for the motion picture Twister. Lewis still receives weekly inquires from people around the country who saw the movie and were so impressed with the real art used in the movie that they tracked him down on the Internet.

After many years of exhibiting his large sculptures in his home town at shows like the Pier Walk, the Lincoln Park Art Initiative and the Northshore Sculpture Park in Skokie, Chicago will finally have not one but a suite of seven sculptures permanently installed in the city. The McCormick Center has commissioned Lewis to create seven spires to be placed on the new south wall of the building. The piece entitled “Seven Spires” will be installed this spring.

Lewis is also at work on two major public commissions – a large memorial sculpture pavilion for the City of Toledo and two sculptures for the Morris Library at the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale .