Kehoe Designs

Today we attended The Summit Chicago 2026 - Chicago's premier hospitality, tourism and events industry conference. Cyndi Roppolo Rosenberg represented us on stage, speaking with our IPW 2025 partners - Choose Chicago's Lori Adlesick and Show Strategy founder Glenn Charles, Jr. about diversity in the industry and creating opportunities for collaboration, introductions and the importance of representation. With Roz Stuttley, CMP, CDE leading the conversation, the trio covered the impact of stepping outside your comfort zone to build new relationships, why clients can and should trust small businesses, and the importance of honestly understanding internal capabilities to execute in the best way. Thanks to our leader Tom Kehoe, our business starts from a place of kindness and inclusion, making today's conversation all that more meaningful. Thank you to Marianna Kudriashova for providing the stage to tell this story, stemming from a chance panel Wrigley Field Events, that led to the collaborative event of the year, showcasing Chicago on an international stage. Follow us, contact us, and let us get to know you! This city is big, but the industry is small, and together we can create the immersive, impactful and positive moments that continue to make Chicago the #1 city in America.

The best thing about Kehoe Designs is that the end… is never really the end. When our work is done – your room is set, you’ve taken it all in, and your guests are about to arrive – the next chapter of your story is just beginning. And so it goes with our Design Studio. You’ve witnessed our creativity unleashed – a space for creative exploration, design statements and trendsetting to unfold. But before the long hallway, taking you to your Sample Room, or continuing your tour through our warehouse, a moment designed for reflection opens up. Our final space is actually three sets brought together through the cohesive vision of Amy Carrillo. The design here is Amy’s way of giving you your breath back, arranging only the most luxurious creams with warming tones of crimson and gold. Though gilded, the scene is warm and lit-from-within, gently humming through textural natural elements such as a hand-painted, bark-like tray and half of one of our Kehoe Designs’ textured bars, creatively placed to resemble a high top. The elongated gathering offers a place to review design briefs or host stand up meetings. While overhead fabric installations emulate movement down the hall, a staged lounge is arranged to the side. A mix of textures beckon beneath a pair of fringed chandeliers, the warm illumination intentional and complimenting the glow of amber candles across the way. The dichotomy of this final set lies in the hypothetical pause – the calm and grace is designed with elements conveying movement. The undulating waves on the honeycomb-toned bar, the flow of fabric overhead, the sway of fringe – together, they encourage intentional action. Instead of pushing you away, it encourages your forward direction, into the heart of Kehoe Designs, toward the next chapter of your story. 

The strongest relationships create a special kind of teamwork - the kind that can take you from brunch to BALLER. Nicolette Avila and Anthony Navarro were at it again, going hard in the paint for the NCAA Final Four weekend. Check out this video highlighting some of the custom moments that made every guest feel like an MVP.

Continue making your way through our Design Studio with a Set that commits to color (just one though) and incorporates one of our newest custom elements, hot off the printer (8 layers later). Enter: Set 2... For the Lead Designer of our Weeklies floral team, Lala Rojas, green is more than the oft hidden part of the flower, slipped into a vessel or cut off to "make room." She sees green as the counterbalance to the vibrancy of Mother Nature, the (literal) grounding and support tone to colorful palettes used in our event industry. Inspired by the shapes and mystery of an exotic forest, Rojas also found a way to bring the outdoors inside, both complimenting the window scenes of Set 4, while cementing the fact that this trend is hot and here to stay. Her use of mixed mediums – incorporating a custom, gold structural-mesh fabric and gold-painted monstera leaves – compound the movement of the design. Ingeniously formed, the gold mesh lends a bit of magic. In the shadows, it curves, bends and folds, appearing as a tree trunk… but then again, are those perhaps rocks on the forest floor? The material adds heft and dimension while alluding to ephemeral weightlessness as you move along, noticing the sheer mesh through intentionally placed lighting. Lighting that subtly illuminates the layers of raised paint on the wall covering. Gradients of green, a 3-D Komodo dragon print conceived and printed between our Graphics and Design teams, lean into the exotic with subtle yet luxurious craftsmanship. Resembling a half frame, the fauna is directional – light bouncing off gilded elements lead your focus along the sideways “u”-shape until you arrive at the “moment” – a settee (a lily pad, if your imagination allows) for one, with clean curved velvet lines which complement the textured wall covering, beneath a one-of-a-kind gold monstera leaf chandelier crafted in house. Written, one can hardly conceive this moment not feeling overwhelming – the power in Rojas’ constraint in color palette controls the moment entirely. And then, the realization. How easy it is to get stuck in the awe of each detail, separately, or in zones… but taking a step back, the design is exposed through an entirely different lens. Just as the creative concepts our teams ideate are limitless, so is your ability to submerge beneath the surface of décor and fall into a world unexpected. At Kehoe Designs, our passion lies in taking your boldest ideas and synthesizing them into a singular world to elicit a particular emotion; and THAT is design, customized for your needs. Team: Lala Rojas Nikole R. John Doyle Hospitality Design Director: Kelly Harrold Graphics Designer: Joseph Rocco

There is a specific kind of magnetism in a design that understands the power of the "in-between." In our second installation of our Design Studio Series, Matthew Bell has choreographed a scene we've referenced as "The Persistence of Textural Memory", and it’s a masterclass in how a space can feel both abundant and meticulously edited. Commanding the white space of a room allows the eyes to move patiently then deliberately settle, so that each thoughtful placement has its own moment. Bell’s vision lives in that transition between the high-octane energy of summer and the grounded harvest of autumn. To bridge that gap, he made a definitive choice: trading the expected floral abundance for sprawling, edible architecture. A lush runner of citrus, vibrant lemons and oranges punctuated by deep red grape clusters, spills across the table, anchored by the earthen Nuovo Burnt Orange linens and wood Westwood chargers. By grounding the palette this way, both in natural colors and organic elements, the vivid yellow taper candles and fruit aren't just accents. They’re the focal point. Noticeably, nothing here is flat. We even follow a vertical narrative, from rotund fruits seemingly tumbling off the end of the table atop triple-layered linens that "puddle" with romantic weight on the floor to the soaring height of the taper candles. But the true architectural heartbeat of the environment is overhead. Collaborating with our Art Department, he leaned into 2026’s fringe trend to create custom, hand-braided tassels that descend like textile stalactites. It’s a rare, structural use of fabric that we haven’t seen in the industry before, turning a traditional "finishing touch" into a statement of hand-crafted gravity. There is a deliberate tension in the air between the hanging fringe and the reach of the candles, and this layering of trends, from fresh produce to architectural textiles, feels inevitable rather than forced. Who better to gather at a table so subtly sharp than Lucille Ball or Lily Tomlin, women whose presence is defined by a bold, yet accessible versatility that comes from not being afraid to take risks. This "abundant harvest" is a reminder that when you stop treating design as a collection of items and start treating it as a total environment, you create a look that doesn't just sit in a room. It performs. It is a study in clever cohesion, where every custom element is given the breathing room to be both bold and essential.

Welcome to our first ever Design Studio Series. We're excited to share these stories, both to inspire your own worlds and bring you a little closer into ours: On the floorplan, it reads “Design Studio - Set 4.” When we talk about it, we reference things like, “The Manor of Modern Wilds” or “Dimensional Residential Conservatory,”  or “Living in Layered Neutrals.” The Designer, John Beran, envisions this scene for Katherine Hepburn – in all her masculine-meets-feminine chicness, the luxurious neutrals with a modern take just may be the perfect reflection of her spirited yet self-assured sensibility. In reality, it’s the first visual when you exit our lobby into the heart of Kehoe Designs. The set was designed to reflect a multidimensional residential space, layered with easy-on-the-eye pattern mixing and offering a unique indoor-outdoor experience. Sumptuous black velvet balances elegant cherry blossoms and refined blue and white pottery. As if welcoming our guests into our home, a variety of floral arrangements, textures of faux-fur and glossy surfaces with a touch of Geraghty family heirlooms offer a respite for the senses. Literal windows look out to a physical simulation of the gardens and statuary beyond. So intentional it could almost go unnoticed is the emphasis on balance. Blending bold patterns in subdued colors, complimenting large furniture pieces with feminine room accents and influence from Art Deco on traditional styles all play into the energy of the space. Sprinkle in touches of Kehoe Designs’ floral magic, and you have a space that calls for a scotch and soda (à la Ms. Hepburn, of course) while you take a deep breath and soak in the essence of a design your neighbors will be referencing in their own homes before you know it.

It’s undeniable that Kehoe Designs leans maximalist. Turns out, it’s a nuanced formula that only true experts are able to pull off: to see a beautiful vignette, and after four or more rounds of, “what if we just added…” a vision is fully realized in stunning perfection. It is the opposite of effortless. But finding the balance between stopping and ultimate ‘completion’ requires an understanding of balance, color theory and tactile movement. Trends may dictate what is en vogue at any given time, and the tendency to lean maximalist versus minimalist has a unique weight on the direction of what is fashionable – in attire, home décor, and of course, in the event designs that leave people talking, and later show up in their hosting at home. Trends come and go. Our job is to stay ahead of them for our clients, pioneering progressive concepts in a way that still feels timeless. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to introduce you to our Design Studio – an exclusive peek at teams who forecast the trends, create immersive environments and contribute to the innovative and fantastical concepts that come to life through the events you hire us for. If you’ve been to our offices, you’ve seen it – the promenade of micro-worlds from our lobby to our Sample Rooms and beyond. Unique, eye-catching, and intentional: a demonstration of our creative in-house prowess, optimizing our space to provide inspiration and sense of wonder to our clients and guests. We’ve never gone public with our Design Studio before! We hope you’ll enjoy these stories of creative abundance as we take you through four of our sets – insights from the team, trends we’re bringing to the industry, and photos shared for the very first time. Minimalism may not be our MO, but the beauty of Kehoe Designs lies in our versatility: our ability to recognize the vision of others, create a collaborative environment, and provide the touch and vision we’re known for while remaining intensely true to the client – who they are, how they want to convey a message, and what they envision. Team: John Beran John Doyle Lala Rojas Matthew Bell Amy Carrillo Nikole R. Get excited for regular Design Studio refreshes as Kelly Harrold Michelle Brown keep this high-level vision aligned!

It's not technically instant gratification when your "first look" is really the result of months of detailed decision making, but the moment your hands fly to your heart, as you see the fantasy of your wedding day designed in real life, is truly the moment we've all been waiting for. This Room Reveal brings us so much joy, we couldn't resist talking about it with Modern Luxury. And when a venue such as The Geraghty offers you so much more than just a room, the end result is pure emotion, designed specifically for you, to celebrate your life's most special moments.

JOIN OUR TEAM! Sales Manager, Geraghty North With our expansion into Chicago's North Shore, we're looking for a dedicated Sales Manager to help define the next chapter of our brand. This is a pivotal role for a professional who thrives on building genuine relationships and managing the complete sales cycle for high-end, transformative events. As the face of Geraghty North, you'll be responsible for driving growth and ensuring every client’s journey begins with the level of care and sophistication the Kehoe Designs family of brands is known for. We're seeking a leader who understands the nuance of luxury hospitality and is ready to represent a premiere name in the industry. We invite you to view the full job description and submission requirements here: https://lnkd.in/gUdK5YGP

With over 20 years in the hospitality industry, Cyndi Roppolo Rosenberg has developed a deep understanding of how to maintain community within an ecosystem of overlapping clients, partners, and friends. By sustaining the kind of relationships that build bigger, better businesses for everyone involved while championing the boldly creative ideas the team at Kehoe Designs brings to the table, Cyndi consistently finds ways to foster the connections that make Chicago hospitality shine. This coming April, guests at The Summit Chicago will have the opportunity to hear Cyndi participate in an empowering breakout session on the necessity of leveraging multicultural resources to create truly unforgettable event experiences. Sitting alongside presenter Roz Stuttley, CMP, CDE, and fellow panelists Lori Adlesick and Glenn Charles, Jr., Cyndi will share insights that are as practical as they are invaluable. It is a conversation you won't want to miss, and tickets for The Summit Chicago are still available.