Speakers

Kate Greenberg
Designer and Artist

Kate Greenberg is an Oakland-based designer and artist specializing in furniture, objects, and lighting. Her work centers around the origins of the home, the emotional impact of space, and the subliminal influence of our built world. Metal, light, textiles, and glass find new ways of expression, often through reference to phenomena in nature and visual forms in architecture. In opposition to historical, standardized ideas of furniture, she presents an alternative approach to what makes a space intimate and comfortable.

In 2021, Greenberg launched her own studio practice, offering her limited-edition furniture and custom products to residential and commercial clients. Her work has been exhibited in galleries in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, and Milan, including a solo exhibition during Milan Design Week 2023.

Michael Hilal
Founder, Studio Michael Hilal

Designer Michael Hilal creates spaces inspired by the easy living and sun-kissed imperfection of his home state of California. His practice lies at the intersection of interiors, objects, art, and fashion, and he specializes in working with artists and artisans spanning many communities and backgrounds. Subverting the concept of formality in design, Hilal’s spaces are bespoke and put-together, but approachable. He excels at crafting interiors that are distinct for each client, yet share a common thread—they are relaxing, inviting, and effortless.

Michael was selected as one of Architectural Digest’s New American Voices and 1stDibs50 for 2023, and received the 2024 Residential Interior Design Award at California Home & Design. His work has been featured in Architectural Digest US and international editions, AD Pro, The Wall Street Journal, Surface, Dwell, Sight Unseen, The Local Project, HYPEBEAST, Milk Decoration, Galerie, Veranda, Living Etc, ELLE Netherlands, and Elle Decoration Middle East, among other publications. 

His first furniture collection, Big Sur, which was nominated for Interior Design magazine’s Best of Year Awards 2023, is available through St Vincents in Antwerp.

Rudabeh Pakravan
Principal, Sidell Pakravan Architects

Rudabeh Pakravan is an architect, educator, and principal at Sidell Pakravan Architects, a practice based in Berkeley, California. She approaches architecture as a physical exploration of space, form, scale, and volume that in practice translates to the ways architecture creates civic and social engagement. 

She is interested in how architectural form affects individual and collective experience, and architecture’s influence on culture and the city. Her research on architecture and public space has been published by Log Journal, the Annenberg School of Communication, and Places Journal. Her award-winning practice, which she founded with Kristen Sidell, currently has a number of residential, commercial, and civic projects under construction and has recently been recognized with Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard award.

Homan Rajai
Co-Founder, Studio AHEAD

Homan Rajai co-founded Studio AHEAD, a San Francisco–based art and design collective. The studio reflects modern-day local culture as a coming-together of diverse perspectives grounded in a deep artistic tradition. By listening to how clients conceive of ideas like “family” or “home,” AHEAD builds spatial narratives that tell each person’s unique story. The studio believes strongly in there being no universal idea of functionality that fits all cultures and people. What remains constant is AHEAD’s appreciation of cultural traditions and craftsmanship.

To further the dialog between local and global, Studio AHEAD launched its production arm in 2019. Collaborators have included regional artists and artisans. The studio’s line of wool felt furniture, sourced locally from Sonoma sheep, has received wide attention and praise. In 2020, Studio AHEAD began publishing California: A Journal, which highlights Northern California’s vibrant history, as a way to give back to a community that continues to inspire.

Tiffany Jow
Editor-in-Chief, Untapped

Tiffany Jow is a New York–based writer and editor. She contributed to Surface magazine for more than a decade, holding staff positions as design editor and features director. Before that, she served as marketing director for Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, where she contributed to its winning proposal for Chicago’s Obama Presidential Center. Prior to that, she worked in the development office at New York’s Museum of Arts and Design, where she managed corporate partnerships. From 2009–2011, she lived in London and worked in the research department at Victoria & Albert Museum, where she contributed to the 2011 exhibition “Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970–1990,” curated by Glenn Adamson and Jane Pavitt.

She has led numerous public conversations on architecture and design, and has served as a guest critic at New York University, Pratt Institute, and the School of Visual Arts. Currently she is editor-in-chief of the design journal Untapped.