Mavrek Development partnered with ArtLifting to bring a bespoke piece of art into the lobby at Wacker Place, a 1928 Art Deco tower in Chicago's Loop, recently converted into luxury rental apartments overlooking the Riverwalk. 

Mavrek hoped to celebrate the building's own history with a custom artwork that would brighten the space and hold up as a real conversation starter for residents.

ArtLifting connected Mavrek with Eliza Redmann, founder of Folded Poetry LLC, who builds sculptural work from hand-folded leather mounted on acoustically absorptive felt. Redmann trained as an architect before a traumatic brain injury changed how she perceives pattern and sound, and she channels that heightened sensitivity directly into her practice, treating sound and form as one design problem and building work that offers both optical and acoustic solutions. That combination, architectural training paired with a material-first, disability-informed process, made her the right fit for a lobby that needed real acoustic correction and a piece worth stopping for.

Redmann's response, Tulips, is a modular sculpture built from hand-folded leather mounted on acoustically absorptive felt. The folded, floral geometry softens a lobby of polished stone that would otherwise carry every footstep and conversation. The backer boards behind each panel are made from PET acoustic felt, produced from recycled plastic bottles, keeping light while still supporting the dimensional leather and felt forms mounted to them.

Felt and leather are also, historically, a milliner's core materials: a direct, material-level nod to the building's own millinery-trade past.

Of her process, Redmann says: "Both the function and aesthetic of my work are born out of experiencing disability."

In sharing the installation on social media, Mavrek Development described it as "a piece that reflects exactly what we hope our spaces can be: thoughtful, human-centered, and a little unexpected."

“Working with ArtLifting and Eliza was genuinely collaborative from start to finish. Our lobby needed an acoustics solution, and we wanted to soften a space defined by hard surfaces. Eliza's work does both beautifully. It honors the building's history, carries the depth of her own story, and has completely changed how the lobby feels.”

- Alicia Frame, Dir. of Operations & Communications, Mavrek Inc

Tulips gives Wacker Place an original piece that's doing real acoustic work in the lobby every day. It also gives the building a story about its own history and materials, one a print or reproduction couldn't tell.

The commission put income directly into the hands of an artist, reflecting ArtLifting's mission to advance access to the art market by connecting artists with disabilities to socially conscious customers.

Images

1. Banner: Wide-angle view of four framed Tulips by Eliza Redmann sculptures lining a stone lobby wall beneath an ornate coffered ceiling.
2. Tulips panel in close view, its folded leather petals catching light and casting shadows across the felt backing.
3. Long hallway view toward brass elevators, with Tulips sculptures mounted along the left wall in wood frames.
4. Two matching Tulips panels of hand-folded leather forms on maroon felt, framed side by side on a stone wall.
5. Lobby reception desk with wood millwork and a gold paneled wall, near the Eliza Redmann installation in the corridor.
6. Vintage brass elevator door and antique U.S. Mail letter box beside the Eliza Redmann installation at Wacker Place.
7. A single tall Tulips panel beside a glass door and large ceramic vessel in the Wacker Place lobby.
8. Extreme close-up of Tulips, revealing the hand-folded leather's curled edges, varied tones, and layered dimensional texture.