INSPIRED TO CREATE

Kate Feather is the epitome of creativity. Armed with a rich background in the arts, Feather has made a successful career in visual and architectural design. But having a knack for art isn’t lost on her family. Not only has she dabbled into different avenues of art including drawing, painting, and working in both interior and retail design, Feather’s husband, Jonathan Zalben, is a film and television composer, and her son, Liam, is a musician and actor.

She attributes her love for the arts to her formative years in Lake Forest. Growing up, Feather was trained by pillars of the Lake Forest arts community including Anne Flynn at Gorton through the Deerpath Art League and Richard Hjortness at Lake Forest High School. “I was so lucky to experience their mentorship and also the close-knit community of kids who studied visual arts together in Lake Forest,” she says.

As a child, she pursued drawing and painting at the Art Institute of Chicago and later at Yale University. But recognizing her social nature, she found she was not cut out to be an artist who could work alone in a studio. She decided to try a career in architecture which opened doors in various aspects of the creative world.

“My parents introduced me to architecture growing up and I spent time touring historic buildings and homes,” says Feather. “It was a bit of a religion in my family.”

Later, backed with a degree, she made her way from Boston to New York where she worked at top residential firms and worked in-house at several fashion brands. Working for Ralph Lauren and consulting for others in retail architecture, fixture design, and visual merchandising, Feather loved retail flagship architecture’s immersive and theatrical quality. “I loved the permission to use color and to think through how people really experienced design,” she says.

Now Feather serves as the Design Director at Arteriors, a furniture and lighting company based in Dallas— which has found its way into many Lake Forest homes via the industry’s top interior designers. The brand’s eclectic style appeals to Feather’s energetic nature.

Leading a small team designing everything from accessories to upholstered seating to chandeliers, Feather leads the launch of over 300 new products twice a year. “I structure our team like a design studio and strive to be like the very best mentors I had in my art classes throughout my life,” she says. “We push ourselves to be super creative and pull from artists, architecture, and fashion while looking for white space in the market and the sweet spots of pieces our customers want and need.”

Aside from the arts community in Lake Forest, the buildings and physical environment have been a constant influence on her work. “When I worked in residential firms in New York City, the grand homes and the specific and thoughtful proportions of architects such as Howard Van Doren Shaw and David Adler were constant references,” she says. “Even if you don’t live in one yourself, these buildings really are in your blood if you grow up around them.”

Inspiration also comes from her family.

Her husband, a composer, and her son, a budding actor, always keep her on her toes. Together the family takes advantage of the buzzy creativity New York City has to offer.

“We’re quick to bounce ideas off one another,” she says. “My son is quick to ask me what I’m working on and to let me know what pieces he thinks are the ‘most interesting’ or ‘not so modern,’ which is his way of saying, you can push yourself a little further.”